Preceded by the massive and brilliant single 'Common People' Diferent Class established Pupl as one memeber of the Triumvirate of British bands in the mid 1990s alongside Oasis and Blur. They, however, displayed less rock and more pop sensibilities than these other two.

The whole album, lyrically, seems to be derived from Jervis Cocker's working class upbringing in Sheffield. It tells tales of the different people he meets, loves and sleeps with in a grimy northern English town with no hope of getting out.

Like his contemporary, Richard Hawley, there is a strong sense of doomed romanticism and inferiority which is channeled beautifully into these 12 songs on the album. Born more out of bitterness than love, out of a sense of one's own disenfranchisement witht society around him. Wanting to fit in and yet celebrating one's differences, one's uniqueness, one's ostracism.

The music has a pounding beat throughout most of teh songs, such as 'Common People', 'Disco 2000' and 'I spy' which make these great songs to dance to. 'Common People' in particular is still a huge draw to the dance floor with its singalong chorus. It tells the story of a rich Greek girl who wants to experience what its like to be one of the 'common people' the implicit insult in this term lost to her in her coiffured world.

'Disco 2000' is a brilliant song telling of a childhood crush which blooms into...well nothing and leaves Jervis the geeky kid, now man left behind pining. Oblivious, of course, to the girl who goes onto greater things. It tells of the excitement as we all(used to ) look forward to the year 2000 and reunions with old friends and how perhaps it will all come alright.

Jervis sings all the songs in his rich deep voice, his tone always wistful and sometimes sad.

After this album he seems to have retreated somewhat from the pop limelight and seems to be choosing the Scott Walker path of retreat from pop stardom, even recruiting the aforementioned 60's pop singer to produce one of Pulp's albums.

The packaging was lavish. In its initil release, the sleeve came with a silver embossed frame with 6 cards inside to provide a choice of 12 different covers. Later editions just gave you the one cover.

The sound itself was well recorded. The vinyl LP has the 12 songs and 53 minutes squashed onto 2 sides which invariably affects the sound quality. This is a shame and I would dearly love to see this reissued as a double album. But again, this is an essential album to own on any format.

Incidentally the four singles from the album were belatedly released as 12" singles. Perhaps these are your best bet for sound quality.