Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[telys]

Greetings,

OK then, moving along...

Track 123 : Call Me Old-Fashioned
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD1:03 (Demo version)

I find this to be one of the more charming songs associated with the Closer To Heaven musical. Perhaps because it's a bit of fun and doesn't take itself too seriously?

In that sense, and in the context of the 2CD Further Listening set with all that empty space on those discs, and Telys' theme of "lost opportunities", I find it unfortunate their demo of "It's Just My Little Tribute to Caligula, Darling!" didn't make the cut because it's similarly cheeky and fun too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i5wXjaAxh4

Retro.

I guess lost opportunites have something to do about daring. They didn't dare to do that stripped down album "Release" that would made people, certainly the critics, go "wow". They didn't dare to do a musical with a theme that held a threshold of originality we would've expected from them. Straight irish guy turning gay in the London club scene and starting dancing, well it isn't that interesting compared to what N&C were capable of. They could've done a musical about locations in London important to them/gay history... there are many themes one could choose just by browsing through the lyrics of older tracks.
So we have these two bonus discs with disparate material that really doesn't go anywhere. And where are the other tracks from CTH-musical? Why didn't they put them on the FL-discs?

[richwill]

As some have said they released some of their most powerful songs during that ten year 'dumper' period. The problem with the albums is that they just weren't coherent or cohesive enough, sonically or thematically speaking. The titles, the visuals, the sound all lacked consistency. Bilingual should have been centred on looking beyond the UK to other sounds, languages and experiences and on a single look. The costumes for Nightlife weren't connected to the theme of nightlife and even the disco song title track Nightlife was left off. Release should have been all non-electronic and launched with IDGWIAT as the lead single. I really get the impression that the record company deprioritised them, key people didn't put as much effort into decision-making and quality control. On each of those three albums there's at least some absolute dross. Working with a single producer seems to fit them well, on Nightlife in particular there are too many hands in the broth (although having said that Andrew Dawson didn't exactly do them proud). Maybe the management's also to blame.

[Morse]

I honestly don’t think of the period Bilingual through to Release as “the dumper period” at all.

I happen to love Nightlife and Release.

I’ve never been sure where that kind of commentary came from to be honest.

[tottenhammattspurs]

Bilingual is nowhere near their “dumper period”. That’s Nightlife through to the renaissance that was Fundamental. The nightlife tour at Wembley had 1000s of unsold seats curtained off. Release had them touring universities to a couple of 100 people. (I remember the “tiny tour” at Norwich uni. Couldn’t believe how small the venue was and how close I could get to them.
Popart massively undersold. Miracles should have been bigger but by that point no one outside the fanbase cared. Flamboyant, although a fan favourite, was just a Shameless retread.
For some reason, from fundamental onwards, the press started to see them as elder statesmen of pop and starting treating them with some reverence. They could have easily stayed down the dumper with fundamental but that point onwards they also became a really decent live act that causal fans started to see.

[Lleonard Pler]

Bilingual is nowhere near their “dumper period”. That’s Nightlife through to the renaissance that was Fundamental. The nightlife tour at Wembley had 1000s of unsold seats curtained off. Release had them touring universities to a couple of 100 people. (I remember the “tiny tour” at Norwich uni. Couldn’t believe how small the venue was and how close I could get to them.
Popart massively undersold. Miracles should have been bigger but by that point no one outside the fanbase cared. Flamboyant, although a fan favourite, was just a Shameless retread.
For some reason, from fundamental onwards, the press started to see them as elder statesmen of pop and starting treating them with some reverence. They could have easily stayed down the dumper with fundamental but that point onwards they also became a really decent live act that causal fans started to see.

And yet I'm with stupid is worse than anything on Release or Nightlife. Not to mention that "sometimes the solution is worse than the problem" that makes the criticized lyrics of Nightlife sound like Shakespeare. It's all about perspective and consensus.

[NotInvisible]

I guess lost opportunites have something to do about daring. They didn't dare to do that stripped down album "Release" that would made people, certainly the critics, go "wow".

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but are we pretending Release wasn't them being daring? It's basically the PSB equivalent of Dylan going electric!

[NotInvisible]

Bilingual is nowhere near their “dumper period”.

I'd say it's the beginning of that period but not the nadir. It's the first album with multiple "that was a mistake" tracks, the first with singles that didn't really connect with a broader audience, the first to exhibit a real disconnect with the pop mainstream.

Release had them touring universities to a couple of 100 people.

This was by design, to be fair, just like the recent Obscure shows.

Popart massively undersold.

There's no way to really judge this.

For some reason, from fundamental onwards, the press started to see them as elder statesmen of pop and starting treating them with some reverence. They could have easily stayed down the dumper with fundamental but that point onwards they also became a really decent live act that causal fans started to see.

I think Release and Battleship Potemkin reformatted how critics could see them; they represented a repositioning of Pet Shop Boys away from 'disposable pop artists' toward 'actual artists' (although of course fans already knew this all along). And then Fundamental comes along and the songs are gorgeous, the production is flawless, the lyrics are biting and relevant. They're simultaneously the platonic ideal of Pet Shop Boys while simultaneously transcending it. Pair that with the Cubism tour and suddenly you have a platform to go to Yes, the ballet, the Stuart Price revamp, and so on. If 2002/2005 was their deconstruction, 2009 was their reconstruction. You needed the former to get the latter. Add in a consistently improving live presence and here we are.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

OK then, moving along...

Track 124 : Friendly Fire
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD1:04

One of my favourite songs from the musical, and for mine, it's the most quintessential Billie Trix song.

It's nice therefore to have and hear Neil's version of it.

Retro.

[tottenhammattspurs]

Would love to have heard Shirley Bassey sing this. Someone with AI could probably make that happen

[Capsigrany]

The deliver of that song in the Closer To Heaven soundtrack is perfect. Neil’s voice on the contrary does not make it justice. Not a fan of Frances Barber but the musical’s version is brilliant as well as its musical production.

[NOBODY75]

Personally, I can't stand this woman's voice. I find it repulsive. So I find it hard not to "hear" her in Neil's version. I think it's a pretty good composition... but I just don't connect with it.

[telys]

F Fire together with Run Girl Run are two tracks that would've made Releas a stellar album. Great lyrics, good melodies and the right production. . instead of the second rate material which make up half the album.

[Patrick Bateman]

Great song. It's clear that Closer to Heaven was intended as their Cabaret and Friendly Fire encapsulates that.

Unfortunately, whereas Cabaret came from the imagination of Christopher Isherwood, Closer to Heaven was created by the bloke who wrote Gimme Gimme Gimme.

[NotInvisible]

Friendly Fire is a great track, but sadly not a great Pet Shop Boys track. Neil's voice can't really

[jasonjohn]

Release had them touring universities to a couple of 100 people. (I remember the “tiny tour” at Norwich uni. Couldn’t believe how small the venue was and how close I could get to them.

Mission accomplished, then. Release was pared back intentionally, and they wanted to tour this way, they openly spoke about it.