Happy 66th Birthday to Mr. David Bowie!!!

I’ve listened to David Bowie’s “Where Are We

Now?” from his new album The Next Day on the computer today, what a way begin after ten years! A friend of mine on twitter told me something quite interesting how this song and another song from the movie The Ice Storm called “I Can’t Read” have a similar if not the same mellow tone as “Where Are We Now?”  There are some intriguing references and similarities that I also noticed. One being that the cover art of The Next Day was a subvert of Heroes which was back in 1977, not only that it looks similar to Pet Shop Boys Elysium cover art, the square in the middle of the portrait.  “I Can’t Read” the video was directed by Tim Pope and Soft Cell was one of the bands he directed and if I’m not mistaken Marc Almond liked the new single as well, but was sad he didn’t see it sooner or something.  Two is that “I Can’t Read” and “Where Are We Now?”, have Bowie’s face in an oval shaped facial expression like a mask. Another thing is that both videos have to do with surrealism and expressionism art and a vintage or desolate and abandon them. Which will bring to my next similarity I’ve noticed Bowie mentioned about “walking the dead” and how Pet Shop Boys “Leaving” is a theme about a subject about being “dead and fading away” and I’ve read Clare McCreesh’s blog about the similarities between Bowie’s new single and Pet Shop Boys’ Elysium about how the two videos had a black and white footage of Berlin. And it could be a high possibility that Bowie referenced The Pet Shop Boys, in fact if that’s the case, that would be really cool and astounding because they did collaborated with them for “Hallo Spaceboy” and he is one of their inspirations. Not only that but if it was like "Leaving" and the "Where Are We Now?" on the same album, then it would be like a continuation on a journey of some sort. There’s also a photo of David Bowie on the official Pet Shop Boys site, it reminded me of the Pandemonium where Neil and Chris with the cubes for heads. I find this quite amazing!  I’m glad David Bowie is back with music, also really cool to start the New Year and his birthday! I think there's a tiny reference of "I'm With Stupid" on "Where Are We Now?" because of the heads being on some dummies body. 

SMASH HITS 1982 XMAS PARTY - Part One

One of the Pet Shop Boys fan pages had this on here. It's basically a Christmas Party with a lot of the well known musicians that are popular with the magazines. It's been said on the description that the idea  came from Neil Tennant himself, I thought that was a remarkable move on getting musicians do something briefly but hilarious and a fun-tastic piece compiled within twelve minutes. My goodness if it was an actual footage, I would have possibly died of laughter! It's just that funny. Since Christmas is rapidly approaching, I thought I shared this on here, I don't remember if they mentioned on the Smash Hits Christmas audio but it's good nonetheless. Mark Edith did the recording and producer was Taylor Dann. The following musician and bands are featured are: ABBA, ABC, Adam, Bananarama, Bucks Fizz, Captain Sensible, Culture Club, Duran Duran,  Fun Boy Three, Haircut One Hundred, Imagination, The Jam, Madness, Mari Wilson, Musical Youth, Piranhas, Police, Steve Strange, Toyah and Ultravox. Some you heard of and some you might haven't but it's still a cute little audio and it was very well thought out. I'm not sure if they do these type of things anymore, I do know about free CDs and stuff with magazines but something like a Christmas special. But anyway, it's a part 2 to this and I will link you on the bottom of this.

Oh and If you don't here from me in a few days, I will everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Smash Hits 1982 Christmas Party Part 2

My thoughts on Neil Tennant's Smash Hits Christmas on Radio 4

Couple days ago, a fan friend and I was listening to the Smash Hits radio, thankfully my internet didn't have a hiccup where it buffered or anything. I was truly shocked and impressed there was another Smash Hits audio, because the magazine itself is a fascination and fun filled. But this one was similar to the podcast last year but this time more of the staff members actually spoke in this one as well as Neil did. It was very informative and you can really tell how much they missed the atmosphere of the magazine and being part of it. Even the emotions on the voices about how music nowadays isn't all that cracked up to be, because it's really not about ideas anymore and they are right and with a magazine like Smash Hits, it was hard enough as it was to cope with the changing decade. I honestly wished this was on a podcast. I really like this one as well as the one about Neil Tennant wanting his job back. I think the link is still available to have a listen, it's only about 30 minutes in length but it's worth to have a listen! I haven't listen to the one where Neil reads a chapter of Moby Dick but I've manage to listen to other audios. The link for the Smash Hits radio is below this paragraph. Again it's really short but it's good. Really discussing like the best times and intriguing facts. The Smash Hits story is also on YouTube as well, that's another documentary that's good to understand about the magazine.

