release date: May 10, 1993
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,45]
producer: Stephen Street
label: Food Records / EMI Japan - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "For Tomorrow" - 4. "Pressure on Julian" - 5. "Star Shaped" - 6. "Blue Jeans" - 7. "Chemical World" - 9. "Sunday, Sunday" - 13. "Coping"
2nd studio album by Blur follows two years after Leisure and it was originally released on Food Records. it's the first of theirs to introduce a kind of trademark of typical britpop that the debut lacked. All tracks except two are produced by Stephen Street (Steve Lovell produced two tracks and Blur and John Smith primarily produced some short additional intermissions on the album). The album marks a move towards the britpop they would later be much more associated with despite containing various stylistic elements. The tone of the lyrics is an evident ironic sarcasm as heard on typical mod bands like The Kinks and mod revivalists The Jam, and the music heavily builds on especially these two bands repertoire.
I didn't listen to this at the time of its release but have come to like it later on. It's not really great but it has its moments and does contain some original compositions, which makes it more than just interesting, also compared to Leissure, and it basically takes the band's music to a whole different level.
The album is the first of three Blur albums to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Q Magazine 4 / 5, NME 3,5 / 5 stars ]
