Really sorry to bump this ancient topic, but I just can't help myself (even though it's now 2011 so the title makes little sense!)

This Is Hardcore is far and away my favourite Pulp album. I like Different Class a lot and can understand why it's held as their seminal piece, but TIH sounds like a more mature, well rounded band. For those who say it isn't dark, I feel the album starts to get a bit lighter towards the end. It's almost like a concept album, from the point of view of someone having a drunk night alone examining and analysing themselves and where it went wrong, leading to the final ten minutes of TDATR as the sun starts to rise and the person sobers up.

The Fear is a brilliant opening track and sets the mood for the album completely. Whilst the tone of the keyboards and guitars are quite similar to that of Different Class the tempo is a lot slower and subdued and you know that this is going to be a very different record. Dishes is a beautiful, poignant track that anyone who has woken up and realised that everything has fucked up and accepted it can listen to. Someone in this topic said they find the line "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", I digress, it suits the song so well. It almost has the feel of someone on anti-depressants speaking...

Party Hard almost sounds like an ode to Happy Mondays, with hypnotic guitars and funky bass riffs in repetition, straddling the line between Funk and Post-Punk. Brilliant song, very underrated. The chiming xylophones in the background at the end and Jarvis' dischorded voice gives the song a slightly nightmarish and creepy feel. Help The Aged has always reminded me of Radiohead's Creep, as it uses similar chords, has a slow beat and a quiet/loud/quiet dynamic. Was never going to be a huge anthem but it's one of the easier songs to listen to on this album, and has a great opening lyric. I like it.

Speaking of comparing Pulp to Radiohead, This Is Hardcore is very much so their Paranoid Android. Fantastic track. Fantastic. Much like Radiohead's epic, this rock opera builds itself up and builds itself up to frenzied climax and then you're dropped into a "scene after" moment, where the music is subdued and is reflecting on the previous four or so minutes. The way the lyrics compare fame to sex reminds me a little of Yes by the Manic Street Preachers from The Holy Bible, a similar album to TIH in a way - although that song uses prositution for symbolism. Some of Jarvis' finest lyrics are nested in the song, and they suit the unhinged vibes of the song amazingly well.

TV Movie seems to be getting a bit of stick in this thread. Personally I think it's a nice little ditty that serves as a good mid-album song. Can't see it making many people's "Top 5 Pulp Songs" lists but I've heard worse. I do love A Little Soul though. Not surprised it got picked as a single as it's one of the poppier ones on here (although the lyrics are some of the darkest on the album). Beautiful, bittersweet, and fun to play on the acoustic guitar! Can't say I'm too fussed about I'm A Man though. It always sounds like it has potential at the beginning with the big rock sound it has going but I always end up getting bored.

Seductive Barry seems to be one which divides opinions. I love it. Maybe it's because I have a thing for songs in the key of D minor, but Pulp are the only band that could make a subject as essentially innocent as masturbation seem so chilling and edgy. I love the bass riff too and the way the song "explodes". The version at Finsbury Park is even better, with Jarvis making weird shrieking noises into the mic during the breakdown. Sylvia and Glory Days are the two other weak points on the album. Sylvia, while not a bad track, just comes off as a bit generic and bland, almost like they stuck the song in as an afterthought. I can understand the popularity of Glory Days as it's the closest the album gets to sounding like they did on Different Class but personally it just doesn't do it for me.

The Day After The Revolution has to be one of the best album closers ever. The bass riff reminds me a little of the breakdown in Trees and I just find it to be a good, solid rock song. The part where Jarvis breaks the fourth wall and tells the listener "you made it by the skin of your teeth" before listing things that are "over" is a nice finishing touch, it's as if he's saying to us that we made it through the bad times (symbolised through the rest of the album). And then there's the ever lasting note. It gives the impression of gazing into the morning sky as the sun is rising after a long night of despair and self-doubt, and realising that "the fear is over".

