Pet Shop Boys Community

I think one of the problems with releasing an album of other peoples tracks remixed by them is the hassle of dealing with multiple record companies/artists etc. I think that's why Girls and Boys never made it onto Disco 4.

How about an album of new versions/mixes/remixes of a selection of b sides. As a starting point, using Waynes rating project, the 10 most popular according to us would create the following album:

Shameless
Miserablism
No Time For Tears
Decide
Delusions of Grandeur
Always
Too Many People
After the Event
The Truck Driver and His Mate
Hit and Miss.

Personally I'd rather some stuff from the earlier albums, Was That What It Was, Jack The Lad, Don Juan etc.

Alternatively 1 B side from each albums releases?

Oznerol wrote: Tue 30 Apr 2024, 1:42 am

Dog wrote: Sun 28 Apr 2024, 8:55 pm ...
From memory, MGMT wanted PSB to mix their latest single, but Neil and Chris wanted to remix Kids instead. They remixed it without access to the stems… and sent it to the record label who opted not to release it. Neil “leaked” it via the official site instead.

Judging the sound of the PSB mixes, it wouldn't have been possible to make them without having access to the stems...

I thought it was because MGMT thought Pet Shop Boys were too expensive.

Harry wrote: Wed 01 May 2024, 12:13 pm

Oznerol wrote: Tue 30 Apr 2024, 1:42 am

Dog wrote: Sun 28 Apr 2024, 8:55 pm ...
From memory, MGMT wanted PSB to mix their latest single, but Neil and Chris wanted to remix Kids instead. They remixed it without access to the stems… and sent it to the record label who opted not to release it. Neil “leaked” it via the official site instead.

Judging the sound of the PSB mixes, it wouldn't have been possible to make them without having access to the stems...

I thought it was because MGMT thought Pet Shop Boys were too expensive.

Yes, the business people behind MGMT thought they were to expensive.

Alternatively 1 B side from each albums releases?

Not a bad idea.
Thing with b-sides is they are not always catchy. So rebooting them needs care. Some might be best left alone. I am not 100% sure what would reboot and wouldn't. Pets would have the best idea here. But Was that what it was? I've felt could do with a catchy tune in a reboot. It's a tricky one.

I wouldn't mind an album of rebooted A-sides that have not been done yet. There are probably a couple of tour versions in there that could be rebooted as studio. If they were to reboot singles, I like them a bit different but similar. They still have to be pop and catchy. I want a catchy album with lasers and not all slow. Some b-sides are slow.

I’ve heard that work on Disco 5 is definitely underway… and interestingly they are digging back further to potentially include some of their older collaborative work.

Dog wrote: Sun 21 Sep 2025, 1:56 pm I’ve heard that work on Disco 5 is definitely underway… and interestingly they are digging back further to potentially include some of their older collaborative work.

Disco 5 will just be another shit album of remixes of other peoples’ songs!!

I didn't buy Disco 4 and most likely will pass on Disco 5.
It was a difficult decision for the completist in me. I don't recall what I bought instead but whatever it was is still in my collection.

Disco 4 is my 2nd favourite in the Disco series. Looking forward to a 5th installment.

I ignored Disco 4 when it was released as I already owned all of the mixes, though I bought those singles as a PSB completist and never really listened to most of them over the years. Having said that, in the past six months or so I was looking for something new to listen to so I went back and bought not only Disco 4 but also the remixes they've produced since, and put those together into a hypothetical Disco 5 playlist, also including the remixes for others which were missing from Disco 4, such as "Girls & Boys", and added MGMT "Kids" as well. What I've found is PSB are actually accomplished remixers and they bring a dance element, and even inventiveness, to the works of others that's often missing from their own releases. Listening to their productions/remixes for others reveals a different side to PSB that I somehow missed over the years and I can see why they do these mixes. I think a person who is not too familiar with PSB might take an interest in the recordings they release themselves after hearing these remixes they did for others.

For instance, their remix of Tina Turner's "Hot For You Baby" takes a bland, anodyne track which was left off of the parent album for obvious reasons and turns it into a fascinating take which was probably the type of thing Tina would have preferred to do with them when they worked together in the 90s, rather than the confessional ballad they actually wrote for her at the time.

