Blur: Think Tank

Blur: Think Tank

2003

Parlophone Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing:1. Ambulance  2. Out of Time  3. Crazy Beat  4. Good Song  5. On the Way to the Club  6. Brothers and Sisters  7. Caravan  8. We've Got a File on You  9. Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club  10. Sweet Song  11. Jets  12. Gene by Gene  13. Battery in Your Leg


 Blur's first (and to date, only) album after the departure of lead guitarist Graham Coxon. What's interesting is that they don't even attempt to replace him...They just make an album without a lead guitarist...Although he does appear on the distant closer "Battery in Your Leg."

Although this was released 10 years ago, I never actually heard it until recently when I picked up a copy of "Parklife" and also saw a used copy of this for 2 bucks sitting next to it...I actively avoided this album when it was originally released because I had heard the first single, "Crazy Beat" on the radio and was absolutely horrified by what I was hearing...



This song was godawful!  That Donald Duck voice that keeps repeating the title made me want to claw my eardrums out! I spent years hoping that the song was some horrid fever-dream...I must have heard it wrong! I'd always liked Blur and hoped that the loss of Coxon wouldn't have damaged them that much...So honestly, I didn't know what to expect when I put "think Tank" on a decade later...

Turns out it's a pretty enjoyable album...It's about as disjointed as can possibly (multiple producers and recording locales will do that ) yet it grows in stature every time I hear it...A big chunk of the album was recorded in Morocco, which gives it an intriguing Arabic feel at times...It's simultaneously rustic and processed, but manages to avoid any fakey "world music" vibe...

The album starts to life with a clattering beat and Damon numbly moaning,"I ain't got nothing to be scared of..." in a very Radiohead manner...It eventually comes together into an exotic, dread-filled funk groove, and I have no choice but to consider "Ambulance" a complete success...



Next up is "Out of Time" which has a relaxed bossa-nova feel and although it passed me by on the first listen, it later revealed itself as a highlight of their discography...It has a very alluring vocal melody that has managed to stay embedded in my head for the last coupla weeks....

I also love "Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club" becomes it reminds me so much of Big Audio Dynamite! Yes! It's been so long since something made me want to wear a big-ass digital watch!

 If I would have heard this song back in '03, I would've been the first in line to pick up a copy, but it's cool that I waited cos I probably need this more in 2013  than I did in 2003...

Almost everything connects eventually...At first listen "Caravan" and the extended jazz experiment "Jets" seemed to drag things down, but in the end there's only a song or two I actively dislike..."Brothers and Sisters" is alright, I guess, but it sounds like some uninspired Stereo MC's throwback..."Gene by Gene" is also fairly irritating and "Crazy Beat" is still the worst Blur song, but outside of those couple of hiccups it's all gold! I really liked this record so much more than I was expecting...

 

Oh, yea, I almost forgot to mention that there's a bonus track...Remember back when I was doing the post for Beck's "Mutations" and I rambled on aimlessly about hidden tracks and pre-gap tracks in particular? Well, this is one of those albums with a pre-gap track...If you hit rewind as soon as the album starts you'll see your CD player start counting backwards (or am I the only person who still has a CD player?)...Anyway, it's a rackety techno track called "Me, White Noise" that has the guy who does the talking on "Parklife"...Only this time he's shouting that we're boring! Hell yea!


Alright...Let's stop talking and start listening...Here's "Out of Time" by Blur...