Bit of a nice surprise...but don't get too excited - they won't be remastered and not many (if any) unheard songs (no Rattlesnake?!). Tracklistings not up yet. We Love Life deluxe surely has to be closer now?
Pulp are set to reissue their 1983 debut album 'It' along with their 1987 LP 'Freaks' and 1992's Separations later this summer.
All three albums will all be released on August 8, and will come with new liner notes from rock critic Everett True. Although the LPs wont be remastered, they will all come with new artwork, while Freaks and Separations will both come with added bonus tracks.
'Freaks' will feature an extra disc of material taken from their singles 'Little Girl' and'Dogs Are Everywhere', while 'Separations' will also include two extra songs - 'Death Goes To Disco' and 'Is This House' - plus an extended version of the album track'Countdown'.
Yeah, just been on the Fire site and it looks like they are trying to cash-in on the reunion. Fair enough, but with no input from the band presumably. A pity that they're getting a respected writer to put notes to them, but they aren't giving the sound a much-needed spruce-up (particularly Freaks). And this is probably the last shot there was for the early unreleased songs (Sink Or Swim/Barefoot In The Park/The Heat etc.) to come out. Bit of a missed opportunity then. Vinyls reissued too.
Darn, I was always hoping Jarvis could get the rights back to these and do proper re-releases, maybe through Rough Trade. My dream reissue would be a two-disc Freaks including a nice remaster of Sudan Gerri.
Would also have been nice to get Everybody's Problem and There Was... reinstated onto the It CD, but I guess those two songs still lie in the hands of Cherry Red?
They must be quite confident that they will sell, judging by the fact they are doing vinyl pressings too.
Fucking Fire. Bunch of cunts. And they've changed/distorted the cover art on Separations. AND they just did a re-release of masters of the universe last year!
If Fire really wanted to cash in they could have pulled their finger out and put something extra into this that would have made it worth while but as usual this is the same unimaginative regurgitated material that they have predictabley been trying to whore for the past 15 years or more. I won't be buying it.
I'm guessing that Fire only hold the rights on material they've already put out themselves, hence the b-sides and interim singles/EPs being included. If they had gotten the band's blessing (unlikely considering their history) we might have got something special. Pulp will just have to release all the unheard curios themselves if they're arsed about it at all.
Bit of a nice surprise...but don't get too excited - they won't be remastered and not many (if any) unheard songs (no Rattlesnake?!). Tracklistings not up yet. We Love Life deluxe surely has to be closer now?
I hope so! Right now I'm more into the idea of a WLL deluxe than a some new artwork... (jesus!)
Typically, unbearably cheap, greedy cash in by Fire- which I suppose should be expected. They've always been there jumping on any success the band have garnered. This is the third time these have been reissued- devoid of any imagination or value.
No point in the CDs, but I must admit to much excitement regarding having these albums on vinyl, particularly Freaks, my second favourite behind TIH. I hope Island reissue the later albums on vinyl too.
And this is probably the last shot there was for the early unreleased songs (Sink Or Swim/Barefoot In The Park/The Heat etc.) to come out. Bit of a missed opportunity then.
In fairness, Fire don't and never have had the rights to these tracks as they predate their involvement with Pulp by a good three years. No matter how good a job they did with these reissues, there was never any chance of them being included. Can't really blame them for that. I do agree more generally that these look like a missed opportunity though.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I understand the disappointment over the lost opportunity, but at least Fire is keeping the albums in circulation. Is that such a terrible thing? It'd be great to have linear notes from Jarvis or Russell, but Everett True's linear notes can't be any worse than Harland Miller's officially-sanctioned notes in 'Hits'.
I'd wager the vinyl will sell better than the CD format.
I don't know. I remember articles like that. The guy needed to grow up and have a cold shower or something. That warped Jarvis fixation like all the screaming girls you got at concerts at the time, as though the band were bit players, a musical back drop. I remember THEM from that tour: Steve 6.3' of gleaming black and white, Russell's flailing theatrics, Candida's otherwordly glamour, Nick's forthright and capable drumming, Mark's... cute. There's MY bit of daft hyperbole. Ha ha. It was a good show though, but it was almost spoiled for me by the screeching. And Denim. God they were shit.
-- Edited by Sleeve on Friday 3rd of June 2011 10:33:31 AM
Ha ha. Well, that was a little unfair. At the time I liked that pub rock song and It Fell Off the Back of a Lorry but I don't think I could get away with them now. Minty though- they were class! 'That's Nice!' wild stuff.
Oh, now we're talking! I controversially loved Minty - even had their album, although annoyingly I seem to have lost it somewhere along the way. Never saw Denim live, 'Back in Denim' is a wonderful LP though.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I've always read the "Jarvis-Sex-God" thing as being an invention of Pulp's publicists, and that critics like Mr. True were just playing the game. It was Pulp's 'angle', wasn't it?
