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Rating: On March 15, 1999, Blur released their sixth work, "13".
Recorded between June and October 1998, the album arrived two years after the highly successful eponymous release and also achieved great success, immediately topping the UK charts. All this despite the band's choice to delve even deeper into the purely experimental aspect of their music, a process that began with highly positive results in the previous work.
In this sense, the choice of a producer like William Orbit was fundamental, crucial in helping the band to definitively distance themselves from the britpop clichés (the first attempt being the "pavement-esque" turn of the previous LP) and move towards more complex and elaborate sounds. Even the album cover is an original choice, with the image being a painting by guitarist Graham Coxon, titled "Apprentice".
Yet, the first tracks act a bit like an "accommodating" factor, preparing the listener for what will come in the second part of the album. "Tender", a slow and long gospel-oriented litany (over seven minutes!) and the first single released, has rightfully become one of the band's great classics, more due to certain radio overexposure than any actual artistic merits. In fact, the track, besides not being the best on the album, doesn’t represent it at all. "Bugman" is a bizarre rock 'n roll underpinned by noise at all costs (there’s even a kind of electric drill at the end), "Coffee & Tv" (famous for its milk carton video) is a great guitar pop track entirely by Coxon.
The first signs of change come with "1992", placed between a skewed "Swamp Song" (also branded by Coxon) and the punk 'n roll of "B. L. U. R. E. M. I.". From here on, the album navigates between a deep deconstruction of song form and a deliberately over-exaggerated production by Orbit; the pinnacle of all this is the monumental "Battle", seven minutes and forty-three seconds of pure sound delirium. However, the problem is another: the gimmick doesn't always work, and the insistence on extremely heavy experimentation repeated at all costs produces a disorienting and, above all, tiring effect. The album, in fact, offers a faint breath of fresh air on introspective ballads like "No Distance Left To Run" (splendid, inspired by the end of Albarn's relationship with Justine Frischmann of Elastica) and on more "canonical" numbers like "Trimm Trabb"; this is certainly not a good sign.
In short, at a certain point in their career, Blur wanted to prove at all costs that they weren't just a band for three-minute britpop hits; fair enough, especially if they have the ability and talent to do so (Albarn has plenty). But sometimes the experimentation carried out in "13" seems forced or, worse, exhausting in its insistence.
"13" remains more than a sufficient and appreciated work by the public and critics, but Blur has done better both before (eponymous) and after ("Think Tank").
Key tracks: Bugman, Battle, Trimm Trabb, No Distance Left To Run
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Tender (07:40)
Tender is the night
Lying by your side
Tender is the touch
Of someone that you love too much
Tender is the day
The demons go away
Lord I need to find
Someone who can heal my mind
Come on, Come on, Come on
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
Come on, Come on, Come on
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
That we have
I'm waiting for that feeling
I'm waiting for that feeling
Waiting for that feeling to come
Oh my baby
Oh my baby
Oh why
Oh my
(x2)
Tender is the ghost
The ghost I love the most
Hiding from the sun
Waiting for the night to come
Tender is my heart
I'm screwing up my life
Lord I need to find
Someone who can heal my mind
Come on, Come on, Come on
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
Come on, Come on, Come on
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
That we have
I'm waiting for that feeling
I'm waiting for that feeling
Waiting for that feeling to come
Oh my baby
Oh my baby
Oh why
Oh my
(x2)
Come on, Come on, Come on
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
Come on, Come on, Come on
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
That we have
I'm waiting for that feeling
I'm waiting for that feeling
Waiting for that feeling to come
Oh my baby
Oh my baby
Oh why
Oh my
(x2)
Tender is the light
Lying by your side
Tender is the touch
Of someone that you love too much
Tender is my heart you know
I'm screwing up my life
Oh Lord I need to find
Someone who can heal my mind
Come on, Come on, Come on
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
Come on, Come on, Come on,
Get through it
Come on, Come on, Come on
Loves the greatest thing
That we have
I'm waiting for that feeling
I'm waiting for that feeling
Waiting for that feeling to come
Oh my baby
Oh my baby
Oh why
Oh my
(goes on until end fading away)
02 Bugman (04:47)
I am an ex offender
They let me out in the Summer
I think I was in a coma
I didn't know what to do
Oh no
You go hang around go round
I'll watch myself hang on
Look out for the Bugman
You go hang around around
I'll watch myself hang on
Look out for the Bugman
I got no sent of existence
I know the nodding dogs
I go out in the city
I stay away from the bugs
Oh yeah
You go hang around around
I watch myself look out
Look out for the Bugman
You go hang around around
I watch myself hang on
Look out for the Bugman
The bu uh uh ug man
I go out in the city
I stay away from the bugs
Oh yeah
la la la la la oh oh...
I go out in the city
I go out in the city
I stay away from the buh uh bugs...
