NONETHELESS TRACK-BY-TRACK
1 LONELINESS
A great introduction to Nonetheless, both as its opening track and first single, Loneliness is a classic Pet Shop Boys sad banger in the Love Comes Quickly mould. Its essential feel as a single is bolstered by mighty B-side Party In The Blitz (see page 98), while its video from British film-maker and fashion photographer Alasdair McLellan is a sensual treat, set in 90s Sheffield.
2 FEEL
A gorgeous entry into the slim canon of unabashed Pet Shop Boys love songs, Neil Tennant’s vocals have rarely been more ecstatic than the rapturous “I would never let you down” in the pre-chorus, before he happily burbles: “You make me feel like nobody else can” as he counts down the days before being reunited with a partner. A simple, special moment.
3 WHY AM I DANCING?
A lyrical cousin of Very single I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing, Tennant wryly admits: “I can feel tears in my eyes – my comfort zone” on finding himself solo on the dancefloor. Whatever Pet Shop Boys spent on the brass section here was worth it for the intro’s eloquent bounce.
4 NEW LONDON BOY
The attention will be on Tennant’s rap, which is inevitably sensational. But the key change in his euphoric “Boy” at the three-and-a-half minute mark is also divine, as is the enveloping bliss surrounding the familiar PSB trope of being new to 70s London.
5 DANCING STAR
Resembling a lost classic from the Please era, the story of Rudolf Nureyev’s defection from the Soviet Union gets some of Neil Tennant’s highest Hi-NRG vocals, while the chunky funk bass riff recalls Why Don’t We Live Together? Manna for lifelong PSB heads and the first side’s most up-for-it bop.
6 A NEW BOHEMIA
A fabulously OTT theatrical ballad, this should have been the song the Pet Shop Boys asked Shirley Bassey to sing instead of The Performance Of My Life. That they still manage to make it sound sincere and essentially pure of heart is testament to both careful structuring and Tennant’s plaintive vocals.
7 THE SCHLAGER HIT PARADE
For anyone who thinks Shameless should have been a single, try this would-be Eurovision romp, which sounds exactly like the stereotype of Pet Shop Boys from 80s sketch shows. Delicious froth in isolation, you wouldn’t want a whole album of it, despite Neil Tennant’s exhortation that, “You need some happy music when winter comes around.”
8 THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS
Following Feel as an escapist love song, Neil Tennant might self-mockingly sigh “Poetry again” at his declarations of romance, but this ode to someone who can just maybe make him perfectly happy is another beautiful wallow, set to a Balearic waves-lapping mood familiar from Between Two Islands.
9 BULLET FOR NARCISSUS
Interrupting the decadence of its surrounding songs, the penultimate track acts like So Hard on Behaviour or A Face Like That on Elysium as the unashamed full-on banger, though its tale of intrigue in Ancient Rome isn’t usually the sort of fare for Chicago house doof.
10 LOVE IS THE LAW
Five minutes that summarise everything that’s gone before, Chris Lowe’s haunting piano motif underpins a simple, elegant ballad reminiscent of Kings Cross. It counteracts the euphoria of Feel, while maintaining a tradition of thoughtful, perfectly poised album finales.