Pet Shop Boys - I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (1994)

CD Single

Recently found this disc and figured since I liked the tune, I'd pick up the CD single used. If a little bit is good, more must be better, right? Normally, I'd say yes, but since I already have 3 of these IWDTKOT remixes elsewhere, it didn't turn out to be the most prudent purchase. Ah, well - there's still 4 tracks that are new to me.

Peak on the US Billboard Dance chart: #2

Billboard, January 22, 1994, p. 61

Tracks:

1. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (Album Version) - found on Very
2. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (Club Mix) 
3. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (Wild Pitch Mix) - found on Disco 2
4. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (Extended Nude Mix) - found on Disco 2
5. West End Girls (Sasha Mix)
6. Violence (Hacienda Version)
7. Too Many People

That's 7 tracks in 44 minutes - we certainly used to get bang for our buck with the early '90s CD singles. The best remix of IWNDTKOT is track 4, the Extended Nude Mix. The West End Girls remix is good, not great and the other two b-sides are pleasant enough - Violence is laid back while Too Many People is a full-on typical PSB dance track.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but my back and knees are telling me I shouldn't try the same dance moves I was doing back in '94.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Yes (2009)
Fundamental (2006)
Somewhere (1997)
Bilingual (1996)
Disco 2 (1994)
Very (1993)
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) (1991)
Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991)

Pet Shop Boys - Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991)

In this house, it's always time for PSB - one of the few groups we can all agree on. This is a 18 track compilation of their singles released 1985-1991. It gets a lot of playing time 'round here.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #111

Tracks:  I don't skip any of these tracks. Hands down, my favorite PSB song is Left To My Own Devices. In a close race for second place are West End Girls, Suburbia, and What Have I Done To Deserve This, followed by So Hard and Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You). Chart positions follow:

Song	US	UK
West End Girls	1	1
Love Comes Quickly	62	19
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)	10	11
Suburbia	70	8
It's a Sin	9	1
What Have I Done To Deserve This?	2	2
Rent		8
Always on My Mind	4	1
Heart		1
Domino Dancing	18	7
Left To My Own Devices	84	4
It's Alright		5
So Hard	62	4
Being Boring		20
Where The Streets Have No Name	72	4
Jealousy		12
DJ Culture		13
Was It Worth It?		24

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  This CD was a gift to me from my late friend Scott, so it's very special to me.

A few weeks ago, rain forced my son to stay inside, so he passed the time by playing a video game upstairs while I was elsewhere in the house. Suddenly, I hear him excitedly yelling, "PSB ON GTA!!!" I walked upstairs to check it out and, sure enough, we were listening to West End Girls while he drove over people on the sidewalk.

Now that I've heard Left To My Own Devices this morning, I will probably listen to it at least 5 more times today.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Yes (2009)
Fundamental (2006)
Somewhere (1997)
Bilingual (1996)
Disco 2 (1994)
Very (1993)
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) (1991)

Pet Shop Boys - Somewhere (1997)

"WEST SIDE STORY" WEEK (NOVEMBER 10-16, 2013) 

CD Single

I bought a lotta dance singles in '97 and this combination of Bernstein and Pet Shop Boys was something I just had to hear. And it's exactly what you'd expect a dance take on West Side Story's most famous ballad to sound like. This version is completely frivolous and I love it. There's no doubt the release date is 1997 - it is definitely of its time.

They called this 6 track release a "CD5 Maxi Single" but at 39 minutes, it is longer than many albums I own.

Single chart peaks:

• US Billboard Hot 100: Did not chart (it "bubbled under" at 125)
• Billboard Dance: #19

Tracks:  We're treated to 2 mixes of Somewhere, including a 10+ minute remix. Of those, I prefer the former to the latter. The original ends with an odd, but enjoyable, downbeat Beatleseque coda while the longer mix doesn't contain much of the original; I'm surprised Bernstein and Sondheim retained writing credit. We also get two versions of PSB's previous single, A Red Letter Day, from the album Bilingual, and not one, but two b-sides (if they were still called that in '97): The View From Your Balcony and Delusions Of Grandeur. No bad track, it's all well and good, but I really only want to hear the shorter version of Somewhere.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Yes (2009)
Fundamental (2006)
Bilingual (1996)
Disco 2 (1994)
Very (1993)
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) (1991)

Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental (2006)

Note: my CD is the "special limited edition" that includes a bonus CD of remixes titled Fundamentalism.

This is the PSB's 16th album, but only their 9th of entirely new music. Even though it was produced by Trevor Horn, I don't love it. The lyrics are political and the music is very serious, generally slower and in minor keys. I want dance music, boys! Overall, the critics liked it with Metacritic giving it a 75, so I guess I'm missing something. Overall, I'm just bored.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #150 (July 15, 2006)

Tracks: My favorites include Psychological, Minimal (which sounds just like a New Order song), and I'm With Stupid. Skip the many ballads, especially the one written by Diane Warren, Numb.

Bonus tracks: at this point, I should mention that the "special limited edition" is still available 6 years after its release, so I'm unsure of how limited it is. Finally, though, we get some dance music that actually sounds like the PSB. The tracks Fugitive (Richard X Extended Mix), Psychological (Alter Ego Remix), I'm With Stupid (Melnyk Heavy Petting Mix), Minimal (Lobe Remix) are the best remixes here. While I like almost all the tracks (I could do without the Sodom and Gomorrah remixes), they are a little much for this old man to take all in one sitting. Better to spread them out in an iTunes shuffle. Still, it's a shame when the bonus CD is better than the main CD.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Yes (2009)
Bilingual (1996)
Disco 2 (1994)
Very (1993)
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) (1991)

Blog post #650

Pet Shop Boys - Bilingual (1996)

One of PSB's more upbeat happy albums, but slightly inconsistent. It must have been difficult to follow-up 1993's Very; maybe that's why they took three years to do it. Ignore the double entendre of the album's title, this dance music is heavily Latin-flavored. Three of the songs have bilingual lyrics, mixing the English language with Spanish and Portuguese. There are a few clunkers here, but for the most part, this is good, danceable electropop. Best lyric award for this album: "It's the greatest show with the best effects/Since Disco-Tex and the Sexelettes!" from Electricity. For the most part, PSB should be considered a singles band. In my opinion, this was the last decent PSB album until Yes in 2009.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone (★★★½): "get dancin'!"
• Billboard: "typically precious and often clever collection of pop mini-dramas"
• Entertainment Weekly: B+
• Robert Christgau: A-
• Spin (8 out of 10): "astonishingly eloquent songs"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #39 (Sept 28, 1996)

Tracks: The highlight of the album is Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is), followed closely by Saturday Night Forever. I also enjoy Metamorphosis, It Always Comes As A Surprise, A Red Letter Day, and Before. The rest of the tracks aren't great, but they're easy to listen to, with the exception of Single and To Step Aside, both of which should be skipped.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Same as Barenaked Ladies' Stunt: In the late '90s, I stupidly took on a home improvement project that involved sanding and painting all the cabinets in the kitchen. I remember this CD keeping me company while I primed and painted.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Yes (2009)
Disco 2 (1994)
Very (1993)
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) (1991)

Pet Shop Boys - Yes (2009)

Note: this is the special edition which includes a second CD with a bonus track as well as 6 dub mixes.

The Boys returned to their normal dance synth pop with this release after 2006's so-so album, Fundamental. Here are the clever lyrics, the drum machines, the bouncy synths layered over pads. Typical PSB. In other words, it's easy to listen/dance to. While I'm sure this would work well in a dance club, I'm too old for that mess so I choose to listen to this poolside; it works there, too.

Metacritic has it rated at 71 out of 100.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #32 (May 9, 2009)

Tracks: I like Love Etc., Beautiful People, Did You See Me Coming?, and Pandemonium. I also dig the slow groove of King Of Rome. The duo chooses to butcher Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite in their song All Over The World. They should have left that one alone (the remix on disc 2 isn't any better). That track, along with Building A Wall and Legacy, are the tracks here I want to skip.

Bonus disc: This starts out with This Used To Be The Future, a great song with guest vocals by Philip Oakey of The Human League. Don't know why this wasn't included on the album. The 6 remixes are pretty much what you would expect from dance music, i.e., more concerned with beat than music and lyrics. I will admit that I enjoyed the remix of The Way It Used To Be (Left Of Love Dub).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Purchased as my youngest son was going through a PSB phase, the first disc of this set got a lot of play time in my truck when it was released.

