Pet Shop Boys Missteps

[Bucky Goldstein]

I have a feeling the original Wedding Present version was slightly different and more personalized.

Yeah, David Gedge was gutted when he heard what they’d done to his song…

[Spittingcat]

Now I want to hear a WP song covered by PSB!

My first thought is... "I'm from further North than you".

[Gabby]

I'm starting to consider whether releasing Nonetheless on a million different vinyl formats was a mis-step. I totally bought into it at the time but these days "special edition" vinyl is flooding the market - which no longer makes it particularly special any more.

I get so many emails of this coloured vinyl and that zoetrope vinyl now, I just go "meh - that's pretty I guess" and move on.

Back in the day, if you saw a picture disc it was something amazing.

[markus]

Closer to heaven the musical:
Way too amateurish, and with a weird funky smell, it was never going anywhere near Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber should've had the last word. The bar needed to be where it was set with Mamma Mia, or then just scrape the whole idea.

[Gabby]

Closer to heaven the musical:
Way too amateurish, and with a weird funky smell, it was never going anywhere near Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber should've had the last word. The bar needed to be where it was set with Mamma Mia, or then just scrape the whole idea.

I don't necessarily see it as a misstep but I do agree it wasn't going to light up Broadway. I'm not real keen on the idea of a PSB jukebox musical though, so have to give credit there for them not going that route.

[markus]

Closer to heaven the musical:
Way too amateurish, and with a weird funky smell, it was never going anywhere near Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber should've had the last word. The bar needed to be where it was set with Mamma Mia, or then just scrape the whole idea.

I don't necessarily see it as a misstep but I do agree it wasn't going to light up Broadway. I'm not real keen on the idea of a PSB jukebox musical though, so have to give credit there for them not going that route.

I loved the music itself, resonated well with the mood from 2001-2002. So did Nightlife and Release, the soundtrack to my life as they say. Fundamental was actally the lowpoint when things were really off for a while. But in hindsight feels like CTH cost them the status ahead of the curve pop band and it took at least 10 years to recover from that.

[Pinhead44]

The lack of quality on some of their album closing tracks, since Very, have been a disappointment for me. PSB albums should always end on a cracker !

Bilingual - Saturday Night Forever
Nightlife - Footsteps
Release - You Choose
Yes - Legacy
Super - Into Thin Air
Hotspot - Wedding In Berlin

[CroMagnon]

The lack of quality on some of their album closing tracks, since Very, have been a disappointment for me. PSB albums should always end on a cracker !

Bilingual - Saturday Night Forever
Nightlife - Footsteps
Release - You Choose
Yes - Legacy
Super - Into Thin Air
Hotspot - Wedding In Berlin

I think that "You Choose" and "Into Thin Air" are both decent closers, especially relative to the quality of their host albums. I'm definitely a fan of the big, epic closer though - King's Cross, Love is the Law and Jealousy all fit that bill. Love Integral, but don't think it should have been the closer to Fundamental. Luna Park would be a better final track, maybe with the addition of a bigger orchestral ending.

I've never rated Requiem as the closer of Elysium either, or Why don't we live together? for that matter. Side 2 of Please is actually quite weak IMO, with only "I want a lover" a track I truly value as top tier.

[Ramzy]

[Side 2 of Please is actually quite weak IMO, with only "I want a lover" a track I truly value as top tier.

Sacrilege! I've never tried to rank sides of PSB albums but I'm almost certain Please side 2 would be in my top three or four.

More seriously, Footsteps and Into Thin Air are my favourite songs on their respective albums, and for a (curious) time Legacy was my favourite on Yes - one man's trash and all that. So I don't really agree with the "weak closing tracks" hypothesis, especially when you factor in Integral, Vocal and Love Is The Law. What's interesting (maybe) about Saturday Night Forever and You Choose is they seem to have been chosen as closing tracks for primarily thematic rather than sonic reasons - much like Why Don't We Live Together. Whereas in a case like Go West or King's Cross you've got both an epic piece of music *and* a thematic conclusion. Or in the case of It's Alright, you've got nine and a half minutes of neither. I wouldn't necessarily class that as a misstep, but for me it's closer than most of the other examples in this thread.

[TallThinMan]

[Side 2 of Please is actually quite weak IMO, with only "I want a lover" a track I truly value as top tier.

Sacrilege! I've never tried to rank sides of PSB albums but I'm almost certain Please side 2 would be in my top three or four.

