...
'Different Class' is an epic and dramatic masterpiece. The album is very eclectic and seems musically sophisticated. Each song has key changes and tempo changes-- most of the hooks are very different from the verses. Even the slow tracks work up to a great crescendo. They tend to build ... Read review
Different Class - Pulp
It became increasingly apparent during 1995 that the answer to the question "Blur or ... more
Oasis?" was, in fact, "Pulp". Different Class was the sound of a band so on "it" that they defined "it". Thirty years of fury, frustration, sexual longing, class angst...
Different Class - Pulp
It became increasingly apparent during 1995 that the answer to the question "Blur or ... more
Oasis?" was, in fact, "Pulp".Different Classwas the sound of a band so on "it" that they defined "it". Thirty years of fury, frustration, sexual longing, class angst a...
A review by OKkaraoke on Different Class - Pulp October 31st, 2002
Author's product rating:
Originality
Groundbreaking
Lyrics
Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks
Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Advantages:
Sex, drugs, and common people ! Brilliant, catchy, important lyrics
Disadvantages:
some songs take a little getting used to; Can't I give it more than 5 Stars?
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Well, I've been a member of Ciao for about five days, so it's about time that I write about something that I love with a passion. That something is Pulp. I can't discuss which orange juice to buy with my housemates because I can't bring myself to say the words, 'I don't like Pulp.' Since I love Pulp so much, it might be hard for me to get any coherent thoughts on this album, but let's give it a try.
Pulp had been around for several years before finally becoming huge stars with this brilliant 1995 album. It features several hits that you have probably heard on the radio or pub juke boxes. But every track is profound and gorgeous in its own way.
'Different Class' is an epic and dramatic masterpiece. The album is very eclectic and seems musically sophisticated. Each song has key changes and tempo changes-- most of the hooks are very different from the verses. Even the slow tracks work up to a great crescendo. They tend to build up gradually and dramatically and then explode with some 'la-la-la's that are fun to sing along to. I was going to wimp out and make some ROLLER COASTER metaphor, but, since lead singer Jarvis Cocker is so sex-obsessed (most of the songs on this and all Pulp albums relate to sex) I think it is appropriate to say that most of these songs are... ORGASMIC.
1. 'Mis-Shapes'
This song is about fighting back if you are bullied for being different. It has a triumphant, grand feel to it, as Jarvis encourages people to rebel.
'We're making a move We're making it now We're coming out of the sidelines Just put your hands up, it's a raid, yeah We want your homes We want your lives We want the things you won't allow us We won't use guns We won't use bombs We'll use the one thing we've got more of And that's our minds'
It's an optimistic start to this album. I didn't used to like this song that much since it sounds a bit like a show-tune, but it has really grown on me.
2. 'Pencil Skirt'
The one word I could use to describe this song is "sleezy." It's one of two songs on the album where Jarvis is a relationship-wrecker. On this one, he is sleeping with a woman who is engaged but he says, 'I'll be around when he's not in town (oh)/I'll show you how you're doing it wrong (oh).' A lot of people have told me that they don't like Pulp because Jarvis is so 'weird.' But that's exactly why I do like them. Who wants to listen to something 'normal?' The best bit of this song is:
'Now you can tell some lies about the good times that you've had But I've kissed your mother twice And now I'm working on your dad... Oh baby'
It makes me laugh every time. And I love the way he says 'mother' with his lovely Sheffield accent.
3. Common People
This song is certainly the crowning acheivement of this album and one of the best songs of the last 10 years. I would even put it on my TOP 10 OF ALL TIME. In case you haven't heard it (and, if you haven't, you are really missing out!) it is the story of a girl from Greece who comes to London to study art. She's rich, but she says that she wants 'to live like common people.' Jarvis explains in that song why it is impossible for her to realize her dream. If things go wrong, her dad will bail her out. He takes a serious subject and turns it into an entertaining, catchy, dramatic song that I listen to almost every day. I could go on and on about this song's brilliance.
