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

Classic, if just for Common People alone. All the rest of it is just dressing. They've done enough top stuff to forgive the crap they did pre-His 'n' Hers, as well. Hell, they'd get classic even if all they ever did was Jarvis's behavior at the Brits re: Michael Jackson.

And they certainly help their case in that Jarvis was also involved in the most fantastic song ever, Set The Controls For The Heart of the Pelvis.

I remember a great interview with Arab Strap which was all bah we hate Pulp they pretend to be filthy and sordid but they prettify everything, it is WE who are filthy and sordid. So some people don't like them.

Classic. I'll probably get bored later on - well I'm bored now but you know what I mean - and try and explain why a bit more.

but still: classic. one of the few bands in these here modern times who never cease to put out something i enjoy. hopefully that streak will continue with the new album -- the live songs i've heard from it, or that are supposed to be from it, anyway, are great but they say that it's never good when it takes a band forever to complete an album and there are stories of the whole thing being scrapped and re-recorded...but they say a lot of things, don't they? besides, scott walker and marianne faithfull attached to the project? how can it go wrong! it's a 60s freak-out party!

Bill

Pulp as a band I think are pretty mediocre to be honest. I wouldn’t care if he dumped them and went to work with someone new. I liked his work with All Seeing Eye musically more than anything Pulp have recorded. So Pulp dud, Jarvis potential classic but too early to call.

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.

And I don't think there's anything twee about Pulp -- there's a bitterness and desperation that's a subtext to too many of the songs to qualify for that. People tend to play up the lyrics when talking about Pulp, but I think the music is pretty excellent as well. Their sound was always a little too much in love with chart pop and disco to ever fall victim to the grey and plodding behemoth known as Britpop.

AND even if His N Hers, A Different Class and This Is Hardcore were not three of my favorite albums, I am such a pathetic and sad Scott Walker fan that I would immediately rate any band that let him produce their record. ;-)

His'n'Hers and Different Class alone are enough: classic. How they redeemed the mid-90s for me; the Pinefox's counter-argument is tempting but a classic misunderstanding of a band through discredit- by-association.

I'm sure the curse of Momus would have put Pulp somewhere between World of Twist and Denim. And Michael Jackson, his sails full of the wind of unchallenged messianic megalomania, would have made five brilliant new pop albums all produced by Cornelius.

Within two days stevie t mentions the heartstopping 'days in the trees' by Noman and now yous mention the wonderful WORLD OF tWIST, ILILM.

"In conclusion/A meaning wasn't had/Reflecting on the situation/Of a problem/Again."

Not appearing on the "Pyramid Song" B-side anytime soon.

but i almost never play them anymore. somehow, its seems too reminiscent of 1995. it seems almost wrong to play them now, out of that context (speaking subjectively here). this is a shame really, because they are such a classic. i hardly play stereolab any more either.

sometimes bands seems very tied to a particular era, and its difficult to extricate them from that.

everything post-different class is slightly disappointing

they were good too. regardless of barney sumner's 'we are weird' comments on jukebox jury

*OK not complete. The "She's A Rainbow" cover is best ignored and I've never, alas, heard "The Sausage".

Snub TV, circa 1990. World of Twist playing 'The Storm' and then being interviewed.

"We definitely see ourselves as a pop band, not rock" says the monkey boy leader. Much nodding of heads from the other band members.

I sit there and think "Yeah yeah, like you're so radical for saying that. God this indieboy pro-pop thing is starting to annoy me"

The funny thing is, looking back I'm not even sure why I thought this. Whose line did I think World of Twist were parroting? It wasn't like I was familiar with early 80s NME rhetoric. How did I get so opinionated so young? Maybe I just thought they'd nicked ideas I'd started to have about pop music and were cross that they'd made a hash of it.

Pulp: CLASSIC by the way, but I completely sympathise with pinefox's attempt to locate his problem with consensus outside the trappings of moronic snobbery. Don't understand why everyone is going on about 'Common People'. If ever there was a song that has been completely newtered through overexposure, that is it. I tend to skip it when I listen to 'Different Class' now.

What I find weird about 'This Is Hardcore' is that it contains perhaps their two finest achievements in the title track and 'The Fear', one pretty good track in 'Help the Aged', and then the rest is just treading water. Seriously, when I first put on the album and heard the opening track, I thought it was going to be the best record ever made. Then that godawful line about sharing the same initials as Jesus came on (is there anything more annoying than when he repeats it at the end of the song in case you didn't catch how clever it was the first time round?) and disillusion set in once more. *sigh*

great to know I'm not the only one to still be into world of twist too - can I be a smartarse and say I've got the "blackpool tower suite" 12"?

That said, it's quite a while since I've played any of their albums.

intro.

(not that anyone I've ever met talks or, indeed, sings like that.)

My god. I'm selling the rest of my CDs and just keeping the Pulp, any bidders?

Is this a Pulp lyric? It's amazing whatever it is.

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.

They are of course all great, from "His'n'Hers" onwards, whereas what I've heard of their earlier material is not all that great (well, apart from "Razzmatazz", a fantastic single that for some reason was never included on "His'n'Hers")

It would appear that "Underwear," which has yet to be mentioned here, is seen as one of their more forgettable tracks or something. It's one of my favorite 90's tracks, and possibly my favorite Pulp song. It is fucking perfect and beautiful, and anyone who thinks differently can eat dicks.

I think...

In fact, I'm considering buying some of his albums proper (namely, the first two or three). Mad Mad Moonlight, Judy Teen, Make Me Smile, Psychomodo, Tumbling Down...all quite, quite brilliant slices of pop exuberance.

'Underwear' is the best song on Different Class outside the first 4. Happy now? :-D

xxxpost: that link doesn't work for me. I really want to hear it!

Spanish new romantic disco act Meccano:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A7F65B614021A808

in his greatest kitchen sink operettes the lyrics are witty, esoteric, original and utterly effortless. "common people" on the other hand is IMO hackneyed, patronising, tryhard, and contrived. yes, i understand it is the protagonist in the story who is mainly the source of the patronising take on the working classes, yet this is exaggerated (and repeated endlessly) becoming increasingly divorced from the ultra-realistic stylings of jarv's best work. it is caricature to an extent where it ceases to be believable; and as a working class boy who went to a posh university i know these people exist, it's just a bit more subtle, insidious, and well...real.

to me CP always smelt of jarv knowingly creating something which would cause a bit of a rumpus and become a hit. in this regard he spectacularly succeeded so fair play to him but i think he is even on record himself as saying it is not among his favourite pulp tracks. the tune is average too, even asuming he didn't rip it off (which frankly i dont care about anyway).

anyhow, thought i'd let it all pour out. i love jarv, i love pulp, but i hate common people.

ok. go on then. do your worst....

http://www.bobgeldof.info/pictures/deepinthehearcover.jpg

-- My Little Ruud Book (louder...), August 29th, 2006.

