"When our spelling is perfect, it's invisible. But when it's flawed, it prompts negative associations." - Marilyn vos Savant



Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Pet Shop Boys - My October Symphony (live) 1991 [HD]



"My October Symphony"

After getting their coats on, on the backstage footage, they get ready for "My October Symphony" which Neil doesn't sing or Chris comes without his keyboard. Instead they are portraying tourists in Russia on a snowy day, where you have Derek, Pam and Sylvia singing the song, it was a decision made by them, Neil says it in the commentary. You would see some Russian writing which can depict the song have to do with a Russian theme, like a clue breaker. This and the next song "I'm Not Scared" these two pieces I definitely can tell or what I think that represent Neil and Chris in personality wise, because Neil adores the Russian culture and then Chris appears to be quite a dancer, even though this whole masterpiece represents them and other themes completely, but these two stuck it out for me. This is also as the DVD cover which Neil and Chris are silhouettes and then that back ground with those strange figures. You can see the lighting looking like snow on the floor on the background to give it that scenery. Then you have the dancers dressing in black Russian attire and bringing out the chairs to sit and doing hand gestures and you see a ballerina taking off her coat and revealing herself as a dancer. Derek still wearing the dog collar even though you faintly see it, is quite funny to me. Then you have Neil and Chris walking slowly down the set, with their umbrellas and Chris with his camera. Then you have some other dancers smashing a giant man's head with the hammer and the sickle(also the same instruments you see on the flag of the Soviet Union, which represented the nation's workers and peasants while the red star represented the rule of the Communist Party) this information can be found on encyclopedias and dictionaries. Just a brief trivia there, anyway, after the head was cracked wide open, Neil stands next to it while Chris took a photo of him. Something tourist do. Then you have the angel dancers again, to me it's like they are watching them on their journey of adulthood and God won this round where they can be one of the crowd as Neil said in the commentary. Then you have where they are walking off the stage slowly and then the dancers are moving the chair which is another good way of dancing and moving the chairs off stage. I do like the real clouds in the back ground, but the snow doesn't look too real. The way Derek, Pam and Sylvia sing this song sounds pretty soulful.

A small update just thought about this (I don't know too much about the Russian culture and I'm NOT no where racist!) but I thought about this when I saw a cartoon.  The giant head only prove that it could have been an exaggerated symbolism of the falling of communism when the dancers was cracking the head open, I saw a cartoon where several people knocked over a statue and was supposedly the fallen of communism, since Neil is fascination to the Russian culture, it made sense! Not to also mention in the song "Left to My Own Devices" the lyric line "....Che Guevara to Debussy to a disco beat" Guevara was also part of the communism movement too along with few others, it seems to start making sense now! What's even more shocking, I found this out on an adult cartoon! 

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