'Rent a flat about the shop Cut your hair and get a job Smoke some fags and play some pool Pretend you never went to school But still you'll never get it right Cuz when you lay in bed at night Watching roaches climb the wall If you're cold your daddy can stop it all yeah'
This song builds up tension and drama until the final, dramatic release during the "la la la la" bit at the end. And, appropriately, this epic ends with "Oh yeah..."
4. 'I Spy'
This is another 'Jarvis is so creepy!!' song involving breaking up marriages and voyeurism. The character in this song sleeps with rich housewives. It's sort of hard to understand what he's saying sometimes as he mutters. It is worth looking up the lyrics since a lot of them are quite amusing. For instance:
'You see, you should take me seriously. Very seriously indeed. 'Cos I've been sleeping your wife for the past sixteen weeks Smoking your cigarettes Drinking your brandy Messing up the bed that you chose together...' and: 'Grass is something you smoke Birds are something you shag Take your "Year in Provence" and shove it up your arse'
My friend Ethan and I know it all by heart and walk around singing/speaking it in a Jarvis voice. People around here must think we're insane... Again, this song speeds up and builds up drama. I don't usually like songs that involve strings, but this one is done well. And it has one of the best 'la la la la la' bits on the whole album! 'La la, la la la la la la la la/In the midnight hour/La la, la la la la la la la la/I will come to you...'
5. Disco 2000
This is the second biggest hit from this album, so you have probably heard it, as well. The protagonist in this song is still hung up on a childhood pal of his named Deborah who turned into quite a babe when she hit puberty. The lyrics are rather sad, but the tune is so much fun! I put this song on and dance around my room sometimes. Jarvis admitted that he put the 'Let's all meet up in the year 2000' bit in so that he might sell more albums around the turn of the century. He nicked the 'Deborah' rhythm from an '80s classic called 'Gloria' by Laura Branigan.
'I never knew that you'd get married And I would be living down here on my own'
More dramatics and fantastic hooks. And you can't help but sing along with the 'Ooh, ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh' parts at the end. And I love the way he says, 'Brother!'
6. Live Bed Show
This is a lovely, sad song about a relationship that is falling apart. Of course, Jarvis adds a sleezy, voyeuristic slant to an ordinary situation by talking about how the neighbours used to be subjected to 'the headboard banging in the night' and comparing their relationship to a television programme. But this song is pretty and moving and features some nice 'lalala's, as well.
7. Something Changed
This is actually a fairly straightforward love song about fate and meeting people, etc. Jarvis sings 'I wrote this song two hours before we met' and wonders what his life would be like if he had decided to stay home or the object of his affection had gone and seen a friend. However, he doesn't specify exactly how his life would be 'very different then' and we are finally back to the old Jarvis when he says, 'Would I be singing this song to someone else instead?' So, maybe this person isn't that special after all... [Or perhaps, I am just cynical...]
8. Sorted for E's and Wizz
Ironically, this song is an anti-drugs song, but it was controversial due to the drug references and photo on the single. Jarvis and his mates 'Got the tickets from some f*cked up bloke in Camden Town'. Yes, there are a lot of those types right outside the Tube station. Then, he and his mates don't even know where the show is 'but that's ok 'cause we're all sorted out for e's and wizz.' It's about rave culture.
'In the middle of the night It feels alright, but then tomorrow morning Ooh, Ooh, then you come down'
And, of course, my favourite part:
'And you want to call your mother And say: "Mother! I can never come home again! Cos I seem to have left an important part of my brain Somewhere, somewhere in a field in Hampshire." alright.'
9. F.E.E.L.I.N.G. C.A.L.L.E.D. L.O.V.E.
This song is extremely dramatic, even comically so at times. Jarvis starts out talking, like a creepy narrator, but eventually it builds up to the catchy chorus involving the spelling of words. Although the tune of the hook sounds cheerful at times, this is not the type of love that one is happy about. It is one of those 'I-don't-want-to-feel-like-this-but-I-do!' situations.
