Actually

This is very Eighties, but not in a good way for me. Shoutout to "I love you, you pay my rent" as a lyric though.

Skipping the first song on re-listens really added a star or two on this. I wonder how much impact the opening song on an album has on the ratings on this site. Sometimes it feels like a lot to listen to one new album every day, so first impressions really have to count. One More Chance is just so cheesy. The first 30 seconds sounds like an ad for babbys first sampler. Did that squeaky "ehh" sound really need to survive into the chorus? Past that song though, the album is great. Neil Tennant's vocals are always awesome. Distinctive and expressive without being showy. Pop songs are often in minor keys these days, but I feel like that was less common in the 80s (I might be wrong). The fairly sombre vocals combined with the accessible backdrops feel like a smiling friendly man waving you inside, only to regale you with sad tales of privatisation, religious repression, financially one-sided relationships, the impact of the focus on personal financial gain over personal relationships, and so on. But his voice is so nice that you stay and listen. This was a rollercoaster ride of "ohh I like the pet shop boys, let's have a listen... oh no this is cheesy and dated... actually this song aint bad, and this one, and this one, wait, is the only bad song the first one? yes actually. oh god thats the album name. Did they mean that? Surely not. Like the album giving you a weird cheesy pop song at the start and then saying... actually... and then giving you awesome song after awesome song. Like the way the chorus in Shopping makes you go, what the fuck is this about, then you read what its... actually... about... christ I'm overthinking this. Album good." Have I talked myself into five stars here? I think I have. Why not hey.

The eighties were a mistake

With their second album, Actually, the Pet Shop Boys perfected their melodic, detached dance-pop. Where most of Please was dominated by the beats, the rhythms on Actually are part of a series of intricate arrangements that create a glamorous but disposable backdrop for Neil Tennant's tales of isolation, boredom, money, and loneliness. Not only are the arrangements more accomplished, but the songs themselves are more striking, incorporating a strong sense of melody, as evidenced by "What Have I Done to Deserve This?," a duet with Dusty Springfield. Tennant's lyrics are clever and direct, chronicling the lives and times of urban, lonely, and bored yuppies of the late '80s. And the fact that dance-pop is considered a disposable medium by most mainstream critics and listeners only increases the reserved emotional undercurrent of Actually, as well as its irony.

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

5/5 Synthpop and politics are two things I've never thought of before this album, and to be honest I'm blown away! I had thought of synth pop mainly in the vein of one-off, mildly offensive songs like Mr. Roboto, or classic, yet still one-off, songs like Take Me On. There's a certain level of melancholy in Actually that pairs very well in opposition to the upbeat tone and... poppiness of synth pop as a genre. I found Rent to be particularly effective at this, with its short, cutting lyrics about unequal power dynamics paired with synth beats. The unmistakable critiques of British politics (ye olde Margaret Thatcher) and capitalism of the 1980s are also really interesting. It Couldn't Happen Here could easily be viewed as an analogy to the Sinclair Lewis book It Can't Happen Here, except with Thatcher in the driver's seat. Shopping also criticizes industrial privatization. Then there's also the gay subtext in songs like Its a Sin. The production of this album is very clean and in my opinion, its held up quite well. The lyrics are interesting, the instrumentals are varied (love the trombone/trumpet use) so the album doesn't feel too same-y, and a lot of the songs are quite catchy. This album is both highly accessible for members of the public, but also interesting from an analytical standpoint, and I find that that is a really rare and beautiful thing.

This album came out when I was 19. I had it on cassette and played it all the time in those days. It is one of the soundtracks to my college years, as well as a wonderful document of Britain in the the late 80s with its subtle references to Thatcherism. Having spent some time with Dusty Springfield's wonderful music in this project, I am so happy that this album helped to bring her back into the spotlight (and that Dusty in Memphis was Neil Tennant's favourite album!) I love the synth-pop sound, the dancy tracks, and the emotions in this. An absolute favorite then and now.

Lively and likable.

Only reason it got 2 stars was for “It’s a Sin”. The yawning on the cover is an accurate depiction of the album overall.

