FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
Part Forty-Nine: Pet Shop Boys
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I almost forgot about Pet Shop Boys…
PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton
when continuing with this feature. As they formed in 1981, the duo are celebrating forty years together. If you need some guidance and biography regarding an iconic act, here is some assistance:
“Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo, formed in London in 1981 and consisting of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.
“Pet Shop Boys have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, [better source needed] and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music history in the 1999 edition of The Guinness Book of Records. Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, since 1984 they have achieved 42 Top 30 singles, 22 of them Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, including four UK number ones: "West End Girls" (also number one on the US Billboard Hot 100), "It's a Sin", a synthpop version of "Always on My Mind", and "Heart". Other hit songs include a cover of "Go West", and their own "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" in a duet with Dusty Springfield. With five US top ten singles in the 1980s, they are associated with the Second British Invasion.
At the 2009 Brit Awards in London, Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2016, Billboard magazine named Pet Shop Boys the number one dance duo/group over the 40 years since the chart's inception in 1976. In 2017, the duo received NME's Godlike Genius Award”.
To celebrate Tennant and Lowe and the terrific music they have released through the years, this A Buyer’s Guide concerns their very best albums, an underrated gem and a Pet Shop Boys book. Have a look and listen of the best work of…
Release Date: 24th March, 1986
Labels: Parlophone/EMI America
Producer: Stephen Hague
Standout Tracks: Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)/Suburbia/Violence
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/107872
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0AwBxVtsvLVwmaVwwe5beS?si=ZkU687LURE2-KILgj1ZUdw
Review:
“A collection of immaculately crafted and seamlessly produced synthesized dance-pop, the Pet Shop Boys' debut album, Please, sketches out the basic elements of the duo's sound. At first listen, most of the songs come off as mere excuses for the dancefloor, driven by cold, melodic keyboard riffs and pulsing drum machines. However, the songcraft that the beats support is surprisingly strong, featuring catchy melodies that appear slight because of Neil Tennant's thin voice. Tennant's lyrics were still in their formative stages, with half of the record failing to transcend the formulaic constraints of dance-pop. The songs that do break free -- the intentionally crass "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," the lulling "Suburbia," and the hypnotic "West End Girls" -- are not only classic dance singles, they're classic pop singles” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: West End Girls
Actually
Release Date: 7th September, 1987
Labels: Parlophone/EMI America
Producers: Stephen Hague/David Jacob/Julian Mendelsohn/Pet Shop Boys/Shep Pettibone/Andy Richards
Standout Tracks: What Have I Done to Deserve This? (with Dusty Springfield)/It’s a Sin/Heart
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=27976&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7hkIf8sKiJKRjADB2xan74?si=EJcOoOuBRsWK1XQAJJv0tw
Review:
“For Tennant especially, Actually was a landmark release, as wry observation became auto biography on ‘Its a Sin’, the words a castigation of the brutality of his religious upbringing, both at the hands of peers and superiors at a catholic school. Elsewhere ‘Shopping’ bore the same intrinsically playful approach to structure as Please’s ‘Two Divided By Zero’, albeit together with a laugh out loud chorus which pegged the nihilistic pursuit of consumption that would become known as retail therapy.
It wasn’t all clipped social commentary however, as their duet with Springfield demonstrated. Stories of the former sixties’ icon cast her as an irascible diva, but ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’ more than justified the pursuit, a warmly humanist love song stamped with devotion. Amongst all the loneliness, lust, and loss however its Actually’s prescience that leaves the greatest impression.
To many Northerners, London’s King’s Cross station is a place of entry and exodus, the embarcation point for all those seeking to run away from secrets and regrets in equal measure. Those expecting streets paved with gold soon get the rudest of awakenings in the surrounding area, a twilight world of vice and poverty which Tennant evokes lyrically with skill and chagrin. With Lowe’s technology shrilling with melodrama, the song which bears the station’s name is both desolate and heart-breaking, even more so when only three months after the album’s release a stray match caused the fire there which resulted in the deaths of 31 people.
