Pulp – Forty Odd Years Review

Forty years is a long while for any band. In the time it took The Beatles to rise, peak, and fall, Pulp had just about found their footing. Like a fine wine, they dribbled out of this lopsided gestation period with songs that still define their generation, and this one too. Forty Odd Years shares a neat selection of performances from the Jarvis Cocker-fronted band, most of them unreleased until today. From their early days in half-filled venues where crowds were not quite sure what to make of them to home show heroics on Sheffield: Sex City, the MOJO Magazine compilation CD is a breath of fresh air for material left untouched, some for decades. Forty Odd Years is a must-listen for fans as the wait for More, Pulp’s eighth studio album and their first in over two decades, continues. This compilation is not just something to pass the time with, it is a decades-spanning understanding of what Pulp achieved on stage. 

Compilation opener What Do You Say? is a great place to start. Pulp’s very first song release, a demo which has the band sounding quite unlike their heyday. Sparse moments of The Fall and The Smiths can be heard within, from the jangle pop instrumentals to the more monotone moments from Cocker’s voice. Great, catchy fun which paints a picture of the early years. Forty Odd Years is a treasure trove of odds and ends, the sparks of gold which fans of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen are gifted every other year. Alternate cuts, the different mixes and, crucially, new attempts at classic tracks. The Trees right from the rehearsal studio is a prime “what could have been” moment from Forty Odd Years. Another is the alternate mix of Death Comes to Town, an early version which features the moans and synth-adjacent keyboard work which would come to define Pulp. 

Forty Odd Years soon reveals itself as a series of what-ifs. Who knows what else is in the vault? Sliding Through Life on Charm, the song Cocker wrote for Marianne Faithfull, sounds tremendous with his vocal stylings. The flat, spoken-word exploration of sin and sex is familiar territory for Cocker. Live On could have been a hit; even the band suggests so in their first interview as a group in twenty-three years. Crucial to these glimpses into the past is what any artist with a sizeable backlog can offer: a suggestion of a very different future, a change in fortune which leads to another path to fame. Pulp made it there eventually, and each of these tracks is an example as to why they made it as big as they did. A Peel Sessions recording of Common People has Cocker and the band just about finalise their anthemic Common People.  

For those who have the Different Class single in constant, heavy rotation, this will be a punchy, earlier version with bird caw-sounding interjections from Cocker and a stripped-back instrumental. She’s a Lady is a full-circle moment for Cocker in particular, with this version from a BBC Session in 1992 sounding very close to the style he would apply to the song when opening shows with Jarv Is… A tremendous, violin-reliant stormer which, placed next to the Sheffield: Sex City performance ripped from Pulp’s 2012 homecoming show, marks a tremendous contrast. A spoken-word piece with instrumental jam on Duck Diving is a delight, a suggestion of Cocker heading towards narration and radio work. Both would be part of his post-Pulp period. 

Forty Odd Years is a clever collection of moments in history. Cocker is in fine form through this highlight reel, seemingly random at first but brilliantly pieced together. From the chatter with the audience on a performance of His ‘n’ Hers to the chants and spills of Sheffield: Sex City, Cocker prides himself on being the everyman variety of frontman. Tripped-out club mixes are a sweet nod to a time when they were staples of B-side releases. Jarv Is… went ahead with Remix Ed, though this Feeling Called Love mix is proof enough that one is surplus. Forty Odd Years is a magical experience which pieces together the sought-after sounds of a band whose time at the second chance saloon is slowly dawning on its members. If More is as strong a release as Forty Odd Years, fans will be hungry for more after More. Some already are.