Hey folks,

  Many of you have enjoyed at various points the two sets recorded at the Hallamshire in 1984 (Pulp's earliest circulating gig recording) and 1985 by Nick Taylor of Dog Canute. However, confusion reigns about quite how much we have of what was originally recorded.

  Pulpwiki lists eleven tracks at the 1984 gig (courtesy, I believe, of Mark S. adding them), all of which appeared on Pulp Portfolio 4. However, there are a few issues with the tape, mainly quick cuts between the end of Cousins and start of Maureen, and between Maureen and Anorexic Beauty. Likewise, there's an enormous jump between the end of Silence and the first few seconds of the encore, Will to Power.

  The 1985 tape is even trickier with the Wiki listing 14 songs (again, from Mark S, I think) and the Portfolio containing just 11, with Will to Power, Back in LA and Life Must Be So Wonderful seemingly errant. The tape itself is even bittier, with a jump between Little Girl and Fairground, a fade to silence between that and There's No Emotion, a jump into applause from another song at the end of that, then into Mark of the Devil, which again jumps into Simultaenous. There's a break between Breaking Down At My Door and Srprksi Jeb, too.

  A release by Nick Taylor on his 'Sheffield Tape Archive' bandcamp page made things even more confusing listing five Pulp tracks at this venue; soundcheck, Take You Back (1984) and Will to Power, Srpski Jeb and Maureen (1985).

  Close listening tells us that Srpski Jeb and Maureen are actually from 1984, Will to Power is definitely from 1985 and providing us with one unheard recording (sorting out that query).

  So, what about Back in LA, Life Must Be So Wonderful, and all those jumps?

  I spoke to Nick himself and Mark S. Mark S told me the wiki setlists were copied down from a 'phone call (or bad quality tape interview) many years ago with Nick. Nick, to his eternal patience, furnished me with the tracklists from his tape inlays. 1984 read "simultaneous / don't you know / Srpski Jep / cousins / maureen / anorexic beauty /little girl / take you back / blue glow / morning of your silence / truth and beauty" with the caveat that "this is probably not the original tape since it has the fish and breadcake gig on first which was "summer 1983" and then Wacky Gardeners "Jan 1985" - so it is possible there may be tracks missing from this", i.e. as he copied from one tape to another at a later date he would have only "saved his favourite tracks" between the two copies.

  The 1985 tape read "Hydro-elec dam /  tilly's story / Little girl / Will to power / Fairground / Love's no Emotion / Mark of the Devil / simultaneous / unknown / Srpski Jep / life must be so wonderful / being followed home". The 'unknown' song has to be the ultra-obscure Breaking Down At My Door. Could 'Back in LA' not be in there, too? No, says Nick. There's only one "Unknown" song on there. He further clarifies that "apparent cuts between songs may have been simply that I turned the tape off while they were faffing around on stage. even without cuts the set length is over 40 mins. doubt there are other tracks missing from this one." It's possible, although Nick doesn't clarify, that this too is no longer the original tape, with the original now being gone.

  So, with no Back in LA, that leaves us just with Life Must Be So Wonderful outstanding from the 1985 tape. Nick has promised to make it available as soon as possible. And thus ends the interminable confused saga of the Hallamshire tapes.

  Even with potential tracks missing, they hold the only known recording of Breaking Down At My Door and also contain the only surviving live versions of (deep breath) Cousins, Srpski Jeb, Will to Power and Silence.