Dom = bizarro-Aunt Agatha

-- Obvious Ninja (papiermachealamphibia...), August 29th, 2006.

my finest hour

'Separations' is actually a really solid album! Just giving it another listen tonight, after it having done nothing for me in the past, and, this sounds really good to me now!

every time i listen to "separations" i go WOAH THIS IS ACE ... and then after three songs i kinda switch off and forget what it sounds like.

actually, the same is true of the jarvis solo album. hmm.

I'd still like to know more about this "Common People was nicked from a dodgy Spanish disco record" theory.

I coincidentally just bought "This is Hardcore" yesterday and after one listen I really like it a lot. So as of now "We Love Life" > "This is Hardcore" > "Different Class"

babies, lipgloss and this is hardcore makes pulp classic. used to like suede more, but the songwriting of jarvis cockers is miles better than gasoline kisses on concrete london skies.

I'd still like to know more about this "Common People was nicked from a dodgy Spanish disco record" theory.

-- Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 18 August 2007 16:25 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

wow me too.

i always thought it was knicked off of lost in the supermarket by the Clash.

Dud. Interesting frontman, but horrible, characterless band.

The music is just polite aural wallpaper that performs its only requisite function of not upstaging the singer.

It reminds me of John Shuttleworth, but without the daring improvisational bits.

Pulp are my favorite band right now, as of last night, when I spent hours watching live performances (including *the* Glastonbury performance of "Common People") on YouTube. Holy shit-awesome.

Well yeah, because wasps will just sting you for no reason at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BZnuBZhvr0

Precisely!

probably my favourite song of the 90s. and its a bside:

utter classic.

i even like the first mini album It. sounds like Belle & Sebastian's Tigermilk, and it came out before The Smiths had released anything. even Freaks has its good points.

check out that chord progression/build. up and up and up into epicness. sordid but beautiful. proper desperation and stuff. where the fuck are the british bands making songs like this nowadays?

Jarvis Cocker: 'Pulp could reunite for Glastonbury 2010'

http://www.nme.com/news/pulp/48056

Jarvis Cocker: 'Pulp have no plans to get back together'

http://www.nme.com/news/pulp/48079

I am putting away money just in case.

I don't care if anyone thinks they are a good live band or not. I really, really regret not finding out for myself when I was younger.

I hope they play somewhere else though.

classic, different class is a great album

damn, not that i was planning on going or anything but it still was pretty cool news.

i saw Pulp twice and it was an amazing show both times.

94 and 96 LA? With ya there.

i saw the Blur/Pulp thing in Los Angeles in what must have been 1994. I saw them again in San Francisco, when i lived there, in 1996.

I really, really wanted to go when they toured America behind Different Class but I was only 15 and I probably just wasn't able to arrange it. I wish I had at least gotten the poster from the record store. I still think about it.

Jarvis Cocker has sparked rumours of a Pulp reunion, saying he'll "think about it a little bit more".

Although Jarvis dismissed rumours Pulp would be performing at next year's Glastonbury Festival, he admitted the furore surrounding these allegations caught his imagination.

He told this week's NME: "I suppose it made me think a little bit - the fact that people did seem interested, that made me think about it a little bit more."

only interested if russell senior is involved

So how about we start rumors about The Smiths headlining and get all rabid so Moz sits up and takes notice?

Also we can all wish for a billion, zillion dollars each.

So, they're reforming?

jarvo said on aus telly a week or so ago that they weren't..

i was surprised at how vitriolic russell was about jarvis's 'pop star' era in a recent interview for a MOJO special. he left because he got sick of all the attention he was getting but reading jarvis's interviews circa the late 90s you'd never have guessed there was any animosity between them. it's true it was never the same when he left, no matter how good some of the tunes were.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2lw9i7m.jpg

lol?

Spanish new romantic disco act Meccano: http://sheckley.tripod.com/Radcliffe/pulpblackmail.mp3
― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, August 29, 2006 1:43 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark

Holy shit, that Meccano song DOES sound a lot like "Common People"!!!!

They have reformed and will play at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona in May 2011.

Also Hyde Park in London in July.

Oh that's nice.

Will he have a shave?

so happy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sln6sKCXdg

my rule: it's not a reformation unless there's FRESH MATERIAL

So, it's a 'reunion' at this point, right?

the line-up: Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Russell Senior, Mark Webber

so it doesn't have the most important person

also candida doyle has recovered from her illness? that is nice

so it doesn't have the most important person

which would be who?

oops for some reason i forgot that mark webber was called mark webber, blame the F1 driver

but wait, he didn't play on his'n'hers

my whole world is scrambled

http://ohmars.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/statler-and-waldorf-zzzzz.jpg

^^^^^^^^^^^^L to R: The Lex, Wheal Dream

I never saw them first time around but I would see them if they came to my town. I hope this reunion lasts.

Richard Hawley wasn't a member until after "Hardcore", was he?

(xpost nvrmnd)

http://www.acrylicafternoons.com/images/mirror.jpg

#based front page

I rather like this cryptic website they've set up.

http://pulppeople.com/faq.php

Metro this morning said they haven't played for 15 years. Which is odd, cos I could've sworn I saw them a couple of times around 99-01

This line-up has not played for 15 years.

Who else left apart from Russell Senior, who isn't even listed as being in the reformed band in Metro?

Dunno but they're wrong, he is in this reunion.

See, I was right, Metro IS wrong.

There's no way they won't headline Glastonbury next year, right?

first gig for 9 years tonight in Toulouse apparently. funny place for a comeback. chatter about the gig, setlist etc here:
http://baritalia.activeboard.com/t43039550/spoiler-2505-setlist-in-le-bikini-toulouse/

That setlist is surprisingly narrow in it's scope. What, 95% His'n'Hers and Different Class?

So like.. 100% what people want to hear? I kid, I kid. I can't believe Manon didn't make it either.

I am so sad that there are people out there getting to see them live and that I'm not one of those people. :(

Agreed.

Me too. I made a joke last night that we should go to Europe and see Pulp for our honeymoond and fiance was like... yeah, no. Then told me *maybe* if Arcade Fire were also there, because he's always trying to get me to turn around on them. Sadly they are together in Ireland a week before his vacation. And he probably wasn't serious anyway. Le sigh!

two months today until edwardo and I see them in Sydney Sex City!

I am working on a placard saying "Play fucking She's Dead, you cunts" as we speak.

(I will send them an A4-size version of this placard to them beforehand, so they can rehearse it first, as it'll be shit otherwise).

It's never coming back to the setlist. Face it. It's gone.

I don't know, I think it's pretty awesome that they played fucking Countdown in their comeback set.

Still, I'll be the one in the crowd at Wireless chanting "Tun-NEL! Tun-NEL!"

Even better, "Silence".

two months today until edwardo and I see them in Sydney Sex City!

