Sunday Spins: Pet Shop Boys, 'Please'

Time for a new Sunday Spins vinyl review! Please is the amazing 1986 debut album by British duo Pet Shop Boys. The album features mainstays like "West End Girls," "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)" and "Love Comes Quickly."

I obtained an original EMI Records pressing from Luna Music in Indianapolis, Indiana last weekend.

My copy of Please just cooks. Flawless in every way, there is nary a crackle to be found. The sound is crisp and clear and I'm easily transported back to the 80s. My mom had a lot of Pet Shop Boys singles on 45s so I was used to hearing them on vinyl. Finding a copy of Please brought me right back to childhood... and I mean that literally. I was like seven when the album first came out!

I have to say "West End Girls" is one of my favorite tracks of all time. So much so that when I was first connected to the Internet and had the thought to look up music, the song I searched for before any other was "West End Girls." To my delight, I found it! Thanks early song sharing!

I had the very first iteration of the iPod which held like a thimble-full of songs and one of the tracks taking up that precious space was "West End Girls."

Please is one of those albums that you just let play through because every track is a banger. This is especially helpful when listening to vinyl because you don't have to get up to move the needle! On my pressing, the liner is intact and features lots of pictures of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe as the Pet Shop Boys. It was great fun to gaze at the photos while listening to the record the first time I look it out of the sleeve.

Comments

[Him]

While I wouldn't ever call PSB songs 'bangers', I will have to agree with our lovely proprietor. PSB are an awesome slice of non-metal music. Alongside Erasure, they seemed to have a preternatural ability to write captivating ear-worms!

While I veered away from both bands after the excesses and successes of the 80s, I always have a soft spot for what they had to offer. I mean, come on! Humans can't live on "Angel of Death" alone!!! You need some Opportunities to go in search of Oh L'Amour (see what I did there?).

Great find, Allyson. Thanks for sharing. Do you mind if I ask: how much did you pay for it? Just curious.

[Bkallday]

Nice article. Horrible band. Full stop.

[Allyson B. Crawford]

HIM - My copy of 'Please' was $25 - VG+ condition!

Allyson

[fletch]

Ally- it's Him. Capitalize the first letter, then small case the others. Damn editorial.

[Bob]

Allyson, I loved reading your story of getting the Pet Shop boys vinyl. I've gotta agree with Him...PSB were totally not my thing in the 80's, but as I've gotten older, I can certainly appreciate their song craft. they are more than just some British boys with some synthesizers and computers. When I was in college back then, I had a roommate who was straight off the boat from Sweden. He was a PSB fanatic and loved to "torture" me by playing their music. He was also a huge Beatles fan, so my counterpunch was Bing crosby's awful version of "Hey Jude" from "Golden Throats Vol II." He and I got along great -- it was all in fun, but I can't hear "West End Girls" without immediately also hearing Bing crosby's cringe-worthy crooning of "Hey Jude" in my head. :)

[Him]

That's an incredible find, Allyson. Harder to find those sorts of 'gems' in the bin. Well done.

Bkallday, of course you think that! We all knew that. But thanks for posting to make sure we knew that. But I noticed you said nothing about Erasure. Well? Are you secretly breaking the chains of love? I mean, come on. That is a good song!!!

Fletch, I will go by Him or HIM. Matters not to me. I call that an editorial decision on the part of our dear leader. Just don't call me Ville Valo. That's all I ask.

Bob. while I think we might agree on only some of the particulars, I do find your story hilarious. I wonder if either you or your roommate ever, in a moment of musical frustration, whispered "dear prudence" and then slipped out the door! And did you go to school in Siouxsie, Iowa? I hear it is a great, flat, place aside from that dopey band of Bromleys running amok in the streets!

[Bob]

Him, my friend, which of the particulars do we not agree on? Are you saying that Bing Crosby's version of "Hey Jude" is a masterwork of musical perfection? :) My Swedish roommate was cool as hell. He spoke almost no English at the beginning. I can't even imagine what impression he had of America after rooming with a crazy beer-guzzling, weed-smoking blind guy who would drag him out to bars every night until five in the morning. I know who the Bromley Contingent are, but I must admit that your reference to Iowa zoomed right over my head.

[Him]

Hi, Bob. That was my lame (as it zoomed past, or over, you) joke about Sioux City.

I was also suggesting, perhaps incorrectly, that I enjoyed the PSB back in the day, whereas I thought you were suggesting that you recognized their talent, even as you didn't really like their songs. If that was incorrect, then serve me up a slice of humble pie!!! As we all know, if said pie had calories, I would be fat or dead!

But all of this raises a larger, and more important, question: did you stay in touch with this PSB-loving Swede? And your additional details suggest that this would have been a picture perfect sitcom at some point. I know I would watch.

And, no, heavens no, I would never suggest anything of the sort re: Bing Crosby. Besides, the guy was kinda' gross. That belt of his had more of a career than he did, at least as far as his children were concerned! Well, to be fair, Gary's claims and not Mary's claims. And Lindsay and Dennis? Well, they aren't (nor is Gary anymore) around to elaborate.

Geesh. That turned sorta' dark. Best we play a U2 cover by a certain band to return all of us to a better, more groovy, place.

[fletch]

Him- it was a tounge-in-cheek editorial. My daughter's are fans of the female pop artists (me too, to an extent). On the way home from the water park, I usually get them I've cream while playing the hits of Pink, Lady Gaga, etc... While playing Gaga's Born This Way, my daughter asked me who she was referring to as "Capital HIM". I explained that it was a reference to Yahweh, God, you know, The Almighty.

Then, I read Al's response to you. I didn't want your head to get inflated. That's where it came from. Emotional health, it does the body good.

[Bob]

Him, my good sir, I really wish I had stayed in touch with that PSB-loving Swede. We had so many funny times together that would have made for great sitcom material. something as simple as us watching the U.S. versus Sweden hockey game during the Winter Olympics would have made you crack up.

Sadly, I lost track of him which was pretty easy to do in the days before social media. I did try looking him up once I joined FB, but his name is a very common one in Sweden, so my search proved futile. Anyway, I still think about him from time to time and it brings a big smile to my face.

You are correct, I always respected the music of PSB, but I did not personally enjoy it back then. for me, by the time the 1980s rolled around, it was hard rock, heavy metal, or nothing. Thank goodness I expanded my horizons in my older years, but back then, if your music had synthesizers and drum machines, you had no shot at me giving you a fair shot. :)

[Him]

Bob, thanks again for the reply. Too bad about the Swede. But I, too, have some of those same regrets about people met, enjoyed, and then gone. There was an Argentinian and a New Zealander in my dorm that introduced me to many an interesting notion, no less some music I would never have stumbled across back in the day if not for them. I wonder about them on occasion. All I can do is hope they are doing well and living good lives. And, again, I think that your story was a sitcom that should have been made!

Glad I didn't totally butcher your initial thoughts on the PSB. I was always inclined to let my friends introduce me to music. So that led to some interesting pairings. As one of my close friends still notes: I could be listening to Men at Work, or Erasure, or Motley Crue. Thing is, my main passion was metal. Still is. But, like you, my range has also grown over time. So nice the world is filled with so much music, for so many people.

And, again, like you, I was parochial . . . even in some of even my metal choices. Wouldn't give Winger the time of day. Wouldn't even consider listening to Warrant. Nowadays, I recognize that even within the genre I most loved, I was a bit of a turd. Funny how, if we live long enough, we learn something.

And now, back to Fletch . . .