Nightlife - time for reappraisal?

[jyllinge]

I have loved this album from the start. It appeals to me and also to some of the challenges I faced at the time of release. So its somehow made my soundtrack of that era.

Great songs like: "Radiophonic", "I Don't Know What You Want but I Can't Give It Any More", "Happiness Is an Option"

And amazing remix like: "New York City Boy" (The Lange Mix)

[misterme]

What's great about Pet Shop Boys is that, although there is often agreement about which songs are the best, there is always someone who thinks a song that is considered bad by many is great and more to their liking. And vice versa.
For me Nightlife is the perfect example of this.
Because, while I rate Drunk, In denial, The Only One, Boy Strange and Footsteps among the best songs there are on this album, I never quite enjoyed the likes of For Your Own Good, Closer To Heaven, Radiophonic or New York City Boy.
I Don't Know What You Want... is one of my all time favorite singles by PSB. And I have always loved Happiness Is An Option.
I don't care much about Vampires though.
All in all, I think Nightlife is a good album. Not among the ones I play the most. If I was to rank it, it would probably appear in the middle of PSB albums list.

[telys]

I was happy when Nightlife came and had high expectations
This album has some really weak tracks that drag it down far below expectations. I've struggled for years trying to make an alternative tracklist and I've come to the conclusion to remove two tracks and make Nightlife a 10-track album.
The Only One and In Denial are obvious, they have to go. In Denial could've been given to Kylie's Light Year's album instead. The Only One is totally meaningless.
I've never really understood why so many seem to like Drunk. To me it's PSB doing what they're not good at: being fake acoustic. I'd replace it with the 7'' versions of T-Total's or Attaboy's remixes (probably rather Attaboy's).
Boy Strange is the equivalent of Hit Music, In My House, Axis, Electricity etc... weird, far from single material but great as an album track.
Footsteps was a favourite at the beginning but soon faded from my interest. There is something wrong with the mixing of that track.
Happiness Is An Option is kind of the same type as Boy Strange. It works as an album track.
I don't really regard the b-sides and FL-tracks as album potential. Ghost of Myself is a great track and I love it but it's too much of a pastiche and the lyrics are perhaps a tad too esoteric.
Somebody Else's Business could fit but its lyrics aren't that Nightlife. I'd actually rather put Playing in The Streets on the album. It really goes with the Nightlife theme
So here's my tracklist:
1. For Your Own Good 05:13
2. Closer to Heaven 04:06
3. I Don't Know 05:09
4. Happiness is an Option 03:48
5. Drunk (Attaboy) 04:57
6. Footsteps 04:16
7. Playing In The Streets 03:23
8. Vampires 04:43
9. Radiophonic (demo) 05:15 (just because it's longer than the album version)
10. Boy Strange 05:09
11. New York city boy (Almighty Def mix) 06:31 (more filmic and longer than the album version)

[Patrick Bateman]

Its main problem is that it was developed at the same time as the musical, which makes it far too kitsch. Plus they were seven studio albums in, so had no stone-cold classics like Rent up their sleeve, meaning something like In Denial compares extremely unfavorably with their previous duet What Have I?

I'm relatively fond of it as their dumper album, replete with strings and frightwigs. I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more and Drunk are both great but the former was always understated as a lead single. I remember buying it on the same day as Better Off Alone, which is by contrast an obvious banger.

Still think New York city boy is a mis-step. Go West managed to retain an epic grandeur, which is no small achievement considering it's a Village People cover, while New York city boy lacks that elevation.

[daveid]

The best thing about Nightlife came 18 years later and it's the Radiophonic demo which I'm listening to as I type this. Bloody wacky and brilliant. Probably the best of the unheard tracks released that year.

[Lleonard Pler]

The best thing about Nightlife came 18 years later and it's the Radiophonic demo which I'm listening to as I type this. Bloody wacky and brilliant. Probably the best of the unheard tracks released that year.

I just listened to the demo for the first time. It's bonkers, like a sibling of The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on. But I prefer the dark production of Rollo. The demo is more Bilingual than Nightlife.

Radiophonic for me is the constant surprise of Nightlife. I keep forgetting how good it is and when it comes up it's always a pleasure. The only one on the other hand is the opposite, I tend to forget how bland it is haha.

