Pet Shop Boys

[kalowski]

Not looking to start a fight or anything here, but I notice that the PSB are held in high regard here, by nearly everyone.
And I can't fucking stand them.
I just don't see it.

I'm not even asking people to convince me otherwise so I'm not sure why I started this other than Inner City Pressure West End Girls being on telly just now.

I'll file them in the overrated pile.

[Astronaut Omens]

Going by the 'Zone of Zero Funkativity' line that used to be under your avatar, I guess you're a P-Funk fan like me,  and I have to say that though PSB might be thought of as this rather uptight and over-planned act, it was the long tracks on the Disco and Introspective LPs (only six tracks each) that got me into the jammy, extended workout side of music as a kid.

[kalowski]

Interesting. I'd never have expected to hear P-Funk and the PSB in the same sentence. I didn't expect to be intrigued...but I am.

And P-Funk is my next thread!

[PlanktonSideburns]

Going by the 'Zone of Zero Funkativity' line that used to be under your avatar, I guess you're a P-Funk fan like me,  and I have to say that though PSB might be thought of as this rather uptight and over-planned act, it was the long tracks on the Disco and Introspective LPs (only six tracks each) that got me into the jammy, extended workout side of music as a kid.

whats a good track that exemplifies this, - i have also failed to discover the mysteries of pSB

[Darles Chickens]

I was a big fan as a kid, but Very was the last album I bought, as it felt like the magic was fading.  The material just felt weaker (Go West was their fuck off moment for me) and I hated that very distinctive, over-polished to the point of sterile, 90s production.  Didn't all 90s pop music have a certain sound to it, with those clipped tinny-sounding drums?

Anyway, listening to the radio as a kid, sometimes they'd play a PSB 12".  At first I didn't get the appeal of dragging out Always on my Mind for 9 minutes, but it grew on me, and in the end my favourite albums ended up being the two with the six long tracks, Disco and Introspective.  For me, the whole of Disco is gold, maybe check out Paninaro to get an idea what it's all about, and then Suburbia, which builds nicely off the single version to a pleasing climax.  From Introspective, I always loved I'm Not Scared - it's a beautiful song, even with its jarring "If I was you" lyrics, and I love that it doesn't end too soon.  Then there's It's Alright, a feelgood cover of a house song by Sterling Void.  And Left To My Own Devices is surely their best single, this version stretched out to 8 odd minutes.

There's not that much music I used to love as kid which I still listen to, but the PSBs are probably one of the few.

[Astronaut Omens]

whats a good track that exemplifies this, - i have also failed to discover the mysteries of pSB

For example, the long version of It's Alright on the Introspective LP:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx2rPrC1_H8
The elements that are parodied on Inner City Pressure, like the wry, detached vocals are part of their sound, but for many fans, there's also a lot of stuff like the last six minutes of this track, which are way more open-ended and expansive than they ever get given credit for.

[SweetPomPoms]

Please through to Behaviour is an almost perfect run. Results too, they gave away at least a couple of classics.
The long form stuff on Introspective is great, better listened to as an album rather than individual tracks. Devices and Alright are great bookends.
Anything Chris Lowe sings gets extra points.. And they're always decent live.

But theres no easy way from Pfunk to PSB, the closest you'll get is an occasional light dusting of Johnny Marr.

[kalowski]

I just looked Introspective up, and I see Left to my Own Devices and Always on my Mind and I just can't go there. I don't care how good the 8 minute versions are, I hate those songs.
Sorry.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I like p-funk and the PSB's, cheers.

[DrGreggles]

I wouldn't class myself as a big Pet Shop Boys fan, but that run of singles they had from West End Girls to Being Boring was bloody good - especially the 12" versions.
Never really got into them as an album act though.

[daf]

I see Left to my Own Devices and Always on my Mind and I just can't go there. I don't care how good the 8 minute versions are, I hate those songs.
Sorry.

Ha - I was going to recommend that one as their best - oh well!

[bgmnts]

I wouldn't class myself as a big Pet Shop Boys fan, but that run of singles they had from West End Girls to Being Boring was bloody good - especially the 12" versions.
Never really got into them as an album act though.

Basically this, but then so very few bands are to be fair.

[SweetPomPoms]

They had a high album:single ratio which helped reduce the chaff but each of the first 4 albums have an increasing amount of decent songs buried on them, loads of torch songs, ballads and the social commentary things.
Peaked with Jealousy which they had hanging around since their early demos but could never get Morricone to arrange. Thinking about it, it was probably a single too..

[Oz Oz Alice]

Definitely a singles act in my opinion but I love their 80's singles and Neil Tennant's presence in general, a great interviewee and lyricist even if the music often (since the 80s anyway) doesn't quite live up to the lyrics. After Behaviour it's slim pickings for me though the singles off Nightlife are pretty impressive. Having said that, my favourite PSB song is Young Offender which was never a single: pervy melancholy is hard to do as a songwriter and this is a great example of it. "How graceful your movements how bitter your scorn, I've been a teenager since the day you were born" is a wonderful lyric and when sung it concisely sums up how the ageing process is different somehow when you're queer.

[PaulTMA]

It's not the best music forum is it, just daft weed casualties saying 'lads' 'melt' 'boredoms'

[ProvanFan]

I love a bit of domino dancing

[Jockice]

Peaked with Jealousy which they had hanging around since their early demos but could never get Morricone to arrange. Thinking about it, it was probably a single too..

Jealousy is their masterpiece. Just try listening to it after you've been dumped. As I have been several time since its release. It practically cuts you into little bits and leaves them on the floor. It was a single but only a minor hit.

The thing I've always found about them - and OMD too - is that their singles were absolutely fantastic or absolutely shit. I'd count West End Girls in the latter category. Just never liked that one. And I also think another of their chart-toppers, Heart, was crap too. And then there's DJ Culture, Absolutely Fabulous, New York City Boy...

[Oz Oz Alice]

I love New York City Boy! It's one of the campest things ever but there's a real sense of wish fulfillment in it, makes me think of this young gay guy dreaming of and romanticising his first experiences of that kind of nightlife. Sort of a dry run for Kylie's Your Disco Needs You as well which I thought the Boys had written when I first heard it. I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore is begging for a countrified cover version, a la You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk off the same album.

[Chicory]

I absolutely adore PSB but can't quite put my finger on why.  There's a lot of sentimental value, since 'Always On My Mind' was my first single.  Very much like Suede, they do tend to fall into unintentional (or even intentional) parodies of themselves quite often, which I can understand might be somewhat grating.  I concur completely that their 'imperial' run of singles is virtually matchless - only Abba or Madness come close in my book.  It's witty, heartbreaking and anthemic POP.  You can't say fairer than that.

[PlanktonSideburns]

For example, the long version of It's Alright on the Introspective LP:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx2rPrC1_H8
The elements that are parodied on Inner City Pressure, like the wry, detached vocals are part of their sound, but for many fans, there's also a lot of stuff like the last six minutes of this track, which are way more open-ended and expansive than they ever get given credit for.

yea this is sounding a bit more like it

[Oz Oz Alice]

Always On My Mind is a fantastic single and my favourite version of that song. In Neil Tennant's delivery you hear how he lost the guy but the music tells you how he's going to get him back.

[buntyman]

I love a bit of domino dancing

Me too. More camp fun

[Darles Chickens]

Me too. More camp fun

It's my least favourite track on Introspective, and I often skip it. Different songs for different... needs.

[Norton Canes]

Put me down in the 'What's not to love about Pet Shop Boys' camp. And the 'What's not to love about Pet Shop Boys' camp' camp. Tip: give their 1996 album Bilingual a spin, it's an overlooked classic.

[SpiderChrist]

Put me down as another lover of both P Funk and early PSB. Left To My Own Devices is fucking brilliant.

[The Culture Bunker]

I think I got 'Discography' for Christmas when I was 14 or so, and found the majority of it excellent (it tails off a bit for me after 'Left To My Own Devices', though both 'Being Boring' and 'Jealousy' are top notch) - I wound up buying 'Very' not long after* because I liked 'Can You Forgive Her?', but the album as a whole didn't do much for me and I've not extended my collection of their work in the 25 years since.

* it was in the orange case, but one of the corners that opened it up had chipped off. My mam saw this, took it back to Woolworths and wound up getting me half the cost back. I wasn't that arsed, but she said it 'you can't let anybody sell you something broken'.

[madhair60]

Pet Shop Boys are brilliant so fuck off

[Non Stop Dancer]

As much as I love many of the singles from the classic era, I personally think their most consistent album is Electric. On a tangental note, I have the exact same opinion about New Order and Music Complete.

[Pink Gregory]

Only came to them recently after watching a new release of It Couldn't Happen Here.  Certainly reinforces that notion of being ludicrously silly and at the same time taking oneself very, very seriously.

[Norton Canes]

I'm sure I've recounted this anecdote on CaB before so I won't bore you with it again

Oh go on, if you insist

I remember starting as a librarian at UCL in about 97/98, there were five of us new recruits and we spent the first morning doing basic training with our supervisor before retiring to the canteen for lunch. There, we had some get to know each other type chat before embarking on a game of 'guess each other's favourite bands'. Indie lad was Super Furries, gothy girl was Garbage, then they got round to me and after a few moments consideration decided on...

Yeah. Thanks, everyone. Thanks for that.