This Is Hardcore (Deluxe Edition)

1998’s This Is Hardcore was considered a bit of a comedown after the ebullient pop and social-class study of 1995’s Different Class, but it’s a matter of texture and expectation. With music that borrows from early Roxy Music, Mott the Hoople and the Kinks, Pulp celebrate their British roots in style. There’s an epic grandeur to “The Fear,” a quiet desperation to “Help the Aged,” “Seductive Barry” and “A Little Soul,” and a hip, knowing, and confident leer to “I’m a Man” that made the group one of Britain’s true bright spots in the ‘90s. The Deluxe Edition includes 13 additional tracks: b-sides, demos and a remix of the title track. (“Like a Friend,” the album’s closing track is shuffled among the rarities). The tracks function as alternates, whether it’s the previously unreleased demos of “Can I Have My Balls Back, Please?” and “My Erection,” the whispered promises of “The Professional,” the muddy keyboards and robotic vocals of “Ladies’ Man,” the garage-band clang of “We Are the Boys” or the hilarious demo for the Beach Boys-like tune “Modern Marriage” and its accompanying monologue. Pulp was a band worthy of expanding its output.