•
Rating:
Odio et amo
This could be the phrase to introduce a biography of Blur. I think they are the most controversial band of the last 15 years.
Starting as a timid imitation of the Stone Roses, they began to personalize their style by the 2nd album, drawing from the English pop tradition of groups like the Beatles and the Who. This album is considered the starting point of Britpop, bringing English rock back to the top of the charts. But soon there would be a new change for the band: after the critical failure of “The Great Escape” and the defeat in the sales war with Oasis, they decided to approach American low-fi with their self-titled album and 13.
I usually don't like Best ofs, but for this one, I have to make an exception. I believe that only the songs contained in this CD are worth saving from the first part of Albarn and associates' career (the Britpop era). These songs are cute but nothing special or particularly innovative, as they merely copy the Kinks, the Beatles, Bowie, and the Who to create songs with easy commercial appeal. Moreover, this best of is well-crafted, with 18 of the band's most famous songs.
Let's start with the tracks: the CD begins with Beetlebum, a melancholic ballad that in parts recalls Lennon. It's followed by the two-minute punk-rock of Song 2, featuring the famous “whoo-whoo” (watch the video). The next song, There's No Other Way, belongs to their first album. It's very lively and danceable (almost like a boogie) and it will be the one to bring them success in 1989.
After these three very good tracks, they stumble with The Universal (The Great Escape). The song is a sickly sweet and self-celebratory ballad, in my opinion, downright horrible. Coffee & Tv (13) is a partial return to Parklife schemes, while the next song, sharing its name with the aforementioned album, is very fun and carefree (the choruses repeating “Parklife” at the end of each verse are amusing). End Of A Century is a semi-ballad (I wouldn't know how else to define it) and in No Distance Left To Run, Albarn’s soft-spoken voice creates an atmosphere that reminds me of a person on the edge of a cliff. Tender is a wonderful song: a mix of gospel (the choirs) and country music. It’s followed by Girls And Boys, and here we need to open a parenthesis. I think you all remember the song's original version, with the recurring Oh-oh-oh-ohoh chorus throughout the song: here it is removed (except for two instances) and the excessive original disco rhythm is somehow toned down, making the song very, very beautiful.
The first time I heard Charmless Man, I thought: “Blast! It’s the commercial song” (it was a good luck charm for me and my friends during the World Cup, and we all know how that turned out). A beautiful song, unlike the following She’s So High, which, although it has an enveloping melody, after the fifth repetition of the same phrase makes you want to exclaim: “Damn, I get that it’s so great, but you’re starting to get on my nerves.” Country House is acceptable, but nothing special. To The End has an orchestral background and On Your Own, with its distorted riffs, is one of my favorite Blur songs. This Is A Low is an honorable song, as is For Tomorrow (the only track taken from Modern Life Is Rubbish). The track is really catchy and you find yourself humming it during Latin class. Music Is My Radar is the only unreleased track: the song, electronic, is quite unique in Blur's discography.
I'm finished. Now I just want to apologize if it's too long, but I've been criticized for not being thorough in reviews, and this is the result.
THE END
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Beetlebum (05:05)
Beetlebum, what you done
She's a gun, now what you done, Beetlebum
Get nothing done, you Beetlebum
Just get numb, now what you done, Beetlebum
And when she lets me slip away
She turns me on and all my violence gone
Nothing is wrong, I just slip away and I am gone
Nothing is wrong, she turns me on
I just slip away and I am gone
Beetlebum, because you're young
She's a gun, now what you done, Beetlebum
She'll suck your thumb, she'll make you come
Cos she's your gun, now what you done, Beetlebum
And when she lets me slip away
She turns me on and all my violence gone
Nothing is wrong, I just slip away and I am gone
There's nothing wrong, she turns me on
I just slip away and I am
He's on, he's on, he's on it,
He's on, he's on, he's on it. (to end)
02 Song 2 (02:02)
Wooooo oooo!
Wooooo oooo!
Wooooo oooo!
Wooooo oooo!
I got my head checked
By a jumbo jet
It wasn't easy
but nothing i-is
No
(Wooooo hooooooo!)
When I feel heavy metal
(Wooooo hooooooo!)
And I'm pins and I'm needles
(Wooooo hooooooo!)
Well, I lie and I'm easy
All of the time but I am never sure
Why I need you
Pleased to meet you
I got my hair done
When I was young
It's not my problem
It's not my probleeemmm
(Wooooooooo hooooooo!!!)
