The Pet Shop Boys' first twenty singles...

("State Of The Nation" is a fantastic song; better than "Ruined In A Day", anyway.)

**Go West” – fuck the video and the extra levels, on the levels (foot, hip and heart) that hit you first this is the best hi-NRG track EVER MADE**

Tom - I salute you!

a) I'm not sure how well they ever worked as perfect Hi-NRG, or proper go-mental-on-the-dance-floor disco, cos of NT's weedy vocals - the closest they got was probably 'Was it worth it?' - but it would have been better with Taylor Dane/Hazel Dean/Pete Burns/Divine/Marc Almond singing. The PSBs could never do abandon .

b) There has never been such a dismal fall from grace as the PSB's 'Absolutely Fabulous' single. This, coupled with NT's godawful pretentious pronouncements on the state of pop on every comeback promo tour of the last ten years, make me wonder how fondly I will look back on them. They've kind of ruined the spell, a bit, for me. That said, the first record I put on when I moved house last week was 'Behavior'.

You are so right about "Absolutely Fabulous", and it did actually 'infect' their surrounding stuff - one reason why the other upbeat singles off Very didn't do it for me any more is that they suddenly sounded like cousins of AbFab.

"I never dreamed that I would get to be the creature I always meant to be - but I thought, in spite of dreams, you'd be sitting somewhere here with me."

My life, as of October 2002, in a nutshell.

The PSBs - I can't really talk about them right now. They belonged to both of us, not just to me, like Northern Soul, Joy Division, Dexy's, Cocteau Twins, etc. It was OUR music.

????? I don't think I've ever heard the original mix of "Absolutely Fabulous" then, because none of the _Very_ singles remind me of it at all. I'd go so far as saying "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing" is one of their best singles, particularly when remixed.

And for all my talk about lyrics and what they generally don't mean to me, Marcello's comment reminds me about how that line in particular always was suffused with...I don't want to call it a 'perfect' grief, but the combination of delivery and words speaks to my heart more than a thousand screams at an empty universe.

Big surprise: John Peel show:

Thursday 10 October - Pet Shop Boys ! Is this the most mainstream pop artist ever to record a Peel Session?

The boys have been having a quiet one since the end of their massive 'Release 2002 Tour'. The next single they are set to release from their album Release is 'London'.

The Pet Shop Boys have adopted a 'back to basics' approach towards tonights set with fully live guitars, bass and drums on stage. They recorded two songs which they wrote back in 1983 but never got down to recording and they also recorded an old Bobby O song from the early 80's. Their next single is 'London' which has also been recorded for tonight's session.

The lads have tried to approach this Peel session with a view to doing something different and they hope that's what comes across.

I only have listened to "Please" and "Disco", taped "Actually" off my sister years ago back in the 80s. After that not listened to any PSB (albums) apart from a few chart singles on the radio that have not interested me.

The production on Disco - is superb.

I still don't like the descent into balladry, though, for me Behaviour was when they turned from the coolest band on the planet into a decent duo turning out one or two good singles per album. Those singles could still be astonishing, Tom says everything that needs to be said about "Can You Forgive Her?" far more eloquently than I ever could, but "So Hard" was their perfect single. The KLF remixed it while they were at their glorious best and the result is a pop Field Of The Cloth Of Gold, two titans in their pomp competing in splendour.

Random thoughts: Chris Lowe should release a hi-nrg spoken word album (cf "Paninaro", "One Of The Crowd") and promote it standing motionless on Top Of The Pops. I saw them play from the back of Wembley Arena, hoary rawk venue par excellence, and it was great, especially the baroque freakshow accompanying "It's A Sin". Introspective is perfect. Can you get the dance album that came with initial copies of Very anywhere?

I could go on.

In that sense, if no other, I am the inverse of the Nipper.

Ta!

Vaguely more seriously...well, this might be a dumb question, but what songs on Discography do you especially like? That'll help in determining a good starting point. :-)

Is it worth getting the rereleased versions of their older albums if you already have _Alternative_?

Nick, I got the piss taken out of me for having them, if that is any kind of barometer.

(This thread made me remember to download 'I'm not scared' by 8th Wonder - which, combined with the Minnelli lp, makes me think so much of their best work was with other people [see also: 'Getting away with it'].)

Never heard the album. I knew it existed but I couldn't be bothered, though it sounds like there's something there...

Is it worth getting the rereleased versions of their older albums if you already have _Alternative_?

They're expensive, yes, but as mentioned, plenty of goodies with the remixes and edits, some very radically different, as well as the B-sides. And I'm a sucker for the wonderful interviews for each, as well as the photos (and hey, even every last lyric! -- and I never knew until I read the Introspective booklet that he was singing "Roundhead general," I just thought it was some sort of random thing).

