Pet Shop Boys Community

Exciting question. Every year I kind of mine through the record stores learning about one of the greats. Recent years have been Johnny Cash, Saint Etienne, Einsturzende Neubautuen, I think I spent 2 years on Gary Numan and Bowie, Ultravox, Kraftwerk. This year it is Bob Dylan (I decided to begin with his gospel phase first and work from there).

This might not be popular, but if you were going to do it the way I have done this with other artists, I would get PopArt and enjoy, and then see which songs you like the most and then get the albums from there as so moved. So if you find that you like A Red Letter Day and Single, then go get Bilingual next.

I read some critic say once that every PSB fan will disagree about which album is the best, favorite, etc., but it's clear that Very is the most important.

Cdrodkey wrote:I read some critic say once that every PSB fan will disagree about which album is the best, favorite, etc., but it's clear that Very is the most important.

I agree.

Very -- and it's singles -- Crystalized my devotion to PSB.
I heard Can you forgive her? on the radio while I was driving and, like Dusty Springfield, I had to pull over to the side of the road to devote my full attention to what I was hearing so I didn't kill myself or anyone else on the road @ that moment.

So == if you can find them -- pick up the Very Singles. Some of the remixes are Clinkers but some of them are Magical...

To digress: The PSB Produced Liza Minnelli Results CD and / or the Visible Results CD/DVD are also worth seeking out. It's Neil & Noel Coward & Liza & Judy Garland & Chris all rolled into 1.

Thanx for all your replies. Looks like there's an amazing journey ahead....
Yesterday I found "Alternative" very cheap on Amazon, so I bought this, but "Very" and "Behaviour" are very likely next!

singysingysingy wrote:I was hesitating with "Release", "Bilingual" or "Nightlife" cause the reviews are mixed on these and I don't want to ruin my bank account... I'm also a HUGE MADONNA fan and that's expensive enough, so I wanted to concentrate and the most important PSB stuff first!

Nightlife's worth every last penny as is Bilingual....

singysingysingy wrote:Thanx for all your replies. Looks like there's an amazing journey ahead....
Yesterday I found "Alternative" very cheap on Amazon, so I bought this, but "Very" and "Behaviour" are very likely next!

Alternative's an odd place to start, but if you like everything on it, you'll surely love the rest. Here's the order in which I'd buy the albums:

Very (naturally)
Please
Actually
Introspective
Nightlife
Bilingual
Behaviour
Disco 3
Release (of course)

You're essentially wasting your time with Alternative if you pick up the re-issues of the first six albums.

If you want the singles/remixes, I've got some duplicates for sale.

Thanx, but I'll focus on album releases first and the dvd's- otherwise it's getting too expensive for the moment

[quote="singysingysingy"]Thanx, but I'll focus on album releases first and the dvd's- otherwise it's getting too expensive for the moment[/quote]

get popart dvd!

As someone else said the commentary is especially good, particularly as they make fun of themselves, the way they look, dance and the odd duff vid.......e.g

A red Letter Day, with the boys not liking their own idea. At the end the queue of people heads towards a cliff and Chris says, "Oh we're gonna literally throw ourselves off the cliff. Well you'd want to after seeing that video, tragic!" (Words to that effect)

About the PopArt DVD:

I love the way Chris speaks about the video of "What have I done to deserve this". He thinks he had "an embassaring dancing scene". Then Neil repeats his own lyrics for the part of "I bought you flowers", to with Chris says, loudly: "What else would you possibly want!!". Ha ha.

It's also funny how they really laugh at the first video of "Opportunities", at that moment when Neil's head appears. I get such a nice and warm feeling listening to them, almost as if they were sitting just beside me.

It's probably the DVD that has been most worth the money I've spent for it.

It really depend on which songs you prefer.

But, Eldritch's suggestion is very good. Start with the first albums. Not only does it make chronological sense, but their early albums, IMO, remain their best.

And give "Alternative" a real chance. It's such an odd collection of songs that one might quickly discard it - but there are some truly fantastic songs on there, just give them time. That collection contains much of the essense of PSB along with Discography.

For someone on a budget I suggest Discography and Very.
A few famous fans started there.

But remember there are great B sides, album songs and then,
you discover re-mixes.

Also both albums are available quite cheaply on ebay.uk

If I was you I would start with Please, and work on from there. This is what I did, back in 1986 and its been amazing seeing them change and develop. Please is also the most brilliantly sequenced album. Live with it for a few weeks, then move on to Actually, then introspective and so on.

You lucky thing!

Buy the "Further Listening" expanded editions of the first six albums. If you do this you don't need "Discography" or "Alternative".

After that, Nightlife, Release and Fundamental.

If you can find the 2CD versions of Release and Fundamental get those.

After that, in order, Disco 3, Relentless (if you can find it), Disco 1, Battleship Potemkin, and finally and only if desperate Disco 2

Tom Angel wrote:If I was you I would start with Please, and work on from there. This is what I did, back in 1986 and its been amazing seeing them change and develop. Please is also the most brilliantly sequenced album. Live with it for a few weeks, then move on to Actually, then introspective and so on.

I agree. It's tempting to buy their current alb and work backwards or something, but that way you might think Please or the earlier albums sound a bit '80s' and a bit dated...

singysingysingy wrote:Although I followed the music and videos of the Pet Shop Boys over many years the fan-fever cought me 10 days ago when I watched them live in Stuttgart. It wasn't the 1st time for me but since this day I'm totally in love with them, esp. "NUMB" caught me completely. So I bought the "Fundamental" CD, "Pop art", "Concrete" and "The complete singles collection" ! So what else are the fundamentals, which CD's are a MUST? I plan to get the "Very" and "Behaviour" remastered edtions. What else do you recommend? THANX!!!

All of them. Actually is the best one for general public and for many of us too.

But DON'T FORGET Introspective (during the 8 minutes and 15 seconds of Left to my own devices, you can listen the finest moments of the PSB career).

There's only one choice really: Alternative.

Once you got that out of the way: do get the further listening CDS - namely Please, Actually and Introspective.