Pet Shop Boys Rate. Part 1: 1985-1991. Winner.

TrendyMüller

TrendyMüller

I guess you have to be mostly German to "appreciate" Schlager, especially the tackier stuff can get over your head if you don´t understand the language.And Tränen Lügen Nicht (Tears Don´t Lie) is genius tacky.
Don´t get me wrong, 90% of it is pure dreck, but some of it is absolutely bonkers amazing...but that´s probably not to be discussed in this thread.
 
Ray

Ray

48.












Was it?









It was?










Neil once said it was their worst track










What a classic!











This feels like a hodgepodge of various tracks at various stages of developments
​











Was-That-What-It-Was.jpg


48. Was That What It Was?
6.8875
B-side to Opportunities (mk2)

Highest score: 10 (@GhettoPrincess)
Lowest score: 4 (@Sweet Music, @Bleu Noir, @Filler)

Neil: Shep Pettibone was meant to remix "Opportunities" and the b-side, and he got stuck, and so his manager Jane Brinton remixed it, and did quite a good [uncredited – Ray] job of it.
Chris: It sounds very much of the time, very New York at that particular moment. With the delays and edits and things.
Neil: This is a classic example of tons of edits. If you were to watch it going around in the tape recorder, there were thousands of white bits where it had been stuck together. Nowadays one simply doesn't do that. [No shit, Sherlock – Ray] It's got all weird echoes in. It's one of my least favourite Pet Shop Boys songs, though I like the middle bit – 'I don't need any more in my life' – which I think sounds like David Bowie. Although it also sounds like the middle section of 'Tonight Is Forever', which I didn't notice until a fan wrote to me and pointed it out. It's one of my soppy love lyrics. There's a stream of soppy b-sides. [...] It's a 'why has everything gone wrong?' record, looking back, trying to pinpoint why the whole thing was screwed up. To be honest, it's a very minor work.

Ray: I always get an odd feeling when I truly love something – and while it has worn on me through the years, I love all the odd echoes and everything that happens in the drum-only intro SO much, and then the artist says 'to be honest, it's a very minor work'. I understand what I probably love about it is Jane Brinton's work. But still, this is a song I prefer to good half of Please itself. Definitely to its a-side. I underscored it, giving it the same amount of points as 'Opportunities'. It should have had more.

@Mikey1701: This feels like a hodgepodge of various tracks at various stages of developments. That technique worked for later songs such as Girls Aloud’s Sexy! No No No, but here it’s distracting. I can understand how this is one of Dame Neil’s least favourite tracks. [I totally don't hear that.]
@One Stop Candy Shop: I like the title. [Don't go TOO overboard with all the praise.]
@DominoDancing: Good title, but the song itself is not very engaging and has no reason to exist for the whole five minutes and eighteen seconds.
@Future Lover: Underrated! I think Neil once said it was their worst track. I beg to differ! [I want a compilation called Underrated Pet Shop Boys now.]
@Sally_Harper: This is excellent and then suddenly Neil starts slurring WAZZATWATITWAZZ at me. I’m confused but amused.
@Epic Chocolat: 80s delight.
@TrendyMüller: What a classic! I can smell the apple-scented disco fog while listening to this (of course no disco I ever went to would play this. I went to shitty discos in the 80s apparantly.) [I would LOVE to go to a disco that would play this. Probably have to buy one or get a DJ gig. But I would love to hear this in da club and slug-drop to it.]



We all fall, even singles, lad (one of them is next in line).
 
D

Deleted member 6896

But that deserved it. I could imagine Whitney covering Nervously.
 
D

Deleted member 6896

Maybe Do I Have To? should have replaced Later Tonight on the album. They are basically the same song.
 
Ray

Ray

47.





















Not my cupotea











one of their finest moments












already sounded a bit dated at the time of release













absolute TRAVESTY​












Well aren't you just being kind?

