Fuss Free wrote:

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It's funny, I actually think Different Class is the album that falls apart on Side B. I rarely feel the urge to listen to Live Bed Show, Something Changed, Sorted, Underwear or Bar Italia. I do quite like Feeling and Monday Morning, but they aren't anyway near the top of my Pulp tracks.

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That's interesting... Refraining from the urge to call you a crazy person of dubious tastes, I will say that I find that very interesting. I often can't be bothered listening to the DC singles* - particularly Common People or Disco 2000 - because they're so over-familiar, but once they're actually *playing* they're irresistible. I never have that problem with any of the DC album-only tracks, though, particularly the tail end of the album.

* Something Changed is interesting, in that I remember I *was* starting to get a little tired of it until the single came out. (There's going to be more about this on the revised site, when it finally appears). For some reason, the single and its attendant inlay card, with all its lazily reclining naked people, gave the song a whole different atmosphere in my head which persists to this day.

Ian wrote:

The Professional would have made a great album track. Can't say I agree with the others though. I'm guessing that the rare songs from the This is Hardcore reissue will be brilliant but we'll have to wait and see.

Frisko2000 wrote:

'We Are the Boyz' was more a sub for 'TV Movie' or 'A Little Soul'. i think that those are the real low points of the album. 'The Day After the Revolution' is probably meant to be a more important song (at least when it was written) but i don't think it's better than 'Like A Friend'. the US version that i've always listened to has always closed with 'Like A Friend'. but i'd almost always hear either song over the fourteen minute 'The Day After the Revolution'...

cactus jack wrote:

the thing about this album is that i always have it on me, i think it's still great, tv movie i'd have to agree could have been got rid of but the rest is fantastic, i really like sylvia, i identify with it,

Jayenkai wrote:

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It's We Love Life that's crap all the way..

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Heretic! BURN HIM!

The Idiot wrote:


I think His'n'Hers is pretty much the perfect Pulp album, though I'm glad they made the bigger sounding and more successful Different Class rather than try to maintain underground "indie" status. Unfortunately I don't think Mr. Senior agreed with me, and I'm inclined to believe that his departure makes This Is Hardcore (and We Love Life, obviously) a considerably weaker album.

TIH does start well, it's already been mentioned that The Fear is a great opener: I remember some reviewer describing it as the character from Sorted a couple of years down the line, and that's indicative of the album in general; a little more dark, having to deal with the demons and so on.

At various times the mawkishness of Dishes has bothered me: And I'm not worried that I will never touch the stars 'cause stars belong up in heaven and the earth is where we are. Though overall it's a great song.

I don't think Party Hard has a bad vocal, it's just mixed so that the lower octave voice is prominent, and that's harder to enjoy than when Jarv is in a higher register. (Same with The Trees.) I'd definitely like to see Party Hard's vocals remixed, but also Mark Webber's guitar part is a little too ordinary and "rawk" than something Senior would have come up with. Undoubtedly Webber is a better guitarist than Senior, but the latter's style and flair is much stronger, even when playing guitar - he seems to be playing violin lines on guitar, which is so simple as to be sneered at by any "accomplished" musician but it's just that quality that makes it unique and interesting, especially with Pulp's trashy glam feel.

Help The Aged is very good, but too similar in Feel to DC. I expect this is why it was made the comeback single, but it doesn't feel like a development. Still the subject matter is perfect for a TIH album track.

This Is Hardcore the song is utterly fantastic, though an odd choice of single. Maybe it should've been the third single rather than second, a lot of people were probably put off buying the album by this. But the song and accompanying video are among Pulp's greatest triumphs and possibly pop music's too.

TV Movie is weak, almost Pulp-by-numbers. What's become apparent is that - for whatever reason - the songs don't seem to have been honed or developed enough.

I quite like A Little Soul - even the Smokey Robinson reference of the riff and title - but it was another bad choice of single and more evidence (for me) that ideas were running quite low at this point.

I'm A Man is another song that I feel is weakened by the American sounding verse that Russel Senior would have made more interesting, though it's also an example of how Jarvis is one of the best chorus writers in music. A possible single if made "properly".

Seductive Barry is great; it possibly suffers from being among weaker songs, but if the other tracks on this side were really focused and sharp I believe this would have been a lovely indulgence.

Another song with a great chorus and unfulfilled potential. Somehow these songs just sound like the band and Jarvis couldn't get around to finishing the writing properly. Like The Meaning Of Life by Monty Python.

Glory Days sounds like it wants to be anthemic, but there just isn't enough melodically or lyrically to justify that. I'm not familiar with Cocaine Socialism (yet) but it at least sounds interesting and opinionated.

The Day After The Revolution is like Seductive Barry for me: it's dragged down by a few mediocre songs around it. Could've been a good closer, but it's never a Bar Italia and nowhere near a David's Last Summer.

I wonder will the "new" songs on the reissues prove that a much better album could've been made, but it's still better than anything Oasis ever did.

Scotty wrote:

Agreed - I mean reading through this thread, people dont like Day Of The Revolution........what the **** is that all about !!!???!?!?!?!?!

Mind you, I kind of dislike Common People lol - as it simply the only track aside from Disco 2000 or at a push Sorted that Joe Bloggs knows on the street! AND its the only song thats played on the radio.....but thats not a bad thing as its getting airplay STILL since 1995

Couldn't agree more. With the stuff about This Is Hardcore, I mean.

Welcome to the board, theonewhothrowsthelastbookonthefire. What should we call you for short? TOWTTLBOTF?

The Idiot wrote:

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It's a three am look-at-your-life album, or a hangover album: world-weary and a bit disillusioned (or even cynical at points). There's certainly less naivety than in any previous Pulp record, more experience and age without the nostalgia of Disco 2000. So, while it's not a bleak or negative album it's still rather dark in a way.

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I agree. The Fear is obviously pretty dark, while Dishes and A Little Soul are sad (in a good way). The title track is just incredibly world-weary and cynical in a really powerful way; The way Jarvis makes the fame-as-porn metaphor work for the whole song never fails to knock me out.

I haven't gotten the reissues yet, but I hear in the liner notes to this, Jarvis kinda regrets not making the album entirely dark, but I think that's what makes the album so strong. Glory Days and The Day After the Revolution are cautiously hopeful, and there's something realistic about those songs that I really respond to.

8 years later, i still dont get why people dont like a little soul, it's a classic for me : its got soul, emotion, melody, production...everything is basicaly spot on on this track.

i think thi is very well balanced with epics (the fear, sylvia, tih), ballades (a lillte soul, dishes), grrreat fillers (party hard, tv movie)...etc

i would only switch party hard for we are the boyz, but that's only for own liking.

one of the best album ever.

Not that i dislike TIH. It's actually my favourite album for this particular 5 minutes of my Pulp-related life.