Oh god this is really happening.

Right, let's play a game. What could be the most disappointing possible outcome of this news?

that or a live recording ?

but I bet on a new album, or I play Luigi on myself

I hope they've done a Fire and Pulp now have to do seven albums.

I think we all would have guessed that any new Pulp album would likely come out on Rough Trade. As the news/press release says, they've already managed them since 1993. Also, Jarvis/Jarv Is... albums have come out through their label.

But this news is extra-exciting because there's no doubt now that a brand new album is coming and Mark's "Yeah, we've written shit loads of songs but I don't know if anything will happen with them" can be ignored! They must have recorded a fair bit of it already or at least demo'd with a producer in mind to bother putting out this news. Otherwise it just creates pressure on them to get it all done and we know they dont like that. I can't see them spending months on a hot-shot producer like Mark wants. I bet they're doing it themselves or working with Jason Buckle at Ant Genn and Martin Slattery's studio like for "Beyond The Pale".

Regarding reissues of Island/Universal albums, could someone please ask Mark at the the TIH playback event this weekend (bet he's annoyed he has to be more direct with questions about the future now!) whether the rights to Pulp's recorded output from 1992-2002 will ever revert to the group? If not, I'm not sure this deal makes a difference. Unless RT make Universal an offer for them which I doubt they'd have the budget for unless the band members put up some of the money? Not sure how these things work. Maybe it just needs Rough Trade's expertise in the area where they put together an offer to Universal and promise them a percentage share of the revenue with RT/Pulp taking the risk of absorbing all the costs involved while the music is licensed by Universal.

They might be open to that as Universal are a massive company and without individual champions of an old legacy group, these things are way down on their priority list. And I doubt there's anyone left from the old Island days who championed Pulp like Nigel Coxon (?) - the guy Sturdy got a really good insight from in Truth And Beauty as to Pulp's relationship with their corporate overlords back in the day.

 

Soft Cell are comparable in some ways to Pulp, both in style and size. They have had a reissue campaign over the last few years through Universal, beginning with a 6 disc anthology set and a best-of followed by a superdeluxe reissue of their most famous album, the debut, and the band's management and archivists have already mapped-out the contents of superdeluxes for their final two records. However they mentioned this year that staff-downsizing at Universal has delayed these projects. In the meantime, they released a comeback album a couple of years ago on a different label.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Thursday 12th of December 2024 01:51:00 PM

Get the fuck in. Pulp alive in '25.

Should probably put a link to it as nobody else has so far


cultfollowing.co.uk/2024/12/12/pulp-confirm-rough-trade-record-deal-as-band-feel-great/

Surely Pulp have too much 'class' to do that. That's 90s landfill behaviour

Wow, awesome news

I'm pretty certain that there will be a new album now. Even if it's just a one album deal, it may boost their popularity enough for Island to finally release a "We Love Life" deluxe. Best of both worlds.

In defence of Shed Seven, they released a brand new album earlier in the year and the compilation of re-recordings was an attempt to stop their previous record company from releasing another "Greatest Hits" style compilation.

Can we stop talking about Shed feckin' Seven?!

"Big Thief, Lana del Rey, Pulp" - did Mark design the cover?

Eamonn wrote:

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Regarding reissues of Island/Universal albums, could someone please ask Mark at the the TIH playback event this weekend (bet he's annoyed he has to be more direct with questions about the future now!) whether the rights to Pulp's recorded output from 1992-2002 will ever revert to the group? If not, I'm not sure this deal makes a difference. Unless RT make Universal an offer for them which I doubt they'd have the budget for unless the band members put up some of the money? Not sure how these things work. Maybe it just needs Rough Trade's expertise in the area where they put together an offer to Universal and promise them a percentage share of the revenue with RT/Pulp taking the risk of absorbing all the costs involved while the music is licensed by Universal.

They might be open to that as Universal are a massive company and without individual champions of an old legacy group, these things are way down on their priority list. And I doubt there's anyone left from the old Island days who championed Pulp like Nigel Coxon (?) - the guy Sturdy got a really good insight from in Truth And Beauty as to Pulp's relationship with their corporate overlords back in the day.

Soft Cell are comparable in some ways to Pulp, both in style and size. They have had a reissue campaign over the last few years through Universal, beginning with a 6 disc anthology set and a best-of followed by a superdeluxe reissue of their most famous album, the debut, and the band's management and archivists have already mapped-out the contents of superdeluxes for their final two records. However they mentioned this year that staff-downsizing at Universal has delayed these projects. In the meantime, they released a comeback album a couple of years ago on a different label.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Thursday 12th of December 2024 01:51:00 PM

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Although Island own WLL, I wouldn't have thought they own the unreleased songs.  Especially the Depot and Wessex demos, weren't these done in Steve's home studio, so not even using Island resources.

