Blur “Parklife” (1994) – got it
Blur were feeling reinvigorated following the release of their second
album “Modern Life is Rubbish”. It hadn’t broken records with its sale
figures, but was critically well received and the band felt they were on
the right track. As soon as they’d finished that record, singer Damon
Albarn started writing a large number of songs and the band worked at
demoing them. They got back in the studio with producer Stephen Street
as soon as they could, and most of the album was recorded fairly
quickly.
Aside from the opening track “Girls and Boys” which has a bit of a European dance/disco vibe to it, and one or two of the more grand tracks like “To the End”,
this album is British through and through. In fact even "Girls and
Boys starts" with a line about “following the herd to Greece on
holiday”, sounding like the start of episode of “Boozed up Brits
Abroad”.
The Britishness continues with the “oi oi oi” punky rock of “Bank
Holiday”, the brass band waltz of instrumental “the Debt Collector” (as
well as brassy bass embellishments on the title track and rocking
"Jubilee"), the pastoral harpsicord of “Clover over Dover” and of course
Albarn’s almost aggressively cockney/mockney accent pushing into the
songs. Even bassist Alex James' composition "Far Out" sounds like it
would be at home in a 1960s Pink Floyd club gig in swinging London.
It's a brilliant album (if maybe a track or so too long). They do copy
Modern Life a bit with the overall sound and having a couple of fun
instrumental 'interludes', but with "Girls and Boys" and the loungey
stylings of "To the end" they were definitely forging new ground.
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