Pet Shop Boys appreciation thread (2 Viewers)

[KeithDA]

Here it is, all thanks to my diversion into Ab Fab territory.....

Been a fan since the beginning.
Favourite album: Behaviour
Favourite show: Royal Opera House 'Super Tour' 2016....

 

[EricSchulz]

YES!!!!!

Saw them twice: Chicago (1991) and Denver (1999). LOVE pretty much everything by them and their work for/with others (LIZA!!!!) I'll dig through my collection and post some pictures. (Just moved last week, so it may take a while...)

I also DJed from 1988-1994 so I have some great DJ exclusive remixes!

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Lifelong Pet Shop Boys fan here. My favorite PSB album is a tie between Actually and Please. Not a wasted song between them. I'd say the songs that never grow old for me are "It Couldn't Happen Here", "King's Cross", "Tonight is Forever" and "Two Divided by Zero" from those two albums.

It wasn't until Behavior came out that I understood why I loved their music so much - a wonderful mix of pop and melancholy, and it's when they merge those that they are at their very best. I think t was a B-side, but "We All Feel Better in the Dark" is something that I have always reeeeeally loved.

I agree they can be hit and miss on their remixes, though I have always loved "I Want A Dog" from Introspective.

I'd listened to them off an on after I moved to the U.S., enjoying, but not loving things like Nightlife and Bilingual, but it was just a few years ago when I decided to see what they'd released when I wasn't looking that I came across Electric from 2013, which is my favorite of theirs from the last 10+ years.

And, if anyone hasn't heard it, check out what they did for the musical accompaniment to the film Battleship Potempkin, as Tennant/Lowe I think. It's a strange and wonderful mixture of PSB and my main musical love, film scores.

 

[Bob Cashill]

I saw one of their first-ever concerts, in Hong Kong--1989? 1990? Completely madcap, with set and costume changes after every song, or so it seemed. "Flamboyant" may be my favorite song of theirs. They were kind of handful-of-hits wonders in the US but I think their best work succeeded their initial stardom, and they're still at it 30-odd years later. Love them.

 

[GlennF]

Their version of "Always on My Mind" is my favourite dance tune!

 

[KeithDA]

I’ve been a fan from the start, but initially not all plain sailing, but they have become the soundtrack to the bulk of my adult life.

I loved my vinyl edition of ‘Please’, but I must have relegated the boys to just another 80’s band amongst others, because I did not rush out to buy ‘Actually’. I was running a Geography field trip and one of the students was playing a cassette version of this album in our working sessions in the evening. The opener ‘One more chance’ hooked me and I knew I had to get this album too and I bought it soon after that. There were some great classic songs here, especially ‘What have done to deserve this’, which I also bought as a 12” for the extra tracks. (Unfortunately, this got left behind at a previous partner’s house…) Meanwhile a friend had lent me ‘Disco’ and introduced me to the world of the remix album.

By the time ‘Introspective’ came out I was hooked. I remember one of my tutees waving the CD around in a morning session and I thought if they can afford a CD player and discs, then surely I can and it became my first PSB album on CD (although I did get the CD versions of ‘Please’ and ‘Actually’ later and I also bought the remastered 2 CD versions when they were released.)

‘Behaviour’ I bought on day 1 and it has remained my overall favourite. Melancholy, wistful and with lush arrangements, it is one I frequently turn to. I had sort of picked up somewhere that Neil and possibly Chris were gay, but I felt it was confirmed musically by the ‘Streets have no name’ single and video release in 1991. I know that Neil often writes from a female or indeterminate gender perspective, but this camp display left little to the imagination!

With ‘Very’ I managed to get the limited edition with ‘Relentless’ although the rubber case is less iconic than the orange ‘lego’ one. This is another favourite collection with some real bangers and great lyrics – eg ‘Yesterday when I was mad’ – I LOVE the ‘and someone said it’s fabulous you’re still around today, you’ve both made such a little go a very long way’ Then there’s ‘Go west’ – what can I say?