― the man who forsook his wife for fap fap fap (sic), Thursday, May 26, 2011 8:13 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

hate u

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Gel56Rwzo&feature=player_embedded

Was going to say/ask:

Has Jarvis lost the bins/had a shave for this?

All these big festivals are fine but now it’s time to take things indoors ...
We’re very excited to announce a show of our own at
London’s O2 Brixton Academy on Wednesday 31 August 2011.

There'll be three or four more of them announced when Brixton sells out in 30 seconds.

weird that yesterday didn't sell out at all though.

Text received last night:

"Watchinbg Pulp at Wireless. It's 'Different Class' plus other bits :( "

I concur... 'Different Class' put me off them completely after adoring 'His 'n' Hers'..which I still adore. I barely checked 'This Is Hardcore' but I did buy 'We Love Life' which I'm kind of meh about (and not on my own, I guess).

Not tempted by the reformation shows..and if they're doing mostly DC...I'd not be arsed at festivals either.

XP

Not that weird when you consider how damn expensive it was.

went yesterday, & they sounded *great* but yes - too expensive, too much different class & too many drunken festival packs just out for a push and shout in a park.

Hmm. I didn't think the crowd was as bad as for Blur two years ago. Not quite so aggressively lary at least.

Where I was they weren't aggressive but fucking annoying. Singing along where appropriate is one thing, but accompanying every line (including instrumental parts) with high pitched yapping is quite another. Much more civilised crowd when I saw them in Barcelona.

Personally think 55 quid for a day ticket to a festival isn't too unreasonable.

Personally think 55 quid for a day ticket to a festival isn't too unreasonable.

Maybe. Day festivals tend to pitch lower than that I think don't they? Isn't Field Day about £30?

I smirked at a friend's comments yesterday:

Today Pulp are playing Hyde Park, in association with Barclaycard. £55.25 not including booking fee for the common people

Or £155.00 for the less common people. For this you get a private entrance away from the scum, a chill-out area and hot & cold BBQ platters

If you're not common at all, VIP tickets are £235.00. For this you also get a private bar and a special grandstand viewing area.

And from there, you can sing along: "you will never understand how it feels to live your lives with no meaning or control..."

They get to sing along with the common people...

Heh, they can do role playing between the areas. Awesome.

That "VIP" enclosure towered over the area for disabled people, which I thought was a lovely touch.

Not tempted by the reformation shows..and if they're doing mostly DC...I'd not be arsed at festivals either.

Russell's not coming to Australia, so be interesting to see if they play more Hardcore/Love tracks here.

They're also doing their only other two non-festival shows apart from the warm-up, so hoping very hard that they do the amount of pre-DC stuff from that setlist...

Field Day may be cheaper but it doesn't have headliners of the same level and is by all accounts the worst organised festival in Britain.

Heavily-skewed towards Different Class (and to a lesser extent His N Hers) but if you're going to play a limited number of comeback shows then why not draw heavily from the records people love the most?

Actually the epic This Is Hardcore -> Sunrise was one of the best bits about last night but I can't claim that I was holding out for much more from the last couple of albums.

Crowd were fine from where I was standing.

If you're not common at all, VIP tickets are £235.00. For this you also get a private bar and a special grandstand viewing area.

Was quite amusing to hear people singing "shit ground no fans" at that area.

Hmm. I didn't think the crowd was as bad as for Blur two years ago. Not quite so aggressively lary at least.

Didn't see Blur, so that's v possible, and I think maybe I was a bit unlucky with geezer-packs. Enjoyed it once we'd manouevred away a bit.

& upt011 otm, worst for me was a deafening version of Something Changed (verse, chorus, breaks) shrieked behind my left ear.

£55 is ok for a big-name day festival I guess (Field Day is £40) – I was just v hesitant to buy and grouchy because I was basically treating it as a one-band big gig.

Just to sicken all of you folk who went to wireless, amazingly I saw them last week at the St Martins College closing party, they played unnanounced in the common room in front of a few hundred. Was insane, one of the most magical gigs ive been at.
'
All the London summer day fests are horrible, its all a bit 'dave from accounts has had an e'. Field day should be half the size and have half as many folk playing as its ran by chancers, i spent all of last year sitting outside tents struggling to hear what was going on. There was also about twice as many people there than there should be last year, the door staff were taking peoples tickets and touting them out the front

To be fair to Pulp, that VIP business, loathsome though it is, is standard for Wireless so I doubt the band had any say over it. Hyde Park events always have a high chattering-twat quota, getting worse with certain bands. I had to see Kings of Leon there for work and it was a real come-Armageddon-come moment.

Was it only Sunrise and This Is Hardcore from the last two albums? Love Sunrise - saw them on the We Love Life tour when they were also playing a krauted-up version of Common People and that was the highlight.

Yup, just those two. The rest of it was most of Different Class (+ Do You Remember The First Time, Babies, Pink Glove, Mile End).

OMG YOU PEOPLE GOT TO SEE PULP STOP COMPLAINING AND SHUT UP.

I am so jealous.

:(

hmpf

ha! ok fair enough.

though we can all unite in jealousy at straightola.

xpost
twice iirc.

and as they're now playing at the bottom of my road at the end of august, i'll prob go to that as well. if i've nothing else on.

hate u

Yeah ignore the whingers, gig was amazing. It's not even like the crowd was particularly dense so if ppl were being knobs I'm sure you could've moved.

OMG YOU PEOPLE GOT TO SEE PULP STOP COMPLAINING AND SHUT UP.

I am so jealous.

:(

hmpf

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 4 July 2011 14:55 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^ This - I've already missed my chance this summer :-(

:(

that is, i was there in body but not in spirit as I spent nearly the whole of their Primavera set queuing for water for sunstroked g/f.

humph!

yeah, i've been venting but nob-force were escapable & took up <10% of my time - it was great, & i was in a total transport of joy at various points. Sorry enbb

Seriously guys, we North Americans will KICK YOUR ASSES :)

stfu, they toured America heaps of times

come oonnnn

2nd set

1. O.U. (Gone, Gone)
2. Countdown
3. Joyriders
4. His 'n' Hers
5. Acrylic Afternoons
6. Mis-Shapes

I came late to the party (1996) but I can only think of ~one~ time I was able to see them in Toronto (if bands come to Canada, 95% of the time there is a Toronto stop). I had to go to Reading to see them!

I thought they only toured America three times (and made it to the West Coast only twice -- 94, opening for Blur, 96, small club show).

Yeah the Toronto show I saw would have been.. 98? Man, opening for Blur, that would have been my dream show. Alas.

oh man at least you got to see them

We'll use Mind Powers to get them back on our continent. COME, PULP, COME!

YES!!

Man, opening for Blur, that would have been my dream show. Alas.

Pulp blew 'em off the stage that night for sure. I still remember Jarvis introducing this new song of theirs and six minutes later after "Common People" ended the room was practically exploding. (This would have been about six months prior to the single release.)

