Very (Pet Shop Boys album)

Very is the fifth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 27 September 1993 by Parlophone, nearly three years after the duo's previous studio album, Behaviour, and following the compilation album Discography: The Complete Singles Collection. Very exhibits one of many turning points the Pet Shop Boys would make to their music, shifting from the subdued electronic pop of Behaviour to richly instrumented dance arrangements. The content and lyrics led to Very being called their "coming-out" album, since it was during this time that Neil Tennant had publicly discussed his long-rumoured homosexuality.

Very
Studio album by
Pet Shop Boys
Released27 September 1993 (1993-09-27)
Recorded1992–1993
Studio
Genre
Length53:17
LabelParlophone
Producer
Pet Shop Boys chronology
Discography: The Complete Singles Collection
(1991)		 Very
(1993)		 Disco 2
(1994)
Singles from Very
  1. "Can You Forgive Her?"
    Released: 31 May 1993
  2. "Go West"
    Released: 6 September 1993
  3. "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing"
    Released: 29 November 1993
  4. "Liberation"
    Released: 4 April 1994
  5. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad"
    Released: 29 August 1994
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Chicago Tribune[2]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[3]
Los Angeles Times[4]
NME9/10[5]
Q[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[8]
Select5/5[9]
The Village VoiceA[10]

History

The album Behaviour, released in 1990, although critically well-received was commercially not as successful as their previous releases. In particular, the second single released, "Being Boring", which the duo had considered one of their strongest tracks did not perform well in the UK charts, stalling at number 20 in November 1990. The subsequent Performance Tour which began in North American during Spring 1991 initially received mixed reviews in the United States and did not improve the poor showing of the album in the US charts which only managed a peak of 45 on the US Billboard Album Charts. Journalist and close friend of the duo, Chris Heath, documented the American leg of the tour in his book Pet Shop Boys Versus America, at one point noting Chris Lowe's comment of "We should write another good dance album, write Behaviour off as a tax loss".

After the Performance Tour of 1991, Pet Shop Boys elected to take a break, releasing their compilation Discography: The Complete Singles Collection that November. This initially led some to believe that the group were close to breaking up, particularly as the group were no longer perceived at the peak of their popularity after their initial 'golden period' in the mid to late 1980s.

When interviewed in 2006 for the documentary Pet Shop Boys: A Life In Pop, EMI representative Tony Wadsworth noted that when the record label first heard the songs on Very "the smiles undoubtedly lit up the room [...] the songs were so obviously commercial." The promotion of Very was to include, for the first time, music videos that made use of the CGI available at the time and thus would guarantee more airplay on channels like MTV.

A limited edition of Very was also released as a double album titled Very Relentless. The second disc, Relentless, is a six-track dance album containing tracks that are more experimental and instrumental. There were plans to expand upon Relentless in 1994 by releasing the six tracks along with others, making a full dance album, but this evolved into Disco 2. The six tracks on Relentless have not been released elsewhere since (though "Forever in Love" is found on Very/Further Listening 1992–1994 in a remixed edited form as track 2).

The album was reissued in 1996 as a mid-price release, this time in a standard jewel case with a new sleeve showing an image of the original case.

Very was re-released on 3 July 2001 (as were most of the group's studio albums up to that point) titled Very/Further Listening 1992–1994. The re-released version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc featuring B-sides and previously unreleased material. The unreleased songs were recorded during the Very recording sessions, but Tennant and Lowe decided not to include them on the album originally.

On 9 February 2009, the album was re-released yet again, still remastered, under the title Very: Remastered, but this time containing only the 12 original tracks.

To date, Very is the Pet Shop Boys' most commercially successful album in the UK- it reached number one on the UK album charts shortly after its release. In addition, all singles released from the album entered the top 20 of the UK single charts including Go West, which remains one of their highest-charting singles. In contrast, however, the album and singles failed to achieve high chart positions on the Billboard 100 in the USA (with the exception of those charting on the dance charts); this was seen partly as a result of the rise of grunge and alternative rock on American radio.