Losing-My-Mind.jpg


47. Losing My Mind
6.9777777778
B-side to Jealousy and a hit single "as seen on TV" for Liza Minnelli

Highest score: 10 (@tylerc904, @chris4862, @SmashHitter, @One Stop Candy Shop, @Jóga)
Lowest score: 2 (@Peer_Gynt10 as usual)

Neil: Our version of this is basically just the demo we made before recording it with Liza Minnelli, which we released much later on the b-side of the "Jealousy" single. This was done in our ZZ Top period, putting electric guitar samples on everything. The slow Follies, by Stephen Sondheim, had been on in London, which is where this song comes from. [...] When I saw the show I thought this song could be a hit record. It's a very beautiful song, though we obviously did it in a less sensitive way. We went into RAK demo studio to do this version as an experiment to see if it would work for Liza, and Chris came up with the riff that sounds a little bit like 'Physical'. Liza hated the screaming bit, which was taken from a sample CD, and refused to have it on her version. On reflection I think she was right, because it's a bit gimmicky. The same day as we recorded this, we recorded the demo for 'Nothing Has Been Proved'.

Let's start with @Peer_Gynt10: my estimate is that 8 PJ members, me included, will have commented that Liza’s version would have been a worthy winner

Well! Let's see.

@Bleu Noir: always disliked this, Liza totally owns it, pointless version.
@Farnaby: I hate the laughs. And sung by Tennant, the cover becomes some kind of cheap eurodance for dragqueens number. Not my cupotea. Of course, when Liza comes, it's another story.
@Mikey1701: Obviously Dame Liza Minnelli’s version is superior in every way (that particularly track frequently vies for the title of ‘greatest pop song’ ever recorded along with my 11), but this is still a pretty good effort, which is remarkable considering that this is a demo that has simply been mastered. The screams were a choice (what the fuck were they thinking?) and the shrill production can grate on repeated listens, but I’ve got quite a bit of time for this original effort. Hell, I even brought the Jealousy 12’ vinyl for the Disco Mix!
@ohnoitisnathan: I like Liza's version more.
and
@Ray: I like Liza's version more.

So that only makes six, and none of us other than @Mikey1701 actually suggest it should win. Sorry, @Peer_Gynt10. But is there anybody who PREFERS this version?

@chris4862: This is one of their finest moments. I struggle with the fact that it is not my 11. I may live to regret that decision for years to come. While I do slightly prefer Liza's more polished iteration, this song is song undeniably PSB and absolutely essentially to their discography.

Close!

@Jóga: They should've kept it for themselves, even if Liza's is wonderful.

YAAASSS @Jóga! (I hope it's gonna be alright, by the way.) Any more fans?

@One Stop Candy Shop: "Going crazy over breakfast" anthem. I prefer their own version over Liza's.
@TrendyMüller: The scream is a gimmick the song doesn´t need. Everything else is perfect pop by the numbers. It´s quite obvious how this morphed into Where The Streets Have No Name. [?]
@Eric Generic: their Losing My Mind is an absolute TRAVESTY. I shouldn't even give it 5. That's like another parallel PSB universe where they spend their days churning out Hi-NRG covers of other people songs (that sound like Always On My Mind) for the rest of existence.

Oh. Sorry about that. (Eric wrote comments on two songs, and this is the second one.)

@Sally_Harper: I know it’s the title, but all the “losing my mind” parts feel shoehorned in somehow. I’m not a fan of the screaming bits, but the rest of it’s great. [But do you like Liza's version more? Because I like Liza's version more.]

EDIT:

@DominoDancing: Always thought this already sounded a bit dated at the time of release (well, even for 1989 I mean). It's an acceptable Hi-NRG version, but compared to e.g. Always On My Mind I feel this did not elevate the song compared to the original version. [No mention of Liza.]

7" edit:



Disco mix:



Performance performance:



See? I told you a single was leaving. Technically not the Boys' single, but it has now totally left.

I can only pull this sort of "joke" once (was it even worth it?), so the next elimination tomorrow must be a Pet Shop Boys single that waited days to leave – if I do expect to be taken seriously.
 
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ChrisV

ChrisV

He/Him
Genuinely shocked by this one. I didn't expect to lose a 10 so soon! I thought PJ had better taste. Heathens.
 
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