I'm very satisified with the remastering on the '81 session. Very nice. Now that I have a proper recording of it, Turkey Mambo Momma officially moves itself into my top Pulp songs list. Unfortunately, Refuse to Be Blind gets knocked down several knotches, as the the remastering really highlights the amateurishness of the songwriting.
Duck Diving also sounds a lot better than the version I had on my hard drive, which is good, because it salvages the end of the CD after all those wanky WLL songs.
Just listening to Disk 2 now, but I don't expect many new surprises. Their live performances after '95 are pretty interchangeable.
By "wanky" do you mean largely dull songs short on tune or interesting lyrics but big on long, boring guitar bits and phoned-in lyrics?
I'd kinda agree on that with regard to I Love Life - which is clearly meant to be the centre-piece of We Love Life but comes off rather staid. And the "You gotta fight to the death for the right to live your life" mantra at the climax has never done much for me. In fact the way the band come to life when the drums crash in as the track moves up 3 gears gives the impression that the first two thirds of the song were written merely to facilitate the "exciting bit". Though at least the Peel version is watered down and gives the song a more visceral, live feel than the proper recording on We Love Life.
Sunrise from the Peel Sessions doesn't do much more for me than the album version - unless you're watching this song being performed live, or you're in a particularly hedonistic mood, it's a little too skippable either after the verse-chorus(ish)-verse beginning because of its slightness or once the instrumental wig-out is repeated for a second time.
However, Weeds I think, is a revelation on the Peel Sessions. For me the lp version is blighted by Jarvis' voice, which is unaptly enough, really weedy and doesn't suit the stomping mentality of the song at all. On this compilation it's transformed - really strident, and again the pared-down sound really makes the guitar riffs stand out. It comes across as a right corker. Am I the only one who thinks its far superior to its album counterpart?
Oh and an irritation over the 'live' CD on the Peel Sessions. Why are I Love Life and Sunrise included again, when from the same concert (Halloween '01 Brum Academy) a stellar, rare live version of Wickerman was performed and broadcast? I'm pretty sure there's at least half a dozen other songs from the various other Peel 'Live In Concert' recordings which could have been used rather than replicating a couple of songs from the sessions on CD1.
Quote: "By "wanky" do you mean largely dull songs short on tune or interesting lyrics but big on long, boring guitar bits and phoned-in lyrics?"
Err... yeah. Very well put, actually.
You're right that the Peel version of Weeds is an improvement over the album, but I would stop short of calling it "a revelation". The live cut of Weeds on Disk 2 is actually much better, and almost makes the song acceptable.
I must say, however, that I had never heard a live performance of Weeds 2 until I listened to the Peel disk, and I really like what they did with it... the way they stripped out all the disco-skiffle and replaced it with that frightening, cinematic string section! Very nice.
I really don't know why they chose to include the songs they did. It's quite peculiar. It seems like the whole of disk 2 is just filler. Only the first 4 tracks have anything to do with John Peel, right? They should have included other BBC sessions instead, like "Glass" and that early cut of "She's a Lady". What program was that from?
I prefer the first disc to the second. I really don't like "Common People" on the second disc. I can't remember why it is because I haven't heard it in so long, and I haven't got the cd with me. Meh.
I love "Pink Glove" and "Acrylic Afternoons" on the first disc.
Oh, and may I ask, what is this early cut of "She's a Lady" you talk of FussFree?
Also, I get the impression that the second disc is rather filler as well.
Fuss Free wrote: I really don't know why they chose to include the songs they did. It's quite peculiar. It seems like the whole of disk 2 is just filler. Only the first 4 tracks have anything to do with John Peel, right? They should have included other BBC sessions instead, like "Glass" and that early cut of "She's a Lady". What program was that from?
Glass and She's A Lady were broadcast on Mark Goodier's Evening Session on Radio 1 inMay '92 I think.
The live cdis made up of recordings that wererecorded for and aired onJohn Peel's show.
A general Beeb sessions la The La's and Housemartins might have been a better idea cos there's other non-Peel recordings they did ie Hit The North Feb '93 on Marc Riley's show and which to all intents and purposes were demos for His'n'Hers on Mark Radcliffe's Radio 1 show in Nov '93 which I think saw public debuts for Joyriders and His'n'Hers (the song).
Fuss Free wrote: Quote: It seems like the whole of disk 2 is just filler. Only the first 4 tracks have anything to do with John Peel, right? They should have included other BBC sessions instead, like "Glass" and that early cut of "She's a Lady". What program was that from?
All the concerts included on CD2 were first broadcast on the Peel show, which I admit isn't quite the same as them being proper Peel sessions. However, I was at the Birmingham one and Peel compered it too. If I remember rightly, his opening gambit was "Good evening, impressionable young people."
Quite right that the other BBC sessions - Goodier/Hit The North x 2/Mark Radcliffe - really should be released though. A second CD of that material would probably have made more sense than the live stuff (especially the Goodier session, which was recorded in the same studio as the Peel stuff in the same way, so the difference between that anda Peel session is largely academic).
