Behaviour is perfect as it is and you're all mad (but lovely.)
Pet Shop Boys Rate. Part 1: 1985-1991. Winner.
- Thread starter Ray
- Start date
I know some people are completely against re-jigging tracklists because #artistic integrity knows better.
But ever since they opened Performance with This Must Be The Place, I wanted it to be the opener of the album. Not only does it work on a thematic level, it also works as a perfect, dramatic opening. It´s slightly claustrophobic and opressive and that mood is then swept away by the light and breezy arrangement of Being Boring.
Here is @Vive Indifference's commentary on "To Face The Truth:
To Face The Truth: Essentially my favourite PSB track ... The opening chords, bassline and opening 2 lines capture the sheer desperation that tinges almost every PSB track up until that point (Later Tonight touches on the same themes but comes too early for the listener to appreciate the full PSB aesthetic) ... That sense of vulnerability hidden behind the clever words and phrasing and confrontational style/fashion that only PSB do ... Then the chord change, when all sense of pretence is gone and Neil’s vocal is somewhere between confession and pleading ... Oddly, this track has no personal ressonance with me, but I can feel how it might ... and that’s all I need to make this track my favourite ...
Today we'll be doing #42, #41 and a recap.
@TrendyMüller, I know what you mean and "This Must Be The Place" would work as the opener. I am just too used to "Being Boring" and I want to keep as much of the original track order on Behaviour as I can. (Which might be impossible anyway.)
To Face The Truth: Essentially my favourite PSB track ... The opening chords, bassline and opening 2 lines capture the sheer desperation that tinges almost every PSB track up until that point (Later Tonight touches on the same themes but comes too early for the listener to appreciate the full PSB aesthetic) ... That sense of vulnerability hidden behind the clever words and phrasing and confrontational style/fashion that only PSB do ... Then the chord change, when all sense of pretence is gone and Neil’s vocal is somewhere between confession and pleading ... Oddly, this track has no personal ressonance with me, but I can feel how it might ... and that’s all I need to make this track my favourite ...
Today we'll be doing #42, #41 and a recap.
@TrendyMüller, I know what you mean and "This Must Be The Place" would work as the opener. I am just too used to "Being Boring" and I want to keep as much of the original track order on Behaviour as I can. (Which might be impossible anyway.)
42.
Better than I remembered.
nearly sent me to sleep
I'm sorry.
(clap-clap----clapclap)
42. Only The Wind
7.2444444444
Behaviour album track
Highest score: 10 (@etcetera, @slurmjunkie, @etienne, @Jóga)
Lowest score: 4 (@idratherjack, @GhettoPrincess)
Neil: Chris started playing the piano and I thought, 'wow, that's a fantastic tune'.
Chris: I'd already written it on my piano at home in Highbury.
Neil: I wrote the words on the spot, and the reason it's called 'Only The Wind' is because in fact there was a hurricane outside, and there were bins blowing down the road. You weren't supposed to go outside because there were dustbins flying through the air in Notting Hill Gate, and corrugated iron flying about. The wind made me think of anger. So the idea of the song was someone's gone round to see some couple... you know when you arrive at someone's house and there's obviously a major row going on and one of them's not there. It's a couple, and he's a wife-beater. Everything he says is a lie. 'No one's been lying...' – he thinks she's been lying to her so he's whacked her. It's a very violent song, and the wind is a metaphor for the domestic violence, and for a huge row. He keeps denying you can hear anyone crying, stuff like that. The whole song builds up to him saying sorry, because he knows he has done wrong. But, listening to him, we think that he is absolutely pathetic and she should leave him. Angelo Badalamenti did the strings.
Chris: It's a very fragile vocal.
Neil: Robbie Williams once sang the whole song to me in the Groucho Club upstairs bar. It was in his drinking days.
Ray: I gave it an 8 and I wish I gave it more. This is what happens when I try not to overscore songs. I'm sorry.
@One Stop Candy Shop: Better than I remembered. Lovely instrumentation.
@DominoDancing: Love the melody on the second half of every verse. Lovely string arrangement by Badalamenti. Even after all these years I'm still undecided whether the music and lyrics are a bit too light and flowery for the topic.
