Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur

Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur is a two-disc compilation album by Blur, released by EMI Records on 15 June 2009 (2009-06-15). It is Blur's second retrospective collection, succeeding 2000's Blur: The Best Of and coincides with the band's 2009 reunion performances.^[10]

Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur
Greatest hits album by Blur
Released	15 June 2009 (UK)^[1] 28 July 2009 (US)^[2]
Recorded	1990 – 1998; 2002
Genre	Britpop, alternative rock
Length	107:46
Label	EMI
Producer	Stephen Street, William Orbit, Ben Hillier, Steve Lovell, Steve Power
Blur chronology
Think Tank (2003) Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur (2009) All the People: Blur Live at Hyde Park (2009)
Damon Albarn chronology
Journey to the West (2008) Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur (2009) All the People: Blur Live at Hyde Park (2009)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(86/100)^[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[4]
Digital Spy	^[5]
musicOMH	^[6]
Pitchfork Media	(9.4/10)^[7]
Rolling Stone	^[8]
Uncut	^[9]

Background

Spanning the breadth of Blur's recorded history from its inception, Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur features a larger sampling of material from 1993's Modern Life Is Rubbish (including the single-only "Popscene" from the same era) than on Blur: The Best Of, in addition to material from 2003's Think Tank.

Track listing

All songs written by Blur (Albarn/Coxon/James/Rowntree), except for "Out of Time" and "Good Song", which were written by Albarn/James/Rowntree.

Disc one

No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	"Beetlebum"	Blur, 1997	5:04
2.	"Girls & Boys" (single edit)	Parklife, 1994	4:19
3.	"For Tomorrow" (Visit to Primrose Hill extended version)	Modern Life Is Rubbish, 1993	6:00
4.	"Coffee & TV" (single edit)	13, 1999	5:19
5.	"Out of Time"	Think Tank, 2003	3:52
6.	"Blue Jeans"	Modern Life Is Rubbish	3:53
7.	"Song 2"	Blur	2:02
8.	"Bugman"	13	4:51
9.	"He Thought of Cars"	The Great Escape, 1995	4:16
10.	"Death of a Party" (7″ remix)	Blur	4:15
11.	"The Universal"	The Great Escape	3:59
12.	"Sing"	Leisure, 1991	6:01
13.	"This Is a Low"	Parklife	5:00

Disc two

No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	"Tender"	13	7:42
2.	"She's So High" (single edit)	Leisure	3:50
3.	"Chemical World" (radio edit)	Modern Life Is Rubbish	3:53
4.	"Good Song"	Think Tank	3:06
5.	"Parklife"	Parklife	3:07
6.	"Advert"	Modern Life Is Rubbish	3:44
7.	"Popscene"	Non-album single, 1992	3:15
8.	"Stereotypes"	The Great Escape	3:11
9.	"Trimm Trabb"	13	5:37
10.	"Badhead"	Parklife	3:28
11.	"Strange News from Another Star"	Blur	4:03
12.	"Battery in Your Leg"	Think Tank	3:20

Personnel

Musicians

• Damon Albarn – vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar
• Graham Coxon – guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Coffee & TV", co-lead vocals on "Tender" (not featured on "Out of Time" or "Good Song")
• Alex James – bass
• Dave Rowntree – drums

Other personnel

• Blur – Producer
• Jack Clark – Mixing Assistant
• Al Clay – Mixing
• Jason Cox – Engineer
• 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
• James Oliver – Design
• Steve Power – Producer
• Iain Roberton – Assistant Engineer
• Andy Ross – Engineer
• John Smith – Producer, Engineer
• Sean Spuehler – Programming
• Stephen Street – Producer, Engineer

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart Position Japanese Oricon Albums Chart^[11] 66 UK Albums Chart^[12] 20

Certifications Region Certification Certified units/sales United Kingdom (BPI)^[13] Gold 100,000^‡ ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Michaels, Sean (21 May 2009). "Blur to release comeback compilation" – via The Guardian.
2. James Brown, Meg White, Steven Tyler, Blur 31 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Midlife: A Beginner's Guide To Blur by Blur".
4. Allmusic review
5. "Blur: 'Midlife: A Beginner's Guide To'". 19 June 2009.
6. "musicOMH review".
7. "Blur: Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur Album Review - Pitchfork". pitchfork.com.
8. "Midlife: A Beginners Guide to Blur".
9. . 5 December 2010. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
10. "Capitol/EMI to Release Career-Spanning Blur Collection, 'Midlife: A Beginner's Guide To Blur,' on... – HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 26 /PRNewswire/". California, England: Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
11. "ミッドライフ／ブラー-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック" [Highest position and charting weeks of Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur by Blur] (in Japanese). oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
12. "Blur > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
13. "British album certifications – Blur – Midlife". British Phonographic Industry.

External links

• Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
• Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur at Metacritic