Blur The Great Escape

To celebrate the 21st anniversary of their debut release, Blur s fourth album The Great Escape has now been remastered from the original tapes by Frank Arkwright, with the remastering overseen by legendary original producer, Stephen Street. Whilst Parklife took Blur stratospheric, The Great Escape maintained the band s success with their second successive No 1 entry into the album charts, with the September 1995 release going on to sell three times platinum. Accompanying the remastered album, the bonus disc of The Great Escape Special Edition crams in 18 tracks, including all the b-sides from all formats of the Country House, The Universal, Stereotypes and Charmless Man singles. Among these b-sides are nestled a duet version of To The End between Damon and Francoise Hardy, the Live It! remix of Entertain Me and four tracks taken from the now legendary 1995 Blur gig at Mile End Stadium. Completing the bonus disc are two live tracks from Blur s show at the Budokan arena in Tokyo (both of which were only previously released on the Japanese-only single release of It Could Be You), plus the instrumental Eine Kleine Lift Musik, which originally formed part of the Help War Child compilation released in 1995.

Recorded during Blur’s rapid rise in popularity and tabloid recognition, the third and final chapter in what was referred to as the band’s “life trilogy” sees the band present a dark and lavish look at the modern world, populated by night-shift cab drivers, factory workers, lottery players and swinging couples. Justly awarded five star reviews on release in 1995, the album features Blur’s first number 1 single, “Country House” and the beautiful “The Universal”.

Recorded during Blur’s rapid rise in popularity and tabloid recognition, the third and final chapter in what was referred to as the band’s “life trilogy” sees the band present a dark and lavish look at the modern world, populated by night-shift cab drivers, factory workers, lottery players and swinging couples. Justly awarded five star reviews on release in 1995, the album features Blur’s first number 1 single, “Country House” and the beautiful “The Universal”.

"The Magic Whip" started life in Hong Kong when the band had an unexpected break in touring in May 2013. It is released by Parlophone Records in April 2015 - 16 years since 13, the band's last record as a four-piece.

"The Magic Whip" started life in Hong Kong when the band had an unexpected break in touring in May 2013. It is released by Parlophone Records in April 2015 - 16 years since 13, the band's last record as a four-piece.

"The Magic Whip" started life in Hong Kong when the band had an unexpected break in touring in May 2013. It is released by Parlophone Records in April 2015 - 16 years since 13, the band's last record as a four-piece.

Blur’s 1995 show at iconic Tokyo venue The Nippon Budokan is now available in digital formats. The band visited Japan almost 20 years ago on The Great Escape Tour, performing to 20,000 fans at the Budokan on 8th November 1995.

To celebrate the 21st anniversary of their debut release, Blur s eponymous fifth album has now been remastered from the original tapes by Frank Arkwright (The Smiths, Arcade Fire, New Order, Joy Division), with the remastering overseen by legendary original producer, Stephen Street. Continuing the trend, Blur went straight in at No 1 on its release in February 1997, as had Parklife and The Great Escape before it. Representing a musical evolution for the band, the album is home to two of Blur s biggest hits in Beetlebum and Song 2. B-sides taken from all formats of these two singles are included in the accompanying Blur Special Edition bonus disc, along with b-sides from the album s fourth single M.O.R. Also included on the bonus disc is a 7 mix of Death Of A Party by Adrian Sherwood, the Dust Brothers produced Cowboy Song (which featured on the Dead Man On Campus soundtrack), four acoustic live tracks recorded at Viva Niteclub (previously only released on the German-only version of the M.O.R. single) and three live tracks recorded at MC Vredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands, which were only previously released on the Netherlands-only version of the album.

1997 saw Blur abandon English character song and look towards left-field American rock for inspiration. Recorded partly in Iceland, Britpop is shunned in favor of abstract experimentalism, abrasive guitars, held together with Damon Albarn’s instinctive knack for writing memorable tunes. The album features the band’s second UK number 1 single, “Beetlebum” and the casually anthemic "Song 2", the latter finally acquiring Blur transatlantic success.