![]() Certain sessions saw various members miss out and, whilst it was not as tense and divided as, say, The Beatles’ eponymous album of 1968, it was clear the bright and harmonious band before were nearing a breaking point! That does not mean that 13 is a disaster. William Orbit was brought in and, as he did wonders on Madonna’s Ray of Light the year before, maybe Blur felt he could provide them the necessary evolution from Pop/Rock to Electronic realms – consider Madonna’s Bedtime Stories of 1994, and how different Ray of Light sounds, despite the fact it came only four years on! I think critics underrate or write some of the songs on 13 off because, invariably, tensions within the group would mean less productivity and cohesive results. It was a bold and scary move and, whilst they may have seen that as essential in order to progress, Street provided such safe hands. Recording between London and Reykjavík, the band pushed further away from the Britpop sound, and they parted ways with their long-time producer, Stephen Street. I fondly recall buying the album when it came out as the single, Tender, had come out the month before, and I was intrigued by this unexpected Blur sound – Gospel mixing with Pop in this epic, deeply beautiful song. Released on 15th March, 1999, 13 is an underrated nugget from the Blur catalogue. I think it is inevitable that a hectic past decade or so (just under) would take its toll but, rather than split or repeat themselves in terms of the music, the band made some changes and pushed forward. I think one can hear some splits and tenser moments on 13, and Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree do not sound as kinetic and joyous as on their best-loved albums from earlier in their career. The band would record another album, Think Tank, in 2003, before guitarist Graham Coxon departed the band – due to addiction issues and tensions within the group. Continuing to move forward, 13 experiments and throws so many different sounds into the mix. Blur changed a lot as a band from their more Britpop-orientated albums of the early-mid-1990s, undergoing a revolution for their eponymous 1997 album – one that was more influenced by American guitar sounds and had a darker palette. I have not seen any stories relating to the origins of that title, but 13 is obviously associated with bad luck. The standard deviation for this track is 11.2.I sort of stopped and wondered why Blur called their sixth studio album, 13. This track has a Bayesian average rating of 81.2/100, a mean average of 81.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.5/100. This track is rated in the top 5% of all tracks on. (*In practice, some tracks can have several thousand ratings) ![]() The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation). ![]() However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution.
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