Different Class 30

Description

Different Class (originally released October 30, 1995) is Pulp's most successful album, achieving multi-platinum sales and international acclaim, winning the 1996 Mercury Music Prize and debuting at #1 on the UK Album Chart. It also produced four Top Ten singles, including ‘Common People’. Four months prior to the release of the album, the band headlined the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday 24 June. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of what is widely regarded as one of the best records of the era, this legendary Glastonbury performance, the audio wholly restored and released here for the first time, has been paired with the remastered album (each cut over 2 LPs) and is released as a deluxe 4LP boxset. The audio has been remastered/mastered by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road, overseen by Jarvis Cocker and Mark Webber, and is presented in a sturdy slipcase with a comprehensive, 28-page booklet featuring extensive notes from new interviews with the band members, plus previously unseen images from photographers Rankin and Donald Milne (who took the photos for the original release) and the band’s own archives. The original ‘aperture’ sleeve design, which invited purchasers to “Choose your own front cover”, came with six double-sided inserts/art cards of alternative cover images depicting cardboard cutouts of the band members in a variety of situations. This has been fully recreated and a 12” by 12” poster featuring miniatures of the cutouts themselves is also included. Review: Britpop's most artistic and witty album now wonderfully remastered in a vinyl box set - While 2025 has seen the release of Pulp's massively long-awaited and spellbinding new record More, it also marks the thirtieth anniversary of their magnum opus Different Class with this wonderful and beautifully remastered vinyl box set that has an amazing range of sound. Though Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory is rightly Britpop's biggest album, Different Class is its artistic peak (though Blur were rather arty too). While 1994's His 'n' Hers was an excellent step in the right direction, Different Class hones and perfects Pulp's more commercialised Britpop style after taking a decade or so to reach the limelight. It is such a critical achievement too because it combines that last great music movement of the mid-nineties with art rock and it is their poppiest album with a knack for memorable melodies. Though (What's the Story) Morning Glory is Britpop's high-water mark, lyrically it is superior to Oasis too and Jarvis Cocker demonstrates what a masterful and gifted storyteller he is. Obviously, the Different Class singles represent Pulp's imperial phase. Common People is their signature song, and its title is clearly at odds with the Conservative government of the time which was on the verge of collapse. It is an era-defining anthem that builds to a crescendo and spectacular climax. Sorted... and Mis-shapes were a joint double A-side second single release. The former is sometimes criticised and misinterpreted as a celebration of addiction but really the sinister final lines represent a warning against it. It is one of the greatest musical moments on the record with a catchy acoustic guitar strum and spacey synths from Candida Doyle combined with further spaced-out sounds. Mis-Shapes represents those who do not really fit in but are decent people - it bounces along and is yet another anthemic moment. Disco 2000 is yet another beautiful and poignant story of someone who nostalgically pines for a lost/unrequited love from their early life. It combines a thrilling disco rhythm with Pulp's trademark indie-rock and pumping guitars and is one of Britpop's most iconic tracks. The final single Something Changed - about a first meeting with a lover - is excellent too with magnificent acoustic guitar riffing and sumptuous strings that elevate the song to an even greater level. Really both Something Changed and the prior song - the more melancholic Live Bed Show - hint at the quieter and somewhat folky direction Pulp would take two albums later on We Love Life so that shows how Different Class is such a brilliantly well-rounded collection. Pencil Skirt, I Spy, F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E and Underwear are all evocative and represent Cocker's more sexualised and lustful side to his character. Pencil Skirt has layers of whirring synths that envelop the listener while I Spy is creepy and menacing - but in an entertaining way - with a gently propulsive beat that climaxes in a superb spoken word section. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E is the most electronic song which has dynamics in that it sublimely jumps from calmer and haunting verses to a bright and bubbly chorus that explodes magnificently. Underwear is seedy but musically it is highly tuneful and uplifting. The other two "deep cuts" that finish the album are equally magical too. Monday Morning is a quintessential Britpop song that has a similar meaning to Blur's Sunday Sunday in that it describes a traditional British Monday - the guitar hook is mesmerising and the track peaks with a middle section of synth flourishes. Bar Italia represents the end of an era for Pulp as it is the final song on Different Class that rousingly ends their "pop" period before their subsequent alienation from fame and descent into darkness on their next massively underrated record This is Hardcore. Even though the multi-track master tapes have not been found and it is compiled from other sources, the Live at Glastonbury 1995 vinyl set still sounds mostly very decent and represents a legendary night when Pulp reached the zenith of their fame. Cocker's talking between songs is very engaging too and like all the best festival headliners he really worked the crowd which enhanced the greatness of their performance. As there are the previous year's His 'n' Hers songs included the set also represents a Pulp tour-de-force because it includes all their biggest songs. Though His 'n' Hers, This is Hardcore, We Love Life and this year's More are incredible too, Pulp's Different Class era is their most triumphant because it represented their peak of commercial success. This box set may be expensive, but it is certainly worth it as particularly the main album has never been heard like this before on vinyl. While the band may dislike the Britpop labelling of Different Class, they should not be ashamed of it as it represented that movement at its most clever and artful and crucially it is packed with brilliant tunes to boot. Review: Welcome 30th Anniversary release from Pulp - Different Class was undoubtedly one of the classic albums of the nineties and not just the Brit pop era. The hit singles are plentiful and infectious.’Something changed’ and ‘common people’ are quite simply Pulp at their most imperious. Jarvis Cocker can be witty, intelligent, original, quirky and all within the parameters of a perfect pop tune. There are powerhouse album tracks like ‘Feeling called love’ and no filler in sight. The bonus disc on the cd reissue is a live recording of Pulp’s classic Glastonbury performance from 1995 which propelled the band to the big league. The sound quality is top notch. Also, the remastering of the studio recording was overseen by Cocker and hence sounds flawless. A vinyl double disc recording was long overdue as the original pressing was of diabolical sound quality. Absolutely necessary updates and not just a money milking exercise. Pulp have had a great year with the outstanding comeback album ‘More.’ Perfect timing for this anniversary edition.