Album Review: Pulp – This Is Hardcore

Pulp were faced with a quandary in 1998. They had just achieved huge success, piggybacking on the Britpop movement.

Their follow up to Different Class was This Is Hardcore. Bearing little resemblance to its predecessor, Jarvis Cocker kicks off the foreboding opener The Fear, singing “this is the sound of someone losing the plot.” Which is probably what Island Records said to him when the band presented this album to them. Where are the catchy tunes?

It’s not a tune-free zone by any means. The Fear is a kind of statement of intent, a five and a half minute slab of sinister melodrama, finishing in a haze of feedback. It’s an exhilarating way to start the album. Different class indeed. Next track Dishes sees the band back on more familiar territory, Jarvis opening a rather muted track with the line “I am not Jesus, though I have the same initials” and further on singing about wanting to “make this water wine”. Aside from the lyrics, it’s a pleasant little ditty that could have worked on previous albums.

A total change of tack for Party Hard, which sounds like an excellent Bowie track from the mid 90s. Jarvis an extraordinary Bowie impersonation over a grinding beat and squalling guitars. It goes beyond mere homage, as it’s a fine anthem and a highlight of the album. Help the Aged is, yet again, different, a soaring anthem which leads nicely into the title track, returning to the territory of The Fear, all sinister keyboards and brass.

After the almost folky TV Movie, A Little Soul is a fine, soaring soulful ballad which Pulp seem to turn out effortlessly. I’m A Man starts out like the Wedding Present before becoming a somewhat overblown number along the lines of Arcade Fire.

By now the listener is exhausted by the sheer breadth and scope of this album. Penultimate track Glory Days is not, as the title might suggest, a Springsteen-inspired folly but an attempt at a Different Class style stomper before the album finishes with the sentimental, cathartic sounding The Day After The Revolution, complete with statement “The Fear is over”, and a final note which lasts 10 minutes!

There’s a strange note on the CD booklet, after the lyrics are printed it reads: “NB Please do not read the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings.” Pretentious, glorious failure? Quite probably, but an enjoyable one at that.