Clubbing-Techno-Musiques : Alternative

Alternative

EUR 126,35

  1. In the Night
  2. Man Could Get Arrested
  3. That s My Impression
  4. Was That What It Was?
  5. Paninaro
  6. Jack the Lad
  7. You Know Where You Went Wrong
  8. New Life
  9. I Want a Dog
  10. Do I Have To?
  11. I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)
  12. Don Juan
  13. Sound of the Atom Splitting
  14. One of the Crowd
  15. Your Funny Uncle

Excellente compilation de faces B, Alternative démontre tout le talent des Pet Shop Boys, duo de pop dansante teintée d électronique légère. Sur la durée d un double CD, cette anthologie démontre le caractère pionnier - pour ne pas dire expérimental - de leur musique, à la fois avant-gardiste et populaire. Bien plus que d une énième collection de morceaux superflus réservée aux fans, il s agit d un album essentiel pour qui s intéresse à la dance pop des années 80 et 90. Certaines faces B ici présentes surpassent même les singles ou titres d albums originaux. -- Florent Mazzoleni

alternative positive - depuis 1984, les pet shop boys ont su imposer un style musical original. Basé sur la voix inimitable de neil tennant ce groupe est devenu aussi mythique que depeche mode. Ils ne font pas comme ..., ils sont uniques. De plus ils sont indémodables. Cette collection de face b, souvent inédite en cd pour la période 84-90 et difficile à trouver, est un véritable bijou de diversité. Certaines de ces faces b auraient pu être de véritable succès. Je pense notament à in the night et surtout shameless (face b de go west). Ces face b sont aussi intéressants que les titres sortis en album. Alors que certains se contentent de mettre en face b un instru ou un autre titre de l album de l époque, les psb ont pris l option 1 inédit par single. C est un véritable remerciement au public d avoir acheté le single. A acheter les yeux fermés, fan ou pas !!! Certains seront vraiment surpris de la qualité de ces titres !

There is no alternative... - At one point shortly after the release of Discography, my friend Monty and I were discussing the problem that we had, living in midwestern America, of being able to find the latest offerings of the Pet Shop Boys. While I had never experienced a problem of getting the latest albums, CDs, and videos in London, New York, or on the West Coast, living in middle America put me at a distinct disadvantage. While the albums were always available, the singles most often were not available. This was important because so many good items came only on the singles -- often the b-side and extra tracks contained on the singles were better than additional album tracks. And, of course, these songs were not available on albums. For any avid collector, this was a problem (these were the days before on-line shopping, when Amazon.com and other on-line vendors where not even in the planning stages). I speculated that it would be wonderful if the Pet Shop Boys would put together an album that contained all of these wonderful extra tracks. I was certain it would be popular, at least among the die-hard fans.Not long after this conversation, it was rumoured that just such an album was in the planning stages. Shortly after the release of Very and the singles from that album, Alternative was released. This was the one that I had been waiting for.Alternative is a two-CD set, produced originally as a special edition with a holographic front, and later press runs having a more conventional covering. All press runs, however, have contained the special book which includes an extensive interview with the Pet Shop Boys in which they talk about each of the 30 songs on these CDs in turn, discussing meaning as well as production issues around these tracks. This is the record that we fans have been waiting for: the collection that finally pulls together all those great songs tucked away on b-sides, double-packs, obscure formats. Whereas an a-side will require strict commercial and production standards, and the courage to act them out in front of millions, here you ll find the real Pet Shop Boys: dropping their guard, finding themselves free to experiment, to explore their obsessions and their own lives. Given the long-term nature of this collection, these songs represent an historical record of the Pet Shop Boys, as a companion piece to Discography, the official greatest hits collection of the Pet Shop Boys, Alternative serves to show another side, side-by-side, with the more popular front of the Pet Shop Boys. These are the songs that were released with the hits. These songs also show the development of musical tone and complexity, technical as well as lyrical, over the course of the first decade of the Pet Shop Boys career. You could say that these 30 songs embody the changing nature of music software, as the seven-inch and 12-inch vinyl formats move to CD, then to remixes, then to double-packs, and son on. A variety of formats demands a variety of aesthetic responses, if you re not just going to hand everything over to a remixer. In these songs, one will find a lot of the personal experiences of the Pet Shop Boys. In songs like A man could get arrested, Hey, Headmaster, and Your funny uncle, glimpses of experiences from the lives of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and some of their friends, are highlighted. Particularly, Your funny uncle shows a scene from life, from when Tennant had to organise the funeral for a friend, and met the relatives of his friend, who came from another social world. Sometimes humourous, sometimes poignant, the lyrics in these are reminiscent of Betjeman and Coward. Speaking of Coward, there are several songs in this collection which are remakes from other composers -- If love were all, by Noel Coward and Losing my mind by Sondheim are examples, the latter of which was done for Liza Minnelli, but here remade by the Pet Shop Boys themselves. Many of these are strong songs -- A new life and I get excited could be standard disco releases on their own. Others have a certain quirkiness about them. In the night highlights the possible experience of a Zazou, a French opter-out during the German occupation in World War II, Don Juan is an allegorical song with a great deal of history woven into the lyrics (try to decipher them without the liner notes!). Experimental music in songs such as The sound of the atom splitting reminds one of the experimental cinematic direction of Derek Jarman, a friend of the Pet Shop Boys. Philosophy and politics are highlighted in songs such as Miserablism and What keeps mankind alive.Through all of the songs, the electronic, sample-filled instrumentation, the rhythms and (for most) the dance aspect of the tunes comes through as classic Europop and Pet Shop Boys all the way.This is an unconventional album, and perhaps cannot be called an album in the true sense, for how many albums have had every track released as a single, yet none of them as the primary single for any release? This is a must-have for any fan of the Pet Shop Boys.

Une collection d excellentes chansons - Il s agit essentiellement d une collection de leurs faces B de 1986 à 1995.Libérés des contraintes commerciales inhérents aux singles et aux albums, les Pet Shop Boys donnent la pleine mesure de leur talent.De ce fait, cette compilation est moins accessible que leurs autres albums. Indispensable pour les personnes connaissant déjà les Pet Shop Boys, mais peut-être un peu déroutant pour les novices.




Alternative