Kinda shit

I could see this being fun to listen to if I were a completely different person with a completely different music taste

There's a lot of good vibes to this, really love their sound and especially the production. The singing is a little bit so and so, but i really enjoy it. Hit Music is infectious and funky, probably my favorite track off the whole album. 9/10 Best tracks: One More Chance, What Have I Done To Deserve This?, Rent, Hit Music, It's A Sin, Heart. Worst track: Shopping

Nice, dancey. Very on-par with Depeche Mode without being as dark. Love the Dusty Springfield duet. Favorite tracks: "I Want to Wake Up", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", "It's a Sin"

Boy, that really didn't age well, did it? Gross.

Actually Looking back at the review for Behaviour that seemed quite patchy, but this feels a coherent and very strong collection of songs. What Have I Done to Deserve This and It’s a Sin are the obvious big songs, but this is excellent throughout, the only song I wasn’t sure of was It Couldn’t Happen Here, although it did grow on me. On the surface there is a plasticy late 80s yuppie sheen to it all, reflecting some of the themes and lyrics. But underneath that it's a brilliantly constructed set of songs, a great sounding mix of synth, electro, Hi-NRG and pop, all tied together with the coolly detached mundanity of Neil Tennant's delivery, touching on politics, emptiness and loneliness, boredom, money, and love. One More Chance is a great dancey opener and I have always loved Dusty’s ‘Since You Went Away…’ part, a great pop moment. Shopping is great, despite the lyric occasionally being too bluntly literal. Rent is excellent, built around the excellently sardonic ‘I Love You, You Pay my Rent’ chorus. Hit Music is another bit of frothy and catchy dance pop, celebrating the joy of music, the almost salsa-piano giving it a nice bit of extra texture. I can see how It Couldn’t Happen Here provides a change of tempo and feel with it’s allusions to AIDS, and although it grew on me and the trumpet is forlornly excellent, it does drag a little, maybe just because melodically it doesn’t quite land as well as the songs around it. It’s a Sin is of course an absolute banger, the campily melodramatic religious overtones of the synth/string line and the chorus hook are superb, a moment of pop perfection. I Want To Wake Up feels perhaps a step below the songs either side of it, but it is another well crafted bit of dance pop, the vocoder and descending chorus are very nice. I completely forgot about Heart, it’s also banger, that sampled vocal hook is superb. According to wiki ‘The song was also intended to be used in the Steven Spielberg-produced film Innerspaice but the dance sequence it was intended for was at the wrong tempo for the song’ For shame. King’s Cross ends things on a bit of a down note, the hangover to the upbeat songs, it feels like a glimpse of reality behind the yuppiness parodied and satirised on the rest of the album. Great track. I’m finding it hard to think why this shouldn’t be a 5 - great hooks, great dancey rhythms and beats, a unique vocal and melodic style, an interesting set of thematic threads and consistently excellent songs all add up to make this a fantastic album. 5. 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰 Playlist submission: It’s a Sin

You cannot convince me this isnt a parody album of Britpop. Heavy Synth sounds and decent music, but the vocals are almost nonsensical. Particularly the Shopping-Rent-Hit Music run in the middle. The fact that Shopping is often used on British Shopping Channels makes it seem like the song was produced for that purpose rather than the song coming first.

PSB were a guilty pleasure overheard that I refused to recognise back when I believed synthesisers weren’t real instruments and guitars had to be everywhere. The music is well poised, economical without being sparse, the dramatic moments popping; lyrics are calculatedly ambiguous, yet sharp as heck, and it turns out I have a thing for Tennant’s voice. This is thrilling music, the singles bringing a chill but more unexpectedly the rest having heft, purpose and hooks. They invented their own universe, something they share with the rest of the best here. Old me was a foolish child - looks like he has lots of companions here!

Another youthful favorite, faithfully taped from the local library, from when chart music was various, eminent and fascinating. Has retained its majesty (esp. the biggies "Rent", "It's A Sin", "Heart" and the Dusty number) although the opener is a weird choice; tack on the faultless hi-NRG "Always On My Mind" cover for the VIP experience (I've awarded the ultimate Xmas #1 to RATM elsewhere, but this really deserves it instead). Excellent soundtrack on the Walkman while reading Agatha Christie, surely a 5* qualification? Nostalgic wink also to the Carter USM cover of "Rent"; "..Fulham Broadway..", oh you wags

Fantastic dance tracks, scathing political commentary. Who knew satire could work in a song. Neil Tennant’s dry delivery just makes it - this proves two men and a synth can accomplish so much. I embraced them from when I first heard West End Girls in 1984. Apparently that was a hit in France and Belgium, which makes sense now because I was dancing to it in a Parisian nightclub in 1985. Me and my friend were the only ones who knew every word because we were the only British people there. The French kids did know the chorus though. But I digress! The beats, the delivery - every tune has impact. I think most people know It’s a Sin from the recent TV series, even people who weren’t there in the 80s. So that’s been given a much-appreciated revival. I’m not gonna deny that it sounds very 80s, but I don’t find that a derogatory comment. This album encapsulate the British political and emotional climate of the time and I can listen to those tunes even now and get carried away!

