BLUR - Blur 21 (the Box)

Item Description

Box Set,
Compilation Deluxe Edition

The Japanese box set features a further 7 songs compared to the European releases, 6 of which previously unreleased officially and are exclusive to this release (they are CD2-17, CD6-17, CD8-19 [previously released], CD10-19, CD12-15, CD14-15 and CD16-21).

Made in Japan.

Comes with a three sided-obi strip in Japanese, (when sealed wraps around the left, rear and right panels of the box (barcode on right panel, left-bottom corner)). The box is identical in shape and size to the European version and when the OBI is removed, is completely plain apart from the embossed silver Blur logo on the front and opens from the top from front to rear. The OBI lists the seven additional bonus tracks with individual headings under each respective CD.

Comes with a hardcover book in English, 7" card replica of Seymour's handwritten debut gig poster with code on reverse for downloading extra material (Code Expires 1st August 2013). Downloading material contains all audio tracks (320 kbps, MP3), excepting the bonus track "Superman", access to streams of EPK interviews from every album (except "Leisure" and "Modern Life Is Rubbish", which instead is of two songs from both albums), commentaries about each album, plus all 32 issues of the fan club magazines (entitled "Blurb") as PDFs. (Worthy of note is that the download version of CD17-14 is different to the version on the CD and the downloads do not include the seven bonus Japanese only tracks). Exclusive to the Japanese edition is a six panel fold-out poster featuring Blur's main CD single artworks to date, plus an additional colour booklet in Japanese as an accompaniment to main hardcover booklet as well as full sized stickers to each album. Plus a 7" of an early Seymour song. All of these are housed in a ribbon-pull pocket above the CDs and DVDs.

The CDs all come in gatefold cases with clear wallets inside, identical to the European versions. Additional and exclusive to the Japanese version is additional booklets per album all in Japanese, with only the track listing, tracks numbers and lyrics in English on each page, this is also where the bonus tracks are listed and credited (they aren't listed on the gatefold cases, since they are identical prints and no further information or lyrics are included under them). The DVDs come in a tri-fold case. All of these are housed in the landscape tower within the presentation box.

Other key points about tracks (same as European versions):

CD2-3 is 6 seconds shorter than the previously released extended version.

CD13-13 features "Me, White Noise" after "Battery In Your Leg" ends. Originally, this was a bonus track found by rewinding the CD when inserted into a player (commonly called a '0' track).

CD17-12 although not listed as such, is actually an early version of "Yuko & Hiro" as can be heard in the lyrics.

CD18-19 "Under The Westway" is an earlier version, (though not printed or mentioned on the release), as the song was re-mixed again after the box set went to print, with an alternative bridge.

Whilst this is a very comprehensive box set encompassing the band's entire career up to that date with some previously unreleased and harder to find material, it is not a complete collection and does omit some b-sides and remixes from live E.P.'s and promo's plus one-off songs and covers the band did for compilation, soundtrack, and charity albums at various stages during their career as well as a fan club single, nor does it include any of their official live albums.

Tracks DVD1-1, DVD2-1, and DVD3-1 do not appear on the track credits however they are individual chapters on the discs themselves.