this is what i posted to another board this morning...<P>Well, no one here goes to the review section, so I'm putting this here. Yes, I know the album comes out May 6. But I've got it, and I am euphoric about it.<P>At any rate, this album makes me feel sort of old. It's been nine years since "Parklife" came out, which I view as one of, if not the, seminal album for my peer group. A lot has changed since then. I was 14, and I'm now 23. Grade 9 to grad school, full time job, and getting married. Why the reflection? Well, new albums always make me do that. They put your life in a time capsule that you'll always look back to.<P>So "Don't Bomb When You're the Bomb," Blur's anti-war (maybe?) statement came out last fall, and it is a rather bizarre tune. One lyric, a distinct Middle Eastern sound, and no discernable guitar. Many Blur fans thought this signaled a dramatic change for the band, and feared (even if secretly) for the future of the band. I, for one, did not want to see them veer off into the land of the Cranberries, writing nothing but protest songs and then making a last ditch attempt to save their failing careers when it was too late. But it was all for nought.<P>"Think Tank" is the album that U2 should have made in 1997. After Zooropa, before the onslaught of "electronic" music hit the mainstream. In plainer terms, and more biased ones, it's an album U2 would have made if they were good. So I downloaded these tracks yesterday, organized them in my iTunes (semi-obvious Apple plug), made sure they were the proper lengths, and burned a CD. On my way home from work, I put it in the car stereo and was blown away. After four years of almost nothing new from Blur, and having this album's release date pushed back from April 2002 to May 2003, I was prepared to be disappointed, and had almost set myself up for it. I was not.<P>"Think Tank" is fluid. It sings. It rocks. It thumps. It runs the gamut, from the punky "Crazy Beat" and "We've Got a File on You" to the ballads "Out of Time" and "Battery In Your Leg" to the dope-a ss beats of "Ambulance" and "On the Way to the Club." The lyrics are arguably the best of any Blur album, and Damon Albarn's singing is without a doubt the best it has ever been. Graham Coxon, the band's departed guitarist, will be missed, but even the tracks on "Think Tank" that don't feature him (10 of 14, or 13 of 14, depending on who you believe) are masterful songs, many containing excellent playing by Damon himself. I would review this album track by track, but it is not merely a collection of tracks. These 14 songs are supposed to be together as a collection, in this order.<P>I am a huge Blur fan, and carefully weighed that position before posting such a glowing review. But this is not bias, I can guarantee anyone who may be reading this. This is one of the finest albums I have ever heard of any genre, and may have supplanted "Parklife" as Blur's master work.<BR>10/10
