I was three weeks old when Separations came out. I remember I listened to Different Class when I was about 10 and enjoyed Pulp thoroughly from then onwards, working towards This Is Hardcore and We Love Life in my teenage years. I was 17 when I decided I wanted to work my way backwards and I first heard Separations in its entirety. What a fantastic album.
-- Edited by salmon92 on Tuesday 19th of June 2012 06:31:49 PM
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Late '93? That's pretty good going! What got you into Pulp, then...?
Saw them for the first time at the Leadmill in Nov 93. As you can imagine at that time there wasn't a great deal of their music floating around (Lipgloss just been relased which I had and there performance on The Word the night before the show was staggeringly good) so popped into Record Collector in Broomhill and bought what they had (Pulpintro & Separations). Actually, now that I think about it Record Collector was probably one of the only places in the whole country I could have bought Separations from!
-- Edited by saw119 on Tuesday 19th of June 2012 06:46:00 PM
I love Separations. its my favourite pulp song and side 1 is my favourite pulp lp. The first time i thought that everything was in place and fitted snug together. Magic stuff, only one criticism, 'Death & Rattle' were not included.
I think the original version of 'Rattlesnake' with the timpani/kettledrum running through the verses gives it a sinister edge. I do love the live renditions of 'Death 2' and the single version of 'Countdown' Perhaps controversially here i have to say that ive never liked 'My legendary girlfriend'.. And 'This house is condemned' is kids let loose with 90's samplers/synthesizers. I'm ready now for my cold shoulders.
I think I've only heard two versions of Rattlesnake. One in a live '87 (?) recording, and the other is the recorded version. The live version is better, but I do think the recording falls flat.
I absolutely adore This House... - there's just something to creeping and menacing about it, but with the totally unimpassioned vocal, it's hard to put one's finger on what it exactly is about it that makes it so threatening.
I presume you probably saw it played live a couple of times. Was it much different from the record..?
"The day that never happened" is perhaps the only concert that i know for sure that they played 'this house is condemned' As for variations between live/studio versions, i would probably compare it to 'my legendary girlfriend' studio/live versions. I do remember everyone seeming to be playing keyboards on the live rendition. It was the end piece montage was'nt it? My legendary girlfriend/200% and bloody thirsty/this house is condemned/They suffocate at night... I remember the show being very quiet and everyone looking absolutely bloody miserable. Russell covered in foil until eventually jarvis ripped it off him. happy days.
I thought said concert actually began with 'House'. I may be wrong. Something to do with Jarvis calling bingo numbers and then...house.
The Day That Never Happened does seem in many ways to be the Great Lost Concert, but most of the descriptions of it - including yours - suggest that it may well be better off buried.
I was 17 when I heard the countdown start for the first time. Bought Separations in May 2002 (scary to think that as much time had passed between its' release and May '02 - a decade; as '02 and now). Weirdly, I actually asked the guy in the record shop if he could order the album in as I was piecing my Pulp collection together at the time and it was pretty obscure. He told me that the original pressing was deleted but as luck would have it, he had just received in a copy of the new (2002) reissued version!
It is uneven in places and with a bit more quality control could have been improved but it's the first great Pulp record and I'll always cherish it. Been listening to the new remastered/issue version (20 year anniversary I guess) remaster in the car lately and I think it holds-up pretty well.
I was 12 when it came out, 16 when I heard it, I think. Seem to remember I got that, It and Freaks for Christmas in 95. It was definitely my favourite of the three. I think it's a fascinating record really, a real mix of what was and what was to come, and I love the acid house influences. Prefer Countdown to My Legendary Girlfriend personally. Also love Love Is Blind, She's Dead and Death II. My copy got stolen when we got burgled but I've really enjoyed the remaster. I agree that Death Goes to the Disco and Rattlesnake should be on there too.
I only bought/got into Separations after His n Hers was released, so I probably bought the CD in 1995. I thought I had it on vinyl but I can't seem to find it at the moment
This reminds me of the interview they did with Matt Pinfield in 1996, in which Pinfield claims to have bought the single for "My Legendary Girlfriend" when it was first released. Lies! Not that anyone here is lying, of course
I was 10 when Separations was released, and got it for Christmas in 1996/97, along with Freaks, It and MOTU. It still feels fresh after all these years, probably my favourite album. I also got introduced to early Pulp through the Countdown compilation (seems like it did Pulp a lot of good!).
-- Edited by shotoki on Wednesday 20th of June 2012 12:12:43 PM
It was the 'Countdown' comp that helped me decide which way to 'work backwards'. As an odd teen, the tracks that appealed most to me were the Freaks ones. And then the MOTU ones...
Oh hang on, just realised it was released in 92! I always thought it was 91 for some reason. I was 13 then. Wonder how the album would be regarded now if it had been released straight away?
It depends how the singles would have done had they been released earlier. Obviously, MLG was a huge boost for the band, but even that came out 15 months after recording had finished. Would it have been so acclaimed in early 1990?
Interesting point here...we always hear how annoyed Pulp were with Fire for putting out Separations so late and wanted to write the whole thing off...yet they happily toddled off to the studio in May/June 1991 to record overdubs for the single release of Countdown which was then 20 months old.
One could discuss that if Countdown had taken off then, then presumably Fire would have released Separations. As it was, it took them another 10 months.
I've gone tangential. Liltman, in your timeline, does MLG come out in, say, early 1990 with Countdown following later and then Separations itself in late 1990? Or do you see Separations as coming out in late 1991, following the successfullish release of Countdown? I can only really envisage the latter...but I think it would have got them a lot of attention - it would have felt a lot more contemporary then, rather than the bit of a throwback it (esp. side B) would have appeared in Summer '92...
Stephen wrote:Interesting point here...we always hear how annoyed Pulp were with Fire for putting out Separations so late and wanted to write the whole thing off...yet they happily toddled off to the studio in May/June 1991 to record overdubs for the single release of Countdown which was then 20 months old.
One could discuss that if Countdown had taken off then, then presumably Fire would have released Separations. As it was, it took them another 10 months.
I think the Fire relationship only really went bad later on in '91 (maybe even '92) when they were getting interest from other labels and found they were a bit stuck. Then things escalated as Fire got arsey about them releasing through Gift etc.
On your second point, Fire had planned to do just that - there was a release date set for October '91, but then Rough Trade Distribution went under which scuppered everything. After that, Fire got wind of Pulp talking to other labels and put everything on ice.
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I wonder if Pulp would have talked to other labels had Rough Trade Dist. not gone under? They might well have felt they should stick with what they knew, especially if Separations was received well and, say, Fire planned a third single off it or similar. The sheer awfulness of trying - and failing - to get out of that Fire contract (five album deal wasn't it?) would have presumably seemed a lot less worthwhile if Fire were actually releasing their stuff.
