Noteworthy Notions - Pulp : 'Intro'

NOTEWORTHY NOTIONS

'PulpIntro - The Gift Recordings'
PULP - 1993

Pulp's first major label release on Island Records was not what you could call a 'proper album', but a compilation of the 3 singles they had released during their time with Gift whilst in messy legal problems with Fire Records.

Despite the fact that the album is basically just a compilation, it does hold together surprisingly well as an album in it's own right, and is often mistaken as being one of the 'main' albums. It also helps that the tracks have been competantly arranged and not just lazily placed in chronological order.

The album begins with 'Space', originally the B-Side to 'OU'. It makes quite a nice opener to the album, especially with the message that the lyric carries about how "it looked like we were never going to leave the ground, but now we're weightless, floating free, we can go wherever we want" which, almost definately, is semi-biographical of the band's fight for popularity. The song, on it's own, drones on a little bit and could come across as a bit self-indulgent, but the hard and fast climax makes it worth the wait.

'OU' is a nothing less than a fantastic composition. It is a synth-laden, galloping pop song about a man who must decide whether to stop his girlfriend from leaving him, or whether to just spend an extra hour in bed. Brimming with sarcasm and witty observation and, best of all, the tinny stylophone which was fast becoming one of the band's trademark instruments, it truly showed that the band were finally reaching their full potential which many had doubted for so long.

The album also contains one of their best known songs to date, 'Babies', which has now become something of an fans' anthem at live concerts, more often than not making it into the 'encore' section of their shows. This tells the tale of a man hiding in his girlfriends' sisters' wardrobe so that he can spy on her having sex with her boyfriend. An enchanting, if a bit depraved, tale set to a brilliant, catchy guitar riff, this would be the single which made a name for Pulp as serious contenders in the Indie world. The promo video for this also actually got some prominant airplay on ITV's The Chart Show.

The whole album really sets the tone for what was the next big era for Pulp. At the time it gave a very promising preview to the public for their upcoming all-new LP 'His n Hers'. Today, it functions as a perfectly-formed time capsule of some, nowadays, very hard-to-find singles.

Review by Leo Van Krinks

Release Details

Tracklisting

Space
O.U. (Gone Gone)
Babies
Styloroc (Nites of Suburbia)
Razzmatazz
Sheffield: Sex City
Stacks
Inside Susan
59 Lyndhurst Grove

KNOWN UK RELEASES
ILPM2076 - 1993 Island Records (LP)
IMCD159 - 1993 Island Records (CD)

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