Blur: The Best Of

Blur: The Best Of is a greatest hits compilation album by English Britpop band Blur, first released in late 2000 and is the final Blur album by Food Records. It was released on CD, cassette tape, MiniDisc, double 12" vinyl record, DVD and VHS. The CD album includes 17 of Blur's 23 singles from 1990 to 2000, plus non-single, "This Is a Low". A special edition of the CD version included a live CD. The DVD/VHS version contains the videos of Blur's first 22 singles. The album, which has had enduring sales, hit number 3 in the band's native UK in the autumn of 2000, while denting the US charts at number 186. The cover is by artist Julian Opie. The painting of this Blur album can be found at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England.

Blur: The Best Of
Greatest hits album by Blur
Released	30 October 2000
Recorded	1990–2000
Genre	Britpop, alternative rock, indie rock
Length	77:08 (CD1) 43:38 (CD2) 89:35 (VHS/DVD)
Label	Food/Virgin/Parlophone
Producer	Stephen Street, William Orbit, Steve Lovell, Steve Power, Ben Hillier
Blur chronology
The 10 Year Limited Edition Anniversary Box Set (1999) Blur: The Best Of (2000) Think Tank (2003)
Damon Albarn chronology
Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000) Blur: The Best Of (2000) Gorillaz (2001)
Singles from Blur: The Best Of
"Music Is My Radar" Released: 16 October 2000

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	88/100^[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Drowned in Sound	6/10^[3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A−^[5]
NME	9/10^[6]
Pitchfork	8.6/10^[7]
Q	^[8]
Robert Christgau	A−^[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[10]
Wall of Sound	86/100^[11]

The album received a positive critical response. Of the reviews collected from notable publications by popular review aggregator website Metacritic, the album holds an overall approval rating of 88%.^[1]

On the chart ending 7 March 2009, it was reported by Music Week that the album passed over one million unit sales in the United Kingdom.

A proposed title for the album was Best Blur Album in the World Ever,^[12] in reference to the compilation album series The Best... Album in the World...Ever! (which often contained songs by Blur).

Track listing

All tracks written by Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree.

Disc 1

No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	"Beetlebum"	Blur (1997)	5:05
2.	"Song 2"	Blur (1997)	2:02
3.	"There's No Other Way" (Edited version)	Leisure (1991)	3:14
4.	"The Universal"	The Great Escape (1995)	4:00
5.	"Coffee & TV" (Single edit)	13 (1999)	5:18
6.	"Parklife"	Parklife (1994)	3:07
7.	"End of a Century"	Parklife (1994)	2:47
8.	"No Distance Left to Run"	13 (1999)	3:26
9.	"Tender"	13 (1999)	7:41
10.	"Girls & Boys" (Single edit)	Parklife (1994)	4:18
11.	"Charmless Man"	The Great Escape (1995)	3:33
12.	"She's So High" (Edited version)	Leisure (1991)	3:49
13.	"Country House"	The Great Escape (1995)	3:57
14.	"To the End" (Edited version)	Parklife (1994)	3:51
15.	"On Your Own"	Blur (1997)	4:27
16.	"This Is a Low" (Edited version, not released as a single)	Parklife (1994)	5:02
17.	"For Tomorrow" (Visit to Primrose Hill extended version)	Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)	6:02
18.	"Music Is My Radar"	Non-album single	5:29
Total length:			77:08

Limited edition bonus disc (Recorded live at Wembley Arena, 11 December 1999)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"She's So High"	5:24
2.	"Girls & Boys"	4:21
3.	"To The End"	4:08
4.	"End of a Century"	3:00
5.	"Stereotypes"	3:27
6.	"Charmless Man"	3:31
7.	"Beetlebum"	6:09
8.	"M.O.R."	3:09
9.	"Tender"	6:20
10.	"No Distance Left to Run"	4:09
Total length:		40:58

VHS/DVD

1. "She's So High"
2. "There's No Other Way"
3. "Bang"
4. "Popscene"
5. "For Tomorrow"
6. "Chemical World"
7. "Sunday Sunday"
8. "Girls & Boys"
9. "Parklife"
10. "To the End"
11. "End of a Century"
12. "Country House"
13. "The Universal"
14. "Stereotypes"
15. "Charmless Man"
16. "Beetlebum"
17. "Song 2"
18. "On Your Own"
19. "M.O.R."
20. "Tender"
21. "Coffee & TV"
22. "No Distance Left to Run"