Packaging

The original release of Very was packaged in a unique orange jewel case with raised bumps (sometimes unofficially described as the Lego case), designed by Daniel Weil of Pentagram in London.[11] Very Relentless was similarly unique, with the two CDs housed in card sleeves (Very in orange and Relentless in pink) with both of these housed in a translucent rubber case with raised bumps.

Legacy

In June 2000, Q magazine placed Very at number 91 on its list of The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.[12] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]

Track listing

All songs written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, except where noted.

  1. "Can You Forgive Her?" – 3:53
  2. "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" – 3:03
  3. "Liberation" – 4:05
  4. "A Different Point of View" – 3:26
  5. "Dreaming of the Queen" – 4:19
  6. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" – 3:55
  7. "The Theatre" – 5:10
  8. "One and One Make Five" – 3:30
  9. "To Speak Is a Sin" – 4:45
  10. "Young Offender" – 4:50
  11. "One in a Million" – 3:52
  12. "Go West" (Village People Cover) - (written by Belolo/Morali/Willis) – 8:22 (The song "Go West" ends at 5:07. After 2 minutes of silence, begins the hidden track "Postscript (I Believe in Ecstasy)" sung by Chris Lowe.)

Relentless bonus disc[14]

  1. "My Head Is Spinning" – 6:33
  2. "Forever in Love" – 6:19
  3. "KDX 125" – 6:25
  4. "We Came from Outer Space" – 5:24
  5. "The Man Who Has Everything" – 6:01
  6. "One Thing Leads to Another" – 6:24

Further Listening 1992–1994 bonus disc[14]

  1. "Go West" (1992 12" Mix) – 9:12 *
  2. "Forever in Love" (Original Version) – 5:44 *
  3. "Confidential" (Demo for Tina) – 4:47
  4. "Hey, Headmaster" – 3:06
  5. "Shameless" – 5:04
  6. "Too Many People" – 4:25
  7. "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" (7" Version) – 4:45 **
  8. "Violence" (Haçienda version) – 5:00
  9. "Falling" (Demo for Kylie) – 4:38 *
  10. "Decadence" – 3:55
  11. "If Love Were All" (written by Noël Coward) – 3:00
  12. "Absolutely Fabulous" (Single Version) – 3:46
  13. "Euroboy" – 4:30
  14. "Some Speculation" – 6:34
  15. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Single Version) – 4:01
  16. "Girls and Boys" (Live in Rio) (written by Albarn/Coxon/James/Rowntree) – 4:55

(*) Previously unreleased.
(**) Not the version featured on PopArt.

Personnel

Additional

  • Pete Gleadall – programming
  • J.J. Belle – guitar on tracks 3 and 12
  • Frank Ricotti – percussion on track 5
  • Phil Todd, Snake Davis, John Barclay, John Thirkell and Mark Nightingale – brass on track 12
  • Anne Dudley – orchestra arrangement and direction on tracks 3, 5 and 7
  • Richard Niles – brass-, choir- and additional keyboard arrangement on track 12
  • Sylvia Mason-James – additional vocals on tracks 7, 11 and 12
  • Dainton Connell – additional vocals on track 8
  • Carol Kenyon – additional vocals on tracks 9 and 10
  • Katie Kissoon and Tessa Niles – additional vocals on track 10
  • Joanna Wyatt, Thomas Rogers, Laurie Smith, Hody Smith, Nigel Francis, Francis Hatson, Lee Harris, Lucy Clark, Marie-Claire Peterson and Victoria Ferher – choir on track 7
  • Scott Altman, James Bassi, Hugh Berberich, Rodne Brown, Maurizio Corbino, Martin Doner, Dan Egan, James Gandre, Paul Houghtaling, Michael Hume, Robert Kuehn, Drew Martin, Joseph Nelson Neal, Mark Rehnstrom, Steven Tachell and Frank Nemhauser. With thanks to Graeme Perkins and Jaqueline Pierce – choir on track 12

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[46] Gold 35,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[47] Gold 25,000*
Brazil — 140,000[48]
Canada (Music Canada)[49] Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP)[50] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[51] Platinum 500,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[52] Gold 100,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[53] 4× Platinum 400,000^
Sweden (GLF)[54] Gold 50,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[55] Platinum 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[56] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[57] Gold 500,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Notes
  1. Orchestra
  2. Choir on "Go West"

References
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