RE: Denim
Always thought they were a disappointment after Felt, to be honest.
RE: Linear Notes
Everett True has always been more of an American Indie/Grunge guy, which makes him a strange fit for Pulp linear notes, but who knows, he might bring a fresh perspective.
Obviously, Sturdy would be the best man for the job.
-- Edited by Fuss Free on Friday 3rd of June 2011 01:25:21 PM
god, i HATED Everett True's writing. Not that i'm ageist but he was about 106 years old even when he was writing about grunge/etc
I remember he tried to launch some cool magazine in the late 90s, it got laughed into the ground. twat
(sorry!)
as for minty, i remember going to a desperate i think the one in vauxhall, my pal spotted someone from minty, cornered him and he had no choice he was going home with her or was that spearmint. can't remember
(sorry again, lunchtime drinks are dangerous in the sun)
Oh, now we're talking! I controversially loved Minty - even had their album, although annoyingly I seem to have lost it somewhere along the way. Never saw Denim live, 'Back in Denim' is a wonderful LP though.
Minty- yeah, just utter warped art insanity! I had 'Denim on Ice', it had a good cover. I haven't heard anything else other than that, which is what discogs/ youtube is good for , I suppose.
The second reissue with Bonus material is Separations which features three bonus tracks including an extended version of iconic Countdown. The tracklilsting is as such;
Hmmm... well, at least we have Tunnel and Manon added onto Freaks now. There's also some nice cuttings from the archives on the Fire site, some of which I hadn't seen before.
As for the artwork, the reason they've re-done it (and indeed the whole reason that these reissues are being done) is that the old CDs are now out of stock, and Fire no longer use plastic packaging for environmental reasons. Hence the new digipaks. Presumably the full artwork will be inside the packaging somewhere, and the vinyl is apparently going to be faithful to the originals.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
yeah i agree. i think that it ruins the individuality of each album by making all 3 the same layout and font (and i most definitely do not like the new separations cover!)
Possibly the most underwhelming re-release ever. I'd love to get these in 12" vinyl, but given the ropey covers and the total lack of new material makes these totally dispensible.
Such a shame that Fire have the rights to this material, it has been re-hashed so badly down the years and will continue to be.
Double LP of "Freaks" would be quite nice I guess...nothing new here though. Suppose I had better buy them all anyway though. *sigh* ;)
Don't buy them! That's what they want you to do. Resist. Maybe then Fire will realise Dobbin is dead and sell the rights onto a more sympathetic curator.
It could be so nice if Sheffield Vision could release some compilation with all the gems that can be found in the early days Pulp (as thay started with the beat is the law DVD). They must have access to some live recordings or unreleased demos. This would just be more decent than the Fire bonus CD !
It could be so nice if Sheffield Vision could release some compilation with all the gems that can be found in the early days Pulp (as thay started with the beat is the law DVD). They must have access to some live recordings or unreleased demos. This would just be more decent than the Fire bonus CD !
This would be brilliant. Unfortunately the legal issues / costs involved heavily outweigh the potential profits from such a project. And the band would all need to be persuaded too, which is perhaps even less likely. Bootlegs will just have to do for the forseeable future.
I do actually agree with Fuss Free that at least Fire are keeping them in circulation and I'd rather they did this than do another compilation. I was just listening to the tracks on the Fire website. Are we sure they haven't retouched the mix a bit. Freaks seems to sound a lot better than I remember. Although saying that I haven't listened to it for donkeys years.
So besides the obvious, what exactly do Fire own the rights to? I'm assuming everything from the "Bad Maureen" demos to the "Countdown" session but is there anything else that we don't know about?
I don't think they actually own the rights to anything they didn't release. All those 1984 demos were done by Pulp under their own steam, and pre-date the Fire contract anyway, so I don't think they'd have a claim on them. There may be some odds and sods from the Freaks/Separations period, but I'm not sure what, if anything.
Weed - that's more or less as much as I know for the time being. There'll be more news when there is some!
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I'm not sure about that. I think Fire are actually more conscientious than people give them credit for: whenever I've had conversations with them about releasing archive stuff, they've said they wouldn't be willing to put out anything 'new' without the band's permission.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I'm not sure about that. I think Fire are actually more conscientious than people give them credit for: whenever I've had conversations with them about releasing archive stuff, they've said they wouldn't be willing to put out anything 'new' without the band's permission.
I think the problem is that they somehow contrived 7 (at least) compilation albums out of less than 4 LPs worth of material.
With the exception of Masters of the Universe (which was a completely valid release in my opinion), none of those compilations were put out by Fire. Various other labels paid Fire to license the tracks to them, which is completely normal practice for small independent labels. Yes, the releases in question were pointless pieces of crap (maybe Countdown or Primal would stand up as a useful rundown of the pre-Island years), but equally you don't have to buy them...