By the time we get to ‘Bilingual’ I was feeling pretty broken after a failed romance and this album with ‘It always comes as a surprise’ bossa nova is particularly poignant. The album perhaps doesn’t quite work, but it still holds up better than some (see later!)

Nightlife was the first time I saw them live, at the Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne . The Zaha Hadid designed stage, the ‘Beethoven’ wigs and the samurai culottes…. The first of many spectacles! I loved it. ‘Closer to Heaven’ is a stand out track for me on this album and it is no surprise that a lot of the boy’s energy was being expent on the musical of the same name. My new partner bought me the ‘Nightlife’ DVD for Christmas and this began the purchase of as many video compilations/shows of the boys that have been released (still waiting for ‘DiscoVery’ of course – which was shown on TV – but nothing official as yet…)

Now I quite like ‘Release’ – the ‘Brit pop’ sounding guitar album. ‘London’ is the stand out track here, although some of the remixes on Disco 3 are pretty strong. ‘London’ was only ever a single in Germany, a sign that the boys were probably beginning their interest in Berlin as recording/clubbing city. We (yes, not ‘I’ any more’) did get to see the stripped-back university tour in my home town of Middlesbrough. Teesside University’s Student Union was a very un-PSB venue! Later that year we saw them again at Newcastle City Hall.

The special edition boxed set of their greatest hits ‘Pop art’ also included a Mix CD – and this one is good and I often put this on as a housework motivator! I wondered if they should have a ‘Swing’ one after the swing version of ‘Can you forgive her’ but I suppose they left it to Robbie Williams to plough that furrow.

‘Fundamental’ was bought just before our honeymoon to Australia. I love ‘Minimal’ and the CD single re-mixes are great too. The special edition of this CD has a great track ‘This used to be the future’ a duet with Phil Oakey of the Human League as well as the Elton John duet of ‘In private’. This time we saw the boys at The Sage, a purpose-built concert hall in Gateshead, just across the River Tyne from Newcastle. Great support singers and dancers here – love the energy of Sylvia Mason-Jones..

By the time ‘Concrete’ came out I had already discovered Rufus Wainwright and it was a joy to hear his version of ‘Casanova in Hell’. Also to hear the ballad ‘Friendly fire’ which sent me back to buy the original cast recording of ‘Closer to heaven’. Love ‘Call me old fashioned’ on this one (and the recent re-issue of ‘Nightlife’ with the demo of this song with Neil’s vocals is interesting….)

News that the boys were to repeat their screening and performance of ‘Battleship Potemkin’ at Swan Hunter’s shipyard at Wallsend meant I had to buy the album beforehand to ‘get in training’. It was a balmy evening, although I do remember some local folk not being too impressed at a show that was more orchestral than top 40 hits!

The ‘Yes’ album was such a pleasant upbeat release, but my favourite track has to be the mature sounding ‘The way it used to be’. When this was performed on the ‘Pandemonium tour’ at the Manchester Apollo and again at the Newcastle Arena (yes, we did see this show twice) this song didn’t quite work as well as on disc. Such a spectacular show though with all those boxes and the confetti canon at the end! The ‘Pandemonium’ live album and DVD really do this show and album justice and with its ‘mash-ups’ of PSB songs that initially have you guessing are a great way of showing off their extensive catalogue.

‘Elysium’. Don’t like it. Some really clunky lyrics and weak tunes. Even their appearance in the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics didn’t help. This album for me is the real miss-step. The boys themselves say that the next album is often a response to the last one and the fact that the next two are upbeat ‘banging with lasers’ perhaps gives a clue as to how poor (in my view) this album is.

‘Electric’ – a great return to form. Saw this show at The Sage again – this time front row seats. I love the insidious beat of ‘Fluorescent’

The following summer we trekked down to London to see the evening Electric Prom premiere performance of ‘A man from the future’ at the Royal Albert Hall. It was very hot that night up in the higher tiered seats and this perhaps dented my view of the work. If it ever gets released, I’m sure I’ll buy and re-assess it. My view is possibly also clouded as we made a second journey to London only weeks later to see Kate Bush in her ‘Before the Dawn’ outing. Now this would have to be my most favourite live performance I’ve ever seen. A wonderful, theatrical experience. (only let down now by the woman’s insistence that the music is the thing and you can buy a CD of the show, but not a filmed version..)

