The Sisters EP is always a bit disturbing, and They Suffocate at Night is quite boring. I like Babies, OU and the idea of Girl and Boy covers of Something Changed is good too. Album-wise Freaks and His N Hers are good covers but I think Separations could be better particularly as it was also used for Countdown only in a different colour
I think as far as albums go It is quite good, it is yeah. Then the next decent one is HnH. As a horny teen when they came out, and still at heart a horny teen I've got a lot of love for the SC girl sleeve and TIH album... and TIH singles... And solo Jarv does good art.
The This Is Harcore period is great. Just like the solo ones. I also like the 'descriptions' in the records, like:
'On the use of this album Warning! JARVIS should not be used as a sedative or an accompaniment to exercise. You may sit if you wish kneeling is really not necessary. JARVIS can be broken into convenient bite-size pieces but probably works best when swallowed whole. Do not adjust your tone control, it's meant to sound like that. It's not LoFi or HiFi it's MyFi and hopefully YourFi, too. A song isn't really a song until somebody hears it so thanks for listening Remember! As always, please do not read the words whilst listening to the recordings'
__________________
This is the sound of someone losing the plot, making out that they are okay when they are not. You're gonna like it, but not a lot.
I love the This is Hardcore period of sleeves, they're sleazy and totally could be adverts in The Face or ID mag or some gentlemens magazine. I also love Separations period with the wallpaper look - I kind of associate Pulp with really garish wallpaper designs. If I go to a second hand furniture shop, I'm always looking at the retro kind of stuff thinking 'that is so Pulp...' I wish they'd make a coffee table book - kind of like that Andy Warhol book that got released a few years back....
Now it's my bit to try and hide and make excuses for my ignorance, eh? My defense is threefold
1) I probably would recognise it if I thought hard enough - it was familiar
2) I grew up in a time of CD and MP3 so sleeves have (sadly) become less and less prominent
3) I avoided Bowie for a long time and have only just cautiously started to listen to him, simply because to listen to him would be to admit that I was wrong to my Dad, and I couldn't bear to give him the satisfaction (Basically I'm stubborn)
I only realised the reference a couple of years ago. I don't think teenagers are meant to like what their parents like. All part of finding your place in the world...
Sadly (and God I hate to admit it) my music taste wouldn't have got much further than the Wombles without my Dads vast music collection. Does make me cringe though every time my Mum says "You know, we actually have very similar taste in music" (just writing that makes me shudder!)
I for one, although I love HnH period Pulp, cannot stand the HnH cover. I just makes me shudder and think of an ill advised sixth form art project that received a slightly disappointing C grade. I love the whole O.U. package and am particularly fond of WLL. This reminds me of a thread I was thinking of atrting on Pulp logos, my faves are the Pulpintro typeface, neon logo HnH period and the WLL logo.
My favourites are the ones where there is a lot contained within so "Mis Shapes"/"Sorted" and "Disco 2000" are definite winners for me. "OU" is good as well.
As for least favourites, well "A Little Soul" and "Party Hard" are a bit boring and don't even get me started on "The Trees"/"Sunrise". Also, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned that "Goes to the Disco" compilation, the one with Mark inside despite the fact that he doesn't even feature on any of the recordings!
Sunrise 12" is one of my favorites. Obviously His n' Hers is the era winner but some of the artwork in We Love Life, Wickerman for example is brilliant - I'd love to be able to own a print of that one day. Hardcore 'the album' is great, as is Different Class. Seperations is a case of an amazing album treated so shoddily.
I think This is Hardcore has the best cover or maybe the switchable covers on Different Class (the steve one of course!) but I hate Separations' cover. It's just the worst thing I've ever laid eyes on.
As far as singles go I think probably lipgloss or party hard would be my favourite. dunno about a least favourite. really not a fan of do you remember the first time's art.
__________________
The trees, those useless trees, produce the air that I am breathing
I don't know who 'designed' the cover of Separations but how they ever got such a job is beyond me. But then someone else (at least one person - don't know if the band had a say) must have at some stage said "yeah, that'll do"