One of the best albums of the Britpop era. Maybe the best. Maybe my favorite album of the 90s, too. The dance-ready synthesizers tart up some truly threatening sexual and social tensions ("Pencil Skirt," "I Spy"). And that's when the band is not blasting doors down with anthems ("Mis-shapes," "Disco 2000," and the immortal "Common People"). It's easily the most consistent set of songs Pulp's ever gotten out in one go. Jarvis Cocker (singer) is fully formed as a songwriter here, with the wit and subtlety to write "I took her to a supermarket/I don't know why, but it had to start somewhere/So it started there" and the sense to sing it with matter-of-factness followed by wonder followed by a determined kind of finality. It's in these little moments of subtlety that make Pulp a lovable band. It's what makes a song like "Underwear" simultaneously sexy, depressing and menacing.
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