Didn’t expect to, but really got a kick out of this album! The beats were great, I found myself moving along to it in the kitchen - and the jabs at the privatization of the UK and Thatcherism were like a little cherry on top. Enjoyed meaning behind a genre often focused on partying - at least from what I know as a mostly outsider to electronic and dance.

yawning on the album cover: funny and kinda cool album cover picturing the correct reaction to every song: not cool music: hated. (⌐■_■)

[on the phone with the manager of the pet shop] “Yeah I was just wondering, what’s your return policy for boys?”

The Pet Shop Boys came to my attention in 1986 with the album Please. I loved that album. But their release of 1987 of this album is what made me a huge fan. This is 80s perfection. I love every song on this album. From the absolutely phenomenal “It’s A Sin” to the sad elegy “It Couldn’t Happen Here”, this album mixes politics and personal stories deeply into these incredible electronic dance creations. One of the finest albums from the Pet Shop Boys, and one of the finest albums from the 80s, or any decade for that matter.

Oh heck yeah. This is the new wave sound that I love and have been waiting for! Actually is the definition of moody new wave. The lyrics and the tone of the music make it dark, but there's quite a beat throughout the album. It must the disco vibes! So many songs are just so catchy. "Heart" and "Hit Music" embody that disco feeling! And how absolutely wonderful Dusty Springfield lended her voice for the "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" duet. Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield are an unusual combination but one that paid off big. I've been looking forward to Pet Shop Boys on this list, and I'm so thrilled I was not disappointed. I do get nervous submitting 5s but I do know I will come back to this album and enjoy it more and more. Final note: the album cover is such, such a mood.

Massive bias here, I already love the Pet Shop Boys. Dance music with a degree in Dostoevsky was never not going to appeal to my pretentiousness. The fact they can write about such bleak subject matter and not sound like your standard miserabalists is GENIUS. And the lyrics!

It's my guilty secret that I can't help but like PSBs and this is my favourite. I bought it at the time and even went to see them in the 90's (with my girlfriend as cover). All 10 songs are of the highest quality- production, beat and style. The lyrics conjure up a glamourous and often sordid 80's highlife. It's unashamed and catchy.

"What Have I Done to Deserve This?" is a pop masterpiece. Overall, the synths were immaculate, and this is the peak of '80s dance-pop. What a catchy, poignant and ridiculously calming (for the soul) record. Except "Shopping". That was not the greatest thing.

Practically perfect synth pop. "It's A Sin" alone is worth price of admission, but everything else is so blissful and bouncy. Bravo!

This is a masterpiece of electronic pop/dance music. The undertone here is often melancholic, but even then with a hauting, yet melodious vibe. Still, there is variation between songs - listening through this gem never gets boring. We can find some well-known PSB songs from the 80s here (It's a Sin, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Rent, Heart), but the lesser known songs are good as well, including two especially beautiful ballads (King's Cross/It couldn't happen here). This album is a classic. 5/5

Five classic pop-singles + five very strong other tracks - clearly one of the best albums of the 80s.

What Have I Done to Deserve This Album? Love It ❤🌈

One of my favorite bands. Love it.

So good. Owned this. So good so good so good.

Major game piece! Catchiness and fun, lyrical power and greay overall! Still getting covered by newer artists today

one of my fav albums now. amazing

Yes, actually a 5.

PERFECTION

Hell yeah to fighting Thatcherism.

Classic synth-pop album, full of hits. It couldn't happen here and the last two are great, plus the Dusty track, and It's A Sin one of the best synth tracks of the 80's.

Very Pet Shop Boys start to finish. Some gems on this album, but ultimately, this album exists in a very specific time in history and doesn't really hold up in the modern music world (that sounds more negative than I mean it). A number of the songs get a little repetitive and drone on for a little too long, but the themes and emotions throughout are relatable and at times hard hitting.

