Very (album)
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| Very | |||||||||||
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| Studio album by Pet Shop Boys | |||||||||||
| Released | September 27, 1993 | ||||||||||
| Recorded | 1992 - 1993 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Synthpop, Electropop | ||||||||||
| Length | 53:17 | ||||||||||
| Label | Parlophone EMI/ERG (US) |
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| Producer | Pet Shop Boys Stephen Hague Brothers in Rhythm |
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| Pet Shop Boys chronology | |||||||||||
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Very is the seventh album, the fifth of previously-unreleased music, by the UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It was released in 1993, going on to sell more than 3 million copies worldwide.
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[edit] History
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.
The LP is generally considered the pinnacle of the Pet Shop Boys' mainstream commercial appeal, with five singles reaching the UK Top 20. The biggest of these, "Go West", hit number two but was the last of the band's singles to record any real chart longevity. Although future singles would debut strongly in the UK charts (eight of them in the Top 10), they would then drop dramatically in their second week, suggesting first week appeal to hard core fans but a failure to connect with the mainstream music-buying public.
A limited edition of Very was also released as a double album entitled Very Relentless. The second disc, Relentless, was 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 the original version of Forever in love is found on Very/Further Listening 1992-1994 as track 2).
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. 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.
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 in 2001 (as were most of the group's albums up to that point) as Very/Further Listening 1992-1994. The re-released version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release.
In 2000, Q magazine placed Very at number 91 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Very
- "Can you forgive her?" – 3:57
- "I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing" – 3:03
- "Liberation" – 4:05
- "A different point of view" – 3:24
- "Dreaming of the Queen" – 4:20
- "Yesterday, when I was mad" – 3:55
- "The theatre" – 5:10
- "One and one make five" – 3:30
- "To speak is a sin" – 4:45
- "Young offender" – 4:50
- "One in a million" – 3:52
- "Go West" – 5:00
- "Postscript (I Believe In Ecstasy)" (Hidden track which starts at track-clock 7:07 of “Go West”) – 1:15[1]
[edit] Relentless
- "My head is spinning" – 6:33
- "Forever in love" – 6:19
- "KDX 125" – 6:25
- "We came from outer space" – 5:24
- "The man who has everything" – 6:01
- "One thing leads to another" – 6:24[1]
[edit] Further Listening 1992-1994
- "Go West" (1992 twelve-inch mix) – 9:09
- "Forever in Love" – 5:44
- "Confidential" (demo for Tina) – 4:47
- "Hey, Headmaster" – 3:06
- "Shameless" – 5:04
- "Too Many People" – 4:25
- "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" (seven-inch version) – 4:45
- "Violence" (Haçienda version) – 5:00
- "Falling" (demo for Kylie) – 4:38
- "Decadence" – 3:55
- "If Love Were All" – 3:00
- "Absolutely Fabulous" (single version) – 3:46
- "Euroboy" – 4:30
- "Some speculation" – 6:34
- "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (single version) – 4:01
- "Girls & Boys" (live in Rio) – 4:55[1]
[edit] Singles
- "Can You Forgive Her?"
- "Go West"
- "I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing"
- "Liberation"
- "Yesterday, when I was mad"
[edit] Personnel
- Neil Tennant
- Chris Lowe
- Guest musicians
- Pete Gleadall - Programming
- J.J. Belle - Guitar on tracks 3 & 12
- Frank Ricotti - Percussion on track 5
- Phil Todd, Chris Davis, John Barclay, John Thirkell and Mark Nightingale - Brass on track 12
- Anne Dudley - Orchestra arrangement and conduction on tracks 3, 5 & 7
- Richard Niles - Brass-, choir- and additional keyboard arrangement on track 12
- Sylvia Mason-James - Additional vocals on tracks 7, 11 & 12
- Dainton Connell - Additional vocals on track 8
- Carol Kenyon - Additional vocals on tracks 9 & 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 Boner, 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
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- 1993 interview with Daniel Weil, designer of the Very package.
