Pet Shop Boys - New Album "Hotspot" Jan 24 2020

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mhvbear, Sep 11, 2019.

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  1. Starquest

    Starquest ‎ ‎ ‎

    Location:
    Twin Cities, MN
    It's alright, but kind of a downer. Sounds like something off either Release or Elysium.
     
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  2. boyjohn

    boyjohn Senior Member

    I am so loving Burning the Heather. It really hits home about getting older, and wondering if life is still worth it. Supposedly it is the only guitar type song on the album, so for people that are worried that it will be Release 2, I wouldn't worry too much (although I happen to love most of Release, especially Birthday Boy).
     
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  3. mhvbear

    mhvbear Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Irvington, NY
    Pet Shop Boys / new album ‘Hotspot’
    November 15, 2019 by Paul Sinclairtags: 1980s, new music, pet shop boys

    [​IMG]
    The Pet Shop Boys‘ new album will be called Hotspot and is due at the end of January next year.

    Hotspot is Neil and Chris’ 14th studio album and is the follow-up to 2016’s Super. It was recorded mostly in Berlin’s legendary Hansa Studios [check out SDE’s visit in 2016] and like the previous two albums it has been produced by Stuart Price. The Pet Shop Boys have stated that this is the last instalment of a trilogy of Price-produced albums, which suggests they’ll use someone else, next time.

    The single ‘Dreamland’ has already been released, and another track, the autumnal ‘Burning The Heather’ (which features Bernard Butler on guitar) can be previewed below.


    Pet Shop Boys say: “We’ve written much of our music over the last ten years in Berlin and it was an exciting experience to work on this album in the legendary Hansa studios there and add a new dimension to our sound.”

    Hotspot is released on vinyl and CD on 24 January 2020. There appear to be no special editions for either format.


    1. Will-O-The-Wisp
    2. You Are The One
    3. Happy People
    4. Dreamland
    5. Hoping For A Miracle
    6. I Don’t Wanna
    7. Monkey Business
    8. Only The Dark
    9. Burning The Heather
    10. Wedding In Berlin

    Pet Shop Boys / new album ‘Hotspot’ | superdeluxeedition
     
  4. mhvbear

    mhvbear Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Irvington, NY
    [​IMG]
    Pet Shop Boys to call time on CD singles?

    Yesterday the Pet Shop Boys announced another single from their forthcoming album, Hotspot. ‘Burning The Heather’ features Bernard Butler on guitar and had already been made available on YouTube etc. but it will be coming out as a ‘proper’ single on 13 December. So far so good, but the unfunny joke in this Christmas cracker is that the ‘single packages,’ as they described them, do not include a CD single.

    This is significant because since Neil, Chris and Parlophone first got on board with CD singles (with 1987’s ‘It’s A Sin’) ALL of their singles that were released physically in some shape or form have come out on CD. The boys have been remarkably loyal to the format and fans and collectors – myself included – have looked forward to adding to the large collection that has grown over the past 32 years.

    It has been an interesting journey, where in the early days the CD single normally repeated the track listing of the first UK 12-inch vinyl, and more often than not came in a simple card sleeve. ‘Always On My Mind’ was the first CD single that – for some reason – was offered in the thin plastic ‘mini-jewel’ case although with ‘Heart’ – the final single from 1987’s Actually – they reverted back to the card sleeve format and stayed with it for quite a while. The CD for ‘Left to My Own Devices’ (like the cassette, seven-inch and 12-inch) came double-sleeved with that yellow outer wallet and by 1993 and ‘I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing’ the record company was releasing TWO CDs for every single, and IWNDTKOT came in that very lavish double plastic wallet.

    This was the start of an era where one CD would be ‘mixes’ – for dance fans – while the other would contain the seven-inch version of the song, one or two new tracks and maybe the odd rarity. In the case of IWNDTKOT the brilliant ‘Violence (Haçienda Version)’ was included on CD2 along with the equally good Sasha Remix of ‘West End Girls’. The 1990s continued like this, although at some point the card sleeves were ditched and mini-jewel cases became the norm.

    Into the new Millennium and things changed again (probably due to chart rules). Two CDs were still being issued but with songs like ‘Miracles’ and ‘I’m With Stupid’, one disc would now replicate the seven-inch single (boring!) while the other CD would be what our friends in America like to call a ‘maxi’ single which would likely contain at least one remix and B-side or two. The odd DVD single make an appearance as well. Incidentally, ‘Integral’ from 2006’s Fundamental was a rare ‘download-only’ affair, with no physical format issued.

    The popularity of downloads started threatened the CD single (and all physical formats for singles) but after their move from EMI to ‘label services’ company Kobalt the Pet Shop Boys continued to release CD singles.

