Separations (2012 Re-Issue)

This is a fantastic album that I missed when I first got introduced to Pulp. Most of the album is very "up" and it finds its way into my music rotation on a very regular basis. My favourite tracks are probably "Love is Blind" and "Separations," although the whole album is fantastic. The track "Separations," in particular is really interesting - the first two minutes of the song are completely different in tone from the rest of the song. (This seems to be the case with many Pulp songs, but especially in this case.) Anyway, I rarely see this album mentioned, and it really deserves a listen.

It's funny, people keep discussing wether Common People, This Is Hardcore or We Love Life is the best PULP album, but never did I hear anyone mention Seperations, until I came along it by accidence in the record collection of a friend of mine. Not that I think this is PULP's best album, because I think all three mentioned above, AND Seperations, are equally brilliant, but each in it's own special way. This album features an unique combination of heavy disco sounds and a very dark theme. Take the opener, Love Is Blind, which is probably PULP's best track before The Fear - it starts out as a nice and qiet piece, but ends with some strange, or rarther bizarre lyrics, and all along it features that unique PULP sound, with Jarvis' vocals as fantastic as ever. The second track goes on in a more funny theme, about a man who dumped his girlfriend and now wants her back, except that she's found someone else - which he had deffinitely not counted on. The rhythms are strange but compelling, and I can exactly imagine Jarvis doing strange moves on the scene while performing this... She's Dead is perhaps the bands most somber piece ever, and very lovely, even if it's a bit too long. Again, a fantastic vocal performance by Jarvis. The title track is another favorite - the violin intro sounds quite unlike any other thing they did later, but it's ... well, brilliant ... and the lyrics, about a seperated couple, is very deftly written, and the change of sound in the song, when it goes from the one person to the other, is excellently done. It would have wanted it longer, but ok, can't have it all... Down By The River sounds very pleasant, but the lyrics are really scary, about a girl drowning herself in the river. It's got strong similarities to the theme of 'Wickermen', though this track might not be as refined as that one. The second half of the album is devoted to pure disco tracks, and the quality is really surprising - at first I thought it sounded like so much else, but the slight differences does all the difference - and noone is a match for Jarvis' vocals - whispered, hysteric, desperate, cold, sarcastic; he has it all in his voice. The last track, This House Is Condemned, was really a shock to me - it sound like a song by Jean Michelle Jarre or Kraftwerk - but it's really ... brilliant. I've never heard anyone come so close to condensing the sound of panic onto a recorded track. Though the lyrics on Seperations might not be as refined as what PULP has done later, every track seems worked through to perfection, and every time you hear it never layers seem to appear. And instead of being just Jarvis backed by some musicians, the band as a unity comes to their full right here, showing excellent keaboradplaying by Candida, as well as superb violin sections, drumming and bass playing. So though it's not as innovative as some later work, once Seperations has come into your CD player, it seems very - very - reluctant to leave it! Simply ... brilliant.

This is not quite what I'd call essential Pulp (that begins with their next album, 1993's His n' Hers, and goes thru til 1998's This Is HardCore), but once you've thoroughly enjoyed the essentials, this is the best next place to go.The more i listen to this album, the more it grows on me, though. The first two tracks are amazing, and remind me of the best parts of Pulp's swansong, Trees (or something. I can't quite recall. I did not like their last album, but there were two good songs on it, and these two songs remind me of them). The second half of the album is a bit better than the first, beginning with the album standout, Countdown. Death II is also fantastic. The added tracks really perk this up a bit, too (Both Countdown and Death are reimagined). All in all, a very good earlier work from Sheffield's finest. Sorry Joe Cocker and Def Leppard.

I adore this album, though i always skip the track "my legendary girlfriend". I love the violin solos on "don't you want me anymore" and "separations" because they are very haunting, and i enjoy this album for this specific reason. "Death II" makes me feel utterly happy inside, and want to break out and dance. I usually feel like I need to like all songs on an album in order for it to be my favourite from that group, but in this case, these three song do it for me.

