Disco 2000 (single)
Click here to see more of the artwork
Details
- Release date: 27 November 1995
- Label: Island
- Formats: CD (2 versions), cassette, 12" (in 1996), 7" (in 1996)
- Recorded: June-July 1995 (The Town House, London)
- Chart position: 7 (UK)
Credits
- Sleeve design: Blue Source
- Pulp logo: The Designers Republic
- Photography: Donald Milne
Releases
|
Date |
Formats and catalogue numbers |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
27 November 1995 |
CD (Part One) - CID623 CD (Part Two) - CIDX623 Cassette - CIS623 |
Original UK release. CD - Part One:
CD - Part Two:
Cassette:
|
|
January 1996 |
CD - 852 671-2 |
German release. Tracklisting: |
|
January 1996 |
CD - 852 671-2 |
Mis-pressed German release. The following tracks are erroneously included:
All tracks recorded live at the Markthalle, Hamburg (12 December 1995).
|
|
20 November 1996 |
12" - 12IS623 7" orange vinyl - IS623 |
UK vinyl release. 12" tracklisting:
7" tracklisting:
|
|
3 December 1999 |
CD - CIDX623 |
Repressing of the CD (Part Two) from the original UK release. |
|
21 July 2023 |
Streaming and digital download |
Newly uploaded to streaming services as "Disco 2000 EP", with a scan of the CD1 artwork (minus 'Part One'); the sixth of a series of Island Records-era EPs reissued to coincide with the 2023 tour. Tracklisting:
|
Notes
The Album Mix runs fractionally faster on the single (0.4 seconds overall) than on the Different Class album, likely just a consequence of being transfered from analogue tape masters. It has a slightly longer fade to silence than the album.
The first upload of the 2023 digital EP erroneously copied the album mix of Disco 2000 twice, and stated that the release date was 27 December 1995. The track was replaced with the 7" mix and the date corrected to November on 23rd July. The mistake was referenced in the social media release (below).
Commentary
The release of the digital EP in 2023 was heralded by the following commentary from Pulp's social media accounts, believed to have been written by Mark Webber:
I can’t believe this is happening. This is really it.
Finally making its way into the digital realm is the “Disco 2000” single mix by Alan Tarney, produced at RAK Studios in late 1995. Alan is the legend who wrote “We Don’t Talk Anymore” and produced “Wired for Sound” (and “Take on Me”). I guess this mix was an experiment for us - we’d written a catchy pop song that we perversely tried to beef up with noisy guitar in the LP sessions with Chris Thomas … but what if we went the other way, down a commercial pop rabbit hole? Now you can hear the result. We preferred the original in the long run, but this one has its charm.
The video was directed by Pedro Romhanyi and features our friends Pat & Jo Skinny - they were always around at the time but we haven’t seen them for ages. As a special treat we’ve uploaded not one but FOUR versions, also making it available with French, German, and Japanese subtitles. (Some of which we didn’t even know existed.)
Rounding out the tracklist are the extras that featured on the two original UK CD singles: two stonking dance mixes by Motiv 8 (Steve Rodway), the extended take of “Live Bed Show” (with an instrumental verse up front), and a version of “Ansaphone” recorded during the sessions for “Different Class”.
PS - Did any of you out there win the lifesize cut-out of Jarvis in the lucky draw that was advertised on the Poster Offer flyer ?
PPS - Sorry so many wrong versions have gone out so far in this Digital EP series. We are working with @universalmusicgroup to try to get this all fixed.
Charts and sales
UK Singles Chart
|
Week |
Date |
Position |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
9 December '95 |
7 |
|
2 |
16 December '95 |
13 |
|
3 |
23 December '95 |
14 |
|
4 |
30 December '95 |
15 |
|
5 |
6 January '96 |
12 |
|
6 |
13 January '96 |
16 |
|
7 |
20 January '96 |
27 |
|
8 |
27 January '96 |
35 |
|
9 |
3 February '96 |
43 |
|
10 |
10 February '96 |
62 |
|
11 |
17 February '96 |
68 |
UK Sales Awards
|
Award |
Copies sold* |
Date |
|---|---|---|
|
Silver |
200,000 |
1 January 96 |
* Awards are based on wholesale rather than retail sales.
Reviews
Single of the week 2
The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood," said Jean Cocteau (who would have loved Pulp, "cos they're really kitsch").
In the bright clear eyes of the smart people, Jarvis Cocker has finally killed the notion that Pulp are just a bit of a laff. For most of "Different Class", Cocker plays the avenging angel, a double agent in the class wars, a sexual terrorist whose penis is his Molotov cocktail. And that's not funny (...is it?).
But "Disco 2000", like "Pink Glove" before it, shows that what fuels his vindictive bitterness is actually a deep romanticism, like THE HUMAN LEAGUE'S "Louise" or Hot Chocolate's "It Started With A Kiss", "Disco 2000" - the second best track on "Different Class" after "F.E.E.L.I.N.G.S Called Love" - is Jarvis' fantasy of meeting an old flame and reversing time (romanticism, remember, is equal parts dreaming of what could be, and what could have been).
"Be there two o'clock, by the fountain down the road / What are you doing Sunday, baby? Would you like to come and meet me, maybe?"
As PHIL OAKEY said, its not always true that time heals all wounds...
The remixes are almost as good as the "Common People" 12-inch (I don't know who Motiv 8 are, but they deserve VCs for leaving the bloody tunes intact) but better still is "Ansaphone", the finest (although, admittedly, possibly the only) song about its chosen subject matter since Paul Evans' "Hello, This Is Joanie" in 1978.
"Are you really not at home, or are you there but not alone? / Screening calls you don't want to receive... meaning calls that come from me?" And the way he sings, "You said you'd be here by 10.30 / But you wanna stay out and be dir-tay", is priceless.
If they don't hit Number One this time, they might as well give up.
Nevermind Oasis and Blur, for some of us this has been Pulp's year. The Glasto triumph - more triumphant than Earls Court or Mile End - the Top Of The Pops shenanigans, the tabloid rage (if not Jarvis' 'apology') and some of the year's best records, simple as that. 'Disco 2000', another Jarve ode to lost love, (someone called Deborah this time) is probably not their finest moment of late but it's typical on-form Pulp with an achingly gooey chorus and sexual frustration by the lorryload. Which is good enough for most of us.
Luke's single of the month
By now, we all know it, we all love it. It's so good, even Luke likes it. "There's nothing dislikeable about Pulp," considers the doomster, struggling against the concept. "That's really weird, because I can find something dislikeable about every group." He pauses, nods along to the tune, until finally he admits defeat... "Fuck it, I like Pulp. I don't care about his obsessions. It's the stuff of children's TV or Tomorrow's World, walking around in a fuckin' bubble. That's the only thing that's bad about this record." Well, there had to be something wrong with it.
