Blur: Parklife

Blur hasn't aged very well for me. The only record of theirs that I've played, well, since the 'end of the century' so to speak, has been their singles compilation, so I thought it was time to revisit one of the supposed classics of the era. Nothing has really changed in my opinion of Parklife. The best songs such as the the Kinks-inspired "End of a Century," the Syd Barrett rip-off "Far Out," and the beautifully glamorous "To The End" (should have been a Bond theme) still sound amazing. As does the epic "This Is A Low," perhaps Damon Albarn's finest moment as a vocalist and lyricist. Pure genius. For a record that was aiming to be a timeless concept album, however, Parklife is just too damn spotty. Village Green Preservation Society or Odgen's Nut Gone Flake this ain't. There's being clever and just plain smacking of effort and too often Blur falls in the latter camp. Here's hoping I never have to hear the cheesy Euro disco smash "Girls & Boys' ever again or "Clover Over Dover." Yuck. In contrast, I've probably played something by Blur's 'rival' Oasis every week for the last 16 years. Noise and melody never gets old.  I'm starting to think that as a scene, '90's Britpop was my generation's Studio 54—you had to be there.