We Love Life

by Pulp

Overview

It was clear that This Is Hardcore was a difficult, turbulent experience for Pulp -- it was such a troubled-sounding record that it was hard to tell where they would go next. Apparently that was as true for the band as it was for the listeners, since Pulp spent over three years preparing an album, cutting nearly a full record with longtime producer Chris Thomas before scrapping it all and entering the studio with cult hero (and Jarvis Cocker inspiration) Scott Walker. The pairing was intriguing but problematic, since Walker is not known as a producer and his recent recordings, such as Tilt and Pola X, were as inscrutable as Cocker was lucidly literate. Miraculously, the pairing resulted in the vibrant, reaffirming reinvention of We Love Life, an album that hints at music from Pulp's distant past (it's much closer to It than anything they've done since, though it has elements of the epics scattered through His 'n' Hers) while finding a new voice for the band and Jarvis as a lyricist. It's easy to see that this is a mature album, but that suggests a studied self-consciousness and safe, coffee-table artiness. This is maturation in a different sense -- Cocker has lived through dark times, as was evident in This Is Hardcore, and still sees difficulty in the present and past (the haunting centerpiece of "Wickerman"), but here he embraces life, even seeing his place in the grand scheme of things. Previously, Pulp's sleek music had been as darkly romantic as a drunken late night in a metropolis, and Cocker's lyrics were wittily urbane, embracing and mocking the idiosyncrasies of contemporary life, but here the music is considerably more organic -- Candida Doyle's synth, a former signature, can barely be heard -- and Cocker's elaborately detailed lyrics are trim and focused, filled with nature imagery. This is hardly a pastoral album, though, even with the occasional string section and acoustic guitars, nor does this sound like Pulp's version of a Scott Walker album. Instead, this is an emotional and musical breakthrough, finding the band leaping beyond the claustrophobic Hardcore and consolidating their previous obsessions, creating a textured, reflective record that in its own measured way is as impassioned as Different Class -- it's just that Jarvis is railing against the impulses within himself, and he winds up finding a way out. As such, We Love Life is warm and embracing, even when it delves into darkness, never nearly as despairing as Hardcore, and nearly as affirming as Different Class. And if that record was the mis-shaped misfit finally letting the world know that he was special, this is that same misfit turning inward, realizing that the world itself is special. Not the kind of thing that results in a massive hit, but it's tremendously rewarding all the same. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	12/01/2015
Label:	Imports
UPC:	0602547852908
Rank:	38453

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pulp   Primary Artist
The Swingle Singers   Guest Artist,Vocals (Background)
Howie B   Guest Artist
Scott Walker   Guest Artist,Keyboards,Guitar (Baritone)
Alasdair Malloy   Percussion,Harmonica (Glass)
Beverley Skeete   Vocals (Background)
Claudia Fontaine   Vocals (Background)
Richard Hawley   Lap Steel Guitar,Guitar (12 String),Guitar (12 String Acoustic)
Danny Cummings   Percussion
Joanna Forbes   Musical Direction
Stanley Myers   Sampling
Metro Voices   Choir/Chorus
Andy Findon   Flute,Ocarina
Hal Shaper   Sampling
Thymios Papadopoulos   Bird Calls
Julian Poole   Percussion
Paul Giovanni   Sampling
Philip Sheppard   Electric Cello
Sylvia Mason James   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Steve Mackey   Composer
Steve Hilton   Programming
Clive Goddard   Engineer
Brian Gascoigne   Arranger,Choir Arrangement,String Arrangements
Geoff Foster   Engineer
Scott Walker   Mixing,Effects,Arranger,Producer,String Arrangements
Nick Banks   Composer
Phil Nelson   Supervisor
Isobel Griffiths   Orchestral Coordinator
Matt Lawrence   Engineer
Candida Doyle   Composer,String Arrangements
Gavyn Wright   Leader
Joanna Forbes   Vocal Arrangement
Stanley Myers   Composer
Chris Blair   Mastering
Jarvis Cocker   Composer,Photography,Art Direction
Howie B   Programming
Mark Webber   Composer
Tom Miller   Photography
Peter Mansell   Composer
Peter Saville   Art Direction
Hal Shaper   Composer
Abbey Road   Mastering
Jenny O'Grady   Coordination
Steve Price   Engineer
Howard Wakefield   Design
Marcus Werner Hed   Design
George Parfitt   Photography
Peter Walsh   Mixing,Engineer,Producer