Track Listing

1. West End Girls
2. Love Comes Quickly
3. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
4. Suburbia
5. It's a Sin
6. What Have I Done to Deserve This?
7. Rent
8. Always on My Mind
9. Heart
10. Domino Dancing
11. Left to My Own Devices
12. It's Alright
13. So Hard
14. Being Boring
15. Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)
16. Jealousy
17. DJ Culture
18. Was It Worth It?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12520 in Music
• Released on: 1991-11-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
Where would the '80s have been without the Pet Shop Boys? Discography makes a compelling case for the notion of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe as pioneers, if not geniuses. Mixing the cold feel of Euro-techno beats with the Boys' quest for something warm between the sheets, "What Have I Done to Deserve This" and "Suburbia" sound almost soulful. Although they seemed to be suffering from a terminal case of boredom, they managed to alchemize their ennui into touching sentimentality in "Love Comes Quickly," "Rent," and, especially, the AIDS-oriented "Being Boring." Discography begins with the Pet Shop Boys' beginning, "West End Girls," traveling past "Domino Dancing" and including their covers "Always on My Mind," and the medley "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You.)" --Steve Gdula

Customer Reviews

An album of classics....
This album, along with New Order's Substance 1987, form what is to me the soundtrack of the 80's.

This album literally lives up to its title as a discography, collecting the 7" versions of all of the boy's first 18 singles on one disc in chronological order. As such, it makes a terrific CD to buy as your first Pet Shop Boys disc as its a terrific overview of their material.

The Pet Shop Boys wit and irony, along with Neal Tennant's excellent voice combined to make some of the best pop songs of the 80's. Included are lot of well known hits like West End Girls, Suburbia, Always On My Mind, and What Have I Done To Deserve This?. There are also a lot of songs here that are virtually unknown in the U.S. but every bit as good as the afformentioned titles, such as "Love Comes Quickly" - a beautiful ballad - and "Heart", a song that they had considered giving to Madonna. Just as important, these songs have held up well to the test of time, even though some were recorded as early as 1984. Through these singles, the boy's take shots at capitalism (Opportunities), cover Elvis Presley and U2 (Always On My Mind and Where the Streets Have No Name), sing about the Gulf War (DJ Culture), urban decay (Suburbia), and 'rent boys' (Rent). The music always holds up and the lyrics display a level of intellegence unmatched by nearly every other group - for instance, in DJ Culture Neal quips "Like Liz [Taylor] before Betty [as in the Betty Ford Clinic], She [madonna] before Sean [Penn], suddenly you're missing, then you're reborn" - and in Left To My Own Devices, they invoke references to classical composers - "Che Guvara and Debussy to a disco beat" are just a few examples.

Also, carrying the discography theme further, this album scores bonus points as the CD booklet that comes with the album folds out to show a chart that includes information about all the songs, including a picture of the single cover of each, its peak UK chart position, and a brief blurb from the boys about each song. I wish more compilation albums would follow the Boy's lead in this regard.

Essential early Pet Shop Boys Compilation
The Pet Shop Boys had an enormous string of hits during the 80s and early 90s, especially in the UK. This album collects them all. While most compilations leave out essential hits to make you buy the original albums (Dire Straits, Prince, U2 and Simple Minds come to mind) this album has them all (OK, "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously" is missing). From the first single "West end Girls" on all the hits are here. High points include "Suburbia" , "Heart", "Always on my Mind" and "Left to my own Devices". 80s music was partly shaped by these guys. For longer versions/remixes check out "Disco", which includes very long remixes of "West end Girls", "Suburbia", "Opportunities", "Love Comes Quickly" and the in 1995 remixed b-side "Paninaro". "Introspective" includes a strong techno-oriented remix of "Always on My Mind" and long versions of "It's Alright", "Domino Dancing" and "Left to my own devices"

Essential

Intellectual pop
From the opening beat of "West End Girls" (the Pet Shop Boys'first big hit) it is clear that this collection of greatest hits would be phenomenal, and I say this as a relatively hesitant Pet Shop Boys fan. Some of their songs ("Rent" and its semi-inane lyrics) leave me nauseated, although I admire the fact that the brilliant Neil Tennant can pull these sorts of things off so well. However, there are moments of pure perfection on this album... unadultered pleasure, fun, and sheer musical genius.

It is impossible to hate the Pet Shop Boys. They are infinitely danceable, infectiously catchy, often extremely intelligent, clever, and they have a balance of snobbery and charm that makes one a fan, even when one does not wish to be.

Apart from the unforgettable "West End Girls" (which should be branded in the memories of everyone alive in the 80s), other incredible tracks include "It's a Sin", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" (with the late, great Dusty Springfield), "Always on my Mind" (which is an extremely well-done remake), "It's Alright", "So Hard", "Being Boring" and the stunning "Jealousy".

I would also recommend their album Alternative for more intellectual joys ("Don Juan" is of particular note.)