Modern Life Is Rubbish established Blur as the heir to the archly British pop of the Kinks, the Small Faces, and the Jam, but its follow-up, Parklife, revealed the depth of that transformation. Relying more heavily on Ray Davies' seriocomic social commentary, as well as /p>
ew wave, Parklife runs through the entire history of post-British Invasion Britpop in the course of 16 songs, touching on psychedelia, synth pop, disco, punk, and music hall along the way. Damon Albarn intended these songs to form a sketch of British life in the mid-'90s, and it's startling how close he came to his goal; not only did the bouncy, disco-fied "Girls & Boys" and singalong chant "Parklife" become anthems in the U.K., but they inaugurated a new era of Britpop and lad culture, where British youth celebrated their country and traditions. The legions of jangly, melodic bands that followed in the wake of Parklife revealed how much more complex Blur's vision was. Not only was their music precisely detailed -- sound effects and brilliant guitar lines pop up all over the record -- but the melodies elegantly interweaved with the chords, as in the graceful, heartbreaking "Badhead." Surprisingly, Albarn, for all of his cold, dispassionate wit, demonstrates compassion that gives these songs three dimensions, as on the pathos-laden "End of a Century," the melancholy Walker Brothers tribute "To the End," and the swirling, epic closer, "This Is a Low." For all of its celebration of tradition, Parklife is a thoroughly modern record in that it bends genres and is self-referential (the mod anthem of the title track is voiced by none other than Phil Daniels, the star of Quadrophenia). And, by tying the past and the present together, Blur articulated the mid-'90s zeitgeist and produced an epoch-defining record.
A song for u have a good week.Girls And BoysStreet's like a jungleSo call the policeFollowing the herdDown to GreeceOn holidayLove in the ninetiesIs paranoidOn sunny beachesTake your chancesLooking forGirls who are boys who like boys to be girls who doBoys like they're girls who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveGirls who are boys who like boys to be girls who do...
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I took my brother to see Blur.His first concert.
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I get up when I want, except on Wednesdays, when I get rudely wakened by the dustmen.I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea, and I think about leaving the house.I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too.It gives me a sense of enormous well-being.And then Im happy for the rest of the day,Safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it.All the peopleSo many...
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Today Parlophone Records put all 22 Blur videos up on their YouTube channel. The videos were taken from The Best Of Blur DVD which is available here.Parlophone also has video playlists for Radiohead, Coldplay, and Kylie Minogue.Blur videos available:1. She's So High2. There's No Other Way3. Bang4. Popscene5. For Tomorrow6. Chemical World7. Sunday Sunday8. Girls and Boys9. To The End10. Parklif...
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Blur could potentially get together again as a four piece unit. Bassist Alex James has said that the band has booked a studio for a week in August. Based on how that trial runs the band will either come back better than ever or Blur will be over. Personally I'm hoping for the band coming back better than ever, surprising huh? So Dave, Damon, Graham, Alex make sure that if you do release an albu...
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oasis, or blur? blur, or oasis. why, blur, of course. silly rabbit.
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A sort of punkier offering from Parklife today. Basically I'm just posting this because I think Damon sounds so much like Steve Harley on this track. It's like a sped up version of Judy Teen
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Parklife is like a dream date -- it's smart, it's funny, it rocks, it's tender, it gets your blood pumping, and when it's over, you can't wait to do it all over again.In honor of the 15th anniversary of its release, Blur's Parklife has gotten a lot of extra play on my iPod lately. 1990s Britpop comprises an alarming percentage of my life's all-time hit parade, with the bulk of it emerging from ...
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A song for u have a good week.Girls And BoysStreet's like a jungleSo call the policeFollowing the herdDown to GreeceOn holidayLove in the ninetiesIs paranoidOn sunny beachesTake your chancesLooking forGirls who are boys who like boys to be girls who doBoys like they're girls who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveGirls who are boys who like boys to be girls who do...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Girls & Boys |
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| 2 Tracy Jacks |
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| 3 End of a Century |
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| 4 Parklife |
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| 5 Bank Holiday |
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| 6 Badhead |
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| 7 The Debt Collector |
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| 8 Far Out |
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| 9 To the End |
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| 10 London Loves |
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| 11 Trouble in the Message Centre |
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| 12 Clover over Dover |
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| 13 Magic America |
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| 14 Jubilee |
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| 15 This Is a Low |
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| 16 Lot 105 |
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 "Parklife")
