For the first time in their careers, Pulp take to the BBC Radio 2 studio for a Piano Room concert. Their relationship with the broadcasting company became a little background detail for More. Between a festive return of Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service to a Radio 2 concert of hits and rarities, the BBC has backed Pulp during their reunion. That relationship carries on, and it’s to the benefit of the band’s fans that it does. Where else would the Cocker-fronted group feature a cover of ABBA and a pairing of two very best originals? Something Changed, and The Hymn of the North are inevitabilities for this concert, but that did not guarantee their places. We can only speculate what the shortlist was, but between the Tiny Desk concert and Johnny Cash cover, Pulp are doing very well to keep listeners on their toes three years into their comeback. Their ABBA cover does just that, as do the subtle changes brought about on Something Changed and The Hymn of the North.
Three songs and a bit of chatter ahead of a surprisingly relaxed summer for Pulp is just what fans will need. The rules of the piano lounge play into Pulp’s strengths rather nicely; Cocker and company couldn’t have timed this outing better had they tried. The Man Comes Around releases at the end of the month, the interest in More very much alive and their classics still untouchable. Pairing all three of those into a tight, three-song set is a delight. Old, new, different. It works nicely not just for those returning fans who’ll no doubt still listen to the Jools Holland performance of Something Changed, and for those whose experiences with the band ended years ago and never picked up. Quality performances like this aren’t just a chance to hear great songs with a new instrumental selection, but a reminder of the core qualities that keep us coming back to the group’s work so many years later. Something Changed is a marvellous, still-moving piece that gets better the older it gets, a looser, lovable sentimentality.
Pair all those feelings with some subtle brass and orchestral arrangements, as was the case for much of More, and you get the feeling Pulp are far more adaptable than they once were. You can hear that a little more with The Hymn of the North, a song that still pushes Cocker to his vocal limits. Not because he’s straining, but because he’s searching for some new challenges – plenty of spoken word elongations, as is the case for many Pulp songs. But crucial to that is the steadiness of the core Pulp group, whose efforts here are thankfully not overwhelmed by the excellent in-house orchestra. Mark Webber is a particular standout for ABBA cover The Day Before You Came, his and Jason Buckle’s guitar work bringing a worthy arrangement to the flute-driven reworking of a Europop deep cut. It’s all about giving the song justice through a new instrumental style. Pulp does it well here.
Much like The Man Comes Around, Pulp straddles the novelty of covering a popular track with a tongue-in-cheek tone. Sentimentality of a sincere variety meets with the wink of kitschy performance, the outsider style of the band still intact despite the chart-topping efforts of last year. Their image as a band, what Cocker has written about for so many years, fits so well with this ABBA track. The BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room performance is a magnificent example of what Pulp was offering in their heyday, what they offer now, and what they’re going to provide later this year. Much like the Tiny Desk concert, this’ll be an absolute delight to those who want to hear some massive instrumental reworkings from the band. Those who were enamoured by the This is Hardcore rendition from the NPR office will find similar satisfaction here.
Discover more from Cult Following
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