Smash Hits Radio

Update and minimal review post

Hello dear readers,

I haven't abandon my blogs, I've just been busy and having a writer's block. In spite of that, I have been reading with one Pet Shop Boys book and almost done with that, looking at videos and working on a few posts but would go through them here and there. I will; however, continue on where I left off even with the Soft Cell/ Marc Almond posts as well. And may I just say that the Philharmonic BBC Concert that the Boys, Johnny Marr, orchestra and choir did an outstanding job, I was really impressed by the song choices and everything, there were some songs I wish it wasn't on there but still it was really excellent. Who ever seen it live, was truly lucky to see all that art. Even though, Neil's voice was trembling a bit, sounds like he was nervous, but he still sounded good! I will possibly have a better review on it later on. All I can is that I truly hope they will release it like they did with Concrete. If you have not listened to it yet(which I'm sure you have), I would recommend it. As fas as the single choices, I'm not really too impressed by that but that's the choice. Out of the video, "Leaving" and "Invisible" are probably the best videos I've seen. "Winner", for me unfortunately, wasn't their best video, in fact, I would consider it to be one of their worst videos. Only because I've seen what they are capable of doing and seeing something like that, wouldn't impress a young artist like myself. The idea was good, but they needed more than what they had on there and they weren't even on the video. Even though, I'm not too fond of the art cover of "Memory of the Future", I do have hope that the music video would be better than I would think it would be. I do like the "Leaving" art covers, but I think this time, I will just get the CDs for "Memory of the Future" and not the vinyls. It's like a weird clash between David Bowie and Andy Warhol on a bad day. The B-sides so far sound very good, and I am enthuse by that which hopefully, the new B-sides will prove remarkable. I am excited about the new pet text with Neil Tennant discussing about Smash Hits again, it's like the other one he did last year, and if possible, it would also be neat if they release a demo compilation, I've heard a good amount of demos of theirs and wonder why they haven't released on yet! Anyway, expect more blog posts heading your way! 

Pet Shop Boys - Paninaro (original video)

Yes, I’m back gotten busier with the new small jobs at college I have and my art projects I’m doing. I got back into doing the video critiques. I will discuss the newer videos later on in the blog.

“Paninaro” is a video that the Pet Shop Boys themselves created while they were in Milan. It is the derivative of the word “Paninari” which means sandwich. There were some Italian youth culture that was described or depict from this segment but really were teens wearing random clothes like rolled up jeans, white trousers, Timberland shoes, etc. Almost how Chris was dressed in the video. Chris wore the same iconic Issey Miyake “Suburbia” sunglasses. I like how it was symbolic within itself because it was a like a follow up from the “Suburbia” video and Neil with the cowboy hat and shades. I think that the Boys used Super 8 films only because of the style and how it looked. Soft Cell used something quite similar for the “Memorabilia” video.  I actually really liked how they did their own video; it shows their creative side other than getting another artist’s interpretation, which isn’t bad either. Some photo shots of Chris and Neil from the video later because the cover of the Disco which oddly enough, was inspired by Soft Cell’s Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing because of a remix album. They also used two of the photos for their VHS and LaserDisc of Television .They elements of using other people in their videos, Chris dancing, stop motion with the Miyake shades and a lot of editing, and having some symbolism with the words like “Passion”, “Love” and “Art”. The 80’s were very opened for new style and trends and the Boys were taking one step at a time. There’s another key part in the song while the song plays, you hear Chris’ voice from an interview where he talks about what he didn’t like and what he like. Which is cool and rare that he does more talking than Neil, since he doesn’t like the do a lot of chit chat. If I had to choose between Pop or Art, I’d say art.

Birthday Post!

After finishing my studies, I worked on a birthday drawing for Mr. Chris Lowe for his 53rd birthday. I actually didn't have an actual idea in mind , so I saw a photo on the official site and thought the hat was extremely cool and abstract! And something click into my head and I also wanted to add the cartoon, animal version of Chris, called Kip I made up.  I know it's a bit off because I made the proportions a bit small but I think it's okay enough to post it. Basically a pencil drawing Chris out and since he loves to sleep there's some Z's there. The photo also reminded me of Eric Watson's iconic "Love Comes Quickly" photo of Chris but an updated and futuristic and almost look like a church hat too. But anyway, Happy Birthday Chris Lowe! It's crayons and markers! 

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.