Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[Gabby]

Alternative beats most groups' Greatest Hits collections into a cocked hat.

All killer, no filler, as they say.

Alternative is outstanding in it's own right. Whenever I actually think to put it on, I am immediately mesmerized by how incredibly well it all holds together as an "album".

In some respects this could be the "go to" introduction album for people who have never heard PSB before - it's shows the level of depth and diversity in their songs that their studio albums/singles collections might not show in such a balanced way.

[Patrick Bateman]

It makes sense that Alternative is so good. It showcases the best period of their career, utilises many tracks that had been written before they were successful and precedes having to fill multiple formats. Like the rest of their output, their b-sides became more patchy as time went on.

[NotInvisible]

It makes sense that Alternative is so good. It showcases the best period of their career, utilises many tracks that had been written before they were successful and precedes having to fill multiple formats. Like the rest of their output, their b-sides became more patchy as time went on.

What's remarkable is not just how minimal 'patchy' really is in this context compared to most other groups, but also how much Alternative demolishes other groups' b-sides collections. Sci-Fi Lullabies is the only real comparison in terms of compilations that could have been an album in their own right.

And while I would be the first to agree that Format and a hypothetical third (!) double album (!!) compilation of b-sides aren't exactly in Alternative's league, I can't think of any band anywhere that can fill six discs' worth of b-sides as listenable.

We really are spoiled.

[markus]

This might be something you’re not supposed to say on this forum, but I’ve always felt that Alternative is far superior to Discography.

I only heard “West End Girls” properly for the first time in 1992, when I bought Discography mainly for “Where the Streets Have No Name”, which was on MTV constantly while I was doing my work experience at an electronics shop. “West End girls” was still undeniably cool, but songs like “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” and “Rent” already sounded hopelessly 80s to me — slick, perfectly crafted hit singles, yet also rather formulaic and stiff.
PSB were smart enough to understand that you don’t expose your soul on Top of the Pops if you’re aiming for mainstream success, especially if there are a few skeletons in the closet. That strategy clearly worked. But real art, for me, needs darkness, ambiguity, and abstraction.

When they crossed over from pop to art, they opened a Pandora’s box. By embracing those darker undercurrents, there was no real way back to writing a song like “Suburbia.” From that point on, the trajectory changed permanently.
In fact, they’ve managed to survive for over 30 years precisely by being alternative and obscure. I’m not sure they would have lasted otherwise.

[neilgregory72]

Decadence is great but it's not even one of the best on Alternative for me.

I'm more likely to go back and play Alternative than Actually or Please.

It's ridiculous how good their B-sides were in this period.

[NotInvisible]

By embracing those darker undercurrents, there was no real way back to writing a song like “Suburbia.”

Suburbia is one of their darkest songs…

[negative_0ne]

As a teenager, I used to lie in bed at night listening to Alternative on my (very expensive) Sennheiser headphones. It’s amazing how the album just keeps getting better the further it goes. When “Decadence” came on, I got shivers — talk about an elevated state.
What’s also striking is how CD2 works almost like a perfectly sequenced playlist, even though the tracks are simply in chronological order. What other band hides some of their very best songs like Easter eggs on a b-sides collection like this?

i like alternative also.. lots of great tracks in there

but other bands have great b-sides compilations and tracks also;
[not all are on compilations, mostly box sets]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
abc - tons of variety
big country - at least 100+
blancmange - strange but interesting
erasure - can be hit and miss though
flock of seagulls
go west
heaven 17
new order
simple minds
underworld
u2

bands that have a lot - but most are too experimental
tears for fears
ultravox

later
| || | |
ne gative 1

[markus]

As a teenager, I used to lie in bed at night listening to Alternative on my (very expensive) Sennheiser headphones. It’s amazing how the album just keeps getting better the further it goes. When “Decadence” came on, I got shivers — talk about an elevated state.
What’s also striking is how CD2 works almost like a perfectly sequenced playlist, even though the tracks are simply in chronological order. What other band hides some of their very best songs like Easter eggs on a b-sides collection like this?

i like alternative also.. lots of great tracks in there

but other bands have great b-sides compilations and tracks also;
[not all are on compilations, mostly box sets]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
abc - tons of variety
big country - at least 100+
blancmange - strange but interesting
erasure - can be hit and miss though
flock of seagulls
go west
heaven 17
new order
simple minds
underworld
u2

bands that have a lot - but most are too experimental
tears for fears
ultravox

later
| || | |
ne gative 1

Thanks, buddy. I had no idea those bands deserved a deeper look. Dubstar and Saint Etienne are the only ones I’ve known who, like PSB, take pride in maintaining a certain level of quality. Most artists have no integrity whatsoever. They probably don’t even like their own music—just the performing, the fame, and the money.