    Two CDs were now long gone, but by this point, they’d all but given up on having a ‘hit’ and so chart rules were rather irrelevant, allowing them the freedom to issue massive 9-track CD singles for songs like 2013’s ‘Vocal’ and ‘Love Is A Bourgeois Construct’ – although they did attempt to penetrate the singles chart with ‘Thursday’ which is why that CD of that release included the radio edit of the song and less than 20 minutes of music in total. The strategy didn’t work, and the single peaked at 61 in the UK.

    With the last album Super, the lines were blurred, to a degree, with regards to what constitutes a full Pet Shop Boys single release. ‘Inner Sanctum’ did get a 12-inch vinyl but it really felt like a promo but ‘The Pop Kids’, ‘Twenty-Something’ and ‘Say It To Me’ all came out on CD and in the case of ‘Twenty-Something’ the CD was the ONLY physical format! ‘Undertow’ sneaked out under the radar as a freebie if you bought the 2017 edition of the Annually book.

    This year’s ‘Agenda EP’ was issued on compact disc, as was last month’s Dreamland, so all seemed good for the CD buying Pet Shop Boys fan, until yesterday’s announcement. There are only two ‘formats’ for the single packages and they are as follows:

    Digital
    1. Burning the heather (radio edit)
    2. Decide
    3. Decide (CYA remix)

    7-inch vinyl
    1. Burning the heather (radio edit)
    2. Decide

    It’s great to have a new B-side, but this will be the first time a PSB B-side hasn’t been available on CD at the time of release. Surely the 3-track digital bundle would have made a perfectly satisfactory CD single so it’s hard to understand the logic. CDs are incredibly cheap to produce (especially in simple card sleeve packaging) so this is a worrying development.

    Perhaps the next single with have mixes galore, two new songs and the format will return, but it’s sad that they’ve felt the need to not bother with the CD for ‘Burning The Heather’. The Pet Shop Boys have seemingly flown the flag proudly for physical product for so long, why would they bother to ditch it so late into a brilliant career?

    Saturday Deluxe / 23 November 2019 | superdeluxeedition
     
  5. adm62

    adm62 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Don't think you should post whole features from another website, unless you have permission of course.
     
  6. Maurice

    Maurice Senior Member

    Location:
    North Yarmouth, ME
    According to Google’s translation of the footnote at the bottom of this article’s track list, the domestic Japanese edition of the CD will have two bonus tracks. No idea yet what those might be but the last time their Japanese edition had bonus extras was for Electric, which appended the only official release on CD to date of the Axis 12” remixes.

    http://no16.jp/news/2019/11/22/petshopboys
     
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  7. mhvbear

    mhvbear Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Irvington, NY
    That is why I include the link where I got the article. Been doing this for years and you are the first person to complain.
     
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  8. mhvbear

    mhvbear Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Irvington, NY
    I buy the Japanese CDs of the Pet Shop Boys. "Super" didn't have any extra tracks. Most of the others do. I find the mastering and pressing of the Japanese releases better than the domestic.
     
  9. adm62

    adm62 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    The guy who runs that site at least partially depends on it for a living. I think he prefers people to visit his site. Yes, you posted a link, but maybe a brief description of what is there and a link rather than posting all or whole chunks of articles might be the better thing to do.
     
    Jerry Horne likes this.
  10. c-eling

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

    CDJapan is saying two bonus as well. No details.
    I'll probably go this route. The last PSB Japan I got was Yes, etc. Wow, 10 years ago already.
     
  11. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Is there even anywhere that would stock CD singles in 2019?

    Just wait a few years, and they'll do a repackaging of Super and this one with all the extra stuff compiled together.
     
  12. c-eling

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

    Early 2000's, last time I saw them at retail in my parts.
    I still buy them. Dreamland's really nice. I'm not going to get the 7 inch- Ridiculous
     
    JeffMo likes this.
  13. boyjohn

    boyjohn Senior Member

  14. mr_spenalzo

    mr_spenalzo Forum Resident

    I was pleasantly surprised that Fame records in Amsterdam held the CD single (and the 12"). Not only that, but they placed it prominently at the entrance with the new releases. Maybe they accidentally thought it was the new PSB album.
     
  15. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    sorry to hear about demise of cd single - I know you love these!
     
