Very Relentless

''Very'' is the fifth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 27 September 1993 by Parlophone, nearly three years after the duo's previous studio album, ''Behaviour'', and following the compilation album '' Discography: The Complete Singles Collection''. ''Very'' exhibits one of many turning points the Pet Shop Boys would make to their music, shifting from the subdued electronic pop of ''Behaviour'' to richly instrumented dance arrangements. The content and lyrics led to ''Very'' being called their "coming-out" album, since it was during this time that Neil Tennant had publicly discussed his long-rumoured homosexuality.

Background and release

The album ''Behaviour'', released in 1990, although critically well-received, was commercially not as successful as their previous releases. In particular, the second single released, " Being Boring", which the duo had considered one of their strongest tracks, did not perform well on the UK charts, peaking at number 20 in November 1990. The subsequent Performance Tour which began in North American during Spring 1991 initially received mixed reviews in the United States and did not improve the poor showing of the album in the US charts, which only managed a peak of 45 on the US Billboard Album Charts. Journalist and close friend of the duo Chris Heath documented the American leg of the tour in his book ''Pet Shop Boys Versus America'', at one point noting Chris Lowe's comment of "We should write another good dance album, write ''Behaviour'' off as a tax loss".

After the Performance Tour of 1991, Pet Shop Boys elected to take a break, releasing their compilation '' Discography: The Complete Singles Collection'' that November. This initially led some to believe that the group were close to breaking up, particularly as the group were no longer perceived at the peak of their popularity after their initial "golden period" in the mid to late 1980s.

When interviewed in 2006 for the documentary '' Pet Shop Boys: A Life In Pop'', EMI representative Tony Wadsworth noted that when the record label first heard the songs on ''Very'', "the smiles undoubtedly lit up the room ..the songs were so obviously commercial." The promotion of ''Very'' was to include, for the first time, music videos that made use of the CGI available at the time and thus would guarantee more airplay on channels like MTV.

A limited edition of ''Very'' was also released as a double album titled ''Very Relentless''. The second disc, ''Relentless'', is a six-track dance album containing tracks that are more experimental and instrumental. There were plans to expand upon ''Relentless'' in 1994 by releasing the six tracks along with others, making a full dance album, but this evolved into ''Disco 2''. The six tracks on ''Relentless'' have not been released elsewhere since (though "Forever in Love" is found on ''Very/Further Listening 1992–1994'' in a remixed edited form as track 2). "Forever in Love" uses the same sample as " One Love" by The Prodigy, "Arabic Chant (Allah)" from the Zero-G sample library compilation ''Datafile One''.

The album was reissued in 1996 as a mid-price release, this time in a standard jewel case with a new sleeve showing an image of the original case.

''Very'' was re-released on 3 July 2001 (as were most of the group's studio albums up to that point) titled ''Very/Further Listening 1992–1994''. The reissue was digitally remastered and included a second disc featuring B-sides and previously unreleased material. The unreleased songs were recorded during the ''Very'' recording sessions, but Tennant and Lowe decided not to include them on the album originally.

On 9 February 2009, the album was re-released yet again, still remastered, under the title ''Very: Remastered'', but this time containing only the 12 original tracks.

To date, ''Very'' is the Pet Shop Boys' most commercially successful album in the UK; it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart shortly after its release. In addition, all singles released from the album entered the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, including " Go West", which remains one of the duo's highest-charting singles. In contrast, however, the album and singles failed to achieve high chart positions on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States (with the exception of those charting on the dance charts); this was seen partly as a result of the rise of grunge and alternative rock on American radio.

Packaging

The original release of ''Very'' was packaged in a unique orange jewel case with raised bumps (sometimes unofficially described as the Lego case), designed by Daniel Weil of Pentagram in London. ''Very Relentless'' was similarly unique, with the two CDs housed in card sleeves (''Very'' in orange and ''Relentless'' in pink) with both of these housed in a translucent rubber case with raised bumps.

The case for ''Very'' was featured in the 1995 Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibition "Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design."

Legacy

In June 2000, '' Q'' magazine placed ''Very'' at number 91 on its list of "The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever". The album was also included in the book ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''.

Track listing

Notes

* signifies additional music and lyrics

Personnel

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

Pet Shop Boys

* Neil Tennant
* Chris Lowe

Additional musicians

* Pete Gleadall – programming
* Anne Dudley – orchestra arrangement and conducting
* Phil Todd, Chris Davis, John Barclay, John Thirkell, Mark Nightingale – brass
* Richard Niles – brass arrangement, choir arrangement, additional keyboard arrangement
* J.J. Belle – guitar
* Frank Ricotti – percussion
* Sylvia Mason-James – additional vocals
* Dainton Connell – additional vocals
* Carol Kenyon – additional vocals
* Katie Kissoon – additional vocals
* Tessa Niles – additional vocals
* Joanna Wyatt, Thomas Rogers, Laurie Smith, Jody Smith, Nigel Francis, Francis Hatson, Lee Harris, Lucy Clark, Marie-Claire Peterson, Victoria Ferher – choir
* Scott Altman, James Bassi, Hugh Berberich, Rodne Brown, Maurizio Corbino, Martin Doner, Dan Egan, James Gandre, Paul Houghtaling, Michael Hume, Robert Kuehn, Drew Martin, Joseph Nelson Neal, Mark Rehnstrom, Steven Tachell, Frank Nemhauser (with thanks to Graeme Perkins and Jaqueline Pierce) – choir

Technical

* Pet Shop Boys – production
* Stephen Hague – additional production, mixing
* Brothers in Rhythm – additional production
* Mike "Spike" Drake – mixing
* Bob Kraushaar – engineering, vocal recording
* Pete Gleadall – engineering
* Sam Hardaker, Richard Lowe, Howard Bargroff, Robin Barclay – engineering assistance

Artwork

* Mark Farrow – graphic design
* