''Parklife'' is the third studio album by the English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on
Food Records
Food Records was a British rock record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe (formally of Zoo Records), who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade Distr ...
. After disappointing sales for their previous album ''
Modern Life Is Rubbish
''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' is the second album by English alternative rock band Blur, released in May 1993. Although their debut album ''Leisure'' (1991) had been commercially successful, Blur faced a severe media backlash soon after its releas ...
'' (1993), ''Parklife'' returned Blur to prominence in the UK, helped by its four hit singles: "
Girls & Boys", "
End of a Century
"End of a Century" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. Released in November 1994, it was the last single to be released from their third album, ''Parklife'' (1994). "End of a Century" reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart, cons ...
", "
Parklife
''Parklife'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on Food Records. After disappointing sales for their previous album ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' (1993), ''Parklife'' returned Blur to prominence in ...
" and "
To the End".
Certified four times platinum in the United Kingdom, in the year following its release the album came to define the emerging
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...
scene, along with the album ''
Definitely Maybe
''Definitely Maybe'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Oasis, released by Creation Records on 29 August 1994. Oasis booked Monnow Valley Studio near Rockfield in late 1993 to record the album and worked with producer Dave Batchel ...
'' by future rivals
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
. Britpop in turn would form the backbone of the broader
Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom throughout the mid and second half of the 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with John Major's conse ...
movement. ''Parklife'' therefore has attained a cultural significance above and beyond its considerable sales and critical acclaim, cementing its status as a landmark in British rock music.
In 2010, ''Parklife'' was one of ten classic album covers from British artists
commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the
Royal Mail
, kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga
, logo = Royal Mail.svg
, logo_size = 250px
, type = Public limited company
, traded_as =
, foundation =
, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
. In 2015, ''Spin'' included the album in their list of "The 300 Best Albums of 1985–2014".
Recording
In 1990, a year before Blur's debut album,
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...
, the band's vocalist, had told a group of music journalists, "When our third album comes out, our place as the quintessential English band of the '90s will be assured. That is a simple statement of fact. I intend to write it in 1994."
After the completion of recording sessions for Blur's previous album, ''
Modern Life Is Rubbish
''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' is the second album by English alternative rock band Blur, released in May 1993. Although their debut album ''Leisure'' (1991) had been commercially successful, Blur faced a severe media backlash soon after its releas ...
'', Albarn began to write prolifically. Blur demoed Albarn's new songs in groups of twos and threes.
Due to their precarious financial position at the time, Blur quickly went back into the studio with producer
Stephen Street
Stephen Brian Street (born 29 March 1960 in Hackney, London) is an English music producer best known for his work with The Smiths, The Cranberries and Blur. Street collaborated with Morrissey on his debut album ''Viva Hate'' following the spl ...
to record their third album. Blur met at the Maison Rouge recording studio in August 1993 to record their next album.
The recording was a relatively fast process, apart from the song "
This Is a Low
"This Is a Low" is a song by English rock band Blur for their third studio album, ''Parklife''. The song was released as a promotional single in 1995.
Background and recording
Originally titled "We Are the Low", the song began life as an inst ...
".
While the members of Blur were pleased with the final result, Food Records owner
David Balfe
David Balfe (born 1958 in Carlisle, Cumberland) is a musician and record company executive, most notable for playing keyboards with the Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food independent record labels, signing Blur and for being the subj ...
was not, telling the band's management "This is a mistake". Soon afterwards, Balfe sold Food to
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
.
Music
Blur frontman
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...
told ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' in 1994, "For me, ''Parklife'' is like a loosely linked concept album involving all these different stories. It's the travels of the mystical lager-eater, seeing what's going on in the world and commenting on it." Albarn cited the
Martin Amis
Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...
novel ''
London Fields
London Fields is a park in Hackney, London, although the name also refers to the immediate area in Hackney surrounding it and London Fields station. It is common land adjoining the Hackney Central area of the London Borough of Hackney. The p ...
'' as a major influence on the album.
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
guitarist
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...
was once quoted saying that ''Parklife'' was, "Like Southern England personified". The songs themselves span many genres, such as the
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
-influenced hit single "
Girls & Boys", the instrumental
waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...
interlude of "The Debt Collector", the punk rock-influenced "Bank Holiday", the spacey,
Syd Barrett
Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was their original frontman and primary songwriter, becoming known for his ...
