Reviews (page 6 of 13)
Great album. First half especially rips.
Meh. In a good way.
I enjoyed this, very British
Blur over Oasis any day
Was my introduction to Blur, Boys&Girls not my favorite but from Tracy Jacks the treat starts. Live in Amsterdam two months ago they showed to still be good live bands, with the songs of Parklife for me at highlights.
Not an album I actually listened to when it came out. Even with how big Blur became it was basically only the singles that I heard. I really disliked "Girls & Boys," thought "Parklife" was great fun, and really adored "To The End." Still, never picked it up, for no discernable reason I can think of. And now, listening to this 30-year old album with fresh ears I realise what I missed. Yes, the album has a few misses ("Jubilee", "Bank Holiday", "The Debt Collector") that after a few listens I grit-teethed through more than enjoyed them, but the majority of the 16 songs are fun ("Tracy Jacks"), clever ("Trouble In The Message Centre"), beautiful ("This Is A Low") and with some amazing lyrics ("London Loves") I can hear musical influences from XTC and David Bowie, but also some more 60's influences than I thought Blur usually had. Some Kinks and even some Beach Boys. It's not a 5* album for me due to some of the lesser songs on here and that I still think Girls & Boys is annoying as hell. For the rest, great marks!
Nice album
The machine threw us this right after the ‘Gorrilaz’ debut, whiplashing us from dilettante indulgence This album is as frontloaded as ‘Atomizer’: the four track spree up to and including the title track is ear worm fever. The more modest songs are worthwhile, and all have some quirk to snag attention. The Kinks influence is well-known, but I was surprised by the spikier, post-punk modes, Wire especially. Also caught some Beefheart, woof. Some albums are a chore, this one was a pleasure.
The sound of summer 1994, very proud I had a pre-release tape of this! Evocative of OJ's white Bronco and the Romanian football team. Would be a 5 from Badhead alone but the dreadful title track drags it down a bit
Amei esse álbum demais!!!
Never really listened to a British brig rock band before, really enjoyed the diversity in songs.
bem bom
Ha, I just realised while writing this that when I listened to Modern Life Is Rubbish, I'd unknowingly put on the special edition, and was surprised by how long the album seemed to be. Can't believe I only just realised. This was a pretty good album. I'm not sure how it stands against the other Blur albums I've heard thusfar - Maybe a big ol' one-man listening party is in order soon. But I digress. It's a mixed bag, sometimes it's coherent and timeless, other times it's just kind of weird and hasn't aged so well. Sometimes it's just a bit forgettable, too. It's definitely a good album though, and has the most Blur tracks that I already know. I think the kinda dance-y nature of Girls & Boys just about beats Parklife for me though. Favourite: Girls & Boys
Blur's masterpiece. Perhaps the album is a few songs too long, but one of the highlights of the Britpop era along with Different Class and This is Hardcore.
Un tantinet moins aimé que Blur, mais on s'entend que dans tous les groupes de britpop que j'ai eu à date, ils sont clairement le supérieur. Tout en gardant le son typique, ils ne tombent pas dans les stéréotypes faciles et gardent ça intéressant tout au long de l'album. 7.5/10
Pretty iconic album. Watched a tv special about there and Oasis’s battle to be Britain’s top band. The initial track was played in American radio but that was about it. I guess they were huge in England.
Cant see why they get so much hype. Not just Song 2 band
I asked for more and I got it: this is my third blur album in the challenge and it was just as good as all the rest. As per the first half of the album was back to back hits and the second half fell off a little but I still loved it. In my opinion not their finest work but I’m sure with time I’ll develop more of an opinion on what I love and what I don’t. Overall it banged.
Its very much an icon of its time, but peters off a bit towards the end
I really enjoyed this album, especially compared to the last Blur album I got (Modern Life is Rubbish). It's surprising that this was just their next album because I feel like the songwriting is so far ahead of where they were and it really starts to feel like they're finding their own voice more. Pretty much liked this one throughout and it got me to go relisten to other Blur tracks that I hadn't heard in a while. Standout Tracks: Girls and Boys, End of a Century, Parklife, To the End, London Loves, Magic America, This Is a Low
Fun album. The highs are super high...but this album suffers from the same issue I find with all other Blur albums. A below avg. Blur song just really blows IMO. That being said, this is probably the best Blur has to offer beginning to end. 3.5/5
no question blur is the better britpop band! very silly at times and sounds great. PARK-LIFE! best tracks: parklife, end of a century, london loves
Enjoyable beats, fun and sometimes funny lyrics.
Ive heard a few songs from this before, but never the full album. It started losing me a bit toward the end but overall was a pretty solid album. Oasis is still my go-to for 90's Brit pop/rock.Gorillaz my go-to for anything Damon Albarn.
British to the core. It's solid, and it's an extremely fun listen. The opening track is amazing.
Of all the stereotypically English 90s albums, this is probs my fav. Actually has some variation. I had fun
Classic. Some bangers but the Spotify extended version is .... Long.
I liked this more than the other Blur album I got.
I really like this one, which doesn’t surprise me based on my love of Gorillaz + limited past exposure to Blur. It’s kind of a hard album to get a grip on; sincere but sarcastic, super pop but indescribably weird in a way that pop albums rarely are, nostalgic for the past and dismissive of it in the same breath. Definitely one I’ll return to. Best song: End of a Century
You can see the roots of the Gorillaz in thos album for sure
first listen a bouncy fun one
Probably my most listened Blur album. It's catchy with enough of it's own style to stand out from the rest of the britpop from the 90s. I definitely prefer this over Definitely Maybe by Oasis (their second album however is great). The whole album listening experience is not a 5/5 but there's definitely material on here that is.
Previously only knew Blur from Song 2, and very glad I was pushed to expand that today! This is really fun and varied with plenty of wry-bordering-on-cynical Britishness. Enjoyed the first handful of songs (through and even including Bank Holiday) more than the subsequent ones (honorable mention to the final track).
This an album I've owned since the 1990s, but probably haven't played in 15 years or so. Starting with Girls & Boys, it's almost impossible to not find this catchy, infective and downright joyful. Alex James is the true hero of Blur - his basslines are surprisingly complex, funky and tie together tracks only when they're not out-and-out saving the show. Tracy Jacks is a terrible track, but you can get through it by listening to the twiddliness of that bass. End of a Century is a superb bit of music, capturing boredom and conformity with a dryness that just didn't exist in the mid 1990s. Parklife, the title track, uses Phil Daniels superbly. Relegating Albarn to just the choruses is a welcome break. Bank Holiday is fast paced, happy-surfacing but deeply cynical track, and one that I have absolutely no memory of, despite having listened to this album probably hundreds of times. Badhead struck me similarly, but the catch of "I might as well grin and bear it, because it's not worth the trouble of an argument" does loom somewhere into consciousness. It leads into The Debt Collector - the boys clearly thinking that they'd take a The Kinks or Beatles style diversion. It's not terrible, but it clearly a bunch of very talented session musicians going along with the whims of some posh boys trying to pay homage to some other, slightly less posh but ultimately more successful boys from 30 years prior. Far Out similarly pays homage to Bowie and as such is something I have no time for. But it does push you down a bit, ready for To The End - which is genuinely a piece of genius. Way up the very best that Blur came out with, even with it's ludicrous diversion into accordion-driven tosh.. The album should have ended here. What comes next is technically very competently handled. London Loves is an aggressive (thank you James, again) track, eviscerating the hostile nature of London's uncaring big city reality. Imagine how angry they could have been without any hope. Trouble in the message centre. Difficult to quantify or express how little this song interests me. It's just a weaker rehash of better expressed themes from earlier in the album. I might even go as far as calling it a skip track, because it genuinely adds nothing. Clover over Dover is another Kinks homage. Alex James' bass once again rides to the rescue with competency. Magic America and Jubilee blur (if you'll excuse the expression) into one, but This Is A Low picks up again. Ultimately, the album should have finished with To The End. If it had been wrapped at that point it'd have to have been a solid 5 stars. Unfortunately they kept it going that bit too long, and for that reason it has to be dropped to 4.
A surprisingly fun listen. Prefer it to their self titled.
Fun album. Very 90s. Standouts: Girls & Boys; London Loves; Trouble in the Message Centre; To the End.
Really good album - very varied & very south of England.
Not my favourite Blur album, far from perfect, but a classic nonetheless. The best songs are some of their very best Favs: End of a Century (maybe my all time favourite Blur song), To The End, This is a Low
Clearly, '90s brit-rock and britpop bands have really pulled their weight in making up for the cheesy mediocrity that '80s britpop groups could not help but produce. It's bright and shimmery like much of its predecessors, but punchy too. Like someone screaming at you with a smile on their face. Now I feel bad for anyone who only knows Blur for Song 2, because they are missing out on a lot. Standout tracks are Girls & Boys, Parklife, and London Loves.
Strong tunes in the first half but the latter part of the album feel like fillers
Really good. Way better than I remember it being when I tried listening to it the first time. In the context of Damon's career specifically, it's definitely a high point, but more in the local maximum sense. He definitely exceeded this with Gorillaz, particularly Demon Days and Plastic Beach, but this is a fundamentally different experience. It's more grounded, more true to its origins. Blur isn't making any wide-ranging statements on the nature of artistry, they're writing songs about being middle class blokes in Britain. And their tunes are great! Favorite Tracks: Girls & Boys, Parklife, Bank Holiday, To the End 4.5/5
I liked this one more than the other two Blur albums. It felt more interesting and I liked more of the songs. It's a lighter four. My favourite songs were Girls and Boys and Tracy Jacks.
This band is so much more annoying that it needs to be. So often the attitude gets in the way of good hooks, and cool tunes. One's given to wonder just how much better Blur might have been had the played it just a bit straighter. The cleverer the tune, the less the impact. "Badhead" and "To the End" and "Clover Over Dover" each suggest how they might have made songs that people just liked (rarther than wondering if or how they liked it). Just too much posturing and taking the piss. Pulp were better and certainly the Kinks, too. And one doesn't even much like Oasis but still prefer to this lot.
Was pleasantly surprised with this album. Britpop isn't usually my thing, and I've never cared much for Blur, but listening to this album left me in a good mood. It was fun and quite entertaining.
I don't Britpop a lot but when I do, it's usually 'Parklife.' This was the only Britpop album I ever really got into - though I never actually owned a copy but I did borrow friends' copies a few times. The first few times I heard "Girls & Boys" I wasn't sure if I loved it or hated it, but ultimately I decided I loved it. Then "Parklife" completely won me over - this stuff felt unlike anything else my young teenage ears had heard. Yet none of the other Britpop I heard around the same time did a lot for me, so I never really explored the genre all that much. And Blur sort of fell off for me a bit when "Song 2" became the most annoyingly overplayed song ever for a time. I've been meaning to do a full catalog exploration of their stuff for a while now, and this just reminds me that I should.
I really enjoy this album quite a lot. The variation in feeling across tracks makes it interesting. Favorite track: Trouble in the Message Centre
Blur doin their thing
Yeah this album was great. Variation in styles throughout, strong vocals and instrumentals. Favorite track: Trouble in the Message Centre
Damon Albarn must be protected at all costs
Overall pretty interesting and worth a listen if you like Britpop
Very solid britpop album with only a few lower moments, mostly coming from the backend as it’s heavily front-loaded. The singles are great, especially the title track, and all songs are catchy and fun to listen to.
