Day 0802 - Different Class

Pulp "Different Class" (1995) - got it

If Blur were drawing on the Kinks, and Oasis on the Beatles, Pulp is like some weird smash together of the Pet Shop Boys and Scott Walker (would later produce their final album "We Love Life").   There are some minimalist keyboardy pop tracks and then some more cinematic mixes of acoustic guitar backed with strings, occasional jabs of rock guitar.

These sounds back singer Jarvis Cocker's stories that reflect both his northern upbringing and his geeky outsider status.  He has a certain theatrical flair to his delivery, moving between sultry whispers and spoken word, from sleepy croons, through to impassioned howls.

Many of his stories are a little downbeat, while still not without a sense of humour and a shrug of the shoulders.  Whether it's his scathing yet amused take on rich twats glamourising working class life in "Common People":

"Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool"

Or this line from album opener "Mis-shapes" which seems to sum up the band's self-image:

"We don't look the same as you
And we don't do the things you do
But we live around here, too"

As I've said a few times, I'm not really much of a lyric fan, but Jarvis has a way with words that I can get behind.   He does seem to be very sex-focussed, but in kind of an awkward, unconventional way.

Another pillar of Britpop/Cool Brittannia.