‘Super’ – great title, super songs. Another trek to London to see this show – this time at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The atmosphere and the crowd for this were amazing and the ‘fat suited’ dancers for the ‘Go West’ finale stole the show. This has to be my favourite show I’ve seen the boys do – it was so uplifting and joyous. They are doing a 4 night residency again next month, but we're not going as I don’t want to spoil it as it is largely the same show.

Sorry for going on, but as I said at the start, PSB have been a life soundtrack for me. Wayne Studer’s site is brilliant (http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm) and I’m sure you’ve already found that.
It is part of my daily routine now, check emails, check PSB site, check Wayne’s site then check HTF.

Looking forward to more PSB news and music soon.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I’ve been a fan from the start, but initially not all plain sailing, but they have become the soundtrack to the bulk of my adult life.

I loved my vinyl edition of ‘Please’, but I must have relegated the boys to just another 80’s band amongst others, because I did not rush out to buy ‘Actually’. I was running a Geography field trip and one of the students was playing a cassette version of this album in our working sessions in the evening. The opener ‘One more chance’ hooked me and I knew I had to get this album too and I bought it soon after that. There were some great classic songs here, especially ‘What have done to deserve this’, which I also bought as a 12” for the extra tracks. (Unfortunately, this got left behind at a previous partner’s house…) Meanwhile a friend had lent me ‘Disco’ and introduced me to the world of the remix album.

By the time ‘Introspective’ came out I was hooked. I remember one of my tutees waving the CD around in a morning session and I thought if they can afford a CD player and discs, then surely I can and it became my first PSB album on CD (although I did get the CD versions of ‘Please’ and ‘Actually’ later and I also bought the remastered 2 CD versions when they were released.)

‘Behaviour’ I bought on day 1 and it has remained my overall favourite. Melancholy, wistful and with lush arrangements, it is one I frequently turn to. I had sort of picked up somewhere that Neil and possibly Chris were gay, but I felt it was confirmed musically by the ‘Streets have no name’ single and video release in 1991. I know that Neil often writes from a female or indeterminate gender perspective, but this camp display left little to the imagination!

With ‘Very’ I managed to get the limited edition with ‘Relentless’ although the rubber case is less iconic than the orange ‘lego’ one. This is another favourite collection with some real bangers and great lyrics – eg ‘Yesterday when I was mad’ – I LOVE the ‘and someone said it’s fabulous you’re still around today, you’ve both made such a little go a very long way’ Then there’s ‘Go west’ – what can I say?

By the time we get to ‘Bilingual’ I was feeling pretty broken after a failed romance and this album with ‘It always comes as a surprise’ bossa nova is particularly poignant. The album perhaps doesn’t quite work, but it still holds up better than some (see later!)

Nightlife was the first time I saw them live, at the Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne . The Zaha Hadid designed stage, the ‘Beethoven’ wigs and the samurai culottes…. The first of many spectacles! I loved it. ‘Closer to Heaven’ is a stand out track for me on this album and it is no surprise that a lot of the boy’s energy was being expent on the musical of the same name. My new partner bought me the ‘Nightlife’ DVD for Christmas and this began the purchase of as many video compilations/shows of the boys that have been released (still waiting for ‘DiscoVery’ of course – which was shown on TV – but nothing official as yet…)

Now I quite like ‘Release’ – the ‘Brit pop’ sounding guitar album. ‘London’ is the stand out track here, although some of the remixes on Disco 3 are pretty strong. ‘London’ was only ever a single in Germany, a sign that the boys were probably beginning their interest in Berlin as recording/clubbing city. We (yes, not ‘I’ any more’) did get to see the stripped-back university tour in my home town of Middlesbrough. Teesside University’s Student Union was a very un-PSB venue! Later that year we saw them again at Newcastle City Hall.

The special edition boxed set of their greatest hits ‘Pop art’ also included a Mix CD – and this one is good and I often put this on as a housework motivator! I wondered if they should have a ‘Swing’ one after the swing version of ‘Can you forgive her’ but I suppose they left it to Robbie Williams to plough that furrow.

