I gave the LP a listen again the other week for the first time in ages, and I'm still not convinced entirely by its contents. Having said that, I think I was a tad harsh at the time. Maybe it was the disappointment of him having seemingly been away so long and not producing a masterpiece that led to the comments rather than being completely subjective about things.
This was the first single taken from the LP:-
mp3 : Jarvis - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time
I actually bought this unheard. I did do so because a local indie record store was doing a deal that you could buy all three formats of the single for £4 - that was a CD plus 2 x 7" bits of black plastic. When I first played it, I wasn't sure what to make of it. I liked the lyric but wasn't so keen on the tune. It's one of those songs that even today, I still don't mind hearing every now and again when it comes up on random play but am glad it is likely to be a while before it comes on again (unless I'm really unlucky when I hit reset).
It's just not a classic Jarvis Cocker record.
And going by the poor sales of his solo stuff, I'm seemingly not alone in that view. This single reached #36 and is the only hit 45 he has enjoyed as a solo star, while neither of his two LPs have set the heather on fire.
Nevertheless, he's still one of the most talented and original pop stars of my generation and I'll no doubt go out and buy his next set of new material.
Here's you b-sides:-
mp3 : Jarvis - One Man Show
mp3 : Jarvis - Big Stuff
mp3 : Jarvis - The Mouse, The Bird And The Sausage
The last of these is a spoken word piece and was on the CD single along with a karaoke video for his track Running The World.
Happy Listening.
5 comments:
I agree his solo stuff has been a bit disappointing, although some of this album holds up- Fat Children for one. And Running The World is one of the finest protest songs of the decade. The second solo album was also a bit hit and miss. His recent single with Discodeine was ace, and the song he did some years ago with Richard X was great too. Think he needs a collaborator on the whole.
FWIW, I loved that first solo album. The second one took time to grow on me, but the missus loved it. We like the Jarv in our house...
The Nancy Sinatra version is the business, whom I think that he originally wrote it for.
To me, the closest he came as a solo artist to the Godlike Genius expectation Pulp fans thrust upon him was "The Loss Adjuster" - an 8-minute end of the world opus that was the b-side of Fat Children. I wish he would release a crisp digital version someday, but until then, the scratchiness of the MP3 I ripped from vinyl kinda sets the right tone. My copy of the record was cut so close to the edge, my record player cuts off the spoken word introduction when the needle drops into the groove by itself - I discovered the extra audio by mistake a year after I bought it.
- Keith (Seattle)
Running the World was a hidden track. Took thirty minutes before it actually played.
Jarvis as a solo artist is easily dismissed as boring or inferior. He stopped making anthemic, enjoyable prose pop songs. Let's just say that he grew up and stopped being fun and the times have changed. For a while, I thought I was ok with that. I was prepared to disagree with you pull out my arsenal of support to his solo career but I retreated. "Big Julie", "Fat Children", "Black Magic" while cleverly written lacked that mass appeal we all love about Pulp. They were after all, shamelessly pop. Jarvis was the only one who insisted on being called a pop artist and not rockstar during the Britpop years.
The songs in "Jarvis" were too oblique and too clever. I've seen footages of Pulp reunion show being streamed on Youtube and I can't lie. I miss the old band.
Btw, of all the songs he wrote for other people, the one he wrote for Marianne Faithful is my favorite. Also, the b-side to his second album "Further Complications" vinyl called "Girls Like it Too" is the most Pulp-y pop (could be the reason why it wasn't released as a single). Super love that song live, but the studio version sucked.
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