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Fuss Free


Different Class

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"Jarvis" comes out in North America (officially) in just over a week. So I thought I'd set up this thread to post and discuss American reviews of the album which are sure to turn up all over the place.

First Up, Rolling Stone:
4 Stars
"Of all the boho songwriters who hit it semi-big in the Nineties boom years, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker was the one with the biggest heart, the bitchiest lips and the swooniest tunes, which is why his flamboyant thrift-store Casanova legend burns on while his peers gather dust. On his first solo album, Jarvis, he shakes off his early-century doldrums with his finest batch of songs since This Is Hardcore. The songs are languid Eurotrash ballads, strung out on New Wave highs while hitting a post-punk low; his voice is a sultry whisper of bemused (yet unironic) adult lust.

The big problem with Jarvis is that it doesn't include the songs he wrote for the soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and sang in the movie with the Hogwarts prom band, the Weird Sisters (including Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood). "Do the Hippogriff" and "Magic Works" would have been standouts. Oh, well -- you'd be hard-pressed to find any song here that loses steam after forty or fifty listens. With old Pulp friends pitching in, Cocker goes for big, swooping ballads in the style of "Quantum Theory," "Black Magic" and "Baby's Coming Back to Me." He croons about loneliness with all his usual compassionate warmth, whether it's the teen-girl angst of "Big Julie" or the midlife malaise of "I Will Kill Again": "Log on in the nighttime/Drink a half-bottle of wine/Buy a couple of records/Look at naked girls from time to time." Best of all, "Tonite" is a Serge Gainsbourg-style anthem, where Cocker abandons any kind of joker pose to plead, "The night belongs to lovers/So show some respect." Respect granted!"

Thoughts: This review reflects the general consensus amongst American music crits that This is Hardcore is Pulp's crowning achievement rather than a disappointing follow-up. So that's refreshing perspective, I suppose.
I don't really see what's so "Eurotrash" about the album though. It doesn't sound very Post Punk or New Wave to me. And Quantum Theory... a "big, swooping ballad"? Did the reviewer even listen to this thing?

Next up, Entertainment Weekly:
"Fears that incipient middle age has mellowed the misanthropy of Pulp's ex-frontman Jarvis Cocker are allayed by his solo album. Death at the hands of bloated thugs (''Fat Children''), romantic delusion (''Baby's Coming Back to Me''), and a chirpy rumination on evil (''From A to I'') are among his lyrical preoccupations on Jarvis. As Pulp's ''Common People'' proved, Cocker's caustic observations cut deepest when married to hummable tunes. Best are lacerating hidden track ''Running the World'' and glam-rock cruncher ''Don't Let Him Waste Your Time.'' Rating: B"

Thoughts: Well that was short! Sure, the reviewer could have culled this review together from a short survey of the album's marketing materials, but I think his review is probably more accurate a reflection of the album than the Rolling Stone review... And it's probably more accurate than most reviews of the album, for that matter. The EW reviewer isn't trying to catagorize the album or make it into something it isn't. He's just saying what it is: a few catchy tunes about millenial doom and gloom. Hurrah." May be the best review I've read so far.


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Steve Devereux


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I love this forum sometimes. Thanks for this, Fuss Free.

I can't understand why everyone thinks the Potter songs would somehow fit on here. Whatever else can be said about Jarvis it's certainly the sound of him taking things seriously again after numerous novelty projects, putting his own name and reputation on the line without the get-out clause of "yeah, but it's not really at full stretch". I don't understand quite how that's supposed to tally with an upbeat rocker about dancing like a crazy elf &c.  Lots of people really like them, but to me the Potter songs are just a silly footnote. The only one I really like is "This Is The Night", which - is that the one everyone hates? I lose track.

Anyway, I suppose if you're a crazy journalist expecting "Do The Hippogriff", "Quantum Theory" probably does count as a "big swooping ballad", but only in the sense of "this is closer to a big swooping ballad than it is to Do The Hippogriff".

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The Idiot


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...the general consensus amongst American music crits that This is Hardcore is Pulp's crowning achievement...

