Blur were formed in 1988 when school friends, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon were joined by Alex Hames and Dave Rowntree. Initially called Seymour, Albarn, James and Coxon were all studying at Goldsmith’s College and Rowntree had played in previous bands with Coxon. By 1989, they played their first gig and after recording some demos, attracted the interest of Food Records. Duly signed, their second single, ‘There’s No Other Way’ broke the top ten in the UK. The singles either side of this did not chart as highly. ‘Leisure’ the parent album also broke the Top Ten but it did garner mix reviews.
A tour of the USA in 1992, ostensibly to pay off their debts lead to fighting between members. Homesick and close to being drooped by their label, the band returned with the ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ LP. The album and all of the singles that were taken from it all charted and the band were able to keep their record deal. Considering what was to come next, it does show that sometimes you really need to let an artist grow. Success does not always come straighter away.
In 1994, the band released the single ‘Girls & Boys’. This and parent album ‘Parklife’ came out at exactly the right time for the band to ride on the wave of the new Britpop scene. The ‘Parklife’ single, featuring actor Phil Daniels, seemed to be everywhere in the late summer of 1994, but I was surprised to find that this was not as big a hit as ‘Girls and Boys’. It was around this time that the feud with Oasis, that other behemoth of Britpop started. This would culminate with the infamous Battle of Britpop when the bands released their latest singles on the same day. Blur with ‘Country House’ and Oasis with ‘Roll With It’. For such a monumental time (as this race to see who would make it to number 1 made the national news), both songs were not very good.
Blur ultimately won that battle but their next album, ‘The Great Escape’ was eclipsed in sales by Oasis and their ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? album. Feeling that the writing observational pop songs had run its course, the band released ‘Blur’ which showed Coxon’s interest in American noise alternative rock. However, this collection does not go this far into the story, nor does it include anything of the B-Sides released before ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’. As this is a year of celebrating all things Britpop, this just focuses on that era of the band’s releases.
Blur released eleven singles in the UK so there was a lot of material to choose from, but unlike Suede or Oasis, their hit rate for top notch B-Sides was not as great. However what does become clear, especially when listening to the singles for ‘The Great Escape’ was how they were already to experiment with the sound that would come to dominate their 1997 self titled album.
Side A
- Ultranol (The Univsesal – 1995)
- Threedneedle Street (To The End – 1994)
- Bone Bag (For Tomorrow – 1993)
- My Ark (Chemical World – 1993)
- St Louis (Chemical World – 1993)
- Beechcoma (For Tomorrow – 1993)
- Anniversary Waltz (Girls & Boys – 1994)
Side B
- A Song (Stereotypes – 1996)
- No Monsters In Me (The Univsesal – 1995)
- Into Another (For Tomorrow – 1993)
- The Man Who Left Himself (The Story Of The Charmless Man – 1996)
- Theme from An Imaginary Film (Parklife – 1994)
- Tame (Stereotypes – 1996)
- Supa Shoppa (Parklife – 1994)
I adapted the cover from an image I found the blog http://blur-expresso.blogspot.com/2009/10/blur-b-sides-rarities