Pet Shop Boys Community

innerxsanctum wrote: Wed 22 May 2024, 8:59 pm I would love to understand why so many people dislike The secret of happiness. To me, it's the best song on the album, something completely new and fresh with its bossa nova-inspired sounds, lyrics that have layers and layers of meaning, and the ambiance it builds is excellent. Maybe it's because I grew up listening to Gilberto and Jobim's music so it sounds natural and cohesive to me (and to the rest of the album).

Vintage Youth wrote: Thu 23 May 2024, 7:49 am

innerxsanctum wrote: Wed 22 May 2024, 8:59 pm I would love to understand why so many people dislike The secret of happiness. To me, it's the best song on the album, something completely new and fresh with its bossa nova-inspired sounds, lyrics that have layers and layers of meaning, and the ambiance it builds is excellent. Maybe it's because I grew up listening to Gilberto and Jobim's music so it sounds natural and cohesive to me (and to the rest of the album).

I've been thinking about this, so I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the track is in the style of a lot of easy listening/lounge/'elevator' music that people the age of my grandparents would have listened to and as kids, we would have instantly reacted badly to as it was so deeply uncool (opposition reflex!!).
This style was then pastiched by situation comedies, comedians and musical acts like the Mike Flowers Pops and Richard Cheese.
For people of Neil's generation, and he was clearly on a nostalgia kick making this album, whatever he says in interviews, that style would be bathed in the warm fuzzy romantic glow of the past, for me it reminds me of a fusty front room and a scratchy record player and a piano full of woodworm and wanting my Nan or uncle to bog off to the living room and watch Countdown so I could listen to MY *cool* records.
No reflection on the vocal or melody at all, with a different backing track I might feel completely different but currently it just does nothing for me. Conversely there is music I heard in that house that I still love, like Glenn Miller/trad jazz/big band and silver and brass band stuff, classic war film themes (oof) etc etc.

innerxsanctum wrote: Thu 23 May 2024, 12:39 pm
Interesting because I'm from South America so for us bossa nova (same as boleros to name another example) is an essential part of our childhood (and I'm 25). We look fondly to those early mornings listening to this kind of music with our grandparents and we never thought of it as "easy listening" or "elevator music" because that doesn't exist here as a concept or genre, it's more of an acquired term from anglophone movies. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised when Neil picked Amoroso by João Gilberto in Annually 2021 because he was one of the artists I remember growing up with.

Vintage Youth wrote: Thu 23 May 2024, 7:49 am

innerxsanctum wrote: Wed 22 May 2024, 8:59 pm I would love to understand why so many people dislike The secret of happiness. To me, it's the best song on the album, something completely new and fresh with its bossa nova-inspired sounds, lyrics that have layers and layers of meaning, and the ambiance it builds is excellent. Maybe it's because I grew up listening to Gilberto and Jobim's music so it sounds natural and cohesive to me (and to the rest of the album).

I've been thinking about this, so I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the track is in the style of a lot of easy listening/lounge/'elevator' music that people the age of my grandparents would have listened to and as kids, we would have instantly reacted badly to as it was so deeply uncool (opposition reflex!!).
This style was then pastiched by situation comedies, comedians and musical acts like the Mike Flowers Pops and Richard Cheese.
For people of Neil's generation, and he was clearly on a nostalgia kick making this album, whatever he says in interviews, that style would be bathed in the warm fuzzy romantic glow of the past, for me it reminds me of a fusty front room and a scratchy record player and a piano full of woodworm and wanting my Nan or uncle to bog off to the living room and watch Countdown so I could listen to MY *cool* records.
No reflection on the vocal or melody at all, with a different backing track I might feel completely different but currently it just does nothing for me. Conversely there is music I heard in that house that I still love, like Glenn Miller/trad jazz/big band and silver and brass band stuff, classic war film themes (oof) etc etc.

Ghost within this house wrote: Thu 23 May 2024, 11:02 pm I'm working up to writing a proper review at some point, but have really found that The secret of happiness and A new bohemia are the two songs to have grown on me most... they are like a pair of comfortable slippers for greying Petheads - sublime songs you feel you'll never tire of.

I always imagine Nickname and others approaching songs like they are inspecting a piece of beef, sniffing it before declaring that it won't fetch highest prices at the fancy restaurants... not liking the sound stage of Nonetheless is one thing, but suggesting they failed to produce a certain sound and that the synths are 'cheap' (what does that even mean?) seems rather moronic to me.

Everything on Nonetheless sounds beautifully and very deliberately crafted, and the songs have room to breathe... oh, and lyrically, it's their best album since Fundamental. Listen to the bassline on New London Boy on a really good sound system (or Sennheiser Momentum 4s), for instance, well, it's a thing of beauty - clean, resonant, satisfying, in ways that an 80s recording isn't. These songs might be stylistically retro, but they are sonically fresh and current.

vincenzosz wrote: Fri 24 May 2024, 6:33 am
Cheap is the difference between the music of Sega Genesis games (known to be inferior) and the music of Super Nintendo games (known to be superior due to a Sony sound chip).
Cheap is the difference between the karaoke covers of Michael Jackson songs versus the original Michael Jackson song.
Cheap is the difference between the sounds on any Pet Shop Boys demo versus the studio version.

leesmapman wrote: Fri 24 May 2024, 10:26 am TBH, Yuzo Koshiro makes magic with everything. I have several of his early soundtracks (for Ys 1 and 2) and they're amazing.

For the quality of the sound chips: compare Simon's theme for SNES and Megadrive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bV4QnvauC4