Very fun album, I can see why britpop was a big thing for a while. Fav tracks: Girls & Boys, Bank Holiday, This is a Low
Had not heard of this group before. Was pleasant and right for the moment
girls & boys feel dragged on for too long i dont really like his singing here on tracy jacks and im not gonna explain why. end of the century has better singing i like this a lot best track so far parklife feels like something that would play in a 90s movie while someone is skating bank holiday we have some REAL ROCK N ROLL 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸 is it BAD to say that badhead sounds like radiohead. both in the name and the sound uhh the IRS when they come to my door: THE DEBT COLLECTOR 🤣🤣 far out is a little chill feels like a interlude ok to the end WE MADE ITTTTTT. very beautiful possibly the best track so far london loves i hate the bri ish trouble in the message centre i dont have much to say i like it clover over dover i really like this instrumental and the little o ohhh in the back i really like it 😀😀😀 magic america 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 its catchy i like it jubilee feels so familliar but i cant quite put my finger on it this is a low is the best track im going to kill myself this FUCKING GUITAR MAN WHAT THE FUCK!!!! lot 105 is a little chill outro
I liked it. Great opening track 'Girls & Boys'. Also liked 'Parklife'. 4/5
I’m normally not a fan of anything britpop at all, but this one has a lot of quality stuff on it. Lots of different genres mixed in which keep it from getting boring. Overall I think it was really good. 7/10
A lovely bit of Brit Pop
Back to the 90s :-)
I'm not sure I really need to listen Parklife again. Everything is so familiar. It's probably in my most played top 10 in iTunes, not to mention the endless CD plays going back over the decades. But whereas others on that list (HELLOOO Beatles) I can always return to, I'm not so sure about Parklife. It really was of its time. That time was full of fun and opportunities. It kinda all worked out OK. Girls and Boys is a brilliant disco rom; End of a Century is a little emotional. Bank Holiday gives you a good kicking. It's a four star album, reflecting not what I feel right now, but for what it has offered to me over the years.
Un disco que tiene buenos singles, muestra algunos destellos de lo experimental y tiene canciones olvidables. Es asi, la representacion, desgano y genialidad del britpop. Pero que se le va a hacer. A pesar de esto las letras son decentes y los riffs de guitarra destacan a momentos y hacen mas rica la escucha. 7/10
I like many of the songs on this album. 'This is a low' being my favourite
These guys want to be Gorillaz so bad. 8.2
Classic for a reason.
I had never listened to this album. I kinda like. I think it’s quite good. Very peppy and poppy. Given the year it came out it wasn’t quite as “grunge” as the other stuff that was popular, at least in the States where I was. More specifically west coast. This type of music wasn’t getting played as much on popular radio. It certainly should have been. It has a very eclectic type of sound in the pop realm of things. The band shows a lot of range here. The punky pop sensibility of this album shows a sophistication in their writing. I’m really surprised at how well produced this is and they seem to really be enjoying the exploration and freedom that production brings. In all it’s a very good record.
Really shocked at how much I love this album. Full of great pop hooks and melodies and didn’t really encounter a bad song. Classic British pop and really reminds of London Calling by the Clash
Nostalgia
Ooh! I know so much about Blur but have never listened to an album of theirs, exciting! I can hear the lineage, but their particular tambre is not for me.
IMHO, this is a classic. Not MY FAVORITE classic, but a classic none the less. This album has an actual arc from beginning to end (with some silly interludes and such as was the fashion of the time), and at least four 5/5 songs. That said, it's never gonna be a 5 for me. Always has been and most likely always will be a solid 4/5 for the amount of filler here. But those 5/5 songs are, and will continue to be, in the daily rotation. It's a great album.
"Parklife" is the third studio album by English band Blur. It is one of the early albums in the emerging Britpop scene. Lead singer Damon Albarn said this was a loosely-linked concept album "travels of the mystical lager-eater, seeing what's going on with the world and comment on it." As weird as that sounds, I'll buy it. The song topics do jump around and the music genres kind of vary too. This album was a huge success in the UK, had four hit singles and was a big return commercially from their previous album "Modern Life Is Rubbish." The album gets going with their hit single "Girls & Boys." Synth pop with the synthesizer, a funky groove and a catchy chorus. What's this really about? The club scene? Free love? Sexual freedom? All the above? The fifth and last single "Tracy Jacks" is more pop-rock guitar driven. I like the nautical sounds at the beginning but I'm still not sure if the repetitive saying if Tracy Jacks is catchy or annoying. "End of the Century" is very much pop. The backing vocals remind me of The Beach Boys for some reason. The boredness of everyday life maybe. Phil Daniels gives some spoken word in "Park Life." Guitar takes the lead. Catchy chorus. Good song. Guitarist Graham Coxon said this was a sarcastic view on various working class people they saw when they walked to the studio. The second half of the album may not have quite the hit singles but probably my favorite songs. Their second single "To the End" almost has a baroque pop feel to it. Albarn on the synths and vibraphone. Sterolab's Lætitia Sadier on backing vocals. One of their best songs. The relationship is over, nothing in common. "Trouble in Message Centre" rocks it out a little more with the guitar and is my favorite song on the album. The catchy la, la, la, la chorus. Not clear but I'm guessing about doing drugs. Another second half highlight is "This is a Low." Soft, acoustic guitar, electronic guitar solo, majestic/epic sounding. Very British in describing a shipping forecast and a low-pressure weather system hitting. This album and Blur in general seem to get a variety of reactions. I always liked this album. No denying the number of very well-crafted catchy songs. My favorite Blur album is probably their last album "13" but this one is up near the top.
Probably the best Britpop album ever, and definitely the best one the generator has spat out for me to listen to so far. Close to perfection with lots of great songs and catchy melodies, but just a tad too long to justify a 5-star rating in my book.