Considering the degree to which critics take a gleeful pleasure in bashing Pulp's pre-Island material, you might think that this would be unlistenable sludge. Fortunately, you would be entirely wrong. This is a dark album, but whereas Freaks was bleak in a small, claustrophobic way, this is highly melodramatic--"high tragedy," if you will. Anyway, despite what brainless reviewers may tell you, this is a very strong album. Jarvis's lyrics haven't reached their current level of sophistication, but they're still very good, and there's scarcely a weak tune on the album--the only less-than-inspiring number being the fairly bland She's Dead. Otherwise, it's all pretty great stuff: Separations is the most pathos-laden song, and it's quite brilliant, featuring some excellent violin work from Russell. Love is Blind, Don't you Want me Anymore?, and Down by the River are nearly as good, and This House is Condemned is truly bizarre and creepy. And of course, let's not forget about the deservedly well-thought of singly, My Legendary Girlfriend. This is really an album that any Pulp devotee should own, and it's the best place to start if you're thinking about looking into their mysterious early material.

This is my absolute favourite Pulp cd. Screw This is Hardcore, all right it's good, but this is so much better. People constantly request to hear it when they visit, and it's always being lent out to my friends and to their friends. If you have to choose one cd, choose this. You will NOT be let down, I promise.

If Pulp were a band that the 80's had ignored, then this was the world's wake up call, in shall I say it? Small eruptions. It's a shame it wasn't released in 88 when it was finished, because their record company for some reason just sat on it for 3 years. First a little history. Pulp just seemed to be the band that had been around, yet only managed to go in circles. Band members came and went, but after their album "Freaks", and it's close resemblance to The Fall or The Cure (well, as close as you can get), and a video for "They suffocate at night", it seemed like Pulp was finished. Or was it? Jarvis escaped to London to take his classes at St. Martin's College for film, and even at some point met the mysterious girl who would provide their mega hit 7-8 years later, but it's a good thing he didn't write "Common People" at that point, because if it was recorded for "Seperations", it would most certainly not have been a hit. Because nobody would hear it for 3 years!! Now, during this time, the rave scene in the UK was going on full swing, as well as the Madchester sound. And wouldn't you know it? Russel & Jarvis attended a few. They zeroed in on what Pulp might have been missing out on. Just music to dance to. Jarvis probably found a few bands to meet that were a bit ecclectic as them as well, such as Saint Ettiene, Pet Shop Boys, etc. Jarvis decided to give Pulp one more go, but he would need a new drummer and bass player. Yet find them he would, and the Pulp we all know was now ready to record! Now, finally, the album. Seperations starts with "Love is Blind", and it stomps to a marching beat with paranoid screams of Jarvis. But now, he's got his confidence in the lyrics. "Give me the city, give me the sea, give me everything I need. The future is shining, like a bright metal beast, it shines so bright tonight, with it's legs open wide". But yet, still, Jarvis isn't quite as confident as he potrays himself, for he states that this love he has might not work out. "Don't you want me anymore?" also shines with confidence, as a cocky exit out of town, and a return to it as well, but once he's discovered his lover has moved on, this too has Jarvis unsure if he can move on when his former lover already has! "She's dead" is a melancholy song that wouldn't seem out of place as part of Freaks or Masters of the Universe, yet it's sad tale of a dead girl is for your ears. "Seperations" is a song that's a bit hard to describe. It starts with a almost eerie violin coda from Russel that almost might have came from Turkey with it's gypsyish playing, but then the song goes a bit wonky with it's cheap casio bassline from Candida, it plods along in a wobly way supported once again by Russel's violin. "Down by the river", is again, another sad melancholy song, and it's almost like Pulp haven't quite got themselves free from their past, but then again, they wouldn't go this dark until This is Hardcore. "Countdown" is a mediocre attempt at escaping their demons in a disco way, but the misery still shackles. "My Legendary Girlfriend" may seem long, and drawn out, yet it almost has a Jim Morrison quality about it. You can dance to it, and it's definately one of the strong points with the album if you have the patience for it. "Death2" is definately a song for anybody who'se been heartbroken, and it almost resembles Roxy Music's "Dance away", but is more miserable in the circumstances. Yet Jarvis won't let any woman shake him up so badly after this as the silver lining. "This house is condemed" is oddly Russel's only and last song in the Pulp Catalog (And he only had a few anyway), and it moves along nicely to a house beat, but doesn't do much for the listener. Now, compared to the joyous madchester sound, and a few house/techno acts of this era, Pulp didn't quite fit in yet again, but they were trying. And fans were starting to notice this skinny odd man in thrift store clothing, who was oozing sex in his songs with his shrieks and howls, and even "Legendary girlfriend" got noticed by the NME and went to #36 in the charts! Pulp were definately on the right track, if anything. Too bad their record label Fire didn't care, and left this album in limbo until 1992, when fed up, they left for Gift records to do their 3 ep's that gets collected in "Intro", and eventually their signing to Island, and for greener pastures in "His n Hers". It begs to question, if released when it was susposed to come out, would it have been the right time for Pulp? Or would the Happy Mondays, EMF, Stone Roses, and other dance acts would have just buried them in the UK charts. (Jarvis still wasn't a celebrity in the UK press just yet mind you). Maybe Fire records did Pulp a favor by letting hype build up for them before it was time to capitalise 3 years later. We'll never have those answers, but if you're a casual Pulp fan, or a Ultimate Pulp fan, then get ready for Pulp's cracks in the volcano. For in just a moment, they were to explode. But this album is where the rumbles occur.