I think all their albums hit weak points for two or so or so songs so despite not being too fond of I'm A Man, Sylvia or Glory Days, these songs don't bring down the sheer brilliance of the rest of the album. Listening to it is like a cathartic experience. As I mentioned, it starts off bleak and gets optimistic towards the end. The first half is definitely the darker side of the record, up until A Little Soul. Afterwards, even though the tone of the songs are still moody, the lyrical content is a little less extreme. As I mentioned, it feels like a concept album, all about analysing one's problems and overcoming them. Still, the uplifting ending doesn't erase the general bleak feel of the album and the difficulty of listening to it if you're new to Pulp.

One of the greatest albums ever.

Eamonn wrote:

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Yeah...and She Said She Was A Dancer. I still shake my head that they recorded that properly and left it off.

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Sorry if this is a stupid question (I specialise in 89-94 Pulp and am a bit hazy with a lot of Hardcore era details), but what is that song? No mention of it on the Pulp wiki.

Wow! I'd totally forgotten about this post.

Anyway, my views have definitely changed. I tend to like "Glory Days" and "Sylvia" more now but think that "Dishes" sounds like a filler. I think that the "This is Hardcore" album would have sold much better if they were sensible with the singles; "Glory Days" was an obvious hit single to start with, "Help The Aged" - a bit further down the line and "Party Hard" before the album...

Most of it is fantastic, but I have to say I'm a Man is one of my least favourite Pulp songs. Musically and lyrically uninteresting, it could have been written by any of the fairly average Britpop bands knocking around at the time, whereas every other song on the album has at least some qualities that make them stand out.

Like a Friend both should have been on the album and should have been a single.

ArrGee wrote:

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Ian wrote:

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I think that the "This is Hardcore" album would have sold much better if they were sensible with the singles..

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I didn't think there were any singles.  The thing I find about Hardcore is that if you listen to a track in isolation then it tends to not be that great, yet when you listen to the album in its entirety it is near flawless (Help The Aged still seems to jar a bit, but not as much as it does on its own).  There is far more depth to Hardcore than Different Class, and it sounds more considered.

I think Hardcore stands the test of time better than any other Pulp album, as it wasn't truly of its time, nor any time in particular.  I don't even believe it is the album Pulp intended to make, it just came out that way.  An accidental classic.

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Glory Days was an obvious single, cant understand why it was never released that way. Probably because of cocaine socialism. 

Ian wrote:

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Wow! I'd totally forgotten about this post.

Anyway, my views have definitely changed. I tend to like "Glory Days" and "Sylvia" more now but think that "Dishes" sounds like a filler. I think that the "This is Hardcore" album would have sold much better if they were sensible with the singles; "Glory Days" was an obvious hit single to start with, "Help The Aged" - a bit further down the line and "Party Hard" before the album...

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 I agree that Party Hard should have been the lead single. I think the downbeat nature of Help The Aged put a few people off buying the album, whilst the more lively and simplistic Party Hard would have worked better promotionally.

I don't really understand why people say This is Hardcore is Pulp's 'dark' album, when surely Freaks conveys a lot darker ideas (Ten stories about power, claustaphobia, suffocation and holding hands). Maybe because the troubles talked about in This Is Hardcore (re. "Panic attacks, feeling old and dishes") are so mundane and normal, people can relate to them but even so ...maybe I am just getting the wrong messages from the lyrics:
Please enlighten me

Eamonn wrote:

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calumlynn wrote:

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calumlynn wrote:

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Eamonn wrote:

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Yeah...and She Said She Was A Dancer. I still shake my head that they recorded that properly and left it off.

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Sorry if this is a stupid question (I specialise in 89-94 Pulp and am a bit hazy with a lot of Hardcore era details), but what is that song? No mention of it on the Pulp wiki.

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Oh hang on, an old title for It's a Dirty World? In which case, why use both song titles in the same paragraph?

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 Sorry...I just prefer the alternative name and was probably being a bit of a smart-arse.

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Hahah oh it's okay, I just there may have been another version of it or something! And if we can't be smart arses when talking about our favourite band, when can we be?!