Customer Reviews

Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll admit to being one of those Americans who didn't know much of anything about Blur before Song 2. As so often happens when coming across some music that is enjoyable, I immersed myself in the back catalog, and by that time Blur's was already entailing four studio albums, albums that showcased quite a musical difference from the self-titled LP. And I loved every minute of it. Whereas the Greatest Hits collection showcased the vast amount of singles, this album truly comes across as a beginner's guide...a smattering of hits and album tracks from those five albums and the subsequent two afterward. Its more of a superbly constructed personal mixtape or iTunes playlist for the band than anything, showcasing some extraordinary songs not released on their own like Trimm Trabb, Badhead, This is a Low, and Advert.

Every compilation package for any band comes with its faults, and this is no different. Some big hits are missing (especially for the US audience, Country House and There's No Other Way could've made the cut over some of the other singles). No track from their incredible b-side collection is represented. And there's nothing new to give those of us with the studio albums reason to go out and buy this (maybe that's a good thing...though probably not from a marketing standpoint). But if I were to be on the lookout for a quality introduction to one of the best bands of the 90s, this comes pretty close to how it should be.

Well, this is different.

Normally with "Greatest Hits" packages, the band emphasises its most commercially successful period, with more interesting and unusual material from their early or late career ignored. 'Midlife' is basically the exact opposite of this: it almost turns its back on Blur's Britpop era in favour of key album tracks and fan favourites. Instead of focussing heavily on 'Parklife' and 'The Great Escape', every album gets a decent representation here, even the much-maligned `Leisure'.


On one hand, this really works. Blur were a lot more varied than casual fans might think, from the Madchester-influenced 'Leisure' to the alternative lo-fi of 'Blur' and '13' and the electronic art-rock of 'Think Tank'. The selections (particularly from the last three albums) seem deliberately chosen to highlight this diversity; distorted rockers, dark introspective ballads, unsettling electronic soundscapes. It certainly wasn't all bright Britpop, so it's good to see that `Midlife' really showcases these different styles, instead of just the big, obvious hits.

Although the songs are not presented in chronological order (which would have been nice), the track listing is excellent. `Beetlebum' and `Tender' are strong openers, while `This is a Low' and `Battery in your Leg' are obvious closers. And both CDs contain a mixture of radio hits (`Parklife', `Song 2', `Girls & Boys', `Coffee & TV') and more challenging material (`Trimm Trabb', `Death Of A Party', `Bugman', `Strange News From Another Star').

But to leave 'Country House' and 'Charmless Man' off is ridiculous; there's no way around that. These songs were not only hits, they virtually defined Blur's sound and image in the mid 90's, and arguably defined the whole Britpop era. If you absolutely must make an artistic statement , leave off some of the lesser hits from the period. But these two songs are essential, particularly considering 'Midlife' is a 2 CD set containing 25 songs. A few other important songs like `Crazy Beat', `End Of A Century', and `There's No Other Way' are missing as well.

I give it four stars. The music itself is probably worth five, but to leave off those important songs means `Midlife' doesn't quite do its job of being `A Beginner's Guide To Blur'.....even if it does contain some excellent cuts, and some of the best music of its era.

I don't blame Blur for leaving off some key songs, but then again, Blur didn't choose the album themselves. The fans helped.

So glad they did this! It's missing a few songs I wanted, but it's already 2 cd's. They would have had to make it 4 or 5 to cover my favorites. I should add that I'm pretty old (same age as the band), so it's not "A Beginner's Guide" for me. Doesn't mean this isn't for younger people, my teenage kids like Blur too.

If you want a nice collection of Blur's tracks from the past to their recent reunion this is the set for you. It has all of the good stuff and more to offer than the "Best of.." single disc. The only track left of this one is "Country House" which is odd considering the fact that it is the single that bested Oasis' single in the battle of the Britpop bands on the British charts. Regardless, this is the best it gets for one purchase. All the classics and a few choice cuts/fan favorites from their back catalogue. My personal fav is "Sing" which is only available to Americans on the Trainspotting Soundtrack (It is on the "Leisure" UK release). Best bang for your buck right here and an even bigger bang if you do you homework by browsing at the vendor's prices. Enjoy and Whoo-hoo.

Howdy Ya'll--
Cousin Bobby here to tell ya 'bout Blur.
This 2 cd collection contains most of Blur's best songs, as I said
most--the set does not contain "There's No Other Way", "Country House" (no loss)
"Charmless Man" and "End Of The Century".So you'll have to pony up
some more dough to get those songs.

Better yet you're better off with the "Best Of Blur"--
a 2 cd set that came out ages ago. It's probably alot
more cheaper than this set. But more about Blur.

Blur are one of the better Brit-Pop bands of the early-mid 1990's.
Big enough they had a "war" of singles with Oasis that made the newspapers.
For a time, Blur actually outsold Oasis in their home country
but never made it big over in America, unlike Oasis.
Bands like Blur are a throw back to the
Mod bands of the 60's and their songs don't always translate well across the Atlantic.

Mod bands from the 60's like The Small Faces barely made a dent over here,
the Kinks faded away for awhile when they did their Mod music
and the Who didn't really make it big until the album
"Tommy" and by then they sounded like a totally different band than the one that
recorded "Magic Bus" and "Pictures Of Lily".
Sure it's nice these bands sing about Englands problems, like Blur does on a
trio of classic albums-"Modern Life Is Rubbish", "Parklife", and "The Great Escape",
but outside of England does anyone care ?
Don't get me wrong, I like Blurs music very much but it's easy to see why
they didn't make it over here in America.

In one of the more ironic moments in music, Blurs most
popular song over in America is "Song 2; which in itself
was a satire of the American grunge movement and a big departure of their
signature sound. Of course the Brit-Pop movement was an answer/rebuttal
to the American Grunge movement and Blurs big American movement
was essentially doing a grunge like song.

I would recommend the Best of Blur over this set as that
2 cd set seems more complete. If your interested in the best single cd then go for
"Parklife" which captures Englands mood at the time probably better than
any cd, or at least as good as Pulp's "Different Class"

Blur may have won the battle with Oasis but eventually lost the war.
Just goes to show ya, people don't want to hear about Englands problems
they want to hear about sex, drugs and rock and roll- so it should be no surprise
that Oasis became bigger.


Cousin Bobby

I love Blur the more I listen to them. This is one of my favorites of all their work.

For some guys, blur started (and probably ended) with "woo-hoo" (for your reference the title is Song 2) the song that made them famous in more places than they were before, and gave access to mainstream radios that are reluctant to air anything longer than 3 minutes unless it's paid programming.
blur showed their talent early with "Sing" that later on made the soundtrack for a cult movie, you might remember - Trainspotting. Luckily this important milestone is included in the compilation, showing the potential of the band capable of doing more than its -somemetimes embarrasing - early releases, like the video for There's no other way (check their Starshaped dvd for the original version of the sinking crew)
While for others in the britpop scene electronica has been a fine flavour added to the guitar riffs, blur was not afraid to build songs on "processed beats", and release songs for their loyal fans that some of others would have thought to be out of scope for them.
My personal favourite is Beetlebum, the opening track, perhaps the most beautiful way to say "I love you", and unfortunately one of the most emotionally frustrating moment I've ever heard recorded. On the other hand, Parklife, one of their best is joyful and colourful, you just want to jump up and down as you hear it...
All in all... a best buy for those who want to dive in deeper....