Best Pet Shop Boys Album

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As if we needed another PSB thread cluttering the archives!

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Very	15
Introspective	11
Actually	7
Discography: The Complete Singles Collection	7
Alternative	4
Behaviour	4
Pop Art: The Hits	4
Very/Relentless	2
Please	1
Disco	1
Release	1
Disco 3	0
Nightlife	0
Bilingual	0
Disco 2	0
Fundamental	0

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 17 May 2007 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

This is ridiculously easy.

― HI DERE, Thursday, 17 May 2007 01:54 (nineteen years ago)

Future PSB album: Ridiculously

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 17 May 2007 01:55 (nineteen years ago)

Dan's favorite: albums without a version of "Domino Dancing."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 17 May 2007 01:57 (nineteen years ago)

Poll closes Dec. 5?

― JN$OT, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:07 (nineteen years ago)

Easiest choice yet

― President Evil, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:08 (nineteen years ago)

Discography's inclusin = not fair to the rest of their output.

I voted for it nonetheless.
Hey, the truth hurts.

― JN$OT, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

inclusion that is

― JN$OT, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:12 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't

― President Evil, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:14 (nineteen years ago)

The thing about that "best run of singles ever" thing is you MUST LIKE THE PSB FIRST. Otherwise, it's a bunch of similar songs by a band you don't like that much. And I don't, overall. They don't have a single to touch "Like a Prayer", just for an easy pick.

― President Evil, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

Gee it's like pop's kinda subjective hey President

― President Evil, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

They don't have a single to touch "Like a Prayer", just for an easy pick.

waht

― blueski, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:17 (nineteen years ago)

thing is you MUST LIKE THE PSB FIRST. Otherwise, it's a bunch of similar songs by a band you don't like that much

Yeah, but you can say the same about pretty much any artist.

― JN$OT, Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:19 (nineteen years ago)

They don't have a single to touch "Like a Prayer", just for an easy pick.

This is one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

― HI DERE, Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:22 (nineteen years ago)

They don't have a single to touch "Like a Prayer", just for an easy pick.

somehow this manages to be completely wrong from BOTH WAYS -

1) 'like a prayer' is not an "easy pick"
2) psb have several standards of that magnitude

― lex pretend, Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:27 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.kompaktkiste.de/cd/_artist/psb/790868.jpg

― braveclub, Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:41 (nineteen years ago)

i think he just meant 'easy pick' as in 'here's a great song off the top of my head'.

― blueski, Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:41 (nineteen years ago)

CANNOT CHOOSE. i don't even have a kneejerk please/actually/behaviour/very these days

― Alan, Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:47 (nineteen years ago)

i think he just meant 'easy pick' as in 'here's a great song off the top of my head'.

both madge and psbs have about TWENTY of these at least each!

a psb singles poll would be interesting. i would tick 'rent'.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:49 (nineteen years ago)

No, Blueski otm. Do you have a better def? Lex autistic as per. Braveclub super otm. JNwhatever not paying attention to other people.

― President Evil, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:04 (nineteen years ago)

And Dan being Dan, no foul

― President Evil, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:15 (nineteen years ago)

Someone should for the sake of whatever tell me what he PSB single that beats "Like a Prayer" is before I start just posting drunkenly a la Bimble, I'd really like to know! I'd say it was um actually nah I'm right they don't have one. "Left to My Own Devices"? No "It's a Sin". Still nowhere near.

― President Evil, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

"West End Girls"
"Opportunities"
"Love Comes Quickly"
"What Have I Done To Deserve This?"
"Rent"
"It's Alright"
"Always On My Mind"
"Yesterday When I Was Mad"
"New York City Boy"
(after that I get hazy about which ones were the singles)

― HI DERE, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

(Also, given the choices, I assumed people would think the no-brainer was Alternative!)

― HI DERE, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:42 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the no-brainer here was Very but I'm guessing these'll be some close results. I can't bring myself to vote for a compilation even though I consider them among the best singles bands of all-time.

― sw00ds, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

The thing about that "best run of singles ever" thing is you MUST LIKE THE PSB FIRST

Um, who says you have to like anybody first? If Neil Tennant asked me to tea, I'd go, but there's no suggestion of intimacy.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

discography and pop art shouldn't be in here! no fair!

INTROSPECTIVE all the way.

― pisces, Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

"Go West" beats Madonna's entire output, and I love Madonna too.

― AKA Mr. Jaq, Thursday, 17 May 2007 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

Voted "Very". And even though the canon prefers "Actually" or "Behaviour", I do have the impression that I'm with the majority of ILM in this case.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 17 May 2007 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

(Given again that I refuse to vote for compilations as I don't consider them proper albums)

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 17 May 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

It's not really fair, but if I could only have one of these then the choice is easy: Pop Art: The Hits . Although I would program my cd player to play the songs in chronological order.

