What would you think a future PSB's album should sound like in order to reinvent themselves?

[Nickname]

Like most bands of a similar age PSB have got to the stage where they will record and do exactly what they want to do and quite rightly too. They don’t need to reinvent themselves unless they want to. They’ve grown out of you and don’t need you so if they aren’t recording what you want to hear then it’s time to find another band. Move on.

The problem with PSB is you can't find something similar to them these days, I'm not a particular Erasure fan to be honest.

What a strange world!. All their career talking against guitars and pop rock and now they feel more confortable with it. Guitars are part of the past.

[Spittingcat]

Then there’s give it a go…

Still one of my favourite songs.

Only breathing space is better on that album.

Winner still the only track to skip on that album (or replace it with it with the Happy Sad mix).

[glennjridge]

Elysium, looking back on it....the lyrics are a passable set of Tennant lyrics. but I think the real problem is there is alot of uninspired music.
Memory of the future,hold on,everything means something,your early stuff,winner,ego music.

while I know some will say they LOVE some of them, I think most would agree for 1 album...thats alot of clinkers to have.

[joe stalin]

In a way I’m in that camp, as I believe the quality, scope, song writing and production have deteriorated since then. Not a surprise I hasten to add.

I often wonder why ?

I think this is actually several intersecting. things. The best period for pop music is always when you were young. There's no getting that back, because we're all older now, and we engage with music in a different way. Another fact is that times change, and the influences and motivations artists have change with them. There is also the fact that most artists' best work is "their early stuff" because it's the result of years of material building up and a desire to make an impression; older artists in all media generally lose that fire over time, because comfort and security set in.

Most critically IMO is that artists generally have a set amount of gas in the tank when it comes to classics. This affects everyone, from god tier creators like David Bowie and Alfred Hitchcock to cult figures like Jarvis Cocker and David Lynch. Almost every iconic artist you can think of has a limited window of massive success and a broader period of lesser success. When was the last time anyone cared about a new album by McCartney or Springsteen?

Pet Shop Boys have bucked these odds IMO. They're probably the most consistently great music group out there, especially considering their age and the length of their career. Will they ever write another West End Girls or It's a Sin? No, but then again they don't have to. They already did it. All this wobbling about whether they can return to 1987 misses the point.

The 1985-1991 material will always be the core, classic Pet Shop Boys to me. Their definitive image in my mind is the Being Boring video. But the best thing they ever did was move on. Very was a reaction to all that, and it gave them their best chart position in years with a genuine hit. Then they started pushing their boundaries with Bilingual. That record and especially Nightlife are their worst records - but they were tentative first steps into new sounds and modes.

And then they reacted against being put in a box by people like Nickname with Release, which is probably the most pivotal album in their catalog after Please, because it radically redefined what the Pet Shop Boys could be. Is it a great album? Not in my opinion, but it's possible to take the tracks from that era and sequence a much better album, one that fans would hold in much higher regard. And that's partly because they embraced guitars and drums, but partly too because Neil blew open the scope of the Pet Shop Boys lyricism. The song writing would never really be the same, and while it wouldn't be as catchy or as imperial, in some ways it would be better. Release onwards is why the Pet Shop Boys have grown into national treasures in the media, its why they won the BRIT award. None of that would have happened if their career ended with Discography.

And since then they've done a film score, a ballet, a spoken performance piece, a fringe one-woman show and scored a play. They've released another half-dozen albums, all of which contain essential songs (even the most derided album from this period contains Leaving and Invisible, both of which are top-tier songwriting).

What a ramble.

Nice reply

[NotInvisible]

Elysium, looking back on it....the lyrics are a passable set of Tennant lyrics. but I think the real problem is there is alot of uninspired music.
Memory of the future,hold on,everything means something,your early stuff,winner,ego music.

while I know some will say they LOVE some of them, I think most would agree for 1 album...thats alot of clinkers to have.

I don't think I'd consider much of that "uninspired" really. That's a label I'd apply to A Red Letter Day and much of Nightlife.

