On 20 February Fire Records will reissue It (1983), Freaks (1987) and Separations (1992).
Picture of Pulp
Britpop has been retired for some 15 summers now. It showered itself in glory for two bright years but the fame became too powerful and Britpop eventually swallowed itself whole, omitting the painful stench of excessive flatulence as it went.
However, sat slippered and bloated in its easy armchair, it can look back with pride on some of the cheeky scamps it spawned; mouthy chancers who could write glorious pop songs with verve and wit. And at the heart of that family is the bastard child called Pulp. The gangly, gawky interloper who finally found a home and friends in the mid 90s. But for Pulp, the story had begun long, long ago.
Three is not the magic number for Pulp. The band’s fourth album, His ‘n Hers, finally propelled them from the wings where they’d waited for 16 years. Most bands would have given up long before. But then most bands don’t have a Jarvis Cocker at their heart. And Jarvis Cocker’s strange and beguiling heart beats throughout the band’s first three albums.
Perhaps in light of Pulp’s recent comeback, Fire Records has decided to reissue the band’s early back catalogue: It (1983), Freaks (1987) and Separations (1992). Some of the tracks previously appeared on Countdown: 1992-1983, which Cocker compared to a “garish old family photo album” on its release and urged fans not to waste their money.
Like the awkward teenager, whose skin is too taunt for misplaced bones, Pulp needed time to grow into themselves. So it’s fair to say that, on their own, neither of these reissues is a pop classic. But then it can be fun flicking through old photo albums.
It is a collection of folky, whimsical portraits, all summer haze in the daisy parks. Cocker’s love of Scott Walker shines through on tracks like My Lighthouse and Wishful Thinking. And there are vocal mirrors reflecting the inflections of Morrissy. The acoustic arrangements are sparse and the lyrical honesty is a world-apart from the word-played wit that became Cocker’s calling card.
Jump forward four years to 1987 and Cocker has collected a new set of musicians, including Russell Senior, who would become an integral part of the band. Senior expanded Pulp’s sonic range, giving Cocker the scope to travel through darker landscapes. On Freaks his voice has changed, from the earnest wonderings on It, to a brooding, half-spoken, half-sung delivery, telling tales on the seedier underbelly of suburbia. The album is a midnight fairground ride, ringing with carnival chords borrowed from The Doors and an art-school ethic straight from the Velvet Underground.
By the time Separations was released in 1992, three years after it was recorded, Pulp already had pop gems including Babies and Lipgloss in their set. The album can’t match the band’s evolving songwriting skills and it never quite reaches the claustrophobic heights of Freaks. However, the first half showcases Cocker’s growing confidence and lyrical mischief: Don’t You Want Me Anymore contains the fantastic line “I’ve never seen you look as ugly as you did that night”. The second side of the album is an experiment with acid house stylings. It never quite works but did spawn the brooding frustrations of My Legendary Girlfriend.
Pulp fans will lap up the reissues. However, the albums are also well worth exploring on their own terms, especially Freaks. They contain all of the pieces that Pulp would eventually meld together; humour, pop-eared radars, delicious hooks and a kitchen sink disposition. Some bands were born and died within the confines of Britpop. Pulp were much too smart to implode. Their roots stretch back to 1978 and the strange teenage visions of Jarvis Cocker. Exploring those visions across a changing landscape is time and money well spent. All three albums have been remastered and repackaged and come complete with bonus tracks and liner notes from Everett True.
Ed Sheeran has announced that his next single will be ‘Drunk’, released on February 27th via Asylum/Atlantic Records. He posted the video up online today – watch it here. It’s the 4th single to be taken from his triple platinum album ‘+’ which shot back to the top of the charts at the beginning of this year 4 months after its initial release.
2011 was a phenomenal year for Ed Sheeran. With over 2 million records and 100,000 live tickets sold he was named as 2011’s Breakthrough Artist by Q, MSN, iTunes and the Digital Music Awards. Last week Ed received four BRIT awards, shortlisted in the categories for British Solo Male, British Breakthrough Act, British Single for ‘The A Team’ & British Album of the Year for ‘+’.