Thought is a labyrinth.

Wait a minute, it's one of your favorite bands, you have all the albums, singles, remixes and b-sides, advocate buying the reissues because of the "wonderful" interviews, photos and lyrics. They write and produce an entire LP for a very well-known vocalist, and you've never heard it?? Wow.

Actually, I'm not that big a fan, Sean, though I agree with what Jerry the Nipper wrote about Results. I just like her as a star/performer, she's got that gushy, needy, "like me! like me!" persona that I really go for. Nobody else does anymore. Also she was brilliant in Cabaret and New York, New York. And her cover of King Harvest's "Dancing in the Moonlight" is swell.

I don't recall the Pet Shop Boys getting much attention in the US at first, they were considered just another urbane British dance duo in the tradition of Eurythmics, Soft Cell, Blancmange, etc.--fine if you like that sort of thing, but nothing extraordinary. And I remember lots of Al Stewart jokes.

Not a silly question at all. Let me see..."It's A Sin" and "West End Girls" are my two fave PSB tracks evah, "Being Boring" onwards doesn't exactly get my heart racing (apart from "CYFH?" which I've always had a soft spot for, in spite of not really having paid much attention to the lyrics before yesterday - thanks Tom!), quite partial to "So Hard" and there's *something* about "Go West" I can't help loving - perhaps it's just cos it's THE GAYEST SONG IN THE WORLD and that can only be good...

That said, I saw them live in London in, uh, February was it?, and my lord were they awful...

a) thinking it's the best intro of all time
b) thinking of the phrase 'diamond beats'

Has anyone got anything new to say about the Pet Shop Boys instead of how great my thread is?

How wrong can you be?

so I rank the first twenty-five to thirty...

https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/ranking-pet-shop-boys-british-top-forty-singles-1985-1999/

Conspicuously, no Hague! (But yes Stephen Hague!) Knowing that none of those songs are necessarily bad, I can totally get with your grouping.

Not one is less than meh, and only after a certain year. What a run.

Just about to be live on BBC2 for their headline show at Hyde Park.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07mddc9/radio-2-live-in-hyde-park-2019-radio-2-live-in-hyde-park

Chris's hat makes him look like odious pickup artist Mystery.

relistening to Bilingual and it's pretty much as i remember it - that is, not remembering much of it other than the stand out tracks. but rediscovered the closer, Saturday Night Forever and i think it didn't get the attention it really deserves.

that includes treatment from the boys themselves - it could be a proper disco anthem instead of what feels like an afterthought. Love To Infinity remix gets a bit closer - i wonder why it was never officially released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kms6dlWs078

So many old videos look like they’re viewed through ground glass, nice to be able to view them properly. Hopefully others will be remastered.

Five Pet Shop Boys music videos that have been updated with improved high definition audio and video tracks are now available to watch in a new YouTube playlist at the link below.https://t.co/Eubo2IeaTd pic.twitter.com/qN181pujNa

— Pet Shop Boys (@petshopboys) June 26, 2020

I don't know exactly when or why this started happening, but whenever I hear the synthy intro to Bon Jovi's "Living On a Prayer," at exactly where you would expect it to be I hear a British voice intoning, "Sooner or later, this happens to everyone ..."

lol

Taking Sides on songs with short spoken intros: "Love Comes Quickly" vs "Livin' on a Prayer" vs "Caribbean Queen"

vs Modern Love.

Now imagine Neil Tennant starting "Love Comes Quickly" with "She's so awesome."

As they did fifteen of these twenty songs last night I hold Tom's original collective judgment of their worth to be fully accurate. (DJP is still wrong about "Domino Dancing" of course -- and that was a LOUD crowd singalong.)

Best bit about the news of yet another compilation;
a Blu Ray with 66 videos

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/pet-shop-boys-smash-the-singles-1985-2020/

Great indeed, but my real hope is that they do a sequel/update to the amazing commentary track they did for the PopArt DVD -- and if that's not ported over somehow I'm holding onto my copy.

Hear, hear. A friend you and I have in common quote it all the time.

"Fabulous acting here."

"Unintentionally hilarious."
"As ever."

"Oh, look! We're doing choreography."

Chris Lowe's laugh at the end of the commentary for "Somewhere" lives in my head rent-free, as does "Ah...revenge" from the "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing" commentary.

SO many highlights but Chris’s drawling, sighing
“Urrgh GOD.. “ when he sees himself at the start of ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’ is the one that has entered my lexicon.

"I look TERRIBLE! Stupid hair. Dickie bow."

Here’s that old Pop/Art DVD commentary in full

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG9W0NbssnI