Memory of the Future is the Pet Shop Boys doing ABBA, and I think on any other album it wouldn't get as much flack. It's basically the equivalent of something like Tonight Is Forever or Shopping, which are placeholder album tracks of similar caliber. But it seems anything prior to '94 is bulletproof in many fans' eyes. Something like A New Life would get absolutely slated if it had come out on Elysium, and let's not even pretend otherwise.

Hold On is great IMO. It's unlike anything they've ever done, and I think it's lovely. As a Nightlife b-side we'd all be raving about it. I appreciate the sentiment isn't very PSB but then again, what could be worse than holding them to a stereotype.

Everything Means Something is skippable. But again it's new territory for them, so I'm not sure "uninspired" is accurate, and its not like they don't have tracks of this quality on other albums.

Your Early Stuff is a stone cold classic that absolutely shines in every regard. I remain convinced this track will be rediscovered down the road and eventually be held up with Leaving and Invisible - a trio of songs that fans would be lauding if only they had been on Behaviour (likewise move It's Only The Wind, To Face The Truth, My October Symphony, Nervously or The End Of The World to Elysium and the some of the same people who call them masterpieces now would be moaning about them.

Winner may be uninspired in the sense that it's perfect pop for another group, which PSB can knock out in their sleep. It doesn't cover new ground (bar the optimism) and like most, I find the album version terrible as a Pet Shop Boys release. But it's actually a solid pop song - the instrumental and the HappySad mix both confirm this - and I maintain it would have been a hit for Take That.

Ego Music is awful but "uninspired" it ain't. There's nothing like it.

Long story short - the fans are unadventurous morons, and listening to them is the absolute last thing Neil and Chris should ever do.

[NotInvisible]

All their career talking against guitars and pop rock and now they feel more confortable with it. Guitars are part of the past.

Synths have been a part of pop music longer than guitars were when synths first became popular! You're on dodgy ground pretending they're somehow not part of the past too.

[PopKid78]

Stefan Storm from the Sound of Arrows, could be a good producer for the next album. He just produced the brilliant long awaited new Annie single, American Cars


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[Nickname]

Stefan Storm from the Sound of Arrows, could be a good producer for the next album. He just produced the brilliant long awaited new Annie single, American Cars


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I think this song sounds very PSB. The film was made in Spain by the way by Spaniards and the kids are Spanish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE2hEaMpKQI

[PopKid78]

Stefan Storm from the Sound of Arrows, could be a good producer for the next album. He just produced the brilliant long awaited new Annie single, American Cars


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think this song sounds very PSB. The film was made in Spain by the way by Spaniards and the kids are Spanish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE2hEaMpKQI

Love their first album


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[Future Lover]

Annie has like 7 good tracks, and the new one is boring. But yeah, Stefan is cool! He did deny PSB were an influence on him a decade ago, hopefully that's changed by now.

[minimal]

Stefan Storm from the Sound of Arrows, could be a good producer for the next album. He just produced the brilliant long awaited new Annie single, American Cars


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BORING AF.

Bring on some new and young folks that haven't been part of the game for AGES!

m+

[Pod]

Elysium, looking back on it....the lyrics are a passable set of Tennant lyrics. but I think the real problem is there is alot of uninspired music.
Memory of the future,hold on,everything means something,your early stuff,winner,ego music.

while I know some will say they LOVE some of them, I think most would agree for 1 album...thats alot of clinkers to have.

I don't think I'd consider much of that "uninspired" really. That's a label I'd apply to A Red Letter Day and much of Nightlife.

Memory of the Future is the Pet Shop Boys doing ABBA, and I think on any other album it wouldn't get as much flack. It's basically the equivalent of something like Tonight Is Forever or Shopping, which are placeholder album tracks of similar caliber. But it seems anything prior to '94 is bulletproof in many fans' eyes. Something like A New Life would get absolutely slated if it had come out on Elysium, and let's not even pretend otherwise.