'What is this feeling called love? Why me? Why you? Why here? And why now? Oh! It doesn't make no sense, no It's not convenient, no It doesn't fit my plans But I've got that taste in my mouth again, oh!'
...'L.O.V.E. What is this thing that is happening to me. oh yeah! oh yeah!'
Everyone has felt like this at some point or another, wishing that you weren't in love. But the happy-sounding tune of the chorus doesn't match with the hopeless, heartbroken sentiment of the lyrics.
10. Underwear
My friend Marisa is afraid of this song because it scares her when Jarvis sings, 'Why don't you give yourself to him, oh JESUS!' But, I love it because, for once, Jarvis gets a taste of his own medicine as he catches a girl he's in love with 'semi-naked in someone else's room.' This is a very pretty song and Jarvis sings the desperation and heart-ache very well. It's Ethan's favourite Pulp song.
11. Monday Morning
This song is about the cycles of drug use and the emptiness of life, but has a rather lively tune at times.
'Going out late from Monday To ch-chuck up in the street on Sunday You don't wanna live 'til Monday You're gonna do it all over again'
Very heavy lyrics but there are some fun 'lalala's and 'ah-ah-ah's that save it from being too depressing.
12. Bar Italia
This album starts on an optimistic note, but ends with a depressing one as this song is about hangovers and cycles (similar to the previous track). Still drunk and/or on drugs, Jarvis' character heads to a cafe in Soho which is the only thing that's open at that hour. 'Round the corner in Soho,' there actually IS a little bar with a neon sign that reads 'Bar Italia!' It's on Frith St. if you want to make a pilgrimage there. I went in hoping to find a photo of Jarvis or something, but, alas, there was nothing Pulp-related.
'You can't go home and go to bed Because it hasn't worn off yet And now it's morning There's only one place we can go It's round the corner, in Soho Where other broken people go
He says that he'll be back 'next week, same place, same time.' Despite the first track's hints at a revolution, it seems that Jarvis has resigned himself to the mentality of 'Common People' that you 'dance and drink and screw because there's nothing else to do.'
Advantages: Great lyrics, great sound Disadvantages: None
...through a whole range of different lineups starting in 1978 in Sheffield, before forming a more stable band in the late 80s. By this time they'd produced so many different types of music it's inconceivable – dark morbid material, folky styled music, acid house and pop influences, before settling into an altogether 'safer' indie and pop styling in the early 90s. There's still a few of the old influences present, as we shall see as we look at ... ...got the success they deserve after a decidedly lack-lustre period in the 80s.
When I look at Pulp's music on 'Different Class', I tend to find the sort of thing I can identify with. Confused feelings, aspects of inferiority, the beauty of love and the whole class difference thing all help to consolidate the kind of way I was feeling in my teens. You only have to look at the first track 'Mis-shapes' to see that.
- Won't it be strange when we're ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Lyrically, musically and sonically that is. Disadvantages: Some people just won't get it sadly :-(
Different Class
This was the first Pulp album that commercially made it big. After His ‘N’ Hers became something of a classic amongst many music listeners. Before that Pulp had released many albums, with some rather hit and miss songs on them. Here is my run down on the songs that really do make this album ‘Different Class’ An album full of songs about the common person, and the underdog. “Please understand. We don’t ... ...about how people who are different who enjoy studying and dress differently (stereotypical nerds) can be bullied by those people who think they are better than them. This song is full of witty remarks, one of the best verses is:
“Check your lucky numbers, that much money could drag you under,
Oh what’s the point in being rich, if you can’t think what to do with it,
‘Cause you’re so bleeding thick.”
This is ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...in 1995, and available with different covers in limited edition (mine features the wedding photograph) it’s a definite must-have for collectors of classic albums of the 90s, if not all time.
