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Rating: I am truly surprised to discover that on Debaser no one has ever written a review about this album, perhaps because it is too little known or perhaps because it is an atypical episode for the band from Sheffield. That it isn't a particularly cheerful album is evident right from the cover, which at the bottom bears the inscription: "Ten stories about claustrophobia, suffocation and holding hands." This album is a sick, slimy, paranoid, anxious journey... There would be a thousand other adjectives to describe it, but one cannot fully understand it unless they listen to it.
The album opens with "Fairground", a piece that could be a leftover from Zappa's Hot Rats, surreal, grotesque. The track maintains a restless calm until halfway through, where it explodes in a boisterous laugh of grand-guignolesque and Marinetti-esque descent: "And the man at the side of me start a lewd laugh...AHAHAAHAHA" only to return "calm" as before. It continues with "The Never Ending Story" (no, it's not about the abnormal dog and the hero boy, let's leave those things to Lihamal) with orchestral accompaniment, a voice that gets into your head... here Jarvis Cocker crowns himself "king of his own nothing" and demonstrates a fierce yet perverse attitude to grotesque farce. The next "I Want You" relies on a very intimate and confidential crooning, blooming into a very polished "soul" chorus that might evoke the atmospheres of their first album "It". "Being Followed Home" reaffirms this album's tendency to open to the listener mutable and detailed soundscapes upon which Jarvis's unmistakable voice rests. "There Is No Emotion" is perhaps the weakest track on the entire album, Cocker looks in the mirror at his solitude and dons the guise of a listless and swaying Elvis or Sinatra at the end of his career, Jarvis transposes into a deliberately arid musical texture pervaded by a pallor to say the least cadaverous. And here, gentlemen, the curtain falls with one of the most beautiful pieces written by Pulp: "They Suffocate At Night". The song takes up the melodramatic singing typical of French chansonniers and transposes it into a arid new wave, post-punk climate, with a dry violin and a minimalist rhythmic base. Cocker embodies a paranoid, phobic, and cadaverous Serge Gainsbourg.
What to say? An album too much but too much underrated... recommended to all lovers of dark, gothic rock, even though Pulp does not belong to this genre. To complement the listening material, I recommend the collection "Masters Of The Universe" with all the singles from the period (not appeared on any album) among which the splendid "Aborigine", a tribal psychodrama ala Fall, stands out.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
04 Master of the Universe (03:22)
I am the master of this universe and I've got so big it hurts. Raise your
eyes and graze your kness because your master is displeased, because you
dared to doubt his word, his polished surface dulls and cracks. Your
bitter laughter breaks his back. I am the master of this universe. I
taught you everything you know. Now you must bear your master's curse for
I will not let you go. Now you must walk this town 'til down in every
public open place, your master's look upon your face. Oh now look what you
have done; you've spoilt it all for everyone. The master masturbates alone
in a corner of your home. You feed him scraps when in the mood. You beat
him hard and keep him nude. You cut your master down to size. Now he
cries and he cries now. Now he begs both night and day. He lets you take
him on your knee. He comes on losing consciousness, he dearly loves his
new mistress. Now he repeats it every night. Every night on point og
death - "You are the master of the universe". You are the master of the
universe.
07 Anorexic Beauty (02:59)
Sitting alone on a cold bar stool,
your cold, hard eyes make me feel a fool.
Pastel-white features,
high cheek-bones,
scarlet-blooded lips and deathly tones.
The girl of my nightmares,
sultry and corpse-like.
The girl
of my
nightmares.
Brittle fingers,
and thin cigarettes,
so hard to tell apart,
she hasn't spoken yet.
You put your hand on mine,
death white on brown,
those whirlpool eyes;
well, I begin to drown.
The girl of my nightmares,
erotic and skull-faced.
The girl
of my
nightmares.
Anorexic beauty,
feather-weight perfection,
anorexic beauty,
underweight
goddess.
Sitting alone on
a cold bar stool, your
so hard to tell apart,
she hasn't spoken yet.
Pastel-white features,
high cheek-bones,
scarlet-blooded lips and deathly tones.
The girl of my nightmares,
sultry and corpse-like.
The girl
of my
nightmares.
Anorexic beauty,
feather-weight perfection,
anorexic beauty,
underweight
goddess.
09 Don't You Know (04:09)
There's not much time for talking, all your friends are going to walk away. If there was time for talking all too soon you'd be lost for things to say. Don't you know she could break you, every bone that's inside of you? Then again she might make you everything that you want her to, and if you could walk away, where would you go anyway? And if you've still got the chance, I know you know you'll stay, stay. I don't need your excuses; are you tired of trying to stay on top? so just lie back and enjoy it and save your tears for when the kissing stops oh, you know it's got to stop. Don't you know she could break you, every bone that's inside of you? Then again she might make you everything that you want her to, and if you could walk away, where would you go anyway? And if you've still got the chance, I know you know you'll stay, stay. Oh, you'll stay, oh, you'll stay. Don't you know she could break you, every bone that's inside of you? Then again she might make you everything that you want her to, and if you could walk away, where would you go anyway? And if you've still got the chance, I know you know you'll stay, stay. Oh, you'll stay, oh, you'll stay. Oh, you'll stay, oh, you'll stay, oh, you'll stay, oh, you'll stay, oh, you'll stay.
10 They Suffocate at Night (06:17)
His body loved her
his mind was set on other things
Keep your face out of sight
and your thoughts to yourself
And this went on for several nights
festering in silence, growing in the dark
and this they saw as love
Love
So sad to see
They suffocate at night
Oh this they saw as love
Love
So sad to see
to see it slowly die
She met his wishes
he found that he had changed his mind
Now the fit is too tight
and the bedroom too warm
The days are filled with things to do
Night-time lies so hollow and memories betray
Oh memories of love
Love
So sad to see
They suffocate at night
Those memories of love
Love
So sad to see
to see it slowly die
Two years have passed
two years of emptiness inside
and the grey skies above
just show how far I went wrong
I wonder if she's living there
the way that I recall
the way I'll always think of you
And when I think of you
I think of love
Love
So sad to see
They suffocate at night
You know I think of love
Love
So sad to see
to see it slowly die
I wrote you a letter
I threw it away
I wrote you a letter
I threw it away
I need her
I know I don't need her
I need her
Oh
Oh-oh
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