Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

29 March 2018

BAND: PULP

ALBUM: THIS IS HARDCORE – the band’s sixth album

RELEASED: 30 March 1998 – 20 Years Ago…

ALL MUSIC (Stephen Thomas Erlewine) wrote: “This is the sound of someone losing the plot/you’re gonna like it, but not a lot.” So says Jarvis Cocker on “The Fear,” the opening track
on ‘This Is Hardcore’, the ambitious follow-up to Pulp’s breakthrough Different Class. Cocker doesn’t quite lose the plot here, but the ominous, claustrophobic “The Fear” makes it clear
that this is a different band, one that no longer has anthems like “Common People” in mind.
The shift in direction shouldn’t come as a surprise – Pulp was always an arty band – but even the catchiest numbers are shrouded in darkness. This album is haunted by disappointments and fear, by the realization that what you dreamed of may not be what you really wanted.
The title track is the centerpiece of the LP, and the best moments follow its tone. Instead of delivering an entirely bleak album, Pulp raise the curtain somewhat on the last three songs,
but the attempts at redemption, “Sylvia,” “Glory Days,” “The Day After the Revolution” – don’t
feel as natural as everything that precedes them. It’s enough to keep the album from being a masterpiece, but it’s hardly enough to prevent it from being an artistic triumph.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: This bold, blackish, bewitching and multi-layered
tour de force proved that Pulp was far more than a pop tunes machine. This highly intriguing and at times enigmatic LP was/is a hard score…

THREE HIGHLIGHTS: The Fear / Glory Days / A Little Soul

THE FEAR – ‘A horror soundtrack from a stagnant waterbed‘…

GLORY DAYS – close family to ‘Common People‘ – top cut…

A LITTLE SOUL – tenebrous beauty…

Album in full…
https://open.spotify.com/album/65TxXNf79y6E7zBpAdVMZZ?si=S0DKyPFbQkueW-FF_BdnmA
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PULP: Facebook – Discography

(His and Hers LP shot)