Parklife
Studio album by Blur
Released25 April 1994
RecordedAugust 1993 – February 1994
Studio
  • Maison Rouge, Fulham, London
  • RAK, London
GenreBritpop
Length52:40
LabelFood
Producer
  • Stephen Street
  • Stephen Hague
  • John Smith
  • Blur
Blur chronology
Modern Life Is Rubbish
(1993) 		Parklife
(1994) 		The Great Escape
(1995)
Singles from Parklife
  1. "Girls & Boys"
    Released: 7 March 1994[1]
  2. "To the End"
    Released: 30 May 1994[2]
  3. "Parklife"
    Released: 22 August 1994[3]
  4. "End of a Century"
    Released: 7 November 1994[4]
  5. "Tracy Jacks"
    Released: December 1994 (US)

Parklife is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994, by Food Records. After moderate sales for their previous album Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife returned Blur to prominence in the UK, helped by its four hit singles: "Girls & Boys", "To the End", "Parklife" and "End of a Century".

Certified four times platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI),[5] the album came to define the emerging Britpop scene in the year following its release, along with the album Definitely Maybe by future rivals Oasis. Britpop in turn would form the backbone of the broader Cool Britannia movement. Parklife therefore has attained a cultural significance beyond its considerable sales and critical acclaim, cementing its status as a landmark in British rock music.[6]

In 2010, Parklife was one of ten album covers from English artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail.[7][8] In 2015, Spin included the album in their list of "The 300 Best Albums of 1985–2014".[9] Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album number 438 in its 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[10]

To commemorate the album's 30th anniversary, it was released as a zoetrope picture disc for Record Store Day 2024.[11]

Recording

In 1990, a year before Blur's debut album, Damon Albarn, 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."[12]

After the completion of recording sessions for Blur's previous album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, Albarn began to write prolifically. Blur demoed Albarn's new songs in groups of twos and threes.[13] Due to their precarious financial position at the time, Blur quickly went back into the studio with producer Stephen Street to record their third album.[14] Blur met at the Maison Rouge recording studio in August 1993 to record their next album.[13] The recording was a relatively fast process, apart from the song "This Is a Low".

While the members of Blur were pleased with the final result, Food Records owner David Balfe was not, telling the band's management "This is a mistake". Soon afterwards, Balfe sold Food to EMI.[15]

Music

Blur frontman Damon Albarn told NME 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 novel London Fields as a major influence on the album.[16] Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher was once quoted saying that Parklife was "like Southern England personified".[17] The songs themselves span many genres, such as the synthpop-influenced hit single "Girls & Boys", the instrumental waltz interlude of "The Debt Collector", the punk rock-influenced "Bank Holiday", the spacey, Syd Barrett-esque "Far Out",[18] 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", several songs, including "To the End" (featuring Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab) and "Badhead" "lay in a much more personal space".[19]

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 was, sort of, privy to any decision or creative process with us, and that was his final contribution: to call it London".[20] The cover depicts the British pastime of greyhound racing.[21] Most of the pictures in the CD booklet are of the band in the greyhound racing venue Walthamstow Stadium, although the actual cover was not shot there.[22] The album cover for Parklife was among the ten chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010.[23][24]

Reception

Professional ratings
Initial reviews (in 1994)
Review scores
SourceRating
Chicago Tribune[25]
Los Angeles Times[26]
Music Week[27]
NME9/10[28]
Q[29]
Rolling Stone[30]
Select[31]
Professional ratings
Retrospective reviews (after 1994)
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[32]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[33]
Pitchfork9.5/10[34]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[35]

Parklife was met with critical acclaim. Johnny Dee, reviewing Parklife for NME, called it "a great pop record", adding "On paper it sounds like hell, in practice it's joyous."[28] Paul Evans of Rolling Stone 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."[30] Conversely, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice indicated that the only good song on the album was "Girls & Boys".[36]

Parklife remains one of the most acclaimed albums of the 1990s. In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented: "By tying the past and the present together, Blur articulated the mid-'90s zeitgeist and produced an epoch-defining record."[32]

Commercial performance

Upon release, Parklife debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and stayed on the chart for 90 weeks.[37][38] It reached number six on the Billboard Top Heatseekers album chart in the United States.[39] 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.[40] Parklife is Blur's bestselling studio album in the UK, with just over a million copies sold.[40]

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, but it lost to M People's Elegant Slumming.[41] Blur also won four awards at the 1995 Brit Awards, including Best British Album for Parklife.[42] The album was listed as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[43]

In 2000 it was voted number 95 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[44] He stated "Parklife was a stunning album of high-quality, undeniably English pop."

