Amazon.co.uk Review Think Tank was an emotional experience for Blur, with reports of problems, not least, including the exit of founding member Graham Coxon half way through recording. With that in mind you might expect the end product to be a mess. But, Blur have come back with an album which, like its predecessor, is a hotchpotch of ideas, but nevertheless a cohesive one. After the brash pop of Damon Albarn's Gorillaz side project, and the overtly emotional 13, this is a soulful and subtle affair. There are a couple of classic Blur rock moments here, "Crazy Beat" is cut from the same cloth as the pogo-ing classic "Song 2", while the painfully short but brilliant "We've Got A File On You" sounds like agitprop punkers Crass in a fight with a Moroccan snake charmer. But while Damon Albarn still has an ear for a melody, without Coxon's guitars to subvert them, Think Tank sounds like a different band. Morocco and Damon's Mali Music have changed Blur. "Caravan" uses a sleepy rhythm that plods at a camel's pace, while "Gene by Gene" employs cross rhythms evoking images of the desert and sound textures from unorthodox sources. Blur are now using sounds to create their music rather than the standard rock line up. For some fans it may be one evolution too far, but for fans who appreciate them as they are--a band that refuses to stay still--Think Tank should be an interesting listen. --Caroline Butler ===================== hmv.co.uk March 2003 "It's an album about love and politics", says Damon Albarn of Blur's seventh studio album, 'Think Tank'. Recorded in Marrakech and London, it's the band's first as a three-piece following the departure of guitarist Graham Coxon, and the first since Albarn's massive success with his Gorillaz project. Produced by Blur and Ben Hillier, with additional production by Fatboy Slim and William Orbit, 'Think Tank' doesn't so much depart from, as further develop, the sound defined on their last outing, 1999's critically acclaimed '13'. Opening trio 'Ambulance', 'Out Of Time' and 'Crazy Beat' cover more ground than many bands manage in a lifetime, mixing electronic and acoustic elements in sleek but heartfelt harmony; elsewhere standout tracks include the gospel tinged 'Brothers And Sisters', the mournful 'Battery In Your Leg' ("This is a ballad for the good times/So put a battery in your leg"), and 'We've Got A File On You', a 60 second punk thrash with Albarn himself picking up the guitar-playing slack ("There was nobody else to do it, so I had to. It was really difficult, but with that massive change came a new vitality"). --

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