@Mikey1701: I went from being ambivalent to liking it somewhat. I’d never really seek it out and I don’t have much to say beyond that’s a pretty good track and that my favourite part is the crystalline piano refrain that runs throughout. If I had to sum it up, I’d say it’s solid, but unspectacular.
@ohnoitisnathan: Nice piano bits, but it's boring.
@Sally_Harper: Pleasant enough, but also nearly sent me to sleep.
@TrendyMüller: The production is so wonderful, Neil really shines and if a song can make me overlook its „musical-ness“, it must be really good at what it does.
This reminds me why I will watch the Nightlife Tour DVD again never:
The next song's score is 0.00198 higher than this one's.
Better than I remembered.
nearly sent me to sleep
I'm sorry.
(clap-clap----clapclap)
42. Only The Wind
7.2444444444
Behaviour album track
Highest score: 10 (@etcetera, @slurmjunkie, @etienne, @Jóga)
Lowest score: 4 (@idratherjack, @GhettoPrincess)
Neil: Chris started playing the piano and I thought, 'wow, that's a fantastic tune'.
Chris: I'd already written it on my piano at home in Highbury.
Neil: I wrote the words on the spot, and the reason it's called 'Only The Wind' is because in fact there was a hurricane outside, and there were bins blowing down the road. You weren't supposed to go outside because there were dustbins flying through the air in Notting Hill Gate, and corrugated iron flying about. The wind made me think of anger. So the idea of the song was someone's gone round to see some couple... you know when you arrive at someone's house and there's obviously a major row going on and one of them's not there. It's a couple, and he's a wife-beater. Everything he says is a lie. 'No one's been lying...' – he thinks she's been lying to her so he's whacked her. It's a very violent song, and the wind is a metaphor for the domestic violence, and for a huge row. He keeps denying you can hear anyone crying, stuff like that. The whole song builds up to him saying sorry, because he knows he has done wrong. But, listening to him, we think that he is absolutely pathetic and she should leave him. Angelo Badalamenti did the strings.
Chris: It's a very fragile vocal.
Neil: Robbie Williams once sang the whole song to me in the Groucho Club upstairs bar. It was in his drinking days.
Ray: I gave it an 8 and I wish I gave it more. This is what happens when I try not to overscore songs. I'm sorry.
@One Stop Candy Shop: Better than I remembered. Lovely instrumentation.
@DominoDancing: Love the melody on the second half of every verse. Lovely string arrangement by Badalamenti. Even after all these years I'm still undecided whether the music and lyrics are a bit too light and flowery for the topic.
@Mikey1701: I went from being ambivalent to liking it somewhat. I’d never really seek it out and I don’t have much to say beyond that’s a pretty good track and that my favourite part is the crystalline piano refrain that runs throughout. If I had to sum it up, I’d say it’s solid, but unspectacular.
@ohnoitisnathan: Nice piano bits, but it's boring.
@Sally_Harper: Pleasant enough, but also nearly sent me to sleep.
@TrendyMüller: The production is so wonderful, Neil really shines and if a song can make me overlook its „musical-ness“, it must be really good at what it does.
This reminds me why I will watch the Nightlife Tour DVD again never:
The next song's score is 0.00198 higher than this one's.
I can't remember to be honest. The show itself was amazing. But the DVD is unwatchable.
But I thought I'd mention I found original preliminary tracklisting for Behaviour in Literally 4:
This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave
Being Boring
Only The Wind
So Hard
Miserablism*
Nervously
My October Symphony
To Face The Truth
Jealousy
How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
Living Legends**
* New LP Behaviour is nearly finished: some songs are still being added to, and mixed, and some new ones may still even be written. Two songs recorded, "The End Of The World" and "Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend' have already been taken off the provisional running order (they will appear sometime, somewhere) and one of those mentioned below, "Miserablism", is quite likely to disappear as well.
** Neil: This hasn't got any words yet, but it's a really gorgeous tune, elegiac but danceable. Even Chris likes it. We haven't really got the concept for the song yet because Madonna and The Beloved have ruined the concept for it - a list of famous names: (sings to the tune of "Paninaro") "Monroe, Dietrich and DiMaggio... living legends... oh-oh-oh".
No, it's sound-based rather than lyric-based – "Radiophonic" is on it for instance, "Fluorescent", "Euroboy", "Some Speculation"...
OK, Ray, move that perky ass of yours and do a write-up for #41...
