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Blur 21 is a CD, DVD and vinyl box set encompassing the vast majority of music by Blur. It was released on 30 July 2012, commemorating the 21st anniversary of the release of Leisure, the band's first album. The release took place before the band's performance at Hyde Park as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. One version of the box-set consists of eighteen CDs, three DVDs, one vinyl 7" record (of the early Seymour track "Superman") and a hardcover book acting as a complete biography of the band. The CDs contain all seven Blur albums, with the first five remastered, with each album receiving a new second disc of B-side material; as well as four 'rarities' discs containing mostly previously-unreleased material. The DVDs contain Showtime, The Singles Night and an all-new rarities disc.

Anyone else check this out? Although I've had every Blur album for years, I never sought out any b-sides or rarities. There is a ton of music I've never heard on this release. Some of it is amazing, some of it is completely throwaway, but it's all Blur. There's also a vinyl release that is tempting but even more expensive than the CD set, and with less material.

Looks amazing. Like you, I own all the albums but would love to own this at around $100.

Now I have Trailerpark stuck in my head...good thing though.

I pre-ordered this and it should arrive on August 3rd.

I was going to order it from Amazon.uk since they often have much cheaper prices on these types of items, but surprisingly Amazon US was far and away a better deal at this time. (The price might eventually drop at Amazon.uk, but then again this is supposed to be a "limited" set so who knows how long this box will be available.)

It would be nice if these music releases that include DVD content would start putting all the video content on a Blu ray disc. Blu ray is here to stay.

Also, if Blur should release their eighth CD which they've been working on, I doubt the box will have place holder for it. Then again, that eighth CD doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon:

http://pitchfork.com/news/46622-prod...t-of-the-band/

That looks just lovely. $155 is steep, but considering some other bands offer deluxe reissues for $40 for each album, it's not the worst price for all this material. It would have been nice to include all of their music videos, but their Best Of DVD is fine for that. I don't care if it is modeled after LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, the video for "To The End" is gorgeous!

Franchot - I agree about the Blu-ray status, but a lot of the video offered here is from the 90s and wouldn't benefit from the upgrade.

There's no need for a placeholder for future albums, as this box is designed to be a retrospective of the first 21 years of the band.

I agree with you about there not being an upgrade in video by switching to Blu ray. I was looking at as just saving space and without the hassle of flipping between discs and possibly getting some of the music in a lossless format.

My box set arrived and the three DVDs are all housed together in one digi-pack which folds open. Very nicely done...as is the rest of the box set.

I would love this set myself but it is really expensive. Maybe it will go down in price? I already have the albums but it would be nice to have everything in a beautiful collection such as this with remastering & bonuses and concert/documentary films.

Love the band. Got to see them in the early 1990s.

What the hell, ordered it. Got a little bonus from work so I treated myself. At $8 per disc it really isn't too bad. Will report back my thoughts.

I've had my box on pretty much constantly since getting it a week ago Saturday - an absolute treasure trove for a fan of the band. There are things they could have put on that aren't here - that there's space for, fill up those discs! - but what we do have is generally top quality...I don't think I ever need to hear the 11+ minute "She's So High" rehearsal take again, though.

If you're even entertaining the thought of getting it, you probably should - it's well worth it.

Blur has announced their recent Hyde Park show will be released in a live set called Parklive. There are a few different sets coming out in December.

I went ahead and got this set... and it really is a treasure trove for fans of the band. The remastered versions are also stellar. I was expecting a notable improvement but the quality difference is actually huge (and it seems especially notable with Parklife: the sound quality has never been anywhere near as good before). Fans of Blur will love this set for all of the bonus b-sides, rarities, etc.

Kind of wish that there was an empty spot for the upcoming Parklive release but I'll just place that next to my "Best Of" release (which I am holding on to for the live CD).

I'll get it for this alone... was on the fence. Now I'm sold. Saw the band throughout the 90's here in L.A. more times than any other band... well, except Paul Weller, for the past 20 years I catch him every time he comes to L.A..

You can technically buy the remastered albums individually if you would prefer to do it that way and just purchase Parklife.

Of course... you would miss out on having almost all of the band's output in one box and the rarities discs, DVDs, and book.

I will say that all of the albums that were remastered sound fantastic (Leisure, Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, The Great Escape, Blur) but Parklife may have simply stood out the most as it is a favorite of mine. I listened to all of the albums on my old US CD's so many times and I always thought the sound quality on the early albums could have been improved.

I never would have guessed that I would ever end up having them remastered so beautifully.

Bottom line: I would highly recommend the full Blur 21 set if you are a massive fan and not just a fan of one or two of the albums.

I've only been a casual Blur fan over the years and for some reason have never owned their albums. However, thanks to Spotify, I've been familiarizing myself with their catalog for the past few weeks and decided to pull the trigger on the set last week. I paid just over $130. It arrived today along with Criterion's "The Game" which I had pre-ordered months ago. Looking forward to delving into the contents starting tomorrow. But for now, I'm off to check out The Game...

I think Blur has released a handful of great songs over the span of their career. However, with that being said, the Brits hold such an extreme holy reverance for them and us Yanks can't quite grasp the infatuation. I've listened to their other stuff and a lot of it, to my ears, is quite boring and droll.

I'm a HUGE fan of modern British music and I've been scratching my head for years wondering what I've been missing. Oh yeah, The Stone Roses too. And Oasis. Same idealogy.

I loathe Oasis, but I think 90% of Blur's output is excellent. And I'm a Yank.

Funny, I loathe Blur, but I think (at least) 90% of Oasis output is excellent. And I'm a Yank as well.

I was a huge Blur fan up to The Great Escape...but their change in style after that didn't suit my tastes. But i would still pick up the boxset if I see it at a good price.