In praise of "Miracles" by Pet Shop Boys

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Been a thread on this yet?

Sweeping statement to follow: this is a) PSB's very best single since Very's mighty "Can You Forgive Her?", and b) one of the best songs ever to be tacked onto a greatest hits LP.

It really feels like it could have chronologically come directly after (or BEFORE!) Paninaro 95 in their canon. It's quite amazing to hear a band who have changed direction quite a bit - though gradually - return to something similar to their earlier hits and do it so breathtakingly well. The pop/art distinction on the album and the non-chronological order should do wonders for it too - it really sounds like a single from the early 90s that everyone else has heard but you are hearing for the first time.

One could write whole paragraphs about how gorgeous the "bluer sky whenever you're around" in the chorus is, and the joyous proclamation: "it's a new day!" feels like such a release - a moment of bursting through the ceiling, conquering fears, recognising and embracing love.. ooh all sorts of things.

I hope it goes top ten. So talk about this. Alternatively, name a better tacked-onto-a-greatest-hits-LP song than "Miracles" - except you probably can't, so just talk about how great this is.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 10 October 2003 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Alternatively, name a better tacked-onto-a-greatest-hits-LP song than "Miracles"

"DJ Culture" ;)

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 10 October 2003 13:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Whole World" (NOTE: I have not heard "Miracles" yet.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 10 October 2003 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)

"Experiment IV" from Kate Bush.

― Erick H (Erick H), Friday, 10 October 2003 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

"He's On The Phone"

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Friday, 10 October 2003 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I started a new thread
Best ever new tracks on "Greatest Hits" albums

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 10 October 2003 20:44 (twenty-one years ago)

uh, check THIS out! (from the official website)

On November 24, the DVD “PopArt – The Videos” will be released internationally by Parlophone/EMI. It contains 41 tracks – every video in chronological order for every Pet Shop Boys single up to “I get along”, plus a three-hour interview/commentary with Neil and Chris which can be accessed between or during tracks. Three "extended" versions of videos are also included.

The quality of both sound and images has been improved through remastering at Abbey Road Studios.

With a total running time of over six hours, this DVD is the definitive visual document of the Pet Shop Boys career.

The full track-listing is as follows:

1. Opportunities (Let’s make lots of money) (Original version)
2. West End girls
3. Love comes quickly
4. Opportunities (Let’s make lots of money) (Second version)
5. Suburbia
6. Paninaro
7. It’s a sin
8. What have I done to deserve this?
9. Rent
10. Always on my mind
11. Heart
12. Domino dancing
13. Left to my own devices
14. It’s alright
15. So hard
16. Being boring
17. How can you expect to be taken seriously?
18. Where the streets have no name (I can’t take my eyes off you)
19. Jealousy
20. DJ culture
21. Was it worth it?
22. Can you forgive her?
23. Go West
24. I wouldn’t normally do this kind of thing
25. Liberation
26. Yesterday, when I was mad
27. Paninaro ’95
28. Before
29. Se a vida e (That’s the way life is)
30. Single-Bilingual
31. A red letter day
32. Somewhere
33. I don’t know what you want but I can’t give it any more
34. New York City boy
35. You only tell me you love me when you’re drunk
36. Home and dry
37. I get along/E-mail
38. London
39. Domino dancing (Extended version)
40. So hard (Extended version)
41. Go West (Extended version)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 10 October 2003 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Spencer, by posting that you have made this board, and by extension the whole world, a very, very, very happy place indeed. Must purchase DVD player immediately!

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 10 October 2003 23:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Hear, hear!!! I too have been waiting for the ultimate PSB retrospective promo-vid DVD for AGES...... Cheers, Spencer!

― Joi Raida, Monday, 13 October 2003 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

One of the really great things about this DVD is it has the kind of spoken dialogue that you will sometimes find in feature films, with the artists speaking about the videos while they watch them.

Very interesting soundtrack because Pet Shop Boys usually thought a lot about what they were doing in their videos, and what may have looked quite silly may actually have been a brilliant piece of post modernist irony. For instance, I didn't realise that part of the "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously" video was a reference to "The Power" by Snap.

Pretty cool stuff. And those "Very" era computer graphics videos still remain five of my favourite videos ever.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 26 January 2004 23:05 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

the Lemopn Jelly remix of Miracles is a bit naff, tho. I was expecting something a bit more than an appegiator and a few Tennant phonemes panning around.

The extra track on the single, Transparent, fits the gone-so-far-to-return thesis, too.

― paul c (paul c), Thursday, 18 March 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

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