I must be the only saddo Pulp rarity detective on here - well that and an office job that requires a lot of general net-surfing to stay awake, has allowed me to track down the following:
Firstly, actually this was found through scanning Uncut magazine after work, but I saw that Universal had a half-page ad for the re-issues which included a website address to discuss your Pulp 'first time' - it can be found here www.doyourememberthefirsttime.co.uk
I don't know how long it's been up - judging by the message board, probably only the last few days but then again take a look at the news - Re-issue updates dating back to May! And us lot worrying whether the bloke who posted the tracklistings on the I Love Music site had got it right!
Secondly, and I'm surprised no one has spotted this - the 7digital.com mp3 store are not only offering the songs on pre-order digital format - they also have 30 SECOND PREVIEWS OF EVERY TRACK ON THE 3 RE-ISSUES INCLUDING THE DEMOS!!! With less than a week to go to the relseases perhaps it's not such a big deal, how long have they been up there?!
I was like a kid with his pressies under the tree at midnight on Christmas Eve, permission to open the gifts but told to get a night's sleep before playing with them.
I've restrained myself from downloading all the previews of the rare stuff (thus far) but I really wanted to solve a couple of discrepancies over certain tracks that have been advertised on various websites. Happily, all issues worked out as well as i'd hoped!
1. Is the Nick Cave version of Disco 2000 the same as on the Bad Cover Version single or is it the actual 'Pub-rock' type that was recorded and scrapped? It is indeed the previously unheard version. I know the clue was in the 'Pub-rock' description but a lot of websites didn't mark it with an * as previously unreleased.
2. One of my faves 'Ansaphone' I note has recently been advertised on amazon (and possibly play.com's site) as being the demo version as opposed to the b-side which struck me as odd, as all the other b-sides (apart from 'Cocaine Socialism' and 'Tomorrow Never Lies' though they haave distinctive changes to the eventual types released) are down as the original mix (well, and possibly remastered). But yes, this 'Ansaphone' is clearly a demo - though unfortunately the demo seems to suggest that Mr Cocker's vocals aren't quite up to it on this occassion... Still, delighted that a gem of a song gets an alternative birth which is the least it deserved having never been played live.
3. I had a feeling that 'Frightened' from the His'n'Her sessions was an early version of the song 'His'nHers' - this was further strengthened with the review the other day I found of the reissue where mention was made of the song being about the ''fear of domesticity'' brought about by the band's rehearsing environment in the Catcliffe Pottery warehouse full of ''figurines and trinkets''. This of course is a main theme running through the 'His'n'Hers' song too.
But it is indeed a different song - and from the half minute snippet sounds fcuking fantastic! Synth frenzy - sounds like Candida and Mark have grown octopus arms and are playing 10 each simultaneously.
4. 'Modern Marriage' is 'Space II' for the first 25 seconds of the clip - sonically at least! Honestly, I thought Jarvis was going to start talking about selling washing machines in the rain at any moment. It burst into song at the end of the 30 sec preview.
As for the 'remastering' side, it's hard to tell on my pc's knackered speakers but a few 30 second strains to 'Acrylic Afternoons', 'Someone Like The Moon' and 'TV Movie' seem to reveal more clarity in the sound. Hard to be definite though - and again they are only mp3s so any, if any at all, sonic advancements will be best noticed with the actual cds played on a hi-fi. Though 'Watching Nicky' - the demo that was of course posted on the yahoo account as an xmas pressie last year, has definitely been cleaned up! Oh and the 1990s Pulp holy-grail song, ('Rattlesnake' being the 80s) 'We Can Dance Again' sounds like it could divide opinion...the chorus just explodes, again plastered in keyboards but the verse lyrics seem a bit unclear...hmm, could be that I'm so used to hearing the 'Drury Lane' version.
Now, I've been sorely tempted to check out the rest but I don't want the buying and subsequent listening of the discs next week to be an anti-climax.