One of the better synth pop excursions on this list. These dudes are fucking weird. I dig it.

I have never really warmed to a Pet Shop Boys album that isn't their Best Of. And neither, I think, have they. Neil Tennant was a staffer at Smash Hits, so I can believe he only thought in singles - a Bobby O beat and few sardonic lines that will cut through the radio or look good on a lyric sheet in the same magazine. Architecture student Chris Lowe was understandably fastidious about the architecture of his synths, his sequences, and drum patterns, but never concerned about the architecture of an album arc. Introspective is the worst, with its tedious, dragging run times. Actually and the other albums follow more conventional shapes, with big songs up front and ballads at the back, but it feels entirely as though it is conventional wisdom rather than genuine wisdom. Neil Tennant can't sing ballads - and adding Morricone and Badalamenti to the mix seems like an expression of curatorial good taste rather than a genuine collaboration. Why collaborate when adding their name to the sleeve does most of the work? I like What Have I Done to Deserve This, but there is no doubt that the resurrection of Dusty Springfield is the artistic aim rather than the song. The pop journalist, Tennant, is not so far removed from the Malcolm McLaren of Madame Butterfly, really - a bit of high culture, a bit of low culture, think about the pose, the juxtaposition, the magazine spread, fine-tune the song later. If there's time. Well, there's always time for the singles, but the album will get whatever focus is left over. This is not to diminish what the group manages to achieve on the stand-out singles. But there is something in the decision to keep Heart for themselves rather than submit it to Madonna as they first thought that tells us something about the Pet Shop Boys - they don't care about the song and what is good for it. Not really. They will work with Morricone and Springfield, for example, if those greats will come to them, but they won't let the song go and fly on its own. Too calculating - too much of the journalist and too much of the architect. I think it is fair to quickly compare PSB with Soft Cell here, as we've already discussed them and Tennant makes a throwaway reference to Tainted Love in I Want to Wake Up. Chris Lowe may be more sophisticated than Dave Ball (at this point). Neil Tennant is certainly more sophisticated than Marc Almond. They all come to London from up North (three out of four from Lancashire), but the Soft Cell boys go to art school, while PSB enter the professions. There is no doubting the artistic integrity of Soft Cell in the beginning, I don't think, but there is too much of the dinner party about Pet Shop Boys. When Almond sings Bedsitter, we are with him in his abjection. When Tennant sings Rent - the more proficient song in many ways - we are expected to admire his cleverness and sharp observation. Perhaps that is the difference that six years in the big city makes - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is the arrival, Actually the numbed statis. Or six years of AIDS - Soft Cell, hot freedom; PSB, cold frigidity. Or the difference between Thatcher's first term and her third. I don't know. But listen to the difference between Neil Tennant's hit duet with Dusty Springfield and Marc Almond's hit duet with Gene Pitney two years later. The first is clever, distanced, an exploitation of the old star. The second is emotional, theatrical, deferential to the old song and the older singer. It is clear who loves the music more. 2 Sometime in the early noughties we were in HMV browsing cds. I must have been determined to buy something because I pulled out a tenner and asked you to spend it for me. You picked this. Why was that? I am reminded of the conundrum every time I open the Box of Shame and spot Actually in there. It’s possible it was merely an invitation to begin in synth-pop - you and Paul were well along already; the Magnetic Fields, Momus, Mortiis. Perhaps it was a taunt about the relative lack of genre-diversity in my cd collection which at the time ran all the way from American alternative rock to English alternative rock. Perhaps it was simply an expression of contempt for the task because you knew, rightly, that there was no possibility I could like Actually and its purchase was next to burning the tenner. Were we simply standing next to the P section? Any of these was a perfectly just response, in any case - I should have spent my own tenner and taken full