The Pet Shop Boys' first twenty singles...

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 2 October 2009 12:59

― Groke, Thursday, 1 October 2009 23:22

I find this perspective on the Pet Shot Boys pretty compelling, and I share Tom's love for almost all these singles.

And yet, "Liberation" is one of my favorite of them all. All those gorgeous interlocking rhythm-guitar and synth riffs, the kaleidoscopic movement through different tonal regions, the lush stacked vocals at the end of the chorus. I like the tenderness and vulnerability of the lyrics, too -- Neil seems less arch, less detached.

So I guess I don't really buy the thesis here.

Sorting that out a bit more clearly: I agree with the idea that there's something magical about these songs, but not with the notion that Liberation breaks the spell.

This is all of them, shockingly, but mix in their even better 7-EP run from The Grand Hour ('93) to Tigerbomb ('95) and you have 22

1 Motor Away (1995)
2 The Official Ironmen Rally Song (1996)
3 Cut-Out Witch (1996)
4 Bulldog Skin (1967)
5 I Am A Tree (1997)
6 Teenage FBI (1999)
7 Surgical Focus (1999)
8 Glad Girls (2001)
9 Chasing Heather Crazy (2001)
10 Universal Truths And Cycles (2002)
11 Everywhere With Helicopter (2002)
12 Cheyenne (2002)
13 Back To The Lake (2003)
14 My Kind Of Soldier (2003)
15 The Best Of Jill Hives (2003)

Is it wrong that I like the bangin' house mix of "Liberation" that is entirely unrecognizable to the original so so so much?

xpost their his

First-rate.

I was just thinking about this thread today -- and Dan's eternal hatred of "Domino Dancing."

i still don't get the hate 4 'domino dancing' tbh. 'viva la vida' tho transcends everything else coldplay have ever done by so far that you doubt it's actually by them.

Well, there's your seal of approval!

http://twitter.com/petshopboys/status/15184937448

still really irked by the Viva La Vida cover, moreso because they keep it v distant from Did You See Me Coming in their live set when imo the latter was clearly already inspired by VLV so why not just go from one to the other if at all?

"Domino Dancing" is killer! Really, what's not to love about it?

Adore this very rare glimpse of both Boys playing live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlF_z9tMnnM

They *hated* this too! It's the reason they didn't perform live again for 4 more years and i think *never* again on telly?

Man god bless these guys.

I think Tennant said they hated one of their other '86 promo appearances, during which they were pretty drunk:

This one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7SZ8naFjDQ

Amusing to hear Neil's Geordie accent slipping out during the Q&A...

this is better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M10gkdP6tt4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ACMysebtQ

still baffles me that this wasn't a single.

^^^^ Johnny Marr's favorite PSB song.

true!

Adore this very rare glimpse of both Boys playing live:

Tennant playing guitar onstage doesn't count? Synthist.

Did anyone catch them at Glastonbury? Were they as terrific as a couple of the clips indicated?

I watched the set live on BBC3 and it was pretty great. Same one I saw them doing on tour some months earlier, but Neil was LOVING the Glasto crowd.

Their version of "Viva La Vida" is fabulous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y8JyDbwmRg&p=34CEC54252CD42D8&playnext=1&index=2

Ewing had a great write-up where he made a connection to the lyrics and the use of Domino Dancing.

Tennant subsequently told me that Tom's comments on Viva/Domino had influenced his thinking while performing it...

^ !

Hahah I do believe it.

Glastonbury set coming out as a DVD with the new 'best of...' comp.

Clip of new single for best of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K78wUirYq9A

cheesy club music in halting triple meter...I like it

So the new best of looks like this, plus the new single.

1. West End Girls
2. Suburbia
3. It's A Sin
4. What Have I Done To Deserve This?
5. Always On My Mind
6. Heart
7. Domino Dancing
8. Left To My Own Devices
9. Being Boring
10. Where The Streets Have No Name/Can't Take My Eyes Off You
11. Go West
12. Before
13. Se A Vida E (That's The Way Life Is)
14. New York City Boy
15. Home And Dry
16. Miracles
17. I'm With Stupid
18. Minimal
19. Love Etc.

Totally pointless best of and a really odd track listing. I know they want to represent their later career on here but the choices are just not right. Flamboyant, You Only Tell Me You Love When You're Drunk, I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give it Anymore and Somewhere are all better choices than Home & Dry, Miracles and Before which is possibly my least favourite single they've done.

They obviously didn't want to include all the singles from all their albums, but Rent not being on there is just ridiculous. Only having one song each from Very and Behaviour is also a really bad decision. Can You Forgive Her? and So Hard definitely deserve a place.

I would have picked ANY of the other Very singles over "Go West"

OTOH "Home and Dry" is totally underrated

Yeah, I totally agree. Very is my favourite album of theirs and only representing it with Go West just seems wrong. I know it was the big hit but they picked Being Boring from Behaviour which definitely wasn't the biggest hit from that album.

Glad "Minimal" made it, pissed "You Only Tell Me You Love When You're Drunk" didn't, and, yes, this collection is an irrelevancy.

I know they want to represent their later career on here...
They obviously didn't want

Since this is their third* all-career label-instigated best-of in about seven years, I don't think they're really giving too much of a shit about how to represent themselves on it, just making sure the DVD makes it worthwhile for desperate fans who feel they need to buy it.

*fourth if you count the AWESOME box-set-reissue of the Pop Art DVD with both Pop Art CDs included at half the price of the CDs alone.

Tracks 1-16 were all in the latest greatest hits set so I'm not sure why they needed to put another one out. Contractual obligation?

Oh label-instigated, nevermind...

Some memories, if they weren't linked on here already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17lBq6FeWs

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

Generally, a one CD best of from a band who have already earlier been able to compile a great 2 CD best of, that sounds like a cash-in for me. Not going to buy this one.

It is. label made them do it iirc.

mm theyre on EMI after all. the fans get a pristine DVD of BBC footage so hey ho. it's all good. ish.

Ok wow there is a lot of stuff on that DVD. If I was in the UK and I had money I'd probably fork out for it.

Also, for those interested, here's Neil on 6music's The First Time with.... Works in the US as well.

Its all the bbc footage plus the entire glastonbury show from last year plus some other stuff so actually a pretty good deal. Give the cd to a friend or something.

Tom writes about Dan's favorite Pet Shop Boys album!

(I might lie.)

^^^^ rejected song title

I... might not hate Introspective any more

I do still hate "Domino Dancing" tho

progress!

"Left To My Own Devices" is actually great, I don't know what I was looking for when I first heard this.

(Actually I do; I was looking for more stuff in the vein of "Rent"/"I Want A Dog" and was deeply deeply unconvinced by the orchestral stuff)