Pet Shop Boys - Go West

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VoR

VoR

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A massive hit, but sometimes I wonder if it hasn't become a bit of an albatross in terms of how people perceive the Pet Shop Boys.

Personally I think it's genuinely quite beautiful. And completely ridiculous, but those two things are by no means mutually exclusive.

 
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I've grown to love this. Not sure about the albatross thing - did they really release a single with larger commercial potential after this?
 
Oh no, it definitely did more good than harm. Can You Forgive Her did well but I think even in 1993 they were sort of on the way out as a commercial force.

I guess I just meant the faint whiff of the novelty hit hangs over it. A lot of people really dislike it.
 
I don't agree that this is an albatross. It's not the track their best known for. I listened to some of the singles from this album recently. Despite not liking them at the time, they actually sound pretty good now. The album is europop-influenced rather than being out and out europop. I can remember Can You Forgive Her? sounding "too slow" at the time.

There quite a lot about this track to like. Firstly, the chorus is a COMMUNIST ANTHEM. Secondly, there's the great video. Thirdly, there's the rave breakdown at the end.
 
Maybe it's because I'm that bit younger and this is one I can actually remember from the time, but I would say this runs West End Girls fairly close as their best-known song. It's only that they wheel the latter out a lot more. It's A Sin and What Have I Done... are probably up there too.
 
ANYWAY I'm not saying it was a mistake or it damaged their career at all (clearly not). I guess I just know a lot of people who are very dismissive of the Pet Shop Boys because this is the first thing they think of when they're brought up.
 
I thought their best known was, well, either this or Domino Dancing. at least that's the one they always seem to play most on music channels
 
I think their best known are "always on my mind", "it's a sin" and "west end girls", but that is from a German perspective
 
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VoR said:
ANYWAY I'm not saying it was a mistake or it damaged their career at all (clearly not). I guess I just know a lot of people who are very dismissive of the Pet Shop Boys because this is the first thing they think of when they're brought up.
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The thing I remember people always dismissing PSB for was Neil Tennant's voice. He doesn't have a particularly pleasant voice, to be honest. It's weak and nasal.
 
Domino Dancing is nowhere near their best known in the UK, but it BLOODY SHOULD BE.

Actually it was a bit of a flop at the time, wasn't it?

I like Neil's voice. It's not technically strong but he can be very emotive. I guess the amount of PSB songs with speak-singing elements made it easier for lazy people to assume he just couldn't sing. I love his vocal on this, it's so warm and wistful. Adds an extra layer to what otherwise WOULD be an out-and-out novelty song.
 
Love it. When it came out I got a bit bored of it for a few weeks as it was on INVICTA FM very minute.
 
I had to just listen to Can You Even Forgive Her? Reminds me of being a 12 year old homosexual.
 
Can You Forgive Her is just RELENTLESS.

Very is a wonderful album. What a run of singles :disco:

Then we posed for photos with the competition winners
And argued about the hotel rooms and where to go for dinner
And someone said it's FABULOUS you're still around today
You've both made such a little go a VERY LONG WAY

:disco:
 
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I love CYFH, and not just because those cheap orchestral stabs were so easy to recreate on my 80s Keyboard.
 
Neil does have a SHIT voice but the tunes make up for it. Domino Dancing is my favourite by FAR, but that's partly because it's produced by Lewis A. Martinée. I loved the West End Girls version too.

As for Go West - it's ALRIGHT.

I LOVE how Absolutely Fabulous is their highest peak position in Australia! :D
 
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The single version of I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing pisses all over the album version.
 
Yesterday, When I Was Mad is one of my life anthems. With Neil's voice, he's a commentator who sort of sings if that makes sense. I do think he uses the 'lower register' of his voice brilliantly on new song Vocal.
 
I love it. There's a tinge of post-AIDS sadness in his delivery and the whole visual aesthetic in the video.
 
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Could never take to this or its horrid phallic video. Nonetheless I won't deny the great importance of this in their canon and getting such a gay single so high in the charts. I think The Village People version was nice and I love the melancholic tone, indeed post-AIDS more poignant, but a bit too much. Mind you, next to NYC Boy...

I love this in a shittastica way though :D

 
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It's still fabulous.

Being more or less the same age as VoR, I think, this was my first exposure to them as well. That being said, Se A Vida E is my most indelible memory of them. That summer of 96 was just *chef's kiss* as far as pop went, and Se A was one of the seminal tracks of that summer.
 
VoR said:
Maybe it's because I'm that bit younger and this is one I can actually remember from the time, but I would say this runs West End Girls fairly close as their best-known song. It's only that they wheel the latter out a lot more. It's A Sin and What Have I Done... are probably up there too.
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Do you still feel this way a decade on?

I think it is probably about age in any case. As someone who was a teenager in the 80s, I rarely even consider it when thinking about their back catalogue. I think for most (British, at least) people around my age, this song wouldn't feature in the first few PSB songs they would name. I'd say all the #1s with the probable exception of Heart would come first, at least. And possibly one or two others.
 
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I'd say so. It's a Sin has obviously had a big boost in recent years.

It's a quite distant fourth on Spotify though

209m Always on my Mind
208m West End Girls
130m It's a Sin
88m Go West
55m Domino Dancing

Surprised how big AOMM is. I guess it probably features on quite a few Christmas playlists though.
 
I think Always On My Mind is just a much bigger song. From what I remember it rarely features on Christmas playlists, unless you go looking for Christmas #1s.
 
The fact that Always On My Mind has never recharted any Christmas makes me think its festive streams are probably negligible. I'd be surprised if many people even associate it with Christmas.
 
GW always reminds me of the Comic Relief that year with the cards you had to scratch and sniff. I'm sure they had some scary Dr Who stuff as well - can't believe I can remember all this when I wasn't even born.
 
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