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  16. c-eling

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

    Ticks me off they are going for an expensive 2 track 7 inch over it Jeff.
    Nostalgia and what's actually on them/mastering and design is what attracted them to me all those years ago.
    One of my first one's in 89 got me hooked!
    Still have it, a Discovery Systems manufacture with a slightly different design layout than the SRC.
    [​IMG]
     
  17. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    So............someone on the PSB forum has posted that they have heard the new CD and this is their thoughts on the first 5 tracks. Hopefully this is not a huge wind up :):)


    1. Will-o-the-wisp

    Low-rumbling swirly, rising synths at the start, immediately reminds me of Radiophonic, the beats kick in and it becomes something else entirely. Spunky electro refrain from Chris...it’s a stomper. The titular ‘Will-o-the-wisp’ appears to be a turned-straight old flame of our Neil’s, whom he’s happy to bitterly stalk across the streets of Berlin.
    I believe this is, indeed, Dark Techno. And it’s ace.

    2. You are the one.

    Sigh. This is just lovely, Neil’s still in Berlin and reminiscing about a lost love; ‘You are the one, I was the one”. He paints a collage of lost love “...a tingle tangle, chittering and chattering, by the fountains, spluttering and splattering”.
    The warm washes of synth strings flow over you until an almost dissonant piano joins the party to underscore the second half.
    The chorus later becomes “You are the one, I want the one”. At least I think it does.
    Oh man, it’s so lovely.
    Happy/sad.

    3. Happy People.

    It’s 1986! And then it’s the mid-90’s! It’s a multi-decade hybrid! It’s another stomper! And it's bloody euphoric!
    Near the start of the song a classic happy/sad Italo piano kicks in and it is GLORIOUS. “Happy people, living in a sad world” The verses are spoken word, Metamorphosis stylee and works wonderfully.
    Halfway in and the song f*cks off into the nearest club for a dance...Italo piano...multi-Neils sing/chant ‘People, happy people’...and, well, it just grows from there.
    “No one comes from nowhere,
    I leave and you arrive,
    t’s the rhythm of our history,
    it’s the beat behind our lives...”

    LOVE Happy People.

    4. Dreamland.
    You all know this one. I didn’t like it too much. Now, as part of the album, I like it much more. Weird that, isn’t it?

    5. Hoping for a miracle.
    A sparse electro tick-tock gives way to, what I can only describe as, electro harpsichord/strings. Sort of. Lower-register Neil bemoans a celebrity life lacking in love and connections. A classic Chris Synth bubbles beneath washes of strings... drawing you in.
    “Everyone loves you, everyone needs you, you’ve got what it takes...
    ....hoping for a miracle, still hoping for a miracle..”
    The break brings a lightly-vocoderised, lost and lonely Neil: “Hello, is anybody out there?”.

    Neil and Chris at their grown-up best.
     
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  18. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    Some German fans have received their vinyl singles early and we have a Chris Lowe vocal on the B side called Decide :D:D


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. dougotte

    dougotte Petty, Annoying Dilettante

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I'll buy it, but am trying to decide which format.

    I bought Electric on CD, and it's so loud and harsh it's fatiguing. However, it's good for a tune or three via headphones late at night while I'm tipsy, or while jogging.

    I bought Super on LP, but its sound is average and isn't benefited much by vinyl. I rarely listen to the LP. But, it included a download code, which is only mp3, and I thus have it to listen to while... (see above).

    So, I think $26.99 USD is a bit much for Hotspot LP, because I probably won't be happy with the sound quality. But! If it comes with a download, it should be passable. Unless the download is higher quality than mp3. How can we find these details? Maybe CD will be the safest bet.
     
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  20. c-eling

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

    These new releases on vinyl haven't impressed me much (Most have been worse it seems-nothing like a compressed to the hilt mastering on vinyl :sigh:) so I'll probably go with the Japan compact disc for this one. For the bonus tracks whatever they are.
     
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  21. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    Ive been told the 2 bonus tracks are, Decide and Decide (CYA remix) ?
     
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  22. c-eling

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

    That'd work Julian, thanks :)
     
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  23. portlandjulian

    portlandjulian Forum Resident

    [​IMG]



    Pet Shop Boys have today announced that their forthcoming album, ‘Hotspot’, will be available to purchase in two additional formats: on cassette and a 2-disc deluxe CD version, which includes an instrumental version of the whole album on the second disc. It will also be available on standard CD, vinyl and digitally – and is available to pre-order now at the link below.

    Upon pre-ordering the new album via the Pet Shop Boys online store, a complimentary limited edition print of the ‘Hotspot’ artwork will be made available – hand-signed by PSB. The print will also be available to those who have already pre-ordered the album via the Pet Shop Boys online store. This limited offer ends 12:00 GMT, 24th December.
     
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  24. c-eling

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

    Nice to see the return of the instrumental part :)
     
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  25. Dave 81828384

    Dave 81828384 Unremarkable Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Might be the only part I like again :hide:
     
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