Pet Shop Boys Community

I agree with dVTB. Just compare to ABBA Gold - it features songs like "Does your mother know", which certainly isn't their finest moment, but it was a successful single at the time and catchy enough for people to remember it.

Songs on a one-disc Greatest hits should be something which make people immediately think "oh, this is that Pet Shop Boys song!". Before I became a fan, I certainly recognized "Se a vida e", "Can you forgive her" and "Domino dancing" as PSB songs, but NOT "Home and dry" or "Being boring". Those are too slow and peaceful, not edgy enough, to sound like PSB for ordinary people, I guess.

Ray wrote:

dVTB wrote:Personally, I would release a 1cd AND 2cd edition of the Greatest Hits album, by the way. The single cd contains about 18 PSB hits, the second disc has essential PSB singles that display the variety of what PSB did. I could imagine songs like Rent, It's Alright, Being Boring, Jealousy, Paninaro 95, Before, Drunk, Miracles and Minimal to appear on that second disc.

But that's out already and called PopArt.

No, it's not. PopArt is a 2cd-collection. There's no 1cd edition of it. PopArt features (nearly) all PSB singles, it's not a collection of their greatest hits.

A 1 CD edition would be shit, theyve had too many hits for it to be just 1 CD and already we see how hard it is just to choose the tracks to fit on a single CD.

Also, its too early to release another one now, Fundamental was the first release since PopArt.

If and when it happens, it would come after the next studio album at the very earliest.

I find it impossible to choose the tracks for a 1CD issue so i'll go with a 2CD set as follows...



01: West End Girls
02: Opportunities
03: Suburbia
04: Its A Sin
05: What Have I Done...
06: Rent
07: Always On My Mind
08: Heart
09: Domino Dancing
10: Left To My Own Devices
11: Its Alright
12: So Hard
13: Where The Streets Have No Name
14: Jealousy
15: DJ Culture
16: Can You Forgive Her?
17: Go West
18: I Wouldnt Normally Do..
19: Liberation
20: Before
21: Se A Vida E
22: A Red Letter Day
23: Somewhere
24: I Dont Know What You Want..
25: New York City Boy
26: Drunk
27: Home And Dry
28: Miracles
29: Flamboyant
30: I'm With Stupid
31: Integral
32: Track #1 from new CD
33: Track #2 from new CD
34: Track #1 for this collection
35: Track #2 for this collection

When you look at the track list, there are only 6 tracks that didnt appear on PopArt.

dVTB wrote:No, it's not. PopArt is a 2cd-collection. There's no 1cd edition of it. PopArt features (nearly) all PSB singles, it's not a collection of their greatest hits.

That's more or less what I've meant, the 2CD collection would be redundant because PopArt features almost all of the content that could go there. Unless CD2 is like the best album tracks and b-sides, that is.

As for artists with a large back catalogue (this is not a reply to dVTB anymore, by the way) it is not unusual to release compilations often. George Michael released two albums between Ladies & Gentlemen and TwentyFive, and one of these albums was a collection of jazz covers. New Order released, in order: The Best Of New Order, The Rest Of New Order, studio album (Get Ready), Retro boxed set, International (another the best of), studio album (Sirens) and the 2CD Singles. Depeche Mode released two albums and a huge compilation of remixes between Singles 86>98 and The Best Of. Etc...

1CD best of compilations are great source of cash for labels and artists alike. A lot of people (obviously not fans) walk into the shop, hear a track, say It's A Sin playing and they think "oooh, I have to check those Pet Shop Boys guys". 2 CDs with all the singles is just too much, albums might be hit and miss, so a 1CD best of comes in handy.

Blockhead wrote:A 1 CD edition would be shit, theyve had too many hits for it to be just 1 CD and already we see how hard it is just to choose the tracks to fit on a single CD.

No offense, but I consider this a wrong way of thinking. A 1cd will simply contain the biggest PSB hits. Non-fans aren't necessarily interested in (great) songs like DJ Culture and Liberation.

Blockhead wrote:When you look at the track list, there are only 6 tracks that didnt appear on PopArt.

Which is exactly why such an album won't work.