[trafaelwyr]

Well, if you think about it, they were pretty prolific with their writing around this time. I think with the Closer to Heaven play and the Nightlife album, they were being pulled in two directions. Nightlife seems to be the songs that could be cut from the narrative of the CTH play without any problem. I remember hearing the demos for CTH a few years later and was quite taken with some tracks that were never released. I thought some should have been on Nightlife replacing other tracks. But it is what it is. It's a shame the PSB have never officially released these demos commercially.

[Nicholas]

Well, if you think about it, they were pretty prolific with their writing around this time. I think with the Closer to Heaven play and the Nightlife album, they were being pulled in two directions. Nightlife seems to be the songs that could be cut from the narrative of the CTH play without any problem. I remember hearing the demos for CTH a few years later and was quite taken with some tracks that were never released. I thought some should have been on Nightlife replacing other tracks. But it is what it is. It's a shame the PSB have never officially released these demos commercially.

Here on Release was another CTH cut, wasn't it? It was probably a bit too 'nice' for the musical (in terms of sentiment, rather than musically), I suppose.

[Tentenlad]

What had they been doing since Bilingual?

Revised Nightlife track list

Somewhere
I don’t know…
Closer to heaven
You only tell me…
In denial
Positive role model
The only one
Radiophonic
New York City boy
We’re the pet shop boys

[Dreamland]

I have really enjoyed reading all of these comments. Thanks everyone. It seems there’s a fair amount of love and affection for Nightlife out there, which is great to read. It’s one of my favourite albums - not just by Pet Shop Boys, but in general - and I’ve found it really interesting to read what others think about the album as a whole and particular songs.

I agree with those who’ve said ‘I Don’t Know…’ is one of their best singles. It’s a shame it’s not more widely known or played on the radio more. Any thoughts on why it charted so poorly at the time of release?

[TallThinMan]

I agree with those who’ve said ‘I Don’t Know…’ is one of their best singles. It’s a shame it’s not more widely known or played on the radio more. Any thoughts on why it charted so poorly at the time of release?

Anecdotally I recall quite a lot of debate on here at the time about whether they’d lost the ability to write a chorus.

[TwizzleUK]

I agree with those who’ve said ‘I Don’t Know…’ is one of their best singles. It’s a shame it’s not more widely known or played on the radio more. Any thoughts on why it charted so poorly at the time of release?

Anecdotally I recall quite a lot of debate on here at the time about whether they’d lost the ability to write a chorus.

I guess it's a recording Neil would describe as a "track" rather than a "song" - i.e. the reason it's so good is because of its arrangement, production, and how it sounds, rather than its melodic structure. I love it , but he's probably only singing three or four different notes during the chorus, so it doesn't have the typical flowing PSB melody and words were used to.

That doesn't mean it's not a good single though. In a similar way to how Depeche Mode's 'Never Let Me Down Again' is a massive fan favourite, yet Dave Gahan only sings one single note in the verse, then a different single note in the chorus -almost like Martin Gore set himself the challenge to make a great single, but with as static a lead vocal melody as possible!

[telys]

What had they been doing since Bilingual?

Revised Nightlife track list

Somewhere
I don’t know…
Closer to heaven
You only tell me…
In denial
Positive role model
The only one
Radiophonic
New York City boy
We’re the pet shop boys

Yep, Somewhere deserves a place on an album but it's not really a Nightlife-theme. It's a perfect one off cover, non-album single. Or a 1998 mini-album with it's b-sides and Screaming and Friendly Fire and perhaps something else.
Positive role model was recorded after Nightlife was released.
We're the Pet Shop Boys wasn't recorded or even written before 2002.

[jasonjohn]

The best thing about Nightlife came 18 years later and it's the Radiophonic demo which I'm listening to as I type this. Bloody wacky and brilliant. Probably the best of the unheard tracks released that year.

That’s what I was saying earlier in the thread. There’s a brightness and momentum to the demo that got lost in the heaviness of the final version.

I like both, but love the vibe of the demo. I get it they wanted richer production but, hey, it’s so much fun.

Clean Euro-disco style suits them far more imo

[Footnotes]

I loved Nightlife when it came out and was gobsmacked by the generally poor reviews that I read. I seem to remember that the NME gave it the lowest rating that they’d ever given a PSB album, but the review was clearly written by a ‘rock’ journalist, who was incredibly biased.
That said, I’m not a fan of Boy Strange but the rest of the album still holds up for me today, especially the three first tracks and ‘you only tell me…’, which is a classic.