Blur – Blur (1997)

Blur's self-titled album is a peculiar recording. Their style changed quite significantly from the previous album Great Escape. On this album, Blur was more experimental than they had ever been before, but at the same time, they had their biggest international mainstream hit on this same album. Great Escape had been really successful album in the UK, but it had still stayed in the shadow of Oasis' massive hit album (What's the Story) Morning Glory. So far, Blur had sounded very British and they hadn't taken so many influences from US music. This changed when Graham Coxon, the band's guitarist wanted to take influences from US bands such as Pavement for this album. The overall sound moved away from mainstream, but there were a couple of hit songs on the album that finally gave a small breakthrough for Blur in the US.



The most obvious hit song from the album is Song 2. Whenever I speak to Americans, this seems to be pretty much the only song they know from Blur. At first, it was strange to realise that they hadn't really heard songs like Girls and Boys, Parklife, The Universal or Country House. These songs had been very popular in Europe, but for some reason, probably by the virtue of sounding too British, these songs didn't make it in the US. So, the Americans only got introduced to Blur after the biggest hype of britpop was already over.

The album begins with the song Beetlebum that was also somewhat of a hit back in the day. This song isn't too dissimilar from the hit songs on the earlier albums. The chorus is very catchy. So, the surprise must've hit to old fans only later on in the album. Second song, the already mentioned Song 2 is seriously a good party song, but in my opinion it's not as good as some of the hit songs on the earlier albums and therefore it was strange for me to hear that this was the one song Americans might know. Country Sad Ballad Man is the first track on the album that truly reveals that Blur is up to something new on this album. The lo-fi and strange song sounds a bit like Beck's early albums. M.O.R. on the other hand sounds a lot like Supergrass who was starting out their career around the same time as this album came out. On Your Own takes us back to classic Blur with some additional strange sounds. This song could've just as easily been on Parklife or Great Escape. Theme from Retro and I'm Just a Killer for Your Love give a taste of just how experimental Blur can go when they want to. You're So Great is a super lo-fi song that sounds almost like Guided by Voices. Look Inside America, despite of its name is a taste of old-school Blur. This song sounds a lot like the songs on the band's second album Modern Life Is Rubbish. One of my personal favourites from this album is Strange News from Another Star. This hypnotic and slightly buzzing alternative ballad is very relaxing and I remember the first time I really understood this song. My friend had made me a mixed tape with his favourite Blur songs and I was listening to it on a bus on my walkman. This strange song hit me really strong. I was just staring out of the windows to a wet slushy Finland and the music took me to somewhere else completely.

When it comes to music videos, I simply have to link the music video for Song 2. This video was playing on MTV over and over again back in the day. It's basically just the band playing the song live and bouncing on the walls of their rehearsal space. There's some youthful aggression in this song that appeals to teenagers. Also, the live sequences on this video remind me of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit video, which must've had an impact on the song's popularity in the US.

All in all, Blur's self-titled album is a very good collection of songs, but it requires a bit more effort to truly get into the songs. It marked a chance in the band's musical style and even today, Blur is often referred to as an alternative rock band rather than as just a britpop band. Nevertheless, this was the last really good Blur album and after that, like all the other britpop bands, also Blur lost their edge.

Listen to the album on Spotify.