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THE REVIEW
The album in question is the third LP by Pulp (the historic British band) and is dated 1991, five years after their last work.
"Separations" is the work that finally opens them up to the mainstream (the previous two had very little success) while maintaining some of the dark sounds of "Freaks", it frees itself from the "new wave" casing to expand into electronic influences and recapture the pop atmospheres of the first album. The result? A perfect and highly successful mix of sounds sometimes dark, sometimes "cheerful" in the classic Pulp style, all updated to the dawn of the "Madchester" sounds and "Rave" of those years.
The album begins with "Love is blind", a perfect electro-pop anthem that the Pet Shop Boys would kill to have written and ABBA would have disbanded after hearing. It continues with "Don't you want me anymore", a cute "electro-folk" ballad, but essentially one of the album's lows. "She's dead", on the other hand, is melancholic "a perfect Hollywood sunset" or a song for a noir film ending, interpret it as you wish, but it's a spine-chilling song. "Countdown" (one of the singles from the album) is electrifying, a techno-pop march not heard for years, perfect, balanced, ingenious... perhaps in the long run, it suffers from monotony but you can't ignore being shaken as soon as it starts with "oh I was seventeen when I heard the countdown started, it started slowly", one of the most beautiful lines in music history (obviously related to the context of the song). "My legendary girlfriend" is the other masterpiece of this album, 6 minutes in which various moods alternate, electronic, expressionist theater (in Cocker's agitated singing), pure pop form, experimentation... one of the most beautiful songs of the '90s and in Pulp's repertoire. The album concludes with "dead 2" and "this house is condemned", the first being an electro-pop track along the lines of "countdown", less ingenious but possibly with more energy over time, and the second is a little almost "acid-house" joke where the band has fun putting together various noises on an electronic base.
What to say??? The masterpiece of Pulp along with "Freaks" but, while the previous album is more theatrical and "art-rock", this is less ingenious and complex than its predecessor but is definitely more defined and compact in its structure. Recommended to anyone who, like me, loves this great band.
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Summary by Bot
Pulp's third album, Separations, marks their breakthrough into mainstream with a blend of dark and cheerful sounds. It embraces electronic and pop styles while reflecting early '90s Madchester and rave influences. Highlights include standout tracks like "Love is Blind," "Countdown," and "My Legendary Girlfriend." The album is praised for its balanced, innovative production and is considered one of Pulp's masterpieces alongside Freaks.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Pulp
Pulp are an English rock band from Sheffield, associated with the Britpop era and fronted by Jarvis Cocker. After years in relative obscurity, they reached major success in the mid-1990s with albums such as Different Class, followed by darker, more adult work like This Is Hardcore.13 Reviews