responsibility for whatever rotten cd ended up in my collection. I could be wrong of course. This event may have happened 15 or 20 years ago rather than 25 - the chronology of the major events of my life is hazy enough to my memory, never mind the cd purchases. Could I be wrong too about the quality of Actually? Well first, this immolation of my tenner certainly happened on the ground floor of HMV and when was the last time they displayed cds on the ground floor? Second, I have just spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday listening to little else but Actually, all the while asking myself what is *my* problem. Well whatever it is, it continues to be - I have no affection whatsoever for this album or for Pet Shop Boys. More’s the pity because a couple of friends whose tastes I have the utmost respect for (yours and Marty’s) love this shit. Well I know Marty does - I am about 85% sure on you - I don’t think we have ever had much of an exchange on Pet Shop Boys. That I can remember. That memory of mine ffs. I suppose when I read your half of this review I will find out for sure, probably again. I am always hearing about the cleverness of Pet Shop Boys and I continue to feel this to be untrue. Although their songs could certainly be stupider, the much rehearsed claims to sharpness and subversion of the pop lyric (“it’s an *anti*-love song!”, “..it’s all actually about Thatcherism you know…”) are entirely superficial. Neil Tennant writes with a certain poise but no real wit and absolutely no poetry. Sure - Neil doesn’t just write about love like most of the rest of them - he alludes to politics and train stations and uses words like ‘currency’ and does a bit in Latin and when listeners hear that sort of thing delivered in an austere English accent what else are they to think? Surely this is the higher shit? The gear they write with quills? But imagine Ian Dury doing these lyrics - you’d think he’d fallen and hit his head. There ain’t half been some clever bastards but Neil Tennant is not among them. The rhythms are clumsy, the rhymes are dull. His lyrics have the looks but they don’t have the brains. It all strikes me as a (successful) branding exercise, along with the aloof manner of Tennant’s frigidity at the microphone stand; along with the suits; along with choosing the one of him yawning for the front cover. He has made lots of money. That’s a type of ‘cleverness’ no doubt - but casting shade at the cold calculation of Thatcherism while coldly calculating isn’t cool, is it? Yes, it is. What Tennant lacks in poetry he doesn’t make up for by beating us over the head with that lack four or five times every song. Amid the dazzle of the brand success story told above however, the musical proceduralism on display in these songs is glorified as ‘knowing’. It’s deconstruction, innit? More cleverness. It’s like Stock, Aitken, Waterman but with a wink to those of us who read books and the Financial Times and what not. Unless we don’t, in which case here is cunning exploitation of our stupidity as listeners. Give us hell in the form of the five identical choruses that we deserve no better than! Pet Shop Boys can’t lose. Reading about the album I see someone accused It’s a Sin of ripping off Wild World back in the day. Naive. If only Pet Shop Boys were musically ambitious enough to rip someone off! Alas, that verse progression is just a circle of fifths - a musical commonplace as meat and potatoes as the old hat pre-choruses and middle-eights that efficiently numb us to the bludgeoning we get from idiotic synth hooks and the name of the song. Of course there is the drum programming, which Chris Lowe is very good at and which you sense a little passion sits behind. That said - I could do with less of that too, and it is after all only cold comfort; worthless when elsewhere coldness is all. My memory let me down again. I went looking for Actually at the weekend in (both) boxes of Shame - now resident in the garage. It isn’t there. I expect I gave it to a charity shop. It is, after all, still cool, still fashionable - exactly the sort of CD one should give away when it isn’t being appreciated. Oxfam will have been glad to see it instead of yet another copy of Richard Ashcroft’s Alone With Everybody (not on this list). Some student will have felt they got a rare bargain and posted a photo of their find on social media. ‘What a find! £1! #PSB #S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.’ Then hopefully they will have given it to another charity shop in a year or two. 1.5/5

