Pet Shop Boys Missteps

[Lleonard Pler]

Disco 2 still the highest charting Disco album by some margin and charted higher than a few studio albums.

So one could argue that Disco 2 marked their commercial decline. Understandably so.

[g_m]

I do like this thread and perhaps it could be a future podcast? Call it You Know Where You Went Wong?

I guess over the years Chris and Neil have had lots of people advising them on what should be a single and they are never going to please everyone. Generally I’ve been more than happy with what’s been released and I may be in the minority here but I don’t think Disco 2 is that bad if you listen to it as a continuous mix. Maybe introspective was released too soon and imagine they were under pressure from parlophone to release something quickly as they had huge success just before. Maybe one day Neil will reveal all if and when his autobiography comes out.

Releasing Introspective in the autumn of 1988 shows just how brave and ahead of the time PSB can be. They took their love of dance music and brought it to the masses when it was still fairly deep underground.

Going from the pop albums of Please and Actually and having their faces everywhere, to releasing an album of six 12" mixes with coloured bars on the sleeve and nearly hitting No1 showed everyone they weren't your typical synth-pop band. Frankie Knuckles and Sterling Void having tracks at No2 in the UK album chart in 1988? Unbelievable.

And then two years later they gave us Behaviour and jumped up another level. And don't get me started on the 1991 Radio One shows and how they changed dance music in the UK... Sorry this is supposed to be about missteps isn't it

[markus]

Pet shop boys missteps, or moments of brilliance?
1. Les Childs - Ahead of time? Or, too much in your face? (could be an intresting poll)

[Pod]

Wedding in Berlin as an album track, well just as a track to be honest.

Dreadful

[g_m]

Wedding in Berlin as an album track, well just as a track to be honest.

Dreadful

Yes definitely. It's up there with some of the worst stuff they've ever done. How they thought it was acceptable to release it, let alone put it as the last track on the album is mind blowing. Also the fact it was recorded as a friend's wedding present and they decided to just chuck it on at the end of the album is just lazy. As people have said before, they had Decide recorded and Chris was against putting it on the album. Now that would've been an album closer and then some. Shame.

[MikeyC]

Wedding in Berlin as an album track, well just as a track to be honest.

Dreadful

Yes definitely. It's up there with some of the worst stuff they've ever done. How they thought it was acceptable to release it, let alone put it as the last track on the album is mind blowing. Also the fact it was recorded as a friend's wedding present and they decided to just chuck it on at the end of the album is just lazy. As people have said before, they had Decide recorded and Chris was against putting it on the album. Now that would've been an album closer and then some. Shame.

I have a feeling the original wedding present version was slightly different and more personalized and likely not produced by Price. So it may not have just been chucked onto the album.

[Patrick Bateman]

I've always assumed they put it on the album because it's their 'Berlin album', which is obviously not to excuse the decision.

[DopeFiend]

Wedding in Berlin as an album track, well just as a track to be honest.

Dreadful

Yes definitely. It's up there with some of the worst stuff they've ever done. How they thought it was acceptable to release it, let alone put it as the last track on the album is mind blowing. Also the fact it was recorded as a friend's wedding present and they decided to just chuck it on at the end of the album is just lazy. As people have said before, they had Decide recorded and Chris was against putting it on the album. Now that would've been an album closer and then some. Shame.

I have a feeling the original wedding present version was slightly different and more personalized and likely not produced by Price. So it may not have just been chucked onto the album.

Yes, I remember they said that. I've always envisioned it had the person's name in the lyrics.
By the way, did we all know they've done a Happy Birthday song. It's used in their Instagram post this year for Chris' birthday.
It goes for 20 seconds and cuts off right when the name of whoever's birthday would fit in.
I was expecting Neil to sing "dear Chris" but it just ends abruptly. (Perhaps it was made with another name and reused here)
This mention of Wedding In Berlin reminds me of it. Could you imagine how tacky it would be to have the Happy Birthday song on one of their main studio albums? Wedding in Berlin is such a misstep.

I've always assumed they put it on the album because it's their 'Berlin album', which is obviously not to excuse the decision.

