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<li value="0">"Me, White Noise" <small>([[pregap]] [[hidden track]])</small> – 6:48</li>
<li value="0">"Me, White Noise" <small>([[pregap]] [[hidden track]])<ref group=lower-alpha>In the ''[[Blur 21]]'' version of the album, "Me, White Noise" is appended to the end of the album as part of track 13 instead of being in the pregap.</ref></small> – 6:48</li>
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# "Gene by Gene" – 3:49
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# "Battery in Your Leg" (Albarn, [[Graham Coxon]], James, Rowntree) – 3:20
# "Battery in Your Leg" (Albarn, [[Graham Coxon]], James, Rowntree) – 3:20
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== Personnel ==
== Personnel ==

Revision as of 19:57, 7 August 2012

Untitled

Think Tank is the seventh studio album by the English alternative rock band Blur. It was released on 5 May 2003 in the United Kingdom via Virgin Records. It was their highest charting album in the United States. The album cover was stenciled by the graffiti artist Banksy.[1] The album's cover art sold at auction in 2007 for £75,000.[2] NME ranked the album number 20 on its Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade list.[3]

Recording history

The recording for Think Tank started in November 2001 at 13 Studio in London and was finished a year later in a barn on National Trust land in Devon. Recording also took place in Morocco where the band equipped an old barn with a studio.[4] The sessions in Morocco produced "Crazy Beat", "Gene by Gene", and "Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club".[4] The final record was produced by Blur and Ben Hillier with various other producers including Norman Cook (better known by his recording alias Fatboy Slim). Cook contributed to two tracks ("Crazy Beat" and "Gene by Gene"). Coxon only contributed to five tracks for the Think Tank sessions, "Battery in Your Leg", "The Outsider", "Money makes me Crazy", "Morricone", and "Some Glad Morning", with his only significant appearance on the final record being a guitar line on the last track, "Battery in Your Leg". Coxon's absence also bolstered the role of Alex James and Dave Rowntree who provided backing vocals throughout the album. Rowntree also played the electric guitar on "On the Way to the Club" and provided a rap on a demo version of "Sweet Song".[5] A Moroccan orchestra is featured in the lead single, "Out of Time".[6]

Musical style

Jettisoning the Britpop sound of Blur's early career as well as the lo-fi indie rock of Blur (1997), Think Tank continued the jam-based studio constructions of 13 (1999). The album expanded on the use of sampled rhythm loops and brooding, heavy electronic sounds. Influences from dance music, hip hop, dub, jazz, and African music permeated the recording sessions, an indication of Damon Albarn's expanding musical interests and his control over the group's creative direction. Albarn also cited The Clash as an inspiration. Given what Albarn has delivered since, Think Tank is nearer to the sound and feel of a Gorillaz album than a Blur project. Founding member Graham Coxon quit the band early in the recording of the album, resulting in little of his electric guitar work familiar from Blur's earlier albums. Almost entirely written by Albarn, Think Tank placed more emphasis on lush backing vocals, simple acoustic guitar, drums, bass guitar, and a variety of other instruments. According to Uncut magazine, "Sweet Song" was written by Albarn about the fallout between Coxon and the rest of the band.

Like Blur's breakthrough album Parklife, Think Tank is a loose concept album; Albarn has stated that it is an album about "love and politics".[6] Some of the songs are concerned with a sense of paranoia and alienation in British club culture.[citation needed] Other lyrics, and the album's artwork and videos, alluded to the state of the world. Think Tank was recorded during 2002, a year in which the United States and the United Kingdom governments began to threaten Iraq with possible invasion, which would later take place in March 2003. Several critics saw the album as timely, in part due to its being recorded in the Arab world where US and UK policies were unpopular. Albarn was involved in the anti-war movement and participated in marches during this time.[7]

There is a hidden track, "Me, White Noise" in the pregap before track 1 on some CD copies. The song guest features Phil Daniels, who previously appeared on Parklife, on vocals. Japanese versions of the album feature the song at track 30, after silent tracks at index points 15–29.

