A new animated video sees Jarvis Cocker narrate his liner notes for the reissue of Pickled Eggs & Sherbet by cult Sheffield electronic group The All Seeing I.
Set for release on 25 April, the 1999 album has been fully remastered and will be available for the very first time on double vinyl as well as an expanded double CD version, which includes rare B-sides from lost CD singles, plus new mixes from All Seeing I’s DJ Parrot (aka Crooked Man) and pop alchemist The Reflex.
Watch the animated video below:
Walk Like A Panther
In a new animated video, created by Jonny Sanders (aka Prehuman), Jarvis describes his awkward first performance of Walk Like A Panther, the song the band asked him to write for Tony Christie which went on to be the legendary Sheffield crooner’s first hit single for 25 years.
Having recently returned from a long world tour promoting Pulp’s 1997 album This Is Hardcore, Jarvis was visiting family in Sheffield and took the opportunity to meet with the All Seeing I to play them his demo of the song. However, with no tape player in the trio’s ‘studio’, they asked him to sing the song to them instead.
“Was this an initiation ceremony?,” writes/narrates Jarvis. “A test to see if I’d “gone soft” due to pop stardom? Just as I was about to start singing, I realised that I was now far more nervous than at any point during the tour of Australia I’d just returned from. What could that mean? Four minutes and 28 seconds later, I felt a whole lot better: they liked it! I breathed a fairly hefty sigh of relief – I was officially a part of the team. Welcome home, Jarvis.”
Later in his notes Jarvis writes: “Listening back to the album now I’m struck by how much some of the lyrics I wrote deal with my recent brush with pop stardom and my attempts to re-engage with my home town.”
Steel City Sounds
The All Seeing I were the production trio of Dean Honer, Jason Buckle, and Richard Barrett (aka DJ Parrot), formerly of influential Warp Records signings Sweet Exorcist. Originally lumped in with the late-90s Big Beat scene, there was far more imagination to The All Seeing I, who joyously brought together all the disparate threads of the Sheffield music scene past (and then) present on an album that could only have come from the ‘Steel City.’
Beat Goes On, the lead single from Pickled Eggs & Sherbet , reached No.11 on the UK Singles Chart and No.1 on the UK Dance Singles Chart in 1998. In 2022, the song had a huge viral moment on TikTok and social media, becoming one of the most widely used ‘Sounds’ in recent years, accruing 2.4 billion views and 162k creations.
Walk Like A Panther went on to peak at No.10 and third single 1st Man In Space features a brilliant vocal from The Human League’s Phil Oakey, who is uncharacteristically backed by flanged guitars.
Originally released in September 1999, Pickled Eggs & Sherbet is the sole album by The All Seeing I, who split in 2002.
Tracklistings
Vinyl:
A1. Walk Like A Panther
A2. No Return
A3. Beat Goes On
B1. Sweet Music
B2. Mary
B3. 1st Man In Space
C1. Drive Safely Darlin’
C2. Stars on Sunday
C3. Big Pecker
C4. I Peggio
D1. I Walk
D2. Happy Birthday Nicola
D3. Plastic Diamond
CD
Disc One
01 Walk Like A Panther
02 No Return
03 Beat Goes On
04 Sweet Music
05 Mary
06 1st Man In Space
07 Drive Safely Darlin’
08 Stars On Sunday
09 Big Pecker
10 I Walk
11 I Peggio
12 Happy Birthday Nicola
13 Plastic Diamond
14 Dirty Girl
15 Airy Armpits
Disc Two
01 Beat Goes Wrong
02 Sweaty Walls
03 Pickled Eggs & Sherbet
04 Beat Goes on (La De Da De De Mix)
05 First Crooked Man
06 First Crooked Dub
07 I Walk Crooked
08 Return of the Crooked Cat
Digital
01 Walk Like A Panther
02 No Return
03 Beat Goes On
04 Sweet Music
05 Mary
06 1st Man In Space
07 Drive Safely Darlin’
08 Stars On Sunday
09 Big Pecker
10 I Walk
11 I Peggio
12 Happy Birthday Nicola
13 Plastic Diamond
14 Dirty Girl
15 Airy Armpits
16 Walk Like a Panther (The Reflex Revision)
17 Beat Goes Wrong
18 Sweaty Walls
19 Pickled Eggs & Sherbet
20 Beat Goes on (La De Da De De Mix)
21 First Crooked Man
22 First Crooked Dub
23 I Walk Crooked
24 Return of the Crooked Cat
25 Jarvis Cocker Audio Liner Notes
Pickled Eggs & Sherbet is released on 25 April and is available on 2LP, 2CD and digital formats, pre-order here
*Featured Jarvis Picture Credit: Ben Rymer
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The post Jarvis Cocker narrates liner notes for reissue of The All Seeing I album appeared first on Classic Pop Magazine.