Pet Shop Boys – Actually (1987)
Pet Shop Boys (PSB) are one of the more consistent duos in the business, both musically and aesthetically.
I suppose the music & artwork for Actually may not be as immediately exciting as the hit-filled, orange ‘bumpy’ packaged Very.
That being said, the succinct title/indifferent yawning pose is consistent with the memorable album cover/one-word title format employed throughout their discography.
Thankfully, the tunes also live up to expectations.
Perhaps it’s human nature to compare everything to your favourites; in my case, all roads inevitably lead back to The Smiths.
As Johnny Marr & co. did a few years prior with Sandie Shaw, PSB teamed up here with another 60s songstress, Dusty Springfield, on the excellent What Have I Done to Deserve This?
“80s pop” has not always been a desirable label but in each case, the music (and style for that matter) has aged remarkably well.
Though the instrumentation couldn’t have been further from The Smiths: Morrissey famously refused to allow synthesizers on the early records & PSB had no use for guitars!
Now PSB isn’t quite in the same stratosphere but each group has a trio of albums among the 1001. To be included with my favourite Mancunians in these past several sentences is certainly a credit to PSB.
How do they do it? Neil Tennant’s description sums up their enduring appeal nicely, “[The Pet Shop Boys] are in pop but not of it.”
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