Pet Shop Boys Elysium art review

The vinyl and double CD of Pet Shop Boys Elysium.
The rainbow was coincidental on there from my crystal statue by the window.

Recently, I have been listening to Pet Shop Boys latest album Elysium and I must say I was truly impressed.  It is the eleventh studio album produced by the band as well as Andrew Dawson, the producer beyond Kanye West, Jay-Z, etc. I gotten my copy at the Amoeba store, as I’m finding myself in the store a lot lately, the price wasn’t so bad either. I actually ordered mine on Amazon but apparently they didn’t have one at stock, so basically I waited for nothing. So I called and checked and finally came to the conclusion to just cancel it and then go to the store.  I guess it was a reason for me to get it there because I not only gotten the double disc but also the vinyl, as well as “Suburbia”(Chris on the front cover) and “Opportunities” (Gray cover).  I’ll be frankly honest, when I first saw the cover, I wasn’t all that enthuse about it because it did look like an image slapped on something or wasn’t thought of properly. But when I saw it in person, it looked beautiful and after knowing what it was about, it made much sense. The vinyl looks so beautiful it was a submerged of the regular edition (the water and sand) and the double disc edition (the sky) together like a mirroring image. And the choices of the colors amazed me even more: the blue and orange kind of gave me a Very/Can You Forgive Her? Type feel and ironically at the closing ceremonies, they had the cone hats but they were in black but still. But the album itself is more of a Behaviour-esque sound than any of their albums; the whole part of reflecting and calmness and about afterlife and death and depicting a story it a fascinating way. The sleeve covers as well really intrigued me because I would discuss about primary and secondary colors and now it’s like it’s a coincidence. The sleeves on the vinyl are orange and a deep purple which are secondary colors and then on the double disc it had one primary color which is blue and the other two are secondary colors: brighter purple and green. The packaging for the deluxe edition is nice just, like the Format and (so I have read) like the PopArt 3 CD set. And it gets even better about the album, is that it was very unusual that they released the second CD with all instrumentals, because I adore a lot of their instrumentals it’s like they seriously read my mind or something or it was a pure coincidence. Even though Relentless does have instrumentals, but it’s not a full instrumental CD or album, that’s if you want to make a comparison between the two. But it would make sense because after listening to the instrumentals, it was really good. It gives the songs a different tone verses Neil’s voice along with the back up singers. I personally listen to the instrumental versions a bit more because it gives a heavenly sound or the idea of being in the afterlife or peacefulness. My favorites on Elysium is “Leaving”, “Invisible”, “Your Early Stuff”,  “A Face Like That”, “Ego Music”, “Memory of the Future” and “Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin.” For the instrumentals the whole CD is good. It just really takes you there in euphoria. It’s like a journey of going back and for on life, afterlife, and so forth.  I also gotten the commentary last night, I didn’t want to come out of pocket because I heard about a promotional code but it’s okay, since my aunt gave me a gift card, thank God for aunts right?  It was a short but funny commentary about the songs with the Boys as well as David Walliams. I found out the Water sisters not only sung with Michael Jackson as backing vocals but also as well for Adele too or “Ego Music” is like the second part to “How Can You Expect to be Taken Seriously?”

A few comments I would like to point out that sounded like something familiar to me on a few songs in my honest opinion. “Leaving” on the beats or sound, it reminded me of Soft Cell’s “Bedsitter” 12-inch mixed with Dusty Springfield’s “In Private” well her version of the song. “Ego Music” actually reminded me of their demos where Neil be talking or having a dialogue conversation almost like “Closer to Heaven” demo or “My Night” demo. Then there’s a song on the Bratz movie where the antagonist sings a song called “It’s All About Me” kind of reminded about that, even though it doesn’t have anything to do with the song itself.  “Memory of the Future” is almost like a second installment with the word Future, because on Yes, their previous album, well the limited edition it had “This Used to be the Future” featuring Philip Oakey (Human League). I know the songs are different but the title alone sounds like some kind of trilogy thing about future, first on what it used to be, two now Memory of the Future. So it would almost go hand in hand. I would also point out that I didn’t like “Invisible” at first but it finally grow on me; however,  “Winner” won’t unless I hear it live, used in the proper context or the HappySad remix. It just doesn’t sound like something they would put out and it is a cheesy song unless it was used properly like at the Olympics Parade or something like that. And the other songs I haven’t mentioned, they would have to grow on me but the instrumentals are good, so it’s best to get the double disc if you can. My views on this will change but this is how I feel at the moment. Overall It’s a nice album minus a few songs, it does give me a Disney soundtrack vibe just a wee bit but still good.

