His 'n' Hers

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The album was a long-awaited breakthrough for Pulp in the UK becoming their first charting album reaching #9 [17] and later certified Gold. [18] And so His ’N’ Hers’ opposing strands become clear: deep yearnings and adolescent fumbles pitted against pent-up frustrations that tip over into something altogether darker. “Have You Seen Her Lately?” mixes small-town gossip with a lifeline for lost souls; “Lipgloss” and the masterful “Pink Glove” look at what happens when the glamour’s gone and the rot has set in; and if “Do You Remember The First Time?” presents itself as a synth-pop anthem for indie dancefloors the world over, its mix of bravado and self-analytical desperation is pretty much impossible to find anywhere else in chart history. For an over-decade sensation, Pulp sound implausibly fresh and indecently frenzied. The fact that the wildly indulgent paean to holidays of the past, ' David's Last Summer', brings to mind nothing less glorious than Bobby Goldsboro's seminal 'Summer (The First Time)' proves that Pulp have both an acute eye for seemingly banal detail and a grasp on timeless songcrafting.

Such is the sordidness of Pulp's Woolworthless world. After a full decade of posturing nonchalantly on the peripheries of public acceptance, it's hardly surprising that Sheffield's most diligent ambassadors of tank tops and bottom drawer confessions should have carved out such a twisted niche for themselves. And it’s because it’s a record that’s all chemistry, like it couldn’t be replicated by any other combination of people, at any other time, in any other setting. Candida Doyle’s analog synths hum with a warmth only present in the circuitry of instruments manufactured in a prior age. The glacial atmospherics of guitarist/violin player Russell Senior infuse some of the album’s most exciting moments, laying down beds of noise for Jarvis to deliver his sermons upon. And – selfless character that he is – he does it all in the first person, turning the long awaited Proper Pulp Album into a kind of Robin Askwith Confessions Of A Crimplenist routine. In ' Acrylic Afternoon' ( 'Acrylic Afternoon'!) he's a desperate seducer pleading, panting and finally screaming over tea and Chocolate Hob-Nobs, while the seductee's kids play in the street outside. Amid the thumping daytime radio disco of ' She's A Lady', he's trying to reconcile lost love with his uncontrollable free-range cupidity, with the result that he starts seeing sex everywhere. "Where have you gone?" he howls. "The moon...the moon has gone down on the sun!" and this nifty juggling of comic moments with real pain keep 'His 'N' Hers' alive with surprises. Singles included the trebly Lipgloss and the we’ve-all-done-it furtive fumblings of Do You Remember the First Time, beside a new mix of the majestic Babies. This, Jarvis has said, is where “the modern-day Pulp was born.” For those who’d missed His ’N’ Hers’ release, on April 18, 1994, they couldn’t fail to take notice of the group’s triumphant Glastonbury headline slot the following year. But while that would make Jarvis and co household names overnight, His ’N’ Hers bears witness to the true Pulp: coming around uninvited, peeking through your blinds, and rummaging through your underwear… hiding in cupboards, just waiting to catch a glimpse.

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a b Sturdy, Mark (15 December 2009). Truth and Beauty: The Story of Pulp. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857121035. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. From the opening Joyriders –“Oh you, you in the Jesus sandals, wouldn’t you like to come and see some vandals?”– it was clear the move to a major label had sharpened their sound and focus into a very appealing Alan Bennett / Roxy Music hybrid.

Honestly, there is only one song that can be described as bad on this album. "Someone Like the Moon" is bad enough to fit on an 80s Pulp album. Yes, that bad. Bad. Every other song is musically and lyrically exciting, which is quite a feat when they all sound the same. The formula never gets old. Highlights include Do You Remember the Razzmatazz? Pink Acrylic Lipgloss Babies and She's a Happy Lady Joyrider Lately, David.Robyn Strachan retrospectively describes the opener "Joyriders" as setting the tone for the album with "acerbic observation and lurking seediness and decay". [5] Two years later, fifth album Different Class - featuring hits including Common People, Something Changes, Disco 2000, Mis-Shapes and Sorted For E's & Wizz - went on to win the prestigious award.