Dreaming of Escape

I had a dream the other week. For some reason I was interviewing Damon Albarn of Blur. Don't ask me why or where, but I was. And we got on to the specific subject of the making of "The Great Escape", the follow up to the million seller breakthrough album "Parklife". He got very defensive about the whole thing, saying that it was a bad time in his life, and he's never felt so depressed as he was around the time of that record. He told me he felt like he was repeating himself and going through the motions, and that added to the personal problems and the stuff with Oasis had left a dark shadow over that era and it wasn't a period he liked to think about very much.

But, Damon, I said, don't be so disparaging. That's a great record. Never mind what was going on, the record you made is very good. It may have the mighty shadow of "Parklife" all over it, but it still stands up. There's some good songs on it. Don't dismiss it, go back and listen with fresh ears. Anyway he took this in the spirit it was meant and left - then I woke up.

Yes I'd rather have had a dream where I'm lathered down by stunning Playboy type beauties but there you go - an interview with Damon it was.

My opinions from the dream do carry through to reality. "The Great Escape" is a very good album, and was thought to be by the music press at the time, but a revionist view seemed to take over as soon as Oasis starting selling mega units of "Morning Glory", and "Escape" was seen to be a failure. A million selling one but a failure all the same.

Bollocks. "The Great Escape" is a fine end to a trilogy of albums starting with "Modern Life Is Rubbish" carrying through to "Parklife" which place Blur in the centre of what we know know as the "Britpop" era, and these albums sketch out portaits and mini dramas about British and more specifically London life now, filtered through the askewed vision of Albarn. These albums are very much influenced by sixties bands such as The Kinks, Small faces and The Beatles, and also old time Music Hall, with Albarn creating characters within the songs, looking on rather than singing from a personal viewpoint.

"Parklife" we all know about, but "The Great Escape"? Well it does contain "Country House" the single at the centre of the Blur vs Oasis battle, but even that has weathered better than you'd think. This album contains what I shall kindly call borrowing of musical styles from groups the Band liked, as did Parklife. The Specials influence is all over "Fade Away" for example, and it's fabulous. There are fantastic songs such as "Best Days" and "The Universal", the downbeat "He Thought Of Cars", and even the lesser songs like "Entertain Me" (the direct sequel to the previous album's "Girls & Boys") hit the mark satisfactorily. But this album was the watershed for the group, and the "Modern Life" trilogy was to end.

Coxon's increasing dissatisfaction with the style of music they were playing, coupled with Albarn's personal life and the scars from the Oasis battle changed the way they created music forever. The next album "Blur" embraced lo-fi and US alternative rock, and saw Albarn leave behind the kitchen sink dramas and songs about pervy civil servants for more personal lyrics and less conventional song structure.

They never looked back.