If you like the Pet Shop Boys, then you will like this album. Their dreamy distant tone doesn't vary a lot and never seemed that interesting to me. Sorry Pet Shop Boys.

New Order with worse music and slightly better lyrics, which isn't really a good trade-off. "King's Cross" pops off, though.

The expressions on the album cover aptly match the sound of the music.

I'm the guy on the right

Pet Shop Boys don’t do it for me

It's a sin indeed. 10 seconds in I already felt the urge to turn it off. Came out of it with only two half-decent songs, salvaging a second star.

PSB are basically the soundtrack to Thatcher's Britain. Community - bad, money - good, homos - bad. Neil's distinctive nasal yet soaring vocal layered over Chris' electronic bleepy-bloops. There can't be many finer 3 album sequences than Actually->Introspective->Behaviour. If you're not from here and that time, I'm sure it loses some of it's magic, but I could very happily listen to "It's a Sin" on repeat.

I still listen to some of these songs on a very regular basis (every week or every other week). They're one of the best 80s synthpop bands ever created. There are a few songs that aren't my favorite, but I love the album as a whole. 4.5 stars.

Absolute classic. 10 Bangers. Love PSB.

A classic of electronic music. Long live the Pet Shop Boys!

Cracking debut from the lads. Four number one singles, some classic pop tunes. Excellent!

Amazing.

nice album. it's a pretty good listen and never gets dull. i wish the production was a little more lively, as is more my style. pet shop boys tend to be a bit subdued for my liking a lot of the time. but a pretty solid album nonetheless

Favorites: One More Chance, It's a Sin, I Want to Wake Up On the surface, Actually is an ambitiously catchy synthpop album from the late-80s that somehow sounds both nostalgic and fresh to this day. However, when you dig into the lyrics a bit, you discover its deeper and more politically driven lyrics about the HIV/AIDS crisis and rampant homophobia at the time. This combination of catchiness and progressive lyricism (especially in this day and age) let this album stand the test of time exceedingly well. 8/10

I love you, you pay my rent 😅 just a perfect 80s album.

Okay that one song still slaps

It's a sin not to like this album

Great - very of its time, and evocative. Will listen again!

Nice

if you put a gay man talking about his night out over a mediocre electronic beat

Ah, the boys of the best damn pet shop in town. The fact is you can pin electronic music down to the technology that ages it. That can shine through nostalgically and you can celebrate it. On the other hand, one can be a little too aware of the distance created by its aging qualities, if your ears are now tuned to contemporary production. "One More Chance" does nothing for me as a opener. I'm not sure why it seems to have the soundfont as used for a baddie in "Banjo Kazooie" throughout. "Rent" is a bit silly and "Hit Music" sounds like someone unsuccesfully scrambling for a song idea, on a day that hasn't been full of inspiration. Is this Rent/Hit Music middle section just a bit sh*? "It Couldn't Happen Here" is a lovely composition, a lovely silent moment, a kitchen-sink melodrama. But - thanks be - that we're onto "It's A Sin", a song that I'd actively pick to listen to, with experience, heartbreak, force, aching, astute critique. Fuck Thatcher, always. And all the enemies of Love. An anthem in all the right ways. "Shopping" is up there with all the best protest songs. "I Wanted To Wake Up" is so entirely crafted as a pop song of the time, it's now difficult. It's a close neighbour down the road from 80's aerobics class music. I found "Heart" and "King's Cross" a bit boring. There is a little disconnect to take note of in terms of a limit to how much it's speaking to me right now , but it's angry and has some great songs. I'm not hearing an album that's cohesive and for my ear. However, I have so much respect for what the boys of the shop do, how this takes aim at 80s limited beliefs in trickle down b*all*cks, excess, cronyism, emerging capitalist/fascism we're still stuck with, and how Britain was bought and sold by Thatcher. I'd say we're still recovering but once everyone and everything was sold down the river, it was gone. The Boys pushing through LGBTQ+ stories and representation under Thatcher's laws, under the some of the worst conditions the community has faced here. It has to be a strong three from me, today, but it's with love, Boys

Its proto-90s trance. 3.5/5!

Camp and fun. Some of the synth is a bit too boppy for me

Bongos bad Sin good Not my bag

I liked this more than earlier PSB. What have I what have I what have I done to deserve this? I liked it!

No West End Girls? Still, pretty cool. I feel like I’m in a Delorian on my way to pick up some Ludes after a long day of day trading. Seriously though, this has a Pure 80s vibe and is solid all the way through. There are remnants of lot of what the Pet Shop Boys did here.

I kind of liked this in a few spots. I was definitely dancing along on the bus. But today went I went to listen to today's album, I looked at the page, saw that I hadn't rated this one yet, and thought "Oh, I missed one!" So I started listening, kind of grooved along... I didn't realize until the third track (which I did not care for) that I had already listened to this... So, a little fun sometimes, but overall, apparently very forgettable for me...

You actually smell the 80’s

"What have I, what have I, what have I done to deserve this?" That's a quote from me halfway through listening to this rubbish. I never understood the acclaim that the Pet Shop Boys get. Neil Tennant's nasally voice is bad enough, but add in some terrible synth, jangly piano and flat drums along with the lifeless melodies. It's no wonder Tennant is yawning on the cover. But it's not just that it's bad. It's also incredibly cringe. Everything about it makes me embarrassed. Sure there's some social and political commentary here, and "It's a sin" has at least some intelligence to the lyrics. But everything else is just embarrassing.

I’ve always hated this band’s music. This sounds like someone dancing in your face when you’re in a bad mood, saying ‘come and daaaaance’ when your face is clearly telling them to fuck off. Annoying.

