Info

The It mini-LP is the first record that Pulp released. It came out in April 1983 on Red Rhino Records. This original vinyl release was given a limited pressing of 2000 copies. The name comes from combining 'Pulp' and 'It' to make pulpit - the idea of preaching to people.

In February 1994, It was re-released on CD by Cherry Red, with three bonus tracks (Looking For Life, Everybody's Problem and There Was...). However, on release, it transpired that Cherry Red did not in fact own the rights to the album and it was immediately deleted. Only a few copies made it into circulation, which are today very rare.

The rights to the album were actually owned by Fire Records who put out another reissue in October 1994. The only bonus track this time was Looking For Life because Cherry Red still had the rights to Everybody's Problem and There Was...

Credits

• Jarvis Cocker: Vocals, guitar
• Simon Hinkler: Bass, piano
• Peter Boam: Guitar, keyboards, piano
• David Hinkler: Keyboards, trombone
• Wayne Furniss: Guitar
• Garry Wilson (credited as "Beefy Garry O"): Drums
• Jill Taylor and Saskia Cocker: Backing vocals

• Writer: Jarvis Cocker (except My Lighthouse: Jarvis Cocker and Simon Hinkler)
• Producer: Simon Hinkler
• Sleeve design: Tony Perrin

Original tracklisting

1. My Lighthouse (3:33)
2. Wishful Thinking (4:17)
3. Joking Aside (4:22)
4. Boats and Trains (1:36)
5. Blue Girls (5:58)
6. Love Love (3:10)
7. In Many Ways (2:47)

Total length: 25:21

Releases

• Looking For Life appears on all the reissues. It was originally released as the B-side to Pulp's first single, My Lighthouse.
• Everybody's Problem and There Was... are only available on the rare Cherry Red reissue and easier-to-find bootleg copies of it. These tracks originally appeared on the Everybody's Problem single in 1983.

Jarvis' comments

I remember this record as though it was only yesterday. I'd just left school and Tony Perrin, who later went on to manage The Mission, decided to put up the money for recording it. We did it in a very strange studio in Sheffield that only had about three microphones, but the man who owned the studio told us that one of the microphones used to belong to Cliff Richard and insisted on recording everything with the Cliff Richard microphone. I listened to it recently, because I got a copy of this CD thing that was released by Cherry Red, and I think it's quite a decent record - although I must admit that it does embarrass me slightly. I was still a virgin when I did it, and I think that you can really tell because I've got a very idealised view of love and romance which was to change rather radically over the course of the next few years.

Before this, when we'd only done a John Peel session, Pulp had been brasher and poppier. Then all the people who were in the group went off to university and I got involved with Simon Hinkler [of local band Artery and, later, The Mission]. I thought I was going to be famous by about 17 or 18 because of Peel; I thought we'd automatically get a record deal and we didn't. [Simon] used to help me arrange my songs.

It was an attempt to create the sound of Leonard Cohen: having the drums as quiet as possible without actually being inaudible, and the distant female backing singers and a lot of acoustic guitar - a complete rip-off, basically. The only people who wanted it were Red Rhino. I was so excited to get the record, I placed it at the front of the rack and stood in different parts of the room to see what it looked like. But it caused very little excitement in the musical world.

Related pages

• Discography index
• Albums discography