- gambling on Actually, by promoting What Have I Done To Deserve This? to lead position, and hoping that It's A Sin would still be a big enough hit to reach #1 as the second single (I think it would have)
- releasing Go West as the first single from Very.
Nothing else really makes much sense. You could argue the case that certain songs not released as singles could have made the Top 20, but suggesting that any of them could have made Number One during the era of their release is a bridge too far.
Retro.
I ask myself it PSB should have waited for a third single to release Very.
First single: Shameless
Second single: Can you forgive her?
Third single: Go West (prior the album)
Four single: The Teatre
Fifth single: I wouldn't normally do (the same version the video had)
And Absolute Fabulous.
All of them with a proper video of that magical era.
lalolalo wrote: Tue 07 Oct 2025, 2:23 pm
I love Shameless but it's too gay to ever be number 1 in early nineties.
Not for that reason, but I don't think Shameless would have made a good single either. I think Can You Forgive Her? was the right choice for a single out of the gate for Very (speaking of gay songs!), but it just didn't capture the zeitgeist at a time when it was all about Oasis and Blur.
Gabby wrote: Tue 07 Oct 2025, 2:55 pmNot for that reason, but I don't think Shameless would have made a good single either. I think Can You Forgive Her? was the right choice for a single out of the gate for Very (speaking of gay songs!), but it just didn't capture the zeitgeist at a time when it was all about Oasis and Blur.
Nickname wrote: Tue 07 Oct 2025, 11:26 am
I ask myself it PSB should have waited for a third single to release Very.
First single: Shameless
Second single: Can you forgive her?
Third single: Go West (prior the album)
Four single: The Teatre
Fifth single: I wouldn't normally do (the same version the video had)
And Absolute Fabulous.
All of them with a proper video of that magical era.
'Shameless' is perhaps the only time I can remember daytime Radio 1 playing a Pet Shop Boys B-sides back then (I think it might have been Simon Bates, but I could be wrong).
The first time I heard it, I had intended to put 'Go West' on a jukebox (back when they still contained 7 inches), but I mistyped the number and it played 'Shameless' instead. I enjoy the song, but I'm glad it was a B-side, and think if it was a single or on 'Very', I'd have got tired of it by now. It has a bit of a novelty feel to it.
Although if it was on 'Very', it no doubt would have had some post-production and editing by Stephen Hague to sharpen it up a bit.
Nickname wrote: Tue 07 Oct 2025, 11:26 am
I ask myself it PSB should have waited for a third single to release Very.
First single: Shameless
Second single: Can you forgive her?
Third single: Go West (prior the album)
Four single: The Teatre
Fifth single: I wouldn't normally do (the same version the video had)
And Absolute Fabulous.
All of them with a proper video of that magical era.
TwizzleUK wrote: Tue 07 Oct 2025, 5:11 pm
'Shameless' is perhaps the only time I can remember daytime Radio 1 playing a Pet Shop Boys B-sides back then (I think it might have been Simon Bates, but I could be wrong).
The first time I heard it, I had intended to put 'Go West' on a jukebox (back when they still contained 7 inches), but I mistyped the number and it played 'Shameless' instead. I enjoy the song, but I'm glad it was a B-side, and think if it was a single or on 'Very', I'd have got tired of it by now. It has a bit of a novelty feel to it.
Although if it was on 'Very', it no doubt would have had some post-production and editing by Stephen Hague to sharpen it up a bit.
Great as a B-sides though!
Everything about Shameless had worked in Very. The album is quite shameless by itself. The intro of the song works like a good intro for the album. The anthemic sound works amazingly well with Go West to make the album more consistent and better. Even better if they wanted to put the 7 " version of I Wouldn't Normally do this Kind of Thing in it.
* Gloria Estefan enters the chat * (although, admittedly she did better in mainland europe)
I've said it all before, I'll say it all again, Domino dancing was released too late in the year. It should have dropped in May or June.
Wouldn't it be so soon after Heart? Not that its September release helped it...
Heart dropped in March, so I think June is probably reasonable. Maybe there was a need to differentiate it from Actually as part of the Introspective release strategy - or maybe it simply wasn't completed as a song yet! I don't know but a drop sooner after Heart also might have done it a favour as well.
I understand why it wasn't, but I would have loved One in a million to be a late Very single (Including the live mash up version). I close my eyes and I still can see Neil walking up the stairs and taking off his wig on the last chord. That day was the end of something in my life, and the beginning of something else much more fun and true indeed. December 2nd, 1994.
lalolalo wrote: Wed 08 Oct 2025, 2:32 pm
I understand why it wasn't, but I would have loved One in a million to be a late Very single (Including the live mash up version). I close my eyes and I still can see Neil walking up the stairs and taking off his wig on the last chord. That day was the end of something in my life, and the beginning of something else much more fun and true indeed. December 2nd, 1994.
Surely a way better choice than the horrible Yesterday when I was Mad or the ridiculously optimistic Pollyanna track "I Wouldn't Do This..." lol
In hindsight, I wish they released Young Offender. For me, it is the secret masterpiece in Very. Or maybe it is just me that I am a masochist morose and do not like happy shiny tracks and go for gloomy and sinister ones. Hail for the dark It Couldn't Happen Here over the syrupy Liberation anytime .
I've said it all before, I'll say it all again, Domino dancing was released too late in the year. It should have dropped in May or June.
Wouldn't it be so soon after Heart? Not that its September release helped it...
Heart dropped in March, so I think June is probably reasonable. Maybe there was a need to differentiate it from Actually as part of the Introspective release strategy - or maybe it simply wasn't completed as a song yet! I don't know but a drop sooner after Heart also might have done it a favour as well.
Better strategy:
ACTUALLY:
- It's a sin (june)
- What have I done this? (august) (prior the album)
- Heart (october)
- King's Cross (december)
- Rent (february)
INTROSPECTIVE
- Domino Dancing (july)
- Left to my own Devices (october)
- Always on my mind (single version (december) (prior the album)
- It's Alright (february)
.