Pet Shop Boys Missteps

[trafaelwyr]

I loved the saxophone.

A romance thing?, you never know but it's difficult to think that from a married man with four kids.

Even Courtney Pine didn't understand the saxophone on the MCMLXXXIX tour

Just listened to the Sting album from '87 with Englishman In NY and Fragile on it. The album is full of saxophone á la C Pine. Annoying but apparently part of the zeitgeist.

Exactly....around the mid '80s and into the early '90s, there were LOTS of songs with saxophones. That seemed to be the big thing with certain artists back then. But hey, it is what it is.

[Nickname]

Even Courtney Pine didn't understand the saxophone on the MCMLXXXIX tour

Just listened to the Sting album from '87 with Englishman In NY and Fragile on it. The album is full of saxophone á la C Pine. Annoying but apparently part of the zeitgeist.

Exactly....around the mid '80s and into the early '90s, there were LOTS of songs with saxophones. That seemed to be the big thing with certain artists back then. But hey, it is what it is.

Saxophones were usual in the late 80's specially in songs from USA. Many themes of shows include them (ex: Saturday Nigh Live). It sounds ellegant and joyful to me.

[Tentenlad]

I think mistakes as in what made them less popular / could have been done better are related to;
1. Being Boring released at Christmas time
2. DJ Culture being released at all (massive quality drop)
3. Single choices / track listing from Bilingual
5. Single choices / track listing from Nightlife
6. Going 'Britpop' 7 years too late with 'Release'
6. Most of Elysium
7. Generally most first singles off albums after Very were terrible choices

[raggatwin]

Burn Baba Stiltz remix

That's a brilliant remix

Easily the absolute worst thing they released in the past 10... no, 20 years

Have you played it on a decent system?

[leesmapman]

yeah, it didn't help

[PopArt]

For me, if I were to choose the single biggest mistake I would say it was the whole Bilingual campaign. The things that they got wrong, which significantly contributed to their commercial decline, were:

1) Not promoting it properly in August/September 1996. They could have come back with TV, radio and press interviews. Gone on the National Lottery show (as George Michael suggested at the time). Really gone for it, much as they had with Very. But instead they did very little promotion indeed.
2) Releasing Before as the first single. It just fell flat. And again wasnt really promoted. They should have just waited until August and led with Se a vide e
3) The track listing. The album is too long and would have worked better as a ten track album with emphasis on the theme of the album I.e Latin vibes (see below)
4) Not releasing A red letter day as the second single around the end of the year. Yes it was cheesy but it also was radio-friendly and on the back of a decent promotional campaign for Se a Vida e and the album could have got some cut through.

* alternative running order*
1. Discoteca
2. Single
3. Se a Vida e
4. It always comes as a surprise
5. Up against it
6. To step aside
7. The survivors
8. Before
9. The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes on
10. A red letter day

[Patrick Bateman]

For me, if I were to choose the single biggest mistake I would say it was the whole Bilingual campaign. The things that they got wrong, which significantly contributed to their commercial decline, were:

1) Not promoting it properly in August/September 1996. They could have come back with TV, radio and press interviews. Gone on the National Lottery show (as George Michael suggested at the time). Really gone for it, much as they had with Very. But instead they did very little promotion indeed.
2) Releasing Before as the first single. It just fell flat. And again wasnt really promoted. They should have just waited until August and led with Se a vide e
3) The track listing. The album is too long and would have worked better as a ten track album with emphasis on the theme of the album I.e Latin vibes (see below)
4) Not releasing A red letter day as the second single around the end of the year. Yes it was cheesy but it also was radio-friendly and on the back of a decent promotional campaign for Se a Vida e and the album could have got some cut through.

* alternative running order*
1. Discoteca
2. Single
3. Se a Vida e
4. It always comes as a surprise
5. Up against it
6. To step aside
7. The survivors
8. Before
9. The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes on
10. A red letter day

Yes, that's a much better track list. I do think they were facing an inevitable commercial decline but some of their decisions didn't help. Why didn't they promote it much? My assumption is it was down to Chris and what was happening in his life, which of course led to the rumours about his health later in the campaign.

[Gary1962]

Letting Stuart Price produce 3 albums.

The album "Electric" being recorded.

The album "Super" being recorded.

Releasing "Winner" as a single....what were they thinking!

No PSB extended versions of songs from "Nonetheless".

Including "Wedding In Berlin" on "Hotspot".

Relegating "Shameless" to the B Side of a single, should have been a single in its own right!

[ype]

So there's missteps that hurt their career, like - maybe - not releasing Domino dancing in the summer, and artistic missteps, like the Liberation remixes, that of course did little to damage their standing with the general public.
I think a misstep of the second kind is The most incredible thing. I recently watched it for the first time on YouTube, and I thought it made It couldn't happen here seem like a masterpiece.

[raggatwin]

So there's missteps that hurt their career, like - maybe - not releasing Domino dancing in the summer, and artistic missteps, like the Liberation remixes, that of course did little to damage their standing with the general public.
I think a misstep of the second kind is The most incredible thing. I recently watched it for the first time on YouTube, and I thought it made It couldn't happen here seem like a masterpiece.

Yep...listened to that a handful of times ...couldnt get into it.

[Neilatrone]

I hope Neil and Chris read this thread and have a good chuckle.

Overall, not many "missteps", mostly personal peeves.

I fell out of love with music in general during Bilingual - Nightlife phase so can't comment on that. Most side projects are just that.

"Together" is the biggest misstep for me. Perhaps it's the 6/8 rhythm. I rarely listen to it.

[PSBForTheMasses]

Not using What Keeps Mankind Alive? as the lead single and album opener, relegating Can You Forgive Her? to a b-side.

Really? For me, it is one of the worst songs they have recorded, let alone the worst B-side.

Yesterday, I asked myself why they did not release Heart in the USA.

[Ramzy]

"Together" is the biggest misstep for me. Perhaps it's the 6/8 rhythm. I rarely listen to it.

It's in 3/4! Which is considerably weirder for a pop song - I can only think of a very small handful of examples. 6/8 or 12/8 is a lot more unremarkable as it still "feels" like it's in bars of two or four beats (Can you forgive her?, Love etc, Pandemonium, Love is a Catastrophe). An electronic dance record in waltz time, on the other hand, is really strange, which is one reason I love Together.

(Other examples of pop songs in 3/4: Soldiers by ABBA; Death of an Interior Decorator by Death Cab for Cutie; there's probably a Divine Comedy or Prefab Sprout one?)

[leesmapman]

Yes, Together is a great track. I like it as a 3/4 dance track.

[jasonjohn]

I think Domino Dancing was a compulsory single.

But releasing a homo-erotic video before the album release probably didn't help the album launch in some parts?

could have been the second single, imo.