The Best of Smash Hits books review

The Best of Smash Hits (above)
The Best of Smash Hits: The 80's 

This is one of the few items I own that’s beyond Pet Shop Boys’ work. Ironically, the very first time I heard of Smash Hits was when I was doing some Soft Cell collage art back in the summer of 2006 and they were on a cover of the issue July 8-21, 1982(which is the same one I own thanks to another artist that sent it to me! And is the same one I found out years later that it has the interview Neil Tennant did of Marc Almond!). I was actually looking for cheaper ways of getting the Smash hits year books that Neil Tennant did between 1982-1984, reason is because they look pretty artsy to me, so that’s probably the closest thing I would have from another type of art. They are costly on eBay I manage to find two available but only for the UK, unfair I think. But I won’t give up on those. I like to find other art mediums or learn more beyond an artist if possible and collect it as well. I would say Life in Pop (I’ll do a post on it soon) is probably one of the best things you can get for both of Neil and Chris learning about their lives beyond music or behind the scenes type thing. Anyway, these two books are related to Pet Shop Boys, as you know Neil Tennant was the assistant editor for the magazine before he joined Chris as Pet Shop Boys but these were books well the smaller one The Best of Smash Hits was compiled by him, it’s basically a gathering of six years worth of interviews of several famous artists and bands, more likely you heard of them if you’re a fan of the 80’s or you was around that time. The Best of Smash Hits: the 80’s was done in 2006, which was the same year of its final issue. I’m not sure if there’s a 90’s one, but this is still a good item for a collection. I guess the reason they made an 80’s one for sure was because it was its peak then, I can see why, I mean it’s vibrant, excellent; it’s definitely a magazine I never seen before, compare to magazines I have seen lately, this actually beats it because of its creativity. I also even seen the Smash Hits story on YouTube; it was pretty fascinating of how people reflected about the excitement and looking at photos of how they were younger and their reactions to it. I kept seeing this book and I ordered it, the first time I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting a big, colorful book, but someone on Amazon gave out the wrong book photo. I kept it because it was intriguing and was put together by Neil so in a way, it’s art and there was a introduction by John Taylor of Duran Duran. There are photos in it, but they are black and white and he has some interviews and reviews he did as well. The next time I ordered it, it was from the US Amazon and it was $5 plus additional tax! It was a good deal because it had two free posters of John Taylor of Duran Duran and Wham! And additional posters from other artists/bands including The Human League, A-ha, Rick Astley, Depeche Mode, Frankie Goes to Hollywood to name a few. It also includes a Foreword by Neil himself and there’s three Pet Shop Boys related stories in the classic feature section: One is from 1985-1986 where the Boys were on Sunset Boulevard, it’s called Weird Tales from America, this was when they were at the MTV Video awards where they were nominated "Best New Band" but lost to A-ha, They were in KROQ where Chris Lowe was disappointed that they didn’t have any Bee Gees to play the track, and they also took calls from the listeners. Chris; however chose Soft Cell’s “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” as one of his classic rock tracks as well as “Eyes Without a Face” by Sir William Idol, “The Look of Love” by ABC and “Invisible Sun” by The Police. What amazed me before that paragraph I found out Neil said “I see the Pet Shop Boys as one of the surviving synth duos like Soft Cell.” That was really awesome to hear, even though they were already disbanded in 1984, but even still, I thought that was so awesome to read that! The rest were about their moment at being over here, well bits from Sunset and West Hollywood. It really confirmed just about everything I wanted to know. The next one was pretty small it’s called Crikey! He’s a Pop Star! This was basically when 1985 when Neil ran off to be a Pet Shop Boy and the writer said it was odd that they were writing about him just a few months later. They  have mini reviews/facts about “West End Girls”, “Opportunities”, “Love Comes Quickly” and the album Please. There are also little remarks when he left titled Auf Weidersehen, Pet! And finally on February 1987 of classic feature was of Neil on his last day of being a Smash Hits editor, titled Neil Tennant Smash hits editor for a day?! It have time frames and photos of Neil working as an editor and each had captions on what he was doing, it was interesting seeing him struggling and being damn near an hour late for his job. I have to agree that was a classic feature. Everything else about it was of different artist/bands some drawing ducks, quizzes, games, little franchises, adverts, stories of other artist, little facts about what they eat, “do you remember” so much more! And also a list chronologically done of the magazine issues from 1980-1989 and a little statistics of  the appearances on the Smash Hits cover. For $5 it’s totally worth it, and if you like art, magazines, 80’s,the music of the 80’s, Pet Shop Boys or so, then this is something I highly suggest as well as the Best of Smash Hits, getting to see how artists/bands being interview and reviewed and perspectives.

Wham! Poster 

John Taylor (Duran Duran) poster