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see how immaculately the duo’s high concept was pulled off, one where Tennant and Lowe both lived the dream but successfully corroded its envelope. Actually was a time bomb, set to explode the moment you woke up realising that your townhouse and BMW were only yours because you were bought and sold just like everything and everyone else. Face value didn’t give this up. But then again this was a record could soundtrack a disco or a riot with equal elegance. And not even London Calling can do that” – The Voice of Unreason
Choice Cut: Rent
Introspective
Release Date: 10th October, 1988
Label: Parlophone
Producers: Trevor Horn/David Jacob/Stephen Lipson/Lewis A. Martineé/Julian Mendelsohn/Pet Shop Boys
Standout Tracks: Left to My Own Devices/I’m Not Scared/It’s Alright
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=28151&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5rV1l8OgNRlryYfEzJ2IER?si=_6spR5JFR7CgJ_q7gc9T0Q
Review:
“Featuring a mere six tracks, most of them well over six minutes in length, Introspective was a move back to the clubs for the Pet Shop Boys. Over the course of the album, they incorporated various dance techniques that were currently in vogue, including Latin rhythms and house textures. The title isn't entirely an arch joke, however. Like Actually, Introspective was an exploration of distant, disaffected yuppies, which naturally resulted in a good deal of self-analyzation. Melodically, the essential song structures were as strong and multi-layered as the previous album, yet that was hard to hear beneath the varying rhythmic textures that composed the bulk of each track. Nevertheless, the mixes are more compelling than the remixes on Disco, and the songs include several of their best numbers, including "Left to My Own Devices" and "Domino Dancing," as well as the reconstruction of "Always on My Mind" and a cover of Blaze's club classic, "It's Alright” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Always on My Mind
Very
Release Date: 27th September, 1993
Label: Parlophone
Producers: Pet Shop Boys/Stephen Hague/Brothers in Rhythm
Standout Tracks: Can You Forgive Her?/I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing/Liberation
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=28399&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6isi41U6Wdh0JBglB26rKX?si=zDk53RA8Tgy-x48bMTU2_A
Review:
“But that's very typical of Very. It isn't simply that there's more to these songs than sly wit and catchy choruses (although there are plenty of both); this time around, the Boys appear to have a few axes to grind. Some are obvious enough, like the spiteful satire of musicpress vipers and record-biz sycophants in "Yesterday, When I Was Mad." Or "The Theater," which describes how the well-dressed crowds on their way to the latest Andrew Lloyd Webber hit blithely ignore the street kids crowding the sidewalks of London's East End ("We're the bums you step over as you leave the theatre," spits Tennant's chorus).
Others, though, require a fair amount of interpretation. Take "Dreaming of the Queen," for example. On the surface, it's about a dream in which Tennant takes tea with Queen Elizabeth and Princess Di and ends up realizing that he's forgotten to put on any clothes. But beneath that surface drollery is a touching elegy to the toll AIDS has taken, leaving us trapped in a world where love has died because "there are no more lovers left alive/No one has surprised."
That's not to say that Very is all seriousness and no fun – these are the Pet Shop Boys, after all. But as fun as it is to wade into the tuneful exuberance of pop fare like "One in a Million" or "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing," there are deeper pleasures to be had in the mixed emotions conveyed in "To Speak Is a Sin" and "Can You Forgive Her?" And it's that sort of depth that makes Very worth hearing again and again – Rolling Stone
Choice Cut: Go West
The Underrated Gem
Bilingual
Release Date: 2nd September, 1996
Label: Parlophone
Producers: Pet Shop Boys/Chris Porter/Paul Roberts/Danny Tenaglia/Andy Williams
Standout Tracks: Single/Electricity/Before
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=28327&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7x4QGVpvnb3NKPdGQzDcsM?si=4RFGTKAVR9ydY4iIXBYlng
Review:
“For the first four seconds of Bilingual, I was convinced it was more of the same synthetic, electroid waste that we're so accustomed to hearing from the Boys. And that's when the strings came in. Of course, they're not real strings, but all the same, the chords played are not your standard danceable, major key chords. It's much darker than that. The drum loops begins its aggressive pounding, and you slowly begin to realize that something's changed with these guys. The song is "Discoteca," and though British dance music doesn't usually keep me interested, this stuff is pretty remarkable. It's the perfect song for a rainy night drive.
