Revelation - Official ILX Pet Shop Boys tracks poll results

My ballot was full of obviousness (only one thing I've voted for has shown up so far).

I really love the lower regions of these polls—especially for bands with which I'm not already a know-it-all—because I get a really good setting to check out songs I've only ever heard a couple times or not at all and appreciately them differently.

37. It's Alright. (1988, Introspective, 118 points, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r0pISqCDRw

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/5qhZObqAsOcnKWvknSPSfA

Thanks opplet.

Don't know if I've ever sat down and listened to this track closely. Very similar to a lot of the Release stuff that people love to slag on... [xpost to My October Symphony]

xxp
Should be 118 points, 4 votes, 0 number ones.

Was it news to anyone else that It's Alright is a cover?

Nope! I read the Discography liner notes when I got the tape in '93.

Most of these B-sides were on my ballot.

"Love Etc" and "Minimal" are the best of this their autumnal period.

Should have voted for It Couldn't Happen Here. Wonderful song.

Didn't vote for this, but pleasantly surprised how high it is.

36. The Truck Driver and his Mate. (1996, B-Side, 120 points, 6 votes, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHI7OHqKzW8

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/2LHGm35sLk2yfQ6HdLjCKg

RIF: This is based on the slogan for 'Yorkie' chocolate bar, "Big enough for the truck driver and his mate."

^^^ one of mine. Love the guitar riff (played by Tennant).

great guitar line in this one. My #16.

35. One More Chance. (1984/1987, Actually, 123 points, 5 votes, 0 number ones.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-6gZExiOno

and the original Bobby O mix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vfszNwfGRE

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/28h0GZFHrgVZ0WWiOHSZCU

Truck Driver was my number 3, really happy to see it has other fans.

Truck Driver is an extremely complex song - goes from minor to major multiple times and has some seriously screwy chord progressions and seeming key changes. Somehow everything ties together but it has B-side written all over it. It kind of reminds me of "Cold Sweat" by James Brown, which is probably ridiculous but there you go.

34. Your Funny Uncle. (1988, B-side, 124 points, 6 votes, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn_uWqlbdOM

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/05ohJ9ImZinFRQt4ZBpSWm

RIF: The song is inspired by the funeral of Neil Tennant's friend Chris Dowell whose death also inspired their song 'Being Boring'.

the highest b-side on my ballot. kind of expected it to be higher, tbh.

33. I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More. (1999, Nightlife, 129 points, 6 votes, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNAtsYFRRbM

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/5EBSLmkX5qsuCrWAooatKL

^^^^^ LOVE that tune.

Amazing single, was shocked at the time how badly it did. It's still their lowest charting lead single from an album which is tragic.

I go back and forth on whether Nightlife or Fundamental is their best post-Very album. Nightlife is one of those period albums whose importance in my life squelches its chart record.

32. Try It (I'm In Love with A Married Man). (2003, Disco 3, 136 points, 5 votes, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F9yfAcnXk8

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/4y0OgNrR076xLFSZWSuCa9

RIF: This was debuted in their only session for John Peel in October 2002, which can be downloaded from here.

It's also a cover of a Bobby O production from 1984.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_rmlzgGX3A

Is "You Only Tell Me You Love Me..." going to outrank this? "Don't Know What You Want" is more profound both lyrically and musically. great track.

'It's Alright' higher than 'My October Symphony'? First WTF moment in this poll. 'My October Symphony' was my #02! Sheer pop perfection.

I voted for "Drunk". Might have even been top 10.

Both are career peaks: "I Don't Know What You Want..." has a marvelous disco vocal and "You Only Tell Me" is perfect acoustic singer-songwriter melancholy.

I go back and forth on whether Nightlife or Fundamental is their best post-Very album.

The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

That's exactly the same with me they are both really good records, easily ahead of the other three albums.

^ Oh I think I had to leave "Try It" out of my ballot. :( It's so great!

^ Oh I think I had to leave "Try It" out of my ballot. :( It's so great!

oops

31. We All Feel Better In The Dark. (1991, B-side, 138 points, 1 number one)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFylULoa70w

Spotify:http://open.spotify.com/track/2wqs78KoxpDHR0JgWA0bJx

RIF: The song is inspired by a tape titled 'The Secrets of Sexual Attraction'. which Chris Lowe bought at a health food store.

The Pitchfork review that forced me stop reading them for four years.

Going back to 'Try It', I wasn't aware it was a cover at the time, but they do a fantastic job of turning a fairly routine hi-nrg piece into something quite strange and magical.

not really feeling "Try It". nice production though.

I think of DJ Sprinkles when I hear "We All Feel Better in the Dark". And those have to be some of the most obviously 'dirty' lyrics in the PSB catalog.

Anyway, that's your lot for the night. 30-16 tomorrow.

Did everyone hear "Try It (I'm In Love With A Married Man)" off Disco 3 - one of the best later PSB songs I've heard, very hypnotic and melancholy.
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 14 August 2003 13:53 (7 years ago)

I'm always amazed at how terrible the Oh Romeo original is, considering how much er questionable Bobby 'O' productions I have time for (his James Brown ripoff, etc).

I find both Fundamental and Nightlife disappointing. A couple of very strong tracks but everything ranges from so-so to kind of awful.

