Swanky Modes premiere would be great cos I'm fading fast.

So Save The Whale it was! Like you, it was the only song I'd not yet heard live.

Pagan-type vibes in an interesting arrangement with lots of backing vocals/'responses' from the girls and on first hearing a bit of awkwardness with the lyrics not always seeming to scan/ forced-rhyme fitting but that will probably improve with repeated listening. I would like him to sing a bit more though.

 

Edit: Looks like there is a video up now and that it's the next single. Quite surprised, Modes/Echo/Missing Something/maybe even Pharaoh are all more immediate. He mentioned to Lauren that it was the last song they wrote/recorded. I wonder if it's a case of that classic "Always most excited about the most recent thing you create" thing. Perfectly natural but it hampered We Love Life when a lot of the earlier songs were discarded.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Thursday 11th of June 2020 11:45:39 AM

Yeah, definitely felt Cohen vibes in the hushed vocals and the production.

Re Elvis, seems to be the same chord movement in their choruses ("Move...move beyond the pale" and "You're gonna be lonesome tonight").

Must admit I thought the same about the song - it doesn't stand out as a single as such compared to the other ones at first listen. Listened to it a couple of times now and I'm 'getting it' now. Similar to you Eamon, I did wonder if it was chosen because it's the newest....I'm think the second youngest is House Music too.

Wow it's very close to that Cohen track....too close?

Makes me very excited for the album now.

Im not sure I like this direction of music that Jarvis is going down. House Music sounded OK - it was nice to hear the blend with Separations era stuff, but this is as if he is trying to move away from his previous sounds - ie Jarvis, and Pulp - and if thats the case, why play His n Hers live? I just dont feel the new songs. It still feels that he "isnt" singing as such - After You style.

Sorry I should read other threads first...

Just had a listen. Aye, it was a nice interview. Good of him to acknowledge the Leonard Cohen similarity.

I was interested to hear about that private show in Barcelona 1996. Had a look at for the setlist but it's incomplete - looks like they were having fun with it as they played Whiskey In The Jar (if the set is correct). I wonder if there we any other live rarities that night

Ah... I just started re-reading Russell's book after downloading it as Stephen suggested. I vaguely remember reading about this now.

Sometimes I think Russell can be a bit of a fuss pot but it be fair, they'd been pretty much non-stop since May/June 1995 (arguably before as there was a fairly quick* turn around between HnH and DC) & to finally get to the end of that in August 1996 to be told you've got to fly to Spain for a corporate might have been frustrating to say the least.


*Light Speed if measured in 'Pulp Time'