Customer Reviews

Disco

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Disco" is an album featuring remixes of singles from the duo's debut "Please," as well as the rarities "In the Night" and "Paninaro." The best of these remixes is the extended version of "Suburbia" and a re-working of their Number One hit "West End Girls." Although the album served as little more than an appetizer before the release of their second disc, "Disco" is a solid remix effort that has pleased PSB diehards over the years.

This album includes remixes of the 4 singles from the Boy's first album, Please, and two of the b-sides from these singles. By and large these remixes are lengthy, which is a plus, and are fairly faithful to the originals while adding nice and fun twists. Love Comes Quickly, while a great song, is really improoved upon on this disc. The mix of West End Girls is also good, but by no means essential. The mix of Suburbia would be best described as an extended mix, since it doesn't really change the song but adds some new parts that are entirely consistent with the original. The albums best moment, by far, is the epic remix of the b-side Paninaro, an electro-acid-housey type of thing that integrates a live interview that Chris Lowe did, as well as actual singing by Chris - one of the very few PSB tracks that you can hear Chris on.

In the end, if you are a fan of PSB and in particular their early work, this is an album you should definetly consider buying. If not, I would strongly suggest buying their album Please or Discography and becoming a fan (you will, I promise) and then consider this album.

The concept of the extended remix is something of an '80s synthpop phenomenon and few acts can match the Pet Shop Boys in quality and originality. From the start, PSB aimed their music to the dancefloor and, logically, they called upon some of the most talented DJs and producers in the business to give the radio versions a longer, more developed orchestration. Presented here are some of the best remixes of their earliest hits, as well as two fantastic b-sides. Though the remixes might seem a bit long-ish to someone brought up on 4 minute radio, each one is well-developed and gives the listener more time to appreciate the subtleties and grooves with these fresh new arrangements. A must for any fan.

It's incredible. I am writting this review almost 20 years after I first heard this album on vinyl, and 20 years after, having heard synthpop all this years and tons of bands and album, this album still sounds fresh and if it were released today it could outperform most of the synthpop bands of today. The mixes contained in this album are not really mixes in today standards but EXTENDED 12" versions of some of the PSB early hits. If you liked the radio or single versions of the songs contained in this album YOU REALLY need to hear this CD right away. The PSB are very savvy and payed attention to the most representative and favorite parts of those songs and worked them in a extended version mode that never GETS BORING. All this people that say that you are better off buying the special edition of PSB's PLEASE are totally wrong. The SUBURBIA (FULL HORROR) was a favorite disco hit at the time and it became an instant cult classic. The IN THE NIGHT version here is the better version you will find and so it happens with the PANINARO version. You won't find better versions than this ones. This is truly a masterpiece and a reference synthpop album no matter when.

Done back at a time when the Pet Shop Boys were just starting out, this may have been an idea to make disco music more mainstream - it was big in the urban areas, and disco from the 70s had not really died, but was being transformed into pop, electro and other kinds of music that the Pet Shop Boys would come to typify for a while.

The first album, 'Please', had a string of world-wide chart toppers; these became sought after not only on the radio but also in the dance clubs - if there was one place that Pet Shop Boys music was welcome at, it was the dance clubs. This mini-album satisfied the more general demand for extended versions of songs at a time when the extended single was still a rare commodity (and mostly it was done on vinyl).

This CD has six tracks, four of which are remixes of charting songs from the album 'Please'. The songs 'Love Comes Quickly' and 'Suburbia' are lesser known in North America, but the songs 'Opportunities' and 'West End Girls' are perhaps two of the best known PSB songs ever. 'Suburbia' sounds very much like it encorporates the keyboard-heavy introductory music to the British series 'Eastenders' (at least, the music of the time), which is not a mistake.

The other songs included here are b-sides or extra tracks; the song 'Paninaro' became a hit in its own right, being revisited a number of times later in the PSB history.

These are all longer-playing songs, averaging eight minutes or so per track (when the standard radio edit is around four minutes, that is a long track) but done deliberately for more sustained dance time. The tracks are even listed by beats-per-minute, going from a love of 111 bpm on 'Love Comes Quickly' to 128 bpm on 'Suburbia'.

This is a remix album as they should be done - the songs are clearly extended versions of the ones from which they come, not so overlaid with DJ accretions that one can barely make out the base tune.

Pet Shop Boys is the only "electronic" band ever having managed to catch my taste.

The album »Disco« contains remixes of 6 great PSB songs. All of these long versions are great, though sometimes a bit too long because of unnecessary playing around with a specific sound or theme. The last track »West End Girls« is far too long, and you wish the album would be over halfway through that song. But especially »Opportunities« and »Paninaro« are more than worth the investment in this EP.

Disco is a superb collection of remixes that easily ranks as one of the Pet Shop Boy's best albums. The "Oppurtunities" mix was a bit disappointing, but the other five mixes were all excellent, especially the mixes of "In the Night"(the remix is vastly superior to the version that ended up on Alternative)and "Love Comes Quickly"

This remix disc is from the era when remixes were still based on the original song -- they include full vocals, for one thing. Several of the mixes are done by legendary '80s producers such as Shep Pettibone and Arthur Baker. I would recommend it unreservedly both to fans of the Pet Shop Boys' work and to fans of '80s dance pop in general. The production is dated by today's standards, but if you like the '80s then it won't be a problem. And if you don't, then this disc is not for you.

This is the album with Paninaro, the best song ever, on it! You must buy it!

A complete 5-star remix album. Nothing beats the Pet Shop Boys of 1986, as they introduced themselves to the music world. If you know the normal versions of each of these tracks, you'll love these ones even more. One of my top 5 favorite albums.