Not necessarily my favourite bunch of songs but, commercially, what I perceive a 1 CD GH might look like:

1. Heart
2. I'm With Stupid
3. Opportunities
4. So Hard
5. Rent
6. Left to My Own Devices
7. Being Boring (album version)
8. Se A Vide E
9. It's Alright
10. Suburbia
11. Where the Streets Have No Name (extended version with the ZZ Top geetars at the end)
12. Always on My Mind
13. Domino Dancing
14. What Have I Done to Deserve This?
15. West End Girls
16. It's A Sin
17. New Song
18. Go West

01. West End Girls
02. Suburbia
03. It's A Sin
04. What have I done to deserve this?
05. Rent
06. Always on my mind
07. Heart
08. Domino Dancing
09. Left to my own devices
10. Where the streets have no name
11. Can you forgive her?
12. Go West
13. Before
14. Se a vida e
15. New York City boy
16. I'm with stupid / Integral
17. NEW SONG
18. NEW SONG

Fugitive's list sounds quite realistic, although I don't believe in Miracles... ha ha.

I don't think they'd put one of the tracks exclusive to PooPart on a 1CD GH. It's good to have some stuff on PooPart that isn't available on any other album, otherwise why would anyone buy it?

I wonder if they will ever put Seriously 7" on any CD they will release. I would buy it. But after it wasn't included on the 3CD edition of PooPart I lost faith it will ever happen.

My choice would be...

01 - West End Girls (1985) 4:06
02 - Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) (1986) 3:47
03 - It's A Sin (1987) 5:02
04 - What Have I Done To Deserve This? (1987) 4:21
05 - Always On My Mind (1987) 4:04
06 - Domino Dancing (1988) 4:20
07 - Left To My Own Devices (1988) 4:49
08 - So Hard (1990) 4:01
09 - Being Boring (1990) 4:53
10 - Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) (1991) 4:33
11 - Can You Forgive Her? (1993) 3:55
12 - Go West (1993) 5:05
13 - Yesterday, When I Was Mad (1994) 4:03
14 - Before (1996) 4:08
15 - I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More (1999) 4:27
16 - New York City Boy (US Mix) (1999) 3:22
17 - Home And Dry (2002) 4:01
18 - Minimal (2006) 3:39

Tried to have a representative 1CD singles collection.

Riikka wrote:Fugitive's list sounds quite realistic, although I don't believe in Miracles... ha ha.

After timing my list I have dropped Miracles and reinstated Rent and Before. This leaves about 9 minutes for the two new songs.

dVTB wrote:
A 1cd will simply contain the biggest PSB hits.

On that basis then...

Pet Shop Boys have had 21 top 10 hits. These 21 tracks wont fit on 1CD, so something will have to give.

Pet Shop Boys have had 20 top 9 hits. Again these 20 track will not fit on 1CD.

However, they have had 18 top 8 hits (These are therefore their BIGGEST hits) and this should fit.

So, if a 1CD collection was released next week, the track listing BASED ON THEIR BIGGEST HITS would be...

West End Girls
Suburbia
It's A Sin
What Have I Done To Deserve This
Rent
Always On My Mind
Heart
Domino Dancing
Left To My Own Devices
It's Alright
So Hard
Where The Streets Have No Name (Can't Take My Eyes Of You)
Can You Forgive Her
Go West
Before
Se A Vide (That's The Way Life Is)
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk
I'm With Stupid

Thats 12/18 tracks from Discography, 5 from PopArt and I'm With Stupid

WOW!

Blockhead: Was this based on the UK charts alone? It would be interesting to know what the tracklisting would look like if we looked at the charts worldwide.

So, to include a song it must have been a big hit, but it also has to be a song that people still remember. That would make more sense to me. Do people still remember "It's alright"??

You will probably be able to have 21 tracks on the cd in 5 years time, when this cd will be released There is no way PSB will release a greatest hits for at least another 5 years. I'd say 2012 would be about right.

I think a a 1cd of best album tracks and 1 cd of best b-sides would be a good idea. The track-listing voted for by fans.

Dave

I would include these songs for a greatest hits package not aimed at the fan base:

1. West End girls
2. Opportunities (Let's make lots of money)
3. Suburbia
4. It's a sin
5. What have I done to deserve this?
6. Always on my mind
7. Heart
8. Domino dancing
9. Left to my own devices
10. So hard
11. Where the streets have no name (I can't take my eyes off you)
12. Can you forgive her?
13. Go west
14. Se a vida e
15. New York City boy
16. Home and dry
17. Minimal
18. New song