Thread prompted partly by Owen Hatherley's book, and recent live performances. The first is totally fair enough, the second a bit sad if they're going to be just another band on the retro circuit. But I guess what bugs me most, really, is the news that they'll be a book of Jarvis Cocker's lyrics, which I can't imagine being a thrilling read.
Don't get me wrong, some great moments, but surprised that people view them as a game-changer, and I've always felt them a bit critically over-rated.
Some scattered observations
1. Lauded for their political songs, but aside from the excellent "Common People:", there's not that many of them are there? "His N Hers" was super-smart kiss 'n' tell pop but not exactly songs which define what Britain was like at the time.
2. Most of their songs about class are about shagging some posh birds – great songs many of them, but he doesn't get that much beyond smart observational reportage. The pattern is repeated time and time again – "I-Spy", "Disco 2000", "Feeling Called Love", all essentially reportage. I remember "After The Revolution" being not much more than a pretty banal sixth form style "what if?" song.
3. Jarvis Cocker's songwriting got much beyond sex, which if you have to be anywhere is undoubtedly the best place to be, but he's not exactly got a great range as a songwriter.
4. Hit an incredible and unexpected peak with "Different Class", but struggled terribly to follow it up. At the end of the day, this wasn't a group with that much longevity, was it? They were good-ish for ages, and only great briefly, right?
5. "Different Class" is a great album which starts with one of "Misfits"; one of their most embarrassingly prosaic songs. "We don't look the same as you/We don't do the things you do/but we live around here too". Man, that's almost moon-spoon maybe-baby standard of rhymes. That was one song where I really think they underestimated their audience. After some pretty subtle songs, why this lumpen anthemic bollocks? A couple of years ago I would have said only "Taxman" is comparable for a poor song on a great album, but you know what, "Taxman" is actually a much more subtle song about politics and socio-economics than bloody "Misfits".
6. "Babies" is such a wonderful song, but c'mon, he fell asleep inside the wardrobe? I just don't but that for a minute.
7. I think ultimately Jarvis ended up inadvertently typecasting himself and unable to find a way out. I think of a song like "Something Changed", which is a beautiful little song, but so linear in its narrative. I think ultimately he became a character he couldn't write songs without. He became bigger than the songs, and like a writer or interviewer, that spells disaster.
I happen to have just bunged on the Ragga Twins, but it strikes me that if you really want to know what Britain was like in the 1990s, you could do worse than listen to them. And of course Jarvis didn't understand what was going on himself at the time, as testified by his Mr Jones-visits-the-rave song "Sorted For Es and Whizz", a pleasant song but one which is, in retrospect, really a bit embarrassing.
Don't get me wrong, some great moments, but surprised that people view them as a game-changer, and I've always felt them a bit critically over-rated.
Some scattered observations
1. Lauded for their political songs, but aside from the excellent "Common People:", there's not that many of them are there? "His N Hers" was super-smart kiss 'n' tell pop but not exactly songs which define what Britain was like at the time.
2. Most of their songs about class are about shagging some posh birds – great songs many of them, but he doesn't get that much beyond smart observational reportage. The pattern is repeated time and time again – "I-Spy", "Disco 2000", "Feeling Called Love", all essentially reportage. I remember "After The Revolution" being not much more than a pretty banal sixth form style "what if?" song.
3. Jarvis Cocker's songwriting got much beyond sex, which if you have to be anywhere is undoubtedly the best place to be, but he's not exactly got a great range as a songwriter.
4. Hit an incredible and unexpected peak with "Different Class", but struggled terribly to follow it up. At the end of the day, this wasn't a group with that much longevity, was it? They were good-ish for ages, and only great briefly, right?
5. "Different Class" is a great album which starts with one of "Misfits"; one of their most embarrassingly prosaic songs. "We don't look the same as you/We don't do the things you do/but we live around here too". Man, that's almost moon-spoon maybe-baby standard of rhymes. That was one song where I really think they underestimated their audience. After some pretty subtle songs, why this lumpen anthemic bollocks? A couple of years ago I would have said only "Taxman" is comparable for a poor song on a great album, but you know what, "Taxman" is actually a much more subtle song about politics and socio-economics than bloody "Misfits".
6. "Babies" is such a wonderful song, but c'mon, he fell asleep inside the wardrobe? I just don't but that for a minute.
7. I think ultimately Jarvis ended up inadvertently typecasting himself and unable to find a way out. I think of a song like "Something Changed", which is a beautiful little song, but so linear in its narrative. I think ultimately he became a character he couldn't write songs without. He became bigger than the songs, and like a writer or interviewer, that spells disaster.
I happen to have just bunged on the Ragga Twins, but it strikes me that if you really want to know what Britain was like in the 1990s, you could do worse than listen to them. And of course Jarvis didn't understand what was going on himself at the time, as testified by his Mr Jones-visits-the-rave song "Sorted For Es and Whizz", a pleasant song but one which is, in retrospect, really a bit embarrassing.
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