Ed said at the time;
‘Exactly a year ago to the day I signed my record deal with Asylum/Atlantic Records. Today I have an album that’s gone triple platinum, 3 sold out tours and now four BRIT Award nominations. I’m over the moon! I really couldn’t have hoped for a better start to 2012.’’. He plays the first of two sold out Brixton Academy shows tonight in London, on the final leg of his UK tour.
The brand new video for ‘Drunk’ includes highlights from Sheeran’s last year out on the road as he toured up and down the country relentlessly. Watch it below and see if you recognise yourself… and some of Ed’s singer (and ginger) chums.
Ed Sheeran new single ‘Drunk’ is due for release on 27th February 2012.
The BRIT Awards 2012 will be held at London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday 21st February. Below is a list of all the nominees, with my suggested winners in bold.
British Male Solo Artist Ed Sheeran
James Blake
James Morrison
Noel Gallagher High Flying Birds
Professor Green
British Female Solo Artist Adele
Florence and the Machine
Jessie J
Kate Bush
Laura Marling
British Breakthrough Act Ed Sheeran
Anna Calvi
Emeli Sande
Jessie J
The Vaccines
British Group Coldplay
Arctic Monkeys
Chase & Status
Elbow
Kasabian
British Single Adele – Someone Like You
Ed Sheeran – A Team
Example – Changed the Way You Kiss Me
Jessie J featuring VOB – Price Tag
JLS featuring Dev – She Makes Me Wanna
Military Wise/Gareth Malone – Wherever You Are
Olly Murs featuring Rizzle Kicks – Heart Skips A Beat
One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
Pixie Lott – All About Tonight
The Wanted – Glad you Came?
Mastercard British Album of the Year Ed Sheeran – +
Adele – 21
Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials
P J Harvey – Let England Shake
International Male Solo Artist Bruno Mars
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
David Guetta
Ryan Adams
International Female Solo Artist Lady Gaga
Beyonce
Bjork
Feist
Rihanna
International Group Foo Fighters
Fleet Foxes
Jay-Z and Kanye West
Lady Antebellum
Maroon 5
International Breakthrough Act Foster The People
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Lana Del Rey
Nicki Minaj
British Producer Flood
Paul Epworth
Ethan Johns
Outstanding Contribution Award – Blur
Critic’s Choice Award – Emeli Sande
MasterCard has announced the launch of an exclusive Priceless Duets competition to support its 14th year of partnership with The BRIT Awards.
Something For The Fans sees MasterCard cardholders offered the chance to sing a duet with the likes of Emeli Sandé, JLS and Labrinth. The winners will be will be aired on the night of The BRIT Awards 2012 on ITV1. A dedicated website www.somethingforthefans.co.uk will give fans the opportunity to register and provide their audition videos, as well as the opportunity to win one of hundreds of pairs of tickets to The BRIT Awards.
The winning Priceless Duets will feature in the advertising breaks of The BRIT Awards with MasterCard ceremony, which will be broadcast on ITV1 on February 21st 2012.
It seems nobody is ever indifferent to Field Music. Fans of their distinctive albums and joyful yet precise live shows love their intricate melodies and unusual time signatures, but to others they are just pretentious pseuds. The way the brothers Brewis grin at each other as they roam a stage swapping instruments can be mistaken for them being too pleased with themselves – I think they just love what they do. Dismissing them, and leaving before the end, my friend quipped that they might write a musical next…..
Perhaps with Plumb they have:
From the opening bars of “Start the day right” there is a whiff of musical theatre about this album. Close your eyes and you can see the Brewis boys arms outstretched West End musical style. But this is not a big departure, if you didnt like the 3 albums released since they formed in 2004, you wont like this. It is unmistakeably, brilliantly Field Music.
