I love Blur's "This is a low"

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I think I do.

― man, Saturday, 23 November 2002 01:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, me too. Actually, the rest of the record's not bad either.

― paul cox (paul cox), Saturday, 23 November 2002 02:24 (twenty-three years ago)

yes. why the hell not eh? Much better than anything Oasis did. Nice blend of good guitar pop tunes. A snapshot of the time it was released. Good fun. Less commerical than people often make out (before it was released, the man on the street didn't know who Damon Albarn was). Heartbreaking (This Is A Low I mean). Uplifting (Grandma needs new dentures). Punky (Hours of rubbish). Ambient (So many moons). Poignant (So overrated). I mean what the fuck is wrong with Parklife? Nothing. It's the perfect album. Not the best. Just perfect.

― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 23 November 2002 02:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, I like TIAL, too. The album as a whole has worn a bit thin for me (Not as good as Modern Life Is Rubbish) but TIAL is still an amazing track. Oh, what guitar solos. Graham Coxon destroys the notion of the traditional rock ballad guitar solo and sends it off into the sea. (With pretty England and me)

― kate, Saturday, 23 November 2002 02:54 (twenty-three years ago)

The kind of revisionism - partly perpetrated by Blur themselves in their efforts to distance themselves from the "Britpop" monster they'd been indelibly associated with - that sniffs, sneers and looks down at "Parklife" has long bothered me. Even when NME did their review of the 90s in their turn-of-the-decade issue, they did a retrospective review of it (and the whole 95-96 period) in a kid of "mmm.. fun, but did we really like that? " kind of way.

For the record, "Parklife" bears repeated listening as a near-perfect pop record, with ideas and influences bouncing off each other like no-one else at the time, with a good few genuinely affecting great songs ("This is a Low", "End of a Century") as well. Not forgetting that for many it was THE album that summed up that time (and "Girls and Boys" the single), and that there has yet to be such a singles-friendly left-field pop band since. It remains a classic of any era.

― Darren, Saturday, 23 November 2002 10:57 (twenty-three years ago)

i remember at the time the dude i worked with in my local WH Smiths (6ft 5" gay guy who hated disco and taped me lots of John Martyn, dismissed the record for having to many throwaway tracks (including, after 'this is a low', my favourite track, 'bad head', which he cursed for its demo-like fakefinish)... in many ways, its oddity and waywardness are what make me prefer it to 'Modern Life'.

and 'this is a low' is celestial, gorgeous, especially because of the aforementioned Coxon guitar solo, the apex of his continual seesawing between melody and NOIZ-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-E!

― stevie (stevie), Saturday, 23 November 2002 11:22 (twenty-three years ago)

It's brilliant, yes.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 23 November 2002 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Signs I haven't listened to something in a hell of a long time part 32464145 -- there's a guitar solo?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 23 November 2002 21:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I really, really like it, in fact I think it's quite beautiful. I think that either that or "Beach Coma" are the best things they ever did. When I compare stuff like that, "Parklife" & "Modern Life is Rubbish" lps to the coat-tail grabbing, desperate ASS they've produved more recenltly, it makes me feel really, really sad.

― N0RM4N PH4Y, Saturday, 23 November 2002 22:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Good call - easily my favourite Blur song.

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 24 November 2002 00:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I love it, too. Next to Sing, it's my fave Blur song.

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Sunday, 24 November 2002 04:34 (twenty-three years ago)

This pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly. I would be afraid I share the same brain as Kate if it weren't for the fact I'm indifferent to Casablancas ass.

― Nicole (Nicole), Sunday, 24 November 2002 06:26 (twenty-three years ago)

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