I thought they only toured America three times

300% is heaps more in my book

Ned, I could definitely see it. Damon was a fairly entertaining frontman but Jarvis was a MASTER, I can definitely imagine them blowing Blur away.

This is reminding me to check out more Pulp besides the HNH/DC/TIH triumverate. I used to have a comp of early stuff on a taped library copy - this was YEARS ago now. Also We Love Life is supposedly ace according to my mate.

Yes WLL is excellent IMO, Scott Walker's production is immaculate.

I played it a lot at the time, yes.

The last time they played the States was 1998...13 years...entire generations (like me) have grown up, gone to college, discovered Pulp, lived their lives, etc. in that time period...would murder to see them live. Saw Jarvis solo once and it was spectacular, but clearly a shadow of what it could/should have been. Seems ludicrous a band of that size/influence only played in America a handful of times.

Back in the day Jarvis said it was a waste of time touring as a niche band in the US/Canada when they could be playing to tens of thousands back home/doing tv shows etc.

And if I recall correctly, he had put a limit on how many gigs he was willing to do on a tour here. Something like five shows. That made it financially unsupportable.

last night they opened with: Do You Remember, Countdown, Lipgloss, OU (Gone Gone), Have You Seen Her Lately

I was pretty excited. Pulp are the best band of all the bands.

Very classic last night. The final pre-encore stretch of Babies, This Is Hardcore, Sunrise, Bar Italia and Common People was astounding (the middle three all, I realised, about the consequences of hedonism). Despite all the funny between-song chat, what strikes me now, far more than in the 90s, is the jealousy, revenge and all-round emotional desperation rather than the wit. The atmosphere was celebratory but the songs are fraught and sinister. They felt necessary, which is how any worthwhile reunion should feel.

Also liked Jarvis introducing Common People with Eldridge Cleaver's problem/solution quote because it was Cleaver's birthday yesterday.

I'm still so jealous of all of you who got to see Pulp this year.

Have they ever played Dogs Are Everywhere live this reunion? I love that.

Argh, so they played all the relatively rare stuff at the Brixton shows, that they played in Toulouse and dropped afterwards? I saw them at Primavera and it was just all the more obvious stuff.

So much for me seeing the 'last ever' performance of 'O.U.' at Leeds Roundhay Park in 1995. ;(

ARGHGHGHGH I should have gone.

DYRTFT?
Countdown
Lip Gloss
OU
Have You Seen Her Lately?
Something Changed
Disco 2000
Sorted
Wickerman
Bad Cover Version
Babies
Underwear
This is Hardcore
Sunrise
Bar Italia
Common People

Encore

Razzmatazz
Mis-shapes

Could still go tonight? I'm tempted.

Saw the show at wireless and then last night at Brixton. So glad they varied the setlists for these.

If you're wondering whether to go tonight, just go. I would try again, but my body says otherwise.

GAAHHH they didn't play OU or Countdown in Sydney despite advertising (like, literally, in the print ads) that they would be playing songs from all eras of the band

not sure if they played Razzamatazz either

or "Everybody's Problem"...

They didn't do Razzmatazz in Sydney, because I don't remember spontaneously orgasming on the night.

Really interesting seeing them last night with DL's insights in mind. Very different to the other occasions I've seen them this summer; being just them and being in an inside venue. Loved that Richard Hawley was there and loved that they played Trees.

Do You Remember the First Time?
Monday Morning
Razzmatazz
The Trees
The Fear
Lipgloss
Something Changed
Disco 2000
Sorted For E's & Wizz
Sheffield:Sex City
Babies
Live Bed Show
This Is Hardcore
Sunrise
Bar Italia
Common People

Encore:
Party Hard
Countdown
Mis-Shapes

Encore 2:
Wickerman

Sheffield:Sex City

FUCK YOU ENGLAND

Somewhere in Toronto, a too-tall redhead is crying.

Loads more post-Senior stuff coming into the sets.

AMERICA

noted a difference between primavera and now was that Russell didn't leave the set during Sunrise...can't remember if he did during Hardcore.

Hey it would be really cool if Pulp curated an ATP in the states...right, right? That would be pretty cool...

yep that would be a dream come true for me personally.

Senior came back on for outro of Sunrise both at Primavera and at Reading the other day.

Apparently he played violin on 'Wickerman' at Brixton too. OOOOh.

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL. April 11. Tempted.

Just listened to We Love Life for the first time in absolutely ages... that outro to 'Sunrise' gets me every fucking time.

And from me today in the Quietus...

http://thequietus.com/articles/14998-pulp-his-n-hers-review-anniversary

thanks for that Ned. 20 years hard to believe but will admit that i didn't get it until after their next album.

NB: Please do not read the ilx whilst listening to the recordings.

Saw the (world premiere of, apparently) the new doco at the Sydney Film Festival on Saturday night. Hadn't known until the opening titles that Russell properly left during the reunion, not just skipping the long-flight legs. It's a good movie, but isn't really about the band, at all; more about what it's like for the city of Sheffield to have the homecoming/farewell show of one of their best known bands taking place.

holy shit. looks amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5lZHF01A_o

http://pitchfork.com/news/57482-pulp-a-film-about-life-death-supermarkets-screening-on-pitchforktv-for-24-hours/

what do we think about this

This needs more Pulp and less kids reactions/random English fans/dance teams rehearsing/etc.

Also the opening mix of the live "Common People" sounds like it was performed on a Casio in a drain pipe.

Is there an actual Pulp documentary out there? Like w footage of music videos and performances?

it's brilliant this, way better than the recent hyped up pop/rock docs (Made Of Stone, Shut Up And Play The Hits etc)

there's a ton of other Pulp stuff; mini-docs etc. check this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz4fIxPQBvc

this new doc was utterly routine save for the kid in the DUDE shirt

Classic, for 'Babies' and 'Common People'.

That's all I need by them

pulp have a lot going on and this docu reduces it all down to some v. obv elements of 'different class' -- like it would go well with some town full of laid off miner strippers and a boy who wants to dance and idk something about football?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/mental-health-nurse-deborah-bone-mbe-who-inspired-pulps-disco-2000-dies-aged-51-9953976.html

Christ, Freaks is such a strange record... on one hand, you can hear a very rough version of the band that they would eventually become but on the other, there's these bizarre tracks that are reminiscent of early Gorky's Zygotic Mynci(!) ... Jarvis' fake Morrissey vibrato on this record is hilarious, too.

Listening to Different Class right now for the first time in a long time, and while the likes of 'Common People' and 'Disco 2000' are starting to feel relatively fresh to my ears these days (they were both inescapable in the mid '90s), the tracks that are grabbing me this time around are the lesser cited deep cuts like 'Live Bed Show' and 'Underwear' ... I remember thinking at the time that 'Something Changed' was my least favourite of the singles released from this album, but now it's one of my absolute favourites, and 'F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E' sounds as great as ever.

