simmonel wrote:

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Are the two versions of cocaine socialism (deluxe edition and bside) now the same?

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 Nope.

joemc5054 wrote:

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Also looks like theyve fixed the Sisters EP with Babies being the correct mix now!

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Seems to be slowly getting out there... from what I can see, it's still wrong on Deezer, Spotify, Qobuz and Amazon Music, seems to be correct on Apple Music, YouTube Music and Soundcloud now, though! The corrected version subtitles both Babies and Your Sister's Clothes as "Sisters EP Versions". 

Common People EP has also been replaced - look out for Underwear with a subtitle of "Single Version", this is the original B-side version... and the two versions of Common People are closer to their original single edits, too.

simmonel wrote:

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I didnt realise the difference would just be backing vocals? Did Spotify always label it without (Proper Version) in ()?

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There are some other instruments on the 'Proper Version' that weren't on the B-side. Interesting to read on the Instagram today that the B-side version was considered a mistake by Pulp - guess that explains the name of the version they eventually released on TIH Deluxe.

hawalius1 wrote:

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joemc5054 wrote:

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Also looks like theyve fixed the Sisters EP with Babies being the correct mix now!

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Seems to be slowly getting out there... from what I can see, it's still wrong on Deezer, Spotify, Qobuz and Amazon Music, seems to be correct on Apple Music, YouTube Music and Soundcloud now, though! The corrected version subtitles both Babies and Your Sister's Clothes as "Sisters EP Versions". 

Common People EP has also been replaced - look out for Underwear with a subtitle of "Single Version", this is the original B-side version... and the two versions of Common People are closer to their original single edits, too.

 

simmonel wrote:

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I didnt realise the difference would just be backing vocals? Did Spotify always label it without (Proper Version) in ()?

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There are some other instruments on the 'Proper Version' that weren't on the B-side. Interesting to read on the Instagram today that the B-side version was considered a mistake by Pulp - guess that explains the name of the version they eventually released on TIH Deluxe.

-- Edited by hawalius1 on Friday 18th of August 2023 06:23:01 PM

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 All correct versions of the songs are floating around now, just a mess to get to them. But they are there. 

Ian wrote:

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I had a listen this morning. I have never been a fan of "A Little Soul". I think after the previous singles, an obvious hit was needed to restore a bit of balance. "Glory Days" would have been the obvious choice and "Party Hard" was released too late. Oh well.

This version of "Cocaine Socialism" is indeed the one that appeared on the original CD. I have always wondered why, after 8 years of assuming that this was the finished version, the "proper" version appeared on the reissue. There's not a massive difference; this version does not have the female backing vocals and some of the horns are a bit different. It's hard to say which one I prefer.

Again, I haven't listened to these remixes for years. The alternative version of "A Little Soul" isn't too bad because it is recognisable as the original. Granted, I don't like the original but I'd say that this is a great remix in relation to its parent song, which is more than can be said for some of the "This is Hardcore" and "Party Hard" remixes. The Lafayette Velvet remix isn't too bad either, giving the song a fairly loungey feel with what sounds like a different vocal take.

As for "That Boy's Evil", well, it's different and fairly interesting. Too experimental to have been a single or album track so putting it out as a B-side was the right thing to do. I don't think that the rest of the band's involvement has ever been established, they are all credited on the sleeve but this was also put out as a Chocolate Layers (Jarvis and Steve) promo. I managed to get hold of one of these and some of the guitars sounded louder but that may have been due to listening on vinyl rather than CD.

-- Edited by Ian on Friday 18th of August 2023 06:51:45 PM

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 In the recent Instagram post Pulp did, they explained that they couldnt find the right mix of it and the unfinished and unpolished version was put on the single instead.

I do prefer the Deluxe edition version tbh as the loudness and length of the horns both bigger and longer as well as the backing vocalists really add to the song.

Eamonn wrote:

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Not sure Glory Days was the obvious 3rd single. I thought you had advocated (retrospectively, as all our choices are!) for Sylvia, rawk-balladry primed for lighters aloft at Glasto? There's logic in that.


A Little Soul is lovely though I can see for some it might be one to admire more than enjoy. A weepy for the parents, (it's a crash-course for the ravers....)

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I don't have a big problem with That Boy's Evil. Fun little big beat instrumental. Not sure what it's doing on a Pulp record though.

