Parklife

Parklife is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released in April 1994 on Food Records. After disappointing sales for their previous album Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife returned Blur to prominence in the UK, helped by its four hit singles: "Girls & Boys", "End of a Century", "Parklife" and "To the End".

Certified four times platinum in the United Kingdom, in the year following its release the album came to define the emerging Britpop scene, along with the album Definitely Maybe by rivals Oasis. Britpop in turn would form the backbone of the broader Cool Britannia movement. Parklife therefore has attained a cultural significance above and beyond its considerable sales and critical acclaim, cementing its status as a landmark in British rock music. It has sold over five million copies worldwide.

Recording

After the completion of recording sessions for Blur's previous album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, Damon Albarn, the band's vocalist, began to write prolifically. Blur demoed Albarn's new songs in groups of twos and threes. Due to their precarious financial position at the time, Blur quickly went back into the studio with producer Stephen Street to record their third album. Blur met at the Maison Rouge recording studio in August 1993 to record their next album. The recording was a relatively fast process, apart from the song "This Is a Low".

You Can Do Magic (song)

"You Can Do Magic" is a song by singer-songwriter Russ Ballard which was recorded as a 1982 single by folk rock duo America from their album View from the Ground.

The song was one of two Ballard compositions on View from the Ground, the other being "Jody". Ballard wrote both songs specifically for America at the behest of Rupert Perry, A&R vice president for Capitol Records. Ballard also produced the tracks marking a return to record production after a four year hiatus; although Ballard had had earlier hits as a songwriter, "You Can Do Magic" was his first major hit credit as a producer.

"You Can Do Magic" proved a solid comeback vehicle for America whose last Top 40 hit - "Today's the Day" - had occurred in 1976 with the second of their two further appearances on the Hot 100 in Billboard occurring in 1979. "You Can Do Magic" returned America to the Top 40 in August 1982 with the track reaching number 8 that October. The popularity of "You Can Do Magic" was paralleled by the success of the parent View From the Ground album which rose to number 41 on Billboard's listing of the top 200 albums, the first time an album by America as a duo (rather than the original trio) had appeared in that chart's upper half.