It's nothing to do with Berlin though. Which is another reason why it's so crappy, they just added Berlin to the song title to make it fit the theme of Hotspot.
I just relistened to it on x2 speed and can confirm there are no references to locations. It sounds so bad though "we're getting married, married, married" "a lot of people do it, don’t matter if they’re straight or gay" it's kind of cute but .
Also this comment I found: "Nothing even remotely musically or sonically interesting about this trash."

[TallThinMan]

It's nothing to do with Berlin though. Which is another reason why it's so crappy, they just added Berlin to the song title to make it fit the theme of Hotspot.

Wedding is a district in Berlin, so it’s a pun. I think the couple getting married are German too.

I agree that it has no place on the album.

[Dog]

It's nothing to do with Berlin though. Which is another reason why it's so crappy, they just added Berlin to the song title to make it fit the theme of Hotspot.

Wedding is a district in Berlin, so it’s a pun. I think the couple getting married are German too.

I agree that it has no place on the album.

Hotspot is a very romantic album. The romance of a relationship; the romance of the city. It’s very fitting it ends with a wedding, in Berlin. It’s the last track for a reason. It ties the threads up.

[PSBForTheMasses]

It's nothing to do with Berlin though. Which is another reason why it's so crappy, they just added Berlin to the song title to make it fit the theme of Hotspot.

Wedding is a district in Berlin, so it’s a pun. I think the couple getting married are German too.

I agree that it has no place on the album.

Hotspot is a very romantic album. The romance of a relationship; the romance of the city. It’s very fitting it ends with a wedding, in Berlin. It’s the last track for a reason. It ties the threads up.

I see nothing romantic in Monkey Business video other than sexy boys and girls, erotic dances and diamonds, though

[TallThinMan]

It's nothing to do with Berlin though. Which is another reason why it's so crappy, they just added Berlin to the song title to make it fit the theme of Hotspot.

Wedding is a district in Berlin, so it’s a pun. I think the couple getting married are German too.

I agree that it has no place on the album.

Hotspot is a very romantic album. The romance of a relationship; the romance of the city. It’s very fitting it ends with a wedding, in Berlin. It’s the last track for a reason. It ties the threads up.

That did occur to me after I posted. However, I think including it cheapens the gift to their friends.

[OakeyDokey]

I've always assumed they put it on the album because it's their 'Berlin album', which is obviously not to excuse the decision.

Dame Bowie would have laughed his bollocks off at it and told Chris and Neil in no uncertain terms to sort it out...

[E-Mail Vampire]

- Not releasing a 4th single from Nightlife.
- Not having a third UK single from Release. If Parlophone got nervous about the line in London, why not have an alternative single?
- The Most Incredible Thing (truly awful).
- Disco 2
- Not reissuing the first 6 Further Listening albums with unreleased material as they contemplated when they released Nightlife to Elysium on FL format.
- Including Here on release when it was written for Closer To Heaven.
- the Closer To Heaven/Nightlife/Release eras blending.

[telys]

- Not releasing a 4th single from Nightlife.
- Not having a third UK single from Release. If Parlophone got nervous about the line in London, why not have an alternative single?
- The Most Incredible Thing (truly awful).
- Disco 2
- Not reissuing the first 6 Further Listening albums with unreleased material as they contemplated when they released Nightlife to Elysium on FL format.
- Including Here on release when it was written for Closer To Heaven.
- the Closer To Heaven/Nightlife/Release eras blending.

a) A new single mix of Radiophonic would've done the trick
b) London is a great title but the lyrical content wasn't really single material. 3rd single could've been solved by adding Break 4 Love to the album. Other than that only Samurai (with a cool video) or Birthday Boy (heavly edited 7'' mix) are singleworthy material.
c) Most Incredible Thing is a side project, those are allowed to be awful
d) Disco 2 wasn't a bad idea but it should've been curated differently. I would've prefered it in a style similar to Disco 1, i e 6-8 tracks of long high quality remixes.
e) I wouldn't say it was a misstep but more a missed opportunity. Curating the back catalogue is the trend and it's also about continuing making a mark and displaying the earlier masterpieces.
f-g) yep, this was extremely confusing back in the day 1998-2002. And it left us with too many musical-songs on the albums. Songs that fit a narrative within a musical don't necessarily fit onto an album.