If I'd known about this album and listened to it in 1994, I'd have thought myself one if the cool kids
Magnificent, fun - and even though it’s long it maintains it’s energy throughout. It’s out as a British baroque classic such as the Kinks’ Village Green - some of the Beatles’ McCartney contributions - while adding a new sound for the new era it resides in.
Classic 90s indie/britpop Album starts very strong, wains a little in the middle but over all a good solid album from an excellent band Some songs have an flavour of the Beatles
La verdad es un disco de la puta madre. Muy del veranito y que la tapa sea toda amarilla lo hace mucho más recordable. Aparte es re flashero porque de alguna manera, en mi opinión, los temas son como de color amarillo. Hay temas que me rompen un poco las bolas onda Lot 105, onda dale hijo de puta termine el disco con This Is A Low y ya está si es un temazo (no se si no es el mejor del disco). Después Bank Holiday está fuera de tempo y obvio que está pensado así pero no me cabe. Ni en pedo es el mejor disco de Blur pero tiene el record de ventas así que competir compite. Lindo disco para romper todo pero también es re dominguero, una masa la verdad.
Me gusta pero es un poco largo. ya sabes que damon está re bueno por la voz tipo que va a ser un roñoso nasty twink simplemente lo sabes si yo nunca hubiera visto una foto de damon lo sabría entienden. Por otro lado las canciones me dieron ganas de saltar con gente en una fiesta pero estaba en un 47 así que no pude hacerlo. No lo pude terminar porque llegue al trabajo así que me quedaron creo 3 temas por escuchar. Por último quiero decir que es una gran banda, la verdad yo nunca escuche mucho a blur, pero de todas formas me gusta más oasis. La pelota no se mancha.
8/10 <33
Liking it so far. Every song has a flavour, but still cohesive. It does sound like Oasis and "brit pop" though which I didn't really know what it sounded like till now. Tinnny bit punishing. Wasn't blooown away but a solid 3.6, rounded to a low 4.
Well this is a fun little pop album, isn't it? I might be off-base, but sounds a bit like a 90's Sgt. Pepper's. I'm really into this on first listen, I'll have to make a point to revisit it soon, because it sounds like it'd be a lot of fun to sing along to. Plenty of hooks, which is how I like my music.
Diverse and interesting punky Brit pop album.
Un super album de la part de Blur, qui passe en revue tous les trucs et astuces propres à l'art du créneau. On en ressort expert en marche arrière et en contrôle de rétroviseur, un délice.
Albarn doet de wel eens iets vreemd. Dat is op dit album niet anders. Wel een tof plaatje
Some fantastic moments, Parklife alone brings this thing up by a star. However, I don’t quite see the impact of this album beyond leading to more interesting products in the aughts.
rainy day reminiscing of sunshine outdoors 🤪
BritRock at its absolute toniest, great album, 4 stars.
Love it!
I remember when this came out the first time round/Everyone thinking there was a battle between Oasis and Blur/This was the beginning of the battle between the 'posh' and 'working class'/The Sun verses The Guardian/Mockney accents, Britpop, Loaded, Denise Van Outen, TGI Friday, Cocaine, Stella, Football/PARKLIFE! Best Tracks: Girls and Boys; Parklife; This Is a Low
Damon Albarn was the ultimate Britpop guy.
PAHKLOIF! Þrælskemmtileg plata.
Used to listen to this album all the time
Damon Albarn! Creator of the Ravenous Soundtrack. This album was pretty good. It was really interesting to see this album had such a different style to the Ravenous music, which I am deeply attached to.
Overall a bit laddy and immature, even though I was a teenager when this came out still felt the same, the album excels when it slows down a bit "badhead" & "End of a century" are fantastic and show glimpses of the later Blur I enjoy much more. would probably be more impressed with Parklife if it wasn't perhaps the most overplayed song ever on UK radio so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
This is a very English album. What I mean is that Blur not only were a great brit-pop band, but their perspective is UK focused in a way that the Kinks were in the late 60s and early 70s. Nicely done lads.
8/10 me gustó más q el otro q me mandaron de blur
Good fun, but there are a couple of duds and an interlude track that goes on far too long.
4 - bit dated now but a perfect time and place album. For southerners though...
4.5
nice h
Banger
3.5 stars. 90's alt-rock. Nice vocals. Standouts "Magic America", "This is a Low".
Songs like Girls and Boys and Parklife have since lost their impact due to overplaying, but if you can approach with a fresh mind then this is still a great album. It's too long - 90s Blur albums almost always were. Damon and the band managed to strike a chord and find the zeitgeist with this album which made them into Britpop stars and you can see why - the number of hooks in each song are crazy. Personal favourites are Tracy Jacks, End of a Century, London Loves, Trouble in the Message Centre and This is a Low.
Very bouncy album! I really like it. Melodic punk.
Nice groove.
In the Oasis vs Blur battle, I was definitely a Blur fan. I practically wore out my copy of this disc back in the day. But it’s been years since I’ve listened to it so I was curious how I’d feel about it today. And I still rather like it though I’d cut out about four of the songs as the albums drags a bit on side two. Having said that side two has two of their best songs (To the End and This is a Low). Anyway, the highs are still high but there’s more filler than I’d like, IMO. This is more like a 3.5, but i'll round up for nostalgia.
90er u Britpop!
It's really pretty good. Nothing mind blowing like Damon Albarn's latest stuff, but we can hear some things shaping up to get there. It's an overwhelmingly British pop album, as well.
Zo ontzettend Britpop. Ik begreep toen al niets van de “strijd” tussen Oasis en Blur (kwam van de broertjes Gallagher natuurlijk). Blur springt eruit met inventieve riffs, ritmes, britgekte, melodie, zwaar, ruig en pop-licht. Is natuurlijk voor al die Britpop gitaarbands die hierna kwamen een voorbeeld gebleven. Zonder Blur geen Franz Ferdinand en Stereophonics. Maar ook alle eigentijdse bands inspireerden elkaar, Travis, Super Furry Animals, Manic Street Preachers. Mooi album, sterke nummers.
