The Catalogue Interviews - Julian Mendelsohn answers questions from forum members

[Actually]

Brilliant stuff! Thanks for taking time to compile this.
Love the in depth answer to my question about Always on my mind.

[Gary1962]

What a fantastic read, well done to all concerned.

[Drico One]

Who agrees with him about Yesterday, when I was mad?

I most certainly do. Given the standard of their singles, it was rubbish in comparison to what had gone before. Well, except for Liberation - which was also sub-par.

Neither are bad songs, but they are no more than album tracks as far as I'm concerned. When a brilliant band, renowned for their singles, start releasing ditties about touring, they've probably lost the man on the street. Their single choices went off a cliff from 1994 onwards, with the odd moment of brilliance being the exception rather than the rule, sadly. Ironically enough, they've put out most of their best tracks as singles over the last decade or so - at a time when it makes bugger all difference to their commercial fortunes. Very PSB.

In my view - controversial, no doubt - Very was more or less exhausted for singles by the time it came out. The two genius level singles had been released, and there wasn't anything else of that standard on the album. Maybe Dreaming of the Queen or The Theatre might have made a good Christmas single, but I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing was cheerfully charming in its own right and was hardly underserving of the honour. If anything, it's probably, a little underrated.

I liked A Different Point of View for what it was - but it would have been pretty lightweight as a single in a thematic sense, even if it had a bit of a wallop about it. The potential Take That collaboration would have given them a number one, but One in a Million would also have copper-fastened their status as a "gay band" after Go West and Neil in Attitude.

I think they lost momentum in 1994. Rather than releasing five singles off Very, they should have kept it to four at a maximum and released a brand new standalone to go with a new album - Disco 2 reimagined, because the real thing was hair-raising even when bald. The problem, of course, is that the brand new standalone single was Absolutely Fatuous - so beside the point that they didn't even put their name to it.

Drico.

[Oznerol]

Thanks for this...excellent reading!! I just hope one day PSB will do an album with tracks produced by all the greatest producers they had worked all across their career... That can be a perfect concept for their last album,to close the discography of the best music act of our times...

[Drico One]

This was, in my view, the best of the interviews - mainly because the subject wasn't overly-deferential to our heroes or Trevor Horn, for that matter.

Drico.

[Tom Angel]

Brilliant

This must be the place I waited years to leave - extended mix DEFINITELY doesn't exist. Julian Mendelsohn hasn't heard it either!

[ChoonHound]

Who agrees with him about Yesterday, when I was mad?

Not even a little bit. It's the best single from Very with the best remix package.

[MikeyC]

Thank you so much for another thrilling read and a job well done!! You spoil us!!

[D.J.]

Thank you so much! What a great read. Julian seems like such a down to earth guy and I’m glad to hear Neil and Chris are easy to work with.

[D.J.]

Who agrees with him about Yesterday, when I was mad?

I most certainly do. Given the standard of their singles, it was rubbish in comparison to what had gone before. Well, except for Liberation - which was also sub-par.

Neither are bad songs, but they are no more than album tracks as far as I'm concerned. When a brilliant band, renowned for their singles, start releasing ditties about touring, they've probably lost the man on the street. Their single choices went off a cliff from 1994 onwards, with the odd moment of brilliance being the exception rather than the rule, sadly. Ironically enough, they've put out most of their best tracks as singles over the last decade or so - at a time when it makes bugger all difference to their commercial fortunes. Very PSB.

In my view - controversial, no doubt - Very was more or less exhausted for singles by the time it came out. The two genius level singles had been released, and there wasn't anything else of that standard on the album. Maybe Dreaming of the Queen or The Theatre might have made a good Christmas single, but I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing was cheerfully charming in its own right and was hardly underserving of the honour. If anything, it's probably, a little underrated.

I liked A Different Point of View for what it was - but it would have been pretty lightweight as a single in a thematic sense, even if it had a bit of a wallop about it. The potential Take That collaboration would have given them a number one, but One in a Million would also have copper-fastened their status as a "gay band" after Go West and Neil in Attitude.

I think they lost momentum in 1994. Rather than releasing five singles off Very, they should have kept it to four at a maximum and released a brand new standalone to go with a new album - Disco 2 reimagined, because the real thing was hair-raising even when bald. The problem, of course, is that the brand new standalone single was Absolutely Fatuous - so beside the point that they didn't even put their name to it.

Drico.

Oh, absolutely! Coming after 4 masterpiece LPs, the most of Very and it’s singles very quite a downer. Obviously, Can You Forgive Her was amazing!

[lucienchardon]

Fantastic read! Thanks Dog! Fascinating to read Julien's comments about Results, Behavior, Actually, etc. Great stuff! But I disagree about Yesterday, When I Was Mad.

[joe stalin]

Brilliant read. Well done

Surely Brian Higgins next ?

[fluffmoln]

Brilliant

This must be the place I waited years to leave - extended mix DEFINITELY doesn't exist. Julian Mendelsohn hasn't heard it either!

In hindsight, my throwaway joke question probably should have included us asking about the reasoning behind the sample inclusion of those Russian trials I "researched" back in this here post. Like, was it a Neil suggestion, or just a random sample (inspired by My October Symphony?) that just happens to fit into the PSB... thing?

Maybe it would have triggered his memory a little more, and I hope he has since found a FLAC of the mix to blast on his car speakers.

Good work, Dog.

[onzio]

Their single choices went off a cliff from 1994 onwards, with the odd moment of brilliance being the exception rather than the rule, sadly.

I think they lost momentum in 1994. Rather than releasing five singles off Very, they should have kept it to four at a maximum and released a brand new standalone to go with a new album - Disco 2 reimagined, because the real thing was hair-raising even when bald. The problem, of course, is that the brand new standalone single was Absolutely Fatuous - so beside the point that they didn't even put their name to it.

Drico.

I'm going slightly off topic but there's a question that comes to my mind every now and then.
I've always thought and I completely agree with you, that after the success of Very the PSB didn't go for a rush exploiting their great commercial success as they did in the imperial phase.
I mean after Very we have Disco2, Alternative, a latin america tour only and then back again after 3 years with a strange album that was Bilingual.

The question is: do you think that not exploiting their success in 1993/1994 releasing another Very-esque album but dealing with very different projects did extend thier carreer until our days? Do you think that a double-punch Very-Very2 with huge commercial success could let them burn as quick as a paper fire?

[ZiggyPSB]

Their single choices went off a cliff from 1994 onwards, with the odd moment of brilliance being the exception rather than the rule, sadly.

I think they lost momentum in 1994. Rather than releasing five singles off Very, they should have kept it to four at a maximum and released a brand new standalone to go with a new album - Disco 2 reimagined, because the real thing was hair-raising even when bald. The problem, of course, is that the brand new standalone single was Absolutely Fatuous - so beside the point that they didn't even put their name to it.

Drico.

I'm going slightly off topic but there's a question that comes to my mind every now and then.
I've always thought and I completely agree with you, that after the success of Very the PSB didn't go for a rush exploiting their great commercial success as they did in the imperial phase.
I mean after Very we have Disco2, Alternative, a latin america tour only and then back again after 3 years with a strange album that was Bilingual.

The question is: do you think that not exploiting their success in 1993/1994 releasing another Very-esque album but dealing with very different projects did extend thier carreer until our days? Do you think that a double-punch Very-Very2 with huge commercial success could let them burn as quick as a paper fire?

I probably would say yes. I think of David Bowie and his shooting to mega commercial stardom thanks to Lets Dance, where he basically made two more albums of Lets Dance (Tonight and Never Let Me Down), and they were more naff than the last in my opinion.