The versions of Little Soul on CD2 (which I'd probably not listened to in 20+ years till today) are a waste of time though. 'Alternative mix' just sounds slightly unfinished, and the Layfayette Velvet is possibly my least favourite thing that's come out under the Pulp name. I kind of get remixes that really screw around with the song and do something weird/playful (TIH remixes) or turn them into banging dance anthems (Motiv8) but this is just... nothing. I'd forgotten how cross it made me in 1998, and it hasn't improved with age!

Nice to hear Cocaine Socialism again, I think it was the right decision not to put it on an A side though. Think it could've been a bit of a shark-jumping moment.

(Might be one for the unpopular opinions thread!!)

Eamonn wrote:

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Thank fook for that...


Help The Aged and Party Hard only having one CD single each eligible for the charts, I wonder how much higher they would have got had they released 2CD singles that counted.

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Ian wrote:

"We Are the Boyz" is ok but just average B-side material for me. It was bound to happen sooner or later as the previous 3 singles had fantastic B-sides. That said, it was worth spending £3 on this CD as opposed to £15 on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack. It is a great live song though, I've never seen it myself but heard it on a couple of bootlegs.

Could have saved £3 getting The Independent giveaway.  Well, thats if you didnt pay for the newspaper and just took the magazine

https://www.discogs.com/release/8385025-Various-Velvet-Goldmine-The-Independent

We Are the Boyz is great.

Nice Glam song. But I guess on TIH it was either this or I'm a Man. Similar topic. 

hawalius1 wrote:

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Like a Friend (in better quality than I've seen before)

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And yet, for me at least, it still looks terrible. The band shots were clearly originally recorded on film (filmising video was pretty crude back in 1998) then mastered as SD video, so the upscaling is trying to recover detail that simply isn't there. Add to that excessive edge enhancement, over-smoothing (adding an unnatural waxy/smooth effect to faces, making them look like an oil painting) and crushed blacks and you're left with an over-processed mess . And the clips taken from the film are horribly soft in comparison, like sub-DVD quality. I'm grateful the band/label are making an effort, don't get me wrong, it's just a pity we don't have a better result.

This video on the subject by Tom Scott is well worth a watch, if you're interested in such things.

Pip wrote:

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hawalius1 wrote:

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Like a Friend (in better quality than I've seen before)

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And yet, for me at least, it still looks terrible. The band shots were clearly originally recorded on film (filmising video was pretty crude back in 1998) then mastered as SD video, so the upscaling is trying to recover detail that simply isn't there. Add to that excessive edge enhancement, over-smoothing (adding an unnatural waxy/smooth effect to faces, making them look like an oil painting) and crushed blacks and you're left with an over-processed mess . And the clips taken from the film are horribly soft in comparison, like sub-DVD quality. I'm grateful the band/label are making an effort, don't get me wrong, it's just a pity we don't have a better result.

This video on the subject by Tom Scott is well worth a watch, if you're interested in such things.

-- Edited by Pip on Friday 1st of September 2023 12:45:15 PM

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 This is the exact video my mind keeps referring back to every time Pulp upload a Remastered video. Its very clear that theyre using the same lazy process.

Its nice having the new videos but I still wouldve preferred the Sunrise/Trees EP even if they arent as good as the previous batch of singles. 

Violin Thing wrote:

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Not gonna lie, I like the videos! If you take a 16mm film negative and you do a 4k scan you still get the handmade feel of when it was shot, for example. These videos are shot on tape, so they look when they're from. I like that.

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None of Pulp's promo videos that I can think of were 'shot on tape'. I know we call them music 'videos', but usually they are shot on film (except for some bands in the 70s and 80s). The issue is that the film footage was then edited together using standard definition video to create a master tape. If the original film takes exist, they have the potential to be rescanned and the results would look amazing these days, but, with a few exceptions, the cheap route is taken by upscaling the video master tape instead.

joemc5054 wrote:

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makes sense that Island/Universal are taking the cheap route because for them its all about clicks. If they get us watching these videos in a slightly better quality than what was previously available then all is well. Yeah its lazy work for them but at the end of the day, they dont care. Like you said its a shame Pulp didnt get more closely involved with it but Im still grateful were getting this as this time 2 years ago i wouldnt have thought this wouldve happened.

