Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
EMI Chrysalis

Cert: E Cat.no: 7243 4 92433 9 2 Running time: 90 minutes Year: 2000 Pressing: 2000 Region(s): 2, PAL Chapters: 22 Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Languages: English Lyrics: None Ratio: varies 16:9-enhanced: No Macrovision: Yes Disc Format: DVD 5 Price: £19.99 Extras: Discography

The Best of Blur is something I've been waiting for for a long time. I was pleased to see the CD in the shops and even more so when I discovered all the videos had been made available on a DVD as it provides the best quality around for music videos along with the near-instant track access that a CD can provide for the audio equivalent.

Highlights for many people include the popular hits There's No Other Way, the one with the initially-hard-to-remember chorus, Girls and Boys, Phil Daniels appearing in Parklife, the No.1 that stopped Oasis hitting the top with their dire Roll With It in the battle of the two Britpop bands, Country House, the raucous football game anthem, Song 2 and the award-winning video for Coffee + TV, which depicts a day in the life of a milk carton and how it, briefly, finds love. Aah!

The early tracks also stand out just as well as they did originally and classic slower tunes include To the End, End of a Century, the Clockwork Orange-esque The Universal and last year's No.2, Tender.

I'm also glad all these tracks have been placed in chronological order since some bands would've placed all their big hits at the front and certainly would not have led with a track which barely scraped the Top 50, however good it was.

I should say "nearly all", though, since someone's slipped up and juxtaposed Parklife and To The End, despite what the back of the box says, but that's not a major deal.

Any fans of the recent single, Music Is My Radar, should note that this hasn't been included here, although a snippet of the track is played over the main menu.

Their singles chart history to October 2000 is as follows :

Oct 90	No.48	She's So High
Apr 91	No. 8	There's No Other Way
Aug 91	No.24	Bang
Apr 92	No.32	Popscene
May 93	No.28	For Tomorrow
Jul 93	No.28	Chemical World
Oct 93	No.26	Sunday Sunday
Mar 94	No. 5	Girls and Boys
Jun 94	No.16	To the End
Sep 94	No. 2	Parklife
Nov 94	No.19	End of a Century
Aug 95	No. 1	Country House
Nov 95	No. 5	The Universal
Feb 96	No. 7	Stereotypes
May 96	No. 5	Charmless Man
Feb 97	No. 1	Beetlebum
Apr 97	No. 2	Song 2
Jun 97	No. 5	On Your Own
Sep 97	No.15	M.O.R.
Mar 99	No. 2	Tender
Jul 99	No.11	Coffee + TV
Nov 99	No.14	No Distance Left To Run
Oct 00	No.10	Music is My Radar

When it comes to picture quality, all of the music promos look fantastic. Many of them are in standard 4:3 fullscreen, while others are shot at a matted widescreen ratio, the widest being the near 2.35:1 for Coffee + TV. My only complaint is that none of those at 16:9 or wider are anamorphic, not that I really expected them to be. The average bitrate is 4.93Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound is first rate. All tracks are in Dolby Digital 2.0, which are mainly stereo, but will have an element of surround sound leaking into the rear speakers by default.

Extras. :

The full track listing is as follows :

1. She's So High 2. There's No Other Way 3. Bang 4. Popscene 5. For Tomorrow 6. Chemical World 7. Sunday Sunday 8. Girls and Boys 9. Parklife 10. To the End 11. End of a Century

12. Country House 13. The Universal 14. Stereotypes 15. Charmless Man 16. Beetlebum 17. Song 2 18. On Your Own 19. M.O.R. 20. Tender 21. Coffee + TV 22. No Distance Left To Run