Truth and Beauty: the Story of Pulp Paperback – 14 July 2003

From when the book was delivered I couldn't put the book down. It really is an interesting look into one of the finest bands England has produced.It's much bigger than any other book produced on the band (nearly 500 pages!), and as someone who buys anything "pulp" I can safely say it's the best book on the band I've read.Hell, it's worth it just for the early pictures of the band that I've certainly never seen before.Put simply, a must for a Pulp fan.

This is, quite simply, the only book about Pulp thats worth paying for! (and it's worth every penny)Sturdy has managed to unearth enough anecdotes, tales, early songs and general pulp facts that even the most obsessive Pulp fan will find something they didn't know before. Good job!So then- A must for every Pulp fan- and also for anyone who is interested in British music- or even just music in general.

This is an absolutely EPIC book. As an insight into one of the most Phenomenal bands in British music history it is entire indispensable. I could not put it down. Sturdy is just amazing.(And I'm not just saying that because I get an acknowledgement at the front)

This huge book details pretty much everything Pulp have ever said or done. From the seeds of an idea for a band in Jarvis Cocker's head to their final swansong everything is documented.Contributions from people who were on the local Sheffield music scene in the early eighties give an insight into what the young Jarvis was like, and how it seemed that he was the only constant in the band until the 1990's.Disputes with Fire Records, THAT single, and later public indifference are just some of the milestones covered in intricate detail by Mark Sturdy.If you have a little more than a passing interest in Pulp then this is an essential read. If you haven't already got all the record then after reading the book you will feel you have to get them. If you do have all the records then the book will tell you things about them that you honestly didn't already know.Once you have read this you will be able to look at the "Pulp Hits" DVD with a renewed smile on your face.Only flaw is that some of the chapters go on for too long, when they could have been split up a bit more.Overall a great, interesting book.

Being an avid Pulp fan I discovered this book while surfing the bands official website. Normally I avoid buying biographies of bands and prefer to get NME Original’s as I have done with Oasis and the Manic Street Preachers. However I knew that Pulp didn’t quite grow big enough to warrant NME releasing a magazine with all its PULP cuttings. This was confirmed when I started reading this book that NME didn’t even review Pulp’s fist album IT.‘Truth & Beauty’ is a well written book and contains plenty of quotes. In fact I estimate that more than half the book is based on quotes. This is a good thing as the author has tracked down nearly all of the current and ex-members of the band to get their comments and opinions. Unfortunate Jarvis himself does not contribute directly to the book but there are plenty of quotes from him that have been lifted from other interviews.The best thing about this book is that it contains not only the period from His n Hers to This is Hardcore, it goes back and describes in depth the life of Pulp from the very beginning, which I found most interesting. It also covers the period of ‘We Love Life’ in far more detail than any other book I have come across. Therefore this is deserving of 5v stars.The only problem I have is that book doesn’t like the Stereophonics and other similar bands. If it wasn’t for them after the death of Britpop then music would be completely dominated by cheesy pop and god awful rap!All in all a definitive guide to Pulp.

Definitive. Descriptive. What a book.If you follow a band with any great interest then you start to pick up various little factoids, half-remembered quotations and anecdotes that make you feel slightly cool and "I was there" whenever the band is mentioned. Unfortunately, if you're anything like me then remembering all this stuff is impossible and you need something to dip into and refresh your memory once in a while.Sturdy's epic tome includes virtually every fact and opinion pertaining to Pulp that's been published, arranged in chronological order. So you also get an unputdownable history of the band as well.If you liked the band, if you lived the era, read this book.

some of the interviews for this book were with my mate ogi mcgrath. ogi's latest anecdote is saying to jarvis cocker in a pub one day "what about him?" (pointing to nick banks), "he plays drums!"bands like this spawn tons of stories over their long "careers" and mark's the only person who's managed to write them all down.

with my contacts i managed to get a copy of this book before it was released and managed to read it in good time.its a top class book going back through pulps early stages when jarvis formed the band in 1978,all the problems they had with the original record company (for the love of me i cant remember the name),the brit pop era and how they came to prominence.