So boys and girls I leave this in your careful hands http://www.7digital.com/stores/listing.aspx?shop=34&artist=78. It is for you to decide whether or not to give into temptation. I have high hopes for 'Don't Lose It' and 'You're Not Blind' in particular, why I don't know. But I will resist their charms...for now.
Finally, you are all going to be saying that 'The Boss' is the best thing since sliced bread by the end of the month.
Sturdy wrote: Oh, and there's an interesting crossreference between the Catcliffe Shakedown and the Disco 2000 video...
Haha, I noticed that too, though it took me a moment before I could think where exactly it had come up before. Mirror mirror on the wall indeed...
I gave into the attraction of the Catcliffe clip with the justification that as a 9 minute epic (so your book says!) a 30 sec snippet wasn't much of a peek..
i am lucky enough to have copies of the 3 discs.... and oh. my. god. you will all fall in love with pulp EVEN MORE. catcliffe shakedown is amazing i must have listened to it about 20 times the other day whilst walking around with a huge grin on my face.
weener wrote: i am lucky enough to have copies of the 3 discs.... and oh. my. god. you will all fall in love with pulp EVEN MORE. catcliffe shakedown is amazing i must have listened to it about 20 times the other day whilst walking around with a huge grin on my face.
Any chance of a review? And what are the sleeve notes/pics like?
well i've only got burnt copies as my pal is a muso journalist and gets sent everything so i haven't seen the notes (i'll still be buying them!) if i get a minute i'll do a review tomorrow but i'm not very wordy...
Eamonn...what is the the 'Drury Lane' version of We Can Dance Again?
I have only the Chevette cover and the Theater Royale live one...
Well, I won't give in to temptation, as I booked the day off for the reissues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good man James, your powers of resistance are highly lauded.
Oh and the 'Theatre Royale' and 'Drury Lane' version are the same - two names for the same venue where it was played. Love Is Blind and Death Come To Town were also played at this right?
However it was also apparently played at The Princes Trust gig earlier in December of '94. Strange that a recording doesn't exist from this performance, given that it was a high profile event.
I haven't listen yet. I am going to try to resist.
But I'm so glad to see they're selling the songs ala carte! Thank god! Having recently moved to a new country, I can't afford to pay those high import prices right now. I'll be downloading them at midnight.
weener wrote: i am lucky enough to have copies of the 3 discs.... and oh. my. god. you will all fall in love with pulp EVEN MORE. catcliffe shakedown is amazing i must have listened to it about 20 times the other day whilst walking around with a huge grin on my face.
Does it sound like the original albums have been remastered? I REALLY wanna know especially if HnH has been!
I always knew The Boss was a fantastic song but that little taster of the 'proper' version sounds amazing. Absolutely can't wait! From first listen I can't hear any differences in the mastering of the original tracks but they're quite low quality so it's hard to tell until we get the CD's.
The re-issues are out here in Ireland! I'd forgotten that we get new releases 3 days before the UK.
I'm down in Cork looking for a house for college and stopped in at Virgin Megastore earlier - plenty of shiny new deluxe editions to be seen! Was umming and aahing about buying them but the price tags - €25 each, put me off. I can get the 3 from amazon or play for £39 altogether, which is only about €55. Plus i wont be earning money again for another 9 months, so I'll have to hold out.
The sealed plastic meant I couldn't leaf through the booklet. I did see that the HnH booklet is 24 pages, the other two have 32. The sticker makes a prominent mention of them being 'Remastered'. Oh and TIH has left off 'That Boy's Evil' which I'd forgotten about. No great loss with it being...well shite.
I don't suppose there's any further word on these getting a U.S. release?
Highly unlikely. Shell out for the imports or download the songs.
As evidence, please note that Universal refused to release WLL in the States, nor did they bother to release the Hits DVD or the Ultimate Live DVD. Plainly put, Universal/Island America doesn't give a shit about Pulp. (This may have something to do with Pulp's reluctance to tour in North America.)