Finally, among all the 1995 Britpop classic albums getting rereleased this year, Pulp's Different Class is getting a special reissue for its 30th birthday. The band announced yesterday, September 4, that they have created a deluxe double album that features remastered audio and, for the first time ever, a mixed and mastered audio version of their famous 1995 Glastonbury performance.
Different Class: 30th Anniversary Edition will be released on October 24th via UMG and Island Records, the original album's label.
The 30th anniversary edition of Different Class will be sold as either a 4xLP box set or as 2 CDs. The album was remastered/mastered by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road, with bandmates Jarvis Cocker and Mark Webber overseeing production.
Unlike typical re-releases, which tend to change the cover art, this box set will restore the original "aperture" sleeve design, which allowed fans to rotate photos to "choose your own front cover." The collection also includes previously unseen photos of the band pulled form the archives of photographers Rankin and Donald Milne and Pulp themselves, according to the band's official website.
The 28-page booklet included in the set also includes recently conducted interviews with the band reflecting on the album and its legacy.
For the first time, Pulp's 1995 Glastonbury performance will also be mixed and released as a live album as the second half of this deluxe record. The band originally performed at the music festival at the last minute, replacing Manchester legends The Stone Roses after guitarist Joe Squire suffered injuries from a biking accident.
Gracing the Pyramid Stage in between the headliners Oasis and The Cure for a seemingly unremarkable set, Pulp stole the show, especially after performing their anthem "Common People" to an estimated crowd of 100,000 people, per Far Out Magazine. Now, listeners get to relive that landmark moment in the band's history, hearing restored audio of the entire set from that evening.
Different Class was originally released October 31, 1995 via Island Records. It marked a musical turning point in the band's career, which already saw a pivot when they went from indie rock to pop the year before with His 'n Hers. This record was Pulp's most commercially successful, reaching the coveted no. 1 spot on the UK Billboard upon release, producing four Top 10 singles ("Common People", "Sorted for E's & Wizz", "Disco 2000", and "Something Changed"), achieving multi-platinum status, and winning the 1996 Mercury Prize.
But perhaps more remarkable is Different Class's encapsulation of British life at the height of the Britpop era. Reflecting on his moving to London from Sheffield, which exposed him to Southern high society for the first time, Cocker first wrote the lyrics to "Common People" before building a whole album from it. He aimed to focus on class tensions between working and middle class people, according to a 2010 interview with Uncut Magazine. "I always thought the word 'common' was an interesting thing," he admitted. "It would be used in [Emerson, Lake & Palmer's rock version of] 'Fanfare For The Common Man' as this idea of the noble savage, whereas it was a real insult in Sheffield to call someone 'common'."
Drummer Nick Banks added,
"Around London, you met these southern toffs. You got that idea they were different. That they could muck around and do what they wanted for a few years, then call in the trust fund and bugger off to the south of France. For most people, that ain’t the case. You’re stuck with what you’ve got.”
About the remaster, Cocker simply noted, "This 45rpm double album version of Different Class will make it sound a whole lot better. Now, 30 years later, we are finally ready for Different Class to be heard in all its glory."
Different Class: 30th Anniversary Edition is out October 24. Pre-order here. Full tracklist below:
CD Disc 1 (Original Album Remastered):
1. Mis-Shapes
2. Pencil Skirt
3. Common People
4. I Spy
5. Disco 2000
6. Live Bed Show
7. Something Changed
8. Sorted For E's & Wizz
9. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
10. Underwear
11. Monday Morning
12. Bar Italia
CD Disc 2 (Live at Glastonbury, 1995)
1. ‘Common People Drone Intro’
2. Do You Remember the First Time
3. Razzmatazz
4. Monday Morning
5. Underwear
6. Sorted for E's & Wizz
7. Disco 2000
8. Joyriders
9. Acrylic Afternoons
10. Mis-Shapes
11. Pink Glove
12. Babies
13. Common People
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