History

On November 1, a book by Neil, One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem, is published in Britain by Faber & Faber. (Neil had past history with Faber & Faber: “In the late Seventies and early Eighties I used to do freelance work for them as a copy-editor and sometimes as a proof-reader. Then in the mid-Eighties I sold a book, Like Punk Never Happened by Dave Rimmer, to them, and edited it. That was the last thing I ever did in the world of book-publishing.”) He selected the lyrics during train journeys between London and Durham, choosing those he thought would read best in this form. One reason for also including a poem was “to point out that the lyrics aren’t poems, they’re lyrics”. He also wrote an introduction and added annotations to the lyrics. “It is kind of like an autobiography, really,” he says. “Surprisingly, I think it’s quite revealing. More so than I normally would be.”

On March 10, the first American production of the Pet Shop Boys’ ballet The Most Incredible Thing premieres at the Knight Theater, Charlotte, North Carolina, performed by the Charlotte Ballet. This premiere is originally scheduled for one day earlier, but is delayed when a truss snaps during the afternoon dress rehearsal. For this new production, the Pet Shop Boys’ recorded score, mixed live, is used instead of a live orchestra, and the competition at the centre of the story is now staged through shadow-play. Neil attends. “In my opinion it was an improvement on the original,” he says. “I thought it was brilliant.”

On October 20, the long-awaited deluxe reissues of the tenth and eleventh Pet Shop Boys albums are released. Yes is accompanied by two additional discs, Further Listening 2008–2010 and Elysium is accompanied by a single additional disc, Further Listening 2011–2012. The extra discs for each album included all of the relevant other material recorded by the Pet Shop Boys in the same period, much of it previously unreleased. The accompanying booklets contain expansive accounts of each song’s genesis and history.

On July 28, the long-awaited deluxe reissues of the seventh, eighth and ninth Pet Shop Boys albums are released. Nightlife is accompanied by two additional discs, Further Listening 1996–2000; Release is accompanied by a two additional discs, Further Listening 2001–2004; Fundamental is accompanied by a single additional disc, Further Listening 2005–2007. The extra discs for each album included all of the relevant other material recorded by the Pet Shop Boys in the same period, much of it previously unreleased. The accompanying booklets contain expansive accounts of each song’s genesis and history.

On April 21, “Undertow” is released as a single.  Its title was inspired by a chance comment about an experience in a nightclub by Joel Gibb, singer of the Hidden Cameras.  “It’s about someone getting into a relationship they know is going to be bad for them and they just can’t help it,” says Neil.

On April 2, the Pet Shop Boys play a one-off concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Accompanied by Johnny Marr and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, they primarily performed versions of songs they’d originally recorded with orchestras, augmented by others that had been arranged in this way for the 2006 Concrete concert. 

On March 5, Wolfgang Tillmans twice presents a live event at Tate Modern as part of his Wolfgang Tillmans: 2017 exhibition. Entitled The 30 tracks that make ‘It’s a sin’ by the Pet Shop Boys, it consists of a two-hour 34-minute 39-second version of “It’s a sin”, in which the song is repeated 30 times, each time with an extra part from the multi-track added to the mix, starting with just the “thunder effects” track and building up track by track until the bass drum completed the mix. As the music plays, on a screen each track is shown playing with a text explanation of what is being heard. (Pete Gleadall compiled the mix.) The 30 tracks are: Thunder effects, High synth chords, String pad/chords, PPG synthesizer chords, High strings, Choir, Orchestral stabs, NASA effects plus priest effects, Four-note melody, Main chorus brass riff/chords, Verse brass, Main lead melody, Main lead melody double, Vocoder, Vocoder harmony, Latin end vocals, Double-tracked vocal, Lead vocal, Main brass part, Secondary bass part, Violin sequence, Jupiter 8 synthesizer sequence, Crash cymbal, Claps, Cow bell, Shaker, Hi-hat, Tambourine, Snare drum, bass drum. 

In February “Let’s Get Lost”. a song from the recent Pretenders album Alone, is released in a new duet version featuring vocals from Neil. This followed the Pet Shop Boys seeing the Pretenders perform in Austin, Texas a few months earlier; after the show, Neil had mentioned how much he liked the song.

On February 15, the Pet Shop Boys receive the Godlike Genius Award at the NME Awards in London, after which they play a half-hour set. Presenting the award, Johnny Marr explains that “they’ve brought romance, glamour, style, high art to the wonderful thing that is pop music”. In their acceptance speech, Neil says “little did I know when I started reading the NME as a child in the mid-Sixties that one day we would stand here as an electric duo getting such a magnificent award…I’d like to…accept this on behalf of electronic music, dance music and shiny pop”. Chris, wearing a spherical metallic helmet covering his whole head, says nothing. 

On October 13, the Super tour begins in Santiago, Chile, an evolved version of the Royal Opera House production. Through late October and the first half of November they tour in the USA; after Donald Trump’s unexpected electoral victory they drop “Winner” from the set.