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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Experience a very good, unusual and diverse listening, May 19, 2009
Further Complications" is Jarvis Cocker's second solo album, following the critically acclaimed 2006 "Jarvis".
While visiting Chicago for there performance at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival, Jarvis and his band holed up in Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio to test out a couple of new songs. They liked the sound, so the crew returned in January to record "Further Complications".
In his notes, Cocker suggests that he hasn't "gone rock", but has "discovered that, with this band, he COULD rock and so he'd be a fool not to (when the situation demanded it)". Despite his claim, the hard-nosed studio rat Albini seems like a fitting choice for the album, considering the increasingly edgy/rock tracks Jarvis has doing since separation with Pulp.
Certainly he goes for a different way: a throwback to an angry glam rock, built on guitar riffs and fuzzy, filthy bass. It's a weird fit with Jarvis, whose musical settings have never appeared to be about rawness or instrumental authenticity. But it works.
The album is about a midlife sexual crisis. It was done by the time he broke up with his wife.
Cocker's lyrics are often autobiographical - he says that he sees his albums as the only record he has of his life - but he wrote these lines years ago while he was in Pulp.
The first taster, "Angela" - which was a free download on his site - has turned up the guitars but is still Jarvis's characteristically seedy pop about a 22-year-old who makes him "feel the sap rising tonight".
"Leftovers", the fourth track, is maybe the first recognisably Jarvis song: it is one of the best songs on the album, a plea for love in the face of a dying relationshipit and revels in the creepiness of older sex ("I fall on your neck like a vampire/ Who faints at the sight of blood").
"Fckingsong" shows a raw, eloquent, desire, the sound of a man who can articulate love but unable to experience it. The 17 year old who circles his love, but finds all their heart needs actually wants is an older lover with a job and a car. What the heart desires is Further Complications, the drama of passion and love.
The album gets better as it goes along, with penultimate track, the lovely "Slush", "Homewrecker!", a punk hoot featuring the saxophone from Steve Mackay, the nice "Hold Still" and the incredible soul number "You're In My Eyes (Discosong)".
Tle latter is " is a measured, elegiac retake on his Pulp-era dancefloor songs: still quite organic sounding, but with a few little touches of French house and so on buried in the mix. Most interestingly, there's a new dimension and depth to his voice, that sounds softer and fuller where once it would've
become shrill and frantic". -Uncut
Overall, a very good and unusual listening.
Jarvis
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Cool As A Cucumber Cocker!, September 28, 2009
Mr. Jarvis Cocker rocks out with his c**k out! "Further Complications" is a quality album of grooves so tight it could easily unwind the tensest ball of yarn. After seeing Jarvis perform live at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, I was reminded of his brilliant showmanship, legendary dance grooves, cheeky in-between-song banter, one-of-a-kind voice, and ability to craft the coolest of tunes. Like a fine wine, Jarvis manages to get better and better with age. Pulp was an epic band, but Jarvis is one of the few breakout lead singers from the Nineties era to successfully command a stage on his own. This album showcases a Brit with ballistic talent! Warning: this album is best enjoyed on a turntable!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Jarvis Rocks, July 9, 2009
I've always enjoyed Jarvis Cocker's lyrics and songwriting, but have never been in love with Pulp's music. This solo offering seems to be designed for semi-fans like me. The stripped down and more "rawkin" approach to the music on this album works quite well. It works because the band is good and the songs well written and funny. Clearly Jarvis is enjoying himself here, giving the album a nice lift. F____ingsong and Caucasian Blues are my favorite rockers here - on C.B. Jarvis successfully chanels Johnny Lydon. Some of the more mellow songs, like Leftovers or Slush, are even better. The only flaw musically is the sax in Homewrecker, an otherwise great song. This is a fun mid-life crisis album. These songs about lust and aging could come across as creepy or misogynistic, but Jarvis is too smart and real to fall into those traps.
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