I didn't know Subculture cause I'm not a big big New Order fan. It's great, very disco, could easily fit in Pulp discog
the world needs a new disco anthem.

We Love Low Life

I didnt know the song, i listened to one version, it sounded like a very unfinished vocals. Yet apparently its on an album. I get the Pulp comparison though, but of course Pulp will do better hehe 

-- Edited by andy on Wednesday 14th of May 2025 07:14:22 AM

Eamonn wrote:

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Unfinished vocals, ha...that's just Barney's style/lack of singing ability.

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Well i dont know new order at all, so "unfinished" to me  It's pretty surprising at first i gotta say

The NME still exists in some strange form doesn't it. But does it still carry reviews?

There's also the free ones like Crack. Don't think DIY does a print edition anymore but I might be wrong?

How do you decide that an an album is 7.3. I mean, why not 7.2 or 7.4

Stars i understand, half i understand, but 7.3. How about 7.333 ?

in UNCUT July issue

Irish music monthly Hot Press has Pulp on the cover of the new edition:

 

Oh wow, that is a great review. This album is going to be both emotional and blow the bloody doors off, live. Thanks so much for sharing.

I've bought the e-mag of Hot Press which has a really good Jarvis interview too, just not sure if it's iffy to share so soon (they published something I wrote once!).

I think reviews are fine to snip and paste but maybe cover stories/full articles... I dunno, can't remember if anyone shared the Mojo interview but most of us bought it for the free CD anyway.

Pulp doing a Further Complications next ? :D

 

there is 12 tracks then, but i'm pretty sure i will stick After You and cuckoo (Jarvis version) somewhere, just to try. Think they will fit

-- Edited by andy on Saturday 17th of May 2025 01:03:19 PM

The Telegraph
www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/pulp-more-album-review-jarvis-****er/

Frisko2000 wrote:

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The Telegraph
www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/pulp-more-album-review-jarvis-****er/

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Use this link - a gift from me to all of you 

Jarvis ****er even manages to make farmers markets sexy on Pulps new album More
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/371d6a9fd4e1ed4f

Thanks ArrGee!

And belated thanks to cutcopy for the Record Collector article, which I've just read. That's an absolutely brilliant review, the writer really knows their stuff.

So much hype for this record! Cant wait to read more reviews and interviews too.

Very promising start and only a couple of weeks left until we can take it all in in its entirety.

Ian wrote:

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Not sure what's going on here. I must have activated some sort of profanity filter . Leave it with me. 

Update: I cannot see a setting for a filter so I certainly didn't activate it in the first place. Hmmmmm. 

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 Unless you pay, you are stuck with the profanity filter.  So we have to use C0cker henceforth 

 

PS congrats to S****horpe on their recent promotion.  Don't think Arsenal are impacted unlike ********** Hotspur and ********* United 

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/music/article/pulp-more-review-an-unpretentious-honest-and-frequently-funny-comeback-gj7537jbv

can't read ? use this...

https://12ft.io/proxy

-- Edited by Bookmark on Thursday 22nd of May 2025 07:11:09 PM

The reviewer, Will Hodgkinson, seems to have missed the point about My Sex being  more about identity than Jarvis just being a randy old goat.

He also doesn't acknowledge the rest of the band as writers.

He's the guy who did that Songbook programme with Jarvis in 2009ish on Sky Arts. Jarvis also did him a favour by contributing to the promo and content of Will's book on Lawrence which was well-received when it came out last year. 

 

-- Edited by Eamonn on Friday 23rd of May 2025 02:42:01 AM

Very nice. cant wait to pick that one. Also on the front of French mag 'Rock & Folk'. See attached cover + an inside.

Ah, Jerome - he wrote a great book on Bowie.

Erm, could you translate this review s'il vous plaît...?

Here it is ! or close enough :D 

**Pulp - "MORE"**
**ROUGH TRADE**

**Theres little chance young people will always ask what older people used to love.**
And yet, this is what has happened with Pulp, now considered (along with Blur) one of the iconic names of Britpop. Although Jarvis ****er and his crew were never quite the "darlings of the press," *More* makes it clear that the band thrives on contradictions, emphasizing emotional intensity and the art of not fitting in.

