Pulp - Different Class (LP) Vinyl

Different Class is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Pulp, released on 30 October 1995 by Island Records and following His 'n' Hers (1994). It entered the UK Albums Chart at number one and won the 1996 Mercury Music Prize, and it is the record that carried the band to national fame at the height of Britpop.

The Album

Different Class was recorded between 18 January and 28 July 1995 at Townhouse Studios in London with producer Chris Thomas. All lyrics are by Jarvis Cocker and the music is credited to the band: Cocker on vocals and guitar, Russell Senior on guitar and violin, Candida Doyle on keyboards, Steve Mackey on bass, Mark Webber on guitar and Nick Banks on drums. The playing time is 52 minutes and 50 seconds across twelve tracks.

The title came to Cocker at Smashing, a club night that ran in the early 1990s at Eve's Club on Regent Street in London. A friend used the phrase "different class" to describe something that was in a class of its own, and Cocker liked the double meaning it carried about the British class system, a theme that runs through the songs. Four singles from the album reached the UK top ten: "Common People", "Sorted for E's & Wizz", "Disco 2000" and "Something Changed". The album has been certified four times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and had sold 1.33 million copies in the United Kingdom as of 2020. NME placed it sixth in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2013, and Rolling Stone ranked it 162nd in the 2020 revision of its own 500 Greatest Albums list.

The Sleeve

The sleeve was designed by Blue Source and built around a real wedding photograph, with life-size cardboard cutouts of the band standing among the guests. Initial copies of the album came with six double-sided inserts of alternative cover art showing the cutouts in other settings, and a sticker inviting the buyer to choose their own front cover.

This Pressing

This is the Island Records reissue, catalogue number 4785288, pressed as a single black vinyl LP running at 33 RPM with six tracks per side. It includes a custom printed inner sleeve carrying the band personnel, instrument credits and the alternative sleeve images across both faces. Two long-standing print errors appear on that inner sleeve: track 6 is listed as "Live Bed Show Doyle" and track 7 as "Somethings Changed".

Tracklist

Side One

1. Mis-Shapes (3:46)
2. Pencil Skirt (3:11)
3. Common People (5:50)
4. I Spy (5:55)
5. Disco 2000 (4:33)
6. Live Bed Show (3:29)

Side Two

1. Something Changed (3:18)
2. Sorted for E's & Wizz (3:47)
3. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E (6:01)
4. Underwear (4:06)
5. Monday Morning (4:16)
6. Bar Italia (3:42)