Personnel

Blur

• Damon Albarn – lead vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, organs, acoustic guitar, backing vocals on "Coffee and TV" and "Tender", xylophone on "To the End"
• Graham Coxon – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Coffee and TV" and parts of "Tender", saxophone on "Parklife" and "Country House", clarinet on "End of a Century" and "To the End", drums on "Song 2"
• Alex James – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Dave Rowntree – drums, percussion, backing vocals, drum machine on "Girls & Boys" and "On Your Own"

Additional personnel

• Blur – production
• Jack Clark – mixing
• Al Clay – mixing
• Jason Cox – engineering
• Tom Girling – assistant producer
• Stephen Hague – producer, engineer
• Ben Hillier – producer, mixing
• Jeff Knowler – assistant engineer
• Damian LeGassick – programming
• Steve Lovell – producer
• Gerard Navarro – assistant engineer
• William Orbit – producer, engineer
• Jeremy Plumb – art direction, design
• Steve Power – producer
• Iain Roberton – assistant engineer
• Andy Ross – engineer
• John Smith – producer, engineer
• Sean Spuehler – programming
• Stephen Street – producer, engineer
• Greg Williams – photography

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2000) Peak position Australian Albums Chart^[13] 23 Austrian Albums Chart^[14] 25 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)^[15] 29 Canadian Albums Chart 14 Danish Albums Chart^[15] 29 European Albums Chart^[16] 9 French Albums Chart^[17] 8 German Albums Chart^[18] 35 Irish Albums Chart^[19] 3 Japanese Albums Chart^[20] 20 New Zealand Albums Chart^[21] 6 Norwegian Albums Chart^[22] 13 Swedish Albums Chart^[23] 22 Swiss Albums Chart^[24] 31 UK Albums Chart^[25] 3 US Billboard 200^[26] 186

Certifications ‹See Tfd›‹See Tfd› Region Certification Certified units/sales Australia (ARIA)^[27] Gold 35,000^^ New Zealand (RMNZ)^[28] Platinum 15,000^^ United Kingdom (BPI)^[30] 4× Platinum 1,430,011^[29] Summaries Europe (IFPI)^[31] Platinum 1,000,000^* ^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "Critic Reviews for The Best of Blur". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Blur: The Best Of at AllMusic
3. . Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2007.
4. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
5. Brunner, Rob (1 December 2000). . Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
6. Sutherland, Steve (October 2000). . NME. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
7. Juzwiak, Richard M. (21 November 2000). "Blur: The Best of Blur". Pitchfork. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
8. "The Best of Blur". Q: 120. November 2000.
9. "Blur". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
10. Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City: Simon and Schuster. p. 89. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. rolling stone blur album guide.
11. . Archived from the original on 24 January 2001. Retrieved 24 January 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
12. "Blur: The Best Of – album info". Vblurpage.com. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
13. . australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
14. . austriancharts.at. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
15. . Archived from the original on 1 June 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
16. "Billboard". Billboard. 18 November 2000.
17. . Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
18. . musicline.de. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
19. "Billboard". Billboard. 18 November 2000.
20. "ブラーのCDアルバムランキング" [Blur – best-selling album ranking on the Oricon]. oricon.co.jp. Oricon Style. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
21. "New Zealand chart positions". charts.nz. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
22. . norwegiancharts.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
23. "Swedish chart positions". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
24. "Swiss chart positions". hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
25. "British chart positions". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
26. "Blur Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
27. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2000 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
28. "New Zealand album certifications – Blur – Blur... The Best Of". Recorded Music NZ.
29. Jones, Alan (28 July 2023). "Blur top 40,000 sales with seventh consecutive No.1 album The Ballad Of Darren". Music Week. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
30. "British album certifications – Blur – The Best Of". British Phonographic Industry.
31. . International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

External links

• Blur: The Best Of at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
• The Best of Blur at IMDb  
• Blur: The Best Of at Metacritic