Blur Vs Oasis Ten Year Anniversary Edition

Blur had one brilliant tune ('This Is a Low') and a handfull of decent ones.

OFF MY PLANET, CMAN!!

blur: singles band oasis: eyebrows

PULP:

It: Good
Freaks: Better
Seperations: It's still good...
His N'Hers: Classic
Different Class: Even more Classic
This is Hardcore: Best Pulp album
We Love Life: 2nd Best Pulp album

SUEDE
Suede: Classic
Dog Man Star: Best. Album. Ever.
Coming Up: Different band. Still class.
Sci Fi Lullabies: Disc 1 - classic. Disc 2 - alright.
Head Music: Crap
A New Morning: Less crap. A grower.

Overall Pulp win by never making a crap album.

Fourway? Liam would be greasing Damon, Damon would be tugging Jarvis, Jarvis would be wristing Liam, and Brett would be clutching a mirror and palming himself in the corner.

NO! My band's bigger than yours!

PULP> ohgodhaveigottochooseoneoftherestofthese... Blur, if I must.

Dog Man Star bored the crap out of me.

This was the most important thing ever to happen to me musically. Hearing Aphex Twin for the first time, my first rave, getting my first guitar - none of them compare to who got to number one in the British charts that summer. Suddenly, being a teenager in the UK was the coolest thing in the world and Blur, Oasis, Supergrass and Pulp were the ones soundtracking it. People diss the Britpop movement saying it was false or pretentious - not if you were working on your GCSE English assignments it wasn't. This was proper music about people and places we sort of knew, injected with just a little extra sparkle. Smoking illicit cigarettes whilst dancing in circles at the local indie night to "For Tomorrow" and "Alright" - there was nothing more right in the world. Hour-long debates over a hot bunsen burner about whether "Roll With It" was better than "Country House" would ensue, normally ending withthe Oasis kids throwing basalt in the Blur kids' eyes and then getting bollocked by the teacher. Said scoundrels would then be packed off to detention, muttering curses about Blur being cheaters for releasing a double single to boost sales.

Then everything went tits up. My beloved Blur won the war, pipping the Gallaghers to the post. Suddenly they really were everywhere - pictures of Alex James in my sister's copy of Smash Hits, thousands of underaged screaming fans at concerts. This was nothing like the Starshaped video, this was Take-fucking-That all over again. The appalling Live It! remix of "Entertain Me" was the first nail in the coffin, the last was when a really irritating girl in my class came in wearing a "DAMON" neckband and then trying to correct me on the pronunciation of "Albarn". That was the day I went to the second hand shop and sold every Blur record I owned. The dream was over.

1 Oasis Go Let It Out Feb 2000
4 Oasis Who Feels Love? Apr 2000
4 Oasis Sunday Morning Call Jul 2000
1 Oasis The Hindu Times Apr 2002
2 Oasis Stop Crying Your Heart Out Jun 2002
2 Oasis Little By Little / She Is Love Oct 2002
3 Oasis Songbird Feb 2003

Anyway, my Blur ratings out of 5:

Leisure: 3
Underrated - there's some real moments on this one including "Sing", "Wear Me Down" and of course "There's No Other Way". I guess by later standards it was utter garbage but I really do like it.

Modern Life Is Rubbish: 4 and a half
A giant step on from Leisure - really amazing stuff. Chemical World was a highlight but I also liked that cheeky interlude track. I must dig it out again soon.

Parklife: 5
This album is flawless (yes, apart from Girls And Boys which I always skip for some reason). This was the first CD I ever bought and it changed my world. Punky tunes, new wave tunes, waltzes, sad tunes, shoegazer tunes and This Is A Low - the works in 16 tracks. Lovely album artwork too. Why don't more albums come with the chords and lyrics on the inlay, huh?

Great Escape
Yes it had some good singles and really I rather liked Country House - the harmonies and depth in that song made it so much more than a cockney knees-up. Still it felt like Blur had recorded Parklife's resigned older wearier brother. It was a depressed record after the celebration of the last two albums. I especially like "Best Days" the Graham Coxon contribution, the strings on "The Universal" and the two-tone touches on tracks 5 & 6. Was never too keen on "Stereotypes" - it felt like a non song to follow up the first two singles.

