Very (Pet Shop Boys album)

Very
Studio album by Pet Shop Boys
Released	27 September 1993 (1993-09-27)
Recorded	1992–1993, Sarm West, London
Genre	Synthpop, dance-pop, techno
Length	53:17
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Pet Shop Boys, Brothers in Rhythm, Stephen Hague
Pet Shop Boys chronology
Discography (1991) Very (1993) Disco 2 (1994)
Alternative cover
Very Relentless cover
Singles from Very
"Can You Forgive Her?" Released: 31 May 1993 "Go West" Released: 6 September 1993 "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" Released: 29 November 1993 "Liberation" Released: 4 April 1994 "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" Released: 29 August 1994

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
NME	9/10[5]
Q	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Select	5/5[9]
The Village Voice	A[10]

Very is the fifth studio album by English electronic duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released in September 1993, nearly two and a half years after the duo's previous studio album, Behaviour, and the compilation album Discography: The Complete Singles Collection. 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.

Very has sold more than five million copies worldwide, and contains five UK singles.

History

After the Performance Tour of 1991, Pet Shop Boys elected to take a break, releasing their compilation Discography in November of that year. With that compilation many fans thought they were splitting because 1992 saw no new original works. However, in 1993, Pet Shop Boys came back together and reinvented their image. This therefore, by many critics, is considered their "Upper" album as many thought "Behaviour" was a "downer album."

A limited edition of Very was also released as a double album titled Very Relentless. The second disc, Relentless, was a six-track dance album containing 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 on Relentless have not been released elsewhere since (though "Forever in Love" is found on Very/Further Listening 1992–1994 in a remixed edited form as track 2).

The album was reissued in 1996 as a mid-price release, this time in a standard jewel case with a new sleeve showing an image of the original case.

Very was re-released on 3 July 2001 (as were most of the group's studio albums up to that point) titled Very: Further Listening 1992–1994. The re-released version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc featuring B-sides and previously unreleased material. The unreleased songs were recorded during the Very recording sessions, but Tennant and Lowe decided not to include them on the album originally.

On 9 February 2009, the album was re-released yet again, still remastered, under the title "Very: Remastered" but this time containing only the 12 original tracks. Following the 2009 re-release, the 2001 2-disc remastered version was deleted and remains out-of-print to date. It can only be purchased second-hand or MP3 digital download. Some of the B-sides are also on Alternative, their 1995 album of B-sides.

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.^[11] 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.

Legacy

In June 2000, Q magazine placed Very at number ninety-one on its list of The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.^[12] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[13]

Track listing

All songs except Go West were written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

1. "Can You Forgive Her?" – 3:53
2. "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" – 3:03
3. "Liberation" – 4:05
4. "A Different Point of View" – 3:26
5. "Dreaming of the Queen" – 4:19
6. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" – 3:55
7. "The Theatre" – 5:10
8. "One and One Make Five" – 3:30
9. "To Speak Is a Sin" – 4:45
10. "Young Offender" – 4:50
11. "One in a Million" – 3:52
12. "Go West" (includes hidden track sung by Chris Lowe "Postscript (I Believe in Ecstasy)" at track-clock 7:07 – 1:15) – 8:22

Relentless bonus disc^[14]

1. "My Head Is Spinning" – 6:33
2. "Forever in Love" – 6:19
3. "KDX 125" – 6:25
4. "We Came from Outer Space" – 5:24
5. "The Man Who Has Everything" – 6:01
6. "One Thing Leads to Another" – 6:24

Further Listening 1992–1994 bonus disc^[14]

1. "Go West" (1992 twelve-inch mix) – 9:12 *
2. "Forever in Love" (original version) – 5:44 *
3. "Confidential" (Demo for Tina) – 4:47
4. "Hey, Headmaster" – 3:06
5. "Shameless" – 5:04
6. "Too Many People" – 4:25
7. "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" (seven-inch version) – 4:45 **
8. "Violence" (Haçienda version) – 5:00
9. "Falling" (Demo for Kylie) – 4:38 *
10. "Decadence" – 3:55
11. "If Love Were All" – 3:00
12. "Absolutely Fabulous" (single version) – 3:46
13. "Euroboy" – 4:30
14. "Some Speculation" – 6:34
15. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (single version) – 4:01
16. "Girls and Boys" (Live in Rio) – 4:55

(*) Previously unreleased.
(**) Not the version featured on PopArt.

Personnel

• Neil Tennant
• Chris Lowe

Additional

• Pete Gleadall – programming
• J.J. Belle – guitar on tracks 3 and 12
• Frank Ricotti – percussion on track 5
• Phil Todd, Snake Davis, John Barclay, John Thirkell and Mark Nightingale – brass on track 12
• Anne Dudley – orchestra arrangement and conduction on tracks 3, 5 and 7
• Richard Niles – brass-, choir- and additional keyboard arrangement on track 12
• Sylvia Mason-James – additional vocals on tracks 7, 11 and 12
• Dainton Connell – additional vocals on track 8
• Carol Kenyon – additional vocals on tracks 9 and 10
• Katie Kissoon and Tessa Niles – additional vocals on track 10
• Joanna Wyatt, Thomas Rogers, Laurie Smith, Hody Smith, Nigel Francis, Francis Hatson, Lee Harris, Lucy Clark, Marie-Claire Peterson and Victoria Ferher – choir on track 7
• 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 and Frank Nemhauser. With thanks to Graeme Perkins and Jaqueline Pierce – choir on track 12

Charts

References

External links

• 1993 interview with Daniel Weil, designer of the Very package.