Further Complications
This second solo long-player from Jarvis finds the ex-Pulp frontman straying further than ever from his Britpop origins. The recruitment of Steve Albini as producer surely has a lot to do with the raw, unvarnished sound of Further Complications, lending a sense of grit and thump that manifests a classic-rock feel through the title track, the sludgy 'Fuckingsong' and the tongue-in-cheek rabble-rousing of 'Homewrecker!' The more sedate tracks suit Cocker's voice best though, better accommodating his astute lyrical observations and bawdy wit. Speaking of which, you'd be hard-pressed to read a review of this album that doesn't make reference to the opening lines of 'Leftovers' - perhaps alluding to 'Common People', Jarvis wryly intones: "I met you in the Museum Of Paleontology/And I'll make no bones about it/If you wish to study dinosaurs/I know a specimen whose interest is undoubted". It's a song in which Cocker attempts to seduce whilst acknowledging the shortcomings of his aging corporeal frame, and this turns out to be a bit of a theme cast over the whole album, and it has to be said, as midlife crisis albums go, this is up there with the similarly dirty-old-man themed Grinderman opus from a couple of years ago. Previous single and all-round glam rock fuzzfest 'Angela' is another song in which a considerably younger woman becomes the target of Jarvis' comically predatory affections, but there is a certain amount of redemption at hand in the form of the wholly more poetic 'You're In My Eyes', whose beautiful, vintage disco production houses a wistful song that mourns for failing senses and lost lovers.
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This second solo long-player from Jarvis finds the ex-Pulp frontman straying further than ever from his Britpop origins. The recruitment of Steve Albini as producer surely has a lot to do with the raw, unvarnished sound of Further Complications, lending a sense of grit and thump that manifests a classic-rock feel through the title track, the sludgy 'Fuckingsong' and the tongue-in-cheek rabble-rousing of 'Homewrecker!' The more sedate tracks suit Cocker's voice best though, better accommodating his astute lyrical observations and bawdy wit. Speaking of which, you'd be hard-pressed to read a review of this album that doesn't make reference to the opening lines of 'Leftovers' - perhaps alluding to 'Common People', Jarvis wryly intones: "I met you in the Museum Of Paleontology/And I'll make no bones about it/If you wish to study dinosaurs/I know a specimen whose interest is undoubted". It's a song in which Cocker attempts to seduce whilst acknowledging the shortcomings of his aging corporeal frame, and this turns out to be a bit of a theme cast over the whole album, and it has to be said, as midlife crisis albums go, this is up there with the similarly dirty-old-man themed Grinderman opus from a couple of years ago. Previous single and all-round glam rock fuzzfest 'Angela' is another song in which a considerably younger woman becomes the target of Jarvis' comically predatory affections, but there is a certain amount of redemption at hand in the form of the wholly more poetic 'You're In My Eyes', whose beautiful, vintage disco production houses a wistful song that mourns for failing senses and lost lovers.
This second solo long-player from Jarvis finds the ex-Pulp frontman straying further than ever from his Britpop origins. The recruitment of Steve Albini as producer surely has a lot to do with the raw, unvarnished sound of Further Complications, lending a sense of grit and thump that manifests a classic-rock feel through the title track, the sludgy 'Fuckingsong' and the tongue-in-cheek rabble-rousing of 'Homewrecker!' The more sedate tracks suit Cocker's voice best though, better accommodating his astute lyrical observations and bawdy wit. Speaking of which, you'd be hard-pressed to read a review of this album that doesn't make reference to the opening lines of 'Leftovers' - perhaps alluding to 'Common People', Jarvis wryly intones: "I met you in the Museum Of Paleontology/And I'll make no bones about it/If you wish to study dinosaurs/I know a specimen whose interest is undoubted". It's a song in which Cocker attempts to seduce whilst acknowledging the shortcomings of his aging corporeal frame, and this turns out to be a bit of a theme cast over the whole album, and it has to be said, as midlife crisis albums go, this is up there with the similarly dirty-old-man themed Grinderman opus from a couple of years ago. Previous single and all-round glam rock fuzzfest 'Angela' is another song in which a considerably younger woman becomes the target of Jarvis' comically predatory affections, but there is a certain amount of redemption at hand in the form of the wholly more poetic 'You're In My Eyes', whose beautiful, vintage disco production houses a wistful song that mourns for failing senses and lost lovers.
This second solo long-player from Jarvis finds the ex-Pulp frontman straying further than ever from his Britpop origins. The recruitment of Steve Albini as producer surely has a lot to do with the raw, unvarnished sound of Further Complications, lending a sense of grit and thump that manifests a classic-rock feel through the title track, the sludgy 'Fuckingsong' and the tongue-in-cheek rabble-rousing of 'Homewrecker!' The more sedate tracks suit Cocker's voice best though, better accommodating his astute lyrical observations and bawdy wit. Speaking of which, you'd be hard-pressed to read a review of this album that doesn't make reference to the opening lines of 'Leftovers' - perhaps alluding to 'Common People', Jarvis wryly intones: "I met you in the Museum Of Paleontology/And I'll make no bones about it/If you wish to study dinosaurs/I know a specimen whose interest is undoubted". It's a song in which Cocker attempts to seduce whilst acknowledging the shortcomings of his aging corporeal frame, and this turns out to be a bit of a theme cast over the whole album, and it has to be said, as midlife crisis albums go, this is up there with the similarly dirty-old-man themed Grinderman opus from a couple of years ago. Previous single and all-round glam rock fuzzfest 'Angela' is another song in which a considerably younger woman becomes the target of Jarvis' comically predatory affections, but there is a certain amount of redemption at hand in the form of the wholly more poetic 'You're In My Eyes', whose beautiful, vintage disco production houses a wistful song that mourns for failing senses and lost lovers.