Sunday, September 19, 2004
Pulp - Different Class
I remember a phase when I was at school, where everyone fell into two camps: Blur or Oasis. C'mon, which were you, and where was I? Correct answer - neither! I'd like to say I was following the Third Way, the One True Path, and listening to Pulp. However, I was still going through my Mike Oldfield/Pink Floyd/Fleetwood Mac/Dire Straits phase, and all three largely passed me by.
A big shame, really, because it meant that I missed out on Different Class the first time round. This is a truly excellent album. Jarvis Cocker's songwriting is top-drawer. His themes of teenage angst, the day-to-day worries of working class British life and hedonistic parties are ones which have been handed down through the ages, from The Kinks, to Ian Dury, through Billy Bragg, and thence to Jarvis. (It's why we can rightly hail The Kinks' Ray Davies as the Godfather of Britpop.)
Everyone knows 'Common People' and 'Disco 2000'; if anything, they're now a bit too well known and detract from the rest of the works on offer here. Instead, enjoy the other tracks. A few made it out as singles; others linger here. But they're all good. In particular, 'Something Changed' with its universally uplifting theme of finding love - plus it shows The Verve how violins and Britpop can mix tastefully.
You've got all the standard Pulp touches: tight backing, Jarvis' all-knowing voice and the litle notes in the sleeves banning you from reading the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings. The band's other albums are good, but this one must take pride of place as the foundation of the thinking man's Britpop collection. I'd forgotten just how good it is.
A big shame, really, because it meant that I missed out on Different Class the first time round. This is a truly excellent album. Jarvis Cocker's songwriting is top-drawer. His themes of teenage angst, the day-to-day worries of working class British life and hedonistic parties are ones which have been handed down through the ages, from The Kinks, to Ian Dury, through Billy Bragg, and thence to Jarvis. (It's why we can rightly hail The Kinks' Ray Davies as the Godfather of Britpop.)
Everyone knows 'Common People' and 'Disco 2000'; if anything, they're now a bit too well known and detract from the rest of the works on offer here. Instead, enjoy the other tracks. A few made it out as singles; others linger here. But they're all good. In particular, 'Something Changed' with its universally uplifting theme of finding love - plus it shows The Verve how violins and Britpop can mix tastefully.
You've got all the standard Pulp touches: tight backing, Jarvis' all-knowing voice and the litle notes in the sleeves banning you from reading the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings. The band's other albums are good, but this one must take pride of place as the foundation of the thinking man's Britpop collection. I'd forgotten just how good it is.
# posted by Sam : 22:49
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There was a version of "Common People" on the radio on Saturday, a combination of an Amerikan talking voice and then punky singing. I didn't catch who it was by but it were right good.
# posted by 
: 9:31 am
: 9:31 am
Yes, it's William Shatner, with 70s singer Joe Jackson on the bits that sound decent. All masterminded by Ben Folds (he of the Ben Folds Five). Shatner and Folds have done a new album together. (They've also worked together in past, under the pseudonym Fear Of Pop.)
I think it's quite good. :-)
I think it's quite good. :-)
Different Class is the only album I've ever bought on the day it was released. True fact. I guess that means I was following the One True Path, although in truth I listened to Oasis a lot more at the time. Still a class album though.
And why do they always tell you not to read the lyrics while listening to the music? I've never understood that, but maybe I'm just some kind of Philistine...
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And why do they always tell you not to read the lyrics while listening to the music? I've never understood that, but maybe I'm just some kind of Philistine...
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