REVIEW: Blur, Parklife (SBK/ERG)
- Bob Gajarsky
The English alternative group Blur has returned with their third album, and second in the last 12 months, with a pop masterpiece: Parklife.
The first single, "Girls and Boys", sounds like a brilliant combination of Gary Numan's "Cars", Human League and the Jam and meshes the early 80's sound into one terribly addictive song. The strength of this track helped catapult Parklife to a Number One debut slot in their native England, knocking the recent Pink Floyd release out of the top spot. But, Parklife is more than just one song - it's a leap through the last 25 years of the best British music can offer.
Lead singer Damon Albarn has the most "English" voice since Paul Weller captured the scene with the Jam. The influences of the Jam are still present, but that's where the similarities to their last effort, Modern Life Is Rubbish, end. On this effort, it's not a context album, but 16 diverse songs.
"We're trying to lift normality into an arena where everybody is sort of exceptional. I really like romaticizing very mundane things," says Albarn. "All our characters are on a journey somewhere and most of the time they're trying to escape from Britain without really succeeding. Their destinations are rather tragic, but we couple that with quite upbeat, optimistic music."
The title track, "Parklife", has a bit of Madness' horns and lunacy tossed in; "To The End" sounds like a lost should-have-been Adult Contemporary hit from the 70's, without being a sellout and the instrumental "Debt Collector" harkens to a Sgt. Pepper-esque Beatles scene. Allusions to the English punk scene are present, as well, on "Bank Holiday" and "Jubilee".
For five years now, Blur has remained on the peripheral edge of alternative success in the United States. Parklife, with a diversity seldom found in today's releases, stands to be the defining moment for Blur.