Their new album is their first since *We Love Life* in 2001, at a time when certain returns from the past risk being redundant. But its clear that the influence of *Different Class* and *This is Hardcore* is still strong today. The boots are polished, the melodies slightly out of tune, and their northern English sarcasm, tinged with American echoes, keeps working.

Pulp continues to assert their Englishness. Today, the group is no longer exactly the same bassist Steve Mackey, who is on *More* and passed away in 2023, never stopped applying the same effective recipe: write like a pop song, but survive with a super effective couplet or line. Thats clearly noticeable in the days before the albums release.

Pulp takes us back to Spike Island, somewhere in England, on May 27, 1990 a mega concert by the Stone Roses and Paul Oakenfold. Three decades and a half later, the band gathered again for two unique concerts. A magical return, made to excite those who werent there.

The title track *Spike Island*, representing the album, was intended by Jarvis ****er not to look back especially not in the rearview mirror. At the hour when all reformations look the same, ****er is still the most insightful and sharp observer of our time. Better yet: his unique ability to not sound cynical.

Brilliantly produced by Lou Reeds go-to man, James Ford, *Tina*, *Farmers Market* and *Move Love* (a track Jarvis ****er had already performed live) stir both emotion and punch, without sounding dated. ****er plays with the codes and the past, while shaking up the rest of life itself.

Because Jarvis is not a fan of randomness, he wont be surprised if *My Sex* ends up becoming an anthem. Two of these songs even if not antagonistic have something sacred about them. One might be a love song, the other an ode, yet both could become anthems.

James Ford, who is not new to this game, has delivered the latest excellent productions for Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys. He also brings his magic to *Hymn Of The North* or the final *A Sunset*, two major changes for Pulp that make them undeniably one of the most sophisticated bands of this century.

Pulp continues to illuminate pop with the brightest flame, one that borrows as much from Bacharach as from Scott Walker or the Smiths. A sentimental and cerebral flame, brimming with a desire to tell stories that are not always happy, but always vital. Understanding melancholy is one of pop's greatest lessons and ****er reminds us, without ever preaching.

**JÉRÔME SOLIGNY**

---

**Rating guide at the bottom:**

**PISTE AUX ÉTOILES (Star Track)**
INCONTOURNABLE (Unmissable)
Excellent
Convincing
Possible
In your dreams

*June 2025, R\&F 059*

-- Edited by andy on Saturday 24th of May 2025 07:23:51 AM

Great interview in the Observer this weekend with Miranda Sawyer who has always loved them even if she is Team Blur at heart.

 

But she captures their awkward, endearing essence here very well... Also, interesting to hear about Candida ditching the alternative career as a counsellor...

https://observer.co.uk/culture/interviews/article/pulp-are-you-ready-for-more?fbclid=IwY2xjawKeXi1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHr2_pF7Qacg4yl5gyQtV3MG_-P5IEYwR4NDYjxuaz0gKXIjn-OqEmTYZA8Jb_aem_iuo17cgXDCBLBq7dRsb5-w

Thought the rolling stone interview was particularly interesting. Cant wait to hear Grownups after reading about its development.

one of the best pic of their comeback

Eamonn wrote:

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Plus, a lot of discussion on the song "Grown-Ups". It feels like some of the lyrical ideas have been recycled from the unreleased song he recorded for Further Complications, "The Night They Left Me Out Of The Home"

https://pulpwiki.net/Jarvis/TheNightTheyLetMeOutOfTheHome 

-- Edited by Eamonn on Saturday 24th of May 2025 10:41:16 AM

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 I only recently acquired "The Night They Let Me Out Of The Home" in that bundle of More-related bootlegs and I love it - a sequel to Tunnel.

It was recorded in Jan'09 during the FC sessions with Steve Albini but not released.

Jarvis and his band only played it live once in Paris during those loose jam-sessions that they performed during a week of non-concerts - more like "street-entertainment" in Paris (playing Angela to a a yoga-group etc.) in May of that year. I think they streamed an afternoon of jamming, live at the time and someone captured it but don't expect high quality.

