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Blur - 13 Audio CD

A fair review of the Blur "13" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Blur reviews here, or go back to the Blur tabs.

Blur Band: Blur
Title: 13
Rating:
Release Date: 1999-03-23
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Tender 2: Bugman 3: Coffee & TV 4: Swamp Song 5: 1992 6: B.L.U.R.E.M.I. 7: Battle 8: Mellow Song 9: Trailer Park 10: Caramel 11: Trimm Trabb 12: No Distance Left to Run 13: Optigan 1

Disappointing.
I bought the album on the strength of the three singles, Tender, Coffee and TV and No Distance Left To Run, which remain three of Blur's best songs, but I'm afraid to say that the rest of the album seems more like pretentious rubbish than anything else. I'm sure Blur were trying to "progress" or something, but here it didn't really work. It's like Kid A Radiohead but it doesn't grow on you from a weird experience into an intense emotional one. It just stays boring, uninspired and more like the strange fair-ground music on Parklife than End Of A Century.


Very epic, extraordinarilly brilliant
They began to throw a few new pieces into their songs that stood out against the majority of pop/rock bands. Since their sophomore album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, Blur started to get creative. 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.


This CD Apesta !!!!!!!!!!!
Don`t Waste Your Money And Your Time Please. 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.


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


Blur's best
The band was unique in that each subsequent album was not only more "progressive," but also very different. IMO, this is Blur's best. 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.


You can see a complete list of all Blur discography, or go back to the Blur tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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