POX Pet Shop Boys B-sides

chronologically

Indeed. Where is the love for A New Life? It would make my top ten.
Apart from being a fine song, it's also notable for being one of the few compositions in the Boys' oeuvre that was jointly composed with an outside party - in this case, backing vocalist Helena "How far have you been?" Springs. IIRC, Chris remarks in the sleeve notes to Alternative that they went round to her flat, and "she had a few chord changes" which ultimately became A New Life. (For some reason, I really like that story.)

And I just like the "Stars collect overhead" verse, as well as the naked, plaintive question: "Where's the heart I was dreaming of?"

Paninaro
Miserablism
Don Juan
A New Life
A Man Could Get Arrested
Jack The Lad
Do I Have To
That's My Impression
I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)
Shameless

anyway..

paninaro
your funny uncle
a new life
i get excited
miserablism
in the night
one of the crowd
Do I Have To?
we all feel better in the dark
losing my mind

The truck driver and his mate
It is obvious (the KLF 'bleep and booster' remix)

I can understand that it was seen as a bit too "up" to fit into the mood of the "Behaviour" album, but IMO they should have saved it for the "Discography" compilation and released it as a single from that one. It is a lot better than "DJ Culture" and "Was It Worth It".

Heads up:

The Pet Shop Boys today revealed the tracklist and release date for Format, which will include 38 newly remastered B-sides and bonus tracks originally released between 1996 and 2009. The 2CD set will be released Feb. 6 on Parlophone Records, and will feature an interview with Tennant and Lowe in the booklet by Jon Savage.

Tracklist: Pet Shop Boys, Format

DISC 1
1. “The Truck Driver and his Mate”
2. “Hit and Miss”
3. “In the Night” (1995)
4. “Betrayed”
5. “How I Learned to Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll”
6. “Discoteca” (New Version)
7. “The Calm Before the Storm”
8. “Confidential (Demo for Tina)”
9. “The Boy Who Couldn’t Keep his Clothes On”
10. “Delusions of Grandeur”
11. “The View From Your Balcony”
12. “Disco Potential”
13. “Silver Age”
14. “Screaming”
15. “The Ghost of Myself”
16. “Casting a Shadow”
17. “Lies”
18. “Sexy Northerner”

DISC 2
1. “Always”
2. “Nightlife”
3. “Searching for the Face of Jesus”
4. “Between Two Islands”
5. “Friendly Fire”
6. “We’re the Pet Shop Boys”
7. “Transparent”
8. “I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today”
9. “The Resurrectionist”
10. “Girls Don’t Cry”
11. “In Private” (7-inch mix): Pet Shop Boys with Elton John
12. “Blue on Blue”
13. “No Time for Tears” (7-inch mix)
14. “Bright Young Things”
15. “Party Song”
16. “We’re All Criminals Now”
17. “Gin and Jag”
18. “After the Event”
19. “The Former Enfant Terrible”
20. “Up and Down”

O_O

Awesome. The first song in the track listing is one of my favorite of their B-sides.

Yeah I'm already predicting I'm playing this into the ground. Along with Alternative once again.

Alternative is one of the few permanent CDs in my car.

Still into this one after discovering it during that PSB song megapoll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTvL1DUBNfA

This thread keeps popping up with the "Friday" thread, which leads me to imagine an autotune PSB cover...

"Fr-fr-fr-fr-fr-Friday"

Oh yes. Bilingual was the last of the special editions with B-sides so a lot of these songs are new to me.

Oh hell yes. Been waiting for them to make this for years.

8. “I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today”
9. “The Resurrectionist”

Great songs.

I have been waiting for this since Alternative was released

"Always" is probably my favourite of the bunch. Never go the love for "Truck Driver" esp. compared to "Hit and Miss". Sadly though, I have to say Alternative was like a million times better than this.

I'm so excited for this. I've only bought a few of their singles since 96 so lots of these will new to me. Truck Driver is one my favourite songs they've ever done.

WILD TO THE POINT OF MADNESS

They really should've included the 7" version of "Fugitive" which was only released as a b-side for "Beautiful People" and is an amazing song. Also missing for some reason are the "Together" b-sides, "Glad All Over" and "I Cried For Us".

the Format box is a different shape and size to the Alternative box

what the actual fuck, guys

TS: "Format" vs "Alternative"....

"Alternative" by a million miles.

like, they tried to make it a companion by being white with nothing on the spine, compared to black with nothing on the spine

but it's not the same size on the shelf

(haven't compared but the sleevenotes seem much less chatty too?)

(also I guess ;_; that this means no likelihood of 2CD reissues of the post-Bilingual albums in this decade, thus probably ever. which, whatever, but I've never actually heard Nightlife.)

just picked up Format and god damn, I'd say it's as good as Alternative - at least from someone who hadn't heard a single one of these tracks before

I love the B-side version of "A Man Could Get Arrested." It points to a kind of eighties production that PSB never chased.

DO IT!

It was probably my first favourite PSB song. My tape dub of a childhood neighbour's single got quite a work-out.

Certainly agree with praise for Format. I listen to it way more than I'd anticipated on release.

Having never seen this thread before, an unranked attempt:

A Man Could Get Arrested
Betrayed
Bet She's Not Your Boyfriend
Girls Don't Cry
It Must Be Obvious
Miserablism
No Time for Tears
The Truck Driver and His Mate
We All Feel Better in the Dark
Your Funny Uncle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex4VM6GupAc

I have a bunch of PSB songs on my gym iPod and I think like 2/3rds of them are B-sides

Do it now!

I attempted to explain the appeal of PSB to someone recently with... "Your Funny Uncle", of all things! I think we'd been talking about the early AIDS era or something. Anyway, the response was "it's a bit depressing, innit." Not sure they even got to the end. Grrr.

Was That What It Was?, One of the Crowd, It Must Be Obvious and Music for Boys are all in the top half of Alternative tracks for me

Do I Have To? is straight up one of their best songs and one of the best B-sides ever. It does feel a little rushed production wise though. I often wonder what it'd sound like on Introspective with a luxurious big-budget makeover. Maybe like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWxOHwhkShY

Agree with Tennant that the middle 'faffs around' a bit, but it's one of their most devastating ballads.