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Yeah, it's great that there seems to be a renewed interest in Pulp after the tour. I've been revisiting the whole back catalogue after many years. It also good that they're finally getting everything onto streaming services, and obviously that campaign was always going to include re-uploading the music videos too. It's definitely about clicks, as always, but they could have bucked the trend and resisted pushing everything to 4K. They could have just done higher bitrate uploads of the standard definition versions. They'd look far better than the uploads from years ago, and the ones we've got recently, and they'd have still got a fair amount of clicks. I guess audience research shows that everything having 'remastered' 'HD' '4K' in the title gets more clicks. And most people don't notice, or don't care that it's not done properly. And even if they did, by the time that happens, Island/Universal have already got the click they wanted.

Improvements in technology used to mean you get a better product, but these days, in scenarios like this, it means you often end up with something worse. It's such a shame.

Jean wrote:

 

Edit: I just checked - it's the interview with a YouTube channel called The Current at the part where they're discussing the call and response vocals on Beyond the Pale and he mentions how in Pulp he was the vocalist and since discovered some of the others could but never volunteered. Just curious who.

-- Edited by Jean on Saturday 9th of September 2023 01:20:19 PM

-- Edited by Jean on Saturday 9th of September 2023 01:45:54 PM

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 A fair few years ago, Mr. Sturdy of this parish sent me some recordings of "Siegfried's Magick Box" from the 80's, but neither of us could figure out who the vocalist was on any of the songs. Gregory Kurcewicz is a probable contender since he was vocalist for "Electric Sound of Joy", but the vocal styling on one of the songs - Claire- sounds more it was Mark. 

I don't have Facebbok or Instagram, could someone take a screenshot please?

Violin Thing wrote:

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I don't have Facebbok or Instagram, could someone take a screenshot please?

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Spoiler

here's the party hard one

hairstyleofthedevil wrote:

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Violin Thing wrote:

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I don't have Facebbok or Instagram, could someone take a screenshot please?

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Spoiler

here's the party hard one

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Ta!! 

amazing they got in touch with you to review the files they were intending to use. did the consultant ever hint at whether there was more to come like? that last FB about Bad Cover version did state there were lots of unreleased songs from the WLL era 

It was only ever the Island singles... reading back, their first post about Lipgloss laid out their mission statement:

All your favourite Pulp singles from the Island Records period are coming soon to your favourite streaming platform. Our friends at Universal Music Recordings are beginning to upload a series of Digital EPs that will bring together all the tracks that appeared on Pulp's original UK single releases during our time on Island Records from 1994-2002.

The music consultant who rang me up was just contracted to work on these reissues, and had been doing so since January... He was working under instruction from Mark, who was representing the band, and who appeared to have a very clear idea about what should be reissued and what shouldn't. Whenever I asked about including the French and German B-sides, or tracks from promo releases, or re-issuing more unavailable material (like This Is Glastonbury*), they always pushed back and said that they only wanted to include the tracks from the original UK singles.

Whether there's anything further in the pipeline, I have no idea. Whilst the consultant had some nice ideas about some further releases he'd like to make happen, including some physical media, I didn't get the impression that he was realistically in a position to make that decision. By his account, the archives are in a bit of a mess (which is why they couldn't get the right tracks, and had to resort to the original CDs), so I doubt there's an easily accessible list of unreleased tracks that they could just put out - I think it would need inside knowledge, and a proper curator of material - i.e. someone in the band, or one of their producers, who actually know what's there.

* To be fair, I didn't hold out much hope for This Is Glastonbury. The recordings are owned by the BBC, and reportedly they are asking for rather more money for licensing their material these days (as they have every right to, of course - I'm not complaining about that!), which the consultant had a grumble about! That's likely why the Peel compilation isn't currently available on streaming services - it's likely just a little bit more effort (and possibly cost) for Universal have to deal with, so I'm guessing they are just keeping things simple and only putting out material that they wholly own. 

(I didn't draw attention to the Common People live at Glastonbury or You're a Nightmare Peel session being owned by the BBC, in case that caused a panic. Maybe there's different licensing for those tracks for some reason... or maybe they've been forgotten about and they slipped through the net!)

Now, would you look at that - the Party Hard video contains an extra intro that was cut!

Ian wrote:

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From memory, I think that the "Hits" DVD had little snippets in between the music videos and that is one of those.

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 Ahh, that makes sense. Funny though - it looks older than Hits, at least judging by Steve's appearance. Wonder why it was shot.