Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[NotInvisible]

I've never understood why they didn't really promote Bilingual whatsoever. You would have thought being the lead single from the album that followed on from Very, they would perform it on Top of the Pops and other various shows at the time.

I think they just sort of grew up. They already had the money, they were pushing further and further away from straight pop music, they were pushing 40 and tired of promotion. They didn't need chart hits anymore.

[Patrick Bateman]

I think they just sort of grew up. They already had the money, they were pushing further and further away from straight pop music, they were pushing 40 and tired of promotion. They didn't need chart hits anymore.

I disagree - they promoted subsequent albums when they were significantly older. I think something was going on behind the scenes.

[Xakrij]

The 1996 US release is notable for being part of the band's, at the time, new contract with Atlantic Records, marking a distinct era in their sound. I attended a janky release party at a dive gay bar in Atlanta. I'll dig out and post a pic of the bootleg undershirt that was given away by the label reps.

This is my memory of the US release..

[NOBODY75]

I loved To Step Aside from the moment I bought the album... and I still do almost 30 years later. A signature melancholy. Four great melodies for the two verses, the bridge, and the chorus.

I also think that if they did proper promotion on their subsequent albums, it disproves the theory that they didn't care about the charts, etc. I think something strange happened.

[Drico One]

I think they just sort of grew up. They already had the money, they were pushing further and further away from straight pop music, they were pushing 40 and tired of promotion. They didn't need chart hits anymore.

I disagree - they promoted subsequent albums when they were significantly older. I think something was going on behind the scenes.

The death of Peter Andreas was a likely factor - and there were whispers about Chris's health. Certainly, the Top of the Pops performance of A red letter day did little to quieten those. A certain complacency may also have had an impact. Very sold four or five million copies, DiscoVery was a success, their b-sides collection made number 2, and they'd staved off the dumper which appeared close in 1991. Maybe there was a sense that they'd survived the worst even if they knew they'd peaked commercially and could risk a quiet time.

To step aside is, in my view, the most personal song on Bilingual in terms of addressing Neil's thoughts on his career. "How much further can one go?" sort of says it all. You could almost imagine him addressing his audience with these words:

"Will I always need you?
Would you want me to?
Can you love me for good
the way you thought you could?"

They're definitely at a crossroads here. They had effectively stepped aside in terms of promotion.

On a personal level, I always associate the first verse and its references to celebrating pilgrims, champagne, and journeys done with graduating from college. Would I do a post-grad? How much further can one go?

There was a catherdral right next to the college, too, so it all seemed to personally speak to me in that very weird way that so many Pet Shop Boys songs often seem to. This almost supernatural sense of having your life soundtracked meant I would indeed always love them for good, but Neil threatening to step aside added a frisson of anxiety to the natural uncertainty of finishing college and stepping into the unknown.

Drico.

[Towa]

Possibly my favourite track on Bilingual. The album grew quite slowly on me, when it was released I didn’t really give it the time and attention that it deserved I kept listening to Before and did not really listen to the rest of the album until the following year, and ever then I didn’t really ”hear” Tp step aside. It was actually the live version from “Somewhere” that made me aware of the beauty of this song, especially the harmonies in the “Will I always need you…” part. Amazing! So beautiful. I really like the lyrics as well

[NOBODY75]

Possibly my favourite track on Bilingual. The album grew quite slowly on me, when it was released I didn’t really give it the time and attention that it deserved I kept listening to Before and did not really listen to the rest of the album until the following year, and ever then I didn’t really ”hear” Tp step aside. It was actually the live version from “Somewhere” that made me aware of the beauty of this song, especially the harmonies in the “Will I always need you…” part. Amazing! So beautiful. I really like the lyrics as well

I also think it's the best part of the song. The bridge with that crescendo leading us to the final verse. Truly brilliant.

[markus]

I think they just sort of grew up. They already had the money, they were pushing further and further away from straight pop music, they were pushing 40 and tired of promotion. They didn't need chart hits anymore.

I disagree - they promoted subsequent albums when they were significantly older. I think something was going on behind the scenes.

The death of Peter Andreas was a likely factor - and there were whispers about Chris's health. Certainly, the Top of the Pops performance of A red letter day did little to quieten those. A certain complacency may also have had an impact. Very sold four or five million copies, DiscoVery was a success, their b-sides collection made number 2, and they'd staved off the dumper which appeared close in 1991. Maybe there was a sense that they'd survived the worst even if they knew they'd peaked commercially and could risk a quiet time.