Underwear is quite possibly their best song. Live 105 in the Bay Area gave it steady rotation in the fall of ‘95. First song that turned me onto Pulp.

That's incredible! It wasn't released as a single here or anything, and I think half the album (or something like that) had been released as a single by the time it had run its course.

It was a b-side of Common People fwiw

Different Class is perfect, just a towering achievement in songwriting. My only complaint is that "I Spy" might be a little too long? I don't know, that's really nitpicking.

On a theory note, these guys really love the IV-iv turnaround.

Something I wrote about Underwear a couple of years back, with links to various live versions, etc. - https://pulpsongs.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/underwear/

aaah I haven't listened to this album in years. It reminds me so much of trips to London, hanging around in bars and clubs circa 96...
I think I remember passing in front of Bar Italia !
Anyway, I would have to listen to it again but iirc it was such a great album.
I remember particularly liking "E's & Wizz" and the over the top disco moment in "I Spy" !

When I heard 'Disco 2000' last night, I was amazed at just how well it slotted in with all the new wave/synthpop I've been listening to a lot over the last few years. If I'd never heard the song before and you told me it had been released anywhere between 1977 and 1983 instead of 1995, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid.

If it weren't for the lyrics, you could convince me that Disco 2000 came out last week

disco 2000 doesn't sound like it was recorded in the early 80s wtf are you talking about turrican

the drum sound, the guitar tone, the clarity...

voodoo chilli otm, tho

i mean, i guess its not that far off from a de-funkified "my own way", but it sounds totally un-80s imo

defunkified "my own way" in terms of the beat or whatever

nevermind me, no reponse necc, i don't care anymore

It's okay, I didn't in the first place. You're wrong, anyway.

In fact, generally speaking that particular era of UK guitar music were more influenced by the late '70s and early '80s than the '60s, which is what everyone seems to think. Aside from Oasis, whose influences are more early-mid '70s. There's more "'80s" in Pulp and Blur than folks realise or want to admit.

Those cowards who don't dare to point out that britpop had influences that they freely admit in interviews

*britpop bands

Pulp formed in the 70s and active for the whole of the 80s so what are you on about?

^ is implying that It sounds like Different Class or His 'n' Hers, when it doesn't.

Oh, and Britpop didn't exist.

Also, Wings are influenced by the 60s

But yeah, 'Disco 2000' with its "disco" beat that a lot of British bands were utilising in the late '70s/early '80s, with its guitar riff that seems like it's been beamed directly from the late '70s Blondie song, vintage keyboards and a chorus that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Dexys Midnight Runners track circa Too-Rye-Ay ... yeah, I'd say it fits in snugly.

Yes, Wings are influenced by the '60s - thanks for that, Captain Obvious.

Pulp's early '80s work, although Cocker's voice is in place from the off, has a very different set of influences. It comes from a different place than the work which actually defines them.

Disco 2000 seems like it was heavily influenced by Denim's 1st album especially "I'm Against the 80s" & "Here is my Song for Europe".

sounds like mid period Jimmy Eat World iirc

Disco 2000 is about 50% Gloria by Laura Branigan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=355Fk8drgZE

ahah otm re : Laura Branigan !

also I agree that mid90s brit guitar pop was more influenced by 70s and 80s bands and sounds than 60s.
as for "Different Class". I listened to it yesterday following this thread.
Actually, although they're great, I don't think I need to hear "Common People", "Disco 2000" and most of the rest again.
I still enjoy "Es&Wizz" and "Underwear". Also agree that "Live Bed Show", which I never particularly liked, might be the one I find the most interesting now.

woah is she wearing a lightning bolt belt in that video? so cool!

But yeah, 'Disco 2000' with its "disco" beat that a lot of British bands were utilising in the late '70s/early '80s, with its guitar riff that seems like it's been beamed directly from the late '70s Blondie song, vintage keyboards and a chorus that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Dexys Midnight Runners track circa Too-Rye-Ay ... yeah, I'd say it fits in snugly.

― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Thursday, November 23, 2017 2:03 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's nothing new under the sun, asshole

obviously "Disco 2000" is influenced by the 70s, it has the word "Disco" in the title fergodsake

^ Wow, check out this charmer!

turrican, you have a tendency to point out the most obvious of musical observations and present them as if you have some sort of special listening ability that makes your judgment superior to everybody else's. please stop.

most people on this board can discuss music without intimating that everyone who doesn't share their every opinion is a dullard

Brimstead stated that he couldn't understand what I was getting at and I explained it. Cue your howl of pain. This could have potentially have blossomed into a great discussion about a band we all like, but you and brimstead clearly can't help yourselves, it seems.

Anyway, to steer us away from this nonsense, I listened to This is Hardcore earlier and 'The Day After The Revolution' completely blew me away. Maybe it would have benefitted from being a couple of songs shorter, but I can't decide which ones... all the ones that tend to get cited as lesser moments: 'Sylvia', 'I'm a Man', 'TV Movie', 'A Little Soul' are ones that I still really like a lot.

'Seductive Barry' surely must be one of the best things this band have ever done...

what
is
this
feeling called challops

sorry couldn't resist, but i totally disagree about Seductive Barry, which is overwrought even by the standards of an intentionally (and often blissfully) indulgent album like This Is Hardcore

I hadn't heard it since I was about 15, but I've had "Babies" stuck in my head for a few days, so I popped on the record today, and Christ, I forgot how brilliant this song is.

I was pretty obsessed with this is hardcore in the spring of 2002 but “seductive barry” did absolutely nothing for me

So then... https://www.nme.com/news/music/jarvis-cocker-confirms-pulp-reunion-shows-for-2023-3276640

Now we have another reunion all I want for is a hardback publication of Turrican arguments

Quick heads up, Jarvis' book 'Good Pop Bad Pop' is on Kindle at the moment for £1

I enjoyed listening to him read it when it was serialised on radio 4 but not enough to actually buy it.

:(

Our beloved friend & bass player Steve Mackey passed away this morning. Our thoughts are with his family & loved ones. Safe travels, Steve.
We hope to catch up with you one day. All our love xx pic.twitter.com/pickNV56Nl

— Pulp (@welovepulp) March 2, 2023

This is garbage news. I knew Steve real well and he was the absolute best most shining positive force you could ever imagine

:(

I don't think I ever registered what he looked like, but loving these pictures I have been seeing of him just now.

This is garbage news. I knew Steve real well and he was the absolute best most shining positive force you could ever imagine

i was privileged to know him too and he absolutely was. Such shite news!

Ugh. This sucks.

