If you want to know where Blur picked up most of their ideas for Parklife, look no further. The vocals particularly, but also the saxophones on Badhead, the sinister merry-go-round on The Debt Collector, and a lot of other spooky organ motifs, and discordant musical right-angles. Plus the classic 'stopstart' timings in the song structures. Blur's Lot 5 and Bank Holiday are almost straight homages to Cardiacs.However, I'm not saying that if you like Blur you'll love Cardiacs, I hope you don't. I don't love Blur, even a tiny bit.Cardiacs are quite simply one of those idea-rich bands that can literally floor you. What I mean is, so many ideas, so many brave and bold, abrasive, ideas, crammed into each and every complexly arranged anthem. It's what people often call an embarrassment of riches. As a self-taught drummer I could do nothing but hang my jaw at the rhythm section. Impossible that anyone could play like that! Just..how?! Looking up some old gig dates it seems that I went to see Cardiacs in Oxford in about '89, when they still had the full band. It's become a matter of personal pride that I did that, and that I went on my own because all my friends hated them, and I'm so glad I did - although they were so compelling I just did the easy bit of buying a ticket.From this LP, Is This The Life is most unlike their traditional style, which is why it was the minor chart hit (deservedly so) that it was. Dive is kinetic, Victory Egg reminds me of Goblin, R.E.S is prog-mental (acid test for if you're going to 'get' Cardiacs or not ;). Goosegash is a fave of mine - the_gashman, of course :) And Too Many Irons is basically what I parrot in any social situation where there's too much going on for me :DI've learned, sadly, that Tim Smith, the lead singer, has been very ill following a stroke, but that there's been a glorious resurgence of interest by The Alphabet Business Concern (the mysterious labelpublishing firmslave masters of Cardiacs) in their back cat, and fresh vinyl is now being repressed. They deserve the wider recognition that I feel has escaped them all these years.I'm eagerly awaiting new copies of A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window, plus On Land And In The Sea for my collection. It's been too long.

My copy of this has the centre labels the wrong way round. An obvious mispress but not mentioned on this entry so wondering how many were issued like that.