We Love Life
by Pulp
  • Record Label: Island
  • Release Date: Aug 20, 2002
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. Billboard
    90
    One of the year's best.
  2. Village Voice
    90
    A magnum opus four years in the making, We Love Life is, like This Is Hardcore's epic cold sweat, a disco-nnection record, well stocked with mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits. But Pulp's glamorama has never tingled so invitingly, thanks to the full-body massage administered by producer Scott Walker.
  3. AllMusic
    90
    An emotional and musical breakthrough.
  5. Spin
    90
    Preposterous and sensational, We Love Life grapples with nothing less than how best to prove you're alive. [Oct 2002, p.116]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. CultureDose.net
    90
    “Weeds,” an excellent tune which compares the English working class to this type of plants, is only one of the various epic, melodramatic tunes in the key of Scott Walker (who produced the record) present here that use elements of nature to symbolise aspects of modern society and the human condition itself.
  7. Alternative Press
    90
    His most winsomely loveless lyrics yet. [Oct 2002, p.92]
    All this publication's reviews
  8. Pitchfork
    82
    Pulp have pulled off yet another remarkable reinvention of their sound and outlook, while simultaneously making their most organic album since their full-length debut, It, was released almost two decades ago.
  9. Blender
    80
    Its surging orchestrations and and acoustic subtelties seem willfully out of step with current trends, taking time to reveal their unique, and very British, charms.
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  10. Drawer B
    80
    We Love Life trades Pulp's characteristic risk-taking for smooth accessibility, which works a gray, rainy day magic over the proceedings.
  11. Armchair DJ
    80
    An album as life-affirming as its predecessor was bleak.
  12. Dot Music
    80
    At its best, 'We Love Life' features some of the finest British rock music of recent years.
  13. PopMatters
    80
    We Love Life is an album that trades the group's tongue-in-cheek gimmicks and satirical savvy for a mode of pensive moderation and subtle telling.
  14. Q Magazine
    80
    Cocker's treasurable wit and the band's seventh album have taken a corporation bus ride out for strange, poetic interludes among the trees and the undergrowth.
  15. Neumu.net
    80
    The instant pop buzz Pulp have concocted in the past is largely missing, but each listen reveals another layer, another level, another reason to love it. Highly recommended.
  16. The A.V. Club
    80
    The band strikes the proper balance between ambition and pop instinct.
  17. Mojo
    80
    Musically, it's the richest record of Pulp's career.... We Love Life isn't perfect, but it is vital. [Nov 2001, p.96]
    All this publication's reviews
  18. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    Invitingly lush. [23 Aug 2002, p.142]
    All this publication's reviews
  19. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    What saves this record from being another wallow in the misery of post-fame existence is the music.... 'We Love Life' is a grandiose, symphonic affair buoyed by succinct orchestration and white-light choral interludes.
  20. Playlouder
    60
    It's painstakingly layered and often lush, but sometimes scrubby and miserably sparse.
  21. Rolling Stone
    60
    Both messy and marvelous.

Awards & Rankings

22
#22 Best Album of 2002
29
#29 Most Shared Album of 2002

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Michael
    Jun 9, 2005
    10
    One of the best albums of the 21st Century so far...and we are 5 years into it now...dare I say as good as "Different Class"?yes. And One of the best albums of the 21st Century so far...and we are 5 years into it now...dare I say as good as "Different Class"?yes. And horribly overlooked.… Full Review »
  2. AnnMarie
    Nov 30, 2001
    10
    I crossed Pulp off my list around 1999, figuring they had fallen into the depths of post Brit Pop depression. I kept hearing news of this I crossed Pulp off my list around 1999, figuring they had fallen into the depths of post Brit Pop depression. I kept hearing news of this album, but it kept being pushed back and redone and I thought it was never coming out. I didn't expect much of it either. But upon one listen I've realized that Pulp has just done what VERY few other bands can do. Pick themselves up, reinvent their style, and make awesome music once again. It's a different sound, a different direction, but its still Jarvis and it sounds equally as great as His n' Hers and Different Class. … Full Review »
  3. JohnnyZeckel
    Sep 25, 2011
    4
    I am so disappointed that this was their last record. Sometimes I wish they had stopped after This Is Hardcore which is truely my favourite.I am so disappointed that this was their last record. Sometimes I wish they had stopped after This Is Hardcore which is truely my favourite. This album just sounds horribly... vague.… Full Review »
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