Pet Shop Boys Very (2018 Remastered Version)(2LP)

VERY is packaged in a day-glo orange embossed jewel case.
Pet Shop Boys: Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe (vocals, programming).
Additional personnel: J.J. Belle (guitar); Phil Todd, Chris Davis, John Barclay, John Thirkell, Mark Nightingale (brass); Frank Ricotti (percussion); Pete Gleadall (programming); Sylvia Mason-James, Dainton Connell, Carol Kenyon, Katie Kissoon, Tessa Niles (background vocals).
Recorded at Sarm West, Angel Studios, London, England and The Power Station, New York, New York.
This Limited Edition of VERY is packaged in a custom slipcase with a 36-page booklet, and contains a bonus disc of rare tracks.
Pet Shop Boys: Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe (vocals, programming).
Additional personnel includes: Anne Dudley (conductor); Johnny Marr, J.J. Belle (guitar); Gerard Prescencer (trumpet); Frank Ricotti (vibraphone, percussion); Pete Gleadall (programming); Sylvia Mason-James, Dainton Connell, Carol Kenyon, Katie Kissoon, Tessa Niles (background vocals).
Producers include: Stephen Hague, Brothers in Rhythm, Pet Shop Boys.
Compilation producers: Pet Shop Boys, Chris Heath.
Engineers include: Bob Kraushaar, Pete Gleadall, Mike Bigwood.
Recorded at Sarm West, Angel Studios, London, England and The Power Station, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Chris Heath.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
BEHAVIOUR was the Pet Shop Boys' first truly mature album, but its follow-up, 1993's VERY, proved to be their masterpiece. On the surface, VERY is the duo's most carefree album, a modern dance-floor update of the kitchen-sink production and swelling melodies of a classic ABBA album. Just barely underneath, Neil Tennant's lyrics keep their layers of mordant wit, but drop the self-protective irony in favor of writing truthfully about the lives of gay men in the early '90s, regrouping in the face of AIDS.
To that end, the album starts with "Can You Forgive Her?," a drop-dead-gorgeous song directed to a closeted young man whose "girlfriend" wants to call off her part in the charade, and it wraps up with a completely heartfelt and unironic version of the Village People's "Go West" that views the unfettered hedonism of the original with a palpable sense of regret. In between, "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" and "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" are among the duo's finest singles.

• Released: 08/31/18
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop