Pet Shop Boys Community

Just listened to Technique last week. Such a great album; too bad they messed up the singles.

Fine Time and Round and Round are both amazing! I'd have released Vanishing Point as the third single though.

Hmm, time to dust off some New Order albums I think.

Patrick Bateman wrote:Fine Time and Round and Round are both amazing! I'd have released Vanishing Point as the third single though.

That's what I mean. Fine Time and Round and Round are ace, but Run was crap, and they had to give the royalties to John Denver! I would have released Vanishing Point and Mr. Disco as singles. Surely Technique warranted four singles?

Technique is an incredible album. What annoys me most about modern chart music is how unambitious it is; it's significant that Calvin Harris had a row with Bloc Party a few years back about the merits of commercial vs. artistic success. Technique proves just how sublime dance-influenced pop music can be. Fine Time is just such a f*cked-up and disturbed single but it's also absolutely magnificent.

I like New Order, but Barney's lyrics...

It's like listening to a six-year-old discovering the alphabet in a bowl of Alphabetti-Spaghetti.

Drico.

He's certainly no Ian Curtis but True Faith's lyrics are incredible. The article actually refers to this; it shouldn't work but somehow they get away with it because the tunes are so memorable. I also think it's because the landscape they describe is essentially a pharmaceutically-altered one and lyrics such as "ooh you've got green eyes, ooh you've got blue eyes, ooh you've got grey eyes" are actually rather beautiful in that state of being.

It's certainly got a charm. Their greatest hits from 1994 is one of the best compilations of all time.

Drico.

Drico One wrote:It's certainly got a charm. Their greatest hits from 1994 is one of the best compilations of all time.

Drico.

I think "Substance" is a far better compilation. Amazing 12" extended mixes all around.

Palpatine wrote:

Patrick Bateman wrote:Fine Time and Round and Round are both amazing! I'd have released Vanishing Point as the third single though.

That's what I mean. Fine Time and Round and Round are ace, but Run was crap, and they had to give the royalties to John Denver! I would have released Vanishing Point and Mr. Disco as singles. Surely Technique warranted four singles?

TOTALLY agree with you re VP and MrDisco, easily the best two tracks on the album. And
Technique is easily the best New Order album.

Palpatine wrote:

Patrick Bateman wrote:Fine Time and Round and Round are both amazing! I'd have released Vanishing Point as the third single though.

That's what I mean. Fine Time and Round and Round are ace, but Run was crap, and they had to give the royalties to John Denver! I would have released Vanishing Point and Mr. Disco as singles. Surely Technique warranted four singles?

Considering that it took them two albums to even start releasing singles from albums, even three singles from Technique was considered as a massive sell-out. There is something admirably cool in leaving singles like Temptation, Blue Monday and Thieves Like Us out from albums recorded at the same time.

Eldritch wrote:

Palpatine wrote:

Patrick Bateman wrote:Fine Time and Round and Round are both amazing! I'd have released Vanishing Point as the third single though.

That's what I mean. Fine Time and Round and Round are ace, but Run was crap, and they had to give the royalties to John Denver! I would have released Vanishing Point and Mr. Disco as singles. Surely Technique warranted four singles?

Considering that it took them two albums to even start releasing singles from albums, even three singles from Technique was considered as a massive sell-out. There is something admirably cool in leaving singles like Temptation, Blue Monday and Thieves Like Us out from albums recorded at the same time.

So I guess they sold-out even more massively after Technique: recording a World Cup single and then Republic, a pure pop album, with four (!) singles (all of which were ace, btw).

Palpatine wrote:
So I guess they sold-out even more massively after Technique: recording a World Cup single and then Republic, a pure pop album, with four (!) singles (all of which were ace, btw).

Yep, it was a gradual process for New Order to change from a mysterious and faceless indie cult to just another band. Factory folding out in 1992 was the final straw.

Do you like Republic, Eldritch?