So This Is Hardcore is as well known in the States as Different Class? If I remember rightly, Like A Friend was included on American issues of the album; was it a single too? I wouldn't say that track had much of a high profile on this side of the pond, but it really sounds like The Killers' All These Things I've Done, with that build-up at the end. Then again, The Killers could be ripping off anyone.

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Eamonn


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The Idiot wrote:

...the general consensus amongst American music crits that This is Hardcore is Pulp's crowning achievement...

So This Is Hardcore is as well known in the States as Different Class? If I remember rightly, Like A Friend was included on American issues of the album; was it a single too? I wouldn't say that track had much of a high profile on this side of the pond, but it really sounds like The Killers' All These Things I've Done, with that build-up at the end. Then again, The Killers could be ripping off anyone.
This Is Hardcore sold far more copies in the US than Different Class. It charted at 114, Different Class did not chart at all.



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Misfit


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I love ALL Potter songs including This Is The Night! The lyrics are good!
Yes, Potter songs do not fit here at all. As far as I know Potter songs are Electro songs. So, Electro doesn't fit Britpop at all, does it? Potter songs are RRRRRRRRREALLY GREAT! WHERE ELSE can you find better Electro songs?!Just tell me, where?Relaxed Muscle?! HAHA!! BUT If you know Electro bands which are worth to listen to pleeease let me know about them!

PS: ANYWAY, 'Jarvis' is COOL album! I LOVE it very much!
PPS: Keane is a bit more interesting band then Travis (which is sooo boring). I only like three songs from Travis's 'The Invisible Band'. But again Keane are also boring to listen to but a bit less then Travis!

-- Edited by Misfit at 15:33, 2007-03-27

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TurnipFish


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I wonder what his live shows will be like in the USA?

Well, he got good reviews, thus, I'm happy. ^^
And I agree, them Harry Potter songs really wouldn't fit on the album.

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Different Class

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Kayleigh wrote:
"So This Is Hardcore is as well known in the States as Different Class?"

Well, not any more...

Different Class was released to the US in a rather unceremonious manor. There was very little promotion. I certainly don't recall seeing any. Maybe if you lived in NYC you might have seen a poster or heard Pulp on the radio, but for the most part, Pulp's American fanbase in '96 was made up prodominently of obsessive music geeks and anglophiles: the kind of people who were willing to pay 3 times the cover price for import NMEs and CDs. In other words, spoiled/rich students who were lucky enough to live near a record shop that actually carried leftfield music. Remember, the internet was still quite new back in '95 and it wasn't easy to learn about new bands, especially British ones. Anyway, I think most American rock fans at that time were still of the opinion that a "proper band" should be a bit scruffy and have long greasy hair.

Well, my point being... Americans weren't ready for Different Class in 1995/96. It's quite popular today, but it took a few years worth of buzz to develop a following here.

This is Hardcore, on the contrary, was heavily promoted in the US, and in many ways, it was like Pulp's American debut. I do think there was a seachange in American music tastes in the late 90's, and TIH was perfectly timed to match the new American sensibility. There was a lot of interest in what I guess you could call: "artrock". Radiohead was very popular, and Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips were gaining steam, and Portishead were massive... there were a lot of bands doing quite well for themselves making music that exists somewhere between punk and prog. This is Hardcore was very much in line with that whole thing, whatever that thing was. And since Americans hadn't really heard much about Pulp up to that point, they weren't predisposed to judge This is Hardcore the way Brits did. When it came out, it had quite a bit of press in America, and the video did recieve a respectable amount of airplay considering Mtv America barely played videos by that point. You got the impression that America wanted Pulp to break through at that point. But then, the band refused to give a proper American tour, and I think they shot themselves in the foot.

Its really quite interesting. So much of the negative press in regard to This is Hardcore is tied to the expectations people had for it. Even today, the British music press still tries to paint the album as some sort of forgettable anticlimax to britpop. Reviews were based on what the album wasn't, rather than on what it is: "This doesn't sound anything like Common People or Babies, and therefore it is shit". But the american reviewers who reveiwed This is Hardcore most likely hadn't even heard Babies, and they probably thought Common People was a Blur song, so when they heard THis is Hardcore for the first time, it was "Oh! Wow! This is wild! Who are these guys! Tre Fantastique!"


