Released on 11 September 1995 "The Great Escape" was the fourth studio album by English indie rock band Blur, the album spawned the singles "Country House", "The Universal", "Stereotypes", "Charmless Man" & "It Could Be You", indeed "Country House" was Blur's first song to reach No. 1 in the UK beating at the time Oasis' "Roll With It" in a high-profile chart rivalry dubbed "The Battle Of Britpop".
The Great Escape was released at the height of britpop and the band's popularity in the UK, this propelled the album into massive stardom and a major commercial succes in the UK and Europe becoming the band's second consecutiva album to debut at No. 1 in the UK albums chart. The album received a widespread critical acclaimed upon its initial relase, with praise for its songwriting and eclectic themes, though some retrospective reviews were negative considered it as a less cohesive record without the inspiration of "Parklife". The Great Escape is often considered to be the final album of a trio of britpop records released by Blur in the mid 1990s after "Modern Life Is Rubbish" and "Parklife of course, two years prior after its released, the band would change direction and move away from britpop in favour of a more lo-fi and alternative styles. The album indeed is a conceptual album in where most of the songs are linked by a similar theme from loneliness and detachment.
Damon lbarn revealed that much of the album is about himself, "Dan Abnormal" is an anagram of Damon Albarn, "Mr. Robinson's Quango" was the first song recorded for the album and "It Could Be You" was the last to finished, about the album's title, this was taken from the original advertising slogan of the UK multimillion-pound-prize National Lottery, which had drawn much public interest after its inception the previous year, "Yuko And Hiro" was originally titled "Japanese Workers" and "The Universal" was first attempted during the Parklife sessions as a ska number, but it was resurrected James in the making of The Great Escape, and "Ernold Same" features then-MP Ken Livingstone who is actually credited in the sleevenoted as "The Right-On".
As it happened with the band's previous two-albums, the liner notes also contain guitar chords for each of the songs along with the lyrics. Critics called a funny, brave and heartbroken record, that has everything you could want, it was so rammed with tunes, ideas, emotions, humour, tragedy, farce and edgy beauty that it's utterly beyond contemporary compare, unofrtunately the support from awful music press soo tapered off and then gained many detractors, and quickly turned their views onto Oasis, the greater commercial success of the Mancunians seemed to habe played a role in this revaluation, nevertheless and 30 years after its original released, the album stands as one of the key record from britpop era whehter you like it or not.
The Great Escape Track List:
1. Stereotypes
2. Country House
3. Best Days
4. Charmless Man
5. Fade Away
6. Top Man
7. The Universal
8. Mr. Robinson's Quango
9. He Thought Of Cars
10. It Could Be You
11. Ernold Same
12. Globe Alone
13. Dan Abnormal
14. Entertain Me
15. Yuko & Hiro
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