I think he just thought the song was a bit rubbish, a bit MOR - and he felt it arose out of a less collaborative process than previous Pulp songs. It's like The Mark of the Devil - he thought Magnus"s drum loop was Pulp's first truly original piece of musical collaboration, and thus the first 'real' Pulp song. Help the Aged, on the other hand, was largely driven by Jarvis.

Stephen's interview with Russell contains some interesting revelations that I think highlight the contradictions underpinning his artistic disagreements with them, something it seems he's aware of. Really makes you feel his exit was more driven by interpersonal relationships and corporate obligations than by the likes of Help the Aged, though I freely admit that's speculation (you won't get it in the interview).

FWIW, I think HTA is a strong lyrical statement backed up by a fitting instrumental conceit ('parody of easy listening muzak' verses, 'oh-shit-we're-going-to-die' chorus'), but it isn't prime Pulp and it it scratches neither the energetic showstopper itch nor the dark and brooding Jarvis itch.

Ian wrote:

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I think that the "Help the Aged" single is a decent package. The title track is a bit of a slow-burner, true. But it does have a soaring chorus and I remember how I had really gotten into it after the third or fourth listen. It's certainly not a disastrous comeback single like "The Trees" (nice song but only works on the album). It's great to have the final version of "Tomorrow Never Lies" and it's great how they pursued this rather than abandoning it altogether after it was rejected as a Bond theme. It is interesting to speculate how it might have turned out if it had been selected as the Bond theme, I presume that it would have been recorded with a different producer and released as a single in its own right. We'll never know. Again, a bit of a slow-burner that is great once you get used to it. "Laughing Boy" is great as well, better than some of the slower songs that made it onto the album. I remember Jarvis saying at the time that he wanted to make a low-key comeback and this single does exactly that. One CD, fairly limited promotion. Great video though.

As for b-sides and remixes in general, I think that they could have done a bit better at times. For comparison, Pulp released 4 b-sides on the "Different Class" singles (including "Underwear") and Suede released 14 on the "Coming Up" singles although there were 5 of them. There were definitely some demos that could have been used instead of those awful remixes. I'm not saying that they should have released all of them (see Blur; some of their b-sides really weren't worth the paper they were written on) but some of Pulp's singles could have been a bit better. "Party Hard" was probably one of the worst offenders, especially now we've heard "It's a Dirty World" which could have replaced the nice but pointless extended version of "The Fear" or the god-awful Stretch and Vern remix of the title track. Also, releasing two CDs with the same tracklisting for "Something Changed" was quite ridiculous. Sure, "Mile End" is great and the Moloko remix is interesting but sticking "Catcliffe Shakedown" and "Don't Lose It" on CD2 would have made it much better.

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Let's Be Honest, Tomorrow Never Lies was never gonna be good enough to be a Bond song. I mean, dont get me wrong, i love the song as a Pulp song. But as a Bond Theme in the mid 90, when Bond Revival was in full speed. No way. Bond theme have to have obvious hook and be consensual if you know what i mean. This song is far from it. Actually, Sheryl Crow was contacted last minute because the other acts didn't deliver the song the producer wanted. They even promised KD Lang that the song "Surrender" would be the bond theme and then stuck it on the end of the soundtrack. Its hard getting a Bond theme and Pulp kinda did not understand the instructions.

As for  Help the Aged. Well i love it. It's easy listening in a way, but I like the soft sound of it. Actually, all three songs on the singles make sense together, they have the "sound". And it end with the beautiful Laughing Boy. It's probably one of my most played single to date, since there was a 6 months gap waiting for the album. in the 90s, no internet, less TV. Your CDs were your jewels right.

I remember when HtA came out, it seemed to be quite controversial amongst fans. I liked it personally - it was probably the peak of my fandom, aided by the anticipation generated by the 2 year wait for new material, to the point that they could have put out almost anything and I'd have run with it.

There seemed to be a lot of people who felt the same way more or less, but also a fair few who weren't quite sure what to make of this comeback that clearly wasn't the sexy poptastic Pulp of old, or were pretty disappointed. I certainly remember a few people on the old Lipgloss mailing list REALLY hating Laughing Boy - I think the pedal steel might've pushed them over the edge. I liked it a lot myself, the weary heartfelt honesty of it seemed to ring true. If only they knew what was coming next...

Eamonn wrote:

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He must be teasing it for the reissue of Freak Out The Squares which is now out of print.

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 The reprint is well overdue. Would kill for a good cheap copy of it. Theres a copy at my local library thats in perfect condition, but I obviously cant steal it. 

weej wrote:

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Tempted to do some of my own restoration work on Sickly Grin. There's a restored version on youtube, but it's still pretty far off finished.

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 I found this back on Sunday, it's almost done 

hugomrtnzz wrote:

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weej wrote:

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Tempted to do some of my own restoration work on Sickly Grin. There's a restored version on youtube, but it's still pretty far off finished.

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 I found this back on Sunday, it's almost done 

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That's the one I was talking about. Still sounds pretty far from finished on my headphones.