This is as good as britpop can get I guess. It's an honest record, there are not stuck in repeating the same song over and over again, which also implies highs and lows. It's a bit too long too, they might have opted for a tighter album. It's honestly a 3.5 but I already rated an Oasis record 3 stars.
I remember hating Girls and Boys when it came out - an infuriating earworm that summed up the banality of early 90s lad culture. Parklife was a different story though, mainly for the fantastic guest appearance by the great Phil Daniels and a nice sense of humour. I thought I might like the rest of the album, but it’s a bit hit and miss - I do like some of the tracks, especially the punk vibes of Bank Holiday and the places where they are trying to channel the 60s kitchen sink feel of the Kinks. However, there are just too many jinky-janky, blokey-wokey, blinky-blimey faux working class pretensions from a group of art school students. Damon Albarn’s whiny voice really started to grate on me by the end of this too.