r/petshopboys

Not your favorites of all time per se,but just what you’ve been replaying right now. Mine are Metamorphosis, My October Symphony, and Can You Forgive Her?

Just getting back into PSB and looking for some song recommendations, basically a regular listener of everything up to VERY but not listened to a right lot since. What would be some highlights after this album that I should listen to?

Twelfth and last track from their thirteenth studio album Super released on April 2016. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe with production by Stuart Price.

With a mysterious atmospheric vibe mixed with an almost drum'n'bass-y electronic beat, the Boys explore the possibility of vanishing Into Thin Air by creating new identities, tired of not finding "practical dreamers" and "a few magicians" while being surrounded by your every day horrors.

Interestingly enough, this is the third time the Boys finish an album with a "farewell" song since their 2009 album Yes, could it be too predictable? Either way, the different perspectives and ideas of a farewell they offer each time cannot be denied!

From 1 to 10 how would you rate this song? Is the album version the best song from Super to you? Do you have any favorite lyrics or production elements?

1-4: Not good/Skip

5-6: Average, but wouldn't skip

7-8: Good song, quite enjoyable

9: Amazing song

10: Masterpiece/Magnum opus

---

TRACKLIST:

1. Happiness - 6.4

2. The Pop Kids - 8.5

3. Twenty-something - 7.6

4. Groovy - 5.3

5. The Dictator Decides - 8.7

6. Pazzo! - 5.4

7. Inner Sanctum - 8.1

8. Undertow - 8

9. Sad Robot World - 8

10. Say It to Me - 9

11. Burn - 8.6

12. Into Thin Air -

---

B-SIDES:

1. In Bits - 7.3

2. One-Hit Wonder - 6.5

3. The White Dress - 7.4

4. Wiedersehen - 7.7

5. A Cloud in a Box - 8.1

6. The Dead Can Dance - 7.6

Eleventh track from their thirteenth studio album Super released on April 2016. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe with production by Stuart Price.

> There’s a full moon glowing red above the sea and I feel the sudden heat between you and me.

Songs about feeling the heat on the dancefloor have always existed, predominantly in the 70s with the boom of the Disco era, whether that's because of the Hi-NRG music or the bodies dancing all night long. The Boys modernized this concept for a more "sexual" generation, even though the 70s and 80s weren't as prude as one may think, you just gotta look closely.

With all that context, the idea of releasing this banger as a single for the clubs was pretty much a no-brainer. Unfortunately on December of the same year, a warehouse fire in Oakland, California named the "Ghost Ship" took place killing at least 30 people. Taking into consideration this tragic event, any promotional plans got shelved. There is, however, a sick remix included on the Undertow single, so the song lives on forever!!

From 1 to 10 how would you rate this song? Is the album version the best song from Super to you? Do you have any favorite lyrics or production elements?

1-4: Not good/Skip

5-6: Average, but wouldn't skip

7-8: Good song, quite enjoyable

9: Amazing song

10: Masterpiece/Magnum opus

---

TRACKLIST:

1. Happiness - 6.4

2. The Pop Kids - 8.5

3. Twenty-something - 7.6

4. Groovy - 5.3

5. The Dictator Decides - 8.7

6. Pazzo! - 5.4

7. Inner Sanctum - 8.1

8. Undertow - 8

9. Sad Robot World - 8

10. Say It to Me - 9

11. Burn -

12. Into Thin Air -

---

B-SIDES:

1. In Bits - 7.3

2. One-Hit Wonder - 6.5

3. The White Dress - 7.4

4. Wiedersehen - 7.7

5. A Cloud in a Box - 8.1

6. The Dead Can Dance - 7.6

I just wanted to share how much I appreciate the r/petshopboys and the “lonely and strange” singer. Yesterday, I picked up their album Electric at r/AmoebaMusic in Hollywood. It “completely blew my socks off.” By the time “Vocal” had come on, me passively listening to it had turned around what had been a stressful, difficult week for me and genuinely brought a smile back to my face. For me, it’s a 10/10 album. 🙌

Anyone else have thoughts on this album?

As a super fan I like 99.9% of the things they do so I was thinking, when have I not liked something PSB has done? like opinions, style, decisions

1. They sometimes give me a slight air that they are kiiiiiiinda communists, I remember when I heard "What are we gonna do about the rich" and I was like "uhhhh......dont you guys know that you kinda qualify??" lol

2. They always gave me an idea that they are somehow admirers of Russia/ russian culture, the whole go west video and they sometimes take pictures in front of russian signs, they kinda got an egg on their face with the war and now they are huge supporters of Ukraine

3. In some of their latest videos they are getting a bit too sexualized for my taste, I liked when everything had a bit more innuendo and things were more insinuated for you to get the idea of sex in your head

Do you have a question you'd like to ask Neil and Chris? One that no one has ever asked, but you'd like to know the answer to?

I have one of my own.

My question is:

Do you remember the moment in the studio while recording "West End Girls," when you were working on the vocal cuts at 1:05, that you decided Neil’s overlapping vocals were okay? I can see how much effort it takes Neil during concerts to get through that part, and I’m wondering if you had any discussion about that part of the song or made any decision regarding it. Or maybe it just stayed that way because no one noticed it at the time.