In 2003, Pitchfork placed the album at number 54 on their Top 100 Albums of the 1990s list.[45] In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME 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.[46] The album has been hailed as a "Britpop classic".[47]

In April 2014, American LGBT magazine Metro Weekly ranked the album at number 29 in its list of the "50 Best Alternative Albums of the 90s".[48] In July 2014, Guitar World placed Parklife in its "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.[49] The album was ranked at number 171 on Spin's "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)" list.[50] In 2017, Pitchfork listed the album at number two in its list "The 50 Best Britpop Albums".[51] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 438 in their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[10]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Damon Albarn, except for "Far Out" by Alex James; all music is composed by Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree.

No.TitleLength
1."Girls & Boys"4:50
2."Tracy Jacks"4:20
3."End of a Century"2:46
4."Parklife" (featuring Phil Daniels)3:05
5."Bank Holiday"1:42
6."Badhead"3:25
7."The Debt Collector" (instrumental)2:10
8."Far Out"1:41
9."To the End"4:05
10."London Loves"4:15
11."Trouble in the Message Centre"4:09
12."Clover Over Dover"3:22
13."Magic America"3:38
14."Jubilee"2:48
15."This Is a Low"5:07
16."Lot 105"1:17
Total length:52:40
Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
17."Girls & Boys" (Pet Shop Boys 12" remix)7:16
Total length:59:56

All lyrics are written by Albarn, except "Red Necks" written by Coxon, and "Alex's Song" written by James; all music is composed by Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree, except "Alex's Song", written by James.

Blur 21 box set (2012) – Parklife bonus material disc
No.TitleLength
17."Magpie"4:16
18."Anniversary Waltz"1:23
19."People in Europe"3:28
20."Peter Panic"4:22
21."Girls and Boys" (Pet Shop Boys 12" remix)7:17
22."Threadneedle Street"3:18
23."Got Yer!"1:48
24."Beard"1:45
25."To the End" (French version)4:06
26."Supa Shoppa"3:02
27."Theme from an Imaginary Film"3:35
28."Red Necks"2:54
29."Alex's Song"2:45
30."Jubilee" (acoustic BBC live version)2:33
31."Parklife" (acoustic BBC live version)3:00
32."End of a Century" (acoustic version)2:44
Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
33."Girls & Boys" (demo version)4:54
Bonus disc notes

Personnel

Blur

Additional musicians

  • Stephen Street – synthesiser (credited as "vintage" keys), sound effects, programming
  • Lætitia Sadier – "chanteuse" on "To the End"
  • Phil Daniels – narration on "Parklife"
  • Stephen Hague – accordion on "To the End"

String quartet on "To the End"

  • Chris Tombling
  • Audrey Riley
  • Leo Payne MBE
  • Chris Pitsillides

Duke strings on "Tracy Jacks"

    • Louisa Fuller – violin
    • Mark Pharoah – violin
    • John Metcalfe – viola, string arrangement
    • Ivan McCready – cello

Kick horns

  • Richard Edwards – trombone on "End of a Century"
  • Roddy Lorimer – flugelhorn on "End of a Century", trombone on "Badhead"
  • Tim Sanders – tenor sax on "Badhead" and "The Debt Collector", soprano sax on "The Debt Collector"
  • Simon Clarke – baritone sax on "Badhead" on "The Debt Collector", alto sax on "The Debt Collector", flute on "The Debt Collector"
  • Neil Sidwell – trombone on "The Debt Collector"

Production

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1994) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[52] 45
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[53] 41
European Albums (Music & Media)[54] 8
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[55] 32
Icelandic Albums (Tónlist)[56] 4
Irish Albums (IRMA)[57] 3
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[58] 36
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[59] 27
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[60] 37
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[61] 8
UK Albums (OCC)[62] 1
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)[63] 10

Certifications and sales

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[64] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[65] 4× Platinum 1,200,000^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[66] Platinum 1,000,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