Pet Shop Boys - Disco 2 (1994)

NUMBERS WEEK (MARCH 14-20, 2011)

This is a little much, even for me. Disco 2 is the eighth album by the PSBs, consisting mainly of remixes of songs from their 1993 album Very. As of this writing, there are 4 volumes in the Disco series, but I only own this one. Disco 2 was not well-received upon its release, but I liked it at the time. The tracks on the CD were mixed into one long continuous megamix meaning that, even though there are 12 tracks, it's really just a single 48 minute non-stop mix. Most of the tracks are in edited versions, having been cut off mid-way through in a crossfade into the following tracks (as a DJ might do while mixing music live). When it was released, I could easily handle it, but now, many years later, I find it exhausting to listen to it.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #75 (Oct 8, 1994)

Tracks:

1. Absolutely Fabulous (Rollo Our Tribe Tongue-In Cheek Mix)
2. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing (Beatmasters Extended Nude Mix)*
3. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing (DJ Pierre Wild Pitch Mix)
4. Go West (Farley & Heller Mix)
5. Liberation (E Smoove 12" Mix)*
6. So Hard (Morales Red Zone Mix)
7. Can You Forgive Her? (Rollo Dub)
8. Yesterday, When I Was Mad (Junior Vasquez Fabulous Dub)
9. Absolutely Fabulous (Rollo Our Tribe Tongue-In Cheek Mix)
10. Yesterday, When I Was Mad (Coconut 1 12" Mix)*
11. Yesterday, When I Was Mad (Jam & Spoon Mix)
12. We All Feel Better In The Dark (Brothers In Rhythm After Hours Climax Mix)*

Tracks marked with an asterisk (*) are my picks for the best remixes.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: When I taught 8th grade English during the 1997-98 school year, I developed a close friendship with Martha, the teacher that taught in the classroom next to mine. We also shared the same lunch and conference period, so we spent a lot of time together that year. She gave birth to her son in the spring of 1998 and was gone for about 6 weeks. While she was gone, I got into the habit of getting work done during my conference period instead of chewing the fat with Martha. Not long after she returned to work, she came into my classroom to visit during our conference period. I had this CD playing that day and was rushing around my classroom, getting things done. She tried to have a coversation with me, but I was obviously distracted. Martha finally said, "Will you turn that music off and sit down for a second?" I never realized the manic state this music had put me in. I guess if you had to do some housecleaning, this CD might be appropriate. I couldn't tell you the last time I listened to it before today.

Pet Shop Boys - Very (1993)

This is simply a fantastic pop album, maybe the duo's best. Great songwriting, smooth production, and PSB had finally grown into their sound. In 2000, Q magazine placed Very at number 91 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, edited by Robert Dimery (2010).

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "frothy Euro-disco flavors, light-handed electro grooves, and faux mini-symphonies"
• Rolling Stone (★★★★): "worth hearing again and again"
• Stereo Review: "another good piece of enriched popcraft"
• Robert Christgau (A): "Fey and ironic naturellement, but I wasn't ready for baroque--techno synths, massed brass, Village People chorus boys."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #20 (Oct 23, 1993)

Tracks: Some great stuff here, including I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing, A Different Point Of View, Yesterday When I Was Mad, One And One Make Five, and One In A Million. There's also a senseless remake of the Village People's Go West, which is the low point of the album until it starts to sound more like a PSB song at the coda around the 4:24 mark. The CD ends with a dreaded, albeit brief, hidden track which is just a curiosity more than anything.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Like all PSB albums, this CD reminds me of my best friend from high school, Scott. In fact, he may have given me this CD.

Pet Shop Boys - Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) (1991)

CD Single

I recently asked a friend, "What 3 words would come to mind if I said 'Pet Shop Boys CD Single of "Where the Streets Have No Name"?'" to which he replied, "No, thank you." The boys aren't for everybody, but I enjoy them in a mindless sort of way. This, along with my enjoyment of covers and remixes, made the purchase of this single (for $1 at Half Price Books in San Marcos) a requirement. Combining these two songs is characteristic of the PSB "I don't care what you think" attitude. Of course they don't go together lyrically, that's the point.

This CD single was released during a time when the industry was moving from 3" CD singles (CD3) to 'regular-sized' 5" discs, so this short-lived CD5 logo appears on the back cover to differentiate the two:

Tracks: There are 3 mixes here, the original 7", a 12" mix, and the Red zone mix. (It's interesting how they call them 7" and 12" mixes when they are on a 5" CD). Of these 3 mixes, I prefer the original mix. The disc also contains Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend and a remix of I Want a Dog which could be better than the original.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None for this CD in particular, but the song I Can't Take My Eyes Off You always reminds me of a hilarious scene with Denise Richards in the 1999 movie Drop Dead Gorgeous.