{"product_id":"pulp-this-is-hardcore-2-vinyl-lp","title":"Pulp – This Is Hardcore [2× Vinyl LP]","description":"\u003ch3\u003ePulp – This Is Hardcore [2× 180g Vinyl LP]\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eDetails\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2× Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold, Stereo, Explicit\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCatalogue Number:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4786651\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBarcode:\u003c\/strong\u003e 602547866516\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGenre:\u003c\/strong\u003e Indie Rock \/ Britpop \/ Art Rock \/ Glam Rock\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLabel:\u003c\/strong\u003e Island Records \/ UMC \/ Universal Music\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOriginally Released:\u003c\/strong\u003e 30 March 1998\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReissue Released:\u003c\/strong\u003e 18 June 2016\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePressing:\u003c\/strong\u003e 180 Gram Vinyl\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New \u0026amp; Sealed\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eDescription\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis Is Hardcore\u003c\/em\u003e is the sixth studio album by Pulp and, by widespread consensus, their masterpiece — the record on which \u003cstrong\u003eJarvis Cocker\u003c\/strong\u003e transformed the witty, voyeuristic pop intelligence of \u003cem\u003eDifferent Class\u003c\/em\u003e into something darker, more ambitious and more unsettling. Released on 30 March 1998 on Island Records, it followed the commercial and cultural phenomenon of \u003cem\u003eDifferent Class\u003c\/em\u003e (1995) and the Glastonbury headline slot of that same year — a set that had made Cocker the most recognisable figure in British indie pop — and deliberately refused to deliver anything the audience might have expected. The album debuted at \u003cstrong\u003enumber one on the UK Albums Chart\u003c\/strong\u003e and earned Pulp a third consecutive \u003cstrong\u003eMercury Music Prize nomination\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003cem\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/em\u003e declared it \"arguably the first pop album devoted entirely to the subject of the long, slow fade,\" concluding that \"in midlife oblivion, Pulp have found a strange kind of liberation.\" \u003cem\u003eNME\u003c\/em\u003e retrospectively described it as the record that \"brought Britpop to a halt.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe circumstances of the album's creation were as significant as the music itself. Following the commercial peak of \u003cem\u003eDifferent Class\u003c\/em\u003e, guitarist and co-founder \u003cstrong\u003eRussell Senior\u003c\/strong\u003e departed the band. Cocker left for New York alone to decompress and write in isolation, returning with a set of songs that drew on his age, his anxieties about fame, his complicated relationship with desire, and his sense that the decade's cultural moment was ending. The recordings ran from November 1996 to January 1998 at \u003cstrong\u003eThe Townhouse and Olympic Studios in London\u003c\/strong\u003e, with strings recorded at \u003cstrong\u003eWhitfield Street Studio\u003c\/strong\u003e — a longer, more laboured process than any previous Pulp album, audible in the density and ambition of the arrangements. The production was handled by \u003cstrong\u003eChris Thomas\u003c\/strong\u003e — who had produced the Beatles' \u003cem\u003eWhite Album\u003c\/em\u003e, Roxy Music's \u003cem\u003eAvalon\u003c\/em\u003e, and the Sex Pistols' \u003cem\u003eNever Mind the Bollocks\u003c\/em\u003e — with programming by \u003cstrong\u003eMagnus Fiennes\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eOlle Romo\u003c\/strong\u003e, string arrangements by \u003cstrong\u003eAnne Dudley\u003c\/strong\u003e of Art of Noise, and additional piano from Dudley throughout. Track A5 embodies a sample of \u003cstrong\u003e\"Bolero on the Moon Rocks\"\u003c\/strong\u003e written by \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Thomas\u003c\/strong\u003e, recorded by \u003cstrong\u003eThe Peter Thomas Sound Orchester\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe individual tracks are among the most ambitious Pulp ever recorded. \u003cstrong\u003e\"The Fear\"\u003c\/strong\u003e opens the album with Cocker's most precise statement of existential dread — built on an extraordinary eight-minute slow build that the band and Thomas refused to trim. \u003cstrong\u003e\"Help the Aged\"\u003c\/strong\u003e — the lead single, released November 1997 and reaching number eight in the UK — is simultaneously Pulp at their most tender and most politically uncomfortable. The title track \u003cstrong\u003e\"This Is Hardcore\"\u003c\/strong\u003e is a nine-minute meditation on pornography, performance and self-exposure that remains one of the most daring things a British pop band has committed to record. \u003cstrong\u003e\"A Little Soul\"\u003c\/strong\u003e draws structurally on Smokey Robinson's \"Tracks of My Tears\" and is among Cocker's most openly autobiographical lyrics. \u003cstrong\u003e\"Seductive Barry\"\u003c\/strong\u003e is a ten-minute late-night suite. \u003cstrong\u003e\"Glory Days\"\u003c\/strong\u003e is a perfect pop single that was somehow never released as one. The four bonus tracks on \u003cstrong\u003eSide D\u003c\/strong\u003e — including \u003cstrong\u003e\"Tomorrow Never Lies\"\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003e\"Laughing Boy\"\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003e\"The Professional\"\u003c\/strong\u003e and the \u003cstrong\u003e\"This Is Hardcore (End of the Line Remix)\"\u003c\/strong\u003e — are drawn from the \u003cem\u003eHelp the Aged\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThis Is Hardcore\u003c\/em\u003e singles and represent some of the finest non-album Pulp material of the period. The album's cover was art directed by \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Saville\u003c\/strong\u003e and American painter \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Currin\u003c\/strong\u003e, whose figurative style transformed Horst Diekgerdes' photographs into something deliberately painterly and controversial.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis \u003cstrong\u003e2016 reissue\u003c\/strong\u003e on \u003cstrong\u003eIsland Records \/ UMC\u003c\/strong\u003e was mastered by \u003cstrong\u003eGreg Moore at Finyl Tweek\u003c\/strong\u003e and pressed by \u003cstrong\u003eMPO in France\u003c\/strong\u003e — the same plant that produced the highly regarded 1998 original — on \u003cstrong\u003e2× 180 gram black vinyl\u003c\/strong\u003e. Presented in a \u003cstrong\u003ematt gatefold sleeve\u003c\/strong\u003e with \u003cstrong\u003ecustom printed inner sleeves\u003c\/strong\u003e. Made in the EU.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eTracklist\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSide A\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Fear\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDishes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eParty Hard\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHelp the Aged\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis Is Hardcore\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSide B\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTV Movie\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Little Soul\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eI'm A Man\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSeductive Barry\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSide C\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSylvia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGlory Days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Day After the Revolution\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSide D\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTomorrow Never Lies\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLaughing Boy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Professional\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis Is Hardcore (End of the Line Remix)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eCredits\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarvis Cocker – Vocals, Guitar\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCandida Doyle – Keyboards\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSteve Mackey – Bass\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNick Banks – Drums, Percussion\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMark Webber – Guitar\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChris Thomas – Producer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnne Dudley – String Arrangements, Piano\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMagnus Fiennes – Programming\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOlle Romo – Programming\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNeneh Cherry – Vocals\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMiri Ben-Ari – Violin\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePeter Saville – Art Direction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohn Currin – Art Direction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGreg Moore – Mastering, Finyl Tweek\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLabel – Island Records \/ UMC \/ Universal Music\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Pulp","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57553016455555,"sku":"4786651","price":25.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0932\/9757\/4275\/files\/22304e04-7c13-4c51-8b71-e80e4b994ea1.webp?v=1773145626","url":"https:\/\/vikingrecords.co.uk\/products\/pulp-this-is-hardcore-2-vinyl-lp","provider":"Viking Records Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}