So while in theory you can't do WLL Deluxe without CD1.  There could potentially be a standalone 'demos' release from a new record company.  A bit like Mansun did with Kleptomania.

andy wrote:

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HoltbyCity wrote:

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Although Island own WLL, I wouldn't have thought they own the unreleased songs.  Especially the Depot and Wessex demos, weren't these done in Steve's home studio, so not even using Island resources.

So while in theory you can't do WLL Deluxe without CD1.  There could potentially be a standalone 'demos' release from a new record company.  A bit like Mansun did with Kleptomania.

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It depends on the contract. If they signed something that include all their recordings during the period or not, regardless of studio or gear used. There is no way to know. 

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Potentially a clue - After You was released copyright to Rough Trade, but published by Universal.

Every discussion turns to the WLL demos... you lot just need to snog them already :D

Bookmark wrote:

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after what Mark Webber said on the TIH Q&A, I think we'll get the new album in 2026, or fall 25. or never.

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 Already snogged em soggy

Bookmark wrote:

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after what Mark Webber said on the TIH Q&A, I think we'll get the new album in 2026, or fall 25. or never.

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They dont need a new album to cash in for festivals, so fall 25 makes sense, to maybe do a bigger tour on their own. Fall would be nice, since 2025 is the year of the return of britpop, with Oasis back, they should ride the wave.

Eamonn wrote:

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I would hope/think that if they are doing Glasto, we'd at least have a single released prior. But yeah, album-wise, hard to know as Mark has been cagey. I imagine next autumn at the earliest if recording goes smoothly (which it hasn't, since summer 1995!).

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the pressure must be immense. First album in 26 years, i mean, i suppose every sound, every note, every lyrics, every production idea is being debated, analyzed, criticized. Must be fun (or hell) 

Could see Universal piggybacking on any album success. Free marketing promo for them when selling reissues/unreleased material.

Any half-decent legacy act can get a number one album these days, would be great if Pulp LP #8 stuck around the charts for a few weeks or more.

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems that there's no deluxe WLL, or Intro come to that. So what if they didn't sell as much as the others? Did It and Freaks need big sales figures to justify Fire putting them out with bonus tracks? I can't think of many bands from 20+ years ago or more who haven't had that treatment. Including loads who were nowhere near as big as Pulp, even in their twilight years. There's a Kingmaker box set, I mean come on!

No idea! But I can't imagine there'd be much inteference.

Peel Sessions has disappeared off of Amazon Music too. You can't buy the MP3s. It's in danger of becoming a rare release if there aren't enough second-hand CDs in circulation.

I'm sure it will be. Wouldn't be surprised if he's listed as a member and they include some tracks he co-wrote ie "Got To Habe Love".

The live disc is especially great. All those incredible live versions from 2000-2002.

-- Edited by lipglossed on Sunday 22nd of December 2024 12:42:48 PM

But now of course I mainly listen to 2024 live Pulp cos it's just so good!

Nothing that's not common knowledge, there wouldn't be any lost songs like on the other Deluxes. But I think there are plenty of good demos and radio sessions from 1992 that would fill out a worthwhile "Intro Plus" very nicely.

I think that's might've been Mark actually.

https://bsky.app/profile/therealnickbanks.bsky.social/post/3lemdpewno223

Very, very excited.

I asked Mark about the new album when I met him this week (see his Book thread). He was a bit coy as you'd expect but it sounded like it might already be done.... Oh and those worried about a Pulp album produced by Jack Antonoff (which Mark has expressed a desire for, and indeed did again during the talk), might be relieved to know that when Mark suggested Antonoff to Jarvis, JC said he had never heard of him! And also, Mark added, Antonoff would be too expensive. He also said they're keen for new material to come out this year as they don't want to hang around.

Hey, a Pulp rush is a welcome thing.

True, and I think that the bulk of "Different Class" was recorded pretty quickly when "Common People" became a huge hit.

Also, we got the first airing of new material in July 2023, around 18 months ago. Take "This is Hardcore" for example, we heard "Help the Aged" for the first time in August 1996 then the album was finished in January 1998 and on the shelves in March so these timeframes are relatively comparable.

It looks like they had the following breaks between touring:

August - October 2023
January - April 2024
September - December 2024

More than enough time to record a full album.

Ian wrote:

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It looks like they had the following breaks between touring:

August - October 2023
January - April 2024
September - December 2024

More than enough time to record a full album.

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 more than enough time to record a double album : )

Spring release.? That would be awesome

100 percent it's a bus.

Eamonn wrote:

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I asked Mark about the new album when I met him this week (see his Book thread). He was a bit coy as you'd expect but it sounded like it might already be done.... Oh and those worried about a Pulp album produced by Jack Antonoff (which Mark has expressed a desire for, and indeed did again during the talk), might be relieved to know that when Mark suggested Antonoff to Jarvis, JC said he had never heard of him! And also, Mark added, Antonoff would be too expensive. He also said they're keen for new material to come out this year as they don't want to hang around.

