BritPop
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis
****
The debut solo record by former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful records about desperation, negation and failure that you’ll ever own. And by God, you should own this record. Even if he hadn’t written three of the best records of the 1990s Britpop boom—His ‘N’ Hers, Different Class and This Is Hardcore—he would still be the man who once attempted to catch Michael Jackson in a flying tackle. Any man with so strong a sense of propriety deserves some of your money.
And though the thread running through Jarvis is one of negation and abuse, Cocker isn’t recommending that you take this stuff lying down. Like Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello before him, Cocker brings his world-weary truths home wrapped in lustrous melodies. The friendly piano ballad “I Will Kill Again” conceals its bloodlust in a tune fit for Elton John. The narrator of the jaunty rocker “Fat Children” is robbed and killed for his cell phone, but promises, “I’ll be back to haunt them.” And the haunting hidden track “Running the World” neatly encapsulates how you’ve been feeling lately: “Use your right to protest on the street ... but don’t imagine that it’s heard.” Cocker’s record of protest is more than worthy of your receptive ear.