Jarvis Cocker: Jarvis

The Jarvis Cocker Record

Best song: I Will Kill Again

Worst song: Heavy Weather

Overall grade: 4

More than five years separate the final Pulp album and this, Jarvis’ first solo effort, although to be fair he was working on other things in that time too – most notably, a guest role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where he actually contributes three really good magically-themed songs and performs at the Yule Ball, basically just making an already-great movie even better. I’d guess that the songs here were written and recorded sporadically between his other commitments, as the album as a whole does seem a bit disjointed. Some of these sessions produced songs which are minor classics, while others are less than inspired.

There are two excerpts from an unreleased song, at the very beginning and near the end of the album, known as ‘Loss Adjuster’. They’re pretty piano pieces. In my notes, I have ‘I like Loss Adjuster’ written as I listened to the first one, and when I got to the second, ‘I still like Loss Adjuster’. There’s little else to say about it.

First real song is ‘Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time’ and lyrically it’s similar to Pulp, especially from the ‘His ‘N’ Hers’ era, but the production is not as perfectly polished and it’s less poppy. It works well as an opener with its mix of familiar and unfamiliar. Following on is ‘Black Magic’ which is very, very different, quite a lot heavier with a jumpy backing that reminds me a little of Talking Heads, only nowhere near as good, because this song doesn’t stay with me and honestly, I have no idea what it’s about.

I really don’t understand why ‘Heavy Weather’ was included. It has rain sound effects all the way through, which basically sums up everything that’s wrong with it, and it’s just so dull, with no real substance. Make a serious improvement to this album by removing this song and replacing with ‘Can You Dance Like A Hippogriff’ from Harry Potter.

Luckily, after its mostly inauspicious start, we get a real winner: ‘I Will Kill Again’ is amazingly chilling; a very creepy song from the point of view of a stalker observing his victim, and it’s a really interesting and perceptive look at someone with such a messed up mind. At the start the melody is slow and sinister, as you might expect, but later on, it takes more the form of a traditional love ballad, which is actually even MORE disturbing.

‘Baby’s Coming Back To Me’ is justified in its existence, I guess, by its delicate melody and good description of the feeling you get after receiving good news, where everything else seems good too. However, it never picks up any momentum and feels a bit lifeless throughout. That’s actually a problem that persists throughout the record. The best Pulp songs work so well because they masterfully build to a crescendo, while here many tunes remain static. ‘Disney Time’ makes a weak attempt at such a build right at the end, but it is, sadly, too little too late – a real shame, because the ideas behind the song and the first verse are impressive.

‘Fat Children’ is pretty hilarious the first time you listen to it, with its satirical lyrics and over the top cries of ‘Fat children took my liiiiife!’ Musically it doesn’t hold up so well, it’s a little repetitive and I like it less with each time I hear it. ‘Tonite’ also feels pretty stale, but did so from the first time I heard it, because it’s basically just recycling ideas from previous albums. Listenable, but adds nothing.

The other song I’m 100% in support of is ‘From Auschwitz to Ipswich’. It’s hopeless and depressing with good, insightful social commentary and a wonderful melody, so, in short, everything Jarvis is good at, and both the musical theme and the lyrics are very memorable, almost haunting.

For the most part, the lyrics on this album are very good, but they don’t do that nosy-neighbour, storytelling thing that I love about Pulp songs. The only song that does continue that tradition is ‘Big Julie’, and while it doesn’t reach the heights of ‘Wickerman’ or ‘Common People’, it’s a worthy continuation of the tradition, with an interesting character and some of the best lyrics on the album: see ‘Yeah, go and chase your dreams/But if your dreams are not your own/Then wouldn't it be better/just to work things out at home?’

‘Quantum Theory’ ends the album proper on a good note. It’s beautifully sung with a lot of emotion and quite cryptic in a way, not giving too much away about the story behind it, but definitely relating to a lost, maybe-dead lover, and the narrator’s way of coping; imagining them in a parallel universe where things worked out. It’s an idiosyncratic take on a love song and in that way it reminds me of ‘Something Changed’ from Different Class.

But there is a bonus track after 25-odd minutes of silence, ‘Running the World’. Although I can’t disagree with its message, it shouldn’t be there, and – dare I say it – someone with such a talent for lyricism shouldn’t need to use so many swear words.

This album is worth owning if you like Pulp or quirky singer-songwriters. Probably it’ll become the kind of thing that you rarely play all the way through, but have a few songs that you listen to a lot. Its towering highs make it more than worthy of a passing grade, but there’s enough I don’t like to guarantee it’ll never be a favourite. Jarvis is talented on his own but his style is dramatically different – and he’s allowed to change, but I’m still allowed to prefer things the old way.