Tracklisting:
Mis-shapes
Pencil Skirt
Common People
! Spy
Disco 2000
Live Bed Show
Something Changed
Sorted for Es and Whizz
F.E.E.L.I.N.G C.A.L.L.E.D L.O.V.E
Underwear
Monday Morning
Bar Italia
This is one of those rare albums where the highlights ... ...certainly are in this case. “Common People” was a mega-hit and probably familiar to all – a masterpiece of lyricism, vocalisation and musicianship – infectiously sing-a-long and poignant depending how you see the lyrics.
The other singles, “Mis-shapes”, “Disco 2000”,”Sorted for Es and Whizz” and “Something Changed” can also be put in that bracket – even if they are somewhat ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...1995 Pulp released their album Different Class which was certainly among the top ten albums of the 90s and the most thrilling British release of the year. Of course Pulp, by 1995, were veterans of the alternative pop and rock circuit. They had years of experience behind them and had paved the way with a good run of singles releases. The album before Different Class, His ‘n’ Hers, was a superb effort which laid the foundations for what ... ...superb single, Common People. But Different Class did exactly what it said on the packet. It was in a Different Class from the band’s previous work and also consolidated what was a very Pulpish sound into something unique but also sellable. From the very beginning of Mis-Shapes it is clear that this is an extraordinary album. And the open We don’t look the same as you, we don’t do the same as you, but live round here too It’s ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Maybe the best album of the 90's Disadvantages: A few mistakes in the inlay content
...and the middle-sister pick-of-the-litter, 1995's Different Class. For better than two decades, whippet-thin singer/lyricist Jarvis Cocker has served as the band's jigging jester bedrock. A dandy deviate with a lurid libido, he is the Benny Hill of pop performers - the sort whose outlandish, unzipped-knickers shenanigans ultimately prove charmingly harmless. On Different Class, Cocker dips into his patented bag of thematic tricks - voyeurism, fetishism, ... ...but when the end result proves as refreshingly decadent as Different Class, the years can all the more easily be absolved for having been well worth the wait, and the artistic cribbing can much more accurately be classified "inspired assimilation" than "petty theft." Party on, Mr. Cocker. And party hard. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Consistent Disadvantages: Not as good as previous album
...After buying, and being completely delighted with, DifferentClass, I bought this hoping for much of the same. Unfortunately it is not all that DifferentClass is, some tracks are really weak, and they all sound pretty much similar to the untrained ear. Dont get me wrong, if you like Pulp then by all means purchase it, but do not be expecting the same again. This is hardcore, the title track is a really good song, Jarvis Cockers lyrical offerings are unrivalled and the beat will have you up and dancing in no time. If you only have enough for one pulp album, buy differentclass. If you already have it, buy best of 1980-90...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average off topic
...Oh dear, where should we begin?
Back in '95, Menswear had it all. They played the right style of music (Britpop), they were from the right part of town (Camden) and were front-page news before they even released a record. So why the low score?
In a nutshell, this album isn't very good.
125 West Third Street is OK, Daydreamer got into the top ten but isn't really anything special and Being Brave is quite a good track. Ultimately though, the album could not live up to the hype.
If you want great songwriting, buy an Oasis album - What's The Story (Morning Glory) would be the best one.
If you're looking for the sound of Britpop in the mid nineties, go for Blur's Parklife.
If you're looking for a band with the style to go with the songs, you should get DifferentClass by Pulp.
