To Step Aside

''Bilingual'' is the sixth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in the United Kingdom on 2 September 1996 by Parlophone and in the United States on 10 September 1996 by Atlantic Records. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, lower than their previous five studio albums which had all reached the top three. It yielded five successful singles, with three of them—"Before", "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" and "A Red Letter Day"—reaching the UK top 10; the fourth one, the English/Spanish-language composition "Single-Bilingual", peaked within the top 20.

Background and recording

''Bilingual'' continues the heavily instrumented arrangements and backing vocals Pet Shop Boys began adding to their music with the album '' Very''. As the title suggests, the songs on the album have worldwide influences, particularly from Latin America. After the release of their ''Very'' album, Pet Shop Boys toured South America and were influenced by the beats and rhythms associated with Latin American music. Three of the songs on the album have bilingual lyrics, mixing the English language with Spanish and Portuguese.

''Bilingual'' was recorded in 1995-1996 at Bunk Junk & Genius, Sarm West and Sarm Hook End in London, at Axis and Bass Hit in New York City, and at the State House of Broadcasting and Sound Recording in Moscow. The album was produced by Pet Shop Boys, Chris Porter, Danny Tenaglia and K-Klass.

Release and promotion

Early in 1996, prior to the album's release, the Pet Shop Boys collaborated with David Bowie on the song "Hallo Spaceboy", which reached number 12 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1996.

In late 1995, the band ended their contract with the American branch of EMI and signed with Atlantic Records. A renewed marketing campaign was launched to promote the band in the United States via both radio airplay and club play. Already in May 1996, Atlantic supplied 200 clubs with import copies of "Before" ahead of the single's stateside release on 17 June.

In their home UK, the single "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" gained a great deal of radio airplay and peaked at number eight on the UK chart in late August 1996. Like with the lead single "Before", a promotional video was used instead of a live performance on Top of the Pops''. ''

In late 1996 the song "Up Against It" became a radio hit in Sweden and some other countries but never had a release as a CD single.

On 15 December 1996, Tennant appeared with Suede at the Roundhouse in London, singing " Saturday Night" as a duet with Suede's lead singer Brett Anderson. The live recording, together with "Rent" Tennant performed on the same evening accompanied by Suede, would later be released as B-sides to Suede's single "Filmstar".

By February 1997, the album is said to have sold 1.5 million copies worldwide.

In 1997, Pet Shop Boys decided to perform a series of concerts at the Savoy Theatre in London. To promote the concerts they released a cover version of " Somewhere" from ''West Side Story'' and called their residency "Pet Shop Boys Somewhere". The single reached the UK top 10 and ''Bilingual'' was re-released in a "Special Edition", including the new single and a bonus CD of remixes and B-sides.

In 2001, Pet Shop Boys reissued their first six studio albums; ''Bilingual'' was re-released as ''Bilingual/Further Listening 1995–1997''. The reissue was not only digitally remastered, but included a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release.

Yet another re-release followed on 9 February 2009, under the title of ''Bilingual: Remastered''. This version contains only the 12 tracks of the original. With the 2009 re-release, the 2001 double-disc re-release was discontinued.

Singles

"Before" was released on 22 April 1996 as the lead single from ''Bilingual''. It was co-produced with Danny Tenaglia and featured Barbara Tucker, Carole Sylvan and Karen Bernod on backing vocals. The B-sides were "Hit and Miss", "The Truck Driver and His Mate" and the 1995 version of " In the Night".

In the United States, Atlantic's gay marketing division promoted "Before" with a series of parties at gay nightclubs in cities where the band had previous commercial success. Several hundred clubs received import promotional 12" singles and the subsequent domestic 12" and CD maxi-single releases were focused entirely on remixes. Promotion was also targeted at Top 40, alternative, and college radio formats.

The album's second single, "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)", was co-produced with Chris Porter and featured drums by Glasgow group SheBoom. Remixes were done by Mark Picchiotti, Deep Dish and Pink Noise. The B-sides were "Betrayed" and "How I Learned to Hate Rock 'n' Roll". The video for the song was shot by Bruce Weber and set mainly in a water park located in south Florida. Featured youthful models frolicking in the water, the video evoked memories of the 1990 single "Being Boring". "Se a vida é" spent six weeks in the UK top 40 in autumn 1996. It was eventually released in the US in April 1997 as a double A-side single with "To Step Aside". To promote the package, thirteen mixes of "To Step Aside" were commissioned, most of them released promotionally only and unreleased in the UK. "To Step Aside" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 1998.

The third single to be released was "Single". It was renamed "Single-Bilingual" because Everything but the Girl had released a different single also called "Single" around the same time. Produced by Pet Shop Boys with drums by SheBoom, the single included remixes of "Single-Bilingual" and a new mix of "Discoteca". The B-sides were "Confidential (Demo for Tina)" and "The Calm Before the Storm".

A new version of "A Red Letter Day", featuring additional production by Steve Rodway, was released as the fourth single from ''Bilingual''. It features Barbara Tucker, Carole Sylvan and Karen Bernod on backing vocals along with the Choral Academy of Moscow. The B-sides were "The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On" and "Delusions of Grandeur". It was also the only Top of the Pops studio performance of any single released from ''Bilingual''. The previous singles had been promoted on the hit music show by the official videos. The performance of "A Red Letter Day" in March 1997 was the first studio performance by Neil and Chris as a duo since "Paninaro 95" in July 1995, and since appearing alongside David Bowie for "Hallo Spaceboy" in February 1996.