When I feel heavy metal
(Wooooo hooooooo!)
And I'm pins and I'm needles
(Wooooo hooooooo!)
Well, I lie and I'm easy
All of the time but I am never sure
Why I need you
Pleased to meet you
Yeah yeah!
Yeah yeah!
Yeah yeah!
Oh yeah
03 There's No Other Way (03:13)
You're taking the fun
Out of everything
Making me run
When I don't want to think
You're taking the fun
Out of everything
I don't want to think at all
There's no other way
There's no other way
All that you can do
Is watch them play
You're taking the fun
Out of everything
You're making it clear
When I don't want to think
You're taking me up when
I dont want to go up anymore
I'm just watching it all
There's no other way
There's no other way
All that you can do
Is watch them play
I'll watch you play
04 The Universal (04:00)
This is the next century
Where the universals free
You can find it anywhere
Yes the future's been sold
Every night we're gone
And to Karaoke songs
How we like to sing along
Though the words are wrong
It really really really could happen
Yes it really really really could happen
When the days they seem to fall through you
Just let them go
No one here is alone
Satellites in every home
Yes the universals here
Here for everyone
Every paper that you read
Says tomorrow your lucky day
Well here's your lucky day
It really really really could happen
Yes it really really really could happen
When the days they seem to fall through you
Just let them go
Well it really really really could happen
Yes it really really really could happen
When the days they seem to fall through you
Just let them go
Just let them go
Just let them go
06 Parklife (03:07)
OOYY!!
Confidence is a preference
For the habitual voyeur
Of what is known as
(Parklife)
And morning soup can be avoided
If you take a route
Straight through what is known as
(Parklife)
John's got brewers droop he gets
Intimidated by the dirty pigeons
They love a bit of it
(Parklife)
Who's that gut lord marchin?
You should cut down on your porklife mate
Get some exercise
CHORUS:
All the people
So many people
And they all go hand in hand
Hand in hand through their parklife
Know what i mean?
I get up when i want except on wednesdays
When i get rudely awaken by the dustmen
(Parklife)
I put on my trousers on, have a cup of tea
And then think about leaving the house
(Parklife)
I feed the pigeons
I sometimes feed the sparrows too
It gives me a sense of enormous well being
(Parklife)
And then i'm happy for the rest of the day
Safe in the knowledge there will always
Be a bit of my heart devoted to it
CHORUS
Parklife (Parklife)
Parklife (Parklife)
Its got nothing to do with your
Vorsprung durch technique you know
And its not about you joggers
Who go round and round and round and round.....
CHORUS
07 End Of A Century (02:46)
She says there's ants in the carpet
Dirty little monsters
Eating all the morsels
Picking up the rubbish
Give her effervescence
She needs a little sparkle
Good morning t.v.
You're lookin' so healthy
CHORUS:
We all say
Dont want to be alone
We wear the same clothes
'cause we feel the same
We kiss with dry lips
When we say goodnight
End of a century.. it's nothing special
Sex on the t.v.
Everybody's at it
And the mind gets dirty
As you get closer to thirty
He gives her a cuddle
Glowing in a huddle
Good night t.v.
Your all made up
You're looking like me
Chorus
Can... you... eat... her... yes... you... can...
