The 2004 album that never was

[telys]

N&C trying to write a single for Popart GH leading them to have a bunch of tracks enough for a complete album. Going through the Release FL booklet it's fascinating to read how the boys are desperately trying to write a couple of singles for the GH. In the end they end up with so many tracks that it's enough for an album. And that album that would've come out late 2003 or early 2004 doesn't sound that bad. The songs in themselves are perhaps not the strongest but as an album it's quite ok, very electroclash, edgy, got some attitude.
So according to the booklet, them trying to write something for Popart starts with Party Song. Despite their enormous output it is quite difficult to pinpoint a "lost album" this easy.
So here is my suggestion for this 2004 album that never was. One could modify it by adding Try It, Powerful Friend and If Looks Could Kill which are of the same style but they weren't recorded as a part of the effort to write singles for Popart.
Name of album: ?

1. "Party Song" 03:40
2. "No Excuse" 03:34
3. "Blue on Blue" 03:10
4. "Miracles" 05:46
5. "Baby" 03:43
6. "Flamboyant" 04:23
7. "Numb" (demo) 03:38
8. "Reunion" (electro mix) 04:29
9. "Bright Young Things" 04:55
10. "In Private" (featuring Elton John) 04:10
11. "We're the Pet Shop Boys" 04:55

[Xakrij]

Name of album: ?

Off the top of my head :

Pet Shop Boys

Never Unreleased Jumble Medley Variety
Assortment Collage Mishmash Mélange Amalgam Patchwork Hodgepodge Smorgasbord Potpourri Blend Clutter Menagerie Ragbag Motley Pastiche Farrago Gallimaufry Litter Jungle Miscellanea Montage Agglomeration Scramble Shuffle Salad Stew Goulash Hash Combination Gumbo Jambalaya Salmagundi Tangle Ragout Rummage Botch Olio Accumulation Welter Soup Omnium-gatherum Quilt Muddle Conglomeration Macédoine Tumble Aggregation Notions Detritus Fusion Mess Sundries Composite Chaos Catchall Compound Disarray Intermixture Admixture Oddments Mix-up Alloy Commixture Confusion Hypothetical Morass Disorder Disarrangement Shambles Pretend Imbroglio Snarl Bollix Knot Debatable Imaginary Problematic Speculative Theoretical Vague Academic Contingent Pretending Suspect Assumption Casual Concocted Conditional Conjecturable Conjecture Contestable Disputable Doubtful Equivocal Imagined Indefinite Indeterminate Postulated Presumptive Presupposed Provisory Putative Questionable Refutable Stochastic Supposed Suppositional Suppositious Theoretic Uncertain Unconfirmed

Period.

[telys]

Name of album: ?

Period.

Period! That's the name, sums it up perfectly.

[Xakrij]

Name of album: ?

Period.

Period! That's the name, sums it up perfectly.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

It's a bit thin on the ground in terms of quality.

If you're going to theoretically invent an album from that period, you could theoretically discard Disco 3 and include those new songs from that release as they would seem to be of a similar sonic pallette.

Retro.

[jasonjohn]

I think they ultimately made the right choices here.

Powerful Friend (peel version) really needed a proper release. Disco, at the very lease.

[telys]

Greetings,

It's a bit thin on the ground in terms of quality.

If you're going to theoretically invent an album from that period, you could theoretically discard Disco 3 and include those new songs from that release as they would seem to be of a similar sonic pallette.

Retro.

You miss the point. It's not about songs from that era, it's about them trying (a little bit desperately, it seems) to write/create material for inclusion on Popart, and they end up with material enough for an album. And putting them together and listening to it, I realised that it's actually not that bad.
Disco 3 was made/released before the PopArt-desperation happened.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Telys,

Disco 3 was made/released before the PopArt-desperation happened.

There's your alternative title then... Desperation



Cheers.

Retro.

[boyjohn]

Reunion is a great song. Weird that they tossed it aside.

[telys]

And finally, if I understood correctly, the first piece in the score - Comrades - was based on yet another piece of music Chris wrote while they were trying to generate a hit single for PopArt, an activity that seems to have produced most of an album (didn't someone here add up all the songs that originated in these sessions recently?).

So it turns out there was even more Desperation.

[Spittingcat]

Reunion is such a lovely song.

Anyway, why are people using terms such as “desperation” about them trying to write some singles? It’s pretty normal for artists to do this when greatest hits compilations are planned. The most successful I can think of is New Order working with Stephen Hague to create True Faith and 1963, but it happens all the time. Standard practice, not “desperate”.

[telys]

Reunion is such a lovely song.

Anyway, why are people using terms such as “desperation” about them trying to write some singles? It’s pretty normal for artists to do this when greatest hits compilations are planned. The most successful I can think of is New Order working with Stephen Hague to create True Faith and 1963, but it happens all the time. Standard practice, not “desperate”.

It's beause how it's described in the FL booklets. It's obvious they were struggling to find a couple of hit songs for the GH album.

[Spittingcat]

Ah, I see. Explains using someone else’s music for the other single (Miracle) as well I suppose. Flamboyant & Miracles finished off that compilation release nicely… but Reunion would have been more of a signpost of what was to come… a shame they didn’t finish and include it at the time.

[PSBForTheMasses]

Reunion is such a lovely song.

Anyway, why are people using terms such as “desperation” about them trying to write some singles? It’s pretty normal for artists to do this when greatest hits compilations are planned. The most successful I can think of is New Order working with Stephen Hague to create True Faith and 1963, but it happens all the time. Standard practice, not “desperate”.

It's beause how it's described in the FL booklets. It's obvious they were struggling to find a couple of hit songs for the GH album.

Well, they were quite successful after all their efforts, weren't they? I find both Miracles and Flamboyant better than DJ Culture, Was It Worth it? or Together. Flamboyant, in particular, is among their best songs from an era when they were floundering.

[Gabby]

On reflection, considering these are "tacked on" tracks for greatest hits albums, they're damn fine tracks, every one of them!