At the height of Brit pop Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker was arguably Blighty’s finest social commentator. However, after the release of the band’s widely forgotten album We Love Life in 2002, it seemed as if he’d had enough of the glitter and hype of this pop game, relocating to Paris and quietly working away on the odd collaboration and scathing globalisation ballad. But now he’s back for all to see with his solo debut, simply titled Jarvis (Rough Trade ****), in which the classic Pulp sound remains (ex bassist Steve Mackey is also onboard) but with a darker electronic edge in places.
And although having become more world weary and disillusioned with age, Jarvis still manages to find humour in the bleakest aspects of life. ‘Fat Children’, for example, recalls the time he was mugged by a gang of pie eating youths (or “maggots without the sense to become flies,” as he so eloquently puts it) who “wobbled menacingly”. Still a national treasure after all these years.
Someone else returning from pop wilderness is Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens. His first album of new songs since 1979, An Other Cup (Polydor ****) is a work of staggering beauty, Yusluf’s warm vocals and fragile melodies praying for a little love, peace and understanding in these troubled times. It’s like the ‘60s never died.
Meanwhile, piano songstress Lucie Silvas looks to build on the success of her 400,000 selling studio debut with The Same Side (Mercury ***), another round of inoffensive pop with a pinch of Fleetwood Mac and plenty of radio friendly choruses.
And while George Michael’s latest greatest hits album Twenty Five (Sony BMG ****) may well be an exploitive money spinner, it is almost certainly evidence that long before his name became synonymous with public toilets and spliffs he was one of Britain’s most iconic pop stars. Stretched over three themed CDs, you need only to listen to the sleazy disco funk of Fastlove or the haunting Jesus to a Child to realise this is the sound of a master at work.
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Sun 12 Nov 2006 at 6:24pm