Chorus x2
End of a century.. It's nothing specialx2
08 No Distance Left To Run (03:26)
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
09 Tender (07:41)
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)
11 Charmless Man (03:33)
I met him in a crowded room
Where people go to drink away their gloom
He sat me down and so began
The story of a charmless man
Educated the expensive way
He knows his claret from his beaujolais
I think he'd like to have been Ronnie Kray
But then nature didn't make him that way
He thinks he's educated, heirs those family shares
Will protect him, we'll respect him
He moves in circles of friends who just pretend
That they like him, he does the same to them
And when you put it all together
There's the model of a charmless man
He knows the swingers and their cavalry
Says he can get in anywhere for free
I began to go a little cross-eyed
And from this charmless man I just had to hide
He talks at speed he gets nosebleeds
He doesn't see his days are tumbling down upon him
And yet he tries so hard to please
He's just so keen for you to listen
But no-one's listening
And when you put it all together there's the model of a charmless man
12 She's So High (03:49)
I see her face everyday
I see her face
It doesn't help me
I see her face everyday
I see her face
It doesn't help me
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
I think of her everyday
I think of her
It doesn't help me
I think of her everyday
I think of her
It doesn't help me
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
She doesn't help me
She doesn't help me
She doesn't help me
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
13 Country House (03:57)
So the story begins)
City dweller
Successful fella
Thought to himself:
"Oops, I've got a lot of money
Caught in a rat race
Terminally
I'm a professional cynic
But my heart's not in it
I'm paying the price of living life at the limit
Caught up in the century's anxiety"
Yes, it preys on him
He's getting thin
(Try the simple life)
He lives in a house
A very big house
In the country
Watching afternoon repeats
And the food he eats
In the country
He takes all manner of pills
And piles up analyst bills
In the country
Oh, it's like an animal farm
That's the rural charm
In the country
He's got morning glory and life's a different story
Everything's going Jack and Dory
Touched with his own mortality
He's reading Balzac, knocking back Prozac
It's a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland
Oh, it's a century's remedy
For the faint at heart
A new start
(Try the simple life)
He lives in a house
A very big house
In the country
He's got a fog in his chest
So he needs a lot of rest
In the country
He doesn't drink, smoke, laugh
Takes herbal baths
In the country
You should come to no harm
On the animal farm
In the country
(Blow, blow me out, I am so sad, I don't know why)
15 On Your Own (04:27)
Holy man tiptoed his way across the Ganges
The sound of magic music in his ears
Videod by a bus load of tourists
Shiny shellsuits on and drinking lemonade
Now I got a funny feeling which I bought mail order
From a man in a teepee in California
Said he once was that great game show performer
Then he blew all his money away
Blew it all away
So take me home
Don't leave me alone
I'm not that good
But I'm not that bad
No psycho killer
Hooligan guerilla
I dream to riot
Oh you should try it
R.E. parole get gold card soul
My joy of life is on a roll
And we'll all be the same in the end
Then you're on your own (2)
Well we all go high for day glow in the discos
The sound of magic music in our brains
someone stumbles to the bathroom with the horrors
Says Lord give me time for I've jumped into space
I'm in outer space
So take me home
Don't leave me alone
I'm not that good
But I'm not that bad
No psycho killer
Hooligan guerilla
I dream to riot
Oh you should try it
R.E. parole get gold card soul
My joy of life is on a roll
And we'll all be the same in the end
16 This Is A Low (05:02)
And into the sea goes pretty England and me
Around the Bay of Biscay and back for tea
Hit traffic on the Dogger bank
Up the Thames to find a taxi rank
Sail on by with the tide and go asleep
And the radio says
(chorus)
This is a low
But it won't hurt you
When you are alone it will be there with you
Finding ways to stay solo
On the Tyne, Forth, and Cromarty
There's a low in the high Forties
And Saturday's locked away on the pier
Not fast enough dear
On the Malin head, Blackpool looks blue and red
And the queen, she's gone round the bend
Jumped off land's end
(chorus x 3)
17 For Tomorrow (06:02)
He's a twentieth century boy
With his hands on the rails
Trying not to be sick again
And holding on for tomorrow
London ice cracks on a seamless line
He's hanging on for dear life
So we hold each other tightly
And hold on for tomorrow
Singing
La la, la la la
La la la la la la la la (x3)
Holding on for tomorrow
...oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...
She's a twentieth century girl
With her hands on the wheel
Trying not to make him sick again
Seeing what she can borrow
London's so nice back in your seamless rhymes
But we're we're lost on the Westway
So we hold each other tightly
And hold on for tomorrow
Singing
La la, la la la
La la la la la la la la (x3)
Holding on for tomorrow
Trying not to be sick again
And holding for tomorrow
She's a twentieth century girl
Hanging on for dear life
So we hold each other tightly
And hold on for tomorrow
Singing
La la, la la la
La la la la la la la la (x3)
Holding on for tomorrow
Jim stops and gets out the car,
goes to a house in Emperor's gate,
Through the door and to his room,
Then he puts the TV on,
Turns it off and makes some tea,
Says Modern Life Is Rubbish I'm
Holding on for tomorrow,
Then Susan comes into the room,
She's a naughty girl with a lovely smile,
Says let's take a drive to Primrose Hill,
It's windy there and the view's so nice,
London ice can freeze your toes
Like anyone I suppose
I'm holding on for tomorrow...
18 Music Is My Radar (05:29)
You really got me seeing you
Really got me done y'all
Music is my radar
Really topped my joy y'all
Really topped my radio
Really got me done y'all
Dealing I'll be seeing you
Really got my beats now, on my ear now...
