Best record ever?

[Djehuti]

Pulp's "Different Class" has to be the best record ever. It has everything you need, especially class struggle and dirty sex.
http://www.amazon.com/Different-Class-Pulp/dp/B000001E8P



Which record is your number one?

[Djehuti]

Different Class

1994’s His n Hers was a dark, gritty retelling of the most foreboding corners of Jarvis Cocker’s mind. The seedy alleyways you wouldn’t walk into in broad daylight. The dingy bars your imagination couldn’t have made look worse. On the unparalleled Different Class, Cocker does something masterful. He takes these characteristics to the next level. He embraces the squalid nature of his character and class. He accepts the seediness, the desperation, the poverty. He likes it. He needs it. He is vileness humanised and he’s enjoying every last second of it. He wants a revolution where the sordid underlings of society rise up and command the fat cats who used to be at the top of the class system. Best yet – he wants to mastermind it all. He’s determined to be the leader of a cultural uprising. He’ll gather a band of “misshapes, mistakes” and “misfits” and take on the world. He wants your homes. Your lives. Your Monkees collection. Cocker is the voice of the youth of Britain, the voice of a generation. At this point my scholastic side steps in and informs you that Cocker was 32 at the time of the release of Different Class and that Oasis had already owned that position. At best, Pulp was the third scheduled ascendant to the revolutionary throne. Fourth by 1995, when Radiohead came in to play. So how could Pulp really have been the voice of a generation? How could Jarvis Cocker really understand the sentiments of these kids? Two words: Common People. History dictates that working class anthems rock, man! Sex? Check. Drugs? Check. Drink? Check. Cockroaches? Oh now he’s gone and taken it too far. It’s too honest. It’s too dirty. But it worked. And it catapulted Pulp and frontman and media-starlet-to-be Jarvis Cocker to the highest point of their long career. He was one of them. He knew about the dark parts of life because he gravitated toward them. He belonged in them. And he wanted to bring them out of the shadows and into the centre of the music world. And it worked. Common People was a veritable anthem. Along with “Live Forever” it echoed the sentiments of a generation, though it was obvious how these bands united by a “similar” sound differed so much lyrically. “Live Forever” was hopeful, optimistic. “Common People” was anything but. Pulp made a mockery of anyone who wasn’t a lackadaisical half-wit. And God bless them for it. Because “Common People” was only a foot in the door for what would be an all-out working class offensive strike on Different Class. HISTORICALLY, the lead single is usually a good indicator of what direction a band is headed. “Common People” fits this statement almost ideally.

The album proper begins with Cocker’s most brash anthem yet, Mis-Shapes. “We’re making a move/we’re making it now/we’re coming out of the sidelines […] we won’t use guns/we won’t use bombs/we’ll use the one thing we’ve got more of/and that’s our minds”. Cocker is cocksure and not afraid to admit it. He’s cocksure about being cocksure. Mis-Shapes is a rallying anthem if you’re willing to be rallied. Otherwise, hey, cool song.

The most fascinating song is undoubtedly I Spy. I can’t describe how much Pulp hit the mark with this song. Every note is perfect, every word is scathing, every millisecond sounds perfectly planned for maximum effect.
You see you should take me seriously, very seriously indeed. Because I’ve been sleeping with your wife for the past 16 weeks. Smoking your cigarettes, drinking your brandy, messing up the bed that you chose together. And in all that time I just wanted you to come home unexpectedly one afternoon and catch us at in the front room. You see I spy for a living and I specialise in revenge, on taking the things I know will cause you pain. I can’t help it, I was dragged up. My favourite parks are car parks. Grass is something you smoke. Birds are something you shag. Take your “Year in Provence” and shove it up your ass.


It’s menacing, it’s evil, and it’s beautiful. This is a song that needs to be heard, quite simply.

Another highlight is the hushed/bombastic/hushed combination presented in “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.”. The verses are spoken word, and while they may seem overly descriptive (take the opening line “…if I close my eyes I can visualize everything in it right down, right down to the broken handle on the third drawer down of the dressing table”), I think this accurately represents how the emphasis (or perhaps) shifts to odd objects when in an extreme emotion state, which in Cocker’s case is love. The second verse perfectly describes every sentiment associated with it, at least in my mind.

So what do I do? I’ve got this slightly sick feeling in my stomach like I’m standing on the top of a very high building. Oh yeah, all the stuff they tell you about in the movies, but this isn’t chocolate boxes and roses – it’s dirtier than that, like some small animal that only comes out at night. And I see flashes of the shape of your breasts, and the curve of your belly and they make me have to sit down and catch my breath.


His description is frighteningly detailed and accurate. The chorus (centred around the title) expands on this.

