It is the rare modern pop act that can withstand 16 years of commercial obscurity and survive, let alone triumph. But that's exactly what the Brit-based glam-rock outfit Pulp has managed to do, releasing three of the '90s most irresistibly subversive song cycles - 1994's His 'N' Hers, 1998's This is Hardcore, 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, illicit trysts - and, sporting a vocal delivery alternately deadpan and camp theatrical, essays a range of naughty narrators - whether they're shouting from the mountains the importance of non-conformity ("Mis-Shapes") or just sitting listlessly in the dark, emitting sordid smoke rings (the unsettlingly sinister "I Spy" and "F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E"). The gorgeous, irony-free "Something Changed" features a soaring synthesizer line; "Disco 2000" appropriates its riff from the Laura Branigan "classic" "Gloria"; and the record's sterling centerpiece - the relentlessly catchy "Common People" - makes delicious mincemeat of a shallow-souled West End girl slumming her way through an East End summer. So, yes, it may have taken Pulp 16 long, lean years to begin to hit it big - and, no, their sound may not be the most original under the sun (like the London Suede, they owe much to Bowie) - 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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A very good opinion, but for my taste you spent a bit too much time alliterating and trying to write in some sort of half-cocked journalese. You're a good enough writer without trying too hard - chill a bit and you'd be superb.
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...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Brilliant album, full of emotionful songs that defined Britpop, easy to get into, intelligent lyrics, Jarvis Cocker's voice Disadvantages: -
Ihatemusic 24.12.2006 (24.12.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Different Class - Pulp
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?
OKkaraoke 31.10.2002 (27.11.2002)
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Review of Different Class - Pulp
very helpful by (100%):
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