Think Tank is the only Blur album to get the Parental Advisory logo, because "Brothers and Sisters" contains many drug references. Also, the hidden track "Me, White Noise" is one of the few Blur songs to contain an expletive.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(83/100)[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[14]
Drowned in Sound(10/10)[13]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[12]
NME(8/10)[11]
Pitchfork Media(8.5/10)[16]
PopMatters(8/10)[9]
Spin(9/10)[15]
StylusA−[17]
Rolling Stone[18]
Uncut[10]

Think Tank was well-received critically, with a score of 83 on Metacritic,[8] which equates to a tag of "Universal Acclaim". The album was nominated for Best British Album at the 2004 Brit Awards, and won the Q Album of the Year award. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1. Think Tank is largely seen as one of the greatest of the 2000s decade and has received accolades over the years. According to Acclaimed Music, the album is the 613th most critically acclaimed of all time.[19][20]

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Eye Weekly Canada Albums of the Year 2003 23
PopMatters US Albums of the Year 2003 7
Rolling Stone US Albums of the Year 2003 *
Slant Magazine US Top 250 Albums of the 2000s 2010 145
Spin US Albums of the Year 2003 16
Delusions of Adequacy US Top 100 Albums of the 2000s 2010 100
BBC UK Albums of the Year 2003 *
Drowned in Sound UK Albums of the Year 2003 43
Mojo UK Albums of the Year 2003 3
NME UK Albums of the Year 2003 21
Top 100 Albums of the 2000s 2009 20
Playlouder UK Albums of the Year 2003 18
Q UK Albums of the Year 2003 2
Top 100 Albums of the 2000s 2009 59
Rough Trade UK Albums of the Year 2003 86
Uncut UK Albums of the Year 2003 62
Top 150 Albums of the 2000s 2009 22
The Observer UK Albums of the Year 2003 1
Fnac France The 1000 Best Albums of All Time 2008 799
Les Inrockuptibles France The 100 Albums of the 2000s 2010 7
Rolling Stone France The 20 Albums of the 2000s 2010 *

Track listing

All lyrics by Damon Albarn. All music by Albarn, Alex James, Dave Rowntree unless otherwise stated.

  1. "Me, White Noise" (pregap hidden track)[a] – 6:48
  1. "Ambulance" – 5:09
  2. "Out of Time" – 3:52
  3. "Crazy Beat" – 3:15
  4. "Good Song" – 3:09
  5. "On the Way to the Club" (Albarn, James Dring, James, Rowntree) – 3:48
  6. "Brothers and Sisters" – 3:47
  7. "Caravan" – 4:36
  8. "We've Got a File on You" – 1:03
  9. "Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club" – 3:03
  10. "Sweet Song" – 4:01
  11. "Jets" (Albarn, James, Rowntree, Mike Smith) – 6:25
  12. "Gene by Gene" – 3:49
  13. "Battery in Your Leg" (Albarn, Graham Coxon, James, Rowntree) – 3:20
  1. ^ In the Blur 21 version of the album, "Me, White Noise" is appended to the end of the album as part of track 13 instead of being in the pregap.

Personnel

Blur

Additional musicians and production

References

  1. ^ "Banksy artwork sets new benchmark". BBC News. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
  2. ^ "Elusive artist Banksy sets record price". Reuters UK. Thomson Reuters. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  3. ^ "Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade".
  4. ^ a b "Blur - Think Tank - album info". Vblurpage.com. 2003-05-05. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  5. ^ "Unreleased Blur Tracks". Vblurpage.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  6. ^ a b "Blur "Think" Up New Album". 2003-02-25. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
  7. ^ "10 Things You Never Knew About Damon Albarn". Retrieved 2011-11-19.
  8. ^ a b "Blur: Think Tank (2003): Reviews".
  9. ^ "PopMatters Review". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  10. ^ "Uncut Review". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  11. ^ "NME Review". Nme.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  12. ^ Rob Brunner (2003-05-09). "Entertainment Weekly Review". Ew.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  13. ^ Future, Andrew (2003-05-07). "Drowned in Sound Review". Drownedinsound.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  14. ^ Allmusic Review
  15. ^ Greenwald, Andy. "link Spin Review". Spin.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  16. ^ Zoladz, Lindsay (2012-07-31). "Pitchfork Media Review". Pitchforkmedia.com. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
  17. ^ "Stylus Review". Stylusmagazine.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  18. ^ Walters, Barry (2003-04-22). "Think Tank". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2012-05-25. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Blur". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  20. ^ "Think Tank". Acclaimed Music. 2003-12-19. Retrieved 2011-02-16.

External links

Preceded by UK number one album
17 May 2003 – 23 May 2003 		Succeeded by
Justified by Justin Timberlake
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