Parklife
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Parklife | ||
 |
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| Studio album by Blur | ||
| Released | April 25, 1994 | |
| Recorded | October 1993-January 1994 | |
| Genre | Britpop | |
| Length | 52:39 | |
| Label | Food | |
| Producer(s) | Stephen Street | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Blur chronology | ||
| Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993) |
Parklife (1994) |
The Great Escape (1995) |
Parklife is a Britpop album by the band Blur, released on April 25, 1994.
Blur's sketches of British life among ordinary men and women prompted many reviewers to compare the band to The Kinks. The songs themselves span many genres, such as the Pet Shop Boys-esque hit single "Girls And Boys", the jazzy interlude of "The Debt Collector", the Oi! punk of "Bank Holiday", and the hard rocking "Trouble In The Message Centre". At the time of its release it acquired full-on cultural phenomenon status in Britain, particularly in the context of the young middle classes' adoption of Estuary English (several newspaper articles about this tendency appeared during the singles chart run of the album's title track).
Although the album failed to chart in the US, "Girls & Boys" became a hit there, while Parklife became Blur's first UK #1 album, entering in the pole position upon its release, and staying there for one week.
The four singles from the album were "Girls & Boys", "End of a Century", "Parklife" and "To the End".
Although it was not a single, Blur played "Jubilee" live on Top Of The Pops in 1995.
In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Parklife the 20th greatest album of all time [1]. In 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 22 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
[edit] Track listing
All tracks written by Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree.
- "Girls & Boys" – 4:51
- "Tracy Jacks" – 4:20
- "End of a Century" – 2:45
- "Parklife" – 3:05
- "Bank Holiday" – 1:42
- "Badhead" – 3:25
- "The Debt Collector" – 2:10
- "Far Out" – 1:41
- "To the End" – 4:05
- "London Loves" – 4:15
- "Trouble in the Message Centre" – 4:09
- "Clover over Dover" – 3:22
- "Magic America" – 3:38
- "Jubilee" – 2:47
- "This Is a Low" – 5:07
- "Lot 105" – 1:17
[edit] Personnel
- Blur
- Damon Albarn - Synthesizer, Strings, Harpsichord, Hammond organ, Programming, Recorder, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Melodica, Moog synthesizer, Vibraphone
- Graham Coxon - Acoustic Guitar, Clarinet, Guitar, Percussion, Guitar (Electric), Saxophone, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
- Alex James - Guitar, Bass guitar, Vocals, Noise
- Dave Rowntree - Percussion, [[Drums, Programming, Noise, Crowd Noise
- Simon Clarke - Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone)
- Phil Daniels - Trombone, Horn, Narrator
- Richard Edwards - Trombone
- Louise Fuller - Violin
- Kevin Godley - Director
- Stephen Hague - Piano, Producer, Engineer
- Richard Koster - Violin
- Roddy Lorimer - Trombone
- Ivan McCready - Cello
- John Metcalfe - Arranger, Viola
- Leo Payne - Strings
- Mark Pharoah - Violin
- Chris Pitsillides - Strings
- Audrey Riley - Strings
- Laetitia Sadier - Vocals
- Tim Sanders - Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
- John Smith - Producer, Engineer
- Stephen Street - Keyboards, Programming, Sound Effects, Producer
- Bob Thomas - Photography
- Chris Tombling - Strings
- Brunskill - Photography
| Blur |
| Damon Albarn | Alex James | Dave Rowntree |
| Graham Coxon |
| Blur discography |
|---|
| Albums: Leisure | Modern Life Is Rubbish | Parklife | The Great Escape | Blur | 13 | Think Tank |
| Compilations: The Special Collectors Edition | Live at the Budokan | The 10 Year Limited Edition Anniversary Box Set | Bustin' + Dronin' | Blur: The Best of |
| Singles: See Blur Singles |
| Related articles |
| The Ailerons | Britpop | Fat Les | Food Records | The Good, the Bad and the Queen | Gorillaz | Stephen Street | Simon Tong | WigWam |