During this era, an additional single not part of the original ''Bilingual'' package, " Somewhere", was released to promote the duo's residency at the Savoy Theatre in London and to promote a repackage of ''Bilingual''. A Special performance of "Somewhere" was recorded at the Savoy Theatre for Top of the Pops in the UK. In the US it was released as a double A-side with "A Red Letter Day". For the UK release, the B-sides were "Disco Potential" and "The View from Your Balcony".

Track listing

Notes
* "It Always Comes as a Surprise" contains a sample of Astrud Gilberto from " Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)" by Stan Getz.
* "Metamorphosis" contains the line "somebody spoke and I went into a dream" which is lifted from The Beatles " A Day in the Life".

Special edition (1997)

2001 reissue bonus disc: ''Further Listening 1995–1997''

#" Paninaro '95" – 4:11
#"In the Night" (1995) – 4:18
#"The Truck-Driver and His Mate" – 3:33
#"Hit and Miss" – 4:07
#"How I Learned to Hate Rock 'n' Roll" – 4:38
#"Betrayed" – 5:20
#"Delusions of Grandeur" – 5:04
#"Discoteca" (single version) – 5:14 *
#"The Calm Before the Storm" – 2:48
#"Discoteca" (new version) – 3:47
#"The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On" (Danny Tenaglia international club mix) – 6:09 **
#"A Red Letter Day" (expanded single version) – 5:36 *
#"The View from Your Balcony" – 3:44
#"Disco Potential" – 4:07
#"Somewhere" (extended mix) – 10:55

*(*) Previously unreleased.
*(**) The same version featured on the limited edition of ''Bilingual''.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Bilingual''.

Pet Shop Boys
* Neil Tennant
* Chris Lowe

Additional musicians

* Pete Gleadall – programming
* SheBoom – drums, percussion ; additional drums, percussion
* Robin Jones – additional percussion ; percussion
* Davide Giovanni – additional vocals
* Joseph De Jesus – additional vocals
* Weston Foster – additional vocals
* Lino Rocha – additional vocals
* Sylvia Mason-James – vocals
* Simon Cotsworth – programming
* Ritchie Birkett – keyboards
* Trevor Henry/Ignorants – scratching, additional keyboards
* Kevin Robinson – brass
* Bud Beadle – brass
* Fayyaz Virji – brass
* Mike Innes – brass
* Noel Langley – brass
* Richard Sidell – brass
* Andy Hamilton – brass ; saxophone
* J.J. Belle – guitar
* Chris Cameron – additional keyboards ; string arrangement, string conducting
* Hugh Burns – guitar
* Katie Kissoon – additional vocals
* The Choral Academy of Moscow – choir
* Victor Popov – choir direction
* Graeme Perkins – choir coordination
* Alyosha Zolotukhin – choir arrangement
* Barbara Tucker – additional vocals
* Karen Bernod – additional vocals
* Carole Sylvan – additional vocals
* Johnny Marr – guitar, additional vocals
* Greg Bone – guitar
* Andy Duncan – drums, percussion
* Danny Tenaglia – drum programming
* Louie "Balo" Guzman – drum programming
* Peter Daou – keyboards
* Phil Pagano – programming
* Eddie Montilla – additional keyboards

Technical

* Pet Shop Boys – production
* Bob Kraushaar – engineering ; mixing
* Paul Roberts – production
* Andy Williams – production
* Simon Cotsworth – engineering
* Chris Porter – production, recording ; mixing
* Tatyana Vinnitskaya – choir recording
* Danny Tenaglia – production
* Dana Vlcek – recording, mix engineering
* Rob Rives – engineering assistance
* Rich Lowe – engineering
* Doug DeAngelis – mix engineering
* Claire Tonkinson – recording assistance
* Andrew Green – recording assistance
* Tom Elmhirst – recording assistance

Artwork
* Mark Farrow Design – sleeve
* Pet Shop Boys – sleeve
* Chris Heath – photography
* José Cea – photography

''Further Listening 1995–1997''

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Bilingual/Further Listening 1995–1997''.

Additional musicians
* Pete Gleadall – programming
* Oli Savill – percussion
* Lilliana Chacian – percussion
* Sylvia Mason-James – additional vocals
* SheBoom – drums, percussion
* Robin Jones – additional percussion
* Katie Kissoon – additional vocals
* Davide Giovanni – additional vocals
* Joseph De Jesus – additional vocals
* Weston Foster – additional vocals
* Lino Rocha – additional vocals
* Danny Tenaglia – drum programming
* Louie "Balo" Guzman – drum programming
* Peter Daou – keyboards
* Vanessa Ichak – Banji girl vocals
* The Choral Academy of Moscow – choir
* Victor Popov – choir direction
* Graeme Perkins – choir coordination
* Alyosha Zolotukhin – choir arrangement
* Richard Niles – orchestra arrangement, orchestra conducting

Technical
* Pet Shop Boys – production
* Bob Kraushaar – engineering ; mixing
* Pete Gleadall – engineering
* Pete Schwier – engineering, mixing
* Danny Tenaglia – production
* Doug DeAngelis – mix engineering
* Steve Rodway – additional production
* Mike "Spike" Drake – mixing
* Tatyana Vinnitskaya – choir recording
* Throusers Enthusiasts – additional production
* Steve Price – orchestra recording
* Claire Tonkinson – recording assistance
* Andrew Green – recording assistance
* Tom Elmhirst – recording assistance
* Tim Young – remastering

The sampled lines in "Electricity" were taken from the 1942 film ''My Gal Sal'' and were spoken by Rita Hayworth. The film happened to be playing on television while the track was being recorded, and was not publicly identified until 2019.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{Authority control

1996 albums
Parlophone albums
Pet Shop Boys albums