Only a few days in, and I already broke my New Year's Resolution, but I have a good reason! I swear! I was under the weather, so I went to bed early.
While on my daily run, though, I got to listening to the bonus disc to Pulp's This Is Hardcore and remembered the brilliant lunacy that is "Cocaine Socialism." By the time the album was finished, the song had become "Glory Days" and switched its gloomy pessimism for a lest genuine-sounding optimism. It also lots some backup singers, horns and excess that just sounds right in hindsight. In the liner notes, the lead singer (Jarvis Cocker) explains his mindset when making this album, and it unsurprisingly is filled with betrayal, self-loathing, sex drugs and politics - the last of which seemed to toss him over the edge a bit.
The entire bonus disc is filled with lesser gems, from the non-LP single "Like a Friend," a personal favorite, to "It's a Dirty World," whose understated production seems as unseemly as the story it tells.
Different Class is Pulp's masterpiece, but I always find This Is Hardcore to be much more fascinating, as its themes seem much more psychological and internal. The sex in the title track and non-LP song "The Professional" are so perverse they sound like they're dripping with blood. Yet the last three songs on the album wind up being hyper-optimistic, like they have to mask the darkness that preceded it. The majority of the album comes off with the despair and loathing of a film noir, which makes the positivity of the ending unconvincing. Luckily, the reissued Deluxe Edition does an excellent job showing some of the early versions and discarded song, making the light at the end of the tunnel into a light at the middle of the tunnel.
I leave you with the video for "This Is Hardcore," which echoes my film noir sentiments.
This Is Hardcore:
AND Because I missed last night's post, here's another Britpop-related treat, courtesy of my friend Dennis:
The entire bonus disc is filled with lesser gems, from the non-LP single "Like a Friend," a personal favorite, to "It's a Dirty World," whose understated production seems as unseemly as the story it tells.
Different Class is Pulp's masterpiece, but I always find This Is Hardcore to be much more fascinating, as its themes seem much more psychological and internal. The sex in the title track and non-LP song "The Professional" are so perverse they sound like they're dripping with blood. Yet the last three songs on the album wind up being hyper-optimistic, like they have to mask the darkness that preceded it. The majority of the album comes off with the despair and loathing of a film noir, which makes the positivity of the ending unconvincing. Luckily, the reissued Deluxe Edition does an excellent job showing some of the early versions and discarded song, making the light at the end of the tunnel into a light at the middle of the tunnel.
I leave you with the video for "This Is Hardcore," which echoes my film noir sentiments.
This Is Hardcore:
AND Because I missed last night's post, here's another Britpop-related treat, courtesy of my friend Dennis:
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