It's more of a loose performance and I'm not sure if the whole track was performed. I don't have it on this computer but I think it'll be either in the Yahoo acccount/FEELING CALLED LIVE/or wherever Fran got it from.

cool song

thanx ! Yeah it could have made a nice bside. You can clearly hear its a rough take here. But with a studio sound, could sound great.

 

-- Edited by andy on Sunday 25th of May 2025 03:29:27 PM

andy wrote:

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thanx ! Yeah it could have made a nice bside. You can clearly hear its a rough take here. But with a studio sound, could sound great.

 

-- Edited by andy on Sunday 25th of May 2025 03:29:27 PM

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Yes - it would have been great to have heard the studio version.  The other 'spare' song finished in those album sessions was Apparently, which eventually crept out on the Japanese release.  

It must have been a late decision to remove The Night They from the album, as it was mentioned in a few interviews in the weeks before the release.  

Veering off topic a bit but I've edited the Wiki page for The Night... to add more of the lyrics. There are just a few lines I can't get, in fairness because he seems to get a bit lost at one point. Feel free to add more!

I'm loving the interviews so far, especially given they did next to nothing last reunion.

Their enthusiasm for the band is very encouraging.

Andy, can you translate pls.

Eamonn wrote:

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and the Daily Mail (sorry): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-14763293/ADRIAN-THRILLS-reviews-Pulp-Rough-Trade-Britpop-perfect-album.html

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Hope you don't mind Eamonn, I clicked it so others don't have to...
Just about... here

-- Edited by Ste on Friday 30th of May 2025 10:35:47 PM

I'll also be reviewing for The Student, Edinburgh's uni paper (I reviewed the Hogmanay gig for it too). Will link here when done. Russell interview also on the way!

-- Edited by lipglossed on Friday 30th of May 2025 11:32:09 PM

from Northern Transmissions : https://northerntransmissions.com/pulp-more/

"With themes of lust, love, parenthood, growing, and belonging More pays homage to a new era for Pulp that weighs heavy in nostalgia, but also feels timeless. Through tackling the intricacies of acceptance and naming feelings, this new work explores the privilege of growing older and wiser, while also staying true to the classic sound and finesse that Pulp fans adore."

I suspect the critic to have listened to the recent radio sessions only, not the complete album as she never mention other important songs like Hymn of the North or Grown Ups... but I could be wrong.

 

from Riff magazine : https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/pulp-more/

"Is More a worthy addition to the Pulp canon? Absolutely. It doesnt rewrite the bands history. It doesnt need to. It lives alongside it; a seasoned, beautifully flawed older sibling to that near-perfect trilogy from the 90s. Its a reminder that growing up isnt about having your **** together. Its about learning to say the thing you were always too clever to say."

This one feels more complete 

-- Edited by Bookmark on Sunday 1st of June 2025 09:55:47 AM

Worst-scoring review so far but it still gets seven out of ten:

https://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2025/06/02/pulp-more-rough-trade-records/
That guy hates Slow Jam

Four stars here:
https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/reviews/albums/pulp-more This guy recommends it!

And the Guardian, posted elsewhere but putting here to go with the others:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/02/pulp-more-review-anthems-and-rage-for-the-next-life-stage

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 2nd of June 2025 02:55:21 PM

AND My Sex as well.

I don't think any of them are understanding "My Sex" fully.

And yeah, newspaper reviews are liable to spend three-quarters of the article talking about the artist and giving context to their initial success. All the ****e we've heard before but they want to broaden the article to casual music fans.

 

Edit: This word-filter is getting out of hand. I understand c0Ck being asterisked but s.hite? C'mon, we're all "Grown-Ups" here...

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 2nd of June 2025 03:48:34 PM

Eamonn wrote:

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Edit: This word-filter is getting out of hand. I understand c0Ck being asterisked but s.hite? C'mon, we're all "Grown-Ups" here...

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 2nd of June 2025 03:48:34 PM

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And while we're at it, is there any way of adding support for em-dashes, please? I'm constantly using em-dashes and then they don't show up in my posts, so I have to go back and edit them to add hyphens instead otherwise they're unreadable. I love a good em-dash.

lipglossed wrote:

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Eamonn wrote:

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Edit: This word-filter is getting out of hand. I understand c0Ck being asterisked but s.hite? C'mon, we're all "Grown-Ups" here...

