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Ever since the leak of “Love etc.”, my affections for the Pet Shop Boys have been revitalized; the performance commemorating their lifetime achievement award (or whatever they called it) at the Brits earlier this week really reminded me of how great they are. In that spirit, here are my five favorite Pet Shop Boys singles. (I have no idea why I’m restricting this to just singles, other than doing so restricts the possibility of me slapping my head later wondering why I forgot [fill in the blank].)
5. “Home and Dry”:
4. “Left To My Own Devices”:
3. “Liberation”:
2. “I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing”:
1. “It’s A Sin”:
Still, I’m going to spend the rest of the afternoon thinking that I should have included “Being Boring” or “Can You Forgive Her?”, but so be it. If you’re having a Pet Shop Boys week as well, feel free to contribute your top five.
Pet Shop Boys [Official site]
5. “Up Against It”
4. “It’s Alright”
3. “Rent”
2. “West End Girls”
1. “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”
i love that you included Home & Dry
Domino Dancing -
…but fercryinoutloud, I could probably do a Top 30 for you, easy.
Five killer PSB b-sides:
1) It Must Be Obvious (should’ve been a single!)
2) A New Life
3) Your Funny Uncle
4) The Truck Driver and His Mate
5) Paninaro
Five top-shelf PSB remixes:
1) It’s Alright (the original “Introspective” mix, which is a million times better than the remixes)
2) Liberation (E Smoove Mix)
3) I Wouldn’t Normally do this Sort of Thing (Beatmasters 7″)
4) Love Comes Quickly (Shep Pettibone remix)
5) Jealousy (extended mix)
Five unforgettable PSB album cuts:
1) I Want to Wake Up
2) Violence
3) Nervously/The End of the World
4) You Choose
5) Love Is a Catastrophe
You Know Where You Went Wrong is one of their best…
5. Rent and/or Love Comes Quickly
4. Domino Dancing
3. Being Boring
2. It’s Alright
1. West End Girls
5. Rent and/or Love Comes Quickly
4. Domino Dancing
3. Being Boring
2. It’s Alright
1. West End Girls
OK, just 5 PSB singles is simply impossible! I MUST include “Opportunities,” too.
OK, just 5 PSB singles is simply impossible! I MUST include “Opportunities,” too.
@raihala: You’re spot-on regarding the original version of “It’s Alright” being far and away the best version. The mix they put on “Discography” just doesn’t even come close.
@raihala: You’re spot-on regarding the original version of “It’s Alright” being far and away the best version. The mix they put on “Discography” just doesn’t even come close.
Wait, seriously? “Liberation”? The only Pet Shop Boys song I don’t at least LIKE?
OK then. Singles:
01. “It’s A Sin”
02. “You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk”
03. “Rent”
04. “What Have I Done To Deserve This?”
05. “Home And Dry”
Album cuts:
01. “For Your Own Good”
02. “King’s Cross”
03. “I Want A Lover”
04. “Tonight Is Forever”
05. “Twentieth Century”
B-sides:
01. “I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today”
02. “We’re The Pet Shop Boys”
03. “Paninaro” (Preferably “Paninaro ‘95″ which was technically a single but WHATEVS)
04. “In Private (Stuart Crichton Club Mix)”
05. “In The Night”
Best covers:
01. “We’re The Pet Shop Boys”
02. “Always On My Mind”
03. “Try It (I’m In Love With A Married Man)”
04. “Go West”
05. “Where The Streets Have No Name / Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You”
FUCK. Somehow I forgot “The Boy Who Couldn’t Keep His Clothes On” in the B-sides list. I blew it. Should probably take the place of “In The Night.”
1. Go West
2. Left To My Own Devices (the live version on Concrete)
3. Home and Dry
4. Red Letter Day
5. Positive Role Model
And about, uh, thirty others.
DOMINO DANCING
LOVE COMES QUICKLY
IT’S A SIN
RENT
SUBURBIA
SIngles:
1. Suburbia
2. Rent
3. It’s A Sin
4. Being Boring
5. Left To My Own Devices
Album Tracks:
1. King’s Cross
2. Tonight Is Forever
3. It Couldn’t Happen Here
4. The End Of The World
5. Young Offender
I wasn’t having a Pet Shop Boys week, but I think I’ll go and have a PSB weekend.
I really love “Liberation,” so obviously I need to hear the E Smoove mix.
80’s : Suburbia
90’s : So Hard
00’s : Flamboyant
so, where would you start if you have no PSB at all?
5. Jealousy
4. Always On My Mind
3. Left To My Own Devices
2. West End Girls
1. DJ Culture
@drinkypuss: If you want a compilation, you want POPART, the two-disc best-of. People who say you only need DISCOGRAPHY are lying; you do, in fact, want rather a lot of their late-period singles.
If you just want a representative album, you can’t go wrong with ACTUALLY, which has some of their biggest hits and a lot of their best album tracks.
@raihala: @T’Challa: Agreed, the Introspective mix of “It’s Alright” is definitive. It’s the closest thing PSB have done that resembles an epic: it has movements, both musical and lyrical, and closes with something approaching majesty. (It’s funny that PSB poked fun at U2, because this is the closest they’ve come to an unironic U2-style anthem.) The Discography mix is the single mix, and I’m glad the song was a (U.K.) hit, but it’s no substitute.
@dyfl: Agreed that Actually is their single-album masterpiece. Introspective comes close. Basically, in 1987-88, they were untouchable. (Very comes third.)
Wow, no one’s said “London”? That’s my favourite one on “Release”, and I love that album.
@dyfl: Agreed – at a minimum, PopArt includes the Very singles, although IMO it’s a case of somewhat diminishing returns thereafter. I’d classify Actually and Behavio(u)r as utterly indispensable, and probably Introspective too, mainly for the definitive versions of Left To My Own Devices and It’s Arlight.
@The Illiterate: Thank you for repping “Positive Role Model.” It couldn’t make it onto any of my lists but that song is freaking awesome.
“West End Girls” wins every time. One of the best songs of all time, ever. Ever.
It’s so distinctive, you know exactly what it is before the song even starts.
Oh how I love to see all this PSB nerdery! Best thread ever!
(Oh, and I’m not a fan of the album version of Liberation, but I’ve ALWAYS loved that E Smoove mix.)
(And sorry about all those extra returns at the end of my last post. Dunno what happened there, but it wasn’t intentional.)
@moomintroll:
O.K so I’ve been listening to PSB all weekend because of this post…and actually “Can You Forgive Her” might actually be the best ever. Ever…hard to say.
1. Flamboyant
2. Bright Young Things
3. Hit and Miss
4. The Way It Used to Be
5. The Boy Who Couldn’t Keep His Clothes On