Parklife - Blur

The third album from Britpop mastermind’s Blur is the very pinnacle of the whole Britpop genre. Released in 1994 it was Blurs first number 1 album and spawned 4 hit singles, Girls and Boys, End of A Century, Parklife and To the End.

The pseudo-cockney, bored, self absorbed, middle class suburban lyrics of the album are hardly the invention of Damon Albarn but can be traced back through a great deal of English music especially the Paul Weller and to a greater extent in Parklife’s case Ray Davies of the Kinks who’s clever twist of phrase is quite similar to Albarns.

Girls and Boys is the lead track on the album and was a top 5 hit for Blur. This songs satirises the pointless hedonism of English 18 to 35 holiday makers. Ironically the very people who it poked fun at adopted it as their own. It is catchy and funny a perfect pop hit. It is perhaps more suitable to the charts of today, as many bands have now adopted this very blend of dance beats and pop guitar to great effect.

End of a century reached number 19 when it was releases as a single. Lyrically it is about the impending doom of the millennium “end of a century / its nothing special”. How very true.

To the End, is the uber relationship song, two people getting over a bad patch. It has a full orchestral accompaniment. While not one of their biggest hits coming in at number 16 n the charts it is one of their best and stylistically typical of Blurs old and new style. It even has the Stereolab vocalist Laetita Sadier singing along in French during the chorus. A full version of the song was released in French sung by legendary chanteuse Francoise Hardy.

Parklife the title track and number 10 hit featured the vocal talents of actor Phil Daniels, most famous for his role in Quadrophenia and perhaps as one of the rats in Chicken Run at the moment he is in that staple of TV nonsense Eastenders. The single is mostly spoken verse thanks to Dnaiels and the Chorus sung by Albarn. It is yet another wry look at the adoption of the English middle class of Estuary English.

Perhaps the finest moment on the album is This Is A Low It is a clever song whose lyrics are based around the shipping weather forecast. Its soaring guitar solo at the end show the promise of Blurs future albums and proved them to be above their rivals and poor Lennon imitators Oasis.

Parklife is an Album which is sure to prove a greater influence over time and cement Blur as one of England’s greatest bands.

Track listing
1. Girls And Boys
2. Tracy Jacks
3. End Of A Century
4. Parklife
5. Bank Holiday
6. Debt Collector
7. Far Out
8. To The End
9. London Loves
10. Trouble In The Message Centre
11. Clover Over Dover
12. Magic America
13. Jubilee
14. This Is A Low