It seems like I've heard all of this somewhere before, but Jarvis Cocker makes it all his own. Hardcore shows how much the band has matured from this, yet I find myself digging Separations out more often than Hardcore for whatever reason. I think it's the cheesy but sharp keyboard sound that Candida Doyle provides, combined with the lounge singing of Cocker, especially on "Don't You Want Me Anymore?" and "Countdown". Creepy, compelling, not to be missed.

This album was made for vinyl. The first album where Pulp found their sound. Good sound with this pressing. Recommended.

A new start, and a proper start this time, with the urgent stomp of 'Love Is Blind', an instant classic. "The future is shining, like a giant metal beast. It shines so bright tonight, with its legs open wide..." The first song, and it's exhaustingly good. But with an "mmh...aah!" we're off into the next one, and it's precision and quality all the way. 'Don't You Want Me Anymore' nods back to their fellow Sheffielders once again, but what's less obvious is that this is an inversion of 'The Train from Kansas City' by the Shangri-las, told from the train passenger's viewpoint. The album is packed with pop references: 'She's Dead' reminds us of 'Honey' by Bobby Goldsboro, and 'Death II' channels Gene Pitney. On 'Separations', Pulp are fully-formed, and 'Death II' is a case in point. It's one of the best Pulp songs that many fame-era fans have never heard. Not because of the song itself, but because – never mind 'My Legendary Girlfriend' – it's the clarion call of what Pulp were going to become: this one could have gone on 'His 'n' Hers', but instead that album's backward glance would come with its earliest composition 'She's a Lady'. Which is Death in drag, if you get me. In his sleeve notes, Everett True quotes Jarvis Cocker on 'Countdown': "You leave school and you treat the rest of your life like a big countdown for something big that's going to happen." Yes. I remember that feeling. I'm sure we all do. The lyrics have stopped looking inwards entirely, and now look out into the shared, and – note the word – common, experience. This new edition is the version of the album to get, not least because it includes 'Death Comes to Town', the only non-album track recorded at the sessions, in its original, non-extended form (at the time, Fire cancelled the planned 7 inch) outside of the free CD with the 'Beats Working for a Living' book, on which it is horribly compressed. All of these remasters are sensitive and dynamic, with no brickwalling or overheating. All of this is a good thing, and I know that during my earlier review of 'Freaks' I said that Russell Senior's vocal turn 'Fairground' should have been at the end. Well, 'This House Is Condemned' might have served better as a b-side, which would have left room on the album for 'Death Comes to Town'. Well, you can now programme your CD player and pretend that's what happened. Not that 'This House...' is unworthy. It's a surprisingly successful stab at making a different kind of music without losing identity, and makes an interesting counterpoint to 'My Legendary Girlfriend'. So what about 'My Legendary Girlfriend'? This album's contribution to pop culture has seen the title co-opted for a dick-lit book and it's routinely cited as the moment where Pulp became, you know, Pulp. It's a brilliant record, and untarnished by the years, still lifting the nape hairs from the opening seconds, and demanding the mixture of concentration and abandonment so familiar to fans of the band. It's a direct descendant of Closer to You from Momus's 'The Poision Boyfriend', and both songs take their cue from Barry White. The story, as we found out the following year in the sleeve notes to the 'Babies' single, takes place the night before that of 'Sheffield: Sex City'.

Es un disco de Pulp que para todo fan de esta agrupación debe uno de tener. El disco llegó antes de lo previsto. lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Article conforme à la description.

Hubiese estado bien que incluya los bonus tracks ya que es edición remasterizada. Sólo los trae en un link de descarga.