‘Fundamental’ was bought just before our honeymoon to Australia. I love ‘Minimal’ and the CD single re-mixes are great too. The special edition of this CD has a great track ‘This used to be the future’ a duet with Phil Oakey of the Human League as well as the Elton John duet of ‘In private’. This time we saw the boys at The Sage, a purpose-built concert hall in Gateshead, just across the River Tyne from Newcastle. Great support singers and dancers here – love the energy of Sylvia Mason-Jones..

By the time ‘Concrete’ came out I had already discovered Rufus Wainwright and it was a joy to hear his version of ‘Casanova in Hell’. Also to hear the ballad ‘Friendly fire’ which sent me back to buy the original cast recording of ‘Closer to heaven’. Love ‘Call me old fashioned’ on this one (and the recent re-issue of ‘Nightlife’ with the demo of this song with Neil’s vocals is interesting….)

News that the boys were to repeat their screening and performance of ‘Battleship Potemkin’ at Swan Hunter’s shipyard at Wallsend meant I had to buy the album beforehand to ‘get in training’. It was a balmy evening, although I do remember some local folk not being too impressed at a show that was more orchestral than top 40 hits!

The ‘Yes’ album was such a pleasant upbeat release, but my favourite track has to be the mature sounding ‘The way it used to be’. When this was performed on the ‘Pandemonium tour’ at the Manchester Apollo and again at the Newcastle Arena (yes, we did see this show twice) this song didn’t quite work as well as on disc. Such a spectacular show though with all those boxes and the confetti canon at the end! The ‘Pandemonium’ live album and CD really do this show and album justice and with its ‘mash-ups’ of PSB songs that initially have you guessing are a great way of showing off their extensive catalogue.

‘Elysium’. Don’t like it. Some really clunky lyrics and weak tunes. Even their appearance in the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics didn’t help. This album for me is the real miss-step. The boys themselves say that the next album is often a response to the last one and the fact that the next two are upbeat ‘banging with lasers’ perhaps gives a clue as to how poor (in my view) this album is.

‘Electric’ – a great return to form. Saw this show at The Sage again – this time front row seats. I love the insidious beat of ‘Fluorescent’

The following summer we trekked down to London to see the evening Electric Prom premiere performance of ‘A man from the future’ at the Royal Albert Hall. It was very hot that night up in the higher tiered seats and this perhaps dented my view of the work. If it ever gets released, I’m sure I’ll buy and re-assess it. My view is possibly also clouded as we made a second journey to London only weeks later to see Kate Bush in her ‘Before the Dawn’ outing. Now this would have to be my most favourite live performance I’ve ever seen. A wonderful, theatrical experience. (only let down now by the woman’s insistence that the music is the thing and you can buy a CD of the show, but not a filmed version..)

‘Super’ – great title, super songs. Another trek to London to see this show – this time at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The atmosphere and the crowd for this were amazing and the ‘fat suited’ dancers for the ‘Go West’ finale stole the show. This has to be my favourite show I’ve seen the boys do – it was so uplifting and joyous. They are doing a 4 night residency again next month, but we're not going as I don’t want to spoil it as it is largely the same show.

Sorry for going on, but as I said at the start, PSB have been a life soundtrack for me. Wayne Studer’s site is brilliant (http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm) and I’m sure you’ve already found that.
It is part of my daily routine now, check emails, check PSB site, check Wayne’s site then check HTF.

Looking forward to more PSB news and music soon.

I tried to like this great post - a wonderful stroll through your connection to them - twice, but it wouldn’t record two thumbs up, so I’ll just say it. Two thumbs up!!!

 

[Joel Arndt]

Keith, I'm so glad you created this thread. As you know from other posts, I'm a huge fan of the Boys. I agree with Neil, your epic post deserves at least two thumbs up or even a "love" response. I'm so envious that you've seen them live so many times over the years.

i own almost everything PSB has released since the mid-80s, including the double and triple cd re-release sets with all the wonderful bonus materials along with their forays into stage (Closer to Heaven), film (Battleship Potemkin) and ballet (The Most Incredible Thing). My first purchase was the album Please on vinyl.

