Mileage. I thought it was a fantastic homage to '70s disco, and the Studio 54-referencing video - complete with Bianca Jagger on a white horse - was a hoot: Behavior is their masterpiece. Please I'd probably rank second. Actually and Very are perhaps not as artistically successful, but they're hook laden and no slouches when it comes to quality. Introspective has problems with the extended mixes they used of "Always On My Mind" and "Domino Dancing" - the album-originals are fantastic. Alternative shows these guys were casting off songs better than most acts were releasing as their A-sides ("Shameless", "Some Speculation", "Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend", "Too Many People") and that when they stretched themselves they wrote songs as good as any of the critics' darlings ("Your Funny Uncle", "It Must Be Obvious", "Jack The Lad", "Hey Headmaster").
'Please' is always better than I remember it being whenever I listen to it. I mean, I know it's a great album but whenever I put it on I'm re-blown away by how solid it is. The first side is killer single after killer single and the second side is full of could-have-been singles as well. The false-starts in their career gave them time to develop into themselves and they had fully formed by the time 'Please' was released. My favorites on the album are "Two divided by zero" and "Violence"; I was *thrilled* when the former got revived along with "Why don't we live together?" for 'Pandemonium', and I hope that "Violence" gets a similar shot at a second life on tour some day. You can't talk about Pet Shop Boys without going into the b-sides, almost all of which stand up to their a-side if not occasionally better them. That said, the 'Please' b-sides are, by and large, very b-side-y. "In the night" purposely shares its chord progression with its a-side "Opportunities" and while it's great, it's definitely the weaker of the 2 songs. "A man could get arrested" - quite different in 7" and 12" forms -, "That's my impression" and "Was that what it was?" are all fantastic songs but don't come close to anything on the album, and "Jack the lad" is easily my least favorite song from the era and possibly of their entire 80's output; I can't really say why but I've just never warmed to it. "Paninaro" is obviously a classic and the only one of the flips that could have earned a spot on the album...though I don't believe it was ready by the time 'Please' was released. And then, of course, the wonderful 12" mixes are an important part of the album as well, and at this point most of the b-sides were getting 12" mixes as well. ("A man could get arrested", "That's my impression" and "Paninaro" all have extended 12" mixes, the first two appearing on 'Alternative' in place of the 7" mixes; I don't even think the 7" mix of "That's my impression" is even on CD yet.) For my money, the six Further Listening sets are some of the best deluxe editions around. They're carefully compiled by the Boys with listenable sequences that make them more companion albums than bonus discs and the liner notes are incredible; the level of detail they go into about their songs is exactly the kind of stuff fans like us want. We're probably long past it at this point, but I hope one day we get comparable sets for 'Nightlife' on to at least close out the Parlophone years.
"Red Letter Day" is from Bilingual. I've always thought it was formulaic - Pet Shop Boys trying to write a hit, as opposed to just writing a hit. I have however always loved the tail-end of the chorus, the way it lifts out and resolves: All I want is what you want I'm always waiting for a red letter day for something special, somehow new someone saying 'I love you' Baby, I'm waiting for that red letter day I just wish the rest of the track was as strong... For a brief period it held the record for the biggest one-week decline in UK chart history, dropping from #9 to #42 in a single week...
Nightlife is my least favourite PSB studio album, but it still contains some of their best songs. What a solid streak of albums they have blessed us with through the years!
Hmm. I'm trying to think of what my least-favorite PSB album is. I'm not as familiar with their later albums - I own them, but don't listen to them much. I think Fundamental is probably the best of the bunch. Elysium I just can't get into, at all - some tracks strike me as horribly false. It's probably my least favorite. I thought Electric was certainly a return to form, although not as good as I wanted it to be. It has grown on me. Release is another one I can't really get into, even though I loved the idea of PSB doing something less dance-oriented. That having been said, "London" is one of my all time favorite PSB songs. Yes I thought I liked, but haven't had much desire to revisit it. "Did You See Me Coming" is a great cut...
"That's my impression" got a 7" Version (4:48) and a Disco Mix (5:20). The latter can be found on Alternative and Further Listening 1984-1986. The 7 "Version is available on the EMI compilation Essential from 1998. However, the Disco Mix is superior and this 7" is the only exclusive track if you already own the Further Listening discs, so it's nothing to lose sleep over. On the other hand, Essential is - besides their original Maxi-CDs and Alternative - a third source of uncompressed b-sides and mixes. There's also an Extended Mix (5:59), which was official, but remained unreleased (how strange): Best PSB discographies on the web: http://www.geowayne.com/newDesign/albums.htm http://www.psb-discography.com/
You have the album on cd too right? I'm not a collector so I would say either play the record or sell it to buy something you will play! I remember getting Essential in the late 90s and really enjoying it. It came out before the Further Listening series so it was pretty special at the time.
