Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

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G_Goalden
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#16 Post by G_Goalden »

I was flagging a bit by Elysium - and I thought that we had both run our course. Especially when I had to visit about a dozen shops trying to find the double CD (which was just a set of disapoointing instrumentals)

When I first heard it - It sounded like a record contract filler I just didn't get it. It sound like an old persons album (and I didn't want to be old) As a result I pretty much stopped listening to PSB for a while until I heard the opening chords of Axis.

It took me a good number of years to pick it back up but now I love it. I don't listen to it regularly but I find when I do it transports me to somewhere quite ethereal. About 3/4 of the way through I get excited that Denim is coming up - and I always forget just how good it is.
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#17 Post by Bulldog »

Actually many of the instrumentals sound better than the vocal versions, they feel more cohesive.

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#18 Post by One of the crowd »

01: Leaving (Believe In PSB Mix)
02: Invisible
03: A Face Like That
04: Your Early Stuff
05: Winner (HappySad Remix - Edit)
06: Hold On
07: Give It A Go
08: Listening
09: Memory Of The Future (Ulrich Schnauss Mix)
10: Requiem In Denim And Leopardskin
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Undertaker
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#19 Post by Undertaker »

Memory of the Future and Leaving are two of the very best. Other than that, i'm not really keen. Sadly, i rate Hold On above Invisible. I just dont like it at all but its obviously a good track.

Elysium's B sides would have improved the album.

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Kiran
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#20 Post by Kiran »


Bulldog wrote:Replace "Breathing space" and "'Give it a go" with "In slow motion" and "Woods" and it gets 110℅ better.
Whilst I don't particularly like Elysium (although I do prefer it to Electric), there probably isn't going to be a consensus on which songs are better than others. For example, "Give it a go" is my favourite track on the album where as something like "A face like that" (which is favoured by some) sounds to me like a Pet Shop Boys song written by someone else who was trying to create a Pet Shop Boys track (i.e. has some kind of template but missed the magic).

Ego music is terrible and not something I would accidentally let someone else hear.
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daveid
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#21 Post by daveid »

Elysium is a great album. I love the less popular ones like Hold On and Your early stuff. Memory of the future is a highlight and Leaving is one of the best tracks they've ever recorded. I don't agree with various substituted b sides people are suggesting. In his imagination is overrated and not album material. In slow motion is a demo, good though it is. Listening could have made the cut if they'd developed it beyond a demo. Believe you me there are no Elysium era b sides that would work better on the album.

Oh obviously Winner is still a pile of antiseptic shite.

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Zog
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#22 Post by Zog »

I’ve always liked “Elysium” ... and still do.


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jules
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#23 Post by jules »

I don't find hold on particularly tacky, less than most songs on cth. Elysium is a fantastic album, i understand the fan disappointement, but i think nearly every song is a gem.

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oakey
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#24 Post by oakey »

onzio wrote: Fri 17 May 2019, 9:12 am To my memory, Behaviour was shit when it came out, the teaser track, "So Hard", was a big lie too.
It grows through the years thanks to its commercial failure.

Having said that, Hold On and Ego Music are really awful.
I was also hugely disappointed when Behaviour came out. I very much liked So Hard, but the rest of the ballads, nah.
I have grown to like most of it though, but it´s far from my favourite album.

Elysium is also not my favourite and it has a few lows (Ego Music, Hold On), but the rest I listen to once in a while (probably more than I listen to Behaviour) and I even like the Intrumentals.

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#25 Post by Tom Angel »

A face like that is PSB at they best. That throbbing synth bass and even bells, It's in my top 10

Had they included In Slow Motion, In hIs imagination and lost Hold on and Ego music it would be up there with Behaviour.

And Breathing Space is gorgeous. One of their finest ballads. The production is astonishingly good - far better than Stuart Price.
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#26 Post by Kris »

It's a very pleasant album and I often listen to it on the way home from work to wind down. Leaving is wonderful and despite such a simple philosophy about love never dying due to memories it's delivered immaculately. Also love Invisible, A face like that and in particular Give it a go, which has one of those goosebump moments when the chorus kicks in. I hate Ego music - one of those 'seemed a funny idea at the time' songs - and think Memory of the future is too slow for a so-called Euro disco record (the speeded-up single version is much better, IMO). I also think Hold on is a missed opportunity to make a really strong gospel record but overall the album is pretty solid.

It's a big shame Leaving wasn't the lead single as originally planned, especially given some of its spectacular remixes, because I think Winner cost them a lot of album sales. I actually like the song and it's philosophy of enjoying success/good times while they last but I can see why others hate it so it proved a poor choice of single, even if they were roped into it.
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JSDOUVRES
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#27 Post by JSDOUVRES »

Can't believe it's 7 years!
I was travelling in America at the time and downloaded it at the Vancouver library (The Washington Vancouver which borders Portland, Oregon) and listened to it whilst I was there and it is amazing how it brings back memories of that place!
Just like Bilingual does for me of Normandy France where I was working at the time.
Not one of my favourite albums but special because of the reasons above!

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#28 Post by Bulldog »

I too have nice memories to associate with Elysium, in spite of its weakness as a whole. I remember hearing Winner for the first time in Rome at the same time of Italy doing pretty well @ Euro 2012, then the amazing Olympics thing (the return of pointy hats made me scream with joy), and finally parts of it being a soundtrack for a nice year of studies in Milan. A very enjoyable era, it has to be said.

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#29 Post by telys »

I've now, after finally getting the Further listening-issue, come to terms with Elysium. I can accept all tracks now apart from Ego Music but I still think Invisible is at least 1 minute too long, Winner is a superb track to begin with but the ending is too much of a pop cliché. I therefore remove Ego Music and add In his imagination and also Gin and Jag, both are clever and moody tracks about ageing which is what Elysium is all about. Reading the FL-booklet gives a better understanding of the album.
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onzio
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#30 Post by onzio »

G_Goalden wrote: Fri 17 May 2019, 5:54 pm When I first heard it - It sounded like a record contract filler I just didn't get it. It sound like an old persons album (and I didn't want to be old) As a result I pretty much stopped listening to PSB for a while until I heard the opening chords of Axis.

It took me a good number of years to pick it back up but now I love it.
You became an older person. So now it fits.
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