Agree with all this. Side 1 is better but it's a really strong record. Bell Boy has a 'Professional' vibe.
Most of those songs (well reduced to 12 songs) with a proper orchestra would have made a HUGE record. Something like Fin de Siecle by Divine Comedy, and a song like Sweden for Bell Boy.
I like its low key sound, but something inside of me wish for a "non" naked version.
Didn't spot the 'Professional' thing with the sneak preview posted the other day, but it's a good spot and you can't miss it once you've heard it.
What a record! I think it's fantastic. Genuinely new. Mature. Too early to say, but it's possibly the best thing he's done solo.
Some developments that have interested me today: listening to it reminds me of how it feels to read a Milan Kundera novel. It's all rather bourgeouis. Sex has stopped being a provocative, almost revolutionary act, and is now presented as a social leveller (sex and glorying in sex used to be an affront to sensibilities and a class signifier; it seems "we're all middle class now"). We are invited to relate to the hotel suite dweller and licker-of-pianos in the same way we were invited to get behind the guy renting a flat above a shop, challenging the young pretender.
Biblical references!
Snippets of Cahiers du Cinema from his college days!
Interesting too how the record has been marketed: it's listed as 'chamber music' in Amazon, and Chilly describes it as a 'song cycle'. But surely it has no greater claim to be a 'song cycle' than 'Further Complications', 'What's the Story (Morning Glory), or 'The Simpsons Sing the Blues'. I accept it's a concept album, a cracker, and it's certainly not a criticism. It just tells us something about where Jarvis is at nowadays. Pop aristocracy \ post-pop aristocracy.
The thread linking '5 Hours a Day', 'Daddy...', 'The Other Side' and 'Trick of the Light' is very nicely done, and the whole thing oozes glamour (or the illusion of glamour).
I've gone all fan-boy, would someone give me a slap?
-- Edited by superchob on Friday 17th of March 2017 06:56:48 PM
Overall I like it but some of it is a little bland, for my tastes, shall we say. I'm sure that's fine for some but I really found some of it drifting past me and failing to hold my attention. I think the record really picks up in the 2nd half. When the strings glide in on Salome it was a glorious moment, like the sun re-emerging from behind the clouds on a spring day. It made me really wish that the whole record had been scored with a small string trio or quartet. Jarvis voice is really upfront in the mix, like he's stood next to you whispering into your ear. Some of the lyrics are a little gauche in places but it wasn't a big issue. Some of the lyrics are quite straightforward when they could have been dealt with a little more impressionistically perhaps. For example, I would rather that Jarvis had attempted to articulate David Thomson's thoughts in his spoken word pieces as lyrics, especially the Howard Hughes track. I had become concerned in recent years that Jarvis had actually lost confidence in his ability to sing but on the evidence of this record it seems alright. However, I feel I can still sense an element of fear in his singing occasionally but maybe that's just me.
Real standouts for me were Salome, Daddy, You're Not Watching Me & The Other Side.
I must report that having lived with the record for a few days I now absolutely love it, it's brilliant. My small complaints of my first post still niggle at me but I'm just loving listening to it. I find I'm wandering around singing Tearjerker all the time. It features a lot of typical and longstanding Jarvis obsessions such as the observation of life as a film. It's also a very personal record in my opinion and the shadow of TIH hangs over the record. If you haven't bought it yet, why not? You owe it to yourself. Does nobody else have anything to say about it?
-- Edited by saw119 on Tuesday 21st of March 2017 01:16:57 PM
Sorry saw, I find it really hard to verbalise my response to music beyond the bland type of I'm really enjoying it, but it will need to marinate for quite a while longer before I have any chance of saying anything more meaningful. I've always been very drawn to any kind of music with strong narrative and picture-painting elements, so it fits that in a big way.
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I must report that having lived with the record for a few days I now absolutely love it, it's brilliant. My small complaints of my first post still niggle at me but I'm just loving listening to it. I find I'm wandering around singing Tearjerker all the time. It features a lot of typical and longstanding Jarvis obsessions such as the observation of life as a film. It's also a very personal record in my opinion and the shadow of TIH hangs over the record. If you haven't bought it yet, why not? You owe it to yourself. Does nobody else have anything to say about it?
-- Edited by saw119 on Tuesday 21st of March 2017 01:16:57 PM
I love it also and bought it last friday. It's an excellent record, kinda unsual but after 1 listen i was completely blown away. That mix between Lou Reed (the LP), Burt Bacharach and Divine Comedy is absolutely incredible.
I also agree that it's a This Is Hardcore naked. Probably why i love it so much.
Of course there are many ways that records could have been treated, with a full orchestra, but i like its low key side: Standout tracks to me are Clara (that 30s style is sweet although the theme is not), Salomé (kinda reminiscent of a Velvet underground song by the way, i'll have to check that out), Belle Boy (the heavy tune of the record), and... well they're all good.
The one i'm liking less is Trick Of The Light.
I'm glad he made a record like that and look forward to the gig. It should be interesting.
It's continuing to blow me away too. What's really starting to get me is the extent it works as a concept album... it's the first I've really engaged with and the first for me that has lived up to this title. (Bowie doesn't belong in the same category - he himself was part of the concept & the performance worked to such a mind-bending degree you can't think of him in purely musical terms).