Wow. A kind of mess.
What's always bothered me slightly about This Must Be The Place is the nagging feeling the words and the song's theme don't fit together with the music at all. The music's from an idea in 1987 when they thought they might do the Bond theme that a-ha ended up with, and then Neil's gone back 3 years later and put a lyrical theme and idea to that piece of music. Which could work if they scanned less clumsily. I usually love how Neil puts his lyrics to music, but on this occasion it misses the mark a bit.
41.
YES YES YES!!!!
no, it wasn’t!
Yes, but no!
41. Was It Worth It?
7.2472222222
18th single from the acclaimed Discography album
Highest score: 10 (@Mikey1701, @Farnaby, @VeryPSB, @idratherjack)
Lowest score: 2 (@Peer_Gynt10, @Auntie Beryl)
CH (Chris Heath): This was the first single sleeve not to feature a photograph of the group since the second release of "Opportunities". [The dolls] were made by a Japanese fan, Toshima Tada. Neil liked the way Chris's doll looks cross. 'We thought they were really fantastic... They seemed to capture something about us', said Neil. 'In Japan, the Pet Shop Boys are frequently given pictures of themselves', noted a newspaper interview in 1990. 'They are represented as little dolls with huge eyes. One had Lowe crying and being comforted by Tennant, another had them in a car holding steering wheels pointed in opposite directions. Mostly, though, they are shown kissing. "Very Japanese," says Tennant.'
Chris: I've got a good hat on there [video]. It's a Diddyman hat.
Neil: Actually, it was a woman's hat, from Kenzo.
Eric Watson: Again you get Chris doing nothing on one side of a piece of glass while everyone else is having a good time, but he was wearing that high orange hat so he didn't really need to do anything whatsoever.
Neil: I love the call-and-response in this song. It's real disco. It's a very gay song. Very gay positive. It's basically saying: if I had to do it all again, I wouldn't change a single thing. [...] I thought it would be a top five hit, but it was our first – and so far only [oh, Neil... – Ray] single not to reach the top twenty. I think we didn't spend enough time on the production. [...] When we were onstage in Spain in 2000 this Spanish boy gave us a version with a friend of his playing electric guitar and he sung it with a Spanish accent and it's so moving.
Chris: He sung it so well – much better than Neil's ever sung it.
Neil: So I started to do his version in concert. Actually, our new live version of it is a mixture of the original and his.
Chris: We've now realised it works much better as guitar and vocals. We might redo all of our fast songs as ballads.
Trivia 1: the 7" mix is missing from PopArt and Behaviour Further Listening becausethey're prats Neil and Chris dislike it. (Neil: The seven-inch mix, which is on Discography, sounds a little bit cheesy now. This twelve-inch mix is great [...])
Trivia 2: unfortunately I can't find the source of this. But the video for "Was It Worth It?" nearly split the band. It was their last video to be directed by Eric Watson. Since I can't find the source, I don't have the exact quote, but Chris was furious about basically NOT being in the video. Indeed, when you watch it, there's Neil and all the shiny happy people having a great time, and every now and then a shot of Chris doing, well, nothing but wearing a hat. Mr Lowe felt for a long time that directors often didn't know what to make of "the one who doesn't sing", but this was the nearly final straw.
Ray: I was rather surprised at how jolly this was. But it proved to be perfect transition to the Very phase. Even Chris's hat was a perfect transition to the "Can You Forgive Her?" space oddity. Neil mentions the awful edit on the twelve-inch mix in the Further Listening booklet and OH BOY does that edit BOTHER ME. It's the sort of thing I never hear in anything until someone tells me but I heard that edit since first time I ever played it and I still haven't managed to unhear it. I'm not telling you where it is, because they you won't be able to unhear it either.
@One Stop Candy Shop: Yes, it was worth it.
@etienne: How many people will say YES YES YES!!!!? [Enough to give it average of 7.247 – not enough to get it into top 40]
@chris4862: This song gets a lot of hate, but I have always enjoyed it.
@Mikey1701: The Pet Shop Boys meets the Stock Aitken Waterman. How could I not stan for this? I get shades of Kylie’s What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before) and a healthy dose of Never Gonna Give You Up. Pop perfection. One of my Top 3 tracks from their entire discography (pun intended) that should have done much better than it did. I’m more than aware that I’m in the minority when I say that I stan for this and I’m likely to be ridiculed for doing so- but come at me, gerls. Do your worst… [Another defensive comment. There will be more, boys and girls, there will be more.]