2nd track “Its OK to change”(of course they havent) has a signature nagging baseline and fades to an eerie sound of running water at the end which bleeds into “Sorry again mate”, mournful tuba and the usual close harmonies. Church bells on “A new town” add to the eerie mood but this track is just an interlude really. Such slivers of music are a feature of the record creating atmoosphere(and explaining why an album shy of 40 minutes has 15 tracks.
The middle stretches of the album are characterised by more prominent guitars, bigger chords and piano such as on “Choosing sides”
“Who’ll pay the bills” is classic Field Music reminiscent of XTC, an easy comparison but they are no mere copyists, lush strings and orchestration on “So long then” is inimitably them. as is the beautiful mournful vocal interlude of “How many more times” in which they enquire solemnly, how many more times will you see the moon?
This is expansive ambitious music which repays repeated listening, there are fewer obvious pop singles than on earlier albums but “A new thing”, available pre release as a free download on the website is a contender, closing the Album on an upbeat note. My favourite though is ” Just like everyone else”(one thing you cant say about Field Music who are quite unique) a trademark nagging bassline and insistent drumbeat which put me in mind of Secret Machines masterpiece “What used to be French”
This is a wonderful record- Classic Field Music, the same but different to what they have done before. If you like it look out for Brewis solo efforts; David released “Sea from shore” under the name School of Language in 2008 and Peter released an album under the name “The week that was“ the same year
This year, a new Peter Brewis solo work “One copy” can only be heard at The Lauriston Gallery in Sale(until January 17th), because there is only one copy…………now maybe that is a little bit pretentious?
Field Music release new album ‘Plumb‘ on the 13th of February on Memphis Industries.
2011 was the year in which U2 finally got to play Glastonbury only to be blown off stage by Coldplay. Oh…. and Steps announced they were reforming! I can’t remember if it was ‘due to public demand’ or not.
In July 2011, nine years after they formed, Manchester’s Marconi Union released their fifth album, Beautifully Falling Apart (Ambient Transmissions Volume 1) and the first for the Just Music recording label.
Marconi Union is Richard Talbot, Jamie Crossley and Duncan Meadows. They formed in 2002 when Talbot and Crossley met while working in a record shop and the following year released their debut album Under Wires and Searchlights, on the Ochre Records label. But it wasn’t until 2005 that they released a second album, Distance, this time on the All Saints Records label. The following year they played the Big Chill Festival and Eden Sessions, as well as giving their first interview.
Further albums were released through their official website – A Lost Connection (released as a digital download in 2008 & CD in 2010) and Tokyo (2009).
Duncan Meadows joined Marconi Union on a permanent basis in 2010 and together they released Beautifully Falling Apart (Ambient Transmissions Volume 1). The album drifts even further in to ambient layers landscapes of serene beauty while managing to effortlessly entwine elements and whiffs of dub, electronica, glitch and even Ennio Morricone’s Spaghetti Westerns. As with much ambient music the album plays out like an imaginary film soundtrack.
My favourite album is Distance which shows a moody, darker side to Marconi Union while they were still toying with lighter beats stimulating the soundscapes rather than the atmospheric purity of Beautifully Falling Apart (Ambient Transmissions Volume 1) that errs away from electronica and towards a contemporary classical music.
Marconi Union are making wonderfully deep, thought-provoking music that should simply be heard and appreciated by more people; which is possibly the reason why Just Music will be re-releasing their first two albums in 2012, along with plans to release a new album next summer.
Beautifully Falling Apart (Ambient Transmissions Volume 1) has six beautifully relaxing tracks that blend into one another leaving the listener in a sublime state of relaxation.
Over the past nine years Marconi Union has quietly whispered their way into the consciousness of those looking to ambient music rather than X Factor 15 minutes of fame. No fanfares. Their fan base is growing organically through word-of-mouth, without hype. Their music is continuing to develop a style all of its own with each release. If you haven’t already indulged your ears in the beauty of Marconi Union, make it one of your New Year’s resolutions.
Album Re-issues
On 30th January 2012, Just Music will be re-issuing two albums by Marconi Union: Under Wires and Searchlights & Distance.
