Think Tank

Recording began in November 2001 at Albarn's Studio 13 in London. Albarn, James and Rowntree started with Ben Hillier while Coxon was in rehab for alcoholism and depression. Coxon rejoined for sessions in February and May 2002 and contributed to Battery in Your Leg, then left after a miscommunication in which the manager told him not to return to the studio. The others carried on, with Albarn saying the spirit of Blur mattered more than the individuals.

In August 2002 the band and Hillier went to Marrakesh and turned an old barn into a studio. The sessions there produced Crazy Beat, Gene by Gene and Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club, and Albarn said most of the lyrics were written under a cypress tree in Morocco. The rest was recorded in a barn on National Trust land in Devon. Norman Cook produced Crazy Beat and Gene by Gene, William Orbit produced Sweet Song, and a Moroccan orchestra plays on the lead single Out of Time. Banksy stencilled the cover. Albarn described the album as a loose concept record about love and politics, with anti-war themes running through it.

The album leaked in March 2003 and was released on 5 May. It entered the UK chart at number one, the band's fifth in a row, and later went Gold. In the US it reached 56 on first-week sales of 20,000, their highest peak there at the time. It won Best Album at the 2003 Q Awards and the 2004 South Bank Show Awards and was nominated for Best British Album at the 2004 Brit Awards. The Observer named it the best album of 2003, and Pitchfork gave it 9.0. AllMusic's Erlewine called it a lousy album, and in 2015 Albarn said it had some real stinkers on it. The band toured it with Simon Tong in Coxon's place.