@KingBruno: I love Brothers in Rhythm, but I can see why this flopped. [I think simply because it was already on Discography, not remixed for single release... and because they confused the fanbase by going from "we're grown ups now" to "YAAAS WE SLAAAYYY".]
@ohnoitisnathan: Good, but not spectacular.
@Sally_Harper: Love the verse but the chorus lets it down a bit.
@Peer_Gynt10: no, it wasn’t! [He's trying to like something, he really is.]
@TrendyMüller: Yes, but no! [That's helpful – Ray] This marks the point when they lost the plot and panic set in. For me this is the start of PSB MK2 (and they are not as good as MK1).
I agree that the acoustic version is sublime. Adore the hell out of it.
Video:
12" mix:
Useless dub:
Amazing live version: (I wonder if this Spanish fan ever saw a cent – not even his name is mentioned anywhere, so I suppose not)
YES YES YES!!!!
no, it wasn’t!
Yes, but no!
41. Was It Worth It?
7.2472222222
18th single from the acclaimed Discography album
Highest score: 10 (@Mikey1701, @Farnaby, @VeryPSB, @idratherjack)
Lowest score: 2 (@Peer_Gynt10, @Auntie Beryl)
CH (Chris Heath): This was the first single sleeve not to feature a photograph of the group since the second release of "Opportunities". [The dolls] were made by a Japanese fan, Toshima Tada. Neil liked the way Chris's doll looks cross. 'We thought they were really fantastic... They seemed to capture something about us', said Neil. 'In Japan, the Pet Shop Boys are frequently given pictures of themselves', noted a newspaper interview in 1990. 'They are represented as little dolls with huge eyes. One had Lowe crying and being comforted by Tennant, another had them in a car holding steering wheels pointed in opposite directions. Mostly, though, they are shown kissing. "Very Japanese," says Tennant.'
Chris: I've got a good hat on there [video]. It's a Diddyman hat.
Neil: Actually, it was a woman's hat, from Kenzo.
Eric Watson: Again you get Chris doing nothing on one side of a piece of glass while everyone else is having a good time, but he was wearing that high orange hat so he didn't really need to do anything whatsoever.
Neil: I love the call-and-response in this song. It's real disco. It's a very gay song. Very gay positive. It's basically saying: if I had to do it all again, I wouldn't change a single thing. [...] I thought it would be a top five hit, but it was our first – and so far only [oh, Neil... – Ray] single not to reach the top twenty. I think we didn't spend enough time on the production. [...] When we were onstage in Spain in 2000 this Spanish boy gave us a version with a friend of his playing electric guitar and he sung it with a Spanish accent and it's so moving.
Chris: He sung it so well – much better than Neil's ever sung it.
Neil: So I started to do his version in concert. Actually, our new live version of it is a mixture of the original and his.
Chris: We've now realised it works much better as guitar and vocals. We might redo all of our fast songs as ballads.
Trivia 1: the 7" mix is missing from PopArt and Behaviour Further Listening because
Trivia 2: unfortunately I can't find the source of this. But the video for "Was It Worth It?" nearly split the band. It was their last video to be directed by Eric Watson. Since I can't find the source, I don't have the exact quote, but Chris was furious about basically NOT being in the video. Indeed, when you watch it, there's Neil and all the shiny happy people having a great time, and every now and then a shot of Chris doing, well, nothing but wearing a hat. Mr Lowe felt for a long time that directors often didn't know what to make of "the one who doesn't sing", but this was the nearly final straw.
Ray: I was rather surprised at how jolly this was. But it proved to be perfect transition to the Very phase. Even Chris's hat was a perfect transition to the "Can You Forgive Her?" space oddity. Neil mentions the awful edit on the twelve-inch mix in the Further Listening booklet and OH BOY does that edit BOTHER ME. It's the sort of thing I never hear in anything until someone tells me but I heard that edit since first time I ever played it and I still haven't managed to unhear it. I'm not telling you where it is, because they you won't be able to unhear it either.
@One Stop Candy Shop: Yes, it was worth it.