This was SO hard to get through. 'Actually' was a dated snooze-fest that barely held my interest throughout what felt like a terribly long listen (although this isn't long at all compared to some of the albums I have received so far on this list). To sum up my feelings on this one, all you need to do is look at the album cover as the yawning was a perfect representation of how I felt going through this album. I was just constantly unimpressed by anything on here. None of the instrumentals stood out to me as it just seemed like generic 80's synth-pop throughout with no catchy hooks. I also did not enjoy the singer's voice at all; while he has a unique tone, I found it pretty irritating and noticed that he sang every type of song the exact same way. The combination between annoying vocals and boring music ended up making this feel like a parody of everything it was trying to be which is about the worst thing I can say about an album from this genre. This is not an album that I can recommend anyone check out, and I am not sure how it can deserve a spot on this list at all. 'Actually' is the weakest album I have listened to so far. 1.5/5. NOTE: I went to check this one off of my list and saw that there are 3(!) Pet Shop Boys albums on this list. How?!?!?

In the 80s when Westend girl arrived it screamed one hit wonder. I was wrong as they continue. I like them esp Neill annunciation for all he is worth. Some great songs although he does get a bit overwrought at times. A fine album.

They took primitive digital instruments and made them presentable in a way that BBC presenters could only dream of. Immaculate. Impossible to ignore how they changed the shape of popular music forever.

I like the Pet Shop Boys sound. You can beat West End Girls and What Have i Done to Deserve This. It was nice to hear the entire album.

yass

For most of my life, I didn't get Pet Shop Boys save for West End Girls, which has always been one of the greatest songs ever made. Pet Shop Boys is gay music and there's nothing abashed about it. Pet Shop Boys are like gay vanguards. It's always been a strength of theirs. I just felt like I couldn't relate to the music 'cause I wasn't gay enough. Then a few years ago I heard this album with no real context save that around that time I also heard Dusty Springfield and was blown away by the Memphis album, so was curious to re-listen to the track she's on here. So I listened to the whole thing and it was all revealed just how smart and well-written the songs are, how singular Neil Tennant is as a singer, and how perfect the music is as an overall context for everything. Most songs here operate on multiple levels. "Shopping" is a great example where if not listening closely, the track could easily be panned as an 80s relic of unbridled consumerism with a gay sense of flair, but is instead a pointed critique of that very thing, with the added commentary of how governments and the establishment are just as ravenous in consumption in the era of maximum free trade neoliberalism, and perhaps if there was any real trickledown, it was the cultural ethos that wealth accumulation is always the final end and pursuit of that end is most noble. Plus shopping just fucking feels good. I Want To Wake Up is a slight dip, but is lifted back up with Heart, whose chorus is just chef's kiss 80s club borderline Techno sweetness. ALSO: the transition on Hit Music at 3:37 is SO DAMN GOOD. Could put this portion in loop and just kick it, and I might legit do that 'cause, man, it's just euphoric and I want to stay there. This masterful album's a 5. Maybe it's because I'm finally gay enough, but really it's that this music is incredibly well-crafted, deliberate, smart, sophisticated, confident, deep. It takes more than one listen, but has the gloss that could fool you, thus allowing this to be big pop music. It satisfies on multiple levels and I'm happy I get it now.

Remember, kids, pop music is only good if it's from the 80s. I don't make the rules, these guys do. They also predict the future, apparently. I don't think Cookies were a thing in 1987, so how these guys could've predicted data brokers is beyond me. I'm probably also just really stupid. Anyways, I'd kill to know how people in the 80s felt hearing It's a Sin for the first time when the AIDS crisis was at its peak. It's probably the gayest song I've ever heard come out of the 80s. There are a few Bronski Beat songs that come pretty close, though. The album as a whole has significantly less competition for the the best 80s pop I've heard.

A great album from the kings of Synth-Dance-Op. Has my favourite Pet Shop Boys track, "Rent"; also contains number one singles, "It's a Sin" and "Heart", plus "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" with Dusty Springfield.

music is love

Pet Shop Boys is not a band I love as much as I used to, but this is right in the middle of what I consider to be their best stretch of albums. Discography is one of the best singles collections of all time and you get four of them here. Rent and It’s A Sin are my favorites, but What Have I Done To Deserve This has really grown on me over the years. The other material is nearly as strong too. Only PSB could make a song about shopping sound so cool. King’s Cross is often pinpointed as a should-have-been single and I concur. Somehow, this record doesn’t quite have my heart like others I’ve given full marks, but it’s better than any of my 4s. Getting this for my birthday was a fine gift from the generator. I’ll be generous in return.