More seriously, Footsteps and Into Thin Air are my favourite songs on their respective albums, and for a (curious) time Legacy was my favourite on Yes - one man's trash and all that. So I don't really agree with the "weak closing tracks" hypothesis, especially when you factor in Integral, Vocal and Love Is The Law. What's interesting (maybe) about Saturday Night Forever and You Choose is they seem to have been chosen as closing tracks for primarily thematic rather than sonic reasons - much like Why Don't We Live Together. Whereas in a case like Go West or King's Cross you've got both an epic piece of music *and* a thematic conclusion. Or in the case of It's Alright, you've got nine and a half minutes of neither. I wouldn't necessarily class that as a misstep, but for me it's closer than most of the other examples in this thread.

I agree with you, although I don't know think the songs on Introspective can be said to be unified by any theme. If the album has a theme, it's that we've moved beyond pure pop music and are now exploring house music.

[markus]

You only tell me you love me when you're drunk - Kermit said to Miss Piggy.

[Sammy Jenkis]

I think Introspective may have a narrative IMHO.

Left to my own devices: our narrator discovers they can be loved but there's a snag. They can only truly accept the affection of someone who's as ambivalent about love as they are themselves - "waiting for the moment I hear you say...." Thus, the relationship will always be haunted by the fact that if one doesn't pull the trigger, the other will. Tragedy of the commons dictates our narrator may well be the one to pull the plug on the only relationship of equals they might find.

Seeking to escape this looming heartbreak, they head for the dance floor but instead of finding community, they find themselves marooned in their isolation. They want the unquestioning affection of a dog (literal? Metaphorical?) Which they're not going to find in the middle of a euphoric house night.

Domino Dancing finds them trying to sustain the illusion that it might work. But having failed to pull the trigger on the relationship themselves, they now become hyperatuned to the slightest of actions from their lover. It's not going to end well.

INS: a crisis arises and potentially the couple might be able to move beyond their intrinsic suspicions of eachother. However, the external crisis fails to resolve the underlying internal crisis.

AWOMM; wheels coming off time. The feeling of loss is weirdly more euphoric than the lingering paranoia that dominated the relationship. A split can be called between a public and private monologue - this gives context to the interpolation of IMH. Nothing becomes the relationship so much as the leaving of it.

IA- And we're back out to the club. The sense of community that couldn't be found in IWAD is suddenly available and the music offers a meaning and succour that will sustain temporarily. Whether it can match up to the bold claims that music lives forever, who knows.

That's my tuppence halfpenny and hello to everyone.

[Disco.]

[Side 2 of Please is actually quite weak IMO, with only "I want a lover" a track I truly value as top tier.

Sacrilege! I've never tried to rank sides of PSB albums but I'm almost certain Please side 2 would be in my top three or four.

More seriously, Footsteps and Into Thin Air are my favourite songs on their respective albums, and for a (curious) time Legacy was my favourite on Yes - one man's trash and all that. So I don't really agree with the "weak closing tracks" hypothesis, especially when you factor in Integral, Vocal and Love Is The Law. What's interesting (maybe) about Saturday Night Forever and You Choose is they seem to have been chosen as closing tracks for primarily thematic rather than sonic reasons - much like Why Don't We Live Together. Whereas in a case like Go West or King's Cross you've got both an epic piece of music *and* a thematic conclusion. Or in the case of It's Alright, you've got nine and a half minutes of neither. I wouldn't necessarily class that as a misstep, but for me it's closer than most of the other examples in this thread.

The Introspective version of Its Alright is fantastic, and a superb closing track, magic !

[Patrick Bateman]

Sacrilege! I've never tried to rank sides of PSB albums but I'm almost certain Please side 2 would be in my top three or four.

That would be a good topic actually. I can't recall seeing a breakdown of people's best/worst sides of the albums. It would require some thought because even if you know which album is your favourite, it's difficult to choose between the sides...and maybe it's a different side. Behaviour's my favourite album but I could certainly make a strong case for side 2 of Actually or side 1 of Introspective or...

Side 2 of Please is indeed up there, despite having none of the singles on it, which is testament to their songwriting.

[redsock]

Closer to heaven the musical:
Way too amateurish, and with a weird funky smell, it was never going anywhere near Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber should've had the last word. The bar needed to be where it was set with Mamma Mia, or then just scrape the whole idea.

I remember thinking at the time that it felt rather like watching a 6th form end of year play.

But I met Neil outside having pre show drinks, so that rather made the evening for me.