Amazon.co.uk Review
Fifteen years after forming Arabacus Pulp as a schoolboy, Jarvis Cocker finally scored his first hit single with "Babies"--a sexually-charged tale of teenage voyeurism which saw Jarvis on
Top Of The Pops with "I hate Wet Wet Wet" written on his jacket. At the time, the Scottish superstars dismissed such behaviour as desperate attention-grabbing from indie no-hopers. Britain, though, had already decided it could do with a pop star who could wring poetry from the grubbier little enclaves of small-town life. And in low rent synth-dramas, such as "Acrylic Afternoons", "Pink Glove", and the bilious "Joyriders", Jarvis began to deliver in earnest, coming on like the missing link between Serge Gainsbourg and The Human League.
His'N'Hers didn't finish off the job, of course--it would take a more dynamic producer and a class-avenging anthem called "Common People" to make him a national treasure. Wet Wet Wet's career though, never quite recovered.
--Peter Paphides
CD Description
Pulp's breakthrough album arrived after an unbelievably long haul, and then Jarvis Cocker was suddenly sharing front pages of music magazines with Liam and Damon. Here, the songs explored now-familiar Pulp territory, social class, seedy sexual encounters, voyeurism ('Babies'), bad sex ('you bought a toy that can reach the places he never goes'), good sex, and lots more sex, all blessed with Cocker's humorous, touching and, conversely, often innocent lyrical observations. Capable of writing almost unbearably tender love songs and laments for wasted lives ('your hair is a mess and your eyes arejust holes in your face'), Cocker's honesty and insight were distilled to perfection in the wonderful 'Do You Remember The First Time'.