[markus]

By embracing those darker undercurrents, there was no real way back to writing a song like “Suburbia.”

Suburbia is one of their darkest songs…

Well, OK—Discography has its moments of darkness too. Patsy Kensit apparently declined to sing “she’s a puppet as long as you pay her rent,” so she chose “I’m Not Scared” instead. Neil didn’t mind at all—perhaps there’s more about that in the song “If Love Were All.”

[Patrick Bateman]

This might be something you’re not supposed to say on this forum, but I’ve always felt that Alternative is far superior to Discography.

I only heard “West End Girls” properly for the first time in 1992, when I bought Discography mainly for “Where the Streets Have No Name”, which was on MTV constantly while I was doing my work experience at an electronics shop. “West End girls” was still undeniably cool, but songs like “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” and “Rent” already sounded hopelessly 80s to me — slick, perfectly crafted hit singles, yet also rather formulaic and stiff.
PSB were smart enough to understand that you don’t expose your soul on Top of the Pops if you’re aiming for mainstream success, especially if there are a few skeletons in the closet. That strategy clearly worked. But real art, for me, needs darkness, ambiguity, and abstraction.

When they crossed over from pop to art, they opened a Pandora’s box. By embracing those darker undercurrents, there was no real way back to writing a song like “Suburbia.” From that point on, the trajectory changed permanently.
In fact, they’ve managed to survive for over 30 years precisely by being alternative and obscure. I’m not sure they would have lasted otherwise.

I mean it's obviously your opinion but Rent sounds 'formulaic and stiff'? Really? I don't think you can delineate the singles as pop and the b-sides as art either. Alternative is full of amazing pop songs - it's hardly Metal Machine Music.

[markus]

This might be something you’re not supposed to say on this forum, but I’ve always felt that Alternative is far superior to Discography.

I only heard “West End Girls” properly for the first time in 1992, when I bought Discography mainly for “Where the Streets Have No Name”, which was on MTV constantly while I was doing my work experience at an electronics shop. “West End girls” was still undeniably cool, but songs like “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” and “Rent” already sounded hopelessly 80s to me — slick, perfectly crafted hit singles, yet also rather formulaic and stiff.
PSB were smart enough to understand that you don’t expose your soul on Top of the Pops if you’re aiming for mainstream success, especially if there are a few skeletons in the closet. That strategy clearly worked. But real art, for me, needs darkness, ambiguity, and abstraction.

When they crossed over from pop to art, they opened a Pandora’s box. By embracing those darker undercurrents, there was no real way back to writing a song like “Suburbia.” From that point on, the trajectory changed permanently.
In fact, they’ve managed to survive for over 30 years precisely by being alternative and obscure. I’m not sure they would have lasted otherwise.

I mean it's obviously your opinion but Rent sounds 'formulaic and stiff'? Really? I don't think you can delineate the singles as pop and the b-sides as art either. Alternative is full of amazing pop songs - it's hardly Metal Machine Music.

Not to my teenage ears they weren’t. Rent sounded ultra-commercial, just like Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) — which even admits what it is in the title.
CD1 of Alternative is full of experimental synth work, and the lyrics are often so outlandish that the average listener wouldn’t be able to relate to much of it at all.

My point is that they either became oblivious to the fact that they were always too obscure beneath the surface for the hit charts, or they simply didn’t care. Because after the release of Alternative, they suddenly released a single like Somewhere, to everyone’s shock. Earlier, a song like that would likely have been relegated to the same fate as Shameless or If Love Were All.

In trying to figure out why they stopped having hits, the answer lies in what their true passion was all along: expressing what they wanted artistically, freely and without limitations — to the point where they lost touch with what was commercially viable.

