Where Would I Be Now If We'd Never Met?

Here's another video of a performance of a song from Pulp's Brixton Academy gig, this time 'Something Changed':




I've chosen this video for its sound quality rather than its camera angle.

I've Got No Wisdom That I Want To Pass On

Here's a performance of 'A Little Soul' by Pulp from the 1998 Finbury Park gig:

Semi-Naked In Somebody Else's Room

Another song from the Brixton Academy gig.

The band went off piste and dropped 'Sheffield: Sex City' and 'Party Hard' from their set list to play 'Underwear' (the almost but not quite double A-side to 'Common People') after a request from the audience:

Who Is This Laughing Boy?

Here's another track from Pulp's Finsbury Park gig, but uniquely this one was a B-Side. How many other bands would play a B-side to thousands of music fans? Album tracks, yes, but a B-Side? That said, maybe the fact that this was a B-Side is indicative of just how good Pulp's songwriting was:

There's Nothing On TV

I'm busy recording (and re-recording) something, so here's another Pulp performance. Once again this is from the 1998 gig at Finsbury Park:

Her Beauty Was Her Only Crime

Once again, being busy on my part has lead to being lazy on my part and posting a live Pulp performance from yesteryear. This is 'Sylvia' from the 1998 gig I attended in London's Finsbury Park:

I Had To Watch Them Try And Get You Undressed

Here's another song from the Pulp gig that Sarah and I attended at Brixton Academy earlier this year.

Am I Talking Too Fast...?

...Or are you just playing dumb?

Here's another track from Pulp's performance at Brixton Academy earler this year that I hadn't seen live.



I have now.

Your Eyes Are Just Holes In Your Face

Here's another Pulp performance from the Brixton Academy gig that Sarah and I attended earlier this year. It's another song that the band rarely played live and it was fantastic to be there when they finally did.

The Future's Owned By You And Me

Sarah and I saw Pulp play live at Brixton Academy last Wednesday and they were fantastic.

One of the many highlights was the number of songs they played that I've never heard live before: 'Countdown', 'Lipgloss', 'Have You Seen Her Lately?', 'Wickerman' and 'Mis-Shapes'...



I think the best way to appreciate the quality of the gig is to read John Aizlewood's appallingly misrepresentative review and interpret that for the most part, the opposite is true.

Just As Long As You Save A Piece For Me

Sarah and I are going to see Pulp play live!

For a time it seemed unlikely and it was unbearable to think that my favourite band might have reformed and I wouldn't get to see them, but now we have tickets. In honour of this here's another track from Pulp's 1998 Finsbury Park gig. The track that Jarvis refers to at the beginning of this clip as the perfect bungee jump accompaniment is 'The Fear' (and here's a clip of someone jumping earlier in the day with this track as backing instead).

Sorted?

Another track from Pulp's performance at Finsbury Park in 1998, this time 'Sorted For E's & Wizz'. Sorry about the weird jump at about 2:29.

Lowering Yourself To My Level

Another quiet spell for yours truly, another video of Pulp live at Finsbury Park 1998. This was the first time I saw them live. This song is called 'Seductive Barry', and why shouldn't it be?:

The Sound Of Loneliness Turned Up To Ten

Once again, things have gotten busy and to make up for a lack of stuff from me, here's 'The Fear', another track from Pulp's performance at the Reading festival from 2000:

We Love Live

The stars have aligned, the fates have smiled upon us and amazingly Pulp have reformed. I couldn't be happier. The Different Class line up of Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Russell Senior and Mark Webber are back together again. Pulp will be playing some concerts in 2011 and I couldn’t be happier. Now if only I could afford tickets.

By way of celebration, here's a performance of 'This Is Hardcore' from 2000's Reading Festival. I'm stood at the front somewhere...

Homewrecker

Here's another chunk of Jarvis Cocker's Village Underground set. This is 'Homewrecker'. This is also the video I would have posted the other day, but I couldn't.

Take that, library!

Babies

As has become customary around these parts, if I get too busy to write a post, up goes a video from a gig I've been to.

This is Pulp performing Babies at Reading Festival in 2002.