Well... they probably didn't say that... but you get the idea.

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Different Class

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Billboard Magazine offers up this brief interview. Nothing new or insightful, but the last line is probably the clearest indication of when and how Pulp will reform:

Cocker Shoulders The Burden On Solo Debut

Former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker will release his first solo album, "Jarvis," April 3 in North America via Rough Trade. The set features contributions from former Pulp bandmates Steve Mackey and Richard Hawley and was recorded in roughly 13 days in Sheffield, England. The vocals were then tracked in Paris.

"I didn't plan it that way," Cocker tells Billboard.com of the quick pace of the studio sessions. "The thing was, it took about three years to write it. Not that I was working on it 24 hours a day. But, I started on it pretty soon after I moved to Paris. I had to do a lot up front, and it was quite easy to record. I showed the chords to the guys, and we got it down as quickly as possible. Besides, being in the studio for long periods of time starts to become unhealthy. You smoke too much."

Cocker says that his approach for "Jarvis" was a departure from writing and recording in his Pulp days. "With Pulp records, a lot of times I'd be writing lyrics at the last minute," he explains. "I did some songs for [the] 'Harry Potter' [films] and we recorded them live. And it was much more fun that way. On several cuts, the first or second take was the best. When people know the song too well, sometimes it takes the life out of it in a weird way."

"Jarvis" was released internationally in November 2006, and Cocker admits he was "a bit nervous" around its release. "Solo is solo and I couldn't blame anyone else if they didn't like it," he laments. "I was a bit worried of using the same people in Pulp. Maybe it wasn't different enough, but I think people saw that it was."

Of late, Cocker has kept busy with side projects, most notably contributing lyrics on the forthcoming Charlotte Gainsbourg album, "5:55," as well as penning two songs on the recent Air album, "Pocket Symphony."
 
Cocker is slated to return stateside for a short string of shows in late April, including two nights at New York's Webster Hall and a visit to the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

The artist says that a reformation of Pulp, who ceased activity following 2002's acclaimed "We Love Life," is "not out of the question. I mean, we all get along. No one has died of a drug overdose. But its not something that were planning. And no one has driven up with a van full of cash yet."


So basically, Pulp will reform if you pay them. Coachella and Glastonbury promoters, please take note. (Thank God Jarv does have Morrissey's scruples.)


-- Edited by Fuss Free at 02:53, 2007-03-28

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Sturdy


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Fuss Free wrote:
Pulp's American fanbase in '96 was made up prodominently of obsessive music geeks and anglophiles: the kind of people who were willing to pay 3 times the cover price for import NMEs and CDs. In other words, spoiled/rich students who were lucky enough to live near a record shop that actually carried leftfield music.


Aah, the glory days of the Lipgloss mailing list!



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Just curious - do we know for a fact that none of the music written for Harry Potter made it onto "Jarvis"?  I always figured Black Magic was written for the film, especially since Jarvis obviously wasn't opposed to including older material given the Nancy Sinatra tracks.   



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Fuss Free


Different Class

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That's a tough call.

Black Magic lifts that very familiar sample from Crimson & Clover, and I just can't see the Harry Potter people even for one second considering it. The licensing fees would be outrageous. Maybe the lyrics are Harry Potter leftovers, or maybe they were inspired by his work on the Potter songs, but I suspect the composition was original to the solo album.

Besides, Jarvis has said that the Potter song were "for the kids", and that the solo record is for adults.

Anyway, songwriting doesn't happen in a bubble. Inevitably, one song leads to another. They are all related.



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Misfit


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'FOR THE KIDS'! Haha!furious These songs are THE BEST ELECTRO SONGS EVER! INCIDENTALLY, It's outrageous and appalling that some people who are not the Harry Potter fans think that these films and books are for the kids!! They think if there is any sort of magic in any film or book they are definiately for the kids! These people will never realise that Potter books and films ARE FOR ANY AGE UNTIL THEY READ ALL, ALL THE POTTER BOOKS!!! Watching these movies is NOT enough to understand this fact because loads of the scenes are remade or deleted!! Yes, JKR calls her books and Warner Bros Harry Potter movies 'children's' but ONLY because that these books/movies are the books/movies that on the whole read/watched by the children and teenageres! The same thing is about Jarvis!! He said 'for the kids' because of what I just told you!! 'Black Magic' music and lyrics WOULD NOT FIT THE PLOT OF THE BOOK!