That’s exactly it. I feel so privileged to have known the guy. Impressive CV aside he was just this magic dude. He was one of two people I gave full unconditional access to all my orchestral stems for his usage on whatever he liked. I really loved this guy. Never had lunch with him without feeling like I walked away with some lesson learned or some great advice

meant to post this here rather than the obit thread, sorry. just makes me love the guy even more.

https://i.postimg.cc/ZqdhX05X/20230302-161904.jpg

I knew and liked him a lot in the wayback years, hadn’t seen him since he produced Galang (the odd private view non-withstanding) and I’m so devastated for his family and close friends.

Just rotten. What a perfect key element for that band, always an anchor but never a weight.

Jarvis & Steve were in many ways the core duo of 90s Pulp, and he was the only member of the band on Jarvis's solo LPs, a real loss musically as well as a lovely guy.

I made a mix of some of Steve's best work, both in Pulp and as a writer/producer/remixer. Mixcloud wouldn't let me publish (too many tracks by one artist) so here it is instead:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/79493909

0:00:00 Pulp - My Legendary Girlfriend (BBC Soundcheck)
0:04:23 Pulp - Styloroc (Nites of Suburbia)
0:07:28 Pulp - Acrylic Afternoons
0:11:07 Pulp - His 'n' Hers
0:17:20 Pulp - Street Lites
0:23:07 Pulp - Party Hard
0:27:03 Pulp - After You
0:32:12 The Chocolate Layers - That Boy's Evil
0:37:34 M.I.A. - Galang (Cavemen Remix)
0:41:26 Dark Globe - Break My World (Fat Truckers & Steve Mackey Extended Mix)
0:45:37 Kelis - Bossy (Cavemen Remix)
0:48:57 Cornershop - Topknot (Caveman Remix ft. M.I.A.)
0:52:06 Death In Vegas - Dirge (Cossack Apocalypse Mix)
0:55:46 Black Box Recorder - The Facts of Life (Chocolate Layers Remix)
1:01:58 Looper - Up A Tree Again (Chocolate Layers' St. John's Ambulance Remix)
1:05:11 The Nu Forest - I Picked a Flower
1:08:40 Marianne Faithful - Sliding Through Life on Charm (ft. Jarvis Cocker)

Wonder why there is a screenshot of live Pulp performance in the middle of Hitchcock/Truffaut.

Saw them at Finsbury Park last night - despite the absences, they're sounding incredible. I've missed them.

They played A New One at the second Sheffield show, it's pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxYeeFKvwJo

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/11/it-was-a-dark-time-pulps-keyboardist-candida-doyle-on-being-diagnosed-with-arthritis-at-the-age-of-17

It's a curious article.

We got North American tour dates!

Tickets for the shows will go on sale this week.

Fans can sign up for Pulp’s pre-sale by joining the band’s mailing via https://WeLovePulp.info before midnight PDT on Monday, 18 March. All those who do, will be sent a link and password to use when tickets go on sale on a first come, first served basis at 10am (local time to each venue) on Tuesday, 19 March.

Tickets will then go on general sale on Friday, 22 March at 10am – again all times are local to the venue. The tour dates are:

Sunday, September 8 Chicago Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom

Tuesday, September 10 Toronto HISTORY

Friday, September 13 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre

Monday, September 16 San Francisco Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Wednesday, September 18 Los Angeles Hollywood Palladium

Wow, I might have to go to that Hollywood show.

Got tickets for Toronto! Thank you for alerting me, Ned!

tickets for Toronto were sold out in like a minute, got a ticket in my basket then as it was loading it was gone

Ticketmaster can eat my unwiped shitstained asshole

Well there'll be other chances later in the week at least!

Kings Theatre in Brooklyn (the NY stop on the tour) dropped Ticketmaster. Things moved slowly on their system, but was able to get good tickets, and fees lower than Ticketmaster scum would have charged.

That’s really nice. Paid $30 in fees on each ticket. Hope you’re lucky with the general sale Murgatroid

The seating options you selected aren't available due to the ticket quantity or filter you applied. Please try adjusting the number of tickets selected or use the seat map to search for available seats.

I went on right at 10:00 with the correct presale code but couldn't even get in.

Oof, sucks to hear. In contrast SF went crazy smoothly! Got a floor/GA spot, all good.

So I got in after typings that out but like Murgatroid was timed out. Now they say no tickets left.

Kings Theatre in Brooklyn (the NY stop on the tour) dropped Ticketmaster.

Their seat selection system stresses me out, especially on a phone. But I got mine.

damn, i missed the memo about the mailing list so no artist pre-sale for me.

gotta listen to a bunch of pulp on spotify to day and hope to get that pre-sale code.

https://thescenestar.typepad.com/ss/2024/03/pulp-schedule-a-show-at-the-hollywood-palladium.html

There will be an artist presale taking place on Tuesday, March 19, at 10 a.m. Code: BRAVO.

You can also get your tickets early via a Live Nation presale on Wednesday, March 20, at 8 a.m. Code: KEY.

Spotify will also have a presale on Wednesday, March 20, at 10 a.m.

Got a pair for Toronto, but only after trying nonstop for 15 minutes. Like Murgatroid I had some in my basket, went to pay, and they were suddenly gone. Was about to give up and refreshed another 10 times or so and got in, this time it worked. No rhyme or reason. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Aw darn my ex works for live nation and I was excited to come share the code! Alas!

I'd love the Spotify presale code

I don’t have a Spotify ex :/

Extra shows announced for Toronto, Brooklyn and LA, presales today at 11 am local time.

got tix for kings on 9/14

got a ticket for 9/11 yeahhhhhhh

One more show announced! Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Sat Sept 21, on sale Friday 10 am

New song called Spike Island (from the Chicago gig)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImtVcUPXDxQ

I would have loved them to play a b-side like "Your Sister's Clothes" or "His 'n' Hers" but that's not a complaint, considering I never thought I'd see Pulp live (I was 12 in 1996, when they last played here). Feels slightly surreal to have seen Pulp and Suede in the last 12 months, both bands I figured would never come here again.

I’m so excited for Toronto tomorrow! Might go solo on Wednesday too if there’s any cheap last minute tickets available

seeing them on Wednesday with some of my best friends that I haven't been to a show with in like 5-6 years

I completely missed that they were touring the US so thanks for the bump. I just copped relatively reasonable resale tickets for this Saturday in Brooklyn and I am now stupidly hyped.

i will also be there that night *salute emoji*

Debut of another new song, this one called "My Sex"
According to a pulp chile account on instagram this is the fifth new song they've debuted in the last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YYUEhooA5E

I guess at this rate we are getting a new album. I wasn't necessarily thinking we would!

yeah this tour did feel like it would be self contained, but at this rate i think new album + MORE TOUR is almost a certainty

My childhood friend’s partner is the cousin of their replacement bassist so after a well timed joke/inquiry guess who’s got two thumbs, speaks limited French, and is on the guest list for tonight! 🤘

Ha, amazing!

Cool!

