From the British music industry journal, “Music Week”: Pet Shop Boys are facing a close battle with Ronan Keating as they look to score their first number one album in the UK in more than 15 years. The duo’s new Parlophone-issued album “Yes” is presently around 1,200 units ahead of Keating’s Polydor release “Songs For My Mother”, according to early retail reports, but the story is made more complicated by the PSB album having accidentally ended up on iTunes three days early last week. It is understood around 2,500 sales of the album achieved on the Apple site following its premature release there last Friday will not count towards this coming week’s chart as they will be recognised as sales from last week instead. Pet Shop Boys, who won the outstanding contribution award at this year’s Brits, have only topped the albums chart once before. “Very” reached number one in October 1993.
Pet Shop Boys today release “A man from the future” via Parlophone Records.
Recent Pet Texts
Pet Shop Boys’ single “DJ Culture”, co-produced by British dance music duo Brothers In Rhythm and mixed by Stephen Hague, was released 35 years ago today. Explaining the lyrics, Neil said that “just as in DJ records everything is sampled to sound authentic, so in a lot of aspects of modern life – for instance in politics – it is almost as though attitudes are sampled.” These photos were taken by PSB photographer and friend, Eric Watson, during the “DJ Culture” sleeve session in 1991.
Very happy to read the first “A man from the future” album reviews and all your kind messages this week. x
Thanks to the Imperial War Museum, Manchester, for hosting last night’s “A man from the future” playback and then a discussion with us and Andrew Hodges, excellently chaired by Jonathan Swinton (author of “Alan Turing’s Manchester”). We’re excited that the album is released today and you can all hear it!
Photo: Vita Spalding
Thanks to Ian McKellen for introducing us at the Attitude Awards in London last night with a wonderful speech! We’ve known him since we made the “Heart” video in 1988 and it was lovely to see him again. x
In a new BBC Bitesize interview, PSB and Andrew Hodges discuss their new collaborative album, “A man from the future”, which is out this Friday, and share the advice they would give their younger selves. Neil and Chris also remember their first days at school and explain how the technology that Alan Turing pioneered is at the heart of the Pet Shop Boys sound. Available to watch in the UK and to read at the link below.
The original cast recording for “Closer to Heaven” by Jonathan Harvey and Pet Shop Boys was released 25 years ago this week, following several months of shows at the Arts Theatre in London throughout 2001. The musical features Frances Barber as Billie Trix and has since returned to London theatre stages several times, most recently at the Turbine Theatre in 2024.
