Pet Shop Boys

The influential pop-music band Pet Shop Boys assembled in London in 1981. It all started when vocalist Neil Tennant, a magazine editor and journalist, met keyboardist Chris Lowe, once a student of architecture, at a shop of electronics. They discovered the mutual interests in dance music rich in synthesized sounds, which pushed them to the idea of forming a group. The first big stem that Pet Shop Boys made on their way to glory was cooperating with producer Bobby Orlando whom Tennant came across while preparing a material for his periodical. Orlando produced the duet’s first single, West End Girls, in 1984. This song remained unnoticed in Great Britain and raised a tiny interest in the USA. The same story happened to the follow-up single, One More Chance.

After inking up an agreement with the big company EMI, Pet Shop Boys issued Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) in 1985. This single, too, appeared an ultimate disappointment. The future of the team seemed very obscure, but the musicians decided to give one last try. They released the new edition of West End Girls, executed by another producer. The song reached high places in various ratings and grabbed an airplay on numerous radio stations. As soon as in 1986, Pet Shop Boys released their debut long player, entitled Please. This record made it to Top Ten. A year later, the musicians delivered an even stronger studio work, Actually, featuring three smashing hits, It's a Sin, Always on My Mind, and What Have I Done to Deserve This? In 1988, the group shot the documentary It Couldn't Happen Here. Approximately at the same time, they hit the stores with their third CD, Introspective, much more electronic than its predecessors. Following that, the musicians launched cooperation with Liza Minnelli. The band was not only performing together with the celebrated singer, but also produced her studio album, Results (1989). Later, Tennant jointed his efforts with The Smiths former guitarist Jonny Marr to materialize a rather successful project called Electronic. In 1990, Pet Shop Boys recorded a calm and melancholic album, Behavior. Three years later, the band released a magnificent album called Very, considered by many the best work in the duet’s entire discography.

After the escape into silence for long three years, Pet Shop Boys came back to the market with the experimental work, Bilingual, based on the Latin rhythmical structures. 1999 saw the British release Nightlife with the colorful dance hit New York City Boy. For the first time in the last eight years, they went to the USA with concerts. In the course of this trip, Tennant and Lowe were able to work with the playwright Jonathan Harvey. The three had been long planning to create the musical +Closer to Heaven, and only in the new millennium they found the opportunity to make it real. In 2002, Pet Shop Boys accumulated material enough for two sufficient albums. One of them, under the title Release, touched the stores immediately, while the second one, Disco 3, saw light in 2003. The subsequent work by the duet was again different from anything done before. The musicians recorded a soundtrack to the world classical movie Battleship Potemkin. In 2006, the group released a profound, to some extent political, album named Fundamental. Shortly afterwards, they got out the concert album Concrete: In Concert at the Mermaid Theatre. In March 2009, Pet Shop Boys prepared one more gift for their supporters, their tenth studio album, Yes. In 2009 the musicians released their compilation album Story: 25 Years Of Hits, which includes the brightest Pet Shop Boys compositions created during their musical career. The British band’s discography was enlarged by the third best songs compilation album Ultimate in 2010. The record presents a chronological order of previously issued compositions; however it also includes a brand-new song Together. There is absolutely no doubt that Ultimate will become a perfect addition to a collection of any connoisseur of original and high quality music.