Alternative

Message

Broooklyn · #1 Post by **Broooklyn** » Fri 03 Feb 2006, 2:23 am

I would say for almost a good year, I was not listening to much Pet Shop Boys material, but in anticipation of the arrival of new music, I have been listening to the catalog non-stop for the last two weeks. It is so beautiful to come back to these guys after a hiatus. Their music is so incredible.

My question is, since I am currently listening to the end of disk two on Alternative as I type is; If these two disks were released separately as all album tracks, after Very, where would these two disks separately as actual albums be rated as a whole in regards to Pet Shop Boys releases? I know this set is highly regarded by many fans, but it is interesting to think about what could have come of these 30 tracks if they happened to appear on two separate "Official" albums, with separate titles.

Of course when posing this question, I am asking all to eliminate the technical details, since the vast majority of these tracks were available via other means, such as b-sides. Lets just imagine that these 30 tracks had never seen the light of day before their release via these two hypothetical albums.

Naughty Zoot · #2 Post by **Naughty Zoot** » Fri 03 Feb 2006, 3:23 am

Quite an interesting proposition. When you say " released after Very ", I assume you mean in it's regular 1995 place & before Bilingual, so that means we had these albums in circulation:
Please
Disco
Actually
Introspective
Behavior
Discography
Very
Disco 2

My ranking would be ---
1 = Very
2 = Behavior
3 = Alternative CD2
4 = Introspective
5 = Actually
6 = Disco
7 = Please
8 = Discography
9 = Alternative CD1
10 =Disco 2

As you can see, I really like CD2 of Alternative. This is a group of top notch, pop gems & this disc could definitely stand alone as an album. CD1, unfortunately, pales in comparison. These songs, especially grouped together, are obviously the work of unseasoned songwriters. Plus, this disc has TSOTAS - which I can't abide.
Still, it is a better listen than D2 - which couild have only been worse had it contained TSOTAS.

Broooklyn · #3 Post by **Broooklyn** » Fri 03 Feb 2006, 3:45 am

Interesting zoot. I view it totally opposite to what you concluded to. I personally love disk one, and feel its contents are stronger as a whole. There are some absolute gems on disk 2 like you said, without question. Particularly, It Must Be Obvious, Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend, Miserablism, Too Many People, Shameless, Some Speculation and Euroboy. For me, personally, Tracks 1 through 10 are fantastic on CD 1. As a whole, this collection of 30 songs is quite a positive highlight within their catalog. It is a brilliant mix, and I prefer this double set above a couple of their earlier albums. Definitely great to hear you side of it. Thanks.

Darkmoon · #4 Post by **Darkmoon** » Fri 03 Feb 2006, 8:42 am

I still believe some of the tracks on Alternative (especially disc1), are better than the A-sides of the singles they were on! 'Always on my mind' is a fun track, but 'Do I have to' is just brilliant!

But, on-topic: I would say Disc 1 is a stronger album than Disc 2. The songwriting, arrangements and production are more experimental and therefor still interesting to listen to. Listening to Disc 2 I often find that *most* of the tracks are 'lazily' produced, as in: We know how to make a track sound good so let's just do that and nothing extra. This is just the production I'm talking about of course, but still for me it's just less interesting to hear those tracks!

So my list would be:

1. Behaviour
2. Alternative CD1
3. Introspective
4. Actually
5. Please
6. Very
7. Alternative CD2
8. Nightlife
9-> the rest

raggatwin · #5 Post by **raggatwin** » Fri 03 Feb 2006, 8:59 am

euroboy is well below par for me.....