Boring
Iconic 1990s
A very good album that has a stronger first half
Britpop classic. The first half is great.
The sounds here feel closer to what I enjoy about Gorillaz, although it did have some dull moments.
运动听的还不错
Upbeat British pop/punk
Good vibes. I’d totally listen to this again
Really enjoyed this one. Notable tracks "Boys & Girls", "Tracy Jacks", and "Parklife".
Super solid album. I'll always choose Blur over Oasis.
Pretty fun, decent variety, didn’t listen too closely but nice enough in the background
Fun and creative album. Really outstanding bass, guitar and vocal melodies.
Girls & Boys is a bop
I mean it's a good and a classic album, but it's all very samey/samey. Some good songs on there still
Girls & Boys is really good.
So many great tracks
at the moment I liked this album the most of the proposed options, it has everything, and something calm and something driving, there are serious songs and sad ones, and there are simple and foolish ones at first glance
Was pretty good, I liked most of the tracks.
It's a bit longer than it needs to be but there's a lot more to this than many other britpop albums. The interludes are fun, the ballads are really effective, and the singles do indeed slap
Brings back memories. There are some undeniable belters on this album but it does lose its way a little in the middle which stops it from being a 5
Interesting...not what I expected, knowing only Song 2. I like End of a Century and Tracy Jacks was kind of catchy. This is definitely not what I anticipated. Far Out is cool. To the End even has some Serge Gainsbourg vibes, what even is this album?! I feel like this album is so chaotic--I think it's a 3, 3.5 in terms of the music, but I want to round up a point just because it's so crazy.
Good pop songs with some brains and some F-you behind them.
Good album. I enjoyed this much more than expected.
fun, electric, groovy, goofy
It doesn’t pack as much of a punch as it did in the nineties, it is eclipsed but Blur’s self titled album, but I’ll still give credit to this album for representing that certain time and place it came from [probably] better than any other album.
15th May 2022 Listened in the morning when working from home and on the way to the supermarket. Watched the outfit in the evening. Love a bit of Brit pop. Again it’s the new fresh sound and a nod to the whimsy of bands like the Beatles. Albarn is a master of writing about regular life.
Britpop de Blur. Ningún megahit. Un 4.
ikkje mitt favoritt blur-album, men ganske bra likavel
Hadde kje så store forventninga, men kunne hørt albiet igjen. Litt for langt, som dei fleste albi fra CD-ens storhetstid
The sound of summer 1994, very proud I had a pre-release tape of this! Evocative of OJ's white Bronco and the Romanian football team. Would be a 5 from Badhead alone but the dreadful title track drags it down a bit
I had mentioned before about the BritPop documentary. Again, all I really knew about Blur before that was "Song 2" (woo hoo.). This album really puts them in a new light. It really gives you a feel of Britain, I think. The songs don't drag on, and the instrumentals blended in pretty well with the songs. Watching the videos did not really give you insight to the songs, particularly "To The End". I am still not 100% sure what that was about... Anyway I felt that this whole album was a bit more tongue in cheek than they were letting on. But not being from England, there were probably more in-jokes that I was missing. Still, I enjoyed this more than I was expecting.
I wish I would've given the self-titled Blur album a 3 because this album is definitely better but doesn't feel good enough to be a 5. They do some different stylings really well - synthpop/rock (see Depeche Mode) on Girls & Boys, Brit-style spoken word/rap/rock mix (see the Transplants) on the title track, punk on Bank Holiday, classic Britpop (see, um, Blur) on End of a Century. It's an eclectic mix. But there's also some excess / filler / unnecessary stuff - it doesn't need 16 songs, 10 might have been about right. I thought songs 6-9 were kind of boring and meandering but the album regained some steam with London Loves and Trouble in the Message Centre (felt a bit like the Cars here). Jubilee was also a lot of fun on the back end.
Big fan of 'Girls and Boys' and 'Parklife' already. Lovely basslines and guitar. Very listenable album. I liked the more serious sound of 'This is a Low'.
cool and fun 4.5
An album that really defined the Britpop scene. I've never really listened to Blur other than the the hits, and this album was a surprise. It's a nice patchwork of different genres and different tones, all woven together into a cohesive album. Definitely one to listen to!
Bit irritating but biped around in a cardigan to this a lot
Really enjoyed, not stellar, there's a few on here that are pretty boring. However, I would definitely come back to this if given the option.
A classic blur album with all the blur trappings.
Largely enjoyable. I knew Girls & Boys and Parklife before, and I do think these remain the highlights of the album. I also particularly liked London Loves. It starts to drag a bit at the end.
What a banger! 8/10.
eu não lembrava que blur era tão bão
Very eclectic mix on this album, it's got a lot of variety in the sounds but keeps the strong British vibes that Blur gives off. Enjoyed quite a few songs, some were just ok but overall good album and a fun listen.
Great album. I vividly remember my sister got a CD player and this album, back in 94, for her 15th birthday. She played this album a lot and I always kinda liked it. Haven't played it in years but it's still great.
Really enjoyed this one. I'm definitely gonna need to revisit.
I liked Blur's more experimental albums a bit more than this one, but it's still a really decent britpop album.
GIRLS WHO ARE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS TO BE GIRLS/10
He gets intimidated by the dirty pigeons They love a bit of him
awrrrrrrrr
very impressed!
Britpop de Blur. Ningún megahit. Un 4.
Thought it was great
1994 - English Rock
Some of their biggest hits but not blown away overall.