Aah don't stop me now, x7
Really got me changing from my bill from job
Into a new life, oh you really got
Really got me singing elsewhere, oh my girl
Really got me dancin', dancin' in my head now baby
Tony Allen beats me
Tony Allen beats me
Tony Allen gets what a boy can do
Really got me dancin'
He really got me dancin'
But I don't give my soul
All ya'll need and yeah don't give a soul
You really got me driftin'
You really got me dancin'
You really got me dancin' in my head
Aah don't stop me now, x7
Aah don't stop me now (You really got me dancin')
(repeat a lot of times)
19 She's So High (05:24)
I see her face everyday
I see her face
It doesn't help me
I see her face everyday
I see her face
It doesn't help me
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
I think of her everyday
I think of her
It doesn't help me
I think of her everyday
I think of her
It doesn't help me
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
She doesn't help me
She doesn't help me
She doesn't help me
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
She's so high
She's so high
She's so high
I want to crawl all over her
22 End Of A Century (03:00)
She says there's ants in the carpet
Dirty little monsters
Eating all the morsels
Picking up the rubbish
Give her effervescence
She needs a little sparkle
Good morning t.v.
You're lookin' so healthy
CHORUS:
We all say
Dont want to be alone
We wear the same clothes
'cause we feel the same
We kiss with dry lips
When we say goodnight
End of a century.. it's nothing special
Sex on the t.v.
Everybody's at it
And the mind gets dirty
As you get closer to thirty
He gives her a cuddle
Glowing in a huddle
Good night t.v.
Your all made up
You're looking like me
Chorus
Can... you... eat... her... yes... you... can...
Chorus x2
End of a century.. It's nothing specialx2
23 Stereotypes (03:27)
The suburbs they are dreaming
They're a twinkle in her eye
She's been feeling frisky
Since her husband said goodbye
She wears a low-cut T-shirt
Runs a little B&B
She's most accommodating
When she's in her lingerie
Wife swapping is your future
You know that it would suit ya
Yes, the stereotypes, there must be more to life
All your life you're dreaming and when you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
You should be going on another bender
The suburbs they are sleeping
But she's dressing up tonight
She likes a man in uniform
He likes to wear it tight
They're on the lover's sofa
They're on the patio
And when the fun is over
Watch themselves on video
The neighbours may be staring
But they just lost caring
Yes, the stereotypes, there must be more to life
All your life you're dreaming and when you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
You're going on another bender
Yes, there must be more to life than stereotypes
Wife swapping is your future
You know that it would suit ya
Yes, the stereotypes, there must be more to life
All your life you're dreaming and when you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
You should be going on another bender
Yes, there must be more to life than stereotypes
All your life you're dreaming and when you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
You should go on another bender
If for you come to offend her
24 Charmless Man (03:31)
I met him in a crowded room
Where people go to drink away their gloom
He sat me down and so began
The story of a charmless man
Educated the expensive way
He knows his claret from his beaujolais
I think he'd like to have been Ronnie Kray
But then nature didn't make him that way
He thinks he's educated, heirs those family shares
Will protect him, we'll respect him
He moves in circles of friends who just pretend
That they like him, he does the same to them
And when you put it all together
There's the model of a charmless man
He knows the swingers and their cavalry
Says he can get in anywhere for free
I began to go a little cross-eyed
And from this charmless man I just had to hide
He talks at speed he gets nosebleeds
He doesn't see his days are tumbling down upon him
And yet he tries so hard to please
He's just so keen for you to listen
But no-one's listening
And when you put it all together there's the model of a charmless man
25 Beetlebum (06:09)
Beetlebum, what you done
She's a gun, now what you done, Beetlebum
Get nothing done, you Beetlebum
Just get numb, now what you done, Beetlebum
And when she lets me slip away
She turns me on and all my violence gone
Nothing is wrong, I just slip away and I am gone
Nothing is wrong, she turns me on
I just slip away and I am gone
Beetlebum, because you're young
She's a gun, now what you done, Beetlebum
She'll suck your thumb, she'll make you come
Cos she's your gun, now what you done, Beetlebum
And when she lets me slip away
She turns me on and all my violence gone
Nothing is wrong, I just slip away and I am gone
There's nothing wrong, she turns me on
I just slip away and I am
He's on, he's on, he's on it,
He's on, he's on, he's on it. (to end)
27 Tender (06:20)
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)
28 No Distance Left To Run (04:08)
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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