Drico.

There were some worrying headlines in Sweden in the early ’90s. I even remember rumours about a car crash. That period gave PSB an early “legend” status — almost untouchable, mythical superstardom. They seemed close to becoming the next Michael Jackson in the tabloids. Maybe they were happy to fade away a little after that.

[NotInvisible]

I disagree - they promoted subsequent albums when they were significantly older. I think something was going on behind the scenes.

I agree something was happening behind the scenes, but I suspect those things I mentioned were some of those things. The promotional involvement was never quite the same after Very, and they clearly stopped viewing the Pet Shop Boys as a purely pop endeavor and pushed into ballet, musicals, film scores, Cricket Wife etc. Age and wealth remove the shackles.

As Drico points out, To Step Aside is an entirely new ideaspace for them, and it's no mistake it comes on this record, with The Survivors to boot. Small wonder the Bilingual era is followed by the legendary moment where Neil suggests shutting down the Pet Shop Boys project altogether. Ironically, it's partly Bilingual that saves them in the end, signaling that they could reject the narrow synthpop perspective of what the group could be. They'd return to this after Nightlife, devoting themselves to antithesis with Release and finally synthesis with Fundamental. What followed is a richer Pet Shop Boys than what had come before; their early career may have the pop hits, but it's their latter career that has the breadth and depth that makes them true artists.

[petshopgrrl]

It was actually the live version from “Somewhere” that made me aware of the beauty of this song, especially the harmonies in the “Will I always need you…” part. Amazing! So beautiful. I really like the lyrics as well

I also think it's the best part of the song. The bridge with that crescendo leading us to the final verse. Truly brilliant.

The bridge is the only part that makes sense musically to me - the rest of the song doesn't feel like it has a natural melody (I call these "New Order" melodies because they also seem to have a hard time writing a hummable melody). However, it all seems to hang together... fairly well??! I actually like the use of the folk samples too, although I know these annoy a bunch of people. The lyric is particularly poignant because it's so self-aware - a sort of mid-life/mid-career crisis with possibly some Cathoic guilt rumination added in.

I'm a big fan of the Brutal Bill remix even though that makes even less sense musically. I think it's the jackhammer relentlessness. Makes for a good step workout.

[Towa]

The lyric is particularly poignant because it's so self-aware - a sort of mid-life/mid-career crisis with possibly some Cathoic guilt rumination added in.

It took me some time really get Bilingual, but when I did I was slowly going from being a university student to become an adult, a change that was a bit of a crisis, and it was the first time that I really cared about the lyrics, or really heard the lyrics and they talked to me. The mid-life crisis themes of the album felt relatable to what was happening in my own life, even though I was going through an earlier age-related crisis.

[Disco.]

It’s a nice song, but I particularly like a lot of the remixes done for the U.S clubs.

[markus]

It’s a nice song, but I particularly like a lot of the remixes done for the U.S clubs.

I’ve never really seen the point of the Disco albums. They’ve always felt like doggy bags of leftovers to me.
The Bilingual era had loads of great remixes scattered across singles. That was the perfect moment to compile them properly and give them mainstream exposure — instead, they stayed hidden away.

[Dog]

It’s a nice song, but I particularly like a lot of the remixes done for the U.S clubs.

I’ve never really seen the point of the Disco albums. They’ve always felt like doggy bags of leftovers to me.
The Bilingual era had loads of great remixes scattered across singles. That was the perfect moment to compile them properly and give them mainstream exposure — instead, they stayed hidden away.

Kind of like this?

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/product/a ... al-edition



Still available on Spotify here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7x4QGVpv ... sD2YgrpbrA

[markus]

It’s a nice song, but I particularly like a lot of the remixes done for the U.S clubs.

I’ve never really seen the point of the Disco albums. They’ve always felt like doggy bags of leftovers to me.
The Bilingual era had loads of great remixes scattered across singles. That was the perfect moment to compile them properly and give them mainstream exposure — instead, they stayed hidden away.

Kind of like this?

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/product/a ... al-edition



Still available on Spotify here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7x4QGVpv ... sD2YgrpbrA

No, there are more out there. So many gems...