Tenth track from their thirteenth studio album Super, released as the album's third single on September 2016. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe with additional composition and production by Stuart Price.

This "simple" yet effective techno-dance track was inspired by an “elusive individual,” as our narrator asks for direct information about what his lover needs. It's ironic how society at large is incredibly skeptical of supernatural powers and magic, yet people expect their partners to somehow develop telepathy to automatically know their wants, needs, and expectations! Humanity is truly full of the most incoherent—or rather, disjointed—beings in the universe! 🤯

EDIT: Is this one still a fan favorite? 👀

From 1 to 10 how would you rate this song? Is the album version the best song from Super to you? Do you have any favorite lyrics or production elements?

1-4: Not good/Skip

5-6: Average, but wouldn't skip

7-8: Good song, quite enjoyable

9: Amazing song

10: Masterpiece/Magnum opus

---

Single cover art

Remixes cover art

---

B-SIDE #1

A CLOUD IN A BOX

Written and produced by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

– “What the hell does "A Cloud in a Box" even mean?!”

Me, while researching more info about this song lol.

In technology, it's usually an all-in-one hardware unit that acts exactly like internet-based cloud storage or computing, but sits physically inside an office.

In a metaphorical sense, to trap a "cloud" (which is shifting, ephemeral, and infinite) inside a "box" (which is rigid, small, and defined) implies trying to control the uncontrollable, organize chaos, or capture an abstract feeling—like trapping happiness or inspiration.

So... where do we leave the magician and the children of this song???

It's up to the audience's interpretation, as Neil said that he got inspired to write a nonsensical poem. However, there's another interpretation with an interesting religious angle found on geowayne's website.

B-SIDE #2

THE DEAD CAN DANCE

Written and produced by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

Its lyrical content is inspired by Stephen F. Cohen 2010 book The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag After Stalin, about “how Soviet prisoners sent to gulags during the Stalin and Khrushchev eras later returned to their homes and families as if "from the dead."”

Interestingly enough, I found this song to have a different meaning. As a Mexican dude who's quite used to our pretty popular Day of the Dead traditions, I can't help but imagine how cool it would be to play this song while experiencing our traditional Day of the Dead march. It really paints a hardcore imagery about death, even if I don't personally believe all dead people are vengeful.

Special mention to Lady Gaga's “The Dead Dance”!

🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️

From 1 to 10 how would you rate these b-sides? Do you have any favorite lyrics or production elements?

---

TRACKLIST:

1. Happiness - 6.4

2. The Pop Kids - 8.5

3. Twenty-something - 7.6

4. Groovy - 5.3

5. The Dictator Decides - 8.7

6. Pazzo! - 5.4

7. Inner Sanctum - 8.1

8. Undertow - 8

9. Sad Robot World - 8

10. Say It to Me -

11. Burn -

12. Into Thin Air -

---

B-SIDES:

1. In Bits - 7.3

2. One-Hit Wonder - 6.5

3. The White Dress - 7.4

4. Wiedersehen - 7.7

5. A Cloud in a Box -

6. The Dead Can Dance -

Ninth track from their thirteenth studio album Super released on April 2016. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe with production by Stuart Price.

According to Neil:

> We were given a guided tour of the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, where cars are assembled. It’s a surprisingly clean and calm environment, and towards the end of the tour, we watched new cars being washed by the long arms of robots. The scene had a strange pathos about it and I described it as a ‘sad robot world’. There’s the insinuation that we are all now living in a sad robot world.

How impressive for the Boys to turn such a bleak event into something completely emotional, almost a critique towards a deeper socio-economic issue about the misuse of machinery/technology/now AI models in order to make our every day lives more "efficient", whatever that means.

If I may get a bit personal in here, I've been unemployed for many months now and the overbearing amount of terrible mismanagement of AI models by people seeking efficiency over humanity is completely to blame in here–surely I can't be the only one going through a similar situation–so it really is a sad robot world for us humans trying to evolve around technology based on the decisions of other people with the money, power, glory, etc etc...

From 1 to 10 how would you rate this song? Is the album version the best song from Super to you? Do you have any favorite lyrics or production elements?

1-4: Not good/Skip

5-6: Average, but wouldn't skip

7-8: Good song, quite enjoyable

9: Amazing song

10: Masterpiece/Magnum opus

---

TRACKLIST:

1. Happiness - 6.4

2. The Pop Kids - 8.5

3. Twenty-something - 7.6

4. Groovy - 5.3

5. The Dictator Decides - 8.7

6. Pazzo! - 5.4

7. Inner Sanctum - 8.1

8. Undertow - 8

9. Sad Robot World -

10. Say It to Me -

11. Burn -

12. Into Thin Air -

---

B-SIDES:

1. In Bits - 7.3

2. One-Hit Wonder - 6.5

3. The White Dress - 7.4

4. Wiedersehen - 7.7

5. A Cloud in a Box -

6. The Dead Can Dance -