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 2nd of June 2025 03:48:34 PM

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And while we're at it, is there any way of adding support for em-dashes, please? I'm constantly using em-dashes and then they don't show up in my posts, so I have to go back and edit them to add hyphens instead otherwise they're unreadable. I love a good em-dash.

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The ****ing profanity filter cannot be disabled for free forums. 

If you read the forum guidelines post at the top, Steve has used the word "arse" several times and this isn't censored. Odd!

I just had to google what em-dashes are and can't see any options to add them specifically. Maybe the settings for your keyboard would allow it?

-- Edited by Ian on Monday 2nd of June 2025 05:56:49 PM

Ian wrote:

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lipglossed wrote:

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Eamonn wrote:

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Edit: This word-filter is getting out of hand. I understand c0Ck being asterisked but s.hite? C'mon, we're all "Grown-Ups" here...

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 2nd of June 2025 03:48:34 PM

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And while we're at it, is there any way of adding support for em-dashes, please? I'm constantly using em-dashes and then they don't show up in my posts, so I have to go back and edit them to add hyphens instead otherwise they're unreadable. I love a good em-dash.

---

The ****ing profanity filter cannot be disabled for free forums. 

If you read the forum guidelines post at the top, Steve has used the word "arse" several times and this isn't censored. Odd!

I just had to google what em-dashes are and can't see any options to add them specifically. Maybe the settings for your keyboard would allow it?

-- Edited by Ian on Monday 2nd of June 2025 05:56:49 PM

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That's because it's a Canadian Company, Arse means nothing there. How about ass, let's see, or ASS.

 

Edit: that works too 

-- Edited by andy on Monday 2nd of June 2025 06:24:39 PM

-- Edited by andy on Monday 2nd of June 2025 06:24:54 PM

OK. Anyway...more More reviews. They keep comin'...


Rolling Stone:
https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/album-reviews/pulp-more-review-a-triumphant-comeback-from-britpop-titans-50632/

Weakest review to date, here...what a lyric from My Sex if true! (to rival "a Teddy bear with an erection" on Leftovers before he decided to replace it...):

https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/pulp-more-album-review/

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 2nd of June 2025 07:11:54 PM

Ironically, calling him "Jarvis ****er" actually makes his name seem ruder, if anything.

The Financial Times are not impressed. Maybe they should spend more time discussing financial stuff!? www.ft.com/content/cece1eac-feaf-4d4d-bffb-b3aeac3da7da

Some harsh reviews here, hope that wont make them question future records 

-- Edited by andy on Tuesday 3rd of June 2025 06:16:18 PM

Ah, look at what that review says about HOTN and pay no heed. It's not a bit overcooked and I don't agree that it leaves you wondering whether the North is a place to leave or return to. Part of what I love is how affectionate it sounds towards the North. The song reminds me of Russell saying he felt this great pride that he came from somewhere so unremittingly ugly (his words, folks, not mine!). I have never been to the North of England so I can't say! But I do know you can love a place despite all of the hardships it might have foisted upon you and all of the prejudice you may face because you're from that place. Everyone's entitled to an opinion so I'm entitled to say I think that's a load of rubbish, that review. I keep saying it, I think that's my favourite ever pulp song now. So warm, so soulful.

I've just realised that the listening party I went to played the second side first! I'm now forever going to expect My Sex to be the first song!!! To be honest I think I prefer the listening order I heard it in. Second side is stronger in my opinion or at least on first listen.

The NY article you posted, Eamonn was great, thank you. Found that amazing about the man who gave him the guitar when he was a child. So glad he tracked him down and had those moments. Like it was meant to be.

-- Edited by Jean on Tuesday 3rd of June 2025 07:21:57 PM

-- Edited by Jean on Tuesday 3rd of June 2025 07:23:23 PM

Yes, that was a lovely piece. Clearly "one of us" so maybe biased, but still, great to read.

Eamonn wrote:

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What did Les Inrocks say?

 

 

---

 

They probably love it. Jarvis and Neil Hannon can do no wrong with them ! 

Yay, I'm happy for the review score of 9!

