Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[Patrick Bateman]

This is what I mean when I say Release blew the template wide open and allowed them to carry on for the next two decades. Because it is the Pet Shop Boys, it's a different side of the Pet Shop Boys than the one they were used to, the box they'd been operating in led them to Nightlife and all their most interesting recent tracks had been the ones that bucked against the formula.

Fundamental was back to the platonic ideal model but with a twist - suddenly there was room for I Made My Excuses and Left, there was room for Casanova in Hell, there was room for Indefinite Leave to Remain. And that's carried on ever since, really, with a more expansive Pet Shop Boys, one that can result in Legacy and Cricket Wife and Soup and Burning the Heather and Feel.

Are those songs really that different to King's Cross and It Couldn't Happen Here though?

[NotInvisible]

Track 131 : Somebody Else's Business
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD2:1
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD2:12 (Extended Mix)

I love this one. There's something spacey and weird about it, almost like a Please b-side. And it sounds effortless for the first time in years.

Are those songs really that different to King's Cross and It Couldn't Happen Here though?

I think so, yeah. Because most of them aren't even concerned with pop (Burning the Heather is probably the only one, but that one doesn't concede to overt electronics the way the Actually tracks have to). Later Tonight, It Couldn't Happen Here and Your Funny Uncle were probably the first glimpses that there was something more to the Pet Shop Boys, but even by Hit and Miss they still feel the need to program their guitars. I don't think the tracks mentioned get released before Release, especially in such quantity as album tracks (and even singles). I love their traditional stuff, but we've also got so much of it. Plenty of space for going further afield with stuff like Give It a Go and Hold On.

[Lleonard Pler]

Greetings,

Track 131 : Somebody Else's Business
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD2:1
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD2:12 (Extended Mix)

As first heard by us on the Disco 3 compilation. I adore this song. It's got such a great energy to it.

After so many bemusing head-scratchers we finally had a song on our hands to get excited about! It probably wouldn't make many people's Top 40 lists of their favourite Pet Shop Boys songs, but in the context of Disco 3 it heralded the beginning of their revival, and the end of the wilderness years, which we've been collectively slagging off here for pages on end.

It was as if they'd *finally* stopped being difficult for difficult's sake and it was a great relief to see them move beyond it.

Retro.

I really love it, like all Disco 3 songs. It's weird in a catchy way and the production is ace.

It's odd to find it in the Nightlife FL though, as I strongly identify it with the Disco 3 / Release era.

[Straight_Talker]

Whether you’re a fan of Release and Elysium or not (I am) there’s no ignoring the fact that both of these “departures in sound” were very quickly followed by Disco 3 and Electric.

[tottenhammattspurs]

If Release were better received, we’d not have had Disco 3. Disco 3 was just the cancelled third and fourth singles (London and Here/Home) with their subsequent b-sides and remixes.

[NOBODY75]

If Release were better received, we’d not have had Disco 3. Disco 3 was just the cancelled third and fourth singles (London and Here/Home) with their subsequent b-sides and remixes.

That's baseless speculation, in my opinion.

Tell me then why they released and why we got the other albums in the Disco series.

[tottenhammattspurs]

If Release were better received, we’d not have had Disco 3. Disco 3 was just the cancelled third and fourth singles (London and Here/Home) with their subsequent b-sides and remixes.

That's baseless speculation, in my opinion.

Tell me then why they released and why we got the other albums in the Disco series.

It’s an opinion. Wind yer neck in

[tottenhammattspurs]

London. Single
Three mixes. Three bonus tracks

Here. Single
Three mixes. Three bonus tracks.

Who knows when we’d have had a disco three if not then. Maybe Fundamentalism would have been disco three

[NOBODY75]

If Release were better received, we’d not have had Disco 3. Disco 3 was just the cancelled third and fourth singles (London and Here/Home) with their subsequent b-sides and remixes.

That's baseless speculation, in my opinion.

Tell me then why they released and why we got the other albums in the Disco series.

It’s an opinion. Wind yer neck in

I didn't mean to sound aggressive. I know it's your opinion. I was just commenting on your opinion.

[daveid]

If Release were better received, we’d not have had Disco 3. Disco 3 was just the cancelled third and fourth singles (London and Here/Home) with their subsequent b-sides and remixes.