Blur
It was good that Blur made this album - I fell in love with them all over again - having to buy all my records back. Not a whole lot of duff moments on here and I have many many good memories of this LP.

13
It was clear that they were losing their grips about this time. The Damon schmaltzasborg that was "Tender" went on forever and just stank of self indulgence. A very dull song. I did however adore "Coffee & TV" and rate it as one of their best songs. There were a heck of a lot of clunkers on this album. I still have some great memories about it though.

Think Tank
Really really average. There were a few good moments - the first two tracks are really beautiful and "Caravan" reminds me of Ride a little bit. Still, I don't listen to this very much - it's clearly not worth the effort and I treat it as a relic.

Can someone post a list of all the Blur b-sides please? I think those are some of their best songs but I sadly lost them in the great Blur purge of '96.

Great Escape: 3 and a half
Blur: 4
13: 3
Think Tank: 2

Excellent. Does she want to come for a drink with me?

Leisure: 3.5
Modern Life Is Rubbish: 10
Parklife: 4.5
The Great Escape: 4
Blur: 4.5
13: 4
Think Tank: 3

"Oi Sev! There's a random internet mentalist from the West of England wants to take you out on a date - whaddya say?" ;-)

A few years ago I might have had Suede and Blur in the opposite order but then the latter went out and made Think Tank.

Leisure: 3
MLIR : 4
Parklife : 5 (but man, does this album sound dated now. Have you listened to it lately? Yeah, it already sounded dated when it came out because it ripped off the Kinks blah blah blah)
GE : 3.5 (as mentioned above, GREAT singles, including their best ever, "The Universal")
Blur : 3.5
13 : 3.5
Think Tank : - 1324748 (unlistenable)

They should have quit when Graham quit - he bailed ship at the right time. Instead they carry on as a trio of embarassing dads who bought silly "designer" clothes from TK Maxx.

I got paid today and I got a bonus, too.

Leisure: monotonous, drab indie-dance. "sing" shows promise for the future, couple of decent variations on the dull formula ("She's So High", "Theres no other way". 2.5 (out of 5)

Modern Life is Rubbish: Much improved and a lot more colourful. Slightly let down by some forgettable art-punk. 4 (out of 5)

Parklife: Brilliant, enormously enjoyable from start to finish. Last time i listened, Albarn's smug lyrical tone grated a bit, though. 4.5 (out of 5)

Great Escape: Basically parklife 2, but more refined, more colourful. their masterpiece. 5 out of 5.

Blur: Rather silly change of direction (although they'd probably brought the britpop thing to its natural conclusion) made up for by some classic tunes (beetlebum and song 2 mainly) 3.5 / 5

13: Overbearing arrangements suffocate the odd moment of loveliness -blur lacking lightness of touch to make textural music. coxon starting to bog the group down. 2.5 / 5

Think Tank: Much more relaxed, poppy and enjoyable - but still too much silliness. 3.5 / 5

OASIS:
Definately Maybe: Storming start - the only one i'd still listen to, although probably played "..glory" more back in the day. liam's voice at its best. 4 / 5

What's the Story: Largely excellent follow-up, bit drab and mid-paced at times. could benefit from more rockers. more about noel than liam, but noel actually coped manfully on this one. 4 / 5

Be Here Now: Overblown arrangements and production. noel's songwriting floundering anyway. i like "stand by me" though. 2.5 / 5

Masterplan: Sounding like a cool midpoint between their first two records - on b-sides noel resists temptation to overblow things as well - a much better rec than be here now. 4 / 5

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants: Too one-paced, all the life has been sucked out of the band. still have a soft spot for "fuckin in the bushes" and "sunday morning call", tho. 3 / 5

Heathen Chemistry: haven't heard it all, but from what i have, sounds rub. 2 / 5

blur win!

I think The Great Escape might be my favourite Blur record; meant a lot to me back in the 1995 day.

But "Popscene" is my favourite individual Blur track.