-esque "Far Out",
and the fairly
new wave-influenced "Trouble in the Message Centre". Journalist John Harris commented that while many of the album's songs "reflected Albarn's claims to a bittersweet take on the UK's human patchwork", stating that several songs, including "
To the End" (featuring
Lætitia Sadier
Lætitia Sadier (born 6 May 1968, sometimes known as Seaya Sadier) is a French musician, best known as a founding member of the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab. In 1996, while Stereolab was still active, she formed the side project Monade. ...
of
Stereolab
Stereolab are an Anglo- French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a repetit ...
) and "Badhead" "lay in a much more personal space".
Title and cover
The album was originally going to be entitled ''London'' and the album cover shot was going to be of a fruit-and-vegetable cart. Albarn stated tongue-in-cheek, "That was the last time that
Dave Balfe
David Balfe (born 1958 in Carlisle, Cumberland) is a musician and record company executive, most notable for playing keyboards with the Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food independent record labels, signing Blur and for being the subj ...
was, sort of, privy to any decision or creative process with us, and that was his final contribution: to call it ''London''". The cover refers to the British pastime of
greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...
. Most of the pictures in the CD booklet are of the band in the greyhound racing venue
Walthamstow Stadium
Walthamstow Stadium was a greyhound racing track in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London.BBC News - Walthamstow race track to close' It was regarded as the leading greyhound racing stadium in Britain following the closure of W ...
, although the actual cover was not shot there. The
album cover
An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...
for ''Parklife'' was among the ten chosen by the
Royal Mail
, kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga
, logo = Royal Mail.svg
, logo_size = 250px
, type = Public limited company
, traded_as =
, foundation =
, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010.
Reception
''Parklife'' was met with critical acclaim. Johnny Dee, reviewing ''Parklife'' for ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', called it "a great pop record", adding "On paper it sounds like hell, in practice it's joyous."
Paul Evans of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' stated that with "one of this year's best albums", the band "realize their cheeky ambition: to reassert all the style and wit, boy bonding and stardom aspiration that originally made British rock so dazzling."
Conversely,
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' indicated that the only good song on the album was "Girls & Boys".
''Parklife'' remains one of the most acclaimed albums of the 1990s. In a retrospective review,
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
commented: "By tying the past and the present together, Blur articulated the mid-'90s zeitgeist and produced an epoch-defining record."
On
Acclaimed Music
Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
which aggregates critical opinion of music, ''Parklife'' is ranked as the 5th best album of 1994, the 28th best of the 1990s and the 164th best of all time.
Commercial performance
Upon release, ''Parklife'' debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and stayed on the chart for 90 weeks.
It reached number six on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...
album chart in the United States. In the UK it sold 27,000 copies in its first week and would see a resurgence in sales the week before Christmas of 1994, with weekly sales of 40,000.
''Parklife'' is Blur's bestselling studio album in the UK, with just over a million copies sold.
Accolades
''Parklife'' has received accolades since its official release and is largely seen as one of the best albums of the 1990s. The album was nominated to the 1994
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
, but it lost to
M People
M People (stylised as ''M''People) is an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who form ...
's ''
Elegant Slumming
''Elegant Slumming'' is the second album by the British dance band M People. It was released on 4 October 1993 charting and peaking at number 2 on the UK Album Chart and spent 87 weeks in the Top 75. It re-entered the chart three times in Octo ...
''. Blur also won four awards at the 1995
Brit Awards
The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
, including Best British Album for ''Parklife''. The album was listed as one of the ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''.
In 2000 it was voted number 95 in
Colin Larkin
Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
Along wit ...
's ''
All Time Top 1000 Albums
''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
''.
He stated "''Parklife'' was a stunning album of high-quality, undeniably English pop."
In 2003, ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' placed the album at number 54 on their ''Top 100 Albums of the 1990s'' list. In 2006, ''
British Hit Singles & Albums
''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of ...
'' and ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' organised a poll of which, 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and ''Parklife'' was placed at number 34 on the list. The album has been hailed as a "Britpop classic".
