Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[Spittingcat]

Opportunities was their Born in the USA. A critical satire misappropriated by mindless media, they could see the way the 80s were heading. Written in 1983 as Maggie secured her second victory on the back of sinking foreign ships, it was a hit just a few months before Big Bang which deregulated the British banking system and unleashed the financial genie that got us where we are today.

We'll go shopping next album.

Spot on.

[Pinhead44]

Hi all,

Brand new to the forum (although long-time lurker), so apologies that I am giving my thoughts on the first 3 tracks of Please in one post

Two Divided by Zero

Any PSB album that opens up with a non-single cracker of a track is right up my street (One More Chance, Axis, Will-o-the-Wisp) and Two Divided by Zero perfectly fits that remit for me on Please.

Neil breezes effortlessly through the song with his low-tone vocals which barely change even during the chorus, which I love on a PSB track (think also of Leaving and Miserablism) 8/10

West End Girls

If Two Divided by Zero introduces you perfectly to Please, West End Girls is the perfect song that introduced PSB to the world ! And how !

I recently went to a night out where the DJ played West End girls, and the dance-floor was packed from 15 – 70 year olds dancing and singing along ! Not many songs can still have that impact nearly 40 years after being released ! 10/10

Opportunities

From the remarkable intro of West End girls, we move to another with Opportunities. You could instantly name both songs within 3 seconds of hearing them start. The lovely, almost sad keyboard melody draws you in, it could almost be the start to be a slow song, but no chance ! The first beat kicks in, and 3 minutes of perfect pop mayhem follows ! 9/10

[Disco.]

The 12 inch single is superb, and it has one of my all time favourite B-Sides "Was That What It Was?".

The promo video was cool too.

Funny how taste can differ that’s one of Neil’s least favorite PSB songs.

[Patrick Bateman]

One of Sir Keith Joseph's selections on Desert Island Discs.

[telys]

Opportunities could be made in to a very long song, it has so many parts, like a mini-synth-symphony.

[Sandy Shaw]

The 12 inch single is superb, and it has one of my all time favourite B-Sides "Was That What It Was?".

The promo video was cool too.

Of course there are two different videos.

In version 2 Chris plays up to the ''lots of brawn'' character and Neil the ''lots of brain'' of course which adds layers...

[tottenhammattspurs]

If we’re are doing a track a day, it’s only another 37 days till nonetheless is out, which by my calculations (going on just album tracks) gets to around My October Symphony? Perhaps this should have started about 100 days earlier?

[Drico One]

If we’re are doing a track a day, it’s only another 37 days till nonetheless is out, which by my calculations (going on just album tracks) gets to around My October Symphony? Perhaps this should have started about 100 days earlier?

Let's just get to Nonetheless first, eh?

Drico.

[Drico One]

Track 4: Love comes quickly

Chronology: Please, Track 4

The great thing about Please is Pet Shop Boys arrived almost fully formed. Not for them the slightly embarrassing record that was subsequently shown up by successor albums. No, they arrived with their manifesto the very moment they beckoned us not to go home, catch the late train instead, and escape from whatever slightly shady shenanigans that was blighting our lives.

This is, arguably, the only era where every single track was, essentially, perfectly representative of their world. Each b-sides is to the album what a side street is to a city. A man could get arrested, In the night, Was that what it was?, and That's my impression created a dialogue of their own as if they spoke to each other and continued a secret, shadowy conversation. All of these songs appear in my mind's eye beneath a neon sheen that is reflected in the street puddles that characterise the seedy gloam in which we adventure.

Please has one advantage over all of their subsequent work: its songs speak to the world of hungry young men from the perspective of hungry young men. By Actually, that hunger has been replaced by success, even if the ambition burns brightly. From Behaviour, the perspective changes to reflect experience and, inevitably, regret.

There is little regret on Please. All of our adventures are ahead of us. As a result, it's intoxicating and the possibilities are endless. And this is perfectly encapsulated by Love comes quickly, where the chosen voice of our generation soothes us all with reassurance that "sooner or later, this happens to everyone..."

