Pet Shop Boys | BEDLAM
I kept thinking about comments from @Ramzy, @retrofuturist, @telys, and @jasonjohn, about these songs as a group not telling a consistent tale, being too stylistically erratic, being overly long as a collection, and not imparting enough of Neil's angle on life. Challenged by these fair assertions, I found after a few choice excisions, the remaining ten tracks instead coalesce into a veritable concept album that I call
Bedlam.
With the removal of “Through you”, IJHaS, and “Miserere”, the sequence becomes tighter and their most London album since maybe ever, actually. A London under siege, though, under bombardment, full of debris. But despite the sirens and everything falling apart, still a place to find the next party, and chase love (if not be chased) in the dark.
No question, it's not nearly as biographical as
Nonetheless, but Neil still gets across a lot of his values and fascinations in tracks like BHLSttC, EWD, SoT, and PitB. I read that Bowie thought “the news” in AtYD was the same as “Five years”, so even that cover feeds into the portentous theme of the set.
The chaos of the word “bedlam” lent itself nicely as a title, with its roots as a place name in London. Those familiar with maps of London will be the first to pick up on the source for the arclight motif on my cover concept.
(Listeners for whom CAHEB is too daffy, might swap in "Miserere" for more gravitas. But I love riding that kooky bus through the perilous city.)
I still like the
comprehensive 13-track collection, but
Bedlam leaves me marveling how Pet Shop Boys essentially gave us two solid albums in a single year. See what you think.
Pet Shop Boys | BEDLAM (Spotify link)
Everybody will dance
It’s not a crime
Party in the Blitz
All the young dudes
I’ve got plans (Involving you)
Sense of time
Clean Air Hybrid Electric Bus
Adrenaline
Beauty has laid siege to the city
The dark end of the street
. Call it a Christmas present to myself… 
