Pitchfork

As the title suggests, Countdown offers a spattering of Pulp's pre-popular (and sometimes pre-pop) songs, and its title properly embodies the overall sense of preperation and building towards eventual climax. But when freckle- faced kids sit on dad's shoulders at Cape Canaveral, they goggle at the fumes, vaportrails, damaging dB noise, and behemoth structures; not the fueling, the pocket- protected Control and the foggy cuff- smeared chalkboards. Similarly, Countdown is more for the Pulp geek and the overly curious pedestrian than the average joe-- an album more interesting for its history than its hooks.

So, for the sake of brevity, let's just say that Countdown is consistantly unpredictable. You get some acoustic bedroom pop circa It, some angular carnival prop-pop circa Freaks, and some watery dance/ cab-fuck throb pop circa Separations. So, the axis stays pop throughout. The radius is fluctuating and experimental. Bits and pieces flash future brilliance, but there's very little greatness.

The way I figure it, about 60% of people like pop music. About 20% of those like Britpop. About 78% of those like Pulp. About 12% of those also like American, unfleshed indie rock. That leaves about 0.45% of the population that might have an interest in this compilation. So, rather than listening to the record expecting more Pulpy goodness, simply use it an an index to research the entire Pulp catalog.