Freaks is so different than
It that it nearly sounds like a different band. Granted, that is largely due to the fact that
Pulp were a different band, apart from lead vocalist
Jarvis Cocker. After the unsuccessful showing of
It, the band broke up, leaving
Cocker to assemble a new lineup. The most significant new member was Russell Senior, who brought a fascination with art, noise, and neo-gothic overtones to the band. But that change in sound isn't the only reason why
Freaks is the darkest record
Pulp ever made, or ever will make.
Cocker's lyrics are neurotically gloomy and paranoid, obsessed with failures and outcasts. While this would become a signature theme for
Pulp's songs,
Cocker's outlook on
Freaks is oppressively bleak -- he finds no future for the misshapes and misfits in his songs. Not only are the songs hopeless, so is the production. The very sound of
Freaks is muddy and impenetrable, making it difficult to find the occasional rewarding moment on the album, such as "Master of the Universe," "They Suffocate at Night," or Senior's "Anorexic Beauty." [Fire Records' expanded 2012 reissue of
Freaks is a double-disc set, containing a remastered version of the album on the first disc and a wealth of bonus tracks on the second. These bonus cuts are singles and B-sides from the mid- to late '80s: the A-sides "Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)" and "Dogs Are Everywhere" and their accompanying flips, plus the B-sides for "They Suffocate at Night" and "Master of the Universe."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine