Revelation - Official ILX Pet Shop Boys tracks poll results

43. Some Speculation. (1993, B-Side, 4 votes, 0 number one votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBmAw9eoRJU

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/3SiFFfmFac2OEM51SEKQbt

I was really underwhelmed with Love etc. when it came out but it grew on me so much and I love it now. It was the exact opposite of what happened with I'm With Stupid which I can't even listen to now.

Yeah, agree with that. 'Yes' has really grown on me as an album.

42. It Must Be Obvious. (1990, B-Side, 98 points, 5 votes, 0 number one votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO9tJlvC9ro

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/5zlTMICphPXPL9n7k585KV

Oh, only saw this thread now due to Gubke mentioning it in the nomination thread!

41. It Couldn't Happen Here. (1987, Actually, 105 points, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq72QbwOhoU

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/2QqPaaNdbpgNMot5WKw9y5

RIF:The title is borrowed from Sinclair Lewis's 1935 novel 'It Can't Happen Here'.

Love etc. is a solid track. The only thing I don't like is the melody in the first verse which follows the synth motif and totally doesn't work. Strange, considering how Neil Tennant described Xenomania as somewhat obsessed with finding the best melody for a song.

First of my picks to appear!

and here's your second:

40. Miserabilism. (1992, B-side, 106 points, 6 votes, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPBmzTvKsmw&feature=related

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/20GBfHqwta4csdKTDVjZ9F

RIF: The song is sung from the viewpoint of cheeky chappy Morrissey.

Thought this one might be higher. I thought it would be the highest B-side to place.

39. Losing My Mind (Liza Minelli). (1989, Collaboration, 109 points, 0 number one votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtR_eyyrn9g Scroll to 8:45 to avoid Wogan.

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/2loMPlz3JWjFGF6fPoiSoo

RIF: Minelli's biggest chart hit in the UK, #6 in August 1989.

I've a big fan of "Some Speculation" - that galumphing Patrick Cowley bassline that comes in alongside the brisk percussion (esp. around the three minute mark), married to the dreamlike menace of the synths and Neil's vocal ... they've written some fantastic songs about gossip, but unlike the bitchiness of others this captures an ambient dread. "What's your game? What's his name?"

Love etc.: Enjoyed it greatly at the time and if anything it has grown on me. The space around those soft bass thumps is massive - it's like they found a whole new layer of sound to play with, using the same old tinkly stuff at the top to the super low bass. Miserabilism has a similar sonic palette but everything feels crammed into the midrange by comparison. The "Yes" bonus disc version of this is also solid.

Some Speculation: also voted for this, not exactly the biggest dancefloor banger in the world but I love the main riff, and the lyrics are about as biting as they come.

Miserabilism: I was expecting this to be in my top 10 but it ended up not even making the ballot. Not sure what's missing - maybe the verse is a bit weak, and the backing track too one-note. Can't take anything away from the chorus though.

The full length commentary they recorded for Yes was really funny and interesting too. Definitely made me enjoy the album more.

38. My October Symphony. (1990, Behaviour, 116 points, 5 votes, 0 number ones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-c7A500Po0

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/23jXBMOpIlhh3yH4ySSBPC

Where can I find that? Didn't know it existed. (xpost)

So far, two Behaviour tracks I wasn't expecting to appear. I wonder if the "obvious" ones will show up too.

commentary on spotify here: http://open.spotify.com/track/7w9AsZpoehCjItgDZwJ7TG

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.

John Gill's "Queer Noises" has a section on the Pet Shop Boys - I remember thinking at the time that it was well-written and thoughtful but that was a few years ago. IIRC he takes a pretty negative view about their semi-non-closeted status.

^^^ YES. That was the journalist I was trying to remember. He was very offended.

It didn't change my own perception but what I really, really hated after "Very" and Tennant's coming out was that the general public/media perception (at least in North America) immediately went to "lol the gay duo who makes gay music for gay people" and that was pretty much that. So sometimes I wish Tennant hadn't come out, but then it would've probably not make much difference.

In America their profile is "lol the gay duo who did 'West End Girls.'"

I recall a friend recounting telling me, "It must be obvious? well it wasn't to me."

Well I kind of see why it wasn't obvious to everyone. I mean in the eighties everyone looked (and acted) gayer than the PSB.

That was part of the joke too: they were less, er, flamboyant than their peers.

So pre'93, were their shows not 75% gay men like they are now? I don't think I saw them live until the Nightlife tour.

That percentage is wrong in Germany and the UK.

Yeah, not true at all of any PSBs shows I've been to.

Since Miami is one of their US strongholds, the percentage of straights attending their shows is MUCH higher.

Hadn't heard their own version of this, really into it tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dj3ymyCl3s&NR=1&feature=fvwp

TBH, as a straight fan, I never thought about their sexual orientation or whether it even mattered to how I listened to the songs until they released "Go West", which I didn't like to the point of actively avoiding everything associated with Very (which was really, really easy to do in the US)

Except in gay clubs.

As a straight kid living with a gay dad (who only did his business outside the house)

Define "business."

A friend posted this old Drudge headline this morning--he can't remember the context. I think you might call this Soto bait:

http://rockcritics.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/drudge-boring1.jpg

how can you expect to be taken seriously?

i don't think they were *so* evasive about it, i was at school in 88/89 when there was a (Channel 4?) tv special made by Jon Savage that at one point had the boys sitting together, with one saying clearly that they first heard disco 'in all the gay clubs'. also there's plenty of lines to read between in the '... Vs America' book.

yeah but they're British, and most Americans assume they're all gay.

"Heart" was the album's FOURTH single (and it hit #1, to their and everyone's surprise).

The lowest-selling ever No 1 or something at the time, I seem to recall from my Record Mirror reading days.

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