Pet Shop Boys Missteps

[Moorlandman]

The University Tours (around 2002) were definitely a low point. I watched them at Keele and it was a dire performance despite playing some great hits.

Fortunately, the next tour was much better - Fundamental.

[Moorlandman]

Elysium another low point.

[Patrick Bateman]

Not their fault as they couldn't get the rights but imagine an alternative reality where they wrote a Brighton Rock musical instead of Closer to Heaven. Maybe they write better songs, it's a massive hit and that whole period is very different.

[neilgregory72]

Won't somebody please think about Disco 2?

Devices should have been the lead single, better video, release the Remix and it might have got them their 5th number one. It still smarts.

Ab Fab. After everything they said about pop stars and charity it seemed like they'd sold themselves out.

Remixes for Liberation, Yesterday etc are not what I wanted from them.

[tottenhammattspurs]

Thing is about the Liberation mixes is that if you don’t think of them as PSB tracks, they are decent club tunes. The E Smoove 12” mix is a superb slice of mid 90s dub and I loved putting it into a set and watch people dance to a “PSB track” without them knowing.

[TallThinMan]

Not their fault as they couldn't get the rights but imagine an alternative reality where they wrote a Brighton Rock musical instead of Closer to Heaven. Maybe they write better songs, it's a massive hit and that whole period is very different.

IIRC the music for the fan favourite ‘The Night I Fell in Love’ was originally conceived for the Brighton Rock musical.

[Danger]

3. Only touring Asia and S-America after Very

Probably their biggest mistake

Confusing themselves with Nightlife and Closer To Heaven

Too many projects at the same times... After nothing for around 2 years after Bilingual..

5. Not making Release a proper "acoustic" album and by putting some duff tracks on it
6. Not releasing A Man From The Future

Instead for me these are good points: Release is been an excellent experiment and their songwriting was at the top, even if Disco 3 could be release as double album with Release: CD1 acoustic, CD2 remixes and bsides.
While about AMFTF they took the right decision: I saw it at RAH and it was a boring release, their worst side project

[eastendboy]

I do like this thread and perhaps it could be a future podcast? Call it You Know Where You Went Wong?

I guess over the years Chris and Neil have had lots of people advising them on what should be a single and they are never going to please everyone. Generally I’ve been more than happy with what’s been released and I may be in the minority here but I don’t think Disco 2 is that bad if you listen to it as a continuous mix. Maybe introspective was released too soon and imagine they were under pressure from parlophone to release something quickly as they had huge success just before. Maybe one day Neil will reveal all if and when his autobiography comes out.

[oakey]

Thing is about the Liberation mixes is that if you don’t think of them as PSB tracks, they are decent club tunes. The E Smoove 12” mix is a superb slice of mid 90s dub and I loved putting it into a set and watch people dance to a “PSB track” without them knowing.

The Liberation remixes are the only PSB songs/remixes I ever heard from them in clubs in the 1990s (when I still frequented clubs as a twenty something). Nothing wrong with them and most other mixes from that era.

[Patrick Bateman]

I do like this thread and perhaps it could be a future podcast? Call it You Know Where You Went Wong?

I guess over the years Chris and Neil have had lots of people advising them on what should be a single and they are never going to please everyone. Generally I’ve been more than happy with what’s been released and I may be in the minority here but I don’t think Disco 2 is that bad if you listen to it as a continuous mix. Maybe introspective was released too soon and imagine they were under pressure from parlophone to release something quickly as they had huge success just before. Maybe one day Neil will reveal all if and when his autobiography comes out.

They aren't really a mixtape band though - Petheads tend to demand a complete package and moan if they miss something out, so an album where you don't even hear the full tracks was always going to be maligned. At this stage it matters less than it did in 1994 though as Disco 2 was obviously such a disappointment when compared with the original, whereas now we've had five of them.

[Patrick Bateman]

Thinking about this, it is that period between Bilingual and Release that seems most problematic. Mostly that's because synthpop was no longer in fashion and they were now an 'old' pop group - The Samurai in Autumn. There doesn't seem to be the same assurance as during the imperial phase, and they do things because they're not sure what to do. There's also a sense that they're now a famous pop group hanging out with their famous friends in the Groucho Club, which means they become self-indulgent (the Sam Taylor-Wood track, the Fat Les remix) and a bit like prog rock in 1976. Disco 3, Miracles and Flamboyant felt like a regeneration, which then continued with both Fundamental and Yes.

[markus]

Post imperial phase (1997) they were often absent from their music videos. I guess they gave up the pop star fantasy because it wasn't fun any more - maybe blaming old age as being the reason why they didn't score the hits anymore. Wigs and masks were heavily used ever since.

[oakey]

I do like this thread and perhaps it could be a future podcast? Call it You Know Where You Went Wong?

I guess over the years Chris and Neil have had lots of people advising them on what should be a single and they are never going to please everyone. Generally I’ve been more than happy with what’s been released and I may be in the minority here but I don’t think Disco 2 is that bad if you listen to it as a continuous mix. Maybe introspective was released too soon and imagine they were under pressure from parlophone to release something quickly as they had huge success just before. Maybe one day Neil will reveal all if and when his autobiography comes out.

They aren't really a mixtape band though - Petheads tend to demand a complete package and moan if they miss something out, so an album where you don't even hear the full tracks was always going to be maligned. At this stage it matters less than it did in 1994 though as Disco 2 was obviously such a disappointment when compared with the original, whereas now we've had five of them.

It's also a 90s thing. I have similar continuous mix CDs by The Shamen and Kylie. To my ears there is nothing wrong with Disco 2 and nobody is forced to listen to it or purchase it. The mix itself is actually quite good.

[tottenhammattspurs]

Disco 2 still the highest charting Disco album by some margin and charted higher than a few studio albums.

[CroMagnon]

Thinking about this, it is that period between Bilingual and Release that seems most problematic. Mostly that's because synthpop was no longer in fashion and they were now an 'old' pop group - The Samurai in Autumn. There doesn't seem to be the same assurance as during the imperial phase, and they do things because they're not sure what to do. There's also a sense that they're now a famous pop group hanging out with their famous friends in the Groucho Club, which means they become self-indulgent (the Sam Taylor-Wood track, the Fat Les remix) and a bit like prog rock in 1976. Disco 3, Miracles and Flamboyant felt like a regeneration, which then continued with both Fundamental and Yes.

As much as many fans dislike it, Release was actually the turning point, a palette cleanser, with the focus returning to song-writing and no expectations of hits.There were still missteps: The Night I Fell in Love, omitting I didn't get where I am today (and Always, although I don't think it was written in time for the album?), and the weird under-produced demo quality of Here, but something clicked again for them in songs like Birthday Boy and Love is a Catastrophe. From there, we arrive at Miracles and Flamboyant, and they're up and running again, and en route to "national treasure" status.