cult hero and We Love Life producer Scott Walker. The catchiest cut, "The Birds in Your Garden," follows the plight of a sexually insecure narrator who might be a reluctant romantic but is most likely a deluded rapist, one who claims to hear birds singing, "Touch her inside." Even when the tunes seem comparatively slight and the band sounds dwarfed by august arrangements, Cocker's extended metaphors amaze: While suggesting but not quite playing Thunderclap Newman's psychedelic pop milestone "Something in the Air," he calls an ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend a "Bad Cover Version" of himself. Few songwriters articulate underachievement from the overeducated with Cocker's flair, a quality We Love Life both chronicles and embodies.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 903 - August 22, 2002)