Blur: Damon Albarn (vocals, keyboards); Graham Coxon (guitar); Alex James (bass); Dave Rowntree (drums).

Producers include: Stephen Street, William Orbit, Steve Lowell, Steve Power, Stephen Hague.

Personnel: Damon Albarn (vocals); Graham Coxon (guitar); Dave Rowntree (drums); Sean Spuehler, Damian leGassick (programming).

Audio Mixers: Al Clay; Ben Hillier.

Recording information: Embley Arena; Wembly Arena.

Photographer: Greg Williams .

This Blur collection consists of a two-CD/one-DVD set that presents the revered Britpop group's BEST OF anthology, a disc of live performances, and a comprehensive assemblage of the band's videos. Along with Damon Albarn and the lads' best-known tunes ("Girls & Boys," "Song 2"), the studio disc includes the funky, previously unreleased "Music Is My Radar," while the concert album presents some tracks not on the former disc, including the spiky "Stereotypes" and the revved-up "M.O.R." Rounding out the set are the group's videos, which include visually stunning clips for "To the End" and "The Universal," among others.

It's boring to point out omissions on hits compilations, especially when a collection is as generous as the 18-track The Best of Blur, but let's do it anyway. The Best of Blur largely bypasses the group's key album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, the record that invented Britpop, skewing in favor of the self-consciously "experimental" 13, which, for all of its attributes, wasn't a singles album. Plus, the group continues to punish the British record-buying public by not including the brilliant "Pop Scene" (to beat a dead horse, the single that invented Britpop), since nobody bought it at the time. So, without "Pop Scene," "Chemical World," or "Sunday Sunday," a crucial chapter of Blur's history is missing from The Best of Blur -- the chapter where they essentially became Blur. It's to their immense credit that the album doesn't feel like it's missing anything, since these singles (plus one album track) are dazzling on their own. Of course, the trick is that the record isn't assembled chronologically. Instead, it flows like a set list, complete with the set closer "This Is a Low" followed by a two-song encore that ends with the new song (the good, not great, "Music Is My Radar"), which not only gives it a momentum of its own, but draws attention to the songs themselves. And "dazzling" isn't hyperbole -- based on these 18 songs, Blur isn't just the best pop band of the '90s, with greater range and depth than their peers; they rank among the best pop bands of all time. The Best of Blur illustrates that, even as it misses some of their best moments -- omissions that prevent it from being the flat-out classic it should be. Even so, it's pretty damn terrific, particularly for the unconverted. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Virgin/Parlophone's 2007 release Holiday Gift Pack is an excellent repackaging of Blur's 2000 greatest-hits set The Best of Blur with its original ten-track live bonus disc "Live at Wembley Arena" (recorded on December 11, 1999) and the Best of Blur DVD, containing all of their music videos up through 13. Although there are a few minor flaws in this set -- it'd be nice if the hits collection had "Popscene" on the CD proper, for instance -- this is still a terrific value for both casual and serious fans. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine