''We Love Life'' is the seventh and final
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
* ...
, released on 22 October 2001 by
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
. It reached number six on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, with a total chart stay of only three weeks. Written and recorded after the tumultuous sessions for ''
This Is Hardcore
''This Is Hardcore'' is the sixth album by English band Pulp. Released in March 1998, it came three years after their breakthrough album, '' Different Class'', and was eagerly anticipated. In 2013, ''NME'' ranked it at number 166 in its list of ...
'', ''We Love Life'' saw the band move toward a more relaxed and natural sound, shepherded by producer
Scott Walker. Walker had replaced original producer
Chris Thomas, whom the band had worked with on previous albums.
''We Love Life'' saw positive critical reception and charted at number 6 on the UK album charts.
Background
''We Love Life'' was intended to be a departure from the disillusionment of the band's previous album, ''
This Is Hardcore
''This Is Hardcore'' is the sixth album by English band Pulp. Released in March 1998, it came three years after their breakthrough album, '' Different Class'', and was eagerly anticipated. In 2013, ''NME'' ranked it at number 166 in its list of ...
'', in that it featured a more organic sound and an emphasis on nature, which Cocker found interest in "because it is dangerous in some ways". Cocker explained, "I never took any notice of nature when I was a kid. I thought we'd all be living on space stations or floating metropolises by now. But after ''This Is Hardcore'', which was a very alienated record, it was time to go back to simpler things, like this, the natural world."
At the same time, Cocker stated, "This isn't Pulp's pastoral album. I was very aware of avoiding hippy dippy stuff."
The band had initially begun recording with
Chris Thomas, who had produced their past two albums. However, his more rigid style of recording conflicted with the band's desire for looser sessions, resulting in the recordings being shelved.
The final album was produced by
Scott Walker. Keyboardist
Candida Doyle
Candida Mary Doyle (born 25 August 1963) is an English musician who is keyboard player and occasional backing vocalist with the band Pulp, which she joined in 1984. She joined her brother, drummer Magnus Doyle in the line-up replacing the prev ...
recalled, "I certainly thought about leaving
fter shelving the Thomas sessionsbut I realised that I'd still feel shit even if I did. If Scott Walker hadn't come about, I don't think we'd have bothered to finish this LP." The band, who had met Walker at the 2000
Meltdown Festival
Meltdown is an annual festival held in London, featuring a mix of music, art, performance and film. Meltdown is held in June at Southbank Centre, the arts complex covering and including the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The ...
run by Walker, had been longtime fans of Walker.
Walker's own album ''
'Til the Band Comes In'' is mocked in the lyrics of the ''We Love Life'' single "
Bad Cover Version
"Bad Cover Version" is a song by United Kingdom, British rock music, rock band Pulp (band), Pulp, from their 2001 album ''We Love Life''. It was released 15 April 2002 as the second single (music), single from the album, charting at number 27 in ...
". Cocker claims the lyric was written long before Walker became involved in the album's production and recalled the moment of recording the song as "embarrassing".
Title and artwork
The album's title was originally to be ''Pulp Love Life'', but this was vetoed as Cocker felt that the title looked confusing on an album cover—he explained, "It always looked like the name of the band's Pulp and the album's called ''Love Life''." The album was then renamed ''Pulp'', reflecting the "uncluttered" nature of the album. With the
September 11 terrorist attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
, however, the album was renamed to the more universal ''We Love Life''. Cocker recalled, "To be honest, I was really freaked out when that
World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
thing happened. ... So in the aftermath of that, I thought, actually this ''Love Life'' business isn't a bad sentiment at this particular time."
The minimal cover art (by
Peter Saville) shows a set of initial capitals held in the collection of
St. Bride Printing Library in London.
They were engraved in wood by or for
Louis Pouchée
Louis John Pouchée (1782 – 15 March 1845), was a London type founder and entrepreneur.
Career
Pouchée is first recorded as the proprietor of Alamode Beef and Veal House (1811–1812) and Pouchée & Co Coal Merchants (1811–22), both in Holb ...
around the 1820s.
