Pet Shop Boys Rate. Part 1: 1985-1991. Winner.
- Thread starter Ray
- Start date
Violence was originally a song that I’d happily never bother with ... But over time, it snuck it’s way into my psyche and it’s brooding mood lifted the tracks either side of it on Please ... It’s not a song I’d ever think ‘I want to listen to that …’ but it’s an essential part of the Please story ... It get’s a 7 ...
This was when PSB done moody tracks, rather than snidey ones ...
Edit: The music on the Hacienda version is excellent ... but doesn’t improve the track ...
This was when PSB done moody tracks, rather than snidey ones ...
Edit: The music on the Hacienda version is excellent ... but doesn’t improve the track ...
Well, we'll see in the next rate. When Violence (Hacienda Version) wins with a straight 10.00 average.
What the fuck.
I've always loved Violence; when Please came out I actually had a (brief) Top 10 Album Tracks chart, and the ones from Please which immediately entered that chart were Two Divided By Zero (obvs) and Violence. I love the feel of the song, the sound, the vocals are plaintive but not fey....the only other song from 1985-91 which has a similar feel is To Face The Truth, except where Violence is sleek and moody and affecting, To Face The Truth is just whiny and bland.
I've always loved Violence; when Please came out I actually had a (brief) Top 10 Album Tracks chart, and the ones from Please which immediately entered that chart were Two Divided By Zero (obvs) and Violence. I love the feel of the song, the sound, the vocals are plaintive but not fey....the only other song from 1985-91 which has a similar feel is To Face The Truth, except where Violence is sleek and moody and affecting, To Face The Truth is just whiny and bland.
I gave That's My Impression the same score. Overall, I think it sounds a bit uninspired, so the more aggressive vocals at the end are a welcome change from the very lacklustre vocals of the rest of the song.
Totally agree. To me this is the worst track on Behaviour.
Violence and Nervously are fucking amazing. I mean REALLY.
(so is To Face The Truth.)
(so is To Face The Truth.)
D
Deleted member 16293
My October Symphony needs to leave before November.
Yes, before November 2018.
Another of my 10s gone early with Nervously, which I love as a fragile, goosebumps-inducing song.
Violence got a solid 8 from me in this version (I slightly prefer the later remake). I really like the vocal melodies and the sinister chorus, but I could do without the backing singer's ad libs.
Violence got a solid 8 from me in this version (I slightly prefer the later remake). I really like the vocal melodies and the sinister chorus, but I could do without the backing singer's ad libs.
Ray, I really like your cover designs for the individual songs.
49.
so dreamy and lovely
might have worked better as a b-side than as an album track
I really shouldn't post this in the midday (Europe) or morning (US) yet here we are.
49. Later Tonight
6.8486111111
Please album track
Highest score: 10 (@Sally_Harper, @slurmjunkie, @Bleu Noir)
Lowest score: 3 (@tylerc904)
Neil: This is played by Chris on the piano in Admission. Stephen Hague insisted. He thought it would be great if we played something live on the album.
Chris: I'm amazed I agreed.
Neil: I sat on a stool and sang the song, and Chris played the piano, and we had dim lighting and it was really lovely and I really enjoyed doing it.
Chris: I would never do that now.
Neil: You play a solo.
Chris: How come I'm doing that? It's absolutely absurd.
Neil: This is such a sad song. This is the most gay song we've ever written, practically, and no one noticed at the time. It was about three of us staring out of the window from the Smash Hits office at a cute boy walking down Carnaby Street. He was a mod. [...] Really it's about sex and class. People who like rough trade, it's an idealised and frustrating idea because you're fancying them for something they're not – they don't consider themselves to be rough trade. There was a whole other verse: 'you stare like a fellow new to town who can't believe his eyes/through plate glass you can always see so much you want but never can touch'. It wasn't very good.
Ray: Amazing that a song consisting of piano, string pad and vocal has aged possibly the worst on the entire album. I used to LOVE it. According to Neil it's not about masturbation ("then, you wait till later. Maybe it's destiny, or fate, because tonight always comes. So it may happen.") but who are you kidding, Neil. We know you feel better in the dark. The same song would later be famously revisited as "To Speak In The Sin" which is famous for rhyming "ordering drinks at the bar" with "ordering drinks at the bar" and "men's friends" with "friends' friends". But we will get there.
