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Well, I sure didn't see this coming.
In 2006, Island Records reissued three Pulp albums in the UK: His 'n' Hers (1994), Different Class (1995) and This Is Hardcore (1998), with bonus tracks, liner notes, extra pics, the works. Dutifully, I bought import copies. Now, three years later, the same three double-disc editions have been released in North America, despite Pulp never having really risen above "critically admired cult act" status on these shores.
It is interesting ' maybe even significant ' that Pulp, who went on indefinite hiatus in 2002, are the first of the mid-'90s Britpop acts to get a reissue campaign, rather than Oasis, Blur, Elastica or Suede. This band had a unique take on their zeitgeist, one that remains relevant. And their towering, dapper stick figure of a frontman, the inimitable Jarvis Cocker, was auteur-like in his pursuits. Even the band's most tossed-off compositions often contained a laser-like focus, as Cocker found endless permeations and new angles for his devastatingly witty, deeply neurotic worldview.
Before signing with Island in '94, Pulp had spent over a decade exiled in an especially hopeless indie nowheresville, primarily in their hometown of Sheffield. Band members came and went, as did a dizzying array of musical styles ' faux-Factory Records, twee-pop, gloomy goth, Euro-folk. By the early '90s, however, they had settled into a (mostly) stable lineup and an effective identity, melding guitar-pop and disco.
His 'n' Hers, their major-label debut, is, first and foremost, a very British album. Imagine a collaboration between Roxy Music and Mike Leigh, as the glossy art-pop music soundtracks some impossibly grim lower-middle-class scenarios. By the first track, "Joyriders," someone's probably been murdered already. Of the album's three singles, "Babies" and "Do You Remember the First Time?" display Cocker's oft-cited talent for droll sex commentary. But "Lipgloss," a glorious paean to a woman undone by heartbreak, highlights his sympathetic eye. The bonus disc shows just what a songwriting roll the band was on. B-sides like "Street Lites," "Your Sister's Clothes" and "Seconds" are anthemic and sly, and they contain miles and miles of style.
Amazingly enough, the band was just getting started. Different Class is, of course, Pulp's magnum opus. It contains "Common People," their signature song and biggest hit, a scathing satire on the glamorization of poverty. ("The stupid things that you do/ Because you think that poor is cool.") It also contains their other signature song, "Disco 2000," a tale of unrequited adolescent longing, melded to the fabulously cheesy guitar riff from Laura Branigan's "Gloria." But there's much more to the album than these two singles. Different Class is a classic coming-of-age tale, detailing Cocker's escape from Sheffield to London. Only this tale culminates with songs like "Underwear" and "Monday Morning," where the freedoms of young adulthood reveal their potential for disappointment and disillusionment. Because the band was so focused on making Different Class as perfect and catchy as possible, they didn't hold any classic songs back, so the bonus disc is mostly inessential. However, fans of other tall singers who look good in suits may want to check out Nick Cave's scuzzy cover of "Disco 2000."
In the UK, Pulp would never again be as popular as they were during the era of Different Class, and the follow-up, This Is Hardcore was a precise description of what fame did to the band's collective psyche. "This is the sound of someone losing the plot," Cocker sang, "Making out that they're okay when they're not." The album catalogues an exhausting foray into overindulgence, while the expertly crafted arrangements and state-of-the-art production shows just how alluring but dehumanizing the experience can be. Cocker's cynicism finds an artistically brilliant outlet in the title track, which basically compares rock stardom to pornography. (And the video's pretty genius too, a mash-up of film noir, Douglas Sirk and Bubsy Berkely.) The bonus disc is much better than Different Class'; there's a fully realized outtake, "It's a Dirty World," along with b-sides like "Cocaine Socialism" and "The Professional" that skillfully fill out Hardcore's worldview.
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