Blur - Parklife
Where has Parklife gone? Though the band never had as large a profile as Oasis in America, they were by most critical accounts the better band of the two, or at least the more sonically adventurous. Blur still has a high profile in England, though with Graham Coxon having left the band, they aren't what they once were. I wish I had a stronger sense of the musical politics in England, where Mike Skinner emphatically refuses to compare his single to "Parklife," which it obviously resembles, because he "fucking hate[s] that song" (could it be as simple as a white artist trying to associate with black music distancing himself from a uniquely British middle-class band?). But the fact remains, Blur's Parklife is a model 5.0 record, as great a rock record as was produced in the 90s. The ranging genres and styles, from the new wave of "Girls and Boys" to the punk of "Bank Holiday" to the totally Kinks-like "Tracy Jacks," only confirm the suspicions that this record is exactly what it wants to be: a picture of British life and music c.1994. So come on people. Bring Parklife back into the conversation.
This is a Low (m4a)