Best Pet Shop Boys "Actually"-era B-side

oh jesus this is fucking PAINFUL

I mean, the only song that I definitely will not vote for is "A New Life" and I love that song

I get excited (Dan gets excited too!)

(Also, as a group this is maybe their best batch of Bs? Oh wait, the Behaviour era was also outstanding... argh)

once they cop to CD's the number of B sides also expands.

Again, I love all of these but Do I Have To? is by far my favourite PSBs B-side.

Only recently discovered, while researching a story about The King of Comedy, that New Life co-writer Helena Springs (who also sings on You Know Where You Went Wrong and West End Girls) is the mother of Robert De Niro's daughter. There's a limited audience for PSB trivia outside of threads like this.

Helena Springs also one of Dylan's late seventies/eighties backup singers and lovers.

Her vocal on "You Know Where You Went Wrong," especially on the chorus bit ("and every BOY and every GIRLLL") is magnificent.

I Want a Dog - love the backing track and the internal rhyme in "get back to my small flat" among other things... Excited a close second.

the b-side output from this band is just incredible.

ultimately I had to go with "I Want A Dog" which may actually be my favorite PSB, period

really really really hope "You Know Where You Went Wrong" does well, though

A difficult choice all are bloody great but, it's got to be 'I Want a Dog'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=Po5BsMNTwbY

i love this song , you can hear Chris doing rap.

pitochupon 1 year ago

Why do we have to decide we love one more than the others when we love them all the same? I hate this game, I'm not playing anymore.

I suspect "I Want A Dog" will win this (can't remember I like the Introspective version better than the B-side or if it's the other way around). In any case, I'm voting for "A New Life".

From the tracks poll I would say "I Want a Dog" as well, and I think the overwhelming majority vastly preferred the b-side to the Introspective version.

I'm in the overwhelming minority that doesn't.

My vote went to "Do I Have To," one of their best songs, period, and I was euphoric that they performed it on their last tour.

I don't have Alternative anymore, so all the B-sides I have are on the "Further Listening" discs and I'm wondering why is "I Get Excited..." on the Introspective one. Was it an "Always on My Mind" b-side?

Space.

It's the b-side to "Heart."

preferring the Introspective version of "I Want A Dog" to the B-side is total madness

We've gone over this before. I love the beat and the Bronski piano.

Nigh-impossible to choose; there's a few of their b-sides I love more, but this is the strongest bunch overall.

V.tempted to throw "A New Life" a sympathy vote - it's up there with "Heart" showing they can do a clear, graceful pop song, and I get a lump in my throat at

New life, new love
Where's the heart I was dreaming of?
I need a new hope, new dream
Another part in a different scene

Always wanted to hear Helena Springs' version of the track, "New Love", but can't quite bring myself to shell out forty euros for the album.

I stand with Dan on the "I Want A Dog" issue. Alternative was the second PSBs album I picked up (after Discography), and the liner notes are amazing - it's what really cemented my fandom.

'I Want A Dog', although I prefer the Introspective version.

whew!

Neil: 'I want a dog' came from our friend Pete. He said, 'I want a dog. A Chihuahua. I've only got a small flat'. I laughed, and wrote it down straightaway. Chris wrote all the music to it. The piano bit was going to be the main tune and then Chris pointed out that it was a bit like 'look now, planet earth'. I remember David Jacob doing a very good 'meow' for us to use.

Chris: It's an unusual track, this. Quite interesting. Probably spoiled by my vocal.

Neil: We wrote it in the studio in two days, as a b-side for 'Rent'. I think we were trying to do a Detroit techno thing.

Chris: of course, in those days with house music every record was different. Dance music wasn't formulaic yet. I like the 'woof!' as the snare drum.

Neil: On it, Chris reads out a list of dogs. In the middle there's a reference to Kraftwerk where he goes 'und dachshund'.

Chris: Sardonically. It was good fun coming up with a list of dogs. Though we don't mention Lakeland terriers, which is the kind of dog Neil now has. It's one of our silly ranges, isn't it?

Neil: I think it's really sad, myself. It's about loneliness. It's why people have dog’s -for love and security. We always planned to write a song called 'I want a baby' as a follow-up.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

You Know Where You Went Wrong

you know

*reviews list* I vote for everything, simple!

Hmm...choosing one...

do I have to?

hardest poll ever but ultimately I Get Exited.
contains probably my favourite PSB lyric
"I hear the sound of the subway, the sigh of the heat
The click of the visitors' heels on the street
The rattle of the taxi, the scream of the cars
The clatter of the dustbin and the beat of my heart"

also if you haven't heard this.. it's great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvgq6SfCfa0

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

nice!

"I Want a Dog" was a a b-side? Oh. wait, before it appeared on "Introspection" in longer form, right?

yeah

Man, I love this band and everything it did up to "Bilingual." And even the diminishing returns have often been ace, albums, singles and b-sides alike.

otm. even their worst albums since Very have produced a number of absolute gems.

"I Want a Dog" was a a b-side? Oh. wait, before it appeared on "Introspection" in longer form, right?

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 11 June 2012 11:31 (24 minutes ago)

^ some quality thread-reading here

I suspect "I Want A Dog" will win this (can't remember I like the Introspective version better than the B-side or if it's the other way around).

― daavid, Tuesday, 5 June 2012 03:43 (6 days ago)

From the tracks poll I would say "I Want a Dog" as well, and I think the overwhelming majority vastly preferred the b-side to the Introspective version.

― Fas Ro Duh (Gukbe), Tuesday, 5 June 2012 03:52 (6 days ago)

I'm in the overwhelming minority that doesn't.

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 June 2012 03:56 (6 days ago)

preferring the Introspective version of "I Want A Dog" to the B-side is total madness

― WHEY AHR MAH DREGUNS? (DJP), Tuesday, 5 June 2012 04:27 (6 days ago)

We've gone over this before. I love the beat and the Bronski piano.

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 June 2012 05:34 (6 days ago)

I stand with Dan on the "I Want A Dog" issue. Alternative was the second PSBs album I picked up (after Discography), and the liner notes are amazing - it's what really cemented my fandom.

― etc, Thursday, 7 June 2012 18:13 (4 days ago)

'I Want A Dog', although I prefer the Introspective version.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 8 June 2012 00:05 (3 days ago)

Neil: 'I want a dog' came from our friend Pete. He said, 'I want a dog. A Chihuahua. I've only got a small flat'. I laughed, and wrote it down straightaway. Chris wrote all the music to it. The piano bit was going to be the main tune and then Chris pointed out that it was a bit like 'look now, planet earth'. I remember David Jacob doing a very good 'meow' for us to use.

Chris: It's an unusual track, this. Quite interesting. Probably spoiled by my vocal.

Neil: We wrote it in the studio in two days, as a b-side for 'Rent'. I think we were trying to do a Detroit techno thing.

Chris: of course, in those days with house music every record was different. Dance music wasn't formulaic yet. I like the 'woof!' as the snare drum.

Neil: On it, Chris reads out a list of dogs. In the middle there's a reference to Kraftwerk where he goes 'und dachshund'.

Chris: Sardonically. It was good fun coming up with a list of dogs. Though we don't mention Lakeland terriers, which is the kind of dog Neil now has. It's one of our silly ranges, isn't it?

Neil: I think it's really sad, myself. It's about loneliness. It's why people have dog’s -for love and security. We always planned to write a song called 'I want a baby' as a follow-up.

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 8 June 2012 00:07 (3 days ago)

You clearly put far more effort into that than I did toward reading the thread. I, however, was in such a hurry to comment on one of my favorite bands of all time that I rushed right to the bottom of the thread, but if you feel better for having taken your time, I'm glad you feel better. You are a much better person than I.

what the?! how did you see my post

I think he thought you were being snarky as shit by posting all the prev. discussion about "I Want a Dog", but you were really just being helpful. Classic ILX.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga1fPh6Kj6U

Always wanted to hear Helena Springs' version of the track, "New Love", but can't quite bring myself to shell out forty euros for the album.

― etc, Thursday, June 7, 2012 8:12 AM (7 months ago)

(& from the tracks poll thread)

Does anyone have Helena Springs' "New Love" (her version of "A New Life") floating around? Can't find it on YouTube etc.

― etc, Sunday, 26 June 2011 22:54 (1 year ago)

The record company shelved her album, right?

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 26 June 2011 22:58 (1 year ago)

Context:

Neil: Helena Springs wanted us to write a song will her, and we went to her house one Sunday afternoon She'd already written an idea, which became the bridge of this song, and we took that away and wrote the rest. She also already had that part of the lyric: 'The night goes by...' I wrote the rest of the words; except she had a good line we wanted to keep in: 'Then rise the daylight sky'.

Chris: She had some lyrics that were very positive, and when Neil had changed it around the song became more negative.

Neil: This version was made as a demo for her to sing. We sent it to her because she was touring with Elton John at the time, and we never heard anything back from her for ages and we were dead disappointed because we thought it was a really good song. Then we got David Jacob to mix it and put it on the b-side of 'What have I done to deserve this?' - we had been recording 'King's Cross' with Stephen Hague and we stayed one night to mix this. Helena Springs did her own version, for her solo album which was never released, which she called 'A New Love'. Hers was much more complicated. The words I wrote - which were for her to sing - are about a woman leaving her husband, going to get a new life. She doesn't know whether she's doing the right thing - she's creeping away at night because he's repressing her. I like the line, 'how do you get to heaven if you never try?' I don't know why but I always imagine Boy George singing this.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 26 June 2011 22:59 (1 year ago)

That's what I'd assumed reading those transcriptions, but googling around it seems it was released in Germany on Arista?

http://www.discogs.com/Helena-Springs-New-Love/release/1655288

There's a few copies for sale on vinyl on Amazon etc, and this guy's showing on last.fm as having listened to it, and ... ooh, if you listen to the second audio sample at http://www.cdandlp.com/item/2/0-220206-0-1-0/114692082/helena-springs-new-love.html, you can here a very brief snippet of the chorus!

― etc, Monday, 27 June 2011 00:09 (1 year ago)

It's randomly turned up on Youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njjdHfeereM