Rolling Stone (4/3/97, pp.64-65) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...The scrupulous sonic contouring and porcelain finishes of Blur's last two albums have vanished. Blur's melodies, moreover, have abandoned much of their old Kinks-y fuss....What still makes them great is their deep grasp of style and genre..."Spin (4/97, pp.157-158) - 7 (out of 10) - "...prefac[ing] the release of BLUR, Albarn...declared an allegiance with Pavement and Beck....But no amount of gratuitous distortion or mumbling could disguise the truth that...Blur have stumbled over the most accomplished record of their career..."Entertainment Weekly (3/14/97, p.78) - "...Up to now, Blur--Oasis' chief rival in the U.K.--have remained a nonentity in the States; this may be the album that finally brings them into focus." - Rating: B+Q (1/98, p.111) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997."Alternative Press (5/97, pp.65-66) - 4 (out of five) - "...A whirl of weird esotericism, precious, precocious and impressively powerful, BLUR lurks in that grey area between work in progress, and progress is work..."Melody Maker (12/20-27/97, pp.66-67) - Ranked #14 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year."Melody Maker (2/8/97, p.48) - Recommended - "...BLUR is a statement if ever there was one. It's low-key, dirty, messy, minimal, a f***ing stampede from the pub jukebox into the garage....while slumming is repellent social behaviour, when it comes to making records it's a boon. That may or may not be why this is Blur's best album..."Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #38 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.Mojo (Publisher) (p.61) - Ranked #50 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "[T]heir imperial pop smarts benefit unexpectedly from being crushed and soiled, not just sonically, but emotionally."NME (Magazine) (12/20-27/97, pp.78-79) - Ranked #13 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.NME (Magazine) (2/8/97, p.55) - 7 (out of 10) - "...a giant step of reinvention....Old Blur was about strings finely plucked, about attention to detail, about rendering beautiful the substance of other people's lives. New Blur is about confusion, about what they feel and...about scuffed edges..."9.068068
$6.85
Spin (1/96, p.64) - Included on Spin's list of the "10 Best Albums You Didn't Hear In '95." - "...The Cardigans are the great beat combo you've never heard, creating childlike melodies and wit-filled arrangements to tickle your cranium and set your toes a-tapping..."Entertainment Weekly (2/23-3/1/96, p.126) - "Call them the Swedish Pizzicato Five, the Rentals in their own wildest dreams, or the true heirs to ABBA's legacy: This coed Stockholm quintet are all that and then some..."- Rating: AOption (5-6/96, p.98) - "...the sweetest pop since new Coke..."Melody Maker (12/23-30/95, pp.66-67) - Ranked #43 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "...From the Etienne/Pizzicato/Stereolab school of cinematic sixties nouvelle vague....How Swede it is."9.068068
$7.92