Though I just threw together this playlist without any thought being given to the play order, I have discovered after repeated listens that the sequence actually works extremely well:

How do you love? (The Hidden Cameras)
Think of a number (Noel Gallagher)
Queen of Ice (Claptone)
Hot for you baby (Tina Turner)
Innocent Money (Primal Scream)
Insanely Alive (Wolfgang Tillmans)
Cosmic Fringes (Paul Weller)
Eh Eh (Nothing I Can Say) (Lady GaGa)
Girls & Boys (Blur)
Mope (The Bloodhound Gang)
Kids (MGMT)

This runs about 65 minutes so perfect for a double LP. Judging from how their streaming numbers more than doubled during the Nonetheless era, stayed elevated, and even continued to climb over 2024, it would seem their strategy of releasing five singles and two special editions of the album, all stuffed with lots of extra content, really sustained interest in them over the course of the year, so I'm hoping they add one or two new songs to Disco 5 and release those as value-for-money physical singles as well.

Additionally, I missed the vinyl releases of all of the previous Disco albums, so vinyl reissues of Disco 1-4 along with Disco 5 would be most welcome.

Dog wrote:I’ve heard that work on Disco 5 is definitely underway… and interestingly they are digging back further to potentially include some of their older collaborative work.

For example, Caroll Thompson’s Let The Music Play.

Dog wrote: Sun 21 Sep 2025, 1:56 pm I’ve heard that work on Disco 5 is definitely underway… and interestingly they are digging back further to potentially include some of their older collaborative work.

That's awesome. Where did you hear that air doing it?

popfreak wrote: Mon 22 Sep 2025, 6:33 pm Where did you hear that air doing it?

The famous German author Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre told a story in a podcast a few months ago that he has met Neil by accident on the street in Berlin and they talked about a few things. Neil told him that they were working on a remix album.

zukunft wrote: Mon 22 Sep 2025, 7:02 pm

popfreak wrote: Mon 22 Sep 2025, 6:33 pm Where did you hear that air doing it?

The famous German author Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre told a story in a podcast a few months ago that he has met Neil by accident on the street in Berlin and they talked about a few things. Neil told him that they were working on a remix album.

Good spotting that.

I always thought if they did Disco 5 it'd be purely the recent remixes, along with a couple of new exclusive tracks.
Those recent tracks being:

Tina Turner - Hot For You Baby (Pet Shop Boys Remix) [2025]
The Hidden Cameras - How Do You Love? (Pet Shop Boys Remix) [2025]
Primal Scream - Innocent Money (Pet Shop Boys Remix) [2025]
Sleaford Mods - West End Girls (Pet Shop Boys Remix) [2023]
Wolfgang Tillmans - Insanely Alive (Pet Shop Boys Maxi Mix) [2022]
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Think Of A Number (Pet Shop Boys Magic Eye 12" Remix) [2023]
Bronski Beat - Why? (Superchumbo Extended Mix) [feat. Neil Tennant] [2024]
Claptone - Queen Of Ice (Pet Shop Boys 7" Mix) [2022]
Soft Cell - Purple Zone [2022]
Paul Weller - Cosmic Fringes (Pet Shop Boys Triad Mix) [2021]
The Hidden Cameras - Colour of a Man (Pet Shop Boys Organic Mix) [2011, proper release in 2024]

Worth noting, unreleased 2022 collaboration with The Blessed Madonna. (Potentially unfinished)

So the idea of digging back further to include some of their older collaborative work does change things.
And if they're including Carroll Thompson - Let the Music Play [1992] then what else would be included?
Unreleased Go West remixes? Do The Wright Thing by Ian Wright?
These tracks could be considered:
Fat Les - Jerusalem (Pet Shop Boys Mix) [2000]
Blur - Girls & Boys (Pet Shop Boys Remix) [1994]
Lady Gaga - Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) (Pet Shop Boys Radio Mix) [2009]

Maybe they'll manage to get permission to use MGMT - Kids (PSB Synthpop Mix) [2008]. Quality wise, it's up there.
I'm sure there are other obscurities to consider. Blockhead - Blockhead (James Bright Remix) [2003], The Bear - It's the Bear [2008], The Noise ITV theme song [1996].

I think if the release includes a handful of obscurities and unreleased material it'd drum up extra excitement for the fans.
We'll have to see what they have planned for the Carroll Thompson song. The rumours of a deep dive remix album are intriguing!

The Carroll Thompson track could even give rise to an album along the lines of:

Eighth Wonder - I’m not scared
Liza Minnelli - If there was love
Dusty Springfield - Daydreaming (12” Master Edit)
Boy George - The Crying Game
Carroll Thompson - Let The Music Play
Sam Taylor-Wood - I’m Love With A German Film Star
Robbie Williams - She’s Madonna (Extended Mix)
Soft Cell and Pet Shop Boys - Purple Zone (extended mix)

So first and foremost production focused, rather than remix focused. Although I appreciate the lines are blurred.