22. Essex Dogs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9s9lWIKPeY And here's another one to compare to Parklife. Blur really did change everything on the reinvention, and 'Essex Dogs' is perhaps the most stirring picture that Albarn has ever painted of his roots. Cartoon characters no longer lurked on suburban street corners; instead dogs somersault through sprinklers and the sky fizzles a sickly orange by evening. The city is like the flu. Panic attacks, puke and piss are the more prevalent aspects of the place. It was one hell of a way to end 'Blur'; Damon uttered the words with none of that sweet melody; it was like he could barely bring himself to sugar-coat this breakup. It's poetry set to the gentle whirring of Graham Coxon's guitar and it's brilliant.