Noteworthy Notions - Pulp : 'Freaks'

NOTEWORTHY NOTIONS

'Freaks: Ten Stories about Power, Claustrophobia, Suffocation and Holding Hands.'
PULP - 1986

Three years on from their debut, a (literally) different Pulp returned from the wilderness with a completely new image and sound. Jarvis had long since left school, and so had a completely new backing band, and also totally new influences.

Over their quiet period, they had been experimenting with a new, more raw sound, mainly inspired by new member Russell Senior, who had followed them during their early years and enjoyed their work, but was incredibly disappointed with the sound of their first album 'It', which he felt was a bit of a sell-out to the mainstream. He felt that there were enough bands out there creating music about tedious, meaningless subjects and so he wanted them to produce an album which told very strong stories about topics you would simply never find in pop music (hence the album's subtitle). Jarvis, who was already disappointed with the direction his group had taken with the release of their flop single 'Everybody's Problem', was most definately in a similar frame of mind.

Their new record label, Fire, had spent the last year or so putting out two 12" EP's and a single to fill the quiet gap and also to adjust the audience to how the new era was going to sound, but they were growing restless and wanted Pulp to produce an original full length LP. The result was this newly recorded collection of what they considered the best ten unreleased tracks from their previous two years...

...and very successful it is too. Especially considering the fact that it was recorded in a period of one week at very low-budget Sheffield studios. It spans a wide range of different styles (something that 'It' had failed to achieve), such as heavy, stomping rock ("Master of the Universe"), ballads ("I Want You" and "They Suffocate At Night") and also some more accessible pop tunes ("Don't You Know"). It also flows very well as an album thanks to a nicely thought out track-listing. Despite the fact that all the songs are to a very high standard, the true gems in this album lie in the form of "I Want You", "There's No Emotion", and "Don't You Know". Some may also say that "They Suffocate At Night" is the one true classic on this LP but, personally, I've always found it a little too long and a bit of a dirge, but then, the fan base is fairly split on this matter. It's one that you will either love or hate.

The main reason I have given this album 3 stars out of 5, as opposed to 4, is because the production values of the album are quite low and the sound quality on some of the tracks can be rather rough and distorted, particularly on the louder ones. The producer himself obviously wasn't happy either. In fact, he refused to let his name be credited on the sleeve. But then, none of this is surprising when considering the meagre amount of time they had in studio.

Either way, Jarvis' storytelling writing style, as it is recognised today, had begun to shine through. Though, it would still be another three years before their definite musical direction would fall into place.

Review by Leo Van Krinks

Release Details

Tracklisting

Fairground
I Want You
Being Followed Home
Master Of The Universe
Life Must Be So Wondeful
There's No Emotion
Anorexic Beauty
The Never-Ending Story
Don't You Know
They Suffocate At Night

KNOWN UK RELEASES
FIRELP5 - 1986 Fire Records (LP)
FIRELP5 - 1993 Fire Records (LP)
Reissue. Date on the rear sleeve indicates that it has an original '1986' copyright, but the fact it uses the 1993 Fire logo shows that it is indeed a reissue.
FIRECD5 - 1993 Fire Records (CD)
1st CD Reissue
SFIRE013CD - 2002 Fire Records (CD)
2nd CD Reissue

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