13

This album started with three awesome songs in Tender, Bugman, & Coffee & TV, each of which I felt ran maybe a little long, but I didn't mind. As the album went on, I became less and less convinced of the sound on this album. It was solid, for sure, but everything felt really drawn out.

Any indication of Blur's sound that I had accrued through hearing Song 2 basically everywhere were thrown out of the window once I heard Tender, which is basically just a seven minute gospel song. The second song, Bugman, was of course worlds away from the sound they established on Tender, and far more akin to what the rest of the album would sound like. Unfortunately, the album peaks with the first three tracks, and after Coffee & TV, the rest of the album didn't really excite me.

There were still a few more great songs to be found, Trimm Trabb was a lot of fun, and Mellow Song & No Distance Left to Run are predictably mellow sweet songs. There are some headscratchers here though, B.L.U.R.E.M.I. is really just a mess and Optigan I is an unremarkable instrumental closer. Overall a very solid album but I'd prefer if every song was just like a minute or two shorter.