Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They had it all, January 15, 2003
Its such a shame Pulp have faded from our lives. In 1995 they were megastars in the UK with their release 'Different Class' which typified the indiekid/britpop movement and beat all the other bands that were part of it (and yes that includes YOU Oasis and Blur) to, quite literally, a Pulp. But unlike the many other bands who have had one successful album amid a fog of underachieving ones, Different Class isn't actually that far ahead of other Pulp albums. Its just that Pulp were so part of that particular moment that, as its fashionability passed, and 'indiekids' became no longer 'kids', they lost their limelight.While the singles from Different Class remain brilliant (their best known, the classic 'Common People', and also 'Sorted Out For E's and Whizz' and their best track ever, 'Disco 2000'), there's plenty more on offer in Pulp's Hits album. There's the pop charm of the singles from the earlier 'His n Hers' album (particularly the album's opener, the fantastic 'Babies'), the harder work of the 'This Is Hardcore' albuim the rockiest of which is 'Party Hard' and the later commercial failure but artistic success of the 'We Love Life' album, particularly 'Bad Cover Version'. There's also a decent, slow-burning new track, 'Last Day of the Miner's Track'. RIP Pulp
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
...as long as you save a piece for me, December 4, 2003
You know you'd give it up for Jarvis Cocker. Without question. The way he can sneer right through a song while coasting on his smooth, white-soul voice inspires a host of dirty thoughts. Amazingly, this is a a 'best of' that manages to avoid glaring errors and ommissions. Don't even try not to shake yer hips to the first half of the album- songs such as 'Babies' and 'Common People' (the massive hit that pitted working class against upper crust with it's tale of a poor little rich girl) are laced with campy synths and have driving beats lifted straight from the Discoteque. And of course, it's all loaded with the kind of cheeky bantor that would make anyone but Jarvis blush. After all, how many bands could make you sympathize with a man who cheats on his girlfriend with her sister? As the pace slows the music segues into a series of slow-burn croons like the sentimental a "Little Soul," never losing the uniquely British character that Pulp refused to water down for marketability outside the Commonwealth.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must! But without omissions? Oh no, there are so many!, July 25, 2005
In many ways the fate of British PULP is rather tragic. They struggled for far more than a decade before they finally had their well-deserved breakthrough with 1995's 'Different Class'. After which they made the descision to turn artistic rather than mainstream - bad for record sales, good for the fans. As expected, as the music grew progressively better and more deep, the sales-number's dropped critically. This collection could be the opportunity for the band to show that they never lost the nerve, even if their later releases didn't spawn any great smash-hits like 'Common People' and 'Disco 2000' from before-mentioned breakthrough album.
The reason for this is that the album includes strictly only the songs picked for A-side releases - and while none of these songs are bad, I still think the person who was responsible for picking the songs for single-release from their latest album 'We Love Life' must have been hit - hard - in the head, with the result of critical loss of good sense, before making that selection. A pity, because I still believe that album could have done so much better than it did.
The songs on this compilation are arranged in chronoligical order, and covers the albums 'His'n'Hers', 'Different Class', 'This Is Hardcore' and 'We Love Life' - all released on the Island label. The bands earlier career is well documentet in several other compilation, most common is the somewhat uneven "Countdown" double-CD. In my oppinion, any affectionate of the bands later music should try to get a hand on their last pre-Island album 'Seperations', that is imo. fully as good as any as their Island records, in its own peculiar way - and considerably better than 'His'n'Hers'. However, let me give a brief run-through of the songs on this CD.
- His'n'Hers Era -
Four tracks are included from this album, and while none of them are bad, only one - 'Do You Remember The First Time?' - is on level with their later work. All songs share a thematic focus on relationships - or perhaps one should say, failed relationships - and they fully display Jarvis Cockers amazing ability to write clever lyrics. However, I think these songs are all very pesimistic - sarcasm is more dominating than irony here, spite more pronounced than humor - which is a shame, because much of the charm of the bands later work is missing on that account. Also, the melodies are not - with the exception of Do You Remember ... - completely succesfull imo; there is a rather forced, constructed sound to these songs, they are neither as catchy nor elegant as later compositions.
The problem is that when the songs are arrange chronologically, the album opens on a low, which is never a good thing. I'd be very tempted to simply skip the first 3 songs when putting this on, and get right to the REAL stuf.
