Blur - 13

Very epic, extraordinarilly brilliant

Since their sophomore album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, Blur started to get creative. They began to throw a few new pieces into their songs that stood out against the majority of pop/rock bands. Now we introduce their sixth album 13. Instead of dropping interesting bits into, say, half of their songs, this album is nothing but strange music that is ethereal, loud, quiet, and sloppy all at once. There are very few "normal" songs on here. Blur's 13 mainly consists of psychedelic tracks that occasionally fade out just long enough to come crashing back to finish the song with a stunning climax.

Here are some tracks that are worth mentioning:

Bugman - This is loud, odd song that sounds like a normal rocker, but it gradually becomes a track full of obnoxious, but satisfying sounds. The most interesting fact about this song is how it seems to end, only to return midway with an exciting guitar solo.

1992 - A very spacey song. I say spacey because it sounds like there is a flying saucer is the background. Besides the flying sound effect, this is a very beautiful song.

Battle - I suppose nobody can resist mentioning this track. It is quite hard for me to properly explain this, so I'll use the terms I used above: ethereal, loud, quiet, and sloppy.

Trailerpark - I can understand why people may not like this song, but I think it's just as good as any other song on here.

Caramel - This track is mostly a soft song, though it ends with a loud section. This track also features one of my favourite hidden tracks.

I can honestly say this album is my all time favourite album. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to hear something different and mind blowing. August 29, 2008

This CD Apesta !!!!!!!!!!!

Don't Buy This CD For Any Reason Is a Piece of sweepings Only The Song "Tender" Could Be Listen and it`s Not The Big Deal. Don`t Waste Your Money And Your Time Please. September 10, 2006

Blur's best album by some distance

I can't think of another album quite like this. Great mix of relatively straight Britpop and experimental soundscapes, and some stuff that just defies classification. Not a bad track in the bunch. Recommended! March 8, 2006

Blur's best

IMO, this is Blur's best. The band was unique in that each subsequent album was not only more "progressive," but also very different. Not many bands pull this off, but Blur did. It seems to me that 13 was the band's peak. The songs range from the choir-laden Tender to the Arabesque, hair-bandish Swamp Song. There's only one song I'm not fond of, Caramel, which just kind of drags on. All the rest are great. My favorites are Tender, Bugman, 1992 (Portishead-ish), Mellow Song (Radiohead-ish), and Trimm Trabb. Man, do I love Trimm Trabb! And I think the album's songs all fit together very nicely, a la Sgt. Peppers and American Idiot, where they all pretty much need to be there for it to make sense. After 13, I think Blur's Think Tank was disjointed and a bit indifferent - a few nice tunes, but no 13. You can hear Gorillaz being born in 13, I think. This is one of favorite albums. February 5, 2006

Oh for god sake

While I am a Blur fan I just cannot listen to this drivel. It's picked up this cult status among Blur fans as it's the heart-rendering story of Damon Albarn's break up with then girlfriend and lead singer of Wire rip-offs Elastica, Justine Frischmann. 13 is a document of that break up and my god it's useless self indulgence. Mindless even.

First we'll start off with the singles.

Tender - a plodding gospel song that goes nowhere and proves that Damon just can't hack it when it comes to soul no matter how much he protests. Long winded and uninteresting

Coffee & TV - While I marvel at the video, I do think that that takes away from the fact that this song is very ordinary and nothing at all special. It does feature one of Graham Coxon's more agreeable vocals and goes by fine enough.

No Distance Left To Run - Awful. Just plain awful. It never deserved to be a single. It should never have been a single. The lyrics are the most embarrassing I have ever listened to and Damon's voice is just off beyond all point. Although I'm sure those who love this album will point out that it's supposed to represent the pain he's going through. It just doesn't work.

As for the rest of the album it just a horrible mess of styles thrown together to make it sound like they've been listening to the coolest albums around and that America's underground is really cool which is ironic given that this band originally wanted to go against all that.

People say that Blur is Graham's album and this is 13's album and while I'm not so sure I'd label Blur Graham's album I can definitely agree with 13 being Damon's album. It's completely self-absorbed and the music is secondary to the theme of the album which in my book is never a good thing.

However there are a couple of good songs. BLUREMI and 1992 are toetappers and the often underrated Optigan 1. Poor Optigan 1. The Optigan is one of the more fascinating instruments and has a gently surreal yet antique way of sound. It's a credit that this was made. Yet it goes almost unnoticed by many because " Oh it's just an instrumental." A shame that, because it sounds like everything this album is trying to be; emotional, warm, hurt.

But most of the tracks here are surrounded in half thought-out ideas, lazily produced songs and in the case of Trimm Trabb, nicking the opening riff of Wined and Dined by Syd Barrett. I once said that this album was a poor man's Bad Moon Rising ( by Sonic Youth ) and by god I stick to that statement. While that album had oozing soundscapes, inventive lyrics and a sense of adventure even in dealing with some similar viewpoints ( although not all )......this feels completely lazy, lyrics depressed 15 year olds would laugh at, music that doesn't really do much and not a lot much else. It's painful to say that this is the same band who an album beforehand made something that was a stroke of genius. This however is not the answer though.

Buy this if you are in love with Damon's ego. Otherwise, do yourself a favour and buy other Blur albums ( other than The Great Escape and Leisure ) or better yet buy Sonic Youth's Bad Moon Rising. Beats the hell out of this crap November 10, 2005

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