Pet shop boys reissues

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by fozl1986, Feb 7, 2015.

  1. jamesc

    jamesc Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Thanks for the recommendations, portlandjulian. I loved early Saint Etienne but lost track of them over the years. Will need to check out the stuff done with Xenomania.

    I loved those Literally issues. They originally came out at a time when it was hard to get information on bands you were interested in. I broke down and ordered the recent Annually book since it came with the CD single. Very nicely done and almost the same dimensions as the original Annually from 1988! And yeah, that cover art for Undertow helped push me over the edge. :)
     
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  2. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    This has Xenomania stamped all over it :D



    On a related note, glad to see that I am not the only one with Pet Shop Boys OCD :goodie:
     
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  3. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    A good second choice

     
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  4. dustybooks

    dustybooks rabbit advocate

    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    I'm still getting familiar with Saint Etienne's back catalog but I imagine most PSB fans would thoroughly adore their 2012 album Words and Music -- I know I do.
     
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  5. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    I agree, Words and Music is a great album, there is nothing that I can find fault with, even the art work is great. It has never been out of my top 3 albums of theirs. The opening track Over the Border is for me one of the best album openers by an artist. The....."In 1974, I bought my first single, from Woollies in Redhill, I started to memorise the charts, to memorise the leagues, Tuesday lunchtime at 12:45, Saturday afternoon at five o'clock, I didn't go to church, I didn't need to, Green and yellow Harvests, pink Pyes, silver Bells (a great nod to those record labels of years gone bye) and the strange and Important sound of the synthesiser" .... sums up my childhood and talks to me in volumes. I will even go out of my way and put it on a par with Being Boring by the Pet Shop Boys as they are both very similar lyrically. Which brings me to my next question, why oh why havent both groups done something together, bar Bob Stanley doing backing vocals on Love Etc ?.

    Lastly here is a link to a good read about the design of the album cover, which I have signed and hung on my wall :D

    Words and Music by Saint Etienne - Album Cover for Heavenly Records and Universal

     
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  6. jamesc

    jamesc Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Added to my wishlist, thanks! I kind of lost track of them after Tiger Bay. They released so much after that that it becomes overwhelming to try to catch up so this helps.

    I wrongly imagined Girls Aloud would sound something like Dubstar but they're more of a successor to the Spice Girls I suppose.

     
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  7. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    One way street demo via link below and a small interview with Neil and he addresses the CDs being remastered again.

    "Well, it's a controversial thing in some ways because I think records should just get louder. If you bought the collection in 2001, I would suggest you don't buy them again because I think it's a bit ridiculous really. It's exactly the same tracks and the same packaging and the same booklet, it's just that they've been mastered again.

    I asked our mastering engineer, 'Do you think you can make them sound better than they did in 2001?' And he said, "Yes we can, definitely." And part of me is even slightly sceptical about that. You're not getting any extra tracks or anything. Stick to your old ones, that's my advice."

    Pet Shop Boys share lost Bananarama demo - BBC News
     
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  8. Willowman

    Willowman Senior Member

    Location:
    London, UK
    This bit is exactly how I deal with too much music:

     
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  9. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    And that is why I still buy CDs and Vinyl and like Neil, I play each release relentlessly. Plus I like something physical to hold :D
     
  10. dustybooks

    dustybooks rabbit advocate

    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    I'm the same as Neil as well, I love Spotify for previewing albums and shuffling tracks, but anything I love I'm going to want on vinyl for the proper experience. I do find that saving albums on my Spotify app works just as well as a CD for car listening (with less clutter), though.
     
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  11. morgan1098

    morgan1098 Forum Resident

    I hope Neil knows what he's talking about here! If it's really the same packaging, that gives me hope that the three new sets will have the same jewel case/booklet/outer slipcase format and they haven't resorted to digipaks or clamshell boxes.
     
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  12. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    Well that has been my belief / wish the whole time. Following them for the past 33 years and reading endless interviews by them about the packaging of this cd and that cd, its always been obvious to me about how important it was that the rest of the reissues were packaged the same as the previous ones and they obviously still like that design. I would really recommend their 2006 book called Pet Shop Boys Catalogue. A great big glossy tome documenting nearly all (note: nearly all) of the visual output associated with the Pet Shop Boys' career up through 2005, this high-quality prestige piece is clearly designed to affirm the Boys' status both as artists and as patrons of the arts. The real drawing cards here, however, aren't the copious illustrations themselves but rather the accompanying textual commentaries. :D
     
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  13. Pim

    Pim Forum Resident

    Catalogue is awesome indeed. Hope there'll be a 2nd part someday covering the post-Pop Art years!
     
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  14. jamesc

    jamesc Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    It'll be interesting to see what they do with Behaviour this time around. I've pretty much been listening to the Japanese CD (which reportedly has the same mastering as the UK/European CD) since the album was released but I've picked up a few other versions over the years, most recently a very nice condition European LP (Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour ). I did some comparisons today and as others have said, the 2001 remaster really is noticeably inferior compared to the rest. I grabbed a US CD a couple of years ago because of the discussion here and it's interesting how the tracks on the second half of the album are pretty different sounding compared to the Japanese CD. I think the differences between the US, Japanese, and 2001 are most apparent on The End of the World. I do like the additional detail on the US pressing but like the warmth of the track on the Japanese CD. The same track on European vinyl sounds pretty close to the Japanese CD in tonality. So, it appears that the second half of the album on the US CD is the anomaly here. I think I still have a US promo cassette around somewhere so I'll try to compare that as well.

