Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[Pinhead44]

Love the key change on the last verse when Neil sings ‘That Zazou he should be locked away’

That's not a key change it's just Neil singing different notes.

But it is key to the enjoyment of the song for me.

Thanks for the correction.

[telys]

In The Night wouldn't have had a place on Please..... Disco is its album. The extended mix superior to the 7''. I was wondering for years what zazoo meant. I figured out that the lyrics were about wartime but it took time to understand it was a about a french subculture. I put on Disco today before some guests arriving. Told them it's PSB's best album. So, is In The Night really a b-side? or is it an album track that happened to be on the b-side of a single?

[Drico One]

It's the first great single-that-never-was. Its role as the theme to the Clothes Show also makes it their first great pop culture moment that wasn't a single, not counting hamsters.

Drico.

[leesmapman]

There was this anecdote where the engineer thought In The Night was the A-side and Opportunities the B-side. It's just that good. Also really interesting to see that they made a history lesson track so early in their career already.

[TallThinMan]

After nearly four decades, the thought suddenly occurs to me that ‘In the Night’ is their first historical drama.

[Gabby]

Am I the only person who threw on Disco for the first time and thought the opening of In The Night was in fact Opportunities only to be completely floored that it wasn't?

[daveid]

The version of Opportunities they played live for xfm in 2003/4 was a sort-of mash-up with In the Night.

[telys]

It's the first great single-that-never-was. Its role as the theme to the Clothes Show also makes it their first great pop culture moment that wasn't a single, not counting hamsters.

Drico.

What about Stick It On?

[telys]

Am I the only person who threw on Disco for the first time and thought the opening of In The Night was in fact Opportunities only to be completely floored that it wasn't?

Yes you are.

[telys]

Am I the only person who threw on Disco for the first time and thought the opening of In The Night was in fact Opportunities only to be completely floored that it wasn't?

Yes you are.

but Oppor, In The Night and Why Don't We.. probably came from the same source. The demoes of Why Don't We clearly indicate so

[telys]

The version of Opportunities they played live for xfm in 2003/4 was a sort-of mash-up with In the Night.

No it was the Bobby O-version

[ahafan02]

There was this anecdote where the engineer thought In The Night was the A-side and Opportunities the B-side. It's just that good. Also really interesting to see that they made a history lesson track so early in their career already.

I thought it was "Was That What It Was" not "In the Night" and the person was Shep Pettibone, who was remixing Opportunities.

[ahafan02]

Apologies if I am getting this wrong, I don't think we give commentary on Opportunities again, as we have done that on the main album, but please feel free to correct me, so:

Track 12: In The Night

Chronology: Please, Further Listening, Track 3

The most exhilarating end to any PSB song ?

PSB’s most recognised ‘B-side’ in the UK, due to it being the theme tune on TV show ‘The Clothes Show’ from the mid-eighties to 2000, has a killer synth hook running throughout.

Even from these very early ‘b-side’ songs, you can feel the unique chemistry building between the music and the lyrics (even though I hadn’t got a clue what Neil was singing about at the time !).

Love the key change on the last verse when Neil sings ‘That Zazou he should be locked away’, and then we get the climax, ‘a thin line between love and crime and, …. collaboration’ and then a brief, excited anticipation, before that final synth hook explosion hits !

Yes I think it is most exhilarating end to any PSB song !

The lyrics were inspired by a book Neil read called "Paris in the Third Reich 1940-1945", it's about the Nazis.

[Disco.]

Apparently In The Night was considered for single release in Germany in March 1987 but that idea was shelved.

[TwizzleUK]

There was this anecdote where the engineer thought In The Night was the A-side and Opportunities the B-side. It's just that good. Also really interesting to see that they made a history lesson track so early in their career already.

I thought it was "Was That What It Was" not "In the Night" and the person was Shep Pettibone, who was remixing Opportunities.

No, it is 'In The Night'. Definitely remember them saying the mastering engineer though it was the A-side. Guessing it might have been a comment they made in the 'Alternative' booklet.