The remainder of the songs on the album minimise the activist stance, but the class divisions permeate every song. The album can just be viewed as a collection of well-composed pop songs, and this is quite accurate. But viewing the album at this level ignores the layers which make it more than just another record to listen to. The lyrics mean something. They can represent something as basic as the honesty and directness with which Cocker’s class confronts sex (Underwear), drugs and alcohol (Sorted For E’s and Wizz, the title is pretty self-explanatory) in comparison with the upper classes. But the album on the whole, and particularly volatile tracks like Common People, Mis-Shapes and I Spy reveal the still-existing cleavages between the different levels of English society. Cocker may be famous, and he may have risen to stardom. But he came from somewhere. He rose from the among the lower levels of British society, to the highest. But he’s still one of them. This may be a good thing – it certainly helps him maintain his street cred. But he was not equal with the upper classes. He was at the top, but it didn’t last. It couldn’t last. For every peak there is an almost insurmountable mountain to climb to get there. For every triumph there is an equal fall. But in 1995 Jarvis Cocker and Pulp were at the top, and they decided to make use of it. Every word has a background, every line has a reason for being where it is, every song, once revealed, will forever hold its place. Different Class marks a time. It marks a movement. It voices the grievances of an entire class. Yes, it’s pop music. Yes, it’s made for entertainment. But art always reflects something. Perhaps something as simple as the technologies and techniques that were available and known about at the time. Different Class couldn’t have been recorded in 1943, it relies to heavily on synths. It couldn’t have been recorded by a Finnish band, it’s too layered in British sentiment and dissent. Any historian could tell you that.

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/pul...class/reviews/4 (http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/pulp/different_class/reviews/4)

[Bazza]

Originally posted by [email protected] 11, 2007 09:58 pm

Which record is your number one?
'Don't Stand Me Down' by Dexys Midnight Runners.

[Pow R. Toc H.]

The Times They A-Changin'- Bob Dylan

[Don't Change Your Name]

"Different Class" is not even the best Pulp album

[Djehuti]

Ah, great records both!



"Different Class" is not even the best Pulp album

Which one would you say? "His 'n' Hers"? "This Is Hardcore"?
Love them as well.

[Organic Revolution]

Illmatic- Nas

[Oiron]

The Pogues: Red Roses For Me
:D

[Invader Zim]

His 'n Hers is a better album as is This is Hardcore. Though common people is a great album, it is more of a pop album full of singles.

I don't think I can name the best album ever, but I can name the ones I like most and listen to most: -


Come to Daddy (EP) - Aphex twin

Arcade Fire (EP) - The Arcade Fire

International Velvet - Catatonia

Script of the Bridge - The Chameleons

No Need to Argue - The Cranberries

The White Album - The Beatles

Boy With The Arab Strap - Belle and Sebastian

Modern life is Rubbish - Blur

The Rise of Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

The Decline of... - British Sea Power

The Doors - The Doors

Polythene - Feeder

Sumday - Grandaddy

The Remote Part - idlewild

Substance - Joy Division

The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers

Finelines - My Vitriol

Definitely Maybe - oasis

Surfa Rosa - Pixies

Without You I'm Nothing - Placebo

Stupid Dream - Porcupine Tree

Dummy - Portishead

Kid A - Radiohead

Takk - Sigur Rós

Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins

Final Straw - Snowpatrol

Love Is Here - Starsailor

Performance and Cocktails - Stereophonics

Stone Roses - Stone Roses

Jail Break - Thin Lizzy

Lateralus - Tool

Pink Flag - Wire

[Don't Change Your Name]

Originally posted by [email protected] 12, 2007 02:26 am
Which one would you say? "His 'n' Hers"? "This Is Hardcore"?
Love them as well.
Yeah, I like both of them better than DC. I haven't really listened to them that much as to be completely sure though...probably because there are at least 150 albums which I find to be better than them...

[Hampton]

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00007FOMP.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1116695421_.jpg

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000001Y16.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1115630108_.jpg

[RebelDog]

Slayer; Reign in blood

[Janus]

Dark Side of the Moon.

[Pow R. Toc H.]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13, 2007 06:38 am
Dark Side of the Moon.
Darkside= overrated

Although I will say when you are really baked there isnt anything better.

A much better PF album is Meddle or Piper at the Gates of Dawn. RIP Syd Barrett.

[Angry Young Man]

I abstain from judging, as I haven't heard every album in existence. Then shall I decide, and even then it is entirely subjective.
Nonetheless, of the albums in my collection, I'd have to say "Art of Drowning" by afi.

[socialistpunk]

Never mind the bollocks, The sex pistols can't beat anarchy in the uk gets you in the mood for squishing some facist skulls.

But i also like pink floyd, The wall

[Intifada]

Originally posted by Organic [email protected] 12, 2007 05:47 am
Illmatic- Nas
Definitely.

[Ander]

Refused - The Shape of Punk To Come

Not the best album of all time, but an excellent one that I've been listening to a lot lately.

[that1guy435]

Nirvana- In Utero
Queen- A Night at the Opera

[Cyanide Suicide]

The Clash's self titled, give 'em enough rope, and london calling.

[Hit The North]

'Post To Wire' - Richmond Fontaine

or

'Revolver' - Beatles

or

'What's Going On' - Marvin Gaye

or

'It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back' - Public Enemy