Pet Shop Boys’ Pop Report Card: We Grade Their 12 Albums Released Prior To ‘Super’

Idolator Staff | March 31, 2016 8:37 am

Please (1986)

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Precocious new students Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe went straight to the head of the class with Please, their impressive debut album, on the heels of their monster single, “West End Girls.” In an epic whoosh of Italo synths, city noise and that now-iconic bassline, “Girls” simultaneously christened the new songwriting force of Tennant-Lowe and introduced a fresh sound to the world of dance-pop. That blockbuster first single hit the Top 5 in no less than a dozen countries — including the States, where it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1986 — and earned instant-classic status. Not bad for a couple of upstarts!

Despite the seemingly overnight success of “Girls,” the song had actually gone back to the drawing board a couple of times, just as most of Please had been demoed years earlier in New York with underground dance producer Bobby O. Album opener “Two Divided By Zero” was the least changed of those tracks, while “I Want a Lover,” “Opportunities,” and “Later Tonight” found new life with producer Stephen Hague. Still, the PSB penchant for emotionally detached, utterly danceable observations of modern life was already in full effect, making Please an early triumph…albeit one they’d have no trouble besting in short order. Grade: B

Key cuts: “West End Girls,” “Love Comes Quickly,” “Tonight Is Forever” “Suburbia”

Extra credit: If only to disrupt the rock purists still in abundance circa ’86, the Boys’ remix album released later that year was titled simply Disco and featured non-album club classics “Paninaro” and “In the Night” alongside extended versions of their recent pop hits. — JOHN HAMILTON

Actually (1987)

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Neil and Chris earned high marks for their successful debut LP Please, but their follow-up would cement the pair’s status as masterful pupils of pop. Actually, with its infamous cover art featuring a scowling Lowe and a yawning Tennant, found the duo standing in the eye of the tornado that was their chart-ruling “imperial phase” — a self-referential term coined by Tennant in the 1990 book on the Boys, Literally. Themes such as Thatcherism, AIDS, urban decline, the darker side of love and Tennant’s overall arch observations on London life were mixed with what was becoming the Pet Shop Boys’ unmistakable signature sound. It was an intoxicating combination, as hit after hit like “It’s A Sin” and “What Have I Done To Deserve This,” a duet with the pair’s musical hero Dusty Springfield, followed. Never let it be said that Neil and Chris aren’t above playing the class clowns, though. With “Rent,” well, let’s just say the Pet Shop Boys handily proved that when you’re on a winning streak, you can sneak a dark synth-pop tune about a, um, “kept woman” (suuuure) to the upper reaches of the charts.

Always the sign of an exemplary album, even Actually‘s non-singles wound up becoming classics within the PSB canon, including disco stomper “Hit Music,” with its nod at the growing AIDS crisis, “It Couldn’t Happen Here,” an epic ballad about the demise of Tennant’s best friend featuring an orchestral arrangement by Ennio Morricone and gloriously forlorn closing number “King’s Cross.” Grade: A-

Key cuts: “What Have I Done To Deserve This,” “It’s A Sin,” “Rent,” “King’s Cross”

Extra credit: The Boys’ longstanding penchant for releasing non-album singles kicked off in the midst of their Actually campaign, when Neil and Chris recorded an unrivaled Hi-NRG version of “Always On My Mind” after appearing on a British television special celebrating Elvis Presley. — ROBBIE DAW

Introspective (1988)

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Having already chosen their major in Pop Hits 101, the Pet Shop Boys weren’t interested in playing it safe, hence Introspective. With only six tracks making up its 48-minute running time, it’s an album that, format-wise, has more in common with remix EP Disco than one of their previous long-players, but manages to be no less epic than Please or Actually. In fact, with its extended track lengths, unflinchingly personal lyricism and OTT production flourishes, Introspective frequently proves itself to be more complex and fascinating than its color-blocked cover art might imply.

Most of the album’s tracks are now PSB standards: the Exposé-worshipping “Domino Dancing” and anthemic “It’s Alright” kept the Boys riding high on the UK and international dance charts, whereas “Left To My Own Devices” and the twisted “Always On My Mind/In My House” indicated that the duo were ready to advance beyond the remedial confines of mainstream pop. Grade: B

Key cuts: “Domino Dancing,” “I’m Not Scared,” “It’s Alright”

Extra credit: Pet project Results, written and produced by Neil and Chris for showbiz legend Liza Minnelli, is pretty much the duo’s unofficial fourth album. Stompers abound (“Losing My Mind” should not be missed), but if Minnelli’s orchestral take on “Tonight Is Forever” doesn’t make you a Liza stan forever, then you might not know what love is. — JOHN HAMILTON