-- Edited by Sturdy at 11:21, 2007-03-28
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I have to defend WLL here! I think it could be may favourite Pulp album. I still listen to it regular even though it was out 6 years ago. It does have it's faults but I think this lies in the production in some of the songs.
Why does 'Minnie Timperley' cut off so abruptly at the end?
You can really here the noise gate opening on 'Birds' at the start. Sounds like tape hiss! Nice!
Where did the bass go on th outro to 'I love life'? It rocked at Leeds 2000 with the drum rolls and bass really working together. and that awful out of tune string sound...! What were they thinking?!!
I also think 'weeds' lost it's 'funkiness' on record but it still remains one of my top 5 Pulp songs.
Saying this - 'Wickerman' and 'Sunrise' are produced exceptionally well. Scott Walker really worked his magic there.
Back on subject, I too don't understand why lesser play songs like 'Wickerman' & 'Roadkill' were left off the Peel album.
I would have loved a Bowie At The Beeb kinda thing.. - 2 CDs packed with session tracks and a limited edition 3rd CD with the recent live concert on it. Perhaps 'Auto'
Maybe the idea is really a tribute to Peel rather than Pulp and we shouldn't forget what he did for the band. Can't complain too much! Can't keep everyone happy and all that.
After all, I was really excited grateful when I 1st saw the track listing for it.
Quote Weed: "I have to defend WLL here! I think it could be may favourite Pulp album... Why does 'Minnie Timperley' cut off so abruptly at the end? You can really here the noise gate opening on 'Birds' at the start. Sounds like tape hiss! Nice! Where did the bass go on th outro to 'I love life'? It rocked at Leeds 2000 with the drum rolls and bass really working together. and that awful out of tune string sound...! What were they thinking?!! I also think 'weeds' lost it's 'funkiness' on record but it still remains one of my top 5 Pulp songs." Well, I'm convinced!
Saying this - 'Wickerman' and 'Sunrise' are produced exceptionally well. Scott Walker really worked his magic there.
This is exactly where I thinbk WLL falls down most. On other albums these sort of "epic" songs where done really well - My Legendary Girlfriend, Acrylic Afternoons, David's Last Summer, I Spy, F.E.E.L.I.N.G. C.A.L.L.E.D. L.O.V.E., This Is Hardcore - but Wickerman and Sunrise both strike me as somewhat lame, obvious and devoid of ideas and/or flair. Intro is twenty times the album We Love Life is.
We Love Life is a great record. I was at Reading 2001(? may have been 02, I dunno) watching Pulp not headline with a friend who'd never been into Pulp at all. When he heard "Sunrise" he was saying "What's this? This is amazing!" Everyone I play the album to seems to agree with me. It's just a different sort of music. Just as good.
I'm very satisified with the remastering on the '81 session. Very nice. Now that I have a proper recording of it, Turkey Mambo Momma officially moves itself into my top Pulp songs list. Unfortunately, Refuse to Be Blind gets knocked down several knotches, as the the remastering really highlights the amateurishness of the songwriting.
Apart from Pulp's (obviously the best), I keep coming across new ones all the time, the latest and second greatest being the Teardrop Explodes. Dodgy (who oddly along with Pulp are the only other band I saw at the Highbury Garage) have one as well as the House of Love. I may be wrong on this, but weren't there plans to make all the BBC archive available online at some point?
We Love Life is a different sounding Pulp. It sounds mature, just like Jarvis' solo album. No more fancy stuff like on the earlier records. Just straightforward pop. At least, I always saw the album in this light.
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This is the sound of someone losing the plot, making out that they are okay when they are not. You're gonna like it, but not a lot.
We Love Life is a different sounding Pulp. It sounds mature, just like Jarvis' solo album. No more fancy stuff like on the earlier records. Just straightforward pop. At least, I always saw the album in this light.
Fancy stuff! I'm not sure Pulp ever had too much fancy stuff. Also I think His 'n' Hers and Different Class were more straightforward.
I certainly agree with the mature part, and the different sound. The sound I always thought that was mainly down to Russell leaving and Mark Webber/Richard Hawley getting involved. Certainly Birds/Sunrise/BCV etc. are more mature than the DC/HnH records, though Hardcore hinted at it as well (Little Soul/The Fear).
I guess that as Pulp matured I did (I'm of a similar age to Jarvis), so the maturing just seemed natural. I must confess to not being a big fan of Relaxed Muscle, nor do I particularly care for the solo album, but WLL is a album that IMO stands well alongside Intro, HnH, DC, and Hardcore as a great body of work. I can't think of any other band that has produced so much music that I have liked over that amount of time nor albums. Most bands do well to make one or two albums that I would listen to again, wheras Pulp produced ten years of consistently good music that I often return to.
(pre-intro I feel Pulp are patchy, some great stuff, but not as consistent)