I hope that was enough to asure you that these songs are for ANY age.smile
PS: I didn't want to insult anyone! I just became furious and couldn't hold back my emotions.

-- Edited by Misfit at 10:58, 2007-04-02

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Fuss Free wrote:

I don't really see what's so "Eurotrash" about the album though. It doesn't sound very Post Punk or New Wave to me. And Quantum Theory... a "big, swooping ballad"? Did the reviewer even listen to this thing?



I think "Eurotrash" is just a word that lazy American reviewers use to refer to anything from Europe, much like ours use "Yank."


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Fuss Free


Different Class

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"Jarvis" gets it's official North American release today. Anyone want to take a guess as to how many copies it will sell this week?

I think it will sell less than 300 copies nationwide. This old process of releasing an album in America several months after it's UK debut just doesn't make practical business sense any more. By now, everyone has already downloaded the album, purchased it at import rates, or heard enough of it that they can do without.

The problem is that piss poor sales will further convince people that Pulp/Jarvis have no commercial presence in America. But of course that isn't true. It's just bad marketing.

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Well it only sold 3,000 copies in its first week on release in the UK.
Has Don't Let Him Waste Your Time received much rotation on the music channels in the States/Canada? I know it hasn't been released their as a single but a promo can be used to promote the album anywhere.



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Fuss Free


Different Class

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Eamonn... I don't listen to the radio (does anybody?), so I can't say for certain, but I don't think Jarvis has any place on American radio, now or ever. So the short answer is no.

If you'd like the long answer, I'd be glad to tell you all about the evils of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and how it led to the commodification of American radio, the general dumbing down of the nation as a whole, and probably even set the course for the war in Iraq. Really, I'm trying to avoid working right now, so if you're curious let me know.

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So, how is it faring then?

By the way, I meant the video of DLHWYT - has it received much rotation on American music tv channels? Not including MTV which seems to have descended into pseudo-reality trailer trash since the start of the millenium. I don't think they even show music videos anymore.

-- Edited by Eamonn at 00:47, 2007-04-13

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Different Class

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No idea how it's faring sales-wise. It certainly didn't chart, but that should come as no surprise. I had considered buying it myself, but it cost $21 at HMV, which is obscene. I've said it before: no CD should cost more than $10.

Anyway...

Here's a review from the Seattle Stranger to coincide with Jarv's performance there tonight. Nothing new here. Either the author is just regurgitating the promotional materials or he's plagarizing several other recent articles on Jarvis:


Seattle Stranger Review

And here's one from San Francisco Weekly:

Jarvis Review

Yawn. More of the same. Doesn't anyone have anything interesting to say anymore? Its no wonder music has become so disposable when even the critics, who are paid to reflect on new music, can barely be bothered.


-- Edited by Fuss Free at 03:11, 2007-05-01

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I think it's pretty clear that the way people get music these days is completely different than it was 15 years ago. It took a lot more effort to keep up with non-maninstream music since there wasn't the instant gratification you get from the internet & Wikipedia. I'm sure I fall into the music geek/anglophile category since I was collecting imports in the '90s, but at least had the access since I live in LA, and most Brit bands had a mandatory stop here.

The music industry is the last to adapt to these changes, blindly thinking that they can still make profits using the traditional model. They are still measuring an album's success based solely on record sales, but I'm sure a lot more people are enjoying the music than those numbers show. However, in the case of Jarvis, I don't know how many new fans he's going to get with this album. It's a brilliant, but it's definitely not commercial.

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Tell me 'Jarvis' is worse than Pulp albums and I'll HIT you!!furious biggrin 'Jarvis' is the best album in Jarv's career!!smile I'm sure he deserved Brit Award for it!!smile

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