Nice write up - I love "In The Night" and prefer it to the better known A-side. I don't know if Havoc is going to cover some of the secondary releases or not, but the remix companion to Please called Disco is also excellent.
I didn't realize the 7" mix was on 'Essential'. I've got a vinyl rip of it but now I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for that disc. Thanks for the heads up!
I recently got Elysium on vinyl, and it struck me as being very good on third listening only. Before that, it had sounded a bit boring to me. But now I appreciate its subtletly, and I like it better than Yes! or Fundamental. Electric is wonderful, too: very hard beats, very dance driven. A real change of pace for them. Of the old ones, I am fond of Behaviour, Very, Bilingual and Nightlife. And of course, Alternative. But also Release is a very witty album, IMHO.
Your right, I have a big collection PSB music, I got confused with the song I was thinking of Nightlife album, I Don't Know What You Want But I can't Give It Anymore. The Bonus cd of Nightlife has some good mixes on it. I have all these further listening cd's from PSB.
Open to any and all suggestions. Possibly a topic in here can be dedicated to those as a lot or would individually? In the Simple Minds thread we did cover the Themes set containing all the extended singles and it worked out pretty well but this isn't a dictatorship.......................or is it?
I like most of the PSB albums. The weakest one is "Elysium", imho. Really boring.. The best ones - Behaviour, Release, Yes and the first 2 LP's.
I think that's perfectly natural for many PSB collections. Given the dynamic, first listens might sound extremely familiar and sound like ground already covered. After all, it's still Chris on the keys and Neil singing but they are very good at avoiding rehashing old ideas and you can see hear the effort put into making things new and worthwhile.
@jeffmo789 , I have the old US pre-emphasis cd which sounds great, kind of why I've been holding off on opening the vinyl
Anyone have thoughts on the vinyl version of Discography? Not easy to find used in the States and I'd be curious about the SQ before plunking down the cash....
Good question, I do know that my US Actually lp, sounds pretty much identical to the US cd, which makes sense as it is a full digital recording
Yes, that's very true. I also thought Elysium wasn't interesting at first, but as you say, by the third time I was right into it. Well, apart from "Winner" I guess. And "Requiem In Denim And Leopardskin" is one of their very best. But I don't think they ever released a bad album.
I was a huge fan of Pet Shop Boys through the early 90s. My favorite period by far is Please through Behaviour, which to me is their peak album. After that, I thought they still wrote some great tunes but I don't think there have been any masterpieces since Behaviour. That's me though, I like the moody synth stuff the best. They were a collector's dream (or nightmare, depending on how you look at it)... so many alternate mixes and unique promo releases. Solid b-sides and strong album tracks as well. Some of my favorites are Violence, I Want to Wake Up and This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave. I saw Neil in the audience at an EMF show at the Whiskey a Go Go and he was very polite and friendly despite all the questions I barraged him with! I also got to see the Tonight Show taping where Chris walked off the stage. I predicted something would happen because it was obvious from the audience POV that they were avoiding showing Chris on camera (you could see the various camera feeds on the monitors).
I love the Hacienda version of Violence that ended up on Alternative. I thought maybe they played that on one of their later tours but I can't remember now.
I was expecting an over-the-top, campy dance record but it was rather elegant and Liza's vocals were top-notch. "Rent" and "Tonight is Forever" are stunning. The videos were mostly cheesy (ie. "Don't Drop Bombs") but definitely a collaboration I enjoyed. I also get a kick reading the liner notes: "Management: Gene Simmons"
I love "Don't Know What You Want..." I've always thought it was a stone classic dance track, right up there with "I Will Survive". Was disappointed it wasn't a bigger hit. The great thing to me about Behaviour is that it's moody, but also incredibly catchy. Smart, but makes you wanna dance. I've said it before, Neil Tennant is the Joni Mitchell of the dance floor, and manages to weave smarter lyrics into four on the floor dance beats than most writers can infuse into folk songs. And Behaviour is definitely his peak - he's written plenty of songs just as good since, but not an entire album's worth. The American label really botched this one, I thought. They should have released both "This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave" and "The End Of The World" as singles. I think either could have been a hit in America. "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously" and "So Hard" never really had a chance here, and their cover of "Where The Streets Have No Name" was too camp for the US in 1991...
Did you get the remaster of Results with the DVD? Very nice. I liked the fact that the PSB and Liza met each other halfway and you got the best of both worlds on the album. PSB, Liza & Gene? Wouldn't have minded being a fly on the wall...!
