Pulp
★★★★
Different Class
UNIVERSAL/ISLAND. CD/DL/LP
Mercury-scooping UK chart-topper remastered for 30th anniversary.
Back in the mid-1990s, when the vinyl album had been almost fully eclipsed by the CD, the 53 minutes that made up Different Class were crammed into the grooves of a single 33 RPM disc. This expansive reissue gives it the double vinyl space to breathe, revealing far more of the sonic detail behind its tales of sexual frustration and outsiderdom. Some of these songs have greater resonance in the modern age – the creepy stalking narrative of I Spy, the potent anthem for the disaffected that is Mis-Shapes. If Chris Thomas’s production has dated in parts – especially that weirdly thin and ‘pingy’ drum sound – then the tunes are ageless. Added to this release is the full Glastonbury 1995 performance that made Pulp stars, the live debut of Sorted For E’s & Wizz wryly introduced by Jarvis Cocker as being “kind of appropriate”.