"A Heart Full Of Soul"

by Nigel Williamson

in a review of the new Blur album '13'

In one of those twists of fate, Alan McGee was in Stockholm attending a Sony conference on the day that Blur chose to stage the world launch of their new album '13', in the Swedish capital.

As the head of Oasis's record label, Creation, McGee was one of the generals at the heart of the ludicrous battle of the bands waged at the zenith of Britpop a year or two ago between Britain's two premier groups...

At the height of the battle of the bands, Oasis were deemed by most observers to have emerged comfortable winners, the collest icons in the Cool Britannia pantheon. Listening to the new Blur album, it becomes apparent that what Oasis won was little more than a pointless skirmish over a plot of no man's land called Britpop that has since been left far behind by Albarn and company, who all the time had their sights set on more expansive horizons.

If McGee had been at the Blur showcase, it would surely have reduced him to despair. The band's last album, 'Blur', had already indicated a move away from the breezy pop songs of 'Parklife', the only album of the mid-1990s to challenge the supremacy of Oasis. But if it wasn't already dead on its feet, Britpop is buried forever by '13', an audacious collection of songs....

...In 1995, with the Blur-Oasis war raging, Albarn predicted, tongue only partly in cheek, that by 1999 Blur would be the most important band in the world. When the planet at last gets the chance to hear '13' next month, who will argue that he was not right?

• The Times & Sunday Times News Articles - index

c 1998 Andrew Turner

aturner@interalpha.co.uk

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