In April 2014, American
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
magazine ''
Metro Weekly
''Metro Weekly'' is a free weekly magazine for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Washington, D.C., United States. It was first published on May 5, 1994. ''Metro Weekly'' includes national and local news, interviews w ...
'' ranked the album at number 29 in its list of the "50 Best Alternative Albums of the 90s". In July 2014, ''
Guitar World
''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...
'' placed ''Parklife'' in its "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list. The album was ranked at number 171 on ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
''s "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)" list. In 2017, ''Pitchfork'' listed the album at number two in its list "The 50 Best Britpop Albums". In 2020, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' ranked the album at number 438 in their list of the
500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Track listing
;Bonus disc notes
*17 to 20 from "Girls and Boys" single (March 1994)
*21 to 23 from "To the End" single (May 1994)
*24 to 27 from "Parklife" single (August 1994)
*28 and 29 from "End of a Century" single (November 1994)
*30 and 31 previously unreleased BBC Radio 1 –
Simon Mayo
Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022.
Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...
, 1994
*32 from "End of a Century" Spanish CD Promo
*33 is previously unreleased
Personnel
Blur
*
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...
– lead and backing vocals, piano,
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
,
Moog synthesiser
The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 201 ...
,
melodica
The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usual ...
,
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...
, recorder,
programming,
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
,
string synthesizer
A string synthesizer or string machine is a specialized synthesizer designed specifically to make sounds similar to that of a string orchestra.
Dedicated string synthesizers occupied a specific musical instrument niche between electronic organs ...
*
Graham Coxon
Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...
– electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals, clarinet, saxophone, percussion
*
Alex James – bass guitar, vocals on "Far Out", crowd noise
*
Dave Rowntree
David Alexander De Horne Rowntree (born 8 May 1964) is an English musician, politician, solicitor, composer and animator. He is the drummer for the rock band Blur and was a Labour Party councillor in Norfolk County Council from 2017 until 202 ...
– drums, percussion, programming, crowd noise
Additional musicians
*
Stephen Street
Stephen Brian Street (born 29 March 1960 in Hackney, London) is an English music producer best known for his work with The Smiths, The Cranberries and Blur. Street collaborated with Morrissey on his debut album ''Viva Hate'' following the spl ...
– synthesizer (credited as "vintage" keys), sound effects, programming
*
Lætitia Sadier
Lætitia Sadier (born 6 May 1968, sometimes known as Seaya Sadier) is a French musician, best known as a founding member of the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab. In 1996, while Stereolab was still active, she formed the side project Monade. ...
– vocals on "
To the End"
*
Phil Daniels
Philip William Daniels (born 25 October 1958) is an English actor, musician and singer, most noted for film and television roles playing Londoners, such as the lead role of Jimmy Cooper in ''Quadrophenia'', Richards in '' Scum'', Stewart in ''Th ...
– narration on "
Parklife
''Parklife'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on Food Records. After disappointing sales for their previous album ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' (1993), ''Parklife'' returned Blur to prominence in ...
"
* Stephen Hague – accordion
String quartet
* Chris Tombling
* Audrey Riley
* Leo Payne MBE
* Chris Pitsillides
Duke strings
* Louisa Fuller – violin
* Rick Koster – violin
* Mark – violin
*
John Metcalfe – string arrangement, viola
* Ivan McCready – cello
Kick horns
*
Richard Edwards – trombone
*
Roddy Lorimer
Roddy Lorimer (born 19 May 1953) is a Scottish musician who plays trumpet and flugelhorn. He has performed with a wide array of artists, including Blur, Gene, the Rolling Stones, Draco Rosa, the Who, the Style Council, Eric Clapton, Suede, Su ...
– flugelhorn, trombone
*
Tim Sanders – tenor sax, soprano sax
* Simon Clarke – baritone sax, alto sax, flute
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Certifications and sales
References
*
Notes
External links
''Parklife''at
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
(streamed copy where licensed)
*
{{Authority control
Albums produced by Damon Albarn
Albums produced by Stephen Street
Blur (band) albums
Food Records albums
Concept albums
1994 albums
Albums produced by Stephen Hague
Albums recorded at RAK Studios
Brit Award for British Album of the Year