Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover Pulp

PulpwikiThe points at which Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Pulp intersect aren’t plentiful. The former’s blackly humourous murder balladry is some distance from the latter’s droll yet incisive social commentary, but they both have tall, gangly and unconventionally charismatic frontmen, a preternatural ability to tell a vivid tale in song, and a general undeniable awesomeness. And on Pulp’s 2001 “Bad Cover Version” single, they shared a song.

In keeping with the theme of the song, which also yielded one of my favourite videos ever, linked below and with a spotters guide here, Pulp commissioned Nick Cave and crew to do not one but two covers of their massive hit, “Disco 2000”. The first, which appeared as the proper b-side and is featured this week, had Cave doing a slower, croony, piano bar-ish version – a far cry from the celebratory tone of the original, but far from a “bad cover version”. The second version was acknowledged to exist but remained unreleased for years until the deluxe reissues of His’N’Hers, Different Class and This Is Hardcore.

Then it appeared on the bonus disc of Different Class, despite not being period-correct since it was a b-side from the band’s 2001 swan song We Love Life. But We Love Life wasn’t getting the deluxe reissue treatment and the second cover, dubbed the “Nick Cave Pub Rock Version” was too good/fun to leave in the vaults. The version note pretty much tells the tale, as Cave and the Seeds bash their way through the tune in finest, loudest, bar rock fashion and considering that style is natural to neither Pulp nor Cave, the finished result can’t help but be fantastic.

Though released in the UK and other places back in 2006, the deluxe editions of Pulp’s holy trinity of albums remained unavailable domestically in the United States until now – all three are being released this coming Tuesday. And I will testify that the extra goods on all three editions make them worth owning, absolutely. Pulp are not planning on reforming for Glastonbury 2010 or any other occasion. Jarvis Cocker continues on with his solo career, appeared (in voice) in Fantastic Mr Fox (which I still have to see) and is interviewed by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Brisbane Times. Nick Cave released his second novel this Fall in The Death Of Bunny Munro and will release a new Grinderman record in the new year.

MP3: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Disco 2000”
Video: Pulp – “Disco 2000”
Video: Pulp – “Bad Cover Version”