REVIEW: PULP “MORE” (2025)

Originally posted June 2025

So after almost 24 years since the last album, lengthy hiatuses, solo albums, reunion performances, old members returning, returning members leaving again, a few recordings, and a death – Pulp announced a new album for 2025. I had mixed feelings about this. The vast majority of times this happens, the nostalgia is fantastic, but the actual music is disappointing. I'm can't always pinpoint the reason. Is it truly poor? Or is it because it is bound up in so much excessive anticipation that it’s almost certainly BOUND to be fall below expectations. I have probably been subconsciously writing my own Pulp album in my head for 24 years. Deviating too far away from this non-existent album is likely to leave my craving unsatisfied. Yes, craving.

I will explain. I usually refer to Pulp as my 2^nd favourite band of the 90s – just a smidge behind Blur. There was something quite distinct, aside from Jarvis Cocker’s vocal-style, about the ‘sound’ of Pulp that really appealed to me. I’ve never been able to put my finger fully on it. But it must be the way the members of the band played. I think it was Candida Doyle’s keyboards in particular that I’m thinking of (but only in the context of the entire band together). Whatever it was exactly, I found the sound addictive. In-between the release of albums.... I craved it. I really did. I remember the immense relief when, after over 2.5 years since “A Different Class” (1995) (2.5 years doesn’t seem long when I write it here, but the difference between 12 years old & 15 years old is vast), I popped “This Is Hardcore” (1998) into my friend’s CD player.

Interestingly, as Pulp hail from Sheffield, I had left Sheffield the previous year but was still regularly visiting friends there, as I was on the albums release date. I hit play, heard those 1^st intoxicatingly eerie notes of “The Fear” and a tension that had been slowly building for years began to release. Then the guitar and bass come in and I fell backwards on to my friend's bed in that cliché way you see people do in films when they fall in love. I was experiencing an overwhelming sense of euphoria. Then Cocker comes in, ‘this is our music from the bachelor’s den’....... and I genuinely had tears in my eyes and a huge smile on my face. I think my friends were quite baffled by what they were witnessing. This was the ‘Pulp experience’ for me. Whether this was quite the same for my fellow Pulp-mates Adam Timmins & Chris Barnett, who I met post-Sheffield, I don’t know.

I had to wait even longer for “We Love Life” (2001) and then suddenly – that was it. Jarvis Cocker’s solo efforts were good but didn’t satisfy my Pulp craving. I did manage to mitigate things somewhat. Pulp, had over a decade and 3 albums behind them before they started making any impact commercial impact with “His ‘n’ Hers” (1994). At the time, keeping in mind you couldn’t just stream things back then, many of us essentially dismissed much of the pre-1994 output. We’d had heard the albums....... but perhaps just once through.  Also a compilation of those years called “Countdown” (1995) had been released. That wasn’t the best representation. Plus, we were listening to the old recordings directly against the incredible 1994 & 1995 albums. Anyway, to satisfy my Pulp craving, somewhere around the mid to late 2000s I turned to the old Pulp albums. I was surprised and delighted to realise they were significantly better than I had ever given them credit for. Bloody brilliant in some cases. So, my Pulp craving was satisfied. Not long after that, I put Pulp to bed in my head.

So, here are my marks for Pulp albums. My longstanding marking key is at the bottom. “It” (1983) 6, “Freaks” 7, “Separations” (1992) 8, “His ‘n’ Hers” (1994) 9, “A Different Class” (1995) 9, “This Is Hardcore” (1998) 8, “We Love Life” (2001) 8. That’s quite an impressive array of marks. “More” (2025)?........ Let’s see.

There’s an important question to consider. Had Pulp released a follow-up album to “We Love Life” just a few years later, I would have expected some development.... evolution..... I wouldn’t have wanted just the same album again – I’d have wanted us to have moved on in the journey. But.... after nearly 25 years, is that what I want now? Or do I just want the nostalgia? New songs, but very familiar, even ‘same old Pulp’? (OF course, you’d say ‘good old Pulp’)  Just ‘more’ Pulp. I’ll be completely honest. I think its the latter. And this album is called “More” 2025. Again, let’s see.