Liked it
Classic tunes. Listen to more of this when you have time.
i do not like this album quite as much as modern life is rubbish, but, good job damon. great listen.
Up there with the best britpop albums an absolute classic. Just misses out on 5 stars due to my personal preference of preferring oasis, and the verve.
Oh, I remember when this album was brand new. It is packed full of quality singles and the rest of the album is clearly the spiritual descendant of The Kinks' Arthur album, capturing a snapshot of London life (or their interpretation thereof). My favourite track is "This Is a Low", which uses the UK shipping forecast as an effective way of soothing a broken heart. I can testify that this song does what it needs to do and was what got me though the turmoil of 2000.
Such a soundtrack to my Uni days and the whole 1990s. Spikey, quirky, Brit pop, indie, truly English. Literally just two or three obvious fillers. A really good album alongside Different Class from that Brit pop 90s era.
es brit pop, algo nuevo aunque el sonido me recuerda a otros artistas, pero venga era 1994, era europa
Yes, it's a good one.
Classic Blur. Great
Decent Britpop album.
Favourite tracks: Girls and Boys Parklife, to the end, London Loves
Really cool album. I haven't listen to a lot of Blur honestly but I definitely should especially since I'm a huge fan of Damon Albarn's other music project Gorillaz
A great album - poppy yet interesting. Some great songs; even the filler is better than anything Oasis have ever done.
More like 3.5. Really thought I’d be giving this a 5 when I started listening - but album doesn’t end as strongly as it begins for me. Still Parklife, Girls and Boys are absolute classics. Great listening to this again.
Interesting album. Some great songs. Fun listen.
'End of the century' has always been one of those songs that I have enjoyed when heard on the radio or in the background but never properly listened to. It's a classic. Very enjoyable album.
Ja gilla de till trots för att de va br*ttiskt??
The fun I had listening to this when I was younger. I was like a young Theresa May in a field of wheat. Getting fucked by 6 farmers.
Don't believe the rumours emanating from the Bolton region of Greater Manchester, this is a well put together album not just a hit or two and some filler. It just about manages to stay on the right side of the Mockney geezers schtick that became overwhelming by the time of The Great Escape. And those hits that the Bolton fella is on about, they really are some monster hits aren't they?
Parklife feels like a new record, yet so familiar. Having never heard the album, but familiar with Blur's 'Song 2' it feels worlds apart from that song, yet all cut from the same cloth. Best: Girls and Boys Worst: Trouble in the Message Centre
Excellent album. Girls & Boys (5*) stands out - it is both annoying and catchy. Prefer Auteurs, Pulp and Suede but Parklife is still an album I put on once and a while. Score: 4.49 -> 4.
Great album! I liked this much better than “Blur”. Multiple genres, from disco to punk to polka. Some. Baroque pop elements - really interesting.
It was pretty good. Don't have a strong opinion.
Fun and nostalgic! I’m a 90s kid so remember this well. Made me wanna go thrift shopping and for a pointless drive. Harkens back to the particular 90s snark
Britpop klassiker! Girls and boys er hjernefed. Albarn er nice. To the end er god. Spænder bredt rammer højt!
fremragende
If you ask most people who were around in the 90s to list the top 5 Britpop era albums. This would be on it. Probably deservedly so but there's an annoying amount of filler on the album when listened to as a cohesive work. And for that, I'm knocking a mark off
A classic!
this was more fun than their self-titled album...which was also surprisingly not-bad - you know, apart from That One Song. there were a few times i was surprisingly reminded of some of the early punk rockers & new wavers (title track kinda reminds me of madness; Bank Holiday basically screams oi oi oi; and Jubilee sounds a lot like Bingo Master's Breakout, by The Fall). i also genuinely liked the closing track's mishmash of goofy british seaside kitsch with a beatles nod pasted in there for good measure.
odrobinę alternatywny rok z jeszcze bardziej alternatywnym wykorzystaniem tekstu i wokalu
Rock
Can tell this one is a grower. Some great tunes in here, felt a little bloated on a first listen. Keen to do it again though.
This is a great album - blur make a lot of interesting sounds across a range of genres, and despite the fact that there's a lot of big singles on the album (Girls & Boys, Parklife, End of a Century), it still feels very cohesive and there's a lot of tunes here that really serve the album in a broader sense. I've always rejected the Blur vs Oasis comparison as they've always seemed really different and not comparable beyond the fact that they were British bands around at the same time. But if we're going to look at the merits of the two... it's no contest.
classic, british alt of the 90's. i grew up on this stuff. plus, the awesome greyhounds cover.
More power
Liked it, good britpop. better than Leisure (the only other Blur album i’ve heard)
Huhaj, meine beste albumische from Blurische. Pošto je meni Oasis bolji jer imaju dva albuma koja su mi baš top top, ovo je Blurov album koji je skoro u rangu sa njihova dva. Album sa različitim varijacima pjesama, al svejedno je to skupljeno u brit pop. Definitivno u top 5 brit pop albuma, ako ne i u top 3.
bro I like every song so far !!
Lots of trumpets in the beginning, a bit more orchestral to the end. Not every song is a hit but on the whole completely listenable
Not bad, too much for one sitting. Obvious standout songs but the B material is OK.
Great Brit Pop. Four stars for Boys and Girls alone.
It’s a bit overly long, but this is still a bloody great britpop album
I might have to check out this band more, along with other brit-pop bands.
Superb. London Loves and To The End particularly.
Loved the vocals and the guitars. Real enjoyable instrumentation (trumpets, strings) Parklife (song) is a masterpiece.
Liked this a lot. Nothing quite so good as Song 2, but a very diverse collection of songs in an album that doesn't really show its length. Was a bigger fan of the more toned down and personal songs Saved: End of a Century, Badhead, This Is a Low
Saved Prior: None Saved Off Rip: Girls and Boys, End of a Century, Parklife, Badhead, To the End Cutting Edge: Tracy Jacks Overall Notes: The first half of the album is really really good, but could've cut a couple of songs to keep up the momentum. Super enjoyable regardless though.