Anyone looking for a ticket for this Friday’s show in Brooklyn? Would rather sell to a fan here for face value ($95, section 6) than go the StubHub route.

Chicago show was really fun and worth the travel. They were kind to come back out for "Spike Island," the crowd was already flooding away after the first encore (then came flooding back)

We got Spike island as well tonight (I think that’s what he said it was) so new song count still stands at 5. Lipgloss last night was subbed in for - very exciting to me - OU (Gone Gone)

WHAT A BAND. WHAT A FRONTMAN.

Yes!!

one of the best shows I've been to by far

I completely missed that they were touring the US so thanks for the bump. I just copped relatively reasonable resale tickets for this Saturday in Brooklyn and I am now stupidly hyped.

― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Monday, September 9, 2024 10:43 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Going to see them tonight in Brooklyn and I am also in the "stupidly hyped" bracket. Hoping for O.U. and/or Lipgloss in the set, but will be happy with whatever they do.

Anyone else going to SF shows?

Why yes, but you've reminded me that for very obvious reasons you've probably missed the FB thread I've got going.

Meetup beforehand at Anina, a few blocks away -- outdoor seating, which is the whole idea:

https://www.aninasf.com/

Only snacks, so eat beforehand, but non-alcoholic options too. I'll be there between 5:30 to 6.

I might have to go to this, tho tickets are over $100 for the Saturday Night Hollywood Forever Cemetery show.

The one and only time I saw Pulp was in 1994 with Blur in Hollywood. Blur were amazing and I'm sure I have told this story before. I thought well Blur were so good that I need to prepare for an okay Pulp show, they were even better.

Wait, I did see Pulp again, when I lived in San Francisco, at the Bimbo club.

Yeah, great live band. One of the best.

Seem to be some decently-priced tickets for Saturday's BK show on Stubhub, even one for the GA section in the very front. If it wasn't such a hike to Kings, I'd jump on this.

Yeah Bee I was at that Blur/Pulp show too. Getting “Common People” six months before release and it blowing the crowd’s mind is what I most remember.

I'll be at the SF show, but arriving just in the nick of time before show start

Text when you arrive and I’ll let you where we are!

Ruuuuuuuuuuled. As ever.

I was like the protagonist of “Sorted out”…. lost my friends and dance alone … lol … glad I went though!

Svenonius opened??

friend of mine took some great photos in chicago for this site

https://www.reviler.org/2024/09/10/photos-pulp-at-the-aragon-ballroom-chicago/

yeah the show in brooklyn on saturday was incredible. i felt like the only one in the pit who was excited to hear "bad cover version," but it was exciting to me dammit. jarvis has been doing those hypnotic hand dances for decades now. he looks exactly the same!

matt sweeney was in the crowd. he was taller than i thought he'd be.

and yes, svenonius opened to a completely puzzled audience. a guy near me asked if he had won a contest or something

Lol apparently his brother is a douchebag …

Now that it’s not 3 AM and I’m sober, my main experience in the VIP section (Toronto) was that I had an amazing view and that my friend spent a bit of time shit talking the opening act then turned around and realized he was standing right behind him. So rest assured, He’s been told at least once. Oops!

I got to meet Andrew and thank him for squeezing me and my friend in, and I did a good deed when a short woman was trying to look over my friend‘s shoulder: I told her to stand in front of me. Unfortunately, she stood in front of my other friend who is just as short as her, blocking her view, so I put my hands on her shoulders and pull her back toward me and said oh please don’t block my friends view, she got me into VIP! The woman asked if she had family in the band, said the bassist is her cousin, and then she told me oh I’m married to the drummer. So very blasé 🤣 she was nice though, and happily danced to common people in front of my very tall self, blocking no one’s view

I took some video and posted it to TikTok, if you search pull toronto, you should see my red haired icon. I’m weird about usernames though so I don’t wanna post it here but if you have me on Instagram, it’s the same one. I’m going to see if my friend who seemed to record the entire concert on his phone will send more

Pulp Toronto :( first AutoCorrect was Paul… I did try to fix that

Lol there was a review of the SF show that describes the audience as “aging Millennials” and I was like … wait what? … the majority of the people I saw there looked like they were in their 50s … comparable to the Miki Berenyi/ Budgie/LOL crowd… guessing the writer was probably a Millennial idk

oldest millenials would have been in high school at Pulp's peak. but yeah, my guess would be lots of 50 year olds.

my prediction actually, very psyched to see them tomorrow!

Happy birthday, Jarvis.

help the aged

crowd at the second LA show last night sang happy birthday to JC

phenomenal show, love this band so so much

Had some thoughts on Monday, wrote 'em up

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-124-112388230

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/pulp-played-their-final-show-of-2024-at-hollywood-forever-cemetery-jarvis-cocker-says-this-is-only-the-beginning-video-setlist/

Yeah Ned, thanks for confirming what I'd heard- the only two times since the 90s they played around here was that Pomona show (barely LA) and Coachella (not LA). I'm even more glad (and pretty surprised) I saw their second proper LA show since the 90s.

You did indeed!

I didn't get to see them after all. I went back and forth with myself but I had a packed week. I moved and have a lot of old furniture and was a week project alone. My plus one bailed on me. I'm in Orange County and not LA, so driving had a big impact. To top everything off, family drama at the last moment. I was invited to a ticket by a fellow ilXor, thanks BTW, but as stated I couldn't make it.

Cemetery show RULED. stet please enable video hosting overnight so I can post clips.

Lineup is four old Pulps (Jarvis, Candida, Nick, Mark) and four sessioneers including Jason Buckle, so at least the latter can be expected to be in the new recording lineup. As that report notes, Jarvis was extremely heavily hinting at plans for more touring in 2025; guessing that they’ll be recording over winter.

nu-Svevonius band wasn’t *good* but were kind of ideal as support: non-terrible enough to politely pay attention to, quiet enough to chat during for ppl picnicking on the lawn, and two-person band with drum machine (or phone?) allowing for near-immediate changeover.

Hah nice. Maybe they were picked for that reason? I've never thought of the "logistics" of who to pick for an opener until I saw Devo explain why they never booked one. Nick Lowe is probably the only opening act I've ever seen to acknowledge what being an opener means, i.e. "warm up the crowd as they come in and find their seats."

(acknowledge during the actual opening set that is)

The logistics were my life for at least 10 years so it’s weird to think that there are people who are music fanatics who have never thought of this

It’s kinda refreshing !

I've always been green about it. If I was asked about an opener, I'd just think "why don't they get so-and-so, their music would go great together?" Probably like that with everything about the music business - "why did they break up, they were so good and they got along?" "Why don't they release another record?" Well, logistics and economics...

escape-ism ruled imo (and his brother is cool, sarahell!)

Nick Lowe is probably the only opening act I've ever seen to acknowledge what being an opener means, i.e. "warm up the crowd as they come in and find their seats."