- Different Class era -
While Do You Remember The First Time? gave the band some airplay and spawned interest, 'Common People' brought PULP to everybody's attention. The song became a well-deserved smash-hit all around the world, and for the good reasons. The lyrics are brilliant - clever and funny at the same time - and the melody is extremely catchy. The tempo-change of the song, that starts out slow and the incrases pace throughout it's more than 5 minutes, is a brilliant detail.
The record spawned a long series of hits - 'Sorted For E's And Wizz' (released as a double-A-side with Mis-Shapes, which is for some reson excluded here?), 'Disco 2000' and 'Something Changed'. Also released on single was the track 'Underwear', only included on the UK version of this compilation. If the greatest weaknes of the Different Class album was that nearly all the songs were quite close in sound, that was easily forgiven considering the consistent high quality of the songs.
- This Is Hardcore era -
Following the sudden mega succes of Different Class, PULP took some time off trying to get to terms with their newfound fame, with all it's good and, especially, bad sides. They came back with the dark and moody 'This Is Hardcore'. That the band had taken a more serious turn was obvious from first single 'Help The Aged', focusing on the lonelines of old people in modern society. The track also has a much heavier rock-sound than their previous releases, which might have scared away some of the bands former fans, that liked the easy-going sound of their former hits.
That sound was characteristic for the whole album, which was much darker than earlier work. Fans were divided - some prefered the old style, while other found that the "new" PULP was much more serious and interesting than the "old", and also the music grew increasingly more refined. The title track, second single of the album, has an eery atmosphere of gloom, and with lyrics about sexual fantasies about starring in porn movies - never explicit, but quite obvious - it is very far from main-stream. 'A Little Soul' sounds like a quite normal, sweet pop-tune - that is, until you listen to the lyrics, about a man telling his song about how he left the family and the boys mother and spent the nights with other women. Quite a task to pull such a song off to a merry pop-tune, but PULP manage this with splendor. Not many other bands, if any, could have done it. Last single from the album was 'Party Hard' - one of the most rocking uptempo songs the band have done.
- We Love Life era -
The band's latest album was promoted with the double A-side single 'The Trees'/'Sunrise'. Sunrise is a glorious pop-song about coming out of a personal crisis and facing up to life again. The song has an absolutely glorious instrumental/choral second part that takes your breath away. Easily one of the most beautiful songs writting within the last 10 years. On the other side, The Trees was an eery song with an odd violin song and a theme about lost love. This track is not bad, but deffinitely not very radio-friendly, and the single failed to create a lot of airplay. Thus, the new album went virtually un-noticed on release.
As second single was picked the song 'Bad Cover Version' - again, not a bad song, but still one of the weakest from the album in my oppinion. The song is quite slow and not as elegant or catchy as much more obvious picks from the album like 'The Night That Minney Timperley Died', 'The Birds In You Garden' og 'Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down)'. As such, this single also failed to increase record sales, and after this no further singles were released from the album - a great pity.
- New track -
The compilation includes one new song, 'The Last Day Of The Mines' Strike'. Again, this is not a bad song, but it doesn't really offer me a lot. It's very slow, it's not a radio friendly song, and though I suppose the lyrics aren't bad, the song never really cought onto me. A bit ironic actually, this album starts on a low, and ends on a low, which is never a good thing.
- Songs Not Included -
There are many songs from their albums that are not on this compilation, but that I think are much better than those included here. 'Mis-Shapes' was released as a single, but didn't make it unto here for some mysterious reason? 'I Spy' wasn't very radio-friendly, but was by far the most clover song off Different Class. 'Live Bed Show' could easily have made the cut as a single release. 'F.E.A.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E' was also a very interesting track, hinting at the more dark sound of the next record.
'The Fear', opener from This Is Hardcore, was always a favorite of mine. Likewise, 'TV Movie' is a delightful track, and 'Sylvia' and 'Glory Days' both displayed ample of hit material. 'Wickerman' from We Love Life is beyond doubt the bands most complicated song to date - and also probably their best. Other highlights off that record were 'The Weets', 'The Night That Minnie Timperley Died', 'Birds In Your Garden' and 'Bob Lind'.
Thus, I think they should have followed the example of the first compilation release 'Countdown', and made this a double CD. THe second CD could have run something like:
Mis-Shapes - I Spy - Live Bed Show - F.E.A.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E - Underwear - The Fear - TV Movie - Sylvia - Glory Days - The Weets - The Night That Minnie Timperley Died - Wickerman - The Birds In Your Garden - Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down) - Grandfather's Nursery
That would have made an much more compete and satisfactory collection. As the CD is now, it's a great CD with 10 masterful songs and a handful of good ones to follow, but it could have been even better.
Overall rating: 9 / 10
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