Free MP3: Jarvis Cocker—“Angela”
As the leader of Pulp, Jarvis Cocker rose to the top of the Brit-pop heap after battling Blur and Oasis through the ’90s British invasion redux. In recent years, Pulp has been put on the shelf and the lanky singer with the acid tongue has ventured out on his own.
On the lead track from his latest album Further Complications, Cocker’s eponymous ode to Angela (”She’s nearly 23/ making $4.15 an hour”) has less in common with Pulp’s ’90s Brit-pop showdown and more to do with the fuzzy pub-rock of a hungry young Elvis Costello. It’s not as cringe-inducingly clever as the Pulp classic “Common People,” but what is?
With a backing wall of fuzzy, percussive guitars sputtering along with the clumsy, self-conscious rhythm of a nervous garage band clinging to a click track, on “Angela” Cocker shifts from tight-lipped Brit-popper to snarling retro rocker.
Well, sort of.
Aloof is always Cocker’s game, but he seems to be subtly shifting from disco-pop provocateur to back-room noise maker. The rest of the album doesn’t hold to the rock aesthetic trotted out here, but it’s nice to think that Cocker’s snide lyrics are getting closer to crossing paths with guitars that are just as restless.
We’re not sure what’s gotten into Cocker lately, but we like it. Now, if he’d just get rid of that silly goatee.
