| Actually | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Pet Shop Boys | ||||
| Released | 7 September 1987 | |||
| Recorded | 1986–1987 | |||
| Genre | Synthpop, Euro disco | |||
| Length | 48:14 | |||
| Label | EMI Manhattan (US/Canada) Parlophone |
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| Producer | Pet Shop Boys, Stephen Hague, Julian Mendelesohn, Andy Richards, Shep Pettibone, David Jacob | |||
| Pet Shop Boys chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Actually | ||||
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Actually (stylized as Pet Shop Boys, actually) is the third album, the second of entirely new music, by English electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It was first released in 1987. This album is also the group's third best selling album with over 4 million copies sold. Actually is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Contents |
Actually is not much different from Pet Shop Boys' first album, Please in terms of musical style, although production values are noticeably higher.
Actually spawned four UK Top 10 singles: the number one lead-off single "It's a Sin", "Rent", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", a duet with fellow Parlophone artist Dusty Springfield which peaked at #2 in both the UK and US and led to a major resurgence of interest in Springfield's earlier work; and the duo scored another UK number one in April 1988 with a remixed version of the album's fourth and last single, "Heart".
During this period, the Pet Shop Boys also completed a full-length motion picture called It Couldn't Happen Here. Featuring songs by the duo, it was most famous for containing the video for "Always on My Mind" (starring Joss Ackland as a blind priest), which—while not on Actually—was released as a single during this period.
The period from Actually to Introspective is considered the band's imperial phase, a term now in common usage, by both fans and the Pet Shop Boys themselves.
Actually was re-released in 2001 (as were most of the group's albums up to that point) as Actually/Further Listening 1987–1988. The re-released version was not only digitally remastered but came with a second disc of B-sides, remixes done by the Pet Shop Boys and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release. Yet another re-release followed on 9 February 2009, under the title of Actually: Remastered. This version contains only the 10 tracks on the original.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Rolling Stone | [2] |
| Robert Christgau | (A-)[3] |
| Spin | [4] |
| This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information. | |
In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #22 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".[5]
| Chart (1987) | Peak position |
Total weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart[6] | 41 | 2 |
| Austrian Albums Chart[7] | 5 | 30 |
| Canadian Albums Chart[8] | 16 | 42 |
| Dutch Albums Chart[9] | 5 | 25 |
| German Albums Chart[10] | 1 | |
| New Zealand Albums Chart[11] | 7 | 30 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart[12] | 3 | 9 |
| Swedish Albums Chart[13] | 2 | 13 |
| Swiss Albums Chart[14] | 3 | 31 |
| UK Albums Chart[15] | 2 | 60 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[16] | 25 | 45 |