Modern Life Was Rubbish...

Damon Albarn's critical stock has rarely been higher with plaudits for Gorillaz, The Good The Bad and The Queen, his Africa Express live events and his Mandarin language opera Monkey: Journey to The West. And yet, arguably his finest work, Blur album Modern Life is Rubbish, languishes in relative obscurity.

Is that right? Is that a fair and accurate statement? Can an album listed by the NME as 4th best British Album of all time really be described as 'obscure'? Well, I think so, yes. It may have benifitted from critical re-evaluation and praise from bands such as The Kaiser Cheifs but while every other person you meet could sing you Girls and Boys or Parklife few could whistle the equally catchy Star Shaped which is a shame.

After the baggy bandwagoneering of their debut lp, Modern Life is Rubbish is where Blur forged the identity that would take them to stardom, eschewing the contemporary trend towards Americana and embracing British culture. This album is one of the first steps along the path to what would come to be known as Britpop. Having said that, it's far from the mindless, gung ho celebration of Britishness that the Britpop movement would come to embody. With people who, 'feel so unecessary,' and return to the same bar every night after work, Albarn's lyrics aren't as scabrous as they would be later on The Great Escape but you could hardly describe their tone as celebratory.

Modern Life is Rubbish is a subtler, less kalaidescopic work than its hit laden follow up Parklife but from the Jaunty Sunday Sunday to the queasy Oily Water it is no less varied. Though he would a evoke a similar mood again on tracks like Sweet Song or Badhead, the dreamy, exsquisite Blue Jean may be the finest thing Albarn has ever written, in whichever company. Meanwhile, Graham Coxon takes the opportunity to give us some of his finest, most interesting guitar playing and gives the songs texture and depth that is sorely missed by so many bands who try to take Blur as a jumping off point.

If you're unfamiliar with this album, or even with Blur themselves, if you've only heard Song 2 or Girls and Boys and you don't think Blur are for you, I urge you to beg, steal or borrow this record.