Aaron Matthews prefers this “lipgloss” to Lil Mama’s.
Pulp’s career trajectory seems distinctly quaint in the blog-bombarded, Hype Machined era. While modern times mean a disappointing sophomore effort is enough to make people forget you faster than you can say Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Pulp lingered in near total obscurity for 12 years before garnering commercial attention. Formed by 15-year old Jarvis Cocker in 1978, the Sheffield-based group didn’t release their debut, It until 1983, and it took a full decade working the pub and grub circuit to finally get themselves a deal with Island Records in 1993.
Their Island debut, His ‘N’ Hers, saw release the following year, and signaled Pulp’s coming-out-party. With Leonard Cohen the clear-cut inspiration for Cocker’s sex, love and class-obsessed narratives, and Scott Walker, David Bowie and Bryan Ferry, his obvious vocal progenitors, Cocker’s myriad influences finally coalesced into a cohesive sound and vision. Meanwhile, Pulp themselves settled into a definitive and seamless blend of glam-rock, post-punk and disco.
“Joyriders” sets the tone with its churning mess of fizzy guitars buoying Cocker’s droll recollections of teenage life in Sheffield: drinking, driving, gawking at girls and vandalizing property. Emblematic of mid-90s Britpop, its four singles are the best tracks. On “Do You Remember The First Time?” Cocker pens a letter to the girl who took his virginity, backed by humming keyboards and terse guitar riff that soars on the chorus:
“Do you remember the first time?/I can’t remember a worse time”
The overtly glammy “Lipgloss” equates a young woman’s sexual appeal with her lip gloss – once she’s lost it, there’s nothing left for her boyfriend. “Babies” pairs Cocker’s tales of savvy voyeurism with a fantastic surf guitar lick and a creeping bass line. Closer “David’s Last Summer” sounds like (in the best possible way), the closing credits song to a 80s teen comedy. Jarvis reminisces fondly of a summer spent with a girl, drinking cider and going night swimming, despite being 31 years old and over two decades removed from adolescence;
The album isn’t perfect–Ed Buller’s production sounds dated and tinny in spots and “She’s A Lady” sounds like Tom Jones attempting disco rock. Meanwhile, “Someone Like The Moon” is dull and feels substantially longer than its four minutes and eighteen seconds. Cocker and co. didn’t quite have it all together yet, and wouldn’t perfect their sound and aesthetic until their 1995 commercial breakthrough, the Mercury Prize winning, Different Class. But His ‘N’ Hers is important because it marks the moment that Jarvis Cocker discovered his authorial voice, and fused his glam, pop and dance influences into something oft-spectacular and always singular.
Download:
MP3: Pulp-“Lipgloss”
MP3: Pulp-“Joyriders”
Video: “Do You Remember The First Time?`