HELL YES SYNTHPOP LET'S GO Excellent soundscapes and equally excellent catchy melodies across the entire thing. Will easily return here many times over. The synthesizers are loud but never corny and really mesh without sounding like a blur thanks to some keen production from Shep Pettibone. Also that Ennio Morricone collab halfway through?!!! Had no idea about that, gah damn.

Absolutely banging, this is 80s pop perfection at its most unorthodox. Neil Tennant manages to wrangle both sublime pop hooks, despite lacking obvious technical singing ability, and emotional heft, despite a deadpan, almost monotone delivery. Meanwhile Chris Lowe provides a musical backdrop which always somehow sounds both huge and lush, yet sparse and simple at the same time. It's a strange sort of alchemy that on paper shouldn't work anywhere near as well as it does, but this album is absolutely a vibe. Awesome.

A great mix of electro pop

When I first saw this I thought I only knew one pet shop boys song - sooo wrong sooo many good songs on this love it

Elsker synthpop

5/5. Pet Shop Boys sind Legenden

Guilty pleasure 80s dance-pop -- super catchy & emotional. I'd be lying if I said I didn't groove out to this.

"Actually" is the second studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Synth-pop, electropop and dance-pop are the Wiki-listed genres. The song material is from their early songwriting days, new material, contributions on arrangements from Angelo Badalamenti and additional vocals from Dusty Springfield. The duo is Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. Commercially, the album reached #2 on the UK Charts and #25 on US Billboard 200. It was also critically well-received with a description of "perfecting their melodic, detached dance-pop. Sounds of waves, a piano roll and electronic beats open "One More Chance." Muffled vocals pick up emotions and sound as the song progresses. Layered synths. It's smooth and catchy. Dusty Springfield joins in on the vocals in "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" Various electronic beats. A synth-horn melody that made me think immediately of Janet Jackson. A social critique. Another song commenting on social positions is "Rent." A quicker beat and a bouncy synth. He's willing to be rented out to his financially powerful partner. A church-like synth organ, choir vocals and thunder begin "It's a Sin." And no accident, as Tennant looks back at his guilt and repression growing up Catholic. Fast moving. An absolutely irressistable horn-synth melody. One of the best songs of the 80's. The last of the four singles released, "Heart" uniquely uses syth-human vocals that sound like a heart beat. A cheery love song . Very pop and hypnotic. I'd be hard pressed to name a better sounding 80's album. That time period has some of the worst sounding albums that I can think of and, yet, this has aged pristinely. Layered synths and beats. Synth and dance pop that is never boring. The themes and lyrics are extremely varied covering topics such as relationships, social commentary, AIDS, growing up Catholic and an area in London. This is a very solid album and is highly recommended.

There’s nothing more effective than an iron first of political satire wrapped in a velvet glove of pitch perfect pop and that’s exactly what Tennant and Lowe serve up here. The astonishing song It’s A Sin towers over this album and it is an amazing achievement in its own right. LGBTQ+ issues and poverty and excess, defining issues then as now, thread through the album lyrically and are treated seriously and subtly. Overall a remarkable achievement well deserving of its iconic status.

Zamn, that was good. A nice piece of 80s pop I'm surprised I've never heard before, tied together with somber and sincere singing and great messaging. FAVORITE SONG: "It's a Sin"

Masterpiece!

love them. Such a huge part of anything that happened in the 80s. Essential 80s.

Actually really good. It sounds fantastic and is wonderfully layered. So 80s and I love it. Very catchy with moments of pure awe

01) One More Chance - 8,0 02) What Have I Done to Deserve This? - 10,0 03) Shopping - 8,5 04) Rent - 10,0 05) Hit Music - 8,0 06) It Couldn't Happen Here - 8,0 07) It's a Sin - 10,0 08) I Want to Wake Up - 8,0 09) Heart - 10,0 10) King's Cross - 9,0 TOTAL: 8,95 (90/100) Current ranking: 75/731

Amazing album

really fun!!!!

PSB; allways good!!!

Takes me back to when I was a teen. I love it