Some little changes for Nightlife, would you agree?

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Nickname · #1 Post by **Nickname** » Wed 22 Apr 2026, 5:52 pm

I think they lost an opportunity when they didn't release "Somewhere" as a single from Nightlife and they didn't choose Kylie for a single potential song.

I know they wanted to promote concerts that had the same name of the song but I think there was no need and they could have saved Somewhere for Nightlife and sing that with Kylie.

Imagine this final part of the album. There is a connection here: night, dance, dark, streets, Broadway and New York, there is even a reference to West Side Story in the video of New York City Boy, in fact the first performance of West Side story was in Winter Garden Theatre and Studio 54 was 0,3 miles from there:

"New York City Boy"
"Footsteps"
"Somewhere" (with Kylie Minogue)

The album had been more succesful and the singles too IMHO with something like that:

First single: New York City Boy
Second single: Somewhere (with Kylie Minogue) - album release
Third single: Drunk
Fourth single: I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more

But what's your opinion?

Dreamland · #2 Post by **Dreamland** » Wed 22 Apr 2026, 8:28 pm

I love Nightlife. A very special album.

However, like Bilingual, I think it could be even stronger if it were reduced to 10 tracks. Personally, I’d cut Vampires and Boy Strange.

Somewhere is also superb. But I don’t think it fits on Nightlife.

Lleonard Pler · #3 Post by **Lleonard Pler** » Wed 22 Apr 2026, 8:52 pm

I would only swap the bleak The only one for Ghost of myself.

Patrick Bateman · #4 Post by **Patrick Bateman** » Wed 22 Apr 2026, 9:27 pm

Nickname wrote: Wed 22 Apr 2026, 5:52 pm
Imagine this final part of the album:

"New York City Boy"
"Footsteps"
"Somewhere" (with Kylie Minogue)

tophalba33 · #5 Post by **tophalba33** » Wed 22 Apr 2026, 10:06 pm

Nightlife is a really underrated album, though it could have done with being cut down to ten songs or swapping a couple of them with those which didn’t make the final cut. For All of Us and Call Me Old-Fashioned are excellent tracks. Never been a fan of NYC Boy, though I’m probably in the minority.

leesmapman · #6 Post by **leesmapman** » Wed 22 Apr 2026, 10:14 pm

Didn't we have a whole topic on Nightlife a few months ago? Can this topic merge with that one?

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y3potential · #7 Post by **y3potential** » Wed 22 Apr 2026, 10:18 pm

leesmapman wrote: Wed 22 Apr 2026, 10:14 pm Didn't we have a whole topic on Nightlife a few months ago? Can this topic merge with that one?

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NOBODY75 · #8 Post by **NOBODY75** » Thu 23 Apr 2026, 12:19 am

I too would have reduced Nightlife to 10 songs. The first six seem excellent to me. New York city boy, of course. And Radiophonic and In Denial. For the tenth, I'd have to look at the B-sides from that era. But for example, For All Of Us is a great song, far superior to the other three in my opinion. Regarding Somewhere, well, a resounding no. I think they should never have released it as a single. It seems almost a caricature of themselves and of the previous prodigious covers they had done.

petshopgrrl · #9 Post by **petshopgrrl** » Thu 23 Apr 2026, 4:56 am

I can live without New York city boy and Footsteps and The Only One.

I do think Closer to Heaven would have made an excellent single in its fast form. Might have boosted interest in the musical too.

One track that might have fitted really well on the album is Hedonism, HA HA HA!

I also adore Nightlife the song, but having a title track violates all the rules, doesn’t it?

rathound · #10 Post by **rathound** » Thu 23 Apr 2026, 9:36 am

Definitely not on the original post. Somewhere shouldn't have been released at all. New York city boy a novelty B-side at best. Could easily cut 3 or 4 other songs from the album - In Denial, Only one, Boy Strange, Vampires, Footsteps and replaced with superior B-sides or a couple more songs with Rollo.

There's a very good album in there, suffocated by mediocrity

Nickname · #11 Post by **Nickname** » Thu 23 Apr 2026, 12:11 pm

Everyone has his own opinion but "New York City Boy" is one of the most streamed songs from PSB ever. A Top 10. I don't think the idea of not releasing the song like a single and not even including the song in the album was something good.

On the other hand, "Somewhere" was Top 10 in UK's charts being a fifth single from Bilingual or the one for the extended version of the album and in order to promote the concerts. By the way, the song is great and the cover version is spectacular. I'm sure the song would have ranked in the Top 3 at least with Kylie on it.

The only one song I think could work a bit outside the fan base was "Drunk" and it was another Top 10. "Closer to Heaven" wasn't even single potential, that's why it wasn't single at all.

Pod · #12 Post by **Pod** » Thu 23 Apr 2026, 12:47 pm

Nightlife is a solid album, but Boy Strange is b-side at best.

NotInvisible · #13 Post by **NotInvisible** » Thu 23 Apr 2026, 2:20 pm

Worth remembering that in 1999 Kylie wasn't KYLIE yet, she was essentially a washed-up former pop star who struggled with a couple of indie albums. That's one of the reasons Nightlife didn't get a boost from her inclusion whereas just a few years later Doctor Who would get its highest modern ratings ever, when Kylie was post gold hot pants. Sticking her on a single wouldn't have achieved anything at the time.

I also think Nightlife was DOA in 1999 anyway, so while it's their weakest album and could benefit from some judicious re-sequencing, it's kind of a fool's errand even if hypothetically. In pop culture terms Pet Shop Boys couldn't get arrested between Bilingual and the BRIT Awards performance.

rathound · #14 Post by **rathound** » Thu 23 Apr 2026, 3:00 pm

it is a bit of a shame it wasn't PSB behind the likes of Spinning Around and her comeback. But In Denial was never going to do anything for her/them. Nor would Somewhere

Danimal · #15 Post by **Danimal** » Fri 24 Apr 2026, 11:54 pm

A lot to both agree and disagree with in this thread. As NotInvisible stated, regardless of what tracks went into or were excluded from “Nightlife”, at that stage in their career it wouldn’t have charted or sold any better; this was the second album into their difficult middle years.

Having said that, after a strong start it falls apart in the second half. My least favorite is “Boy Strange”. Honestly, I wouldn’t have even released that one as a b-side.

Something many on this forum often lose sight of is that many single b-sides haven’t yet been written before an album is finished; they come afterward, and thus couldn’t have been on it. I believe this was the case with “The ghost of myself.”

Having said that, during recording they had a number of demos from “Closer to heaven” and other songs they recorded during the “Nightlife” sessions that could have went on. They wanted to record “Call me old fashioned” for it, but I think they mentioned that Rollo was slightly horrified by it. They did record the track “Nightlife” during these sessions, but decided not to include it; I would have preferred this as the closing track over “Footsteps.”

In terms of Kylie, she was well beyond her initial success in 1999 and I don’t believe she even had a recording deal at this point. PSB liked the idea of having her sing this part, so they invited her. Singing on “In denial” didn’t raise her profile meaningfully at the time, but it did help to keep her name out there until her second stage of success ultimately occurred a few years later.