File Under: Brit Pop-Rock rating: B+ tracks 1. Babies 2. Razzamatazz 3. Lip Gloss 4. Do You Rememver The First Time 5. Common People 6. Underwear 7. Sorted For Es And Wizz 8. Disco 2000 9. Something Changed 10. Help The Aged 11. This Is Hardcore 12. A Little Soul 13. Party Hard 14. The Trees 15. Bad Cover Version 16. Sunrise 17. Last Days Of The Miners Strike related links Pulp Island

I know Pulp is a good band. I don't even have to know every single song from every single record to know that. Just seeing the "Common People" video in the mid nineties is a reason to perk up your ears, and say "I should check out one of their records." Granted, my laziness is profound, and that didn't happen till This Is Hardcore came out, but still, Pulp is a good band.

Not just one of those Brit-pop groups, Pulp stretched themselves over many soundscapes, creating for themselves a unique combination of swagger and seriousness. Jarvis Cocker can be seen as having one of the more unique-sounding voices as well: his combo of heavy-accented sing/speak is unmistakable, even compared to all those other shitty Brit-poppers. And this Hits collection shows that.

The disc spans the past ten years of recording, and grabs the hits as well as the choice cuts. Along with "Common People," the songs "Babies," "This is Hardcore," and "Something Changed" show how the band morphs and mixes it up, yet keeping themselves unchanged as… well, themselves. It's a tightly packed collection of what makes this band deserve to have a record called Hits -- you just don't get the full-on punch of a full album.

Tom Fraher is a Contributing Writer. Contact him at tomf@rockzone.com.