I've been thinking a lot lately that "The Birds in Your Garden" would have made a GREAT lead single for "We Love Life", rather than "Trees" or "Sunrise", neither of which seem very single-esque to me, though they are brilliant.
I can just imagine how great the video would have been; all green and lush, with jarvis looking out of a window to see all these cheeky "phwoar" birdies winking and gnudging.
Its one of my all time favourites from the whole Pulp canon and surely a deserved winner of the overused "lost classic" label.
While we're at it, anyone up for "Weeds" being a single an all....oh well.
I always thought Birds In Your Garden should've been a single. Weeds could have been good enough, with the old 'we make the world work' chorus instead of the we're-not-trying-to-do-a-concept-album-honest 'we are weeds, vegetation'. I'd've had Minnie, Birds & Bad Cover Version as singles in an ideal world. Strongly agree Trees & Sunrise were the wrong(est possible) choices.
Absolutely anything would have been a better choice of single than the Trees/Sunrise double-A. Including either Trees or Sunrise on its own. Or a 45-minute tape loop of Tim Allcard pissing in a bucket.
__________________
"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
No! Weeds can't be listened to without it's counterpart Weeds II, in my opinion. And Weeds II isn't exactly single material is it?
I guesss, The Birds In Your Garden would be a great single. Jarvis in the bedroom, looking outside the window seeing the birds and the band their playing the chorus of the song. Classic. Bad Cover Version is allright as a single and maybe Trees alone or I Love Life as a last single would be great.
__________________
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.
"Birds in Your Garden" was definitely one of the album's bright spots, but it was still better before Walker putz'd it up.
I really don't think there is a radio-friendly song on the album. Trees, it seems, was selected because it has a fairly standard pop structure and it was shorter than most of the other songs on the album. Pulp gave it their best try with Bad Cover Version, and that barely made a dent.
Interestingly enough, when WLL was finally released in America, the promo materials were pushing "I Love Life" and I heard that song quite often on college radio. Leads me to believe that "I Love Life" would have been the 3rd single from the album, had there been one.
What it comes down to, imho, is that the album was too prog-rock at a time when listeners were drifting back toward the tight, raw hooks of punk. Had the album come out a year earlier, it might have found an audience.
Oct 2000 Sunrise (after the euphoria it caused at Leeds/Reading): Top 15 Oct 2001 Weeds (Misshapes with more mature lyrics) or Minnie Timp (poor but pop): Top 10 Dec 2001 Bad Cover Version (what with the Christmas vibe an'all - Live Aid video works a treat too) Top 20 Apr 2002 Birds In Your Garden (4th single = ballad after all) Top 30
Conclusion: Universal's faith in band restored. Pulp sign a new record deal, Jarvis puts off getting married for a bit (and therefore the writing of Something Changed retreads like Stormy/Heavy/Arctic Weather), Mark Webber departs on a high and Candida gets her keyboard back.
I believe it was Island who wanted 'Trees' as a single not the band. I maen it's a lovely song but makes a shit single.
I've alway thought Pulp got it all wrong with their choice of singles on WWL as well as thier timing. Sunrise should have been out long before it was if they felt it had to be a single. Then followed by Weeds, Minnie Timperley and Bird In your Garden.
The same goes for This Is Hardcore. Although Party Hard and A Little Soul are among my favourites now, they were hardly instant classics and I was suprised when they were released at the time. The Fear would have made a nice single I would have thought.
Or a 45-minute tape loop of Tim Allcard pissing in a bucket.
I have to agree, man. They really sold out for me the day they left that unreleased gem in the vaults. Have you heard the ultra-rare bootleg (the Rotherham version, not the compromised Amsterdam recording)? It's awesome.
I think a live version of Sunrise should have been released as a single in 2000 (or even something like Sorted where it is a live version and a studio version mixed together) then Weeds, then the album then Minnie. I don't think anything else off the album would have made a good single.
Or a 45-minute tape loop of Tim Allcard pissing in a bucket.
I have to agree, man. They really sold out for me the day they left that unreleased gem in the vaults. Have you heard the ultra-rare bootleg (the Rotherham version, not the compromised Amsterdam recording)? It's awesome.
To own this priceless piece of music history, simply send £399.95 to Scott Frazer Enterprises today!
-- Edited by Sturdy at 18:26, 2007-04-25
__________________
"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"