''Blur 21'' is a CD, DVD and vinyl
box set encompassing the vast majority of music by
Blur. It was released on 30 July 2012, commemorating the 21st anniversary of the release of ''
Leisure
Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisur ...
'', the band's first album. The release took place before the band's performance at
Hyde Park as part of the
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, also known as A Symphony of British Music, was held on 12 August 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London. The chief guest was Prince Harry of Wales representing Queen Elizabeth II. The closi ...
. One version of the box-set consists of eighteen CDs, three DVDs, one vinyl 7" record (of the early Seymour track "Superman") and a hardcover book acting as a complete biography of the band. The CDs contain all seven Blur albums, with the first five remastered, with each album receiving a new second disc of
B-side material; as well as four 'rarities' discs containing mostly previously unreleased material. The DVDs contain ''
Showtime'', ''The Singles Night'' and an all-new rarities disc. It is the band's most retrospective release.
Another boxset, ''Blur 21 Vinyl Edition'', was released at the same time, featuring the band's seven studio albums on heavyweight vinyl, each of the LPs repackaged as a double album except for ''
Leisure
Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisur ...
'', a single album. The vinyl edition does not, however, include any previously unreleased material. As above, the ''Blur 21'' CD/DVD/7" single pack contains many previously unreleased recordings, including the long-awaited releases of previously known about songs like "Pap Pop," "Beached Whale" and "Sir Elton John's Cock."
Yet some previously released songs by the band have not been listed as featuring on the box set, such as "Colours," a ''Think Tank'' outtake released as a fan club single in 2003. Likewise, some unreleased songs are not featured on the box set, like "Death Metal," a jam session from the ''13'' sessions in 1998, and "For Old Time's Sake," recorded in 1993 for ''The Sunday Sunday Popular Community Song CD'', but left off the EP, due to it possibly being deleted or lost. Also missing from ''The Sunday Sunday Popular Community Song CD'' are the b-sides "Dizzy", "Fried", "Shimmer", "Long Legged" and "Tell Me, Tell Me". Additionally, no material from the band's 1998 live recording and remix album ''
Bustin' + Dronin''' appears on the box set. ''Rarities 4'', one of the bonus albums in the box set, features an early mix of "Under the Westway" with some differences between it and the 2012 single version.
They also neglected to include instrumental versions of "Under the Westway" and "The Puritan", which were available on the CD when the single was released.
The box set also includes a special code to download all the music content as MP3, along with all the Blurb magazine issues and extra content with audio commentary and unreleased footage per album.
Reception
''Blur 21'' received positive reviews. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, it has a score of 92 out of 100, based on 17 reviews.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
wrote, "There were plenty of other great British bands of the '90s but none of their peers –
Oasis,
Suede
Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...
,
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
,
Radiohead – covered as much stylistic ground or wound up with a catalog as rich as this ridiculously generous box set handily proves."
Allmusic review
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
/ref>
Track listing
References
{{Authority control
Blur (band) albums
2012 compilation albums