Blur

Parklife - Food 1994

Tracks: 1. Girls & Boys / 2. Tracy Jacks / 3. End of a Century / 4. Parklife / 5. Bank Holiday / 6. Badhead / 7. Debt Collector / 8. Far Out / 9. To the End / 10. London Loves / 11. Trouble in the Message Centre / 12. Clover over Dover / 13. Magic America / 14. Jubilee / 15. This Is a Low / 16. Lot 105 /17. Magpie* / 18. Anniversary Waltz* / 19. People in Europe* / 20. Peter Panic* / 21. Girls and Boys (Pet Shop Boys 12'' Remix)* / 22. Threadneedle Street* / 23. Got Yer!* / 24. Beard* / 25. To the End (French Version)* / 26. Supa Shoppa* / 27. Theme from an Imaginary Film* / 28. Red Necks* / 29. Alex's Song* / 30. Jubilee (Acoustic, BBC Live Version)* / 31. Parklife (Acoustic, BBC Live Version)* / 32. End of a Century (Acoustic Version)*

Comments:

"Parklife" is probably the album I associate most with the 1990s Britpop. On "Parklife" and the successor "The Great Escape", Blur present brit-pop in its most varied form with lots of whimsical ideas and great variation in the songwriting, and thus differs a lot from other British pop names such as Suede, Ocean Color Scene and Oasis, where the music follows a somewhat narrower track.

Blur draw in their songwriting strongly in the 1960s British pop; maybe especially at The Kinks and the Beatles. As mentioned, there is great variation in songwriting and probably also a bit in the quality and durability of the individual songs.

The four singles from "Parklife" could be a fine examples of the variation that is to be found on the album. "Girls and Boys", "Parklife" and "End of a Century" are all textually great time frames, but musically they’re quite different. "To the End" is a fine ballad; much in the style of "The Universal" from "The Great Escape". All four singles reached a top 20 spot; completely deservedly.

Several other songs might also have single potential. Eg. the very catchy "Badhead", "Tracy Jacks" and "Clover over Dover"; or the other fine ballad "This is a Low".

2 or 3 of the 16 songs may not quite have high musical level of the rest; However, this cannot change the convincing overall impression.

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