Pulp "This is Hardcore" (1998) - got it
Pulp's "Different Class" album had been a success, but the band were not
revelling in their new-found fame. Facing it instead with a mix of drugs, resignations
and paranoia that blighted the euphoria. The angst all comes out on this
album, with opening track "the Fear" featuring lines like "the sound of
loneliness turned up to 10" and "this is the sound of someone losing the
plot, making out that they're okay when they're not".
The album moves away from the bouncy, perky britpop of 'Different Class '
and into a more brooding, reflective realm. The band's theatrical side
(musically and via Cocker's low murmur-to-impassioned yell vocals)
remains. The title track has a noirish, almost cinematic bent. Single
"Help the Aged" moves from an easy-listening groove to a huge anthemic chorus.
With their propulsive grooves and Cocker's deep croon, "Party Hard"
and "Glory Days" seem to nod to late 70s/early 80s Bowie. Album
odd-duck "Seductive Barry" is an atmospheric, meditative track which feels again like it owes a debt to Bowie, specifically his Berlin albums.
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