Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[TallThinMan]

I don’t think Neil’s voice has ever been recorded and produced better than on ‘Nervously’ and on ‘Behaviour’ in general. I find the vocals on this really affecting.

[Too Many Shadows]

For me, Nervously is a course correction back into the Behaviour world after the diversion of So Hard.

An appropriately tremulous arrangement that supports the explaining of situations and imagining of landscapes that Neil does so well.

A nervous boy from another town
with a nervous laugh and a concentrated frown
I spoke too fast with watchful eyes
of a recent past and some nostalgic surprise

Rampant vulnerability. Top notch stuff!

[Neilatrone]

Beautiful track.

[jasonjohn]

I'd dearly love to hear Behaviour demos. I guess we have them for Place and Jealousy.

[nonesuch]

Track 53 : The End of the World
Behaviour Further Listening Disc 1 - Track 9

Speaking of the end of the world (but please don't!), here is a more manageable teenage drama. I quite like it, but it seems others would prefer Miserablism in this spot.

[Lleonard Pler]

Track 53 : The End of the World
Behaviour Further Listening Disc 1 - Track 9

Speaking of the end of the world (but please don't!), here is a more manageable teenage drama. I quite like it, but it seems others would prefer Miserablism in this spot.

Indeed. The end of the world it's cute with its story of teenage drama, but maybe sounds too naive, joyful and immature compared to the rest of the album. I guess that was the intention but Miserablism would fit better that slot imo.

[telys]

Track 53 : The End of the World
Behaviour Further Listening Disc 1 - Track 9

Speaking of the end of the world (but please don't!), here is a more manageable teenage drama. I quite like it, but it seems others would prefer Miserablism in this spot.

Has always been on my top 20 of PSB songs. I love this and October Symphony best from Behaviour although I in recent years have started to appreciate the masterpiece that the extended mix of BB is. WOuld've love an extend mix of The End of The World, not too long though: 6:30 would be enough.

[Too Many Shadows]

As with So Hard, I find the club beats of The End Of The World are nicely pastel shaded. Bending the words “tennage destruction” to fit the bridge syncopation should be clumsy; bewilderingly, it works. A disco yet not disco gem.

[daveid]

The only PSB song where the same version has two quite different durations. Having had the original CD for a time, it was a surprise when the 2001 remaster donated a few seconds to previous track Nervously. This was handy for home made compilations as it went straight in to the song but was of course corrected more recently. One of the highlights of Behaviour, no mistakes, and thank God they didn't replace it with Miserablism as they nearly did.

[Neilatrone]

Love " The end of the world". Really impressed with the melody and music arrangement. Aways takes me back to a point in my life.

[MikeyC]

If/when they do a future non-greatest hits tour, I’d love this to be in the set list! x

[Patrick Bateman]

Love the way Nervously segues into The End of the World.

A great lyric too: "The prophets all predicted extinction/The virgin spoke in apparitions"

Was this the track they'd have replaced with Miserablism? Hmm, not sure about that.

[Drico One]

At midnight in desperation
imagine total teenage destruction

How apposite that this couplet mirrors the passing of Pet Shop Boys as youth-culture touchstones. Behaviour, as a whole, does this, acting almost as a pallbearer for their commercial potency, whilst simultaneously heralding their arrival as an immortal presence. Behaviour ruminates - and this depth of thought was instrumental in ensuring their career has persisted long after the hits dried up.

My total teenage destruction occured in 1992, when I turned 20. I remember working in a nightclub bar at the time as the clock passed "midnight" - if not quite "in desperation". That couplet rang in my ears. I was obsessed with Behaviour and also with its obvious commercial underperformance and that of its singles. I understod the whole "teenage destruction" idea in terms of their fanbase moving on. Let's face it, with its introspective, reflective themes and retro analogue instrumentation, Behaviour wasn't at the cutting edge of the sonic mood of the time. It was the thinking teen's pop bible. That was never the largest market.

Tell me baby how you generate longevity

This, of course, is the other apposite phrase on that meisterwerk. Something was passing on Behaviour. Youth, most of all, slowly, surely, and necessarily. But that's what makes it the ultimate album for 18-year-old me. It soundtracked my life at 18, 19, and 20. It told, in its tales, the story of growing up. Those of us who were doing just that at that very time saw, in Behaviour, ourselves. But it wasn't just about passing. It was also about arriving. We were transmogrifying from one state to the next. Just as Pet Shop Boys were. In between the passing and arriving was the journey. And while we were preoccupied by the loss of teenage youth - or number one singles - and worried about the future (of where we would go and what would happen our heroic pop chroniclers) it is the journey itself that is most memorable and poignant. And that's where Behaviour sits for me, capturing the exquisite poignance of that brief phase of life and the promise of what, unknown, was to come. No other album by anyone ever captured that as well.

Drico.

[daveid]

At midnight in desperation
imagine total teenage destruction

How apposite that this couplet mirrors the passing of Pet Shop Boys as youth-culture touchstones. Behaviour, as a whole, does this, acting almost as a pallbearer for their commercial potency, whilst simultaneously heralding their arrival as an immortal presence. Behaviour ruminates - and this depth of thought was instrumental in ensuring their career has persisted long after the hits dried up.

My total teenage destruction occured in 1992, when I turned 20. I remember working in a nightclub bar at the time as the clock passed "midnight" - if not quite "in desperation". That couplet rang in my ears. I was obsessed with Behaviour and also with its obvious commercial underperformance and that of its singles. I understod the whole "teenage destruction" idea in terms of their fanbase moving on. Let's face it, with its introspective, reflective themes and retro analogue instrumentation, Behaviour wasn't at the cutting edge of the sonic mood of the time. It was the thinking teen's pop bible. That was never the largest market.

Tell me baby how you generate longevity

This, of course, is the other apposite phrase on that meisterwerk. Something was passing on Behaviour. Youth, most of all, slowly, surely, and necessarily. But that's what makes it the ultimate album for 18-year-old me. It soundtracked my life at 18, 19, and 20. It told, in its tales, the story of growing up. Those of us who were doing just that at that very time saw, in Behaviour, themselves. But it wasn't just about passing. It was also about arriving. We were transmogrifying from one state to the next. Just as Pet Shop Boys were. In between the passing and arriving was the journey. And while we were preoccupied by the loss of teenage youth - or number one singles - and worried about the future (of where we would go and what would happen our heroic pop chroniclers) it is the journey itself that is most memorable and poignant. And that's where Behaviour sits for me, capturing the exquisite poignance of that brief phase of life and the promise of what, unknown, was to come. No other album by anyone ever captured that as well.

Drico.

Yep, it was until a last-minute change of mind. In Neil's words, "we didn't want something spiky and peculiar".

[Disco.]

Remembering being so disappointed with. Behaviour on first listening, where was all the fast tracks ! I threw the cd case on my bed, thinking, well I can at least looking forward to the 12” Remixes ! The End Of the world along with So Hatd saved the album for me , at that time . I came to appreciate the album later on,realizing how great it was, loving To face the the truth and Nervously especially. It’s just a great album, the public was wrong.