''Nightlife'' is the seventh studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 8 October 1999 by

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

. After the release and promotion of their previous album, '' Bilingual'' (1996), Pet Shop Boys started work with playwright Jonathan Harvey on the stage musical that eventually became '' Closer to Heaven'' (at one stage during the writing process, the musical was given the name of ''Nightlife''). Pet Shop Boys soon had an album's worth of tracks and decided to release the album ''Nightlife'' as a concept album and in order to showcase some of the songs that would eventually make it into the musical. The album incorporates a variety of musical influences, including

hard trance Hard trance is a subgenre of trance music which originated in Western Europe (Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands) in the early 1990s as the Breakbeat hardcore production community began to diversify into new and different styles of electronic ...

on the

Rollo Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had se ...

-produced "For Your Own Good" and "Radiophonic"; dance-pop on "Closer to Heaven" and "I Don't Know What You Want but I Can't Give It Any More"; disco pastiche on "New York City Boy"; and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

on "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk". The track "Happiness Is an Option" is based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's classical piece Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14. As of May 2001, the album had sold 1.2 million copies worldwide. It reached number seven on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

(their first studio album not to reach the top five) and spent three weeks on the chart at the time, but re-entered at number 29 in 2017 following the album's ''Further Listening 1996–2000'' reissue. It also became the duo's lowest-charting studio album in the United States, reaching number 84 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

"In Denial" with Kylie Minogue

"In Denial" is a duet featuring Kylie Minogue. It was seen as a risk by critics because this project came at a time when Minogue was experiencing low record sales and did not have her own record contract. Pet Shop Boys had previously written a song titled "Falling" for Minogue's 1994 album '' Kylie Minogue''. The same year as ''Nightlifes release, Minogue also signed to

and released her hugely successful ''

Light Years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

'' album in 2000. Minogue would later sing "In Denial" on her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour, with

Neil Tennant Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for ''Smash Hits'', and ...

's pre-recorded vocals being played as part of the duet while Minogue sang live.

Visuals

For the promotion of the album, the band adopted a stark new appearance, designed in consultation with theatre designer Ian McNeil. Now, the duo ubiquitously appeared wearing thick, dark eyebrows, inspired by

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is though ...

theatre; yellow or orange wigs in a variety of hairstyles, inspired by the punk subculture (especially several spiked wigs); and black sunglasses. This was supported by a series of outfits in dark, muted colours, the most deviant of which incorporated

culottes Culottes are an item of clothing worn on the lower half of the body. The term can refer to either split skirts, historical men's breeches, or women's under-pants; this is an example of fashion-industry words taken from designs across history, l ...

, inspired by the attire of

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

, instead of trousers. Photographs involving the costumes were often set in urban environments; the

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Kings Cross, London Kings Cross is a district on either side of Euston Road, in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Barnsbury to the north, Clerkenwell and Islington to the east, Holborn to the south and Euston to the west. It is ser ...

was used as the setting to debut the look. The costumes were used for promotional photographs, the album cover and

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

, all the single covers, as well as the Nightlife Tour. The music video for "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore" showed Tennant and Lowe being transformed into their new appearances, though in a fantastical manner: they are operated on by medical laboratory machines, then covered in talcum powder and dressed by monks in a ritual-like manner. Finally, they are given dogs on leashes and released into a "different world", where everyone else is also dressed in exactly the same way. Conceptualised among the band members, McNeil, and director Pedro Romhanyi, the video was created to showcase the costumes. It was visually influenced by the films ''

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'' (1971) in the initial transformation sequence (copying many of its shots and props precisely); ''

Ridicule Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mock ...

'' (1996), in the ritualistic dressing-up scene; '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968), in the decor of the living room with an illuminated floor; and ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

'' (1971), in the outdoor urban setting. According to Tennant, the costumes helped him to distance himself from the songs, adding to the impersonal nature of ''Nightlife''. In other interviews, he explained that they played into his belief in the need for pop stars to have "bigger than life" public images, and were a reaction against the "naturalistic" look of the 1990s. Effort was also spent on designing the tour's visuals, with sets designed by

deconstructivist Deconstructivism is a movement of postmodern architecture which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, continuity, or symmetry. ...

architect

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

. The stage was modular, and could fit in differently-sized venues and be rearranged by the backing singers throughout each concert.

