Pulp vinyl reissues: His ‘n’ Hers

As part of HMV’s vinyl week in June, Universal Music reissued Pulp’s four studio albums that were originally released by Island Records between 1994 and 2001: His ‘n’ Hers, Different Class, This Is Hardcore and We Love Life. HMV marketed these reissues as ‘advance releases’ meaning that they’ll be available through other retailers from September.

With the exception of We Love Life, each album has already been reissued on vinyl. I thought it’d be a good idea to compare each of the reissues against the original releases to help fans and collectors decide whether to search out an original or to settle for one of the reissues.

Let’s start with His ‘n’ Hers…

First pressing, Island, 1994

The original 140g LP was pressed in France by SNA. Curiously Babies wasn’t included on the LP but was included on the CD and cassette formats of the album. The reasons for this aren’t clear, though it may have have been because Babies had already been released as a single back in October 1992. Excluding it from the LP could also have helped to increase the chart position of the Sisters EP which featured Babies as its lead track and which was released soon after His ‘n’ Hers.

Overall, this is a great item: the artwork is sharp, both the inner and the outer sleeves are glossy and the audio packs a good punch. It’s still relatively easy to track down a second hand copy but expect to pay upwards of £45 for one that’s still in really good condition.

Second pressing, Music On Vinyl, 2012

The first of the reissues was released by Music On Vinyl in December 2012. It’s easily distinguishable as it’s a 2LP edition and comes with a gatefold sleeve. The first record contains the remastered album and includes Babies. The second record contains bonus tracks that were previously released as a 2CD Deluxe Edition in 2006. At around 30 minutes per side, this second record pushes the boundary way too far in terms of the quantity of music you can reasonably fit onto an LP without detriment to the sound quality.

Both the records are pressed on 200g heavyweight vinyl. There’s also an oversized photo booklet that reproduces the 2CD Deluxe Edition booklet which feature Jarvis’ excellent sleeve notes. This pressing is still widely available, selling for £25-£30.

So far, so good. But there are two areas for improvement.

Firstly, the cut is noticeably quieter compared to the original pressing. If you’re not fussed by that you simply turn the volume up a bit and accept that the crackles and imperfections are louder too.

Secondly, the reproduction artwork leaves a lot to be desired. It appears as if Philip Castle’s painting was scanned from the CD booklet. To disguise the limitations MOV appear to have arbitarily increased the saturation and contrast. “Job done!” you can hear their artwork coordinator exclaim. Well, not quite. You can see see the difference this makes in the picture below. The original sleeve is on the left; the reissue on the right. On the original, you can not only read the time on Candida’s watch but you can practically feel the itch from the bobbles on her knitwear. The rest of the artwork has been re-typeset and broadly follows the same layout as the original.

Third pressing, Universal Music, 2016

The 2016 reissue was released by Universal Music. The lacquer was cut by Greg Moore at Finyl Tweek and the record was pressed by MPO in France. At 180g, this is heavier than the original pressing but lighter than the 2012 reissue. By omitting Babies and keeping the release to a single record it’s more faithful to the original and so gets a thumbs-up from me. At £19 this is also the cheapest of the three releases.

To my ears, the audio is indistinguishable from the 2012 reissue which suggests that the 2006 remasters were used. It sounds perfectly acceptable too, but like the earlier reissue is a quieter cut compared to the original release.

With even more contrast applied to the image, the artwork is even worse than the 2012 reissue. I appreciate it’s a very pedantic point, but some of the people that Pulp referenced in the acknowledgments have had their names spelt incorrectly. And yet those individuals who put together this reissue have seen fit to give themselves a name credit in the same acknowledgement section. Yes, yes, I know that no-one cares about this stuff apart from those fans who know which song Nick Banks plays a fire extinguisher on. Nevertheless, it gives the impression of a reissue project that was put together a bit too hastily for its own good.

The verdict

If you’re after superior audio and artwork quality, then there’s no contest: you should track down the original 1994 pressing and accept that you’re going to have to pay more for it.

If that’s out of the question for you, then there’s not much to choose from between the two reissues as both are decent enough pressings. However, I think the Music On Vinyl release has the edge since for a few extra quid you get the second record of bonus tracks and the chance to delve into Jarvis’ detailed sleeve notes.

Next week: We Love Life