It’s been more than ten years and six albums since these likely lads burst onto the independent music scene with their debut, Leisure. Despite a few changes of style and direction, one thing has remained a constant: Blur has a canny ability to regularly churn out infectious and cleverly crafted Indie-pop.
This collection features the videos from all 22 of the band’s singles from 1990 to date (it is worth noting that the CD release features only 18 tracks).
The videos are arranged chronologically and, when viewed in order, offer an interesting insight into the growth of the band. Each video is preceded by the original, often striking, sleeve artwork. This serves as a nice soft introduction to each song and somehow adds weight and a sense of music history to each track. Though the band’s appearance changes little over the ten years (aside from a couple of questionable haircuts in the early videos) it is nonetheless intriguing to watch the bands transition from gawky shoe-gazers to credible musicians.
Among some of the highlights that might help to justify your purchase is the inclusion of 1992’s Popscene. This little punk-pop gem was not featured on any of the Blur albums and finds the band in full flight. Also of note is the stylish, For Tomorrow directed by Julien Temple (The Filth and the Fury) and beginning Blur’s love affair with street-level London (a theme they would explore much more thoroughly in the years that followed). The ferocious Song 2 still delivers a nice kick while Tender’s ‘live in the studio’ feel not only highlights the band’s maturity, it features a gospel choir that provides another textured layer to the stunning original.
Make no mistake - Damon Albarn is a shameless ham in many of the film clips but nevertheless, makes for a charismatic and entertaining frontman. Refreshingly, the members of Blur don’t seem to take themselves too seriously and all of the videos featured here carry with them a harmless sense of fun.
Track Listing:
She’s So High
There’s No Other Way
Bang
Popscene
For Tomorrow
Chemical World
Sunday Sunday
Girls and Boys
To The End
Parklife
End Of A Century
Country House
The Universal
Stereotypes
Charmless Man
Beetlebum
Song 2
On Your Own
M.O.R.
Tender
Coffee And TV
No Distance Left To Run
The presentation of this disc is full frame with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. Given the minimal production on a couple of the earlier videos, the picture quality is surprisingly sharp on this disc.
The colours featured on most of the clips were good (see Chemical World for a striking saturation) and for the most part appear very natural (let’s face it, these guys look a little washed-out anyway). Having seen a lot of these video clips on various music programs over the years, there is no doubt that they have never looked as good as they do on this disc.
The Dolby stereo presented on this DVD is more than adequate and is close enough to reference standard. Considering the lack of production on some of the earlier videos, the sound is remarkably clear and is of CD quality to say the least. If you want to clear out a few cobwebs (or a few neighbours), crank up the volume on Song 2 and then hold onto something solid.
‘Whoo-hoo!’ indeed.
Given Blur’s modest brush with chart success in this country, some may be surprised by the sheer number and diversity of songs on this compilation. Nevertheless, it is a sound document of a prolific band that has remained a Britpop stalwart for more than a decade. When reviewing any music DVD it is of course very subject to the musical tastes of the reviewer. Four pale Englishmen rolling their eyes fashionably at the camera is not everybody’s cup of Earl Gray so if you haven’t grasped onto Blur at this stage, you may not find much in this compilation to convince you to do so. For those that have even a passing interest in the band however, this compilation is a lot of fun.