You do not even know. The word "obsession" does not quite cover the level of

devotion I felt for Blur throughout high school. I had the Parklife key-chain long before I

had the keys to my car, every single b-side (even those pricey imports and vinyl), all the

videos, posters, interviews, and Top of the Pops appearances, and live bootlegs--name the city. My sister Lia and I slept outside Tower Records in Toronto for tickets to Blur's

teeny tiny club show (which just happened to fall on my 18th birthday, no less) and drank vodka all night with cute Canadian boys to stay warm. In retrospect, the Blur wall

calendar was probably overdoing it a bit.

Lately, there have been rumblings in the Blur camp about new directions and

personal ventures for the band members. Alex James and Damon Albarn have been

involved in various side projects. Graham has quietly released two very non-Blur

sounding solo albums and runs an indie-label, Transcopic Records. Dave composes

music for the British space program. Apparently, they have one.

Since it appears that Blur as a band might be through, a mini-capsule highlighting some of their finest work from the past decade is nice to have. A second disc of live material recorded December 1999 at Wembley Stadium is included as a special bonus.

With any "best of" disk, everyone likes to critique what songs were excluded

versus those that were included, so here are my two cents. The songs span Blur's

entire career, from "There's No Other Way," one of Blur's earliest singles and an

attempt to fit in with the baggy Madchester music of the early 1990's, to "No Distance

Left to Run" off of 1999's 13. The heaviest concentration of songs comes from their

1994 career defining homage/social lambasting of England, Parklife.

Because all of the songs are all readily available as singles or a-sides, some attention should have been paid to their vast collection of lesser known, but equally amazing b-sides. I also find it funny that they include "Song 2" and yet ignore "Chemical World." I won't nit-pick, though.

"Music is My Radar" is the one new track on the collection, and quite frankly, is really bad. I'm all for bands exploring new directions, but in this case, they probably should not have bothered. It leaves a slight tarnish on an otherwise solid career.

For someone just getting into Blur, this is a really great starting point. More stalwart fans can enjoy the convenience of having most of the better songs condensed into one CD.