I never heard of this album and don't really know any of the songs. Perhaps I was sleeping? I would not describe myself as a synthpop fan but do like the first track Girls and Boys. The next four songs (to Bank Holiday) seem intended to give a bird's eye view of normal everyday life in England. The theme continues a few tracks later with London Loves. They were quite effective painting this picture. The best example (by far) of an album capturing the essence of a location is Lou Reed's New York. When I hear songs like Debt Collector I wonder why? It's a marching tune without lyrics. I can't for the life of me understand why, but the song works. Trouble in the Message Center moves and is also quite slick. These are the songs that fill out the LP between the hits and do so quite well. Overall, the production is top rate and the LP quite enjoyable. We are definitely in the 90s. One of the songs used the German phrase "vorsprung durch technik" which means progress via technological advancement. This phrase summarizes the production effort on this one.
Lovely stuff, hadn’t listened in years. One of my fave bands I still haven’t seen live
I'm not sure it's a great album but lots of great songs. The circus one is still annoying
Enjoyed a few more than others. Some a bit strange.
4.3 + lots of fun twists and turns throughout. Boisterous.
Sóc dels pocs que sempre va preferir 'The Great Escape', potser perquè va ser amb el qual els vaig conèixer. Però 'Parklife' és indiscutiblement la punta de llança del brit pop i una de les obres excelses del pop britànic contemporani. Seria un 5 estrelles de no ser per la durada, excessiva, que dona encaix a uns quants temes que no estan a l'alçada
Me gusta mucho
false
Yup
Classic!
This is quite British and I like it.
huzzah.
4 - Classic
Pretty upbeat, catchy, unique with a real 90s grunge/rock feel 4.1
Weird and wonderful. Very Beatles-esce .
I really like the first track but after that it’s kinda all unfamiliar. It’s pretty good britpop or whatever classification this would be. Hard to hear his voice and not think gorillaz
Modern day Kinks
Love it, like listening to Gorillaz but rock
Super album, veel diversiteit en een paar hits. Niet verwacht dat Blur dit soort muziek maakt
Already liked it. LOts of different vocal timbres and themes present on the album !
I liked it a lot and I think I'll listen to it more than a few times :)
Great album with a good number of bangers on it.
British and fun. Lively rock/pop/misc.
chicche
Engelse pop/rock. Muzikaal fijne mix, met diverse lagen. Ook de nummers onderling verschillen van klank en stijl, zo blijft het album interessant - bijvoorbeeld door een nummer als The Debt Collector.
The lead tracks are brilliant but a couple of fillers so one star off.
Britpop at its finest. 7.5/10
This album is a fucking classic
Enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The album is really fun, and theres a good variety of music. Closer to a 3.7 maybe.
Some cool bass stuff. Fine
J’adore girls and boys donc ça commence bien To the end ! L’album est un peu long 7/10
Better than I expected overall, not really my things overall, but I see where they were one of the most popular britpop bands because its a lot better than most of the dreck britpop also included on the list. Skunk Anansie clears this though.
Fun, but nothing to write home about. Only listened to it once through and felt like it was enough.
Listenable but didn't do much for me.
Decent album
bom, tentei deixar meu preconceito com blur de lado ao maximo pra ouvir esse album, e INFELIZMENTE gostei. a faixa girls & boys INFELIZMENTE é legalzinha, assim como o album por um todo também é uma experiencia bacana. esse vai ser nota 7,0 com muita dor no coração
It's ok, middle of the road. I prefer other Blur stuff I've listened to. Could probably be worth a second listen down the line but this is how I'm feeling right now.
Britpop! And it was ok.
Classic Brit rock with some timeless singles. Personally a bit too "twee" for my liking, and a bit bloated for what it needs to be.
GIRLS AND BOYS??? It made bop my head Bad Head is very grandpa coded (in a good way) To the End: croissant LAAAA LA LA LA LAAAa: Magic America MKAYYYY, I see myself going back to a few songs from this record. Solid 3
A pretty good album, I liked Girls & Boys, Parklife and The Debt Collector the most.
Doesn’t really stand out
Love Girls & Boys. Some hits and misses on here.
This album just flshed past me without making a dent. Some moments sounded cool, others really silly, but nothing makes ma want to revisit sometime soon. 2.5/5 - okay
One of the more decent britpop/rock records I have heard on this list. Not a high bar, because a lot of it has been pretty mediocre. It's fun, playful and has decent instrumentation. I keep forgetting Damon Albarn is in this band so I was kinda shocked to hear his voice randomly pop up.
It is probably one of the very few actually good british 90s albums on here. It combines some pretty neat pop tracks, with intermissions which would feel in a porcupine tree or king crimson album (which I do consider a positive). Simultaneously it does fall off into being quite samey except for those few interludes after the first few songs. This is a typical album where I find myself zoning out because nothing really pulls me back in after the first 4 songs.
There’s a lot of genres flying around on this one, but it still very much works. And you can definitely hear influences like the Kinks, Beatles, and even XTC here and there. An overtly Brit-pop sounding album that overall was a good listen. It’s just too long which causes it to drag a little on the back half.
Forgot Girls and Boys is a Blur song. Rest of the album not as strong so rounding down. A wooo hooo. 3.5/5
decent, blur is amazing
full of great basslines and punchy twangy guitars. Classic britpop album
Ok
Not a huge fan of the long instrumentals in some songs, and I wasn't particularly interested in the songs I didn't already know. Doesn't help that i was mid heatwave.