    I threw the US promo and commercial CD singles into the mix for So Hard and noticed a clarity in Neil's vocals that wasn't quite there on the album masterings.

    Does anyone know of any other unique masterings of the album?
     
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  15. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Thanks James for the info on that Behaviour lp, nice find!
    No clue on other mastering's. Curious what the Canadian uses. US or Japan/Euro. I guess I've enjoyed the US and Japan--> (for a different approach) so I never went further.
    So Hard for the US Single has added compression compared to the old US Capitol JAX album, it may have been EQ'd as well for club play etc... Give's it that extra punch!
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2017
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  16. shaboo

    shaboo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bonn, Germany
    I'm afraid the new remasters of the first six albums will be even worse than then 2001 ones:

    Pet Shop Boys share lost Bananarama demo - BBC News

    Neil says:

    "... Your first six albums are also being remastered again - how much difference will there be?

    Well, it's a controversial thing in some ways because I think records should just get louder. If you bought the collection in 2001, I would suggest you don't buy them again because I think it's a bit ridiculous really. It's exactly the same tracks and the same packaging and the same booklet, it's just that they've been mastered again.

    I asked our mastering engineer, 'Do you think you can make them sound better than they did in 2001?' And he said, "Yes we can, definitely." And part of me is even slightly sceptical about that. You're not getting any extra tracks or anything. Stick to your old ones, that's my advice. ..."

    I assume "our mastering engineer" is again Tim Young, who already used too much compression on the previous PSB remasters (including Format). And (at least according to Neil) "Can you make them sound better than they did in 2001?" can be translated to "Can you make them sound even louder than they did in 2001?"

    "Yes we can, definitely." :doh:
     
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  17. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Noticed that also up-thread Shaboo, not sure how more compressed they can get before distortion sets in :laugh:
     
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  18. Dave 81828384

    Dave 81828384 Unremarkable Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    I'm not buying anything until you guys review them :laugh:
     
  19. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    What? I thought you liked modern compression Dave, figured these would be right up your alley ;)
     
  20. Dave 81828384

    Dave 81828384 Unremarkable Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    I'm still trying to get over my New Order purchases :rolleyes:
     
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  21. Scottb

    Scottb Senior Member

    Location:
    Nanuet, NY, USA
    I think the Japan and UK discs are defective. Let me clarify that to me something went terribly wrong with the second half of the album being so muffled. It doesn't make sense that the first half of the album would sound crystal clear and that the second half would be very dull sounding. I also have the version from the 'Originals' box set and with the exception of 'My October Symphony' (which for some reason is a bit dull sounding) the sound is crystal clear and sounds very similar to the US CD. I don't know how the new remaster will sound but I have a hunch it won't sound very good. The track 'Being Boring' on the 2001 remaster has no high end at all and I expect pretty much the same thing with the new remaster. I actually tried to contact the mastering engineer Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering but he never got back to me. I've had some great conversations with some great mastering engineers- Vic Anesini, Joe Gastwirt, Joe Palmaccio etc who were more then happy to speak with a consumer but Tim Young wasn't interested. Still it would be nice if the new remasters sound great and Tim could bring some sparkle to some of the albums that in my opinion sound too dull on the 2001 remasters.
     
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  22. Scottb

    Scottb Senior Member

    Location:
    Nanuet, NY, USA
    Yes Tim Young is doing them again and Neil wanting them louder is not a good thing. Why would Neil say that he thinks records should just get louder? Since this is on EMI the boys may not even have final approval of the remastering or from what Neil has said they may not even care how they sound. I do think 16 years later will equate to making them louder. I hope to be proved wrong!!
     
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  23. dustybooks

    dustybooks rabbit advocate

    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    I've always loved Release. I actually never knew till this thread how maligned it was. I like Nightlife as well, though I do think it's the first one that isn't a knockout. Sorry to get personal but between Nightlife and Release, my parents got divorced and I left school and moved away from home, and when I finally got it -- a few months late because of money; different times -- I'll never forget how comforting it was to hear Neil's voice at the beginning of "High and Dry," like seeing an old friend. Maybe those associations are why I still dig it so much.
     
  24. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    A major goal of this album was to create, in Chris's words, "a Neil and Chris record"—a rather "personal" collection that focuses on "story songs," with greater emphasis on lyrics than on Nightlife, strong melodies, and simpler arrangements that demonstrate the Boys' skills as musicians. Although they had originally considered titling the album Home (perhaps because it had indeed been recorded at Neil's home), its ultimate title was provided by Wolfgang Tillmans, the creator of the video for Home and Dry It's a multiple-entendre, suggesting emotional release, sexual release, the springtime release of pollen by flowers, and of course the release of a new recording. In particular, Neil considered the album a temporary "release from dance music," which he apparently felt was a bit too prevalent in pop music of the period, as well as a release for him "to put all this personal stuff into the songs." Its a great album, still is, I guess some folks dont like change.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2017
  25. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    A few years ago I went through all my later period PSB cd's to compile a cd-r for the car like the two I did for the first album up to Behaviour with the relevant b-sides from the Alternative 2 cd set. I have the US 2 cd set for Release, and all I ended up using from it were two songs : "Home & Dry" and "The Samurai In Autumn". Samurai In Autumn is one of my absolute favorite PSB songs, by the way. :agree:
     
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