It kicks of confidently with “Spike Island” which we already knew as a single from a few months back. Within seconds of opening it does sound like Pulp. The track could easily be lifted off any Pulp album, but especially their last one. It feels like we are simply picking up where we left off. Its a decent track. But its no “Common People”. “Tina” follows and is a decent track that is quite intricately arranged with its echoing and haunting backing vocals, moments of a cappella, and those juddering staccato chords from the band that recall “Common People”, “Sorted For E’s and Wizz” and “This Is Hardcore”. “Grown Up” is a very well written song with an attractively catchy chorus and slight-shuffle beat. Its repeated detached chords remind me of “Mis-Shapes”. Lyrically, it’s a good example of Cocker’s wry humour.

“Slow Jam” takes things to slower pace with everything, including the vocals, in a bassier register, with sparse instrumentation that includes a little funky slap-bass figure. The sound of it is slightly reminiscent of “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E” and “Seductive Barry”.  “Farmer’s Market” offers something a little different with its 6/8 time signature and an arrangement that centres around piano and classical string instruments. Its the 1^st one that feels a little bit of a filler track, however. “Sex” does pick things back up a bit with its slick bass riff. However, there’s not much of a melody, and aside from an interesting blunt staccato backing female vocal figure (that seems to be singing a telephone number or something), not that much happens in the track. That said, there is something quite attractive about its overall sound. Pulp fans will remember there’s usually a track on every Pulp album (I’ve mentioned 2 just above) that you’re not sure what to make of initially, but ends up being one of your favourites. This might be that track on “More”.

“Got To Have Love” isn’t a bad track but its not exactly showcasing Cocker’s lyrical brilliance with its rather tired ‘you just need love and life is complete’ notion. Its interesting that he spells out ‘L.O.V.E’ though, because we had that before on “A Different Class” (1995) with “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E”. So, for those after Pulp Nostalgia, this feels like a little nod towards it. “Background Noise” follows, with lots of......  well.....  background noise. It has a very unimaginative bass figure that’s used so regularly in pop its become quite tiresome (and I think Pulp have used it before)....... buuum ---- ba dum. That one. The melody of the choruses is very good. But, this one feels like a bit of a filler too.

“Partial Eclipse” sounds like its one of Pulp’s understated but great tracks. With a decent melody, clever lyric and interesting arrangement of the band/additional instruments. My Dad was also listening, and this was his favourite – he found it very reflective and said it painted a cosmic picture in which we are all sitting. Although our place in the universe is tiny, it is still a part of that picture. We are small but not insignificant. There’s a little bit of word-painting that matches this i.e., some weird and wonderful high-register sounds being produced that create a ‘cosmic’ atmosphere. That sound carries on (although not continuously) into the start of the penultimate track “The Hymn Of The North”. This one starts intriguingly, with vibrato strings, that ‘cosmic’ effect, the time signature being pulled around and with very little of the band actually playing. This eventually leads into a section with more orchestral instruments and a very unusual harmonic progression that I’d have too sit at the piano to get my head around. Although it may sound a bit disjointed on 1^st listen, I think there may be a subtle genius to this track. It may be my favourite on the album.

The final track “A Sunset” also starts intriguingly with solo voice, high pitched violin, and a plucked melody on acoustic guitar. A choir of voices enters and everything gets a bit more ‘regular’. Its not a bad track with its slow punchy drum fills, mini-crescendos, choir of voices and lyric. However, its not exactly a fantastic ending, even a little disappointing, maybe.

I think my question of nostalgia vs progression was more important than I anticipated and it came through on the album. I’ve got a strong feeling Pulp struggled with this and it was a hurdle that they were not always overcoming. I read an article where Jarvis Cocker touched upon this, saying he was struggling in the studio until it started ‘sounding like Pulp’. I think ‘sounding like Pulp’ dragged them slightly away from developing their sound – there are little pieces of innovation scattered throughout the album. By the same token, those little attempts to do something different took the edge away from it sounding like Pulp. So neither one thing nor the other is fully achieved. On the whole, that drags things down a little for me. But that said, there’s a depth to this that seems to be getting rarer in more modern pop music. I think this is just about good enough (but only just) for me to settle on......... 7

Marking key (in a nutshell)

10 – Perfect (only 3 albums in history)

9 – Basically 10/10 (I just don’t quite view them in the same way as the 3 albums)

8 – Outstanding (possible nit-picking criticisms)

7 – Brilliant

6 – Good

5 – Average

4 – Has potential but below average

3 – Some good points but not very good overall

2 – Poor (possibly a few good points)

1 – Abysmal