Reception
Initial critical response to ''We Love Life'' was very positive. The album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 84 at
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, based on 20 reviews.
The music review
online magazine
An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...
''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' placed ''We Love Life'' at number 194 on their list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s.
Steve Hobbs of ''
Q Magazine
''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...
'' wrote of the album, "Cocker's lyrics are still sharp and beautifully observed, just a little less personal. But in many ways, it's a more familiar Pulp record than ''This Is Hardcore''."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
called the album "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
''Different Class'' (released in Japan as ''Common People'') is the fifth studio album by English rock band Pulp, released on 30 October 1995 by Island Records.
The album was a critical and commercial success, entering the UK Albums Chart at nu ...
''."
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
Additional musicians
* Alasdair Malloy – percussion , glass harmonica
*
Luís Jardim
Luís Alberto Figueira Gonçalves Jardim (born 4 July 1950) is a Portuguese percussionist, born in the Madeira Island, best known for his work with producer Trevor Horn.
Family
Jardim is a cousin of Alberto João Jardim (former president of the ...
– percussion
* Danny Cummings – percussion
* Julian Poole – percussion
* Steve Hilton – programming
*
Howie B
Howard Bernstein (born 18 April 1963, Glasgow, Scotland), professionally known as Howie B, is a Scottish musician, producer and DJ who has worked with artists including: Björk, U2, Tricky, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soul II Soul, Robbi ...
– programming
*
Richard Hawley
Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. After his first band Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school) broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Longp ...
– lap steel guitar , twelve-string guitar
*
The Swingle Singers
270px, The Swingles at the Black Forest Voices Festival in Kirchzarten, Germany">Kirchzarten.html" ;"title="Black Forest Voices Festival in Kirchzarten">Black Forest Voices Festival in Kirchzarten, Germany on 29 June 2019
The Swingles are a v ...
– backing vocals
** Joanna Forbes – musical direction, vocal arrangements
*
Beverly Skeete – backing vocals
*
Sylvia James – backing vocals
*
Claudia Fontaine
Claudia Fontaine (26 August 1960 – 13 March 2018) was an backing vocalist from Peckham, London.
Career
During the 1980s, Fontaine and fellow backing vocalist Caron Wheeler (and later, third member Naomi Thompson) were known as Afrodiziak. S ...
– backing vocals
* Jeremy Shaw – keyboards
*
Scott Walker – additional keyboards and tree effects , baritone guitar
* Andy Findon – ocarinas and flutes
* Caspar Cronk – musical saw
* Timos Papadopoulos at the
Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Southampton University under supervision of Professor Phil Nelson – birdsong
*
Philip Sheppard – five string electric cello
*
Metro Voices
Metro Voices is a choir group based in London, England, that specialises in performing for the motion pictures. They work closely with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and with acclaimed British composer Craig Armstrong. They are known from their ...
– choir
Production
* Scott Walker – production, mixing
*
Peter Walsh – co-production, engineering, mixing; choir engineering
* Matt Lawrence – assistant engineering; additional choir engineering
* Chris Blair – mastering
* Clive Goddard – choir engineering
* Geoff Foster – strings recording
*
Gavyn Wright
Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, Oasis, ...
– strings leading
* Isobel Griffiths – orchestral contracting
* Jenny O'Grady – choral co-ordination
* Steve Price – choir recording
Arrangement
* Scott Walker – strings , ten double basses
* Brian Gascoigne – strings , ten double basses , choir
*
Candida Doyle
Candida Mary Doyle (born 25 August 1963) is an English musician who is keyboard player and occasional backing vocalist with the band Pulp, which she joined in 1984. She joined her brother, drummer Magnus Doyle in the line-up replacing the prev ...
– strings
Artwork
*
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...
– art direction
*
Peter Saville – art direction
* Howard Wakefield – design
* Marcus Werner Hed – design
Charts
References
External links
''We Love Life''at
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
(streamed copy where licensed)
*
{{Authority control
Pulp (band) albums
2001 albums
Island Records albums
Albums produced by Scott Walker (singer)
PolyGram albums
Albums produced by Peter Walsh