Pulp: C.L.A.S.S.I.C.O.R.D.U.D?

i think.

*damn*, i'm going to have to dig it out and listen again now, just to make sure.

am gonna listen to "hardcore" next. haven't heard that since 1997.

It didn't even come out till 1998 - this is impressive!

good point. i think "1997" has become shorthand for about four years of podding around when i first moved to glasgow. i can no longer differentiate between any of the memories. if it happened when i was living on kent road, my mind has it filed as 1997.

anyway. "hardcore" is disappointing. the first, title and closing tracks are great; the rest has left little impression.

but it's still "trees" i'm humming to myself as i liquidise my soup. (and no, that's not a euphemism.)

My feelings exactly, still, except I think only the first and title songs are great and I think they're really great, like perhaps the best two songs they ever did. 'Help The Aged' is good too. The rest is meh.

"We Love Life" was a bit of a letdown, but its best tracks (the two-part "Weeds", "Birds in Your Garden", "Sunrise") rank with the band's best.

So after those two (and the EP collection "Intro"), I'd say listen to "This is Hardcore", then "We Love Life", and if you're still with them, jump into the older stuff. "Freaks" is a personal fave of mine -- a disturbing, even gruesome near-classic record. Then grab "Masters of the Universe" (a collection of EPs from around the same time as "Freaks"), then "Separations".

I haven't heard their first album, "It".

I thought that you were joking / When you said "I want to see you
To discuss your contribution / To the future of our nation's heart and soul
Six o'clock, my place, Whitehall" / Well I arrived just after seven
But you said "It doesn't matter" / "I understand your situation
And your image, and I'm flattered / Oh and I'd just like to tell you
That I love all of your albums / Could you sign this for my daughter?
She's in hospital, her name is Miriam / Now get down to the gist:
Do you want a line of this? / Are you a (sniff) / socialist?"
"Doin' fine, yeah! / Buzzin' all the time / Just one hit / And I feel great
And I support / The welfare state / Oh, you must be socialist
'Cos you're always off out on the piss / In your private member's bar
Oh yes you are / Yer superstar / Well you sing about common people
And the mis-shapes and the misfits / So can you bring them to my party
And get them all to sniff this? / And all I'm really saying
Is come on and rock the vote for me / All I'm really saying
Is come on roll up that note for me / The gist of all of this is
Do you want hits or d'you want misses? / Are you a socialist, yeah
Socialist, yeah / Socialist, yeah / Oh yeah"
"Yeah, you can be just what you want to be
Just as long as you don't try to compete with me
And we've waited such a long time
For the chance to help our own kind, so now
Please come on and tow the party line / Oh you owe it to yourself
Don't think of anybody else / And we promise we won't tell
Oh we won't tell, and we won't sell" / No we won't / No we won't
No we won't

The things that some people have been criticizing them for, like the ott factor, are part of what makes their music so good. They're not afraid to go over the top; something they have in common with great pop music. Indie bands tend to try for the "tastefully restrained" approach far too often.

:-)

Originally released on VHS in 1996 as F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.I.V.E and 1998 as The Park Is Mine. Two live shows on DVD for the first time.

Features 2 concerts recorded in London (Brixton Academy 1995) and Finsbury Park (1998) plus additional tour documentary from London to Japan. Directed by Rob Hurse and previously only avaialble on a Japanese laser disc. 5.1 Surround sound and dolby stereo.

Region 0, anyone can play it. You have no excuse.

JARVIS COCKER & STEVE MACKEY The Trip (2006 UK 2-CD album set featuring a
35-track collection compiled by the founder members of Pulp and DJs /
record collectors / music lovers extraordinaire with an amazing journey
through power pop, expansive soundtracks, blues, alternative cover
versions, junk shop breaks and genuinely unexpected musical nuggets!). **
released 06 March 2006 **

CD One:
1. Carl Orff - Gassenhauer
2. The Birthday Party - Release The Bats
3. Porter Wagoner - The Rubber Room
4. Psychic TV - Just Drifting
5. Dory Previn - The Lady With The Braid
6. Bob Lind - Cool Summer
7. Gene Pitney - 24 Sycamore
8. Animated Egg - Sock It My Way
9. The Beach Boys - Feel Flows
10. Bonnie Dobson - Winter's Going
11. Arlo Guthrie - I'm Going Home
12. Bobbie Bare - Don't Think Twice
13. Alan Vega - Jukebox Babe
14. OMD - Waiting For The Man
15. The Human League - Rock N Roll
16. Lieutenant Pigeon - The Villain
17. Add N To (X) - King Wasp
18. The Fall - Lost In Music
19. Moondog - Pastoral

CD Two:
1. Elton Motello - Jet Boy Jet Girl
2. The Polecats - John I'm Only Dancing
3. Electronicat - Wop Do Wop
4. Johnny Wakelin - In Zaire
5. Quixotic - Mortal Mirror
6. Jonathan Richman - Egyptian Reggae
7. Lee Hazelwood - Pour Man
8. Screaming Lord Sutch - Flashing Light
9. John Cooper Clark - Beasley Street
10. David Essex - Rock On
11. Georges De La Rue - Les Visiteurs
12. Sonny Bono - Pammies On A Bummer
13. The Everly Brothers - I Wonder If I Care As Much
14. Dion - Purple Haze
15. Neil Sedaka - Going Nowhere
16. Ronald Binge - Sailing By

(I still want this though)

Classic: EVERY SINGLE SONG THEY DID over 5:30 in length (except Sylvia). Check it out, it works. It's how I'd do their Best Of (with Lipgloss and Dishes tacked on perhaps).

But considering you don't like "Different Class" I can understand why you don't like it, as "Sylvia" sounds very much like a "Different Class" track.

Different Class is still a good album. 'I Spy' is the best song on it.

5 songs from a new album seems a decent amount? It was 7 for the UK headline shows, I guess they figure best to stick more to the hits for places where people have likely been waiting longer to see them/able to catch them less often

four here, and they just played here last year (although that show was their first here in many years and we all know those shows were much harder to get tix for)

https://360degreesound.com/author-talk-jane-savidge-on-pulps-this-is-hardcore/

Oh some good symmetry for my experience of that recent Pulp concert is they played Do you remember the first time? and the guy I lost my virginity to works at the venue. I had also brought him to this venue the first time he’d ever been there. We’re still friends so many chuckles were exchanged.

well that was about 1000 times more enjoyable than last year's (already very fun) show, though mainly because the sound then was terrible and last night's was about the best i've ever heard. so felt way more emotionally involved. having a mix of new and old songs also helped. and that wood chip wall... :')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3jbx0L5-88

when I saw them a few months ago, they played "Something Changed" like in the stripped-down style below and it was so deeply moving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_KlY-AegeE

I can’t get into the new album and it bums me out. I like it more than Jarvis solo, but it feels by-the-numbers.