I don't know what I was expecting, but at the time, the talk was all "is this the new direction Blur are taking?" etc. Plus they'd never released anything this weird shortly before an expected new single/album in the past. It was a very strange time to be a longtime Blur fan !

I remember a feeling if intense disappointment mixed with a feeling that something was very wrong within the Blur camp when it came out and I was soon to find out that I wasn't wrong... I also thought at the time (and still think) it just sounds like one of Damon's super rough, home demos without an...

Too weird and irritatingly quirky in places for me but also contains some of their best songs. Definitely the most divisive album. Not sure about Yuko & Hiro - I'd say basically all the b-sides from Stereotypes and Charmless Man are the true bridges into where they were about to go next. You can rea...

They are in poor shape around the time of 13. Damon must still be on heroin when they record the NDLTR video. I wonder if he agreed to get off it before Missy was born. I think that was sometime in the summer of 99. There is no evidence for that. He does look extremely knackered but I always just a...

I remember frantically looking for Graham every time a new one appeared and slowly realising that he just wasn't there anymore. Incredibly depressing at the time...

I always compile(d) my mixtapes like a gig setlist. All the best setlists have a flow to them just like a good mixtape should.

I've got a few of these in my attic too (although not as nicely typed out and printed)! I like a lot of the selection but it seems to be totally lacking the key art of the mixtape in your running order. Yuko & Hiro sandwiched between Sunday Sunday and Girls & Boys?! And SNFAS and This is a Low as se...

I was a bit obsessed with the mysterious new song that became Trailerpark (still my favourite performance/version of that song) and could not WAIT to hear what the new album would sound like. I've never actually heard this version before...it almost sounds like a single if Damon had written some be...

It's also strange to think that the first Gorillaz album is made up of songs from demos that would've most likely formed the basis for the follow up to 13 if things had worked out differently. What with I Got Law appearing as a bonus track on the Japanese version of 13 and hints of certain songs fro...

I was a 13 year old casual fan around Parklife and I loved the Great Escape when it came out (not so much now, I'd probably say its my least listened to Blur album these days). When Beetlebum and the Blur album came out, I was initially surprised, intrigued and at first, missed their 'old' sound a b...

The Glasto 98 version is my all time favourite. There's just something about it, the fact that retrospectively it kind of feels like the last performance of a fully functioning band before things started to unravel. And nothing has come close to the way he sings the final lines before or since. http...

I'm most excited about Idaho - the loveliest sounding thing i've heard in ages.

That was another reason I hated Humanz as it was totally missing any of the moving, more emotional songs. Like To Binge and Cloud of Unknowing etc.

I remember hearing the first play of it on the radio and enjoying it but at the same time feeling a bit annoyed at what I thought was just lazy scat singing by Damon. I'd got the idea in my head at the time that Damon couldn't be bothered to write a 'proper' song anymore and couldn't really be bothe...

When do you think it gets too late for Blur to do something again? Personally I think they will do something again, obviously not for at least the next 2-3 years but there will come a point when they are too old. Just not sure when that'll be. I suppose they could just stop playing some of the more ...

Apart from the fact I didn't enjoy pretty much any of the music on Humanz, the main thing it was lacking for me was that quieter, melancholy, melodic side that is peppered over all the other albums. I totally agree that the studio version of this song could be mindblowing and am genuinely excited to...