No one is ever going to get positive reviews across the board (maybe rarely), but there has only been one negative one so far

The Wall Street Journal know their stuff better than the Financial Times:

 

More by Pulp Review: Satire and Sincerity
The Britpop bands first studio album in 24 years offers a hopeless yet humorous perspective on life today.
By Mark Richardson
June 3, 2025 4:50 pm ET
Pulp

In the 1990s, the U.K. was in thrall to Britpop, the retro-leaning movement that was a more melodic answer to the grunge that had taken hold in the U.S. Among the biggest bands of the scene, Oasis had anthems, Blur had taste and Pulp had style. That last, Sheffield-based band, led by singer Jarvis ****er, was initially an outlier because its first two albums came out in the 80s and werent representative of what came later. But by 1994s His n Hers, Pulp had mastered its own brand of multifaceted guitar pop, which mixed glam rock, disco and punk. Mr. ****er, whose persona was a magnetic fusion of Bryan Ferrys louche sexiness and Elvis Costellos wit, became one of rocks great frontmen. And then, after Pulps 2001 album We Love Life, produced by avant-pop legend Scott Walker, the group went its separate ways.

The bands membership had always been fluid, though drummer Nick Banks and keyboardist Candida Doyle were there from nearly the beginning, and it was fair to assume after it split that Mr. ****er would pick up where the band left off. But he had tired of Pulps celebrity and pursued low-key solo projects. In what has become an increasingly common progression for once-disbanded groups, a series of reunion tours led to studio sessions and now, after 24 years, we have a new Pulp record.

The stunningly strong More (Rough Trade), out Friday, is a celebration of everything that made it great in the first place.
The opening Spike Island is both heavy and slinky, marrying a quasi-disco beat to a palpitating bassline thats at once sensual and menacing. Mr. ****er, a bundle of jittery energy, spits out his lines as if hes walking briskly on the street next to you and trying to finish his story before heading down into the tube. Hes an exceptionally good lyricist with an uncanny ability to mix satire and sincerity, and here he jokes about the absurdity of making a life in music while nodding to his bands history and extended absence: Not a shaman or a showman / Ashamed I was selling the rights / I took a breather / And decided not to ruin my life.

During his mellower solo years, Mr. ****er has acquired some wisdom but has lost none of his mischievousness. Much of More is about looking for love and breaking up, though nothing is ever simple. On the second track, Tina, his narrator thinks hes found the perfect relationship, but hes never met his obsession and she doesnt know he exists: An outside observer would call him a deranged stalker. Mr. ****er has an eye for telling imageshere he imagines making love in a charity shops storage room, The smell of digestive biscuits in the air.
The singer delivers that amusing and pathetic track over a grand orchestral production with strings and a choir, which lends pathos to his wry observations, and the lush production throughout by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Blur) adds drama.

Grown Ups is a pulsing rock number that ticks like a time bomb and then explodes. Slow Jam, which finds Mr. ****er conversing with Jesus and learning that hes tired of hearing about the ills of the world, is built around a funky and hypnotic bassline that captures the R&B atmosphere suggested by its title. The Hymn of the North, a stirring and stately ballad about the impossibility of enduring happiness, has a Wagnerian grandeur. And My Sex, in which Mr. ****er pokes fun at his own Lothario image, is a sleazy midtempo rock number with sustained guitars and Gregorian chant-style backing vocals.

As strong as the music isthese songs are as catchy and memorable as those from Pulps mid-90s peakMr. ****ers lyrics stay with you even more. On Background Noise, a searing psychedelic ballad with a knockout chorus, he sings of the difficulty of appreciating love in the moment, concluding that Like the buzzing of a fridge / You only notice when it disappears. And on the closing A Sunset, he sees a world where the tenderest human emotion is merely fodder for advertising, interpolating a famous soft-drink jingleone person sees a beautiful sunset, another is thinking of how to profit from it.

The singer is consumed with anger and disgusted by the world, its superficiality and the way the powerful rule over the powerless, and yet his observations are delivered with warmth and he knows that the best way to cope is to have a good laugh. That after all this time he and his band are able to render these feelings so clearly in indelible pop songs is inspiring.

Mr. Richardson is the Journals rock and pop music critic. Follow him on X @MarkRichardson.
Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the June 4, 2025, print edition as 'Pulp Returns, Mixing Satire and Sincerity'.