Menswear, I'm afraid, were very much style...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: A few good tracks, interesting for fans of their later work Disadvantages: Some of it severly shoddy
...This is a strange little collection of songs from Pulp dating from 1983 to 1992. It may come as a surprise to some people that Pulp didn?t start off with DifferentClass, but the band were going for years even before this as an unsigned act. But what?s the album like? Well, not great. It starts off fine, My Legendary Girlfriend, Countdown and Death Goes to The Disco are all great, electronica tinged tracks. But by the time you get halfway through the album to Dogs Are Everywhere the quality is starting to drop alarmingly. This didn?t bother me as I only paid about £2 for the CD in a sale, but if you pay normal price you will feel ripped off....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Album Notes: Pulp: Jarvis Cocker (vocals, acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, Vocoder, synthesizer, MicroMoog, Mellotron); Mark Webber (acoustic & electric guitars, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Russell Senior (electric guitar, violin); Candida Doyle (Farfisa organ, Fender Rhodes piano, Minimoog synthesizer, synthesizer); Steve Mackey (bass); Nick Banks (drums, percussion). Additional personnel includes: Anne Dudley (conductor, arranger); Chris Thomas (guitar, keyboards); Matthew Vaughan, Olle Romo, Anthony Genn, Mark Haley (programming); Gavyn Wright. Recorded at The Town House and Air Lyndhurst, London, England. Judging from the tone of the songs on DIFFERENT CLASS, Jarvis Cocker, Pulp's lead singer, chief lyricist and main attraction, seems like a spiteful little bastard playing Robin Hood--or, maybe, Robin Hood playing the spiteful little bastard. His suave thespian delivery of songs about English class warfare and an outsiders' existence, suggests a class-conscious Bryan Ferry. And he fronts a band as majestic, glammy and multi-faceted as the Eno-era Roxy Music playing a form of modern-day Rocky Horror Britpop. Pulp's is a thoroughly British pose--the themes, colloquialisms and topics of DIFFERENT CLASS have little to do with American culture. Like E.M. Forster novels, however, the best songs play with emotions of societal existence, which translate easily across the ocean. "Mis-Shapes," an acoustic-guitar-fueled call-to-arms for the working class young, and "Common People," the tale of a young upper-class female who goes slumming for a commoner lover ("I wanna sleep with common people") and finds a venomous Cocker, are alone worth the price of admission. And judging by his coldly detached description of a rave in "Sorted Out For E's & Wizz," Cocker finds no solace in the counterculture either, which suggests that the different classes he's talking about aren't simply shaped by the contents of pocketbooks but the contents of hearts and minds.
Album Reviews: Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.64) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Spin (9/99, p.140) - Ranked #1 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s." Q (10/01, p.67) - Ranked #23 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime" Q (12/99, p.84) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s." Spin (1/97, p.58) - Ranked #3 on Spin's list of the "20 Best Albums Of '96." Village Voice (2/25/97) - Ranked #10 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Q (2/96, p.67) - Included in Q's 50 Best Albums of 1995. Melody Maker (12/23-30/95, pp.66-67) - Tied for #1 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year.' NME (12/23-30/95, pp.22-23) - Ranked #7 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 - "...A call to arms for the misfits and the misunderstood..." Q (6/00, p.70) - Ranked #46 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" Rolling Stone (4/4/96, pp.61-62) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...a brilliant, eccentric, irresistible pop album about fucking and fucking up..." Spin (3/96, p.108) - 9 (out of 10) - "...Jarvis Cocker [is] the most observant, quotable British lyricist since Morrissey and Neil Tennant....Pulp elevate themselves to a level...supportive of Cocker's minutely detailed narratives and excessively theatrical delivery. The new-wave arrangements stay focused..." Q (12/95, p.142) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...the range of DIFFERENT CLASS is impressive: `Live Bed Show' is the sort of brooding ballad Nick Cave might favour...tracks such as this and `Feelings Called Love,' render more redundant than ever the view of Pulp as kitsch..." Melody Maker (10/28/95, p.37) - Bloody Essential - "...at once richly evocative of a quintessentially English pop past and yet as irreducible, idiosyncratic and NOW! as...The Smiths in their heyday. Pulp, in fact, are The Smiths if they hadn't been so appallingly disco-phobic..." Option (1-2/96, p.110) - "...a vivacious extravaganza of mod, melodramatic fun..."
Titles on disc 1
1.: Mis Shapes
2.: Pencil Skirt
3.: Common People
4.: I Spy
5.: Disco 2000
6.: Live Bed Show
7.: Something Changed
8.: Sorted For E's And Wizz
9.: FEELINGCALLEDLOVE
10.: Underwear
11.: Monday Morning
12.: Bar Italia
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Listed on Ciao since : 13/07/2000
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