Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[leesmapman]

I love that PSB weren't too afraid for becoming a one day fly because they knew they had Suburbia up their sleeves. Plus, as it turned out, the Actually album later.

[One of the crowd]

Disco needs a remaster with an additional disc for the dub and other mixes

[Pinhead44]

Suburbia

Take one killer chorus, add a stunning keyboard melody and an awesome baseline, and what do you get? The boys back in the top 10 of the UK charts where they rightly belong !

Unfortunately for Please, the amazing re-work that became the single release isn’t on here, and after the shiny production of the previous 3 songs on the album, the music today sounds a little dated, and closer to a demo, although I used to love that about it when I was younger.

My eldest son’s favourite PSB song, and I recently introduced him to the wonder of the Full Horror. (8/10)

[Patrick Bateman]

The single version is arguably where the imperial phase begins with a seamless transition into the next single, It's a Sin. For me, it's one of Neil's finest lyrics: "Let's take a ride/And run with the dogs tonight in suburbia/You can't hide" reminds me of the Ballardian imagery Suede portrayed on Dog Man Star.

The video is fantastic too.

[Patrick Bateman]

I liked the album version of 'Suburbia' until I first heard the single version, after which it was never the same again and sounded rather pedestrian, although all the street battle samples from the Emulator's 'Armageddon' disk were already in place. Chris's bassline on the album version was inspired by Madonna's 'Get into the Groove'.

I have the impression that Parlophone were spooked when both 'Love Comes Quickly' and 'Opportunities' failed to replicate the giddy success of 'West End girls', with neither single bothering the top ten in the United Kingdom. What do record companies do when it looks like an artist's hits are drying up? They either drop the act or spend money bringing in a crack production team. Accordingly, 'Suburbia' marks the first time our heroes worked with Julian Mendelsohn and Fairlight programmer Andy Richards from Trevor Horn's own "Wrecking Crew". Both had worked so well together on the monster Frankie Goes to Hollywood hits two years previously and brought the same over-the-top sound to bear for the single remix of 'Suburbia'.

In a sense then we could say that 'Suburbia' saved the 'Please' campaign in commercial terms, charting at number eight in the U.K. Interestingly, it only cracked number 70 in the States.

Opportunities was a decent-sized hit, getting to number 11 in the UK and number 10 in the US.

[Drico One]

Yeah, Opportunities was a big hit. 10 in the US and 11 in the UK is a hit in anyone's language. It wasn't as big a hit as Neil and Chris expected it to be, though, which is why they really needed Suburbia to prove that it wasn't simply diminishing returns after West End girls. Suburbia established them in Europe and got to number 2 in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. In pure sales terms, it is their biggest UK non-top 2 hit, despite only getting to number 8. It spent about a month in the lower reaches of the top 10 and sold substantially more than any of their other top 5 hits.

Drico.

[Disco.]

The album version was essentially the demo version recorded straight to the master tape, the single version took the song to another level.

[telys]

I love that PSB weren't too afraid for becoming a one day fly because they knew they had Suburbia up their sleeves. Plus, as it turned out, the Actually album later.

Probably the record company knew as well what was in the storage.

[Drico One]

Track 6: Tonight is forever

Chronology: Please, Track 7

There is no regret on Please. It's all about living in the moment, and that's what makes it their most youthful and thrilling record. A sense of urgency pervades Tonight is forever. The inevitability of falling in love, as optimistically described in Love comes quickly, is consummated here in the critical wordplay that swaps "if we fall in love" for "when".

But perhaps the optimism goes too far? "It will be like this forever..." - will it? "I don't think of the future tonight" reaffirms that we are back in the here and now - and that's all that matters. After all, "we've got no future, we've got no past..."

Drico.

[leesmapman]

On Suburbia: I rather prefer the laid back version of the album over the single version.

Tonight is Forever: I fell in love with the track at the Salford gig in 2012. It's magic.

What I find interesting with this song is its intro: I always hear the 'marimba-ish' in a certain rhythm, but when the drums kick in, I'm always hearing it wrong. I can't explain it better than that. It's like I hear the high notes of that sequence on a certain beat, but it turns out it's on a different one.

[TwizzleUK]

On Suburbia: I rather prefer the laid back version of the album over the single version.

Tonight is Forever: I fell in love with the track at the Salford gig in 2012. It's magic.

What I find interesting with this song is its intro: I always hear the 'marimba-ish' in a certain rhythm, but when the drums kick in, I'm always hearing it wrong. I can't explain it better than that. It's like I hear the high notes of that sequence on a certain beat, but it turns out it's on a different one.

That's because the very first marimba note is the last 8th note in a bar you don't hear. The second marimba note of the song is actually where the first beat of the bar is (only you can't hear that, as the drums haven't yet kicked in at that point in the intro). If that makes sense (a hard thing to describe)?

[Sandy Shaw]

Suburbia

Take one killer chorus, add a stunning keyboard melody and an awesome baseline, and what do you get? The boys back in the top 10 of the UK charts where they rightly belong !

Unfortunately for Please, the amazing re-work that became the single release isn’t on here, and after the shiny production of the previous 3 songs on the album, the music today sounds a little dated, and closer to a demo, although I used to love that about it when I was younger.

My eldest son’s favourite PSB song, and I recently introduced him to the wonder of the Full Horror. (8/10)

The killer chorus owes some of its melody to another tune...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1A4wBgvPgI

[Disco.]

I wish they would have released this as a single, would have been a sure fire hit, slightly remixed.

[MikeyC]

Suburbia

Take one killer chorus, add a stunning keyboard melody and an awesome baseline, and what do you get? The boys back in the top 10 of the UK charts where they rightly belong !

Unfortunately for Please, the amazing re-work that became the single release isn’t on here, and after the shiny production of the previous 3 songs on the album, the music today sounds a little dated, and closer to a demo, although I used to love that about it when I was younger.

My eldest son’s favourite PSB song, and I recently introduced him to the wonder of the Full Horror. (8/10)

The killer chorus owes some of its melody to another tune...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1A4wBgvPgI

I’ve thought this for decades and you’re the first person I’ve encountered to share this view as well! My 15 year old self (as well as my current self) thanks you!!

[leesmapman]

That's because the very first marimba note is the last 8th note in a bar you don't hear. The second marimba note of the song is actually where the first beat of the bar is (only you can't hear that, as the drums haven't yet kicked in at that point in the intro). If that makes sense (a hard thing to describe)?

I understand what you mean. And it makes perfect sense.