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
With the exception of Masters of the Universe (which was a completely valid release in my opinion), none of those compilations were put out by Fire. Various other labels paid Fire to license the tracks to them, which is completely normal practice for small independent labels. Yes, the releases in question were pointless pieces of crap (maybe Countdown or Primal would stand up as a useful rundown of the pre-Island years), but equally you don't have to buy them...
Masters of the Universe was a great release (The Fire Intro), but the others were just teasing you with odd tracks that you didn't have. I got Countdown (which was on Fire - FIRECD68) as it had the Countdown tracks and was the first. But as each of the others came out, they all seemed pretty pointless and even if not on Fire themselves I sense that is why people don't think they are conscientous.
As much as I would like vinyl copies, I won't be buying them. I'll save my pennies for the eventual re-issue of the Island LPs on vinyl (surely it will happen one day).
I'll be buying the vinyls, even tho' I've often stated my distaste for Fire...reading Sturdy's recent comments perhaps unfairly. In fact, I'd have much prefered MOTU to be reissued on vinyl than an incomplete collection of tracks being tacked onto the end of x album. Particularly as Separations & the Countdown single version don't at all match sounds in my opinion.
I agree MOTU was an essential release - it would have been about a decade before I got to hear all those songs without it.
Countdown is a great compilation, despite Jarvis' dislike of it, but if only Death Comes To Town had been available instead of the dire (just my opinion, guys!) remix Death Goes To The Disco. Pulp Goes To The Disco was useful for me as at the time it was far cheaper than the MLG single, & I needed the tracks...
I probably won't be buying them unless the sound quality is a lot better. The new Freaks sounds like a good idea though, its not incomplete. There's no need to have Master of the Universe and They Suffocate at Night on the second disc when they are already on Freaks. And I agree the new covers are pretty terrible. Maybe it would have been better to have the regular 7" mix of Countdown on Separations rather than the extended mix, that one drags a bit.
Countdown (the album) was a great introduction to early Pulp, it slowly eases you into it by starting with the more modern stuff, and they did really well choosing all the most accessible tracks from each album. I would have run a mile if Fairground was my first experience.
Funny how Fire Records decides to cash in and yet they don't bother remastering the three albums. Surely they would see higher sales if the albums were all remastered?
It's crazy that no demos, outtakes, etc, are being included. I, for one, won't be buying these reissues.
Just noticed on Fire's site that they've been put back a month to September (indeed, like the Universal reissues five years ago as I recall). Hopefully this is to allow for more time to sort out any extra content that will be added, as Master Sturdy hinted at.
Re: Freaks being someone's second favourite album, I concur that I think it's also pretty damn good. It was the 2nd one I ever heard though, so perhaps I'm biased.
Also I think Mark's right about Fire not having the rights to anything other than what they released at the time. This tends to be the deal with record labels which is why you don't tend to get demos/unreleased tracks coming out on deluxe editions without the support of the artist or the deceased artist's estate.
If that is the case, then how come Fire put out "Silence" on the Master Of The Universe 12", which originated from a demo tape (I think)?
Would Jarvis have actually agreed to that? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Jarvis had no input into that single, and wasn't even sent a copy when it came out.
If that is the case, then how come Fire put out "Silence" on the Master Of The Universe 12", which originated from a demo tape (I think)?
Would Jarvis have actually agreed to that? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Jarvis had no input into that single, and wasn't even sent a copy when it came out.
If I remember rightly, I think I once read somewhere (Steve D's review I think) that what was left of the band chose "Master of the Universe" as a single despite what Jarvis said a few years down the line. I've no idea who was responsible for choosing the b-sides though.
It was all down to the band - the only times Fire ever exercised a decision over in terms of what got released was when they declined to put out the Ping Pong Jerry tape as Pulp's first Fire EP, and when they chose Dogs Are Everywhere as an A-side over Mark of the Devil. Ian is right, Pulp actually overruled Fire when they insisted on Master as an A-side. As for the other tracks, Fire wouldn't have been able to put them out if Pulp hadn't sent them the tapes (presumably with a note attached along the lines of "hi lads, here's the masters for our new single").
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I might be in a minority here but I think "Master of the Universe" was a good choice for a single. I mean, "Fairground" and "The Never Ending Story" are too loud, "I Want You", "Life Must Be So Wonderful" and "There's No Emotion" are too depressing, "Being Followed Home" is too long and so forth.
As for the b-sides, well the version of "Manon" on the single is better than the earlier version, Jarvis' voice sounds better and as for "Silence", well I don't mind it but if they were going to stick an old demo on the b-side because they couldn't record anything new then I'd have gone for "Take You Back".
Ian, I agree that Master Of The Universe was the right choice. The only other possibilities would have been Anorexic Beauty (which was, essentially, a cover version anyway) and Don't You Know (which, although a nice tune, probably didn't have the impact that they wanted for a single).
At least Master Of The Universe would have made the listener sit up and take notice if it had been played on the radio (not sure it ever was!).