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Bilingual + Bonus CD Further Listening 1995-1997

William Gordon | Louisiana | 03/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"CD1

1.Discoteca

2.Single

3.Metamorphois

4.Electricity

5.Se a vida e (That's The Way Life Is)

6.It's Always Comes As A Surprise

7.A Red Letter Day

8.Up Against It

9.The Survivors

10.Before

11.To Step Aside

12.Saturday Night Forever



CD2 (Further Listening 1995-1997)

1.Paninaro '95

2.In The Night (1995)

3.The Truck-Driver And His Mate

4.Hit And Miss

5.How I Learned To Hate Rock 'N' Roll

6.Betrayed

7.Delusions Of Grandeur

8.Discoteca (Single Version) Previously Unreleased

9.The Calm Before The Storm

10.Discoteca (New Version)

11.The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On

12.A Red Letter Day (Expanded Single Version) Previously Unreleased

13.The View From Your Balcony

14.Disco Potential

15.Somewhere (Extended Mix)



I have to say since buying the "Further Listening Series" it has been worth every penny.It is great to go back and hear the gems that were and the rarites of lost treasures."

Singularly Hitting Their Mark

thattherepaul | Boston, MA United States | 09/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As if emerging from a swanky beach house, The Boys hit a smooth and consistently rich stride on their sixth album. "Discoteca" and "Single" accompany a sophisticated pleasure traveler with Spanish rhythm, "Metamorphosis" recapitulates an introverted man's growing up, while the beautiful "It Always Comes As A Surprise" seems to capture the northerner's amazement at his first night in tropical paradise. The self-referential "Electricity" and proud stances of "Up Against It" and "To Step Aside" show an artistry and intellectual cleverness that never falls out of rhythm, while "Se A Vida E," "Before," and "Saturday Night" celebrate sweetness in life without running aground, as happy anthems so often do, on shallow bromides, cliches, or repetitiveness. The Pet Shop Boys have given us a library of fine albums, and often, even finer remixes, and this inventive and pleasurable album perhaps shows them at their best so far."

No translation or subtitles required

FrKurt Messick | Bloomington, IN USA | 11/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Again the Pet Shop Boys played their little trick on their fans. The album Very was released in 1994, and didn't do very well commercially or critically, and while the Pet Shop Boys shortly thereafter toured, it had the feeling (partly due to the rumour mill) that this was in fact a farewell series of performances. The next year, when the dual-disc set Alternative was released, the question was largely, 'Alternative to what?' -- a real album, a continuation (Alternative was made up of all the non-album b-sides that had been released during the Pet Shop Boys career, once again fueling speculation that this was a tying-up-of-loose-ends at the end of a career).



Then, in 1996, the album Bilingual was released, again following the by-then-well-established pattern of releasing a single, then follow-up with the album. This was an 'out' album; while most people always knew the alternative sexuality of the group, it had never been made explicit in the group's official publicity. Now, it had been. No surprise to anyone really (does anything coming from any band from the 80's really surprise anyone?).



The Pet Shop Boys managed to release an adequate album, alas, not their best work, and indeed some commentators, remembering the speculation that they were ready to retire, opined that retirement would have been better than this.



Not so, to be sure -- this is a perfectly serviceable album, good in many respects; the first single, Before, was released with a CD-movie of the video (very useful for those without Euro-MTV, American MTV long since having left the genre of the Pet Shop Boys behind and thus unlikely to carry their videos even when they win Euro-MTV awards). This song included many of the classic Pet Shop Boys elements -- poppy dance tune, double-edged lyrics, sample heavy feel, and toe-tapping rhythm.



The rest of the album is influenced obviously by the groups adventures in Latin America and Latin Europe during their concert tour, as well as holidays in the sun. Songs such as Discoteca and Se a vida é contain in their titles the influence; peppered throughout with almost spoken lines in Spanish (¿Hay una discoteca por acqui?), almost as if they had simply lifted lines from their Berlitz travel phrase book. But, in the traditional quirky Pet Shop Boys way, these fit in nicely with the tune.



The transitions on this album are interesting -- for the first time, the Pet Shop Boys didn't have their songs as isolated bits, but many instead flowed together--Discoteca and Single being two prime examples, which bleed together musically and lyrically, the end of Single being also the first line from Discoteca: (¿Hay una discoteca por acqui?).



Songs in the much more traditional upbeat, lyrically-cynical and clever, electronically pop include To step aside, A red letter day, and Saturday night forever. Tennant begins to allow himself some more direct social commentary in songs like The survivors, which can be understood on many levels. Of course, Tennant's lyrics on the album Behaviour poked fun at those celebrities who, because they have fame, suddenly start taking themselves seriously as experts on social concerns, so he is understandably cautious and understated in his own observations, which are usually very much rooted in his own, direct experiences.



As with many Pet Shop Boys albums, Bilingual had a follow-up single, Somewhere, which was not included on the album, but was on the special edition, limited release of the double-CD Bilingual. This second disc includes in addition to Somewhere remixes of several of the album cuts, as well as an additional b-side.



The songs Before, Single, and A red letter day charted variously around the world, but didn't catch hold and take top honours anywhere. Alas, the Pet Shop Boys looked like they were past it. But history has proven differently.



This is an essential album to anyone who wishes a complete Pet Shop Boys collection -- the special album only for those die-hard collectors who can spend extra on auction sites or some such to track it down, but one gains little musically from it. However, this album is for the most part a placeholder in the overall history of the Pet Shop Boys (for the historically inclined, perhaps it is the 'James Polk' of their albums, adequate but undistinguished, often forgotten, but still on the books).

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