"Discoteca" leads nicely into the title cut from the album, which is a great song (if somewhat similar to "Discoteca") except for the chorus which comes along every ten seconds and irritatingly proclaims "I'm single / Bilingual," one of the worst lyrics of all time.
The disc goes all over the place, covering some virtually unexplored territory, and occasionally returns to the mid- '80s vein of hellmusic we love to hate these days. The songs even out pretty well, and I have to say, Bilingual is better than I thought it would be. It's embarrasing to admit to liking this record, but somebody's got to do it. I feel pretty confident there are others just like me out there” – Pitchfork
Choice Cut: Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)
The Latest Album
Hotspot
Release Date: 24th January, 2020
Label: x2
Producer: Stuart Price
Standout Tracks: You Are the One/Dreamland (featuring Years & Years)/Burning the Heather
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1671997&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Ap37NIDZhcgORhznOgSmG?si=UZrNI3kiTXOh0LGqulPOXw
Review:
“While the defining sound is electronic as ever, each track is coloured with a subtly different shade of electro giving a pleasingly diverse dynamic to the record. ‘Will O The Wisp’ is as imposing an opener as they have ever managed with it’s heavy pulsating beats soundtracking an ode to evergreen hedonism in the ‘Left To My Own Devices’ mode. It even features a trademark low key hilarious spoken word bridge that marks it out as a PSB classic. Immediately following is the twinkling beauty of ‘You Are The One’ and it’s this contrast of light and shade that makes ‘Hotspot’ so compelling.
All the hallmarks of prime Pet Shop Boys are present and correct and they have lost none of their wit and piercing lyrical eye. You could imagine the wistful ‘Hoping For A Miracle’ as a subtly damning takedown of the flawed Brexit dream while ‘Dreamland’ in collaboration with Olly Alexander from Years & Years is the kind of up-tempo empowering conscious anthem that they excel at.
The defining characteristic of ‘Hotspot’ is of a more lyrical album and, indeed, the more diverse musical palette including acoustic guitars provided by Bernard Butler and horn solo on single ‘Burning The Heather’ allow for a more ruminative melancholy approach. After every big night on the dancefloor you always need a comedown to reflect. The HI-NRG fevered pop of tracks like ‘Happy People’ and the playful ‘Monkey Business’ though show that Tennant and Lowe have lost none of their capacity for dancefloor exuberance but with this album they’ve perfected their journey of the last decade of connecting with their musical past while pointing a way towards the future” – CLASH
Choice Cut: Monkey Business
The Pet Shop Boys Book
Pet Shop Boys, Literally
Author: Chris Heath
Publication Date: 19th March, 2020
Publisher: William Heinemann
Synopsis:
“The Pet Shop Boys are one of the most successful and unusual bands of the last five decades. They are the pop duo that proves pop music can be modern, ecstatic and playful as well as serious and intelligent, winning them legions of devoted fans throughout the world.
In 1989, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe invited journalist Chris Heath and photographer Lawrence Watson to shadow them around Hong Kong, Japan and the UK as they embarked on their first-ever tour. This book is the result: an immersive portrait giving access into the duo’s inner sanctum, showing them in brilliantly observed detail as they work, relax, gossip, argue and occasionally try to make sense of what they do.
‘As clear a picture as could be wished for of the seething mass of elegant contradictions that is the
Pet Shop Boys’ on-the-road experience.’ Independent on Sunday
‘This superbly reported book transcends tired rock journalism cliché. It’s about what it means to be a pop star, what it means to be a Pet Shop Boy… how to love pop, hold it to a higher standard and subvert its expectations.’ Laura Snapes” – Penguin
Order: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1118506/pet-shop-boys--literally/9781785152368.html