Enjoy.

The Park Is Mine

I'm still mired in tax, so once again I haven't written a proper blog post. Sorry.

Instead here is the cover artwork for the VHS release of The Park Is Mine.

I couldn't find a decent image of it when I posted about the DVD release. Well now that I have, here it is.

It looks like an incredibly complicated neon light.

I like it.

He Is Not Jesus, Though He Has The Same Initials

It's tax return time and while I am up to my armpits in distraction, sadly this blog has to take a back seat once again.

As I wade through receipts, here's another performance from Pulp's 1998 Finsbury Park gig to tie you over.

Enjoy.

The Story Of A Charmless Man

So the story begins:
Ten years ago today I saw Blur play a gig at Birmingham's NEC and then reviewed it for the King Alfred's Sixth Form Chronicle, that's right I'm dredging up things I wrote at school. Stand by for What I Did On My Summer Holidays and My Favourite Animal Is...

Reading it back after all this time, I'm a little embarrassed by how condescending it is:


I went to see Blur with Elle Pullen on their Tenth Anniversary Singles Night Tour. When we got there we sat while a bad DJ mixed badly to a bored audience (if God is a DJ then I'm Hilda Ogden). As soon as he'd finished Blur came on, slowly we all stood, it was almost like a Mexican wave. To the opening of I Know (almost ironic because no one did) those that could jump, jumped and those that could mosh, moshed. She's So High, Blur's first ever single started after an introduction from vocalist Damon Albarn that used the 'word' um even more times than I did in my German Oral (which is saying something) and he explained the premise of the evening: to play their single releases in chronological order. There's No Other Way followed and everybody feeling things were going well, until they played Bang. It was terrible, a fact it seems, since they admitted it, but only after subjecting us to it.

Popscene was up next and was a Song 2 in the making and was probably better. For Tomorrow was my favourite song played that night since my favourites never made it to be singles. As soon as we peak we are brought crashing down again with Chemical World and Sunday Sunday with their annoying shared la la la la la chorus. The latter however is a wry and humorous take on how we spend our day of rest, a fact lost on the great majority of people watching who simply pointed at the screens and yelled "Ahhh! Cows."

The very same people breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Girls & Boys, their bafflement was over. As quickly as it had arrived it disappeared with To The End, a beautiful song, which is much better sung in the original French. Football chants welcomed Phil Daniels to the stage, as he yelled the introduction to Parklife to us. At a very poignant time of the year, they shared End Of A Century with us and it was a better millennial epic than Robbie Williams could ever dream of.

The chanters were back in force when Country House started, and when it finished The Universal started up to a great response. Stereotypes went down well despite the feeling that we were standing among some of the inspirations for it. Charmless Man was another success.

Things quietened down when Beetlebum was played, despite the nature of the lyrics. Then everything fell apart and the crowd went wild as the unmistakable beginning to Song 2 was played to bassist Alex James' obvious disgust. It seemed that the majority of the audience paid their £20 only wanting to hear 2 minutes of live music, but the sight of drummer Dave Rowntree's arms literally blurring during some impro is one that made this a great night. Damon's Jay Kay impression during On Your Own was lost on most. M.O.R. (Middle Of the Road) was very popular despite being a direct parody of the mainstream that the majority of the crowd seemed to hold so dear.

And now up to date with Tender, which featured the London Community Gospel Choir and is much better live. A gospel choir adlibbing is a great sight. Lead guitarist Graham Coxon sang the lyrics to Coffee & TV, but not before he'd said "we'll just miss this one out". Once again people pointed to the screens when the now famous milk carton appeared. No Distance Left To Run was a good song to end on, almost depressing enough to make it all worthwhile. As the band said their goodbyes and left, so did we.

The concept of playing your singles is not one that appeals to me, especially as my favourites are their lo-fi recordings like Look Inside America and Swallows In The Heatwave, but it seems too elitist and an attempt to pacify either record label bosses or the moronic single buying public (I can see that copy of Daphne & Celeste in your pocket) or possibly both. I did however enjoy it immensely and if I had to give it marks out of ten: I wouldn't. I will say 'It Were Good.'