Notes

  1. "Single Releases". Music Week. 5 March 1994. p. 21.
  2. "Single Releases". Music Week. 28 May 1994. p. 25. Misprinted as 29 May on source.
  3. "This how Phil Daniels got paid for Blur's Parklife single..." Radio X. 14 August 2020.
  4. "Single Releases". Music Week. 5 November 1994. p. 23.
  5. "Damon Albarn on Blur's Parklife, 20 years on". BBC News. 26 April 2014.
  6. McMillan, Graeme (28 April 2014). "Parklife Is the Cornerstone of Britpop, But It Shouldn't Be". Time. [Parklife] . . . was also the album many people point to as Ground Zero for what soon became known as Britpop. . . . "Cool Britannia" was a phrase uttered without sarcasm. Blur, and the Parklife album in particular, were the heart of that.
  7. Hall, John (7 January 2010). "Royal Mail unveil classic album cover stamps". The Independent.
  8. "Royal Mail puts classic albums on to stamps". The Guardian.
  9. "The 300 best albums of the past 30 years(1985-2014)". Spin. 11 May 2015.
  10. "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020.
  11. "blur's Parklife 30th Anniversary Special Edition Coming On Record Store Day". www.antimusic.com. 18 February 2024.
  12. Cavanagh, David (June 1994). "England's Dreaming". Mojo. No. 7. p. 66.
  13. Cavanagh, David; Maconie, Stuart (May 1995). "How did they do that? – Parklife". Select. No. 59.
  14. Harris, p. 97
  15. Harris, p. 139
  16. Sweeney, Eamon. "Damon Albarn interview: 'I think my life has been a bit too colourful to be quite ready for an autobiography'". Business Post. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022.
  17. Moody, Paul (5 March 1994). "We Can Be Eros Just For One Day". NME.
  18. Easlea, Daryl (23 April 2007). "Review of Blur – Parklife". BBC Music.
  19. Harris, p. 140
  20. Essential Albums of the 90s: Blur – Parklife BBC/6music. Aired on 10 November 2010.
  21. "Blur – Parklife (album review)". Sputnikmusic. 16 January 2005.
  22. "Dog track that inspired Blur's 'Parklife' album art to close". NME. 20 May 2008.
  23. "Classic Album Covers: Issue Date – 7 January 2010". Royal Mail. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012.
  24. Michaels, Sean (8 January 2010). "Coldplay album gets stamp of approval from Royal Mail". The Guardian.
  25. Kot, Greg (7 July 1994). "Brilliant Brits". Chicago Tribune.
  26. Hochman, Steve (19 June 1994). "Blur, 'Parklife,' SBK/ERG". Los Angeles Times.
  27. Aston, Martin (23 April 1994). "Market Preview: Alternative - Pick of the Week" (PDF). Music Week. p. 20.
  28. Dee, Johnny (23 April 1994). "Blur – Parklife". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000.
  29. Maconie, Stuart (June 1994). "Blur: Parklife". Q. No. 93. Archived from the original on 22 April 2000.
  30. Evans, Paul (30 June 1994). "Parklife". Rolling Stone.
  31. Harrison, Andrew (June 1994). "Yobs for the Boys". Select. No. 48. pp. 84–85.
  32. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Parklife – Blur". AllMusic.
  33. Larkin, Colin (2011). "Blur". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  34. Zoladz, Lindsay (31 July 2012). "Blur: Blur 21". Pitchfork.
  35. Randall, Mac (2004). "Blur". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 89–90. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  36. Christgau, Robert (6 June 1995). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice.
  37. "Blur". Official Charts Company.
  38. Harris, p. 142
  39. "Parklife – Blur – Charts & Awards". AllMusic.
  40. Myers, Justin (2 May 2014). "Official Charts Flashback 1994: Blur – Parklife". Official Charts Company.
  41. Hughes, Jack (18 September 1994). "Cries & Whispers". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
  42. "The BRITs 1995". Brit Awards. Archived from the original on 12 November 2011.
  43. "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". rocklist.net. Archived from the original on 7 March 2010.
  44. Larkin, Colin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 73. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  45. "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork. 17 November 2003. p. 5.
  46. "Best album of all time revealed". NME. 1 June 2006.
  47. Dietz, Jason (2 March 2010). "Inside the Gorillaverse: A Look at Alt-Rock's Best Cartoon Band". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020.
  48. Gerard, Chris (4 April 2014). "50 Best Alternative Albums of the '90s". Metro Weekly.
  49. "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994". Guitar World. 14 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014.
  50. Unterberger, Andrew (11 May 2015). "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)". Spin. p. 3.
  51. "The 50 Best Britpop Albums". Pitchfork. 29 March 2017. p. 5.
  52. "Australiancharts.com – Blur – Parklife". Hung Medien.
  53. "Top RPM Albums: Image 2507". RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  54. Billboard. 21 May 1994 – via Internet Archive. blur.
  55. source: Pennanen, Timo: Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava, 2006. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5. page: 280
  56. "Tonlist Top 40" (in Icelandic). DV.
  57. "Billboard". 23 September 1995 – via Google Books.
  58. "パーク・ライフ | ブラー" [Parklife | Blur] (in Japanese). Oricon.
  59. "Charts.nz – Blur – Parklife". Hung Medien.
  60. "Norwegiancharts.com – Blur – Parklife". Hung Medien.
  61. "Swedishcharts.com – Blur – Parklife". Hung Medien.
  62. "Blur Songs and Albums | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  63. "Album Top 40 slágerlista (fizikai hanghordozók) – 2024. 17. hét". MAHASZ.
  64. "Canadian album certifications – Blur – Parklife". Music Canada.
  65. "British album certifications – Blur – Park Life". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Formats field. Type Park Life Blur in the "Search:" field.
  66. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 1996". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.