There's the unintentionally humorous full-set vid of Spiritualized from when they opened for Neil Young & Crazy Horse in a summer shed in the late '90s. A good bit of the video is shot from behind the band, so you see all these perplexed boomers in their tie-dyes & straw hats gradually filling the seats and/or cutting out for the beer line during the set.

Lowe also has a funny story about Rockpile blowing headliners Bad Company off the stage so badly that their sets kept getting cut down by five minutes until they were finally doing a tight 15 minutes a night before happily going back to the hotel to party with groupies.

escape-ism ruled imo (and his brother is cool, sarahell!)

chaki!

https://scontent-bos5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/461268771_1074749351322766_4544617056419250943_n.jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpg&_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=rClUzqa6hC0Q7kNvgFyFdqa&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.xx&_nc_gid=A3hMNA5uu8ZMNaoiGaqjTBR&oh=00_AYCHhRi3CRxMzwB47vfV3jrLqUb7FyM4cZSMt_v31vnGVA&oe=66FFB691

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-F7GT82izA

Extremely 1996 image in the still there, what with him from Pulp holding Trainspotting.

oldest millenials would have been in high school at Pulp's peak. but yeah, my guess would be lots of 50 year olds.

my prediction actually, very psyched to see them tomorrow!

In the ongoing re-evaluation of music I loved as a 20-something … “Happy Endings” hits me more now than it did during 95-96 when I listened to that album almost every day.

old school ilxor eppy put them on a mix tape for me when he was my camp counselor that summer

no! that was former user lfam—
i noticed eppy’s old posts when i first joined up in early 2006

Heading back to the US -- for now, two nights with LCD Soundsystem at the Hollywood Bowl:

between their last single which was produced by James Murphy (12 years ago!) and now this, I have a feeling Murphy may be involved with their upcoming album, whenever that is coming out, I am ambivalent about this, cautious at best

what a downer to have to watch LCD either before OR after Pulp

Hmm, do I need to go to this?

LCD Soundsystem aside, I'd take any opportunity to see Pulp, so yes

I’ve been on a bit of an Edwyn Collins kick lately. Just heard Gorgeous George and if you squint your ears it sorta sounds like a lost Pulp album.

I was wrong, thank god

new Pulp album details pic.twitter.com/K3BoQzXbk1

— morally grey (@DILFBAlT) April 7, 2025

And we got first single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-27a1ugJX8U

Tracklisting:

Spike Island
Tina
Grown Ups
Slow Jam
Farmers Market
My Sex
Got To Have Love
Background Noise
Partial Eclipse
The Hymn of the North
A Sunset

Elastica cover?!

unlike the stereolab video you were all complaining about (which was boring but visually inoffensive) this video's a really hideous use of ai video generation lol

I should stop watching music videos because I'm just getting disappointed by everyone.

song is just kinda lifeless, there was better stuff on that jarv is album a few years ago

It's mocking AI, of course it's hideous.

idk I like the song

them using AI for the video is an odd decision considering that statement from Jarvis that was put out a few days ago where he literally stated that no AI was used in the making of the album, but I guess the promo video is not considered part of the album

making something deliberately hideous with ai just to make fun of it is about the most boring thing possible

Meantime we have a separate rarities album coming via Mojo:

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is Pulp: Forty Odd Years. Live, rare and unreleased tracks from the vast expanse of their career, 1982 to 2025, curated by Cocker and Co. Features killer versions of Common People, Babies, Sheffield: Sex City, His ’N’ Hers, The Trees and more!

I think this song is pretty damn good! James Ford is killing the game these days.

yeah dunno how you could call this lifeless

I like the song, looking forward to the album.

Using AI to mock AI is still... using AI. Disappointing.

I'm not sure what else you could use to mock AI

I just meant more that they didn't have to go that route at all.

A(nother!) North American tour goes on presale tomorrow for anyone who didn’t hear already

Man that video is lazy even for one that uses AI. Song is not bad though

I'm not sure what else you could use to mock AI

Feel like it might be funny to make a video mocking some of the AI problems - extra fingers, feet swapped - with practical effects. I dunno if the joke would come across though

that would be a good bit although probably difficult to pull off effectively

Pulp pre-sale today, password RUN

dc tickets were $69.50 for general admission with $15.95 service fees

there's a whole thing on tiktok where people try and recreate the vibe of AI without using AI and it can be very funny at times.

Got a cheap GA lawn ticket for Toronto, saw them last year and I don’t want to pay a hundo to see them again but I do want to see them again so I think getting the cheapest ticket is a reasonable compromise

Last year I was at the front in an indoor venue and this year I’ll be way at the back in an outdoor-ish venue lol bleh hope I don’t regret not getting a better ticket

NY (Queens) tickets were $100 + $23.15 in fees & taxes. Goddammit, why does everything here have to be more expensive? I won't complain - it's a hell of a lot easier for me to get to than Kings Theatre.

(Or to be accurate, $99.50 + $3.00 handling fee + $20.65 service fee)

Feel like it might be funny to make a video mocking some of the AI problems - extra fingers, feet swapped - with practical effects. I dunno if the joke would come across though

That was mr kinder's halloween costume!

Jarv, I know you read this thread. Hire mr kinder to do the next one

New Pulp track will be released today

We're getting a new Pulp single today! pic.twitter.com/9r4PYtWYZJ

— daily pulp (@pulptoday) May 22, 2025

awesome. i loved "spike island."

I am enjoying “Spike Island” quite a bit.

And here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_xnLmRz6XM

uptempo and optimistic

this is fine but why is it so compressed? same problem as the last one

James Ford

there's plenty of stuff he's worked on that doesn't sound like this though idk

“Without life you’re just/Jerking off/Inside someone else”

🤔

Err, **love** not life

can't say I've ever done that.
does he really say "say it, ya nonce" around the 3 min mark?

xpost Zombie sex fiends everywhere objecting.

does he really say "say it, ya nonce" around the 3 min mark?

Think it's "ponce"

their old records are really compressed too, the Britpop sound

Different Class and This Is Hardcore especially (original editions) are quite dynamic for the era. WLL is brickwalled

I disagree, at least on Different Class. The drums are all smack and no body, the vocals super sibilant. Dense mixes with a ton of bus compression. I like that sound, not a diss at all.

Well the overall mastering is reasonably dynamic https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/209546

“Without life you’re just/Jerking off/Inside someone else”

🤔

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, May 23, 2025 2:22 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just heard this on the radio and "jerking" (and most of "off") is censored.

I know Pulp have talked about Springsteen influences before but this sounds almost Southside Johnny to me, maybe it’s just the refrain though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6n21vZIOEQ

I think this album deserves its own thread, T minus 24 hours or so.

I can’t believe I’m listening to a new Pulp album, “Grown Ups”!!!

How dare you. (In that I still have forty minutes to go.)

However, as I agree with Bee OK there:

Pulp -- More