As a youthful listener, Neil's the experienced mentor with crucial advice to impart, even if it "sounds ridiculous". As an older, more streetwise eavesdropper, you assume the role of Neil and nod sagely. He was right, after all, the old cad.

As so often on Please, somebody is on the run, but this time you cannot avoid the inevitability of love even at the end of the world. That's a wonderfully optimistic sentiment. Love comes quickly is arguably the first significant example of Neil's romantic sincerity. There isn't an ounce of cynicism in this record, just a positive, life-affirming certainty that even the lonely, the bookish, and the reluctant will, invariably, fall in love. I think it's really beautiful.

When you think about it, what a contrast between this and the previous track, Opportunities: romantic sincerity versus irony. The latter may have won out in the public consciousness, but the former is what's always been at the heart of their songwriting. This contrast is part of what makes them such fascinating songwriters.

[Pinhead44]

Love Comes Quickly

Love that the track gives us a full 45 seconds to soak in the beautiful melody at the start, before Neil starts singing the first verse. Wonderful baseline on this track, that almost becomes a melody of its own.

Shep Pettibone does another stellar job on the remix (Blank and Jones remix is also very good). I think the album /single version would have benefitted from making that baseline more prominent in the mix, like SP does. 8/10

[psbfannyc]

My first PSB album I bought was the remix album "Disco" before "Please". "Disco" as we all know has the "Shep Pettibone's Mastermix" version of "Love Comes Quickly". So, after I saw this performance of "Love Comes Quickly" on the USA version of the MTV Music Awards back in the day, I was totally hooked on their approach because of the bass line and bought "Disco" (cassette of course). And seeing Chris from this new UK band so intensely hitting those keys on this MTV Awards show "Live from Los Angeles", I knew I was addicted...

As Neil once said..."This is the first beautiful song Chris and I wrote."

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Fh4y157tC/

[telys]

My first PSB album I bought was the remix album "Disco" before "Please". "Disco" as we all know has the "Shep Pettibone's Mastermix" version of "Love Comes Quickly". So, after I saw this performance of "Love Comes Quickly" on the USA version of the MTV Music Awards back in the day, I was totally hooked on their approach because of the bass line and bought "Disco" (cassette of course). And seeing Chris from this new UK band so intensely hitting those keys on this MTV Awards show "Live from Los Angeles", I knew I was addicted...

As Neil once said..."This is the first beautiful song Chris and I wrote."

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Fh4y157tC/

Dito. Got Disco first. Please later. I still get lost in the Love comes quickly Mastermix, it's such a journey to listen through that mix, one of the best remixes ever of a PSB song. This summer I plan to return to the city where I bought Disco and I'll try to find the street where the record shop was.

[Disco.]

The Shep Pettibone remix eclipses the original, simply marvelous, one of his best remixes, and he made so many fantastic remixes.

[Patrick Bateman]

Love Comes Quickly is now my favourite PSB track and has been since the Dreamworld tour. It was always up there but now I consider it their most perfect pure pop song. As Drico says, even PSB cynics cannot accuse them of being ironic here; the most you could say is the title is, like So Hard, a double entendre. I like the fact there's no Russian history (or ballet dancers) here, just a genuinely sincere lyric, which is euphorically optimistic about falling in love. Of course, psychological trauma will inevitably follow but the song is not concerned with that, only with that initial ecstatic moment.

[Drico One]

Love Comes Quickly is now my favourite PSB track and has been since the Dreamworld tour. It was always up there but now I consider it their most perfect pure pop song. As Drico says, even PSB cynics cannot accuse them of being ironic here; the most you could say is the title is, like So Hard, a double entendre. I like the fact there's no Russian history (or ballet dancers) here, just a genuinely sincere lyric, which is euphorically optimistic about falling in love. Of course, psychological trauma will inevitably follow but the song is not concerned with that, only with that initial ecstatic moment.

I think the Inner Sanctum/Super tour version is one of the all-time greatest live versions of their songs. Mind you, I thought the same about the 1989 tour version. It's just such a perfect song that it lends itself so well to live performance.

Drico.