Pet Shop Boys

Alternative

There is no alternative...

Review Score:

(10/10)
At one point shortly after the release of Discography, my friend Monty and I were discussing the problem that we had, living in midwestern America, of being able to find the latest offerings of the Pet Shop Boys. While I had never experienced a problem of getting the latest albums, CDs, and videos in London, New York, or on the West Coast, living in middle America put me at a distinct disadvantage. While the albums were always available, the singles most often were not available. This was important because so many good items came only on the singles -- often the b-side and extra tracks contained on the singles were better than additional album tracks. And, of course, these songs were not available on albums. For any avid collector, this was a problem (these were the days before on-line shopping, when Amazon.com and other on-line vendors where not even in the planning stages). I speculated that it would be wonderful if the Pet Shop Boys would put together an album that contained all of these wonderful extra tracks. I was certain it would be popular, at least among the die-hard fans.

Not long after this conversation, it was rumoured that just such an album was in the planning stages. Shortly after the release of Very and the singles from that album, Alternative was released. This was the one that I had been waiting for.

Alternative is a two-CD set, produced originally as a special edition with a holographic front, and later press runs having a more conventional covering. All press runs, however, have contained the special book which includes an extensive interview with the Pet Shop Boys in which they talk about each of the 30 songs on these CDs in turn, discussing meaning as well as production issues around these tracks. 'This is the record that we fans have been waiting for: the collection that finally pulls together all those great songs tucked away on b-sides, double-packs, obscure formats. Whereas an a-side will require strict commercial and production standards, and the courage to act them out in front of millions, here you'll find the real Pet Shop Boys: dropping their guard, finding themselves free to experiment, to explore their obsessions and their own lives.'

Given the long-term nature of this collection, these songs represent an historical record of the Pet Shop Boys; as a companion piece to Discography, the official 'greatest hits' collection of the Pet Shop Boys, Alternative serves to show another side, side-by-side, with the more popular front of the Pet Shop Boys. These are the songs that were released with the hits. These songs also show the development of musical tone and complexity, technical as well as lyrical, over the course of the first decade of the Pet Shop Boys' career. 'You could say that these 30 songs embody the changing nature of music software, as the seven-inch and 12-inch vinyl formats move to CD, then to remixes, then to double-packs, and son on. A variety of formats demands a variety of aesthetic responses, if you're not just going to hand everything over to a remixer.'

In these songs, one will find a lot of the personal experiences of the Pet Shop Boys. In songs like A man could get arrested, Hey, Headmaster, and Your funny uncle, glimpses of experiences from the lives of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and some of their friends, are highlighted. Particularly, Your funny uncle shows a scene from life, from when Tennant had to organise the funeral for a friend, and met the relatives of his friend, who came from another social world. Sometimes humourous, sometimes poignant, the lyrics in these are reminiscent of Betjeman and Coward.

Speaking of Coward, there are several songs in this collection which are remakes from other composers -- If love were all, by Noel Coward and Losing my mind by Sondheim are examples, the latter of which was done for Liza Minnelli, but here remade by the Pet Shop Boys themselves.

Many of these are strong songs -- A new life and I get excited could be standard disco releases on their own. Others have a certain quirkiness about them. In the night highlights the possible experience of a Zazou, a French opter-out during the German occupation in World War II; Don Juan is an allegorical song with a great deal of history woven into the lyrics (try to decipher them without the liner notes!). Experimental music in songs such as The sound of the atom splitting reminds one of the experimental cinematic direction of Derek Jarman, a friend of the Pet Shop Boys. Philosophy and politics are highlighted in songs such as Miserablism and What keeps mankind alive.

Through all of the songs, the electronic, sample-filled instrumentation, the rhythms and (for most) the dance aspect of the tunes comes through as classic Europop and Pet Shop Boys all the way.

This is an unconventional album, and perhaps cannot be called an album in the true sense, for how many albums have had every track released as a single, yet none of them as the primary single for any release? This is a must-have for any fan of the Pet Shop Boys.

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