Don't think I ever "got" Oasis. But when you consider that the month their first album came out was the same month that - pause for breath - the Prodigy's Music For The Jilted Generation, Portishead's Dummy, Jeff Buckley's Grace, Orbital's Snivilisation and the Manics' Holy Bible also came out, then it's perhaps understandable.

C-post - yr a sick man, ENRQ.

Dummy and Sniv were the same day I think.
Def Maybe and Holy Bible were definitely the same day: the Monday bank holiday. WHSmiths was the only vendor open so that was where I got 'em.

I still like Oasis (even BHN!). I have long since ditched all my Blur albums except for The Great Escape, which I only really kept for Yuko and Hiro (bloody fantastic track). If I'm honest I still like the whole of TGE lots, but don't need any more Blur.

I have always found Pulp strangely cold and unloveable, there's just something too clever-clever and knowing about the likes of Common People, Sorted.., Mis-shapes etc. I think after years out in the wilderness JC tried too hard to be of the moment when his chance came. I dislike Different Class intensely, although I do have some time for Hardcore and the next one - more human.

Suede - pompous and wretched.

Best 'Britop' album by a mile - Elastica.

Dr C. -- no, 'Def Maybe' wasn't ignored, not in Select, anyway. 'Live Forever' was widely seen as a classic at the time, I think.

Oh yeah actually 'Dog Man Star' probably got mo' hype in the music press.

This had me falling out my chair - much as I like the MBeat song.

*goes off to check old diaries*

quite correct, Music For The Jilted Generation released 4th July 1994.

Def Maybe was raved about all over the place - 10/10 in NME etc. Typical that Q missed out on it, as they usually manage to miss out on everything else. It certainly was released on Aug Bank Hol Mon 'cos I remember going into HMV Bond Street and getting that + Holy Bible. The other big name record out that week was a Three Tenors album, and there was a bit of a hyped-up kerfuffle about who was going to get the number one slot (Oasis got it).

Dog -- I wd actually like to know what 'real' dnb fanz/junglists think of 'Incredible'. Coz indie me fucking loved it, but, being told somewhere that it was pop shit, didn't really follow it up. But in my memory that and 'Jilted' were the sound of that summer.

Cypress Hill: Black Sunday
Offspring: Self Esteem / Smash

I vaguely remember play Super Nintendo and listening to these about the same time (maybe a little later?).

It actually made the song sound a bit Teardrop Explodes, as Simon Price noted when it came out as a single...

To add my own spin to the Blur album ratings: Leisure 7 out of 10, MLIR 8, Parklife 8, TGE 8, Blur 9, 13 10, Think Tank 7.

channel 4 showing Supersonic...

directly opposite

sky arts showing To The End and the recent Wembley stadium gig

seems like every time one of these bands breaks up the other reforms.

no it doesn’t

"Incredible" was Paul McCartney's single of the year IIRC..

Mind blown by this. Surely it can’t be true, can it?

A few years earlier Paul loved On a Ragga Tip so much (having first heard it on Kiss) (!) that he got XL to send him a copy. As stated on The Chart Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XFkqxafdPc

All of this is probably beaten by how Des O'Connor's favourite album ever was Experience

Ha, it was only through this and the Wonderwall thread that I was reminded that Noel's daughter is named Anaïs Gallagher - apparently after Anaïs Nin. Somehow I feel the delicate erotica of Little Birds was what was missing from the brothers' lyrics...

Yeah I assume she was named by her mother.

any love for heathen chemistry? so many don't seem to care for this one. it was the first oasis disc i had when i was a kid, so maybe that's the bias for me... the first 5 tracks are solid, if a bit cheesy; hindu times is such a belter, and stop crying your heart out is just behind wonderwall for high emotions...! songbird is so, so sweet too.

Yes! I feel that Heathen Chemistry is easily the best post-Morning Glory album. Like, by far. I'm always surprised when I see it at the bottom of Oasis album ranking lists.

"All of this is probably beaten by how Des O'Connor's favourite album ever was Experience"

You have to admit that it's a pretty good snapshot of rave music circa 1992, and "Death of the Prodigy Dancers" demonstrates that they were capable of putting on an entertaining live show, which is something Des O'Connor would have appreciated given his theatrical background.