Late 1990s Britpop wars and you had to choose your side.
Oasis v Blur.
North v South.
Working class lads v Middle class ponces.
Authentic rock'n'roll v Pretentious art school pop.
Yet despite their cheesemonging Cameron fraternisation, I always found Blur's music more pleasing to my ears, and 13 is probably the album I like the most.
Tender opens, a simple tune, simple song, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and the London Gospel Choir working together to create a fine sound. Bugman is an altogether more frantic number, lots of feedback and distortion, a deliberate cacophony to follow a gentle start? But I do love the nod to Sun Ra at the end! Coffee And TV might be my favourite Blur song, a fantastic Coxon composition, with a magnificent distorted guitar solo in the middle. After this, Swamp Song seems limp and throwaway, and 1992 slower but unremarkable. B.L.U.R.E.M.I. is faster but still a bit of nothing, with a strange ethereal ending. Battle has something that I can't quite get, an almost space-rock like feel, which grows on me as the song develops. Mellow Song is, well... mellow. A gentle, pleasant little song, quite enjoyable, and Trailerpark following is more electronic and mysterious. Caramel is a strange little number, evoking Sun Ra (strange noises), Jimmy Page (mandolin) and Eastern drone, all with an organ theme (?) and a brooding almost Krautrock feel - every influence you can fit into seven minutes. It's followed by the sublime Trimm Trabb, which might also be my favourite Blur song, starting quietly and building to a frenzy. No Distance Left To Run, which follows, is pleasant and thoughtful, the album ending with the instrumental, almost fairground style Optigan 1.
I've really enjoyed this album, and can't help feeling that even those tracks I've been lukewarm about will repay further listening. This is a great album.
4* - So much very good material displaying a massive array of influences and styles.
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