@etienne: How many people will say YES YES YES!!!!? [Enough to give it average of 7.247 – not enough to get it into top 40]
@chris4862: This song gets a lot of hate, but I have always enjoyed it.
@Mikey1701: The Pet Shop Boys meets the Stock Aitken Waterman. How could I not stan for this? I get shades of Kylie’s What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before) and a healthy dose of Never Gonna Give You Up. Pop perfection. One of my Top 3 tracks from their entire discography (pun intended) that should have done much better than it did. I’m more than aware that I’m in the minority when I say that I stan for this and I’m likely to be ridiculed for doing so- but come at me, gerls. Do your worst… [Another defensive comment. There will be more, boys and girls, there will be more.]
@KingBruno: I love Brothers in Rhythm, but I can see why this flopped. [I think simply because it was already on Discography, not remixed for single release... and because they confused the fanbase by going from "we're grown ups now" to "YAAAS WE SLAAAYYY".]
@ohnoitisnathan: Good, but not spectacular.
@Sally_Harper: Love the verse but the chorus lets it down a bit.
@Peer_Gynt10: no, it wasn’t! [He's trying to like something, he really is.]
@TrendyMüller: Yes, but no! [That's helpful – Ray] This marks the point when they lost the plot and panic set in. For me this is the start of PSB MK2 (and they are not as good as MK1).
I agree that the acoustic version is sublime. Adore the hell out of it.
Video:
12" mix:
Useless dub:
Amazing live version: (I wonder if this Spanish fan ever saw a cent – not even his name is mentioned anywhere, so I suppose not)
Your top 40:
Two Divided by Zero
West End Girls
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
Love Comes Quickly
Suburbia
Tonight Is Forever
Violence
I Want a Lover
Later Tonight
Why Don't We Live Together?
One More Chance
What Have I Done To Deserve This? (with Dusty Springfield)
Shopping
Rent
Hit Music
It Couldn't Happen Here
It's A Sin
I Want To Wake Up
Heart
King's Cross
Left To My Own Devices
Domino Dancing
I'm Not Scared
Always On My Mind/In My House
It's Alright
Being Boring
This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave
To Face The Truth
How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
Only The Wind
My October Symphony
So Hard
Nervously
The End Of The World
Jealousy
Always On My Mind
Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
DJ Culture
Was It Worth It?
In The Night
A Man Could Get Arrested
That's My Impression
Was That What It Was?
Paninaro
Jack The Lad
You Know Where You Went Wrong
A New Life
I Want A Dog
Do I Have To?
I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)
Don Juan
The Sound Of The Atom Splitting
One Of The Crowd
Your Funny Uncle
It Must Be Obvious
We All Feel Better In The Dark
Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend
Losing My Mind
Music For Boys
Miserablism
I lost one 10-pointer so far in "Nervously". Between numbers 31 and 40 I lose five.
Two Divided by Zero
West End Girls
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
Love Comes Quickly
Suburbia
Tonight Is Forever
Violence
I Want a Lover
Later Tonight
Why Don't We Live Together?
One More Chance
What Have I Done To Deserve This? (with Dusty Springfield)
Shopping
Rent
Hit Music
It Couldn't Happen Here
It's A Sin
I Want To Wake Up
Heart
King's Cross
Left To My Own Devices
Domino Dancing
I'm Not Scared
Always On My Mind/In My House
It's Alright
Being Boring
This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave
To Face The Truth
How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
Only The Wind
My October Symphony
So Hard
Nervously
The End Of The World
Jealousy
Always On My Mind
Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
DJ Culture
Was It Worth It?
In The Night
A Man Could Get Arrested
That's My Impression
Was That What It Was?
Paninaro
Jack The Lad
You Know Where You Went Wrong
A New Life
I Want A Dog
Do I Have To?
I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)
Don Juan
The Sound Of The Atom Splitting
One Of The Crowd
Your Funny Uncle
It Must Be Obvious
We All Feel Better In The Dark
Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend
Losing My Mind
Music For Boys
Miserablism
I lost one 10-pointer so far in "Nervously". Between numbers 31 and 40 I lose five.
Introspective being the only album with all its track left feels right.
Including "I Want A Dog" – even though it's listed under Alternative! Introspective, my little favourite PSB album that could.
D
Deleted member 6896
Apart from Later Tonight I think the right songs have gone so far.
Yes.