Parklife (Remastered 2CD Edition) (1994)

"Their second album "Modern Life Is Rubbish" established Blur as the heir to the archly British pop of the Kinks, the Small Faces, and the Jam, but this follow-up revealed the depth of that transformation. Relying more heavily on Ray Davies' seriocomic social commentary, as well as new wave, "Parklife" runs through the entire history of British pop, touching on psychedelia, synth pop, disco, punk, and music hall along the way. Albarn intended these songs to form a sketch of British life in the mid-'90s, and it's startling how close he came to his goal; not only did the bouncy, disco-fied "Girls & Boys" and singalong chant "Parklife" become anthems in the U.K., but they inaugurated a new era of Brit-pop and lad culture. But "Parklife" is a thoroughly modern record, that bends genres and is self-referential (the mod anthem of the title track is voiced by Phil Daniels, the star of "Quadrophenia"). An epoch-defining record." (S.T. Erlewine, Allmusic) Met extra CD met 16 tracks van vnl. singles uit die tijd.