Having flirted with pop during their Parklife & Modern Life Is Rubbish phase which saw them battling it out with Oasis for chart dominance, Blur started back toward their roots with the release of Blur in 1997. With 13, Blur have well and truly kicked any hope some fans may have entertained of a return to songs like Parklife & Country House into touch. On 13 experimentation seems to be the order of the day with Blur trying variety of a musical styles, all aided by the production of William Orbit.

The opening track Tender is gospel with a country feel, it may sound strange, but it works. Bugman is all fuzzy guitars and feedback and Swamp is a melodic cacophony with more than a hint of insanity about it. The punky, tongue in cheek dig at their record company B.L.U.R.E.M.I. makes even the guitar thrash of Song 2 seem subtle.

Not all the songs are wall to wall guitars. No Distance Left To Run is the album's stand out track and probably Damon Albarn's most obvious reference to his split with Justine from Elastica. Coffee & TV is as radio friendly as the album gets with its simple melody and strummed guitar, although in keeping with much of the album it mutates toward the end with an understated guitar solo and then some organ thrown in to finish it off. This song within a song theme is almost constant throughout the album, with lots of odd instrument changes and extra melodies peppering the tracks.

13 isn't an album full of hit singles and it may even alienate some recent Blur converts. However it does demonstrate that these days Blur are more concerned with producing good music than being the kings of Britpop. With albums like this they may just achieve both.