Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[rathound]

I really like I don't know what you want...Nice lyrics and like the production. Single version possibly a bit long but can't fault it otherwise. Video is bloody weird, dunno what they were thinking really on that. Not sure going for that strange look helped them a lot, guess it worked quite well in the live shows. Do like the dogs in it though.

[Birthday Boy]

As others have already said, I too think that the 3 opening tracks of Nightlife are possibly among the best of any of their albums. I really like For your own good and I love Closer to heaven, but my favourite is by far I don't know what you want but I can't give it anymore. Such an amazing song that has grown on me immensly over the years and that is for sure among my 10 favourite Pet Shop Boys songs, possibly even top 5. It feels really unique in their catalouge, and it just has the right level of bitterness and sadness in my opinion. A great break-up song if you need one. Oh and the video is probably my favourite music video ever, simply amazing. Ten out of ten, no further comments.

[Lleonard Pler]

Closer To Heaven is over the top but beautiful, the verse melody is one of their best.

As for I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more I always loved it, but I understand the chorus can be boring for some, surely they could have switched a bit. But I guess the monotony fits the lyrics. Also one of their best videos.

Musically both songs are incredible, with the mix of electronics and orchestra.

Nightlife is really a good album, even if not perfect.

[matt74uk]

I love I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore. The video was excellent, giving us the transformation of Chris and Neil from their normal look to the "fright wigs". I'm glad they dropped the naked butts bit though Shame we had to wait until Further Listening to get the extended mix.

[Xakrij]

I've always attributed the lack of a proper chorus to the fact that to whomever it is addressed needs to hear it multiple times. The relationship has deteriorated to the point that this is all the sayer has left to say.

[withanattitude]

I remember wearing a big grin when I heard the title I don't know what you want but I can't give it anymore . Being famous for their one-word album titles this was a nice hit in the other direction, and just as recognizable. I love the chilly and aloof mood of the chorus melody as well as the instrumentation. The repetition adds to it. Also, the video is so Pet Shop Boys. Great outfits, that were!

[davidctecno]

Nightlife's opening hat trick is spectacular. Too bad the rest of the album doesn't flow like that. I Don't Know... is my favorite song of the group. The synchronization between the music and the images in the video clip is spectacular. From the rest of the album I like Vampires, Radiophonic and the other two singles that are not bad. I have always interpreted them like this:

-At I Don't Know they prepare to party
- In NYC Boy they are celebrating
- In Drunk they are hungover.

Other songs like Hapiness is an option, The Only one, Boy Strange and Footsteps seem very weak to me.
In Denial is good but it doesn't fit the album.

The cover of Nightlife and the singles I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more and NYC Boy are very cool. I love the outfits and the wigs.
Closer to heaven would have been a good fourth single. It's pure euphoria.

[davidctecno]

The extensed version of I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more anys t'he Peter Rauhofer Remix are great too!

[Neilatrone]

The extensed version of I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more anys t'he Peter Rauhofer Remix are great too!

Was going to post this also - it took me a while to appreciate them but persistence is everything.

[petshopgrrl]

The extensed version of I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more anys t'he Peter Rauhofer Remix are great too!

Was going to post this also - it took me a while to appreciate them but persistence is everything.

Another fan of that Rauhofer remix here too! And Thee Maddkatt Courtship 80 Witness Mix from Nightlife Extra, which takes out the ends of each verse line and just leaves the questions and then goes bonkers at the end.

I'm very fond of I Don't Know What... It's so quietly heartbreaking but with a monster rhythm track. I think it's a cleverly constructed lyric too - the way the verse lines rhyme not just at the end but in two, sometimes three, places - but this makes the chorus mildly unsatisfying due to the repetition.

Still the best 1-2-3 of any PSB album.

[davidctecno]

The extended version of I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more anys t'he Peter Rauhofer Remix are great too!

[Patrick Bateman]

I see it wasn't on the Further Listening album but if anything says where PSB were in 1999, it's recording a b-side with Sam Taylor-Wood. Neil was always enamoured with celebrities but at least they had previously been genuine legends like Dusty or Liza. Now we're into the z-list, a conceptual artist so bad she had to marry her dealer. Je ne t'aime pas.

[Patrick Bateman]

Track 113: Happiness is an Option
Chronology: Nightlife, Track 4

Is this the first time they were ordered to write a 'hit' for an album? That doesn't auger well. It's the kind of thing you tell a middling indie band to do on their second album, not the mighty Pet Shop Boys. I definitely used to like this more than I do now because it's obviously a Sweetbox rip-off. I suppose it shows how Nightlife is all over the place in terms of style - tracks from the musical, tracks written with different dance producers and something like this.

[Lleonard Pler]

I quite like it. The melody is beautiful and I love the mix of spoken word with orchestra and Sylvia's chant. It may not be the best but it adds some flavour to the album and compensates the sadness of the songs before and after it. Chris seems to love it too. Also I don't think that Neil's voice has sounded more gorgeous than here often, this type of song just suits him.

[Quimgagarin]

Don't forget Vocalise by Rachmaninov background