[Patrick Bateman]

Not to my teenage ears they weren’t. Rent sounded ultra-commercial, just like Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) — which even admits what it is in the title.
CD1 of Alternative is full of experimental synth work, and the lyrics are often so outlandish that the average listener wouldn’t be able to relate to much of it at all.

My point is that they either became oblivious to the fact that they were always too obscure beneath the surface for the hit charts, or they simply didn’t care. Because after the release of Alternative, they suddenly released a single like Somewhere, to everyone’s shock. Earlier, a song like that would likely have been relegated to the same fate as Shameless or If Love Were All.

In trying to figure out why they stopped having hits, the answer lies in what their true passion was all along: expressing what they wanted artistically, freely and without limitations — to the point where they lost touch with what was commercially viable.

The main reason they stopped having big hits was that they were old and their style of music went out of fashion. Very is really their last hurrah in terms of them being a major pop act. By the time Bilingual comes out, Britpop dominates the zeitgeist and they are essentially the elder statesmen of pop, having been around for a decade - the Girls and Boys remix, for instance. Of course, if you're releasing garbage like Absolutely Fabulous, then you have also lost the plot to an extent too.

I completely disagree that they went 'arty' - they never stopped making pop music, it's just that the pop kids had moved on and often the songs weren't as good as they were during their imperial phase, which is what happens to most pop acts.

[trafaelwyr]

As a teenager, I used to lie in bed at night listening to Alternative on my (very expensive) Sennheiser headphones. It’s amazing how the album just keeps getting better the further it goes. When “Decadence” came on, I got shivers — talk about an elevated state.
What’s also striking is how CD2 works almost like a perfectly sequenced playlist, even though the tracks are simply in chronological order. What other band hides some of their very best songs like Easter eggs on a b-sides collection like this?

i like alternative also.. lots of great tracks in there

but other bands have great b-sides compilations and tracks also;
[not all are on compilations, mostly box sets]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
abc - tons of variety
big country - at least 100+
blancmange - strange but interesting
erasure - can be hit and miss though
flock of seagulls
go west
heaven 17
new order
simple minds
underworld
u2

bands that have a lot - but most are too experimental
tears for fears
ultravox

later
| || | |
ne gative 1

Thanks, buddy. I had no idea those bands deserved a deeper look. Dubstar and Saint Etienne are the only ones I’ve known who, like PSB, take pride in maintaining a certain level of quality. Most artists have no integrity whatsoever. They probably don’t even like their own music—just the performing, the fame, and the money.

Yes, Dubstar and Saint Etienne (two bands I'm quite the fan of) always gave you b-side songs, some that were really good. Thankfully, Steve Hillier of Dubstar will put out an unreleased song every month on youtube. Saint Etienne have called it a day and won't be making any more albums - but that's not to say we probably won't get something around Christmas time this year "for the fans".

[NotInvisible]

CD1 of Alternative is full of experimental synth work

Like what? Outside of The Sound of the Atom Splitting, everything on Alternative is pretty standard synth pop - albeit brilliantly written songs.

My point is that they either became oblivious to the fact that they were always too obscure beneath the surface for the hit charts, or they simply didn’t care. Because after the release of Alternative, they suddenly released a single like Somewhere, to everyone’s shock. Earlier, a song like that would likely have been relegated to the same fate as Shameless or If Love Were All.

Earlier, a song like that would have been called Always On My Mind or Where the Streets Have No Name. The only surprise about Somewhere is that any fan who'd been paying attention to their career was surprised. They'd released covers before, they'd even had a Top 10 hit covering a showtune with Liza.

In trying to figure out why they stopped having hits, the answer lies in what their true passion was all along: expressing what they wanted artistically, freely and without limitations — to the point where they lost touch with what was commercially viable.

Er, no. The answer lies in the fact that virtually no artist is regularly churning out hits decades after their debut, because pop music is generally about the thrill of the young and the new, and who is delivering a song matters even more than the song itself. And even then, Pet Shop Boys shockingly landed multiple Top 40 hits 25 years after their debut.

[NotInvisible]

Of course, if you're releasing garbage like Absolutely Fabulous, then you have also lost the plot to an extent too.

Absolutely Fabulous was #6 on the charts, which is pretty much the mission statement for a pop group and vindicates the track whether we like it or not. It's an example of having a very firm grip on the plot...