Hmm, a lot of bad tinny pop shite on here. The phony cool britannia on full display, still a couple of decent tracks. But the more it goes on, the worse it gets, Their next one is much better I think. 2.5 rounded up Heard before? Yes Owned: Yes, 87/331 (26%) Will I get: Already have
Thought this was going to be better than it was, pretty boring actually. Maybe I got this on an off day. 2.5/5
Starts out strong but then kinda drops off. Still better than most Brit pop of the era.
Sounds like if someone made Rebel Rebel into a whole album. Seriously just sounds like a Bowie rip off 90% of the time. Totally mediocre and overly appreciated like all Britpop. Still, I didnt want to cut my ears off listening to it
Solid brit pop album. Not my favorite flavor of it tho. Should be either better with its melodies or rock more. IMO caught up in between.
Entertaining more than enjoyable. 2.5/5
brit pop! this is a quintessential british album that totally captures the early 2000s brit pop culture. very fun vibes and timeless tunes.
Fun but not enough memorable songs - may need a few more listens
75
Standard Brit Pop album, not bad. Deep undertones of Beatles influence.
Good fun!
I had hope for this one. Parklife is a great song, so is Girls and Boys. I just don't think I like Blur that much, this is probably the best they're getting out of me. I feel catfished into thinking Blur were good.
nice enough
A good record; though one that leans a bit too much on its influences (Kinks, David Bowie, The Replacements) and needs some of its middling fluff cut out, but has a few notable tracks: "Clover over Dover," "Badhead," and "Girls and Boys."
3/5 I wanna go to London
Trois chansons que j'ai beaucoup aimé, le reste moins
Nett
This opened with one of the more annoying tracks I've ever heard and hit its peak early with Parklife and Bank Holiday, which were the fourth and fifth tracks respectively. There was still a lot of album to go. The rest of the album wasn't bad, it had a fairly upbeat and playful feel to it, but just really wasn't my thing. It felt very repetitive at times and, while I appreciate the experimentalism throughout, some of it just felt like they were being quirky for the sake of being quirky. I thought I was coming around to britpop, but it turns out I might just like Pulp better.
Few classic tracks, not my favourite blur album
Ihan jees britti rokkia. Sopivan erikoista ja monipuolista. Kappaleet ei kuullosta toisiltaan. Enimmäkseen aika hyväntuulista ja muutenkin ei niin totista. Vähän pelleilevää ajoittain. Parhaat: Trouble in the Message Center, Jubilee, This Is a Low
I don't know what it is about the band name Blur that leads me to believe I won't enjoy the music as much as I do. It wasn't my most favorite ever, but it was better than I expected going in to it! "Girls & Boys" is a total banger, and a great way to kick off the record. It was fun, more pop than grunge. I guess I was expecting grunge, it was '94 and this album cover....but I was wrong! Britpop, of course.
Dimery's bias to Britpop strikes again. And a reminder that our friends on the other end of the pond have some weird tastes. Apparently Boys and Girls was a massive hit there? You limeys are strange. Didn't crack the top 25 in the U.S. And no cultural impact on us. None. Wikipedia says this a critically acclaimed. To me, felt pretty generic.
It wasn't bad but it wasn't anything special.
This album is somehow a lot better than the other Blur album I had. This somehow feels more genuine, true to their roots, not necessarily trying to appeal to the broader international public. I can appreciate that a lot more. That being said, the album lasts much longer than it needs to.
this is fun! and weird! there were some parts that reminded me of some k-indie bands i like and it made me want something more serious and emotional but then they went back to the fun weird stuff and i liked it all over again. a bit repetitive though fave track: london loves
i quite like Parklife conceptually, in that it reflects the bizarre hodgepodge of too comfortable middle class end of the century Britain directly back at the listener, always playing with several levels of irony and remove, but it's just a bit of a drag to listen to. there's so much Concept behind every bit of it that there's just not much in the way of songs. for the most part, instead of hooks, we get genres or accents - the punk one, the oom-pah one, the one with some french in it. some of those songs are quite good, but the majority of the record had me wondering if it wouldn't have been better off as a short story collection. a completely fine amount of Brit, but only when mixed with adequate levels of pop - this misses the mark, unfortunately, though i do quite genuinely respect its efforts
I liked their fun, different style.
Not as good as their s/t album
A fascinating album of unique sounds and lyrics. Not a top album of all time but definitely worth the listen.
Fun 90s Britpop album. This one was pretty enjoyable, but not something I would seek out to listen to again.
The only song I knew on this album was the first one, which is a fun song, but super repetitive. I was never too much into Blur. I liked Brit pop during that time period, but I wasn't into it as much as I was other styles of music. I thought this album had some really fun songs on it, and then some really boring songs on it. Seemed repetitive and too long. The album was fine, but nothing stood out for me on it.
Decent, but a bit boring.
Det er uka for snille 3'ere. For lang og intetsigende, men av og til glimter de til med noe kult.
Noen av låtene er topp klasse, men litt for mye stallfyll til at albumet er der oppe. Streng treer.
Et par låter man husker, som er fulle av sommerenergi. Men dessverre også en håndfull låter som bare er kjedelige. Gir denne en snill treer.
05/27 Not bad. I just keep hearing Gorillaz even though I know this band came first
white boys take over again i heard from NTS somewhere that this was in response to a more internationally influenced music scene in Britain. White boys were getting scared of african-influenced music (e.g. tricky of massive attack) so they went the other way and went very traditional pop.
So British, good guitar
i dont really think im a britpop girl but i did end up liking this one a bit. some songs veered into ska and i felt like that was a little random but otherwise it was okay!! much prefer damon albarn in gorillaz however
Foten går
This is ok, enjoyed some of the weirder moments but thought it was a bit thin on the ground in terms of memorable songs.
Good guitar. Not too into British music. I can appreciate that it’s good for the genre though. I enjoyed some songs a lot.