Search - Pet Shop Boys :: Was It Worth It

Definitely worth it...

FrKurt Messick | Bloomington, IN USA | 11/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As with most greatest hits albums, the Pet Shop Boys, upon releasing Discography has to include a few additional songs on the platter to make it worthwhile to anyone other than the die-hard fans. The two songs that were added to their greatest hits were DJ Culture, released as a single to anticipate and coincide with the album, and Was it worth it?, released shortly thereafter, in 1991.Well I don't know why
I was dreaming about youThe lyrics of this song made many people think that the Pet Shop Boys were hanging up the disco-pop and going into a graceful retirement. This is very much a 'summation' song; summing up a career and asking the very basic question we all often ask of great tasks in our lives: Was it worth it? Tennant's lyrics once again reach beyond the simple pop-orientation and dead-pan flat delivery to ask a question that resonates particularly well with the late baby-boomer and early generation-X crowd -- is what we're doing really worth it? Is it worth fighting for?The resounding answer in the song is, yes!The music is classic Pet Shop Boys -- disco beat all the way, over the top crescendos and chorus chiming in on cue, a very peppy dance-floor tune indeed. Combined on the extended single with two versions of this song (at least in the American release) are the electro-mix of a song entitled Miserablism, a strange, thoughtful song about nihilistic philosophy, sometimes exhibited by people determined to be miserable; and Music for boys, part 3, an interesting dance track, probably often used and uncredited by disc jockeys around the world -- one must be a true Pet Shop Boys fan to collect all the parts of this work, for various parts are only available on different formats (remember vinyl? one part is only available on the extended single vinyl release). Finally, the CD concludes with Overture to Performance, a wonderful orchestration that introduced the Pet Shop Boys concert tour of 1991. This tour began in Japan in March 1991 and continued through the USA & Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom & Ireland, concluding on June 14. This was the second Pet Shop Boys tour, the first one having been a very limited run limited to Japan, Hong Kong, and Britain. The choreography, symbolism, interesting mix of songs woven together to make a basic developmental storyline was incredible. I had the good fortune to see this show both in Chicago in the spring and again in Wembley Arena in the summer. The different perspectives offered an interesting contrast -- at the Riveria Theatre in Chicago, there were probably only about 2000 people--it was intimate and close; Wembley Arena is a huge place, and the performance there, while essential the same in sequence, was very different in feel, very much the stadium show.But, I digress from the CD (alas, Was it worth it? on the concert playlist).The Parlophone version of the CD (yes, I collect the Pet Shop Boys CDs from America, Britain, and Japan, because they have subtle differences) has a different mix of Miserablism (the 7" mix, as opposed to the American Electro Mix), and three versions of Was it worth it?, only two of which are on the American CD version.For a classic Pet Shop Boy song, this is great. Yes, it was worth it!"