We Love Life
The 2001 album made with Scott Walker after the sessions with Chris Thomas were shelved.
Pulp, 2001
- Released
- 22 October 2001
- Recorded
- 2001
- Studio
- Metropolis, London
- Label
- Island
- Producer
- Scott Walker
- Length
- 53:55
The band began with Chris Thomas, but his more rigid way of recording clashed with their wish for looser sessions and the results were shelved. Scott Walker, whom the band had met at the 2000 Meltdown Festival he ran, produced the finished record, with Peter Walsh as co-producer. Candida Doyle said that without Walker she doubted they would have bothered to finish the album. Cocker described it as a move back to simpler things after This Is Hardcore, with an emphasis on nature, while avoiding what he called hippy dippy stuff.
The album was meant to be called Pulp Love Life, then Pulp, before the September 2001 attacks led Cocker to settle on We Love Life. Peter Saville designed the sleeve. It reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and holds an average of 84 on Metacritic from 20 reviews. Pitchfork placed it at 194 on its list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s. It was the last Pulp album with Steve Mackey, and the last until More in 2025.
Track listing
- Weeds3:42
- Weeds II (The Origin of the Species)3:58
- The Night That Minnie Timperley Died4:38
- The Trees4:49
- Wickerman8:17
- I Love Life5:31
- The Birds in Your Garden4:11
- Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down)4:16
- Bad Cover Version4:16
- Roadkill4:16
- Sunrise6:02
Personnel
- Scott Walker production, mixing, additional keyboards
- Peter Walsh co-production, engineering, mixing
- Richard Hawley lap steel guitar, twelve-string guitar
- The Swingle Singers backing vocals
More from Pulp
His 'n' Hers (1994), Different Class (1995), This Is Hardcore (1998), More (2025)
Sources
- We Love Life, Wikipedia