The more you make out and absorb the lyrics, the more the subtle links between songs unfold and the songs nuance one another. The themes all interlink, and you can sense that there's an indistinct knot at the centre of it all. Even down to the emphasis on the drug-dusted piano in Room 29, and the dominance of that instrument across the whole record. It's as though his encounter with 'himself' and the empty room with its fetishised relics (the 'other side' of Hollywood mythology) have given rise to the rest of the songs, chiming with and reverberating with his (or the narrator's) memories. Perhaps he is coming to realise just how empty glamour is when shorn of mystery, and how so many aspects of life this sombre revelation might apply to.
My current game is trying to suss out if the 'head in the box' is literally Cocker on TV during the Britpop years, going off the rails ('out of his box') when fame took over. The shock of seeing yourself 'glamourised' - having your self-image taken and re-presented in ways you don't necessarily identify with - must be pretty shocking. The 'box' could also be the packaging around the product. I think that might be what Salome personifies: the sprinkling of stardust (hence shaking her alluring tamborine above the 'head in a box' and drawing people and cash towards it).
'Break down or break through': what other choices were there? But there are other things that make me think that this may be a far more personal recording than we are used to from Jarvis.
Gutted not to be at Rough Trade tonight - gutted too that the Barbican is sold out. I might be tempted to approach the touts on Saturday.
-- Edited by superchob on Tuesday 21st of March 2017 08:36:23 PM
I have a ticket for Friday night but am out of the country and unfortunately won't be able to get back for it. If anyone is interested please PM me. Please only PM if you are sure you will be able to make it, as I'd hate for it to go to waste. In return I'd like a very, very detailed review of the evening please :)
I mentioned that earlier in the thread but I'm glad i didn't ask it at the Q&A at Rough Trade last night ( which I'll review a bit later when I'm not at work) like some guy did as Chilly was a bit pissed off "Whatever the amount of time you feel is not adequate for you, that's how long the show will be".
I think Javis said something about playing film clips in between. Would love to hear them do Never Said I Was Deep though and they have done it before live together.
That Chilly Gonzalez looks like a very tough guy :D from the pics ive seen of him, it shows ! Piano players are weird people generally.
Id love I never said i was deep. It fits the theme of the album and it's one of my fav song ever. This is Hardcore would fit too
I highly doubt they charge so much money for a set that 50 minutes set, even with film clips inbetween. I guess the wait isn't that long, Barbican is happening soon.
-- Edited by andy on Wednesday 22nd of March 2017 12:13:41 PM
Judging from various videos off of Instagram, it seems the show probably will have film clips, at least one dancer, probably Jarvis will do a little bit of story-telling, & they also included a Leonard Cohen song at the end of the Hamburg shows I believe. So I don't think it's going to just be fifty minutes of them running through all the songs with no pauses.
1. Room 29
2. Tearjerker
3. Bombshell (I think, could be The Other Side)
4. Belle Boy... key ringing from the audience.
Help yourself to Starbursts... Jarv offers out Starbursts. Great banter from both Chilly and Jarvis. V. funny. They originally met at Eden project shows when Chilly's 'gang' vandalised the pulp tour bus. Brexit, Le Pen and Trump all got a mention during the Q and A.
I didn't stay for the signing, I felt it would be rude to Chilly as I didn't really have anything to ask him (although I'd like to hear him rap) and, well, I dunno, but anyway I didn't.
You're right, what a great opener with the Starbursts :)
Jarvis' voice sounded great, better than on record arguably. It was a real treat to see him perform in such an intimate surrounding. Short of in-stores, I guess the closest you'd get to see him play live at such a small venue since he became a star would probably have been the Pulp fan shows in '99/2000?
Also, the thought struck me again, that even if you weren't a fan of his music, his showmanship is just unparalleled for humour and entertainment. Just a pity he only tours every few years now.
Went for a pint with Panther of this parish once we saw how big the signing-queue was but we came back just before they were letting people back in and we decided to queue. Was worth it for the brief chat and personalised signing from both men. Panther quizzed Jarvis on the whereabouts of his velvet jacket from Babies and Razz videos (his girlfriend has the jacket, the trousers split but apparently still exists), I told him not to wait 8 years to make another record and warmly shook his hand. Third time lucky meeting him, previous times I was far too awkward.. Chilly was very friendly too.
Looking forward to the concert very much now notwithstanding possible extra security checks.
-- Edited by Eamonn on Wednesday 22nd of March 2017 11:20:36 PM
I don't ever like to give, like, a full opinion on one listen of an album but after 1 listen I do think it's a really stunning record. Excited to get to know it better.
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If you were having a pint at the outside area to the left of RT you were probably right next t me. Totally agree on the showman and comedy. Absolutely world class.
Jarvis a Batman tv series fan, now that's something new !
I love how he still comes accross as a misfit and kind of a loner although he's Jarvis. Respect.
"If I feel really lonely I can go and stand outside an indie record shop and hopefully somebody will recognise me if I stand there for long enough." That's Gold :D
The obvious pun aside, could the "bad reception" Jarvis describes when passing to "the other side" be a reference to the '96 Brit Awards? He was sat in the audience then, at that point a passive spectator, before trespassing onto the stage and disrupting the seamlessness and polish of Jacko's performance. There were as many detractors then as plaudits in the press that followed, probably more. I mean, it's not as though his more general passage from pop wannabe to sex idol was badly recieved - everybody loved him.
Also, has anyone actually seen this film?
-- Edited by superchob on Sunday 2nd of April 2017 12:34:58 PM
I'd like to say though that's it's definitely not a headphones record
I've had a listen that way and the mix was pretty weird. It's not like they have that many tracks to mix, but it sounded kinda weird. Especially the few backing vox.