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 17 May 2007 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

Then you'd need a double decker. If you have a triple decker you should probably add the singles from the most recent album at the end too.

But I agree. "Best Of"s are supposed to be chronological.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 17 May 2007 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Can a mod fix the date? I meant to write "5-28-2007"?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

if i was a betting man - very to win. but i might vote elsewhere myself. hmmm.

― Alan, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

Very, very suprisingly, is not aging well for me. I will go with Behavior.

― wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

introspective, by a mile.

― Jeb, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

I hate Introspective so much

</BeatingDeadHorse>

― HI DERE, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

We'll all be very excited to get to know the results in December ;)

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 22:10 (nineteen years ago)

December 2008!

― onimo, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 08:13 (nineteen years ago)

OK, date's changed.

― Keith, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks again.

― JN$OT, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 21:04 (nineteen years ago)

No bother... Cheers.

― Keith, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

thanks!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 21:45 (nineteen years ago)

I'm tempted to vote for Billingual since I think no-one else will, but given the choice I'll have to go with Very/Relentless.

― LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 21:53 (nineteen years ago)

vote!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 26 May 2007 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

I agree with Dan about both Alternative and Introspective. Voted the former, but am content with any album winning except for the latter.

― anatol_merklich, Saturday, 26 May 2007 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

I voted 'Introspective'. It's great!

― SeekAltRoute, Saturday, 26 May 2007 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

Results!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 28 May 2007 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

please should be higher - otherwise i could live with that ranking in general

― Alan, Monday, 28 May 2007 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

I'm surprised by the low mark for Behaviour, as I always thought it was der conventional wisdom best PSB album. And 'cause it has So Hard on it, duh.

― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 28 May 2007 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 40 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I hadn't expected a Quietus link on Sullivan's page but there you go...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 23 May 2011 22:28 (fifteen years ago)

Did he link to it? I know he's a huge fan.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 May 2011 22:39 (fifteen years ago)

Yup.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 23 May 2011 22:42 (fifteen years ago)

seven years pass...

These ten. That's it.

― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 01:30 (seven years ago)

I don't want to be rude but I honestly don't know how it's possible for one person to have so many opinions and rankings, thereof, across just about everything in culture. It doesn't even seem real.

― Britain's Sexiest Cow (jed_), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 01:47 (seven years ago)

It's as much a fun thing to do as playing video games, pickup basketball games, and tricking.

― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 02:01 (seven years ago)

That ranking is more pleasing than the poll numbers. Not least for Nightlife love.

Care to expound on the less-than-good-ness of "Liberation"?

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 21 August 2018 05:28 (seven years ago)

I love Liberation! Even though it’s basically just My October Symphony again.

― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 21 August 2018 11:30 (seven years ago)

Except it's not at all alike and My October Symphony is about a 1000 times better.

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 11:41 (seven years ago)

Oh, Please.

― Tim, Tuesday, 21 August 2018 11:49 (seven years ago)

(xxp)

― Tim, Tuesday, 21 August 2018 11:50 (seven years ago)

Except it's not at all alike and My October Symphony is about a 1000 times better.

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre),

my boy

― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 12:00 (seven years ago)

Good list, which had me listening to Please for the first time in ages.

Wish there was a compilation of all their 12" singles

― I am using your worlds, Tuesday, 21 August 2018 15:26 (seven years ago)

'My October Symphony' is a brilliant song, but it does mean anywhere near as much to me as 'Liberation' does.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 15:38 (seven years ago)

All their own 12" mixes and non-album singles are on the Further Listening editions. I have ten hours of third-party C20th PSB remixes on my iPod, with no effort made towards being comprehensive, so a compilation would probably run close to 20 CDs.

― 16, 35, DCP, Go! (sic), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 16:40 (seven years ago)

one year passes...

Introspective is one of the great albums, isn't it?

― imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:56 (six years ago)

I'm Not Scared alone

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:09 (six years ago)

that and always/house sealed the deal for me - obv i already knew LTMOD is one of the greats

― imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:15 (six years ago)

Introspective is flat-out garbage

― (so serious) (DJP), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:16 (six years ago)

whoa!

― imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:17 (six years ago)

too prog?

― imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:18 (six years ago)

iirc, DJP's antipathy for "Domino Dancing" knows no bounds.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:19 (six years ago)

Too stupid and shitty

― (so serious) (DJP), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:19 (six years ago)

Left To My Own Devices goes on way too long and sounds like it was mixed by a deaf person. The mix of I Want A Dog sucks. I’m Not Scared is okay. The mix of It’s Alright is garbage. Always On My Mind/In My House is okay. Domino Dancing is one of the worst songs ever written/recorded. The entire thing is more embarrassing than Elysium.

― (so serious) (DJP), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:22 (six years ago)

Neil spends the entire album sounding like a weedy, petulant blouse with absolutely nothing interesting to offset how grossly unpleasant his voice is on virtually every song on the album. It’s a misconceived pile of shit and the worst thing they’ve ever recorded.

― (so serious) (DJP), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:25 (six years ago)

it's always been an endearing feature of DJP that the more wrong his opinion the more passionately he holds it.

― Tim F, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:47 (six years ago)

It's Alright merely being good rather than great maybe prevents it being a full 10/10 album but dammit the rest is persuading me

― imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:50 (six years ago)

It's their best album.

― Tim F, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:54 (six years ago)

i have caved. how is this so brilliant

― imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 23:00 (six years ago)

Introspective is flawless.

― Migdalia Amygdala (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 23:38 (six years ago)

The bass line in "I Want a Dog" is astonishing.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 23:56 (six years ago)

That remix fucks up the song so badly, it’s not even funny

― (so serious) (DJP), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 23:56 (six years ago)

At any rate, I know what their best album is obv

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 23:58 (six years ago)

DJP is kinda right in that nearly every version on Introspective is inferior to a version elsewhere, but this album is great

― massage angry pixels (sic), Thursday, 28 May 2020 07:33 (six years ago)

I suppose it's the mark of a truly great band that their oeuvre deeply divides opinion. Mine was the lone vote for Please, and I don't rate Very at all!

― The multiplying villainies of nature / Do swarm upon him (Vast Halo), Thursday, 28 May 2020 12:27 (six years ago)

Always On My Mind/In My House is okay

think this might be the most egregious part of DJP's post

― imago, Thursday, 28 May 2020 14:16 (six years ago)

Nice list Alfred. I'd have Please a little lower and Electric higher (that album is standing up so well) but those are definitely their 10 most essential albums.

Introspective is amazing. I checked just last week.

― kitchen person, Thursday, 28 May 2020 14:20 (six years ago)

I love it. Per Shop Boys are album artists

― brimstead, Thursday, 28 May 2020 22:40 (six years ago)

Pet

― brimstead, Thursday, 28 May 2020 22:40 (six years ago)

I really like this remix/re-edit of Love Comes Quickly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9J0kzp6Otg

― Heavy Messages (jed_), Thursday, 28 May 2020 23:15 (six years ago)

I'd forever rank it top four together w/ 'Please', 'Actually' and 'Behaviour'. It's an astonishing album, and I was young enough when I heard it first (9? 10? PSB were the very first band I considered myself a 'fan' of) to be moved by It's Alright, even.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 29 May 2020 09:13 (six years ago)

I'll be listening to all the others over the next few days, for sure.

― imago, Friday, 29 May 2020 11:37 (six years ago)

four years pass...

Disco 2 absolutely rules

So bored of every review of it sucking and every mention of it being dismissive.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Sunday, 4 August 2024 01:00 (one year ago)

Disco 3 is at the top of my favorites overall. Surprised it isn't streaming, and the Felix Da Housecat remix of "London" is hard to find online, except on YouTube.

― bratwurst autumn (Eazy), Sunday, 4 August 2024 01:43 (one year ago)

I guess single-selection polls don't necessarily say much about anyone's judgement of relative merit but geez, Please seems terribly hard done by up top.

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 4 August 2024 03:22 (one year ago)

N!N!N! OTM!

― Vast Halo, Sunday, 4 August 2024 13:30 (one year ago)

disco 2 is great, totally underrated

― scanner darkly, Wednesday, 7 August 2024 03:12 (one year ago)

100%

― laughter is the best weapon (DJP), Wednesday, 7 August 2024 03:13 (one year ago)

this whole sequence is amazing:

I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing (DJ Pierre Wild Pitch Mix)
Go West (Heller & Farley Project Mix)
Liberation (E Smoove 12" Mix)
So Hard (Morales Red Zone Mix)
Can You Forgive Her? (Rolo Dub)

― scanner darkly, Wednesday, 7 August 2024 03:28 (one year ago)

Disco 3 is streaming (in the UK anyway)

I think Disco 2 got some pushback because critics were snobby about the AbFab single, seeing it as an indulgence too far (which, of course, is the point)

― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 7 August 2024 10:39 (one year ago)

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