I'll be posting other thoughts as this thread moves forward and others comment, but thought I'd start with one of my earliest memories of the Pet Shop Boys which is the use of West End Girls in the Moonlighting episode Sleep Talkin' Guy which first aired on April 1, 1986. This is the original mix from 1984 I believe. Following is a link to the club scene where it's used-



And I believe West End Girls hit #1 on the US Billboard chart about 6 weeks later. Still a brilliant song after all these years.

 

[Radioman970]

West End Girls just takes me back...
Hallo Spaceboy!

 

[EricSchulz]

Picked this up last year. The 2017 edition of Annually with the bonus Undertow CD single.

 

[KeithDA]

View attachment 47350 Picked this up last year. The 2017 edition of Annually with the bonus Undertow CD single.

Yep, got this (plus this year's 'yellow' edition)
The Undertow disc has the most disappointing remix of 'Burn' - a real favourite track from 'Super'...

 

[KeithDA]

This was Neil's northern bolthole. It was on the market for a long time and was considerably reduced....

http://finestproperties.co.uk/historic-country-house-wolsingham-county-durham/

 

[Joel Arndt]

We were discussing Absolutely Fabulous on another thread here recently, so it's fresh in my mind.

This morning one of my colleagues who's a notorious late arriver prompted another colleague to comment, "right on time" sarcastically. Of course, the first thing that popped into my head was- "Ride on Time. Ride on Time. Techno. Techno. Bloody Techno darling!"

 

[KeithDA]

Sweetie sweetie sweetie

 

[EricSchulz]

The remastered "Further Listening" series is releasing the final batch on Aug 18th. Very, Behaviour and Bilingual. The are just new remasters of the same ones previously released...

 

[KeithDA]

They are just new remasters of the same ones previously released...

I'm never very sure whether these are the same re-masters as the 2001 editions, or newly remastered ones? They look the same and come with the same booklet, apparently.
The only one I don't have is 'Bilingual' and looking at the track listing I can perhaps see why - the only additional 'previously unreleased' track on CD2 - Discoteca - is not one of my favourites.
My ears can't really tell a difference between the original and the remastered CD1s ... but for completeness and for the booklet - I'm in.

 

[KeithDA]

Back in the day before the Internet, the Boys used to send out postcards to those of us on their mailing list advertising some of their upcoming releases. This is one I found in the bottom of a drawer yesterday advertising the first set of catalogue re-issues from 2001. Interesting that all 6 came out at once and were in chronological order (unlike the latest issues..)

I bought Behaviour first and over the years bought Actually, Introspective and Very. By the time I fancied Please, it was difficult to find and I ended up getting a Russian version from ebay (although all the cover and booklet is in English, there's a smattering of Russian here and there).

Bilingual is still the missing one from this set of releases...

 

[Paul D G]

I'm never very sure whether these are the same re-masters as the 2001 editions, or newly remastered ones?

These are newly remastered, not the 2001 remasters.

I've been a PSB fan since slightly before Very came out. I had most of their earlier stuff, bought on the strengths of a couple singles (I loved It's a Sin and Always On My Mind) but their other stuff just didn't click with me. Then, while desperately wanting to hear new electronic music but not being able to afford going shopping, I scanned my CDs, saw Discography and put it on shuffle. DJ Culture came booming out and that was it for me. I was hooked.

There are a handful of bands I'm obsessive about. Invariably at some point I get put off them for a while and stop listening only to come back to them a year or two later. Never with PSB. They have been a constant soundtrack for me.

I could prattle on endlessly so I'll just end this by saying just a couple weeks ago I finally got the one item I've been pining for for decades - their fan club only single "It doesn't often snow at Christmas".

 

[EricSchulz]

Here’s an unofficial release of PSB remixes from various 12” singles and DJ remix services. This label also did similar collections for Depeche Mode and Erasure.

 

[KeithDA]

Here’s an unofficial release of PSB remixes from various 12” singles and DJ remix services.

What's on it?