@Jóga: I don't think this is bad, and the piano bit is charming, but I don't like it in the context of the album. ["Piano bit"]
@One Stop Candy Shop: They have better song in this 'genre'. [Which one?]
@Mikey1701: I struggle to find much to say about this, which is why I’ve given it a 6. It’s a perfectly serviceable track, but I feel that it might have worked better as a b-side than as an album track. I’d rather In The Night have made it to the album than this.
@TrendyMüller: We need a ballad on the album. What about a song about masturbation? OK. That´ll do, let´s rush through it.
Sally adoooores it:
@Sally_Harper: This is totally different to all the other songs I gave a ten, but somehow still a ten as well. I’m really TRYING to space my scores out, but there are so many highs on this album it’s ridiculous. It’s so dreamy and lovely and I’m a complete sucker for piano-heavy songs.
@DominoDancing: This is quite nice, but I admit I read somewhere years ago that the melody contains traces of the dreadful German schlager "Tränen lügen nicht", and now I can't unhear it.
And:
@Bleu Noir: a perfect 10! no one does unrequited longing like Neil
I like that they used the house piano for the MCMLXXXIX tour:
so dreamy and lovely
might have worked better as a b-side than as an album track
I really shouldn't post this in the midday (Europe) or morning (US) yet here we are.
49. Later Tonight
6.8486111111
Please album track
Highest score: 10 (@Sally_Harper, @slurmjunkie, @Bleu Noir)
Lowest score: 3 (@tylerc904)
Neil: This is played by Chris on the piano in Admission. Stephen Hague insisted. He thought it would be great if we played something live on the album.
Chris: I'm amazed I agreed.
Neil: I sat on a stool and sang the song, and Chris played the piano, and we had dim lighting and it was really lovely and I really enjoyed doing it.
Chris: I would never do that now.
Neil: You play a solo.
Chris: How come I'm doing that? It's absolutely absurd.
Neil: This is such a sad song. This is the most gay song we've ever written, practically, and no one noticed at the time. It was about three of us staring out of the window from the Smash Hits office at a cute boy walking down Carnaby Street. He was a mod. [...] Really it's about sex and class. People who like rough trade, it's an idealised and frustrating idea because you're fancying them for something they're not – they don't consider themselves to be rough trade. There was a whole other verse: 'you stare like a fellow new to town who can't believe his eyes/through plate glass you can always see so much you want but never can touch'. It wasn't very good.
Ray: Amazing that a song consisting of piano, string pad and vocal has aged possibly the worst on the entire album. I used to LOVE it. According to Neil it's not about masturbation ("then, you wait till later. Maybe it's destiny, or fate, because tonight always comes. So it may happen.") but who are you kidding, Neil. We know you feel better in the dark. The same song would later be famously revisited as "To Speak In The Sin" which is famous for rhyming "ordering drinks at the bar" with "ordering drinks at the bar" and "men's friends" with "friends' friends". But we will get there.
@Jóga: I don't think this is bad, and the piano bit is charming, but I don't like it in the context of the album. ["Piano bit"]
@One Stop Candy Shop: They have better song in this 'genre'. [Which one?]
@Mikey1701: I struggle to find much to say about this, which is why I’ve given it a 6. It’s a perfectly serviceable track, but I feel that it might have worked better as a b-side than as an album track. I’d rather In The Night have made it to the album than this.
@TrendyMüller: We need a ballad on the album. What about a song about masturbation? OK. That´ll do, let´s rush through it.
Sally adoooores it:
@Sally_Harper: This is totally different to all the other songs I gave a ten, but somehow still a ten as well. I’m really TRYING to space my scores out, but there are so many highs on this album it’s ridiculous. It’s so dreamy and lovely and I’m a complete sucker for piano-heavy songs.
@DominoDancing: This is quite nice, but I admit I read somewhere years ago that the melody contains traces of the dreadful German schlager "Tränen lügen nicht", and now I can't unhear it.
And:
@Bleu Noir: a perfect 10! no one does unrequited longing like Neil
I like that they used the house piano for the MCMLXXXIX tour:
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Thank you! It's surprisingly hard to find promo photos in serviceable quality for many of those.
I admit it's a very, very fleeting moment (I kinda hear it e.g. in the lines "That boy never cast a look" vs. "Dreh dich einmal um, schau in ihr Gesicht"), and I was debating bringing it up in the first place. But even just that slight association shocked me to the core.
