13 (Blur album)
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| 13 | |||||
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| Studio album by Blur | |||||
| Released | 15 March 1999 | ||||
| Recorded | June – October 1998 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Length | 66:50 | ||||
| Label | EMI, Food, Virgin | ||||
| Producer | William Orbit, Blur | ||||
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| Blur chronology | |||||
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13 is the sixth album by English alternative rock band Blur, released in March 1999. The album reached number one in the UK Albums Chart and number 80 in the US Billboard 200. 13 spawned three hit singles: "Tender", "Coffee & TV" and "No Distance Left to Run".
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[edit] Recording history
13 sees the band moving further away from their Britpop past into more cerebral and denser musical territory. Some of the songs, however, are evocative of songs from their previous efforts, such as "Bugman", "Coffee & TV", "1992" and "Optigan 1". Much of the album was inspired by Damon Albarn's breakup with Elastica singer Justine Frischmann. Two of the singles, "Tender" and "No Distance Left to Run", describe Albarn's love for Frischmann and his struggle to move on. It is named after the band's recording studio, and also is their first album without longtime producer Stephen Street, rather with electronic producer William Orbit. The cover is a portion of an oil painting by Graham Coxon called Apprentice. The album's singles also have cover art by Coxon. The numbers 1 and 3 have been painted so they also form the letter 'B' - presumably for 'Blur'.
[edit] Release and reception
The album was seen by many as a highly experimental work and received a number of unenthusiastic reviews, but the critical response was generally positive. Of the reviews collected from notable publications by popular review aggregator website Metacritic, the album holds an overall approval rating of 79%.[1]
The music video for the hit single "Coffee & TV" cemented Blur's reputation as a cult band in the U.S. with its protagonist Milky. The video gained heavy airplay on many modern rock channels in America.
In 2004, the album was packaged with 2003's Think Tank in a limited edition box set as part of EMI's "2CD Originals" collection.
[edit] Track listing
All Music by Blur . All Lyrics by Albarn except for Track 3 written by Coxon and Track 1 by Albarn and Coxon.
- "Tender" – 7:40
- "Bugman" – 4:47
- "Coffee & TV" – 5:58
- "Swamp Song" – 4:36
- "1992" – 5:29
- "B.L.U.R.E.M.I." – 2:52
- "Battle" – 7:43
- "Mellow Song" – 3:56
- "Trailerpark" – 4:26
- "Caramel" – 7:38
- "Trimm Trabb" – 5:37
- "No Distance Left to Run" – 3:27
- "Optigan 1" – 2:34
- Japanese bonus track
- "I Got Law" (demo version)
[edit] Production credits
- All tracks produced by William Orbit
- Except "Trailerpark" produced by Blur and "I Got Law" (demo version) produced by Damon Albarn
[edit] Singles
- "Tender" (February 22, 1999, UK #2)
- "Coffee & TV" (June 28, 1999, UK #11)
- "No Distance Left to Run" (November 15, 1999, UK #14)
[edit] Notes
"Trailerpark" was originally intended for the South Park album Chef Aid, but was rejected by Rick Rubin.
"1992" had originally been recorded as a demo in 1992 and was lost until Damon found it again on a tape six years later.
"Mellow Song" was demoed as a jam session known as "Mellow Jam" for the b-side of "Tender".
The album features several short hidden tracks at the end of songs, stretching the playing time out; examples of this are "Coffee & TV", "B.L.U.R.E.M.I.", "Battle" and "Caramel", the latter of which features two hidden tracks.
The Japanese bonus track "I Got Law" (demo version) was developed into the Gorillaz hit single "Tomorrow Comes Today".
[edit] References
- ^ "Blur: 13 (1999): Reviews". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/blur/13?q=blur. Retrieved on 2008-12-29.
| Preceded by Performance and Cocktails by Stereophonics |
UK number one album March 27, 1999 – April 16, 1999 |
Succeeded by Gold: Greatest Hits by ABBA |
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