Track listing

US limited edition bonus CD

A limited-edition two-CD set of ''Nightlife'' was released in the United States. The bonus disc, titled ''Nightlife Extra'', contained all the B-sides from the UK releases of the "I Don't Know What You Want but I Can't Give It Any More" and "New York City Boy" singles, as well as remixes of these singles, some of which were only available in the US on promotional releases.

''Further Listening 1996–2000''

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Nightlife''. * Pet Shop Boys – arrangement

Additional musicians

* Pete Gleadall – programming ; additional programming * Mark Bates – additional keyboards *

Pauline Taylor Pauline Taylor is a British singer and songwriter who came to recognition as the lead vocalist on the singles "Love Love Love, Here I Come" by Rollo Goes Mystic and "Let This Be a Prayer" by Rollo Goes Spiritual. Both groups are pseudonyms for ...

– additional vocals * Craig Armstrong – arrangement, orchestration ; additional keyboards ; piano ;

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

; choir arrangement ; additional piano * Stephen Hilton – programming, additional keyboards * Richard T. Norris – programming, additional keyboards *

Pete Lockett Pete Lockett is an English percussionist and recording artist. Lockett is known as a versatile and prolific percussionist, collaborating with many artists. He is well-versed in percussion traditions from music cultures around the world, from tradit ...

– percussion * Ali MacLeod – guitar * Peter "Ski" Schwartz – additional keyboards ; keyboards, programming, string arrangements * Audrey Wheeler – additional vocals * Sylvia Mason-James – additional vocals *

Kate St John Kate St John (born October 2, 1957) is an English composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Classically trained on oboe, she gained a music degree at City University London. Her first band was The Ravishing Beauties with Virginia A ...

–

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

* B. J. Cole – pedal steel guitar * Scott J. Fraser – bass guitar * JB Henry – additional vocals *

Tessa Niles Tessa Margaret Niles ( ''née'' Webb; born 27 January 1961 in Ilford, Essex) is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of contemporary artists. She began her professional singing career in 1979. Early life and ca ...

– additional vocals *

Carol Kenyon Carol Kenyon (sometimes spelt Karol; born 1959) is a British singer. She is best known for her vocals on the Heaven 17 hit song "Temptation", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. When the song was re-released as a remix by ...

– additional vocals * Malcom Hyde-Smith – percussion * Paul Herman – guitar * Andy Gangadeen – drums * Kylie Minogue – vocals * Joey Mosk – keyboard programming * Vincent Montana Jr. – string arrangements, horn arrangements, string conducting, horn conducting * Gene Perez – bass guitar * Carlos Gomez – percussion * Danny Madden – backing vocals arrangement, backing vocals conducting * Steve Abrams – backing vocals * Billy Cliff – backing vocals * Keith Fluitt – backing vocals * John James – backing vocals *

The London Session Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

– orchestra * Gavyn Wright – orchestra leader *

Metro Voices Metro Voices is a choir group based in London, England, that specialises in performing for the motion pictures. They work closely with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and with acclaimed British composer Craig Armstrong. They are known from the ...

– choir * Jenny O'Grady – choir master * Matt Dunkley – choir conducting

Technical

– production, mixing * Pet Shop Boys – production ; mixing * Goetz – engineering ; mixing * Craig Armstrong – production * Andy Bradfield – engineering *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...

– mixing * Geoff Foster – strings recording *

David Morales David Morales (; born August 21, 1962) is an American disc jockey (DJ) and record producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is also a remixer. David Morales has remixed and produced over 500 releases for artists including ...

– production * Steven Barkan – engineering * Bill Importico Jr. – engineering assistance * Hugo Dwyer – strings engineering * Richard Lowe – engineering * Jon Smelz – string and horn engineering * Tim Young – mastering

Artwork

* Alexei Hay – cover photography * Eric Watson – inside photography * Farrow Design – design * Pet Shop Boys – design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Concept albums Parlophone albums Pet Shop Boys albums Sire Records albums