That's baseless speculation, in my opinion.

Tell me then why they released and why we got the other albums in the Disco series.

I remember Neil answering the question of how many singles there's be off Release. His answer was three or four. And given the Germany release of London and the extended mix of Here on D3 I'd say it's a pretty likely scenario.

[NotInvisible]

Whether you’re a fan of Release and Elysium or not (I am) there’s no ignoring the fact that both of these “departures in sound” were very quickly followed by Disco 3 and Electric.

Well yes, the fanbase is decidedly more conservative than the Pet Shop Boys themselves when it comes to their music.

[rathound]

Greetings,

Track 131 : Somebody Else's Business
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD2:1
Chronology: Nightlife, FL-CD2:12 (Extended Mix)

As first heard by us on the Disco 3 compilation. I adore this song. It's got such a great energy to it.

After so many bemusing head-scratchers we finally had a song on our hands to get excited about! It probably wouldn't make many people's Top 40 lists of their favourite Pet Shop Boys songs, but in the context of Disco 3 it heralded the beginning of their revival, and the end of the wilderness years, which we've been collectively slagging off here for pages on end.

It was as if they'd *finally* stopped being difficult for difficult's sake and it was a great relief to see them move beyond it.

Retro.

I really love it, like all Disco 3 songs. It's weird in a catchy way and the production is ace.

It's odd to find it in the Nightlife FL though, as I strongly identify it with the Disco 3 / Release era.

yes much more like it, would have been a nice fit on Nightlife if thats when it was created

[telys]

Whether you’re a fan of Release and Elysium or not (I am) there’s no ignoring the fact that both of these “departures in sound” were very quickly followed by Disco 3 and Electric.

Well yes, the fanbase is decidedly more conservative than the Pet Shop Boys themselves when it comes to their music.

Not really, there are plenty of songs in their catalogue that were of "Release" nature:
Later Tonight
Jack The Lad
Your Funny Uncle
Decadence
Domino Dancing (alternative mix)
The Calm Before The Storm
Hit and Miss
Do I Have To
Hey Headmaster

So in that sense there was no "departure in sound".
There are also plenty of real departures: Atomsplitting, Man Kind Alive, some of the Dusty and Liza tracks, Relentless etc.

Neither Release nor Elysium were "departures in sound", those albums were merely poorly executed.

[Sandy Shaw]

Whether you’re a fan of Release and Elysium or not (I am) there’s no ignoring the fact that both of these “departures in sound” were very quickly followed by Disco 3 and Electric.

Well yes, the fanbase is decidedly more conservative than the Pet Shop Boys themselves when it comes to their music.

Not really, there are plenty of songs in their catalogue that were of "Release" nature:
Later Tonight
Jack The Lad
Your Funny Uncle
Decadence
Domino Dancing (alternative mix)
The Calm Before The Storm
Hit and Miss
Do I Have To
Hey Headmaster

So in that sense there was no "departure in sound".
There are also plenty of real departures: Atomsplitting, Man Kind Alive, some of the Dusty and Liza tracks, Relentless etc.

Neither Release nor Elysium were "departures in sound", those albums were merely poorly executed.

I'm thinking of Andrew Dawson beavering away for hours tweaking things on Elysium - I was following him on Twitter at the time. I love Elysium as it is...

[NotInvisible]

Not really, there are plenty of songs in their catalogue that were of "Release" nature:
Later Tonight
Jack The Lad
Your Funny Uncle
Decadence
Domino Dancing (alternative mix)
The Calm Before The Storm
Hit and Miss
Do I Have To
Hey Headmaster

So in that sense there was no "departure in sound".

They'd always poked around the edges while safely ensconced in commercial synth pop on either side (although I question whether overtly electronic tracks like Jack the Lad, Do I Have To and Hey Headmaster really bolster your case). Even Hit and Miss had the cover of programmed guitars.

You can call it a departure from formula if you want to pretend it wasn't departing from the sound of Pet Shop Boys, although I don't think you'll find much contemporary support for that read.

Neither Release nor Elysium were "departures in sound", those albums were merely poorly executed.

Yes, when people think of Pet Shop Boys the first things they think of are Birthday Boy and Give it a Go. It's sheer coincidence those are their least popular albums, and we never see fans moan about the lack of electronic bangers on them.