Hold On is great IMO. It's unlike anything they've ever done, and I think it's lovely. As a Nightlife b-side we'd all be raving about it. I appreciate the sentiment isn't very PSB but then again, what could be worse than holding them to a stereotype.

Everything Means Something is skippable. But again it's new territory for them, so I'm not sure "uninspired" is accurate, and its not like they don't have tracks of this quality on other albums.

Your Early Stuff is a stone cold classic that absolutely shines in every regard. I remain convinced this track will be rediscovered down the road and eventually be held up with Leaving and Invisible - a trio of songs that fans would be lauding if only they had been on Behaviour (likewise move It's Only The Wind, To Face The Truth, My October Symphony, Nervously or The End Of The World to Elysium and the some of the same people who call them masterpieces now would be moaning about them.

Winner may be uninspired in the sense that it's perfect pop for another group, which PSB can knock out in their sleep. It doesn't cover new ground (bar the optimism) and like most, I find the album version terrible as a Pet Shop Boys release. But it's actually a solid pop song - the instrumental and the HappySad mix both confirm this - and I maintain it would have been a hit for Take That.

Ego Music is awful but "uninspired" it ain't. There's nothing like it.

Long story short - the fans are unadventurous morons, and listening to them is the absolute last thing Neil and Chris should ever do.

Disagree with about 90% of that, but hey, I’m just a moron!

[Pod]

Then there’s give it a go…

Still one of my favourite songs.

Only breathing space is better on that album.

Winner still the only track to skip on that album (or replace it with it with the Happy Sad mix).

I think it’s manure, but each to their own...

[Gabby]

Elysium, looking back on it....the lyrics are a passable set of Tennant lyrics. but I think the real problem is there is alot of uninspired music.
Memory of the future,hold on,everything means something,your early stuff,winner,ego music.

while I know some will say they LOVE some of them, I think most would agree for 1 album...thats alot of clinkers to have.

I don't think I'd consider much of that "uninspired" really. That's a label I'd apply to A Red Letter Day and much of Nightlife.

Memory of the Future is the Pet Shop Boys doing ABBA, and I think on any other album it wouldn't get as much flack. It's basically the equivalent of something like Tonight Is Forever or Shopping, which are placeholder album tracks of similar caliber. But it seems anything prior to '94 is bulletproof in many fans' eyes. Something like A New Life would get absolutely slated if it had come out on Elysium, and let's not even pretend otherwise.

Hold On is great IMO. It's unlike anything they've ever done, and I think it's lovely. As a Nightlife b-side we'd all be raving about it. I appreciate the sentiment isn't very PSB but then again, what could be worse than holding them to a stereotype.

Everything Means Something is skippable. But again it's new territory for them, so I'm not sure "uninspired" is accurate, and its not like they don't have tracks of this quality on other albums.

Your Early Stuff is a stone cold classic that absolutely shines in every regard. I remain convinced this track will be rediscovered down the road and eventually be held up with Leaving and Invisible - a trio of songs that fans would be lauding if only they had been on Behaviour (likewise move It's Only The Wind, To Face The Truth, My October Symphony, Nervously or The End Of The World to Elysium and the some of the same people who call them masterpieces now would be moaning about them.

Winner may be uninspired in the sense that it's perfect pop for another group, which PSB can knock out in their sleep. It doesn't cover new ground (bar the optimism) and like most, I find the album version terrible as a Pet Shop Boys release. But it's actually a solid pop song - the instrumental and the HappySad mix both confirm this - and I maintain it would have been a hit for Take That.

Ego Music is awful but "uninspired" it ain't. There's nothing like it.

Long story short - the fans are unadventurous morons, and listening to them is the absolute last thing Neil and Chris should ever do.

Elysium is totally underrated. It achieves what the Boys set out to do by capturing a West Coast vibe. I can imagine myself on a beach or by a pool in LA with a drink listening to this and loving it.

I gotta agree that the fans who deride this album just arent grasping how well crafted and different this album is.

[tottenhammattspurs]

Elysium is the Behaviour of the 21st century. In another 12 years you’ll realise just how good it actually is.