*everything else

Glad "One More Chance" got some other votes - love the original mix to bits'n'pieces; Neil is still singing with a slight goblinoid/Almond sleaziness, and there's some fantastic synthesized "Streets Of Cairo"-esque public domain motifs garnishing the track.

I love "Your Funny Uncle" to pieces, though it always wrongfoots me - to me the title suggests it'll be about a black sheep in the family, the bachelor relation that "never married" etc; instead it's a straightlaced uncle in the military behaving decently at the funeral of his gay nephew.

... oh dear, it seems like one of Keane are covering it on YouTube.

god the 'admit you love me and you always did' part of Red Letter Day never gets old

Wow, a goodly chunk of my ballot was taken care of in the lower reaches (Liberation, It Must Be Obvious, It Couldn't Happen Here, Miserablism, My October Symphony).

Re post-Very records, I like both Nightlife and Fundamental a hell of a lot more than I did a week ago. I suspect that had something to do with relative under-exposure, so I have this poll to thank for rehabilitating them in my mind. On the other hand Bilingual and Release now still seem weaker than I had remembered.

Release has three songs and the rest is filler.

god the 'admit you love me and you always did' part of Red Letter Day never gets old

Elton John said this song saved his life (tonight).

I really should have voted for "Your Funny Uncle". The actual verse about the funny uncle is deeply affecting today.

Recap of 31-50.

31 We All Feel Better In The Dark B-side 138 6 1
32 Try It (I'm In Love With A Married Man) Disco 3 136 5 0
33 I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore Nightlife 129 6 0
34 Your Funny Uncle B-side 124 6 0
35 One More Chance B-side 123 5 0
36 The Truck Driver and his Mate B-side 120 6 0
37 It's Alright Introspective 118 4 0
38 My October Symphony Behaviour 116 5 0
39 Losing My Mind (Liza Minelli) Collaboration 109 6 0
40 Miserabilism B-side 106 6 0
41 It Couldn't Happen Here Actually 105 5 0
42 It Must Be Obvious B-side 98 5 0
43 Some Speculation B-side 98 4 0
44 Love Etc Yes 94 5 0
45 Where The Streets Have No Name(I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You) Standalone 87 4 0
46 A Red Letter Day Bilingual 83 4 0
47 Liberation Very 81 4 0
48 To Face The Truth Behaviour 77 3 0
49 Do I Have To? B-Side 76 4 0
50 I'm Not Scared (Eighth Wonder) Collaboration 69 4 0

I remember playing my pop-hating grandma Your Funny Uncle when it came out and even she was moved. It might have been the lines from Revelation that did it.

lol, of course I was the only one to list "We All Feel Better In The Dark" as #1

I had it as my #3, and almost ranked it higher

I think I might have cut it from my last 25

Can we post our ballots when it's all done?

Enjoyed today's Introspective article by Tom

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/aug/17/introspective-pet-shop-boys

Sadly Tom didn't vote in the poll, I don't know if he even lurks around here. Would've been interesting to see his choices.

Just finished Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop. Would I ever have loved to be at that Potemkin presentation in Trafalgar Square--any British people who were there? It reminded me a bit of seeing Daniel Lanois preview Neil Young's album at Nuit Blanche last year, with video screens all around Nathan Phillips Square, but of course there was no Neil at that. Loved the West End Girls too--much better than the West End Girls who were from Vancouver 20 years ago. Anyway, good film. Didn't even mind having to listen to so much of someone from the Killers--seemed like a knowledgeable fan.

Yeah, I was at that Potemkin show, am sure some other people here were too. It was good - I have a vague memory of some rain, but perhaps I'm imagining that? It was the first time I saw Potemkin, too, which helped.

The rain was real--somebody in the documentary said that people were politely putting away their umbrellas so other people behind them would be able to see okay.

I was there as well. There was a lot of rain, but as I recall the rain stopped just before the performance, and umbrellas were duly lowered. Great event, but I remember the film more than I remember the music, to be honest.

http://open.spotify.com/user/djperry1973/playlist/7LyurbFLzd9cnbyqaBdYKs

countdown from 50 - 1, five tracks missing because I couldn't find them (stupid Spotofiy, missing Behaviour) plus 2 versions of "I Want A Dog" (the superior original version and the boring Introspective version)

Format, a new B-Sides collection coming in February.

:(
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/mar/22/eric-watson?newsfeed=true

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGf1bqtrrMo

aww, RIP. A big reason why Catalogue is my favourite coffee table book.

RIP. Those sleeves and videos are burned into my brain.

There was some chatter about the Helena Springs version of A New Life on the poll threads; whether or not it was ever released and such.
Here it is! As with the cover of Do I Have To? by Inga, i think i might actually prefer it to theirs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njjdHfeereM

I collated the chatter &c on one of the b-sides threads but great to be reminded of this - I should really rip it in case it vanishes.

I bought a 12-inch of "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" probably 5-10 years ago that I played for the first time tonight. I love "A New Life"--definitely would have had it on the ballot I submitted for this.

I think I prefer it to the A-side!

It doesn't feel like a decade since this exercise. I remembering reassessing Nightlife and concluding that said longplayer was upper-tier PSB. Pretty sure that's still my position.

"A New Life" is great and I voted for it in this poll! The one I regret not voting for is "Jack the Lad", which is probably in my top ten now