Hits

by Pulp

Overview

More than any other band of the '90s, Pulp were quintessentially British -- not the same thing as being quintessentially Britpop, mind you, which is an entirely different thing. Though it was frequently fey, at least when Blur were concerned, Britpop was for the lager-loving lads, a patriotic celebration of the country, particularly its pop culture heritage. Pulp shared many of those same roots as their peers, plus they were pop obsessives, capturing the intuitive, subliminal things that separated the dedicated from the poseurs. They were the misshapes, misfits -- the art-loving geeks grown beautiful who had a brief moment in the sun before they returned to the outskirts of pop life. To some observers, that might have looked like they were dropping the ball, but turning to the murky darkness of This Is Hardcore after the shining Different Class was artier and more natural than Blur's similar turn with 13, and they made better singles when they returned to arty darkness, too, as Hits, a glorious recap of their stint at Island in the '90s, illustrates. Pulp, of course, had been around long before they moved to Island, but it wasn't until the early '90s that they truly came into their own, starting with Pulpintro EP and the sublime "Babies" single. From there, they produced four terrific albums, including one stone masterpiece (1995's Different Class which, years later, stands alongside Parklife as the greatest testament of Britpop), the near-perfect His 'n' Hers, the fascinating decadence of This Is Hardcore, and the gorgeous Scott Walker-produced We Love Life. Each album has a different character, a different feel, but throughout it all, Pulp turned out tremendous singles that functioned within the context of the album and as their own entity because they were vividly imagined and sharply written, which may be why they hold together so well as their own album. Apart from the image-defining "Mis-Shapes," there's nothing missing from Hits, and while these are songs identified with their time, they transcend it, with even the new contribution, "Last Day of the Miners' Strike," holding its own on a collection of singles as strong as anything in '90s pop music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	06/24/2003
Label:	Island
UPC:	0044006351322

Tracks

1. Babies
2. Razzmatazz
3. Lipgloss
4. Do You Remember the First Time?
5. Common People
6. Underwear
7. Sorted for E's & Wizz
8. Disco 2000
9. Something Changed
10. Help the Aged
11. This Is Hardcore
12. A Little Soul
13. Party Hard
14. Trees
15. Bad Cover Version
16. Sunrise
17. Last Day of the Miners' Strike

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pulp   Primary Artist
Anne Dudley   Guest Artist
Antony Genn   Vocals
Richard Hawley   Guitar
Beccy Byrne   Vocals

Technical Credits

Ed Buller   Mixing,Producer
Russell Senior   Composer
Scott Walker   Producer
Phil Vinall   Producer
Richard Matthews   Assistant Engineer
Pulp   String Arrangements
Nick Banks   Composer
Richard Hawley   Composer
Nicholas Dodd   Orchestration
Tim Burrell   Mastering
Cameron Craig   Programming
Anne Dudley   String Arrangements
Burt Bacharach   Composer
Candida Doyle   Composer
Stanley Myers   Composer
Jarvis Cocker   Composer,Art Direction
Peter Thomas   Composer,Composer
Mark Webber   Composer
Peter Mansell   Composer
Chris Thomas   Producer
Peter Saville   Art Direction
Hal Shaper   Composer
Willie Seldon   Photography
Harland Miller   Liner Notes
Peter Walsh   Engineer,Producer
Steve Mackey   Composer
Patrick Doyle   Composer