Pet Shop Boys ~ West End Girls

(wait, why's this thread on ILE?)

Not anymore...

I'm going to see them in a couple months. Can't wait.

eventually realised the other day that this is my fave psb song and all-time top 10 material. think i always knew, actually.

Hmm, well all the frenzy about finding the original version paid off. I found it on slsk after wading through 5,000 remixes, extended versions, albums versions, dubs, etc. And... it's not that good. The familiar album version is superior in just about every way imaginable.

The familiar album version is superior in just about every way imaginable.

Yes, absolutely. Although their second take on it preserves the overall feel of the first version, Julian Mendelssohn's production is vastly more polished. What really kills the original is Bobby O's "I've just bought a sampler" tomfoolery - in particular, taking a short vocal snippet and playing irritating, Chipmunky runs up and down the keyboard with it. ("Uh-uh-uh-UH-uh-uh!") It must have sounded cool to people at the time, because a bunch of electro records of that era are afflicted by the same problem.

The original is closer to the sinister minor key atmospherics of "In the Night."

Vast Halo, it was Stephen Hague, not Julian Mendelssohn, who produced the second version.

I'm glad there is a thread about my favorite song of all time!

not very much of this video is actually filmed in the west end is it? its all waterloo station (amazing how it looks just like today) and the south bank. not really the west end. also, didnt see many girls.

i'm kinda digging this bobby o version despite the annoying "lol i have sampler" moments. i especially love the absence of the diva vocals at the last bar of each verse. the way neil's last words just HANG there (esp. "which will you choose a hard or soft option") is an awesome tension raiser.

"all your stopping, stalling, and starting / who do you think you are, joe stalin?"

The Bobby O version is medium-grade camp; the song demands the Cinemascope treatment.

I agree with Alfred here. Bobby O's version is still good but it was Hague who really transformed it into something outstanding.

o o o o oo oo oo oo

Yay, this is finally coming up on Popular.

one of the greatest songs ever

one of the greatest songs ever

memories of listening to this on a grey morning in a northern melbourne suburb, 1986, with rather unseasonal snow trying to fall outside. earliest pop music memory i think!

it was like the future, maaaaaaaan

i was 7!

Will be amazed if this doesn't earn a 10. I've been enjoying Actually the past couple of days - these guys really hit on something.

it's up now

That was superb.

Yup.

Like Tom and several commenters, I regarded this song as a novelty for years – like "I Wanna Be a Cowboy," say. I understood "West End Girls" retroactively, thanks to the string of imperial hits to come. I "love" it without having strong feelings, so it's strange if reassuring to read that lots of ears pricked up when they first heard this; it didn't immediately sound special.

I've always loved this. Conjures memories of sleeping under the bench seats in my family's van on a christmas road trip.

"All your stopping, stalling, and starting / who do you think you are, Joe Stalin?"

Does anyone know why PSB dropped this line (and the couple of lines that precede it) when they re-recorded the song? The Stalin reference, together with the "from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station" line, makes me think the song is, in some way, about Communism and the Cold War. Do "West End" and "East End" refer to the Western and Eastern bloc, besides London?

maybe because it's BAD.

Tuomas I'm not sure but it's discussed a bit here - http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2009/11/pet-shop-boys-west-end-girls

Some great discussion there, but it seems to be mostly about the way the song depicts London - which, of course, is what it's about on tha main textual level, but I was wondering about the subtext. East, West, Lake Geneva, Finland station, stopping & stalling & starting...

Yeah, I guess the Stalin line is awkward, but I find it kinda funny too as a metaphor, possibly because I used to study modern history. (As did Tennant, apparently. I didn't know that before reading the discussion you linked to.)

And I guess the Stalin line fits the original Bobby Orlando version of the tune better, because it's way more over-the-top and campy (the way he uses that one vocal sample!). The famous version is more refined and cool, so I guess dropping Joe Stalin there wouldn't do... The Lake Geneva - Finland Station line is less abrupt, a better fit for its refined tone, since everyone knows Stalin but you have to be more versed in history to get the other reference.

the Stalin line is a total dad joke.

should have a cheesy comedian drum crash after it imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvFRuio-3fI

this song just came on in the hotel I'm sitting in

it's…it's…fuck it's amazing isn't it

i know you all know. i've even heard the song a few times myself, but this was transportative

the entirety of Please is as good, if not better (okay maybe not "Violence" but still, one of the best debut albums ever)

I spent most of early last week listening to Please again. When I hear songs as cool, austere, and sleek as "Two Divided By Zero" and "Why Don't We Live Together" sometimes I conclude they never topped it.

I really liked that 'Love Is A Bourgeois Construct' song from last year - I think PSB and I are in need of some quality time

basically every album is good to amazing aside from Release (which has a couple of amazing songs on it but ends up just being okay overall) and Elysium (which is hands-down the most embarrassing thing they've ever done)

I've only ever heard Please, I'm not proud of it

in most ways, that's better than being a person who has only heard Very

thx for telling me that I'm a good person, DJP <3

Please is the weakest of their first 5 at least. Quite an amazing run (plus Alternative, of course)

I won't disagree but if by weakest you mean a "3.5 or 4-star record," sure.

in most ways, that's better than being a person who has only heard Very

hey!

i've since heard most of the records but for a long time i was a person who had only heard very

Actually > Please > Behaviour > Very > Introspective

I won't disagree but if by weakest you mean a "3.5 or 4-star record," sure.

absolutely. It just occured to me that I forgot about Introspective. IMO Nightlife was their first substandard album. Even that one is very very good in spots.

Please is an incredible album (with the definite exception of 'Violence', which I've never taken to) ... I rate it much higher than Actually, come to think of it.

sometimes I do too because I don't care for "Hit Music"

Favorite PSB arpeggios: Felix Da Housecat "London" remix on Disco 3.

"I'm Not Scared" is actually my favourite off Introspective now, and I love that album.

yeah I'm Not Scared is incredible. it was given short shrift in the PSB poll. i wonder if the Eighth Wonder version puts some people off.

I like it too. It's impossible to fuck up.

started with Behaviour, gonna work my way back to Please

Behaviour is awesome of course

think Introspective might be even better? close-run thing

It's better.

(today at least)

yeah it's really elegant music, although Behaviour might be more vivid

this has some kind of indisposable charm, some hint at timelessness

'i'm not scared' was the tipping point into me posting that fwiw

basically every album is good to amazing aside from Release (which has a couple of amazing songs on it but ends up just being okay overall) and Elysium (which is hands-down the most embarrassing thing they've ever done)

― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP)

Agree that these are their only two weak albums but Release is still their lowest point for me. Think there are more embarrassing moments on Elysium but there are songs I like more than anything on Release.

Please is a fantastic album but Actually, Behaviour and Very are their three masterpieces. I wouldn't change a single thing about any of them.