A Beginner's Guide To Blur

Fans are jubilant. Blur will be releasing their latest album 'The Magic Whip' on 27 April; their first album since reuniting in 2008, their long-awaited follow-up to 2003's 'Think Tank' and first with guitarist Graham Coxon since he and the rest of the band - frontman Damon Albarn, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree - parted ways during the recording of the same album, marking the first time the entire group have recorded an album together since '13' in 1999.

Piloted during a 5-day stay at Avon Studios in Hong Kong, Albarn had previously stated that the recordings may never see the light of day.  However, while Albarn was working on his own solo outing 'Everyday Robots', Coxon worked with producer Stephen Street (who had last worked with the band on their 1997 self-titled album) and presented Albarn with a near finished version of the album. Albarn returned to the studio once more in January, and the album was completed in February.

With such news, what better time to revisit or indeed educate oneself on the band's respectable back catalogue? So, if you're already familiar with the work of Blur, reacquaint yourself. If not, follow this simple guide, and if you're a die-hard Oasis fan; allow us to convince you of otherwise.

Start Here: The Britpop Years - 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' (1993), 'Parklife' (1994), 'The Great Escape' (1995)

'Modern Life Is Rubbish' is significant in a timely sense. The backlash over debut album 'Leisure' (1991) being too derivative of the sounds of the Madchester and shoegazing scenes, add to that a catastrophic Stateside tour and the rise of homegrown adversaries Suede meant that Blur's stock in the UK was in sharp decline. All of this inspired an image overhaul championed by Albarn and a well-informed attempt at recapturing the pomp and circumstance of classic British pop sounds. Look no further than Sunday, Sunday for the prototypical Britpop song. Blur were as of yet still developing their sound and aesthetic, though.

 

'Parklife' saw Albarn fully bloom into a storyteller par excellence, spinning yarns about absurd caricatures of '90s London anxiety while highlighting the city's newfound sense of fashion, recanting "the travels of the mystical lager-eater"; in his own words. This was Blur's critical and commercial breakthrough. Girls & Boys and Parklife provided anthems for the indie disco and afternoon football pints alike, while Coxon's intricate, emotive guitar playing shone on ballads such as End Of A Century and To The End.

 

Overshadowed by a media-fueled chart battle that saw Blur's Country House beat Oasis's Roll With It to the top of the UK Singles Chart; 'The Great Escape' sees Albarn lament the feelings of detachment and isolation in prevalent in mid-late '90s Britain on singles Charmless Man and Stereotypes, while on the beautiful, tragic The Universal, he creates a utopia in which human feeling is all but non-existant. The album does come across as being bloated due in parts equal to overproduction, lackluster songs and the exhaustion of the Britpop aesthetic.

Essential Listening: For Tomorrow, Blue Jeans ('Modern Life Is Rubbish'), Girls & Boys, Parklife, Clover Over Dover, This Is A Low ('Parklife'), The Universal, He Thought Of Cars ('The Great Escape').

What's Next? The Later Years - 'Blur' (1997), '13' (1999).

Giving Coxon a freer hand on the band's self-titled album seemed to be just the thing Blur needed to rejuvenate and reinvent themselves, jettisoning the brassy, British sound that had become their bread and butter in favour of Amerindie inspired by the likes of Pavement. Song 2 was unlike anything the band had produced up to that point, earning them instant cult status in the US; while on Beetlebum, Albarn had truly out-Beatles'd the brothers Gallagher once and for all. The real highlight came in the form of You're So Great, though, Coxon's first lyrical and vocal contribution to the band in what is arguably the most underrated track in their entire back catalogue.

'13', then, serves as their most underrated full-length; as well as their most challenging and experimental. Recorded after the disintegration of Albarn's long-term relationship with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann, '13' is a gloomy, confessional body of work detailing Albarn's feelings of heartbreak and lonliness set to a backing of the groups most cerebral, dense and noisy instrumental work to date. From the life-affirming, 8 minute, gospel backed Tender to the tear-jerking, minimal balladry of No Distance Left To Run, '13' takes the listener on a sonic and emotional roller-coaster.

Essential Listening: Song 2 ('Blur'), Tender, Coffee & TV, Caramel, Trimm Trabb ('13')

Take It Or Leave It: 'Think Tank' (2003)

Taking influence from Albarn's equal love for electronic dance music, dub reggae, hip hop, jazz, and African music; one would be forgiven for thinking of 'Think Tank' of more of a proto-Gorillaz album than a Blur album (Albarn had in fact already recorded and released his debut album with Gorillaz in 2001). The mutual parting of company between Coxon and band due to Coxon's issues with alcohol abuse a contributing factor, the group recorded 'Think Tank' in Morocco; further reinventing their sound in accordance with Albarn's now complete creative control and ever expanding palette of sounds. The result? An album adored by critics but released to mixed opinions from fans. The songs are there - Out Of Time, Good Song, Ambulance - but one may argue that along with Coxon, the dynamic was gone.

Essential Listening: Out Of Time, On The Way To The Club

Steer Clear: Leisure (1991)

Influenced in equal parts by the post-psychedelic, drug infused stylings of the dreamy, shoegazing sound and the baggy, Madchester scene before them and an incredibly overbearing record label; Blur's debut album wasn't quite right. Young and impressionable, 'Leisure' still has it's moments. There's No Other Way is a true pop gem, while the hazy, kaleidoscopic Sing worked perfectly in the climax of the band's documentary film 'No Distance Left To Run', and in the midst of a chase scene in Danny Boyle's masterstroke Trainspotting. Beyond that, the album does seem lacking in the songwriting department, and Albarn had yet to really grow as a lyricist.

Essential Listening: There's No Other Way, She's So High