“Jarvis was a wonderful mistake”

I first discovered His ‘N’ Hers through ebulliently piteous love track, Babies. Jarvis Cocker’s voice had really become distinct by this record and the band help structure his sex driven love song with infectious guitar riffs. This song was released as a single and broke the band into the top 20 for the first time, a quintessential Pulp classic.

I suppose the strange thing about my subsequent love for this record was that I became obsessed in 2015. Common People had already broken the charts, Disco 2000 was a household song. The obsession happened in a backwards kind of way.

Although this record is filled with trademark Pulp themes of thwarted romance and sex: boys hiding in wardrobes, lingerie fetishes… this album’s lust and desire seems more innocent than that of the later albums.

Indie classic Do You Remember The First Time rivals Babies and Common People as Pulp’s greatest ever track, with masterful building towards the chorus which is another emotive message to an old flame.

I think the reason a 17-year-old, as I was in 2015, can still fall in love with an album from 1994 is the timeless content of Cocker’s songwriting. Essential listening for any music fan.

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