Pet Shop Boys Community

It is stramge how the fans appear to divide over certain songs/albums. I hate Bilingual with a vengance. The first half is servicable enough, if you excuse the fact that 'It Always Comes As A Suprise' sounds a bit like a Phil Collins ballad, but the second half... I'm afraid nothing can convince me that 'The Survivors', 'Up Against It' and 'Saturday Night Forever' are pisswater dull rubbish with incredibly forced lyrics set to little or no tune. Neil sings with all the feeling of a particularly bored coma patient, on a Sunday afternoon, being played a recording of Westlife's most lacklustre anodyne ballads, in an attempt to rouse him.

Funny you ashould say you don't like the last half of the album Spanker... I don't like it much at all until track 6.


StevePSB

I still think it's their best album to date.

i love theu srvivors but i hate discoteca with a paission

StevePSB wrote:Funny you ashould say you don't like the last half of the album Spanker... I don't like it much at all until track 6.


StevePSB

Hey! Trust me, I'm not saying it's great up until then.

It is weird though; there's usually an accepted opinion among fans as to what's good or bad by any artist. This isn't the case with PSB. Although, it appears Disco 2 is the exception to the rule.

It's my favourite album along with Please. I love every track except the dreadful Saturday Night Forever.

Love: Discotecha, Single, Metamorphosis, Red Letter Day, To Step Aside, Saturday Night Forever

Like: It Always comes..., Up Against It, Electricity

Like the song but Hate the arrangement: The Survivors

Don't like: Before (worst first single ever...so bland)

Never want to hear again: Se a vida e (and this was the second single??!!!)

So, overall, not as good an album as anything before it. Equal to Nightlife. Better than Release.

High hopes for Fundamental.

Funny how 2 people mention Billigual as their favorite and Nightlife as their least favorite. I never understood why so many people apparently hate Billigual, because the first time I listened to Billigual in my local recordshop, I was hooked immediately. I instantly liked this album and that was not always the case with a PSB album. I immediately liked most songs on Billigual and I still feel the same. I think it's a very underrated album really...

But then again, you simply can't argue about taste.

ArseSpunker wrote:It is stramge how the fans appear to divide over certain songs/albums...if you excuse the fact that 'It Always Comes As A Suprise' sounds a bit like a Phil Collins ballad...

I don't like Phil Collins because he's old, bald and does ballads. What do you think the PSB are then? Younger than Westlife?

Musically at least, PSB are far younger than Westlife, who are living musical proof that youth is wasted on the young.

I love Bilingual. There are a lot of songs wgich I really adore. Actually, I adore all of them (except for Saturday night forever;)). It's a great album. For me none of their albums is weak - I love all of them, not maybe equally but more than any other artist's album

I think its definitely a mixed bag
Didnt really like Before as lead single, but adored se a vide e
Think the first few tracks are instant except electricity which i hate, then the rest of the album grows on you. Kind of in the middle of my favourite/least favourite album list, very at the top, nightlife at the bottom...(unless we're counting Disco 2)

When Bilingual was released, I ABHORED it.

It seemed like a pale imitation of everything I treasured in a PSB album. It was DEFINITELY not Very. Or even Behavior. It had no direction. No stand out tracks --- well, maybe, Before, in a pinch & TSA. As a Gay man, I was somewhat intrigued by Metamorphosis & Electricity - but only mildly. I had a hard time getting into several of the songs because the intros seemed tacked on & forced - even It always comes as a surprise, which I liked but had to grit my teeth to listen to. I wondered how A red letter day had escaped from Very. I couldn't even listen to Discoteca, Single, UAI, TS & SNF. With each single, I wondered why the B-sides, like TTAHM, TVFYB & TBWCKHCO weren't on the album instead of what was.

And, even worse, I wondered why I was collecting PSB !?!?!?!!!

( to digress , I didn't yet own Disco 2, so I had nothing TRULY awful to compare it with)

It got the odd play during my regular Saturday Afternoon PSB Living Room Concerts == mostly when I was feeling contrary.

Then, nearly 7 __ yes 7 __ years later,I decided to give it a spin and >>>
to my surprise >>>>> I ADORED it.

WHY ?? I honestly can't put my finger on it. I suspect it had to do with my, at the time, unrealized expectations & subsequent life experiences, which included a near death experience,the release of Nightlife & seeing PSB perform live for the first time on the Nightlife Tour and the release of the Billingual/Further Listening CDs.

These days, it's one of my Top 5 PSB albums. In fact, as I type this, I've got it ~ actually it's the Bilingual / Further Listening CDs & the Very / Further Listening CDs ~ in Shuffle mode on my 5 CD disc player.

Alas, I still dislike Up against it.
Sigh .....

Bilingual followed Very, and I think that people expected another album like Very.

Bilingual contains my favourite PSB song - It Always Comes As A Surprise.