03 Coffee & TV (05:58)
Do you feel like a chain store
Practically floored
One of many zeros
Kicked around bored
Your ears are full but you're empty
Holding out your heart
To people who never really
Care how you are
So give me coffee and TV, easily
I've seen so much, I'm going blind
And I'm braindead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again
Do you go to the country
It isn't very far
There's people there who will hurt you
'Cause of who you are
Your ears are full of their language
There's wisdom there you're sure
Till the words start slurring
And you can't find the door
So give me coffee and TV, easily
I've seen so much, I'm going blind
And I'm braindead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again
05 1992 (05:28)
Going into business
An agreement of your bombast
You'd love my bed
You took the other instead
But don't you feel low
I was being oblique
And you'd love my bed
You got the other instead
What do you owe me?
The price of your piece of mind
You'd love my bed
You took the other instead
06 B.L.U.R.E.M.I. (02:53)
Group using a loopOf another pop group
Group shooting a hoop
And starving it up in to the soup
Cos I'm of regular features
And Adidas trainers
Completing the cycle
Until the teenage maniacs
Can bring it on back
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
Group using a loopOf another pop group
Completing the cycle
Until the teenage maniacs
They'll bring it all back
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I
B L U R E M I...
07 Battle (07:42)
Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle
Battle someone..Oooh
Battle, Battle, Battle
Battle someone..Oooh
Completion Serch
Here I love the blow
See me walk on down to
Adorn myself
It's a glory
Cos, See me
What do you think of now?
Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle
Battle someone..Oooh
Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle
Battle someone..Oooh
Can turn your sights
Kill until sub-zero
See me
Oh it turns you on
All my gawe
It's the end of your
Take your last one now
Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle
Battle someone..Oooh
Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle, Battle
Battle someone..Oooh
09 Trailerpark (04:26)
fist out
fist out for the five
fist out
I'm a country boy I got no Soul
Don't sleep at night, the worlds growing old
I lost my girl to the Rolling Stones
I lost my girl to the Rolling Stones
fist out
fist out for the five
fist out
I'm a country boy I got no Soul
Don't sleep at night, the worlds growing old
I lost my girl to the Rolling Stones
I lost my girl to the Rolling Stones
I'm a country boy I got no Soul
Sleep at night, the worlds growing old
I lost my girl to the Rolling Stones
I lost my girl to the Rolling Stones
10 Caramel (07:38)
I gotta get over
I gotta get over
I gotta get better
I'm with you forever
I gotta find genius (Caramel)
I gotta get better (Caramel)
I gotta stop smoking (Caramel)
I gotta get better (Caramel, Caramel)
-do doo do do doo-
Where's the magic
I gotta get better
Oh lord give me magic
I'm with you forever
I gotta find my skill (mounts hill ???) (Caramel)
and live by the mountains (Caramel)
I love you forever
I knew I , I knew I
(and you are, and you are..
low, low, low)
11 Trimm Trabb (05:37)
I got no style
I'll take my time
All those losers on the piss again
I dose dose away
That's just the way it is
That's just the way it is
I've got trimm trabb
Like the flash boys have
And I can't go back
Let it flow, let it flow
I sleep alone
I sleep alone
That's just the way it is
Just the way it is
Just the way it is
Just the way it is
Just the way it is
That's just the way it is
I got trimm trabb
Like the flash boys have
And I can't go back
Let it flow, let it flow
I sleep alone
I sleep alone...
12 No Distance Left to Run (03:28)
It's over
You don't need to tell me
I hope you're with someone who makes you feel safe in your sleep.
Being tonight
I won't kill myself trying to stay in your life
I've got no distance left to run
When you see me
Please turn your back and walk away
I don't want to see you
Cos I know the dreams that you keep
That's where we meet
When you're coming down think of me
I got no distance left to run
Ohhhh, ohhhh, ohhhh, ohhhh, ohhhh, ohhhh
It's over
I knew it would end this way
I hope you're with someone who makes you feel that this life is a life
One that settles down
Stays around
Spends more time with you
I got no distance left to run
I'm coming home
So cold
Home
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Other reviews
By serestoppone
Britpop and its sound are distant, and we can see nothing clear in this unusual work by the English band.
All honor to Blur, however: they were able to break down, reset, and start over.
By easycure
13 is the definitive album of a band that has moved from brit-pop to a much more open vision of rock.
It is precisely this sense of incompleteness that likely turned many critics off regarding an album that... is not only the most enchanting in Blur’s career but also a very important example of how one can strive to be 'other' than the usual rock norms.
By ste84
"13 is a journey on a round and distorted universe, a puzzle completed but with pieces placed randomly."
"It is bouncing on a soft wall, it is a powerful whisper in your ears..."
By temi
'13' is yet another masterpiece by Blur... But you have to listen to it many times to fully enjoy it… At times it’s frightening.
Coxon described it as 'a mind-blowing trip in devil’s time'…
