English rock band Blur has finally cut another album, Think Tank. It's been four years and ten since their debut with Parklife. It would appear the social highlife and family concerns have not squashed their creative juices.
MusicomH - "Think Tank is an album of wildly differing sounds - from the wistful string laden Out Of Time, though the hardcore punk of We’ve Got A File On You, to the woozy freeform jazz of Jets, each track is different. While this may be a problem for some bands, Blur pull it off."
Popmatters - "Yes, indeed: Blur are all grown up. Now being one of those bands, they've produced one of those albums — erudite, diverse, multilingual, sometimes confusing. But Think Tank isn't simply a departure. It's also a collage of the best Blur have done. Looking their past squarely in the face, bucking contemporaneous trends and simply going forward — on Think Tank Blur do this with courage, grace, and maturity. If Blur ain't got nothing to be scared of, neither do you."
Music-Critic - "For every witty, introspective, and touching song on Think Tank, there is an equally pointless and self-indulgent one."
BBC - Alt and Rock Reviews - "Don't buy this if you're expecting the Blur of old. The past has been blurred, welcome to the future."
Sounds like a B-
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
Blur didn't debut with Parklife, that was their third album (from 1994.) Their first album was Leisure, followed by Modern Life Is Rubbish, then Parklife.
2 - The Good Doctor
I'll admit that I was expecting the Blur of old but was pleasantly surprised by the evolution they've gone through. Think Tank is just that, a collaboration of genres and textures. I doubt this will play well in the States, for some reason we only had the attention span to scream "WOO-HOO" and haven't gone back.