Very (Pet Shop Boys album)

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Very is the fifth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 27 September 1993 by Parlophone, nearly three years after the duo's previous studio album, Behaviour, and following the compilation album Discography: The Complete Singles Collection. It is the only Pet Shop Boys album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart, and it produced two top ten singles, "Can You Forgive Her?" and "Go West".[1] 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.

Background and release

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"Generally this album is very, very up, much more so than any album we've ever done. There's one song, 'Dreaming of the Queen', which is very sad, but generally it's more poppy."

 —Neil Tennant discussing the album's mood.[2]

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Pet Shop Boys made Very in reaction to their previous album Behaviour,[3] which was critically well-received but not as commercially successful as their earlier releases. In particular, "Being Boring", which the duo had considered one of their strongest tracks, was their least successful single at the time, peaking at number 20 on the UK charts.[4][5] In the United States, their 1991 Performance Tour initially received mixed reviews and did not improve the ranking of Behaviour, which only reached 45 on the US Billboard 200.[6] Journalist and close friend of the duo Chris Heath documented the American leg of the tour in his book Pet Shop Boys Versus America, noting Chris Lowe's comment, "We should write another good dance album, write Behaviour off as a tax loss".Template:Sfn

After taking a break in 1992, Pet Shop Boys set out to make an uplifting, dance-pop album in contrast to the style of Behaviour. They worked on songs at Lowe's home studio and finished them at Sarm West. Pet Shop Boys produced Very themselves, with mixing and additional production by Stephen Hague. The title was meant to convey that the album was 'very Pet Shop Boys', but a different Pet Shop Boys.[7] EMI representative Tony Wadsworth recalled in the 2006 documentary Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop that when the record label first heard the songs on Very, "the smiles lit up the room because it was so obviously commercial yet still very high quality".[8]

To promote Very, the duo shed their naturalistic image and adopted a new look, creating an artificial, cartoonish world with visuals designed by David Fielding.[7] This idea was a reaction against the grunge movement of the time, and it incorporated the growing popularity of video games.[9] They wore surreal costumes, like the orange jumpsuits with tall dunce caps for "Can You Forgive Her?",[7] and their music videos, directed by Howard Greenhalgh, made use of the CGI available at the time.[10]

To date, Very is the Pet Shop Boys' most commercially successful album in the UK; it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart shortly after its release. In addition, all singles released from the album entered the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, including "Go West", which remains one of the duo's highest-charting singles.[1] In the United States, Very debuted at number 20 on the Billboard 200 album chart, an improvement on Behaviour. The singles failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 but performed better on the dance charts.[6] This was seen partly as a result of the rise of grunge and alternative rock on American radio.

Very Relentless

A limited-edition double album, Very Relentless, was released simultaneously. The bonus disc, Relentless, contains six 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 were not released elsewhere until Relentless was remastered and reissued as a standalone EP in 2023,[11] although the original version of "Forever in Love" can be found on Very: Further Listening 1992–1994. "Forever in Love" uses the same sample as "One Love" by The Prodigy, "Arabic Chant (Allah)" from the Zero-G sample library compilation Datafile One.[12]

Other releases

Very was re-released on 3 July 2001 as Very: Further Listening 1992–1994. The reissue was digitally remastered and includes a second disc featuring B-sides and previously unreleased material. A remastered single-disc edition of Very, containing only the 12 original tracks, was released in 2009. In 2018, a newly remastered edition of Very: Further Listening 1992–1994 was released, with the same contents as the 2001 edition.[13]

Packaging

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.[14] 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 case for Very was featured in the 1995 Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibition "Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design."[15]

The album was reissued in 1996 in a standard jewel case with a new sleeve showing an image of the original case.

Critical reception

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Writing for NME, David Quantick deemed Very "brilliant from start to finish" and "as moving and moved as any other Pet Shop Boys album, just more obviously so", noting a shift from the "melancholy" of Behaviour towards "a sense of, gulp, happiness."[16] In Select, Stuart Maconie speculated that the album's "more lively" musical direction may have been motivated by the "muted" reception to Behaviour, and commented that "VeryTemplate:'s beauty lies in the formidable yet effortless plate-spinning trick that lets gorgeous and vibrant pop tunes co-exist with rich, strange and complex conceits."[17] David Bennun of Melody Maker noted that, after the "muted" and "distressingly grown up" sound of Behaviour, Very contains "track after track, dizzy with strings and brass, of the purest, most intelligent and, crucially, poppiest pop."[18] Mat Snow of Q, meanwhile, wrote that Very confirms the Pet Shop Boys as "a group so tightly focused on its strengths to the exclusion of any meaningful experiment that it drives a coach and horses through the First Commandment of Pop, namely 'Thou Shalt Explore a New Direction on Every Album'."[19]

Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot opined that "Very qualifies as terrific pop on the strength of its music alone", and that "as its gay worldview unfolds—unapologetic yet unassuming, humorous yet touching, political yet personal—Very takes on the dimensions of a classic."[20] J. D. Considine, reviewing Very for Rolling Stone, highlighted the social commentary and "mixed emotions" in its songs, concluding that "it's that sort of depth that makes Very worth hearing again and again."[21] Entertainment WeeklyTemplate:'s Greg Sandow considered the album "very understated musically" but also "very deeply felt",[22] while The Village VoiceTemplate:'s Robert Christgau found that Tennant's lyrics showed a newfound romantic sincerity: "Convinced cornballs may still find his emotions attenuated, but I say the production values suit the tumult in his heart and the melodies the sweetness in his soul."[23] Less impressed was Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times, who said that Very "is listenable and danceable, but overall it sounds as if their creativity has petered out—they're recycling these days rather than creating."[24]

In the 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide, Tom Hull noted that Very was released to more uniformly positive reviews from critics than Behaviour, which he attributed to its more uptempo sound and "unusually direct" love songs, "with most making more sense gay than not."[25] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated in retrospect that "Very is one of their very best records, expertly weaving between the tongue-in-cheek humor of 'I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing,' the quietly shocking 'Can You Forgive Her?,' and the bizarrely moving cover of the Village People's 'Go West.'"[26]

In June 2000, Q placed Very at number 91 on its list of "The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever".[27] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[28]

Track listing

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Notes

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Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Very.[29]

Pet Shop Boys

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  • Chris Lowe – keyboards (tracks 1–11)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., backing vocals (track 10)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., additional lyrics (track 12)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., lead vocals (track 13)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Additional musicians

  • Pete Gleadall – programming
  • Anne Dudley – orchestra arrangement and conducting (tracks 3, 5, 7)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Phil Todd, Chris Davis, John Barclay, John Thirkell, Mark Nightingale – brass (track 12)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Richard Niles – brass arrangement, choir arrangement, additional keyboard arrangement (track 12)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • J.J. Belle – guitar (tracks 3, 12)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Frank Ricotti – percussion (track 5)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Sylvia Mason-James – additional vocals (tracks 7, 8, 11, 12)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Dainton Connell – additional vocals (track 8)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Carol Kenyon – additional vocals (tracks 9, 10)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Katie Kissoon – additional vocals (track 10)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Tessa Niles – additional vocals (track 10)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Joanna Wyatt, Thomas Rogers, Laurie Smith, Jody Smith, Nigel Francis, Francis Hatson, Lee Harris, Lucy Clark, Marie-Claire Peterson, Victoria Ferher – choir (track 7)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Scott Altman, James Bassi, Hugh Berberich, Rodne Brown, Maurizio Corbino, Martin Doner, Dan Egan, James Gandre, Paul Houghtaling, Michael Hume, Robert Kuehn, Drew Martin, Joseph Nelson Neal, Mark Rehnstrom, Steven Tachell, Frank Nemhauser (with thanks to Graeme Perkins and Jaqueline Pierce) – choir (track 12)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Technical

  • Pet Shop Boys – production
  • Stephen Hague – additional production, mixing
  • Brothers in Rhythm – additional production (track 12)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Mike "Spike" Drake – mixing
  • Bob Kraushaar – engineering, vocal recording
  • Pete Gleadall – engineering
  • Sam Hardaker, Richard Lowe, Howard Bargroff, Robin Barclay – engineering assistance

Artwork

  • Mark Farrow – graphic design
  • Pet Shop Boys – graphic design
  • Chris Nash – photographs
  • David Fielding – costume and set design
  • Pentagram – CD packaging, concept, design

Charts

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Certifications and sales

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Notes

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References

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External links

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