Would that be the original gift release or the sisters e.p. reissue? I know there certainly was a sisters 7" but never been aware of the gift version on 7"..
Ah, abondoned the cassette version too.
Perhaps it was decided that the cd/12" formats were enough and the expense of producing cassette & 7" versions wasn't budget allowing?
It's my understanding (could be memory wrong here) that the Gift label was set up and funded by Island specifically to get some Pulp product on the shelves while the legal wrangling's with Fire were resolved?
I know there were a couple of other artists who had material released, but they're barely worth a mention..
Anyways, the 3 singles from Gift were top notch..
I wonder if Pulp's relationship with the Warp chaps continued through the years (whilst bearing in mind Rob Mitchell's death in 2001).
When their time with Island/Universal ran its course, Warp were signing guitar/indie bands (Maximo Park, Grizzly Bear) as well as their normal electronic acts. Might have been a fresh source of life for Pulp. Then again, it would have been easy for them to sign to Rough Trade in 2003 too - a label run by their management and obviouslywho Jarvis signed to solo/and with Jarv Is...
I guess it wasn't just a case of a jaded legacy band with diminishing commercial appeal clashing with a new boss in the shape of the biggest label in the world who may never have "got" Pulp's subtle appeal. The band were possibly just jaded full-stop.
I do wonder why they chose Fon studio for the O.U. session?
It must have been an expensive few hours?
Which turned out to be a bit of a shitshow and waste of tape until the used tracks were remixed.
The versions of Live on/Babies are woefully drab..
Fon studio just couldn't do live drums, so unless they wanted to produce another electronic lp i fail to understand why they went there and wasted everybody's time, cash and effort?
I guess there wasn't a big choice of studios in Sheffield in those days? And it was where they'd recorded everything else in the past 2/3 years (not counting Rattlesnake etc which were done at the old Fon before they moved right?), so they knew the place and were comfortable there. Island put up the money for the session anyway, as an audition sort of thing.
You're right, the versions of Live On and Babies aren't the greatest, but in fairness they're not fully finished and weren't intended for release, not in that form anyway. Space rocks along very nicely imo.
That's correct about Gift/Island.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I agree with your point about Babs & Live on not being fully finished..
But to lay down a basic soundtrack & guide vocal for future development and then subsequently abandon it does seem a complete waste of time..
Both songs had already enjoyed an on the road baptism and were well recieved by this time..
I do despair sometimes when i think of the hours, days, weeks, months of fruitless endeavour trying to put down a flawless performance in some studio when often the best results have been a live or relatively basic quick session recording...
I guess by the time it came round to doing Babies as a single proper, they had the option of doing it with Ed Buller in the nice Island studios in London, so they didn't need to go back and mess about with the Fon version.
You're right though, a lot of times the best results they've had in the studios is when they've had to just bash it out in a day - eg the Mark Goodier session, Peel, some of the demos from that period. There's maybe a bit of a tendency to overthink things when there's a bit more time available.
I do wish we had a finished studio version of Live On though. Maybe if Buller had been given chance to remix the Fon version like he did with OU...
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I wonder what the HnH session version is like and if they managed to liven it up from the FON one. The fact it remains unreleased suggests not!
Clearly earmarked for higher (single?) status but just fell through the cracks. Also, is it one of the few Pulp songs to be performed twice in a set (i.e second time as a closing encore)? I'm sure a Bar Italian has mentioned that before...
-- Edited by Eamonn on Wednesday 23rd of June 2021 06:23:41 PM
And Death comes to Town was trotted out twice at some shows..
Curious, as the Piece Hall video has been highlighted here..
Does everyone else's copy of this have the irritating millisecond glitch/gap of audio every few seconds?
Watched it on YouTube tonight after Scott reminded me of it. Yes, there were some stutters/gaps, it seemed to be better in some songs. Some of the earliest footage of Pulp and free to view, happy it exists to be honest!
Edit to say: Any footage that contains Jarvis in a chicken-feather costume doing a Hendrix-stylee solo down his back on a stylophone is worth it's weight in gold!
-- Edited by Eamonn on Friday 25th of June 2021 05:19:22 PM
Oh agreed Eamonn, the video of Space is just ace..
I wasn't knocking the quality as such, i think it's magic and I'll remain forever grateful to whomever recorded it and graciously shared it..
Just wondered if it was only my shitty streaming machines that broadcast the little gaps or there was another version?