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 To be fair if I hadn't seen Edgar Wright's Sparks documentary I wouldn't have heard of Antonoff either.

Hopefully before then, late-year albums are less likely to get nominations for record of the year. And we want Pulp to sweep the boards so they're more likely to make another record

They're not the most confident, they need to be loved at large.

I just noticed that the Pulp graphic on the Gigs & Tours site has alternative visuals. Could this be a hint at the album artwork? My first thought from an initial glance was that it was one of the images from the DC sleeve but then I saw the snow-capped mountain which made me think of the Pulp party trek up the Andes led by Steve in 2012.

 

-- Edited by Eamonn on Friday 21st of February 2025 10:26:13 AM

Was wondering the very same thing - where are those mountains? It was a nice touch to see the cut outs but sad it's down to 4 people now. Grateful we've still got those 4 though.

Eamonn wrote:

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Does this confirm that Pulp are still the four core members? Maybe the album will be credited as Pulp & The.... somethings (ie Emma, Andrew, Adam and whoever else). "The Is... ? As in the non-Jarv part of Jarv Is...
Or maybe not.. Maybe just Pulp but writing and recording credits for applicable personnel.

Dexys Midnight Runners' most successful record is actually credited to the lead singer Kevin Rowland plus the band. To add confusion, the fiddle section were actually called The Emerald Express. But it's only ever referred to as a Dexys album i.e not a collaboration.

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 I don't know, I always felt this was a pretty definitive statement that they were now formally in: https://x.com/welovepulp/status/1666425691146002436

Yeah, it's quite a bold thing to do. Do they need to trade so much on the "glory days" if a first record in 23 years is imminent?

Yeah, I made a similar point on the other thread. It's just interesting that Pulp decide to put in a nod to the past in such a tiny way (literally - most people won't notice the cut-outs).

It will be interesting to see if the album gets its own tour after the record comes out. Hopefully so and if at smaller venues, all the better for us.

2025 is the year to celebrate 1995. It was the britpop year. Oasis is doing it, maybe some other bands are doing it too i dont know ?

It would be silly for those bands not to jump on the occasion. 

So maybe the new album album could be pushed back next year to make room for reissues ? That's a possibility. 

Eamonn wrote:

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I think the new album is definitely coming this year.

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well they better hurry coz i bet the Fall will be for the DC reissue. So its either this spring or next year. 

There was a 25th anniv edition planned but Covid kiboshed it.

Many classic albums get multiple reissues as time goes by, there's still a market for them. In fact, Universal are more likely to do DC again with only a little new content (Glastonbury '95 live is the obvious extra) than they are to do a deluxe of We Love Life despite the latter having much more unreleased material.

Also, the DC aperture vinyl version with all the different inserts has never been reissued and goes for silly money.

But I don't see it being important enough to dictate the release date of Pulp's comeback. Plus they're on different labels. Universal might hold back future reissues to see how new Pulp is received by the public. Then it's easier to piggy back with archive releases and the new album helps serve as marketing for the reissues.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Sunday 23rd of February 2025 10:08:17 PM

I'm thinking:

A couple of singles before/during the UK arena tour, new album in the summer then "Different Class" 30th anniversary remaster/reissue at the end of October.

As far as I know, there aren't any completely unheard songs in the vaults from the "Different Class" period but there are demo versions of most songs from the album. Therefore, a 3CD reissue is certainly possible.

andy wrote:

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Thing is you never do a reissue and new album at the same time, even if on different labels. It must be agreed on before with the band such details.
'
If they can cash in on a "bigger" DC anniversary reissue, why wouldn't they ? If there is still stuff to release that is.

But it wouldnt make any sense to release both at the same time, although we have seen bigger marketing mistakes before...

-- Edited by andy on Monday 24th of February 2025 01:18:12 PM

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Sure but I don't think this would get first preference over a new record. After 24 years, they're unlikely to stall their comeback for the anniversary of an old album.

If they want to release "Pulp - More" (if that's the title) in Sep/Oct, I'm sure they will.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 24th of February 2025 02:52:37 PM

Background Noise would be a great opening track, then Spike island (probably lead single) the second one. Hymn of the North at last...

Ian wrote:

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I'm thinking:

A couple of singles before/during the UK arena tour, new album in the summer then "Different Class" 30th anniversary remaster/reissue at the end of October.

As far as I know, there aren't any completely unheard songs in the vaults from the "Different Class" period but there are demo versions of most songs from the album. Therefore, a 3CD reissue is certainly possible.

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As the lyrics were only written in the studio as the final songs were being recorded, I doubt there are many DC demos that aren't just instrumentals

Eamonn wrote:

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Good shout, nice pacing. I listened to most of the new ones at the weekend from the Youtube uploads of the performances in the US and "My Sex" gets better with each listen. Can't wait to hear a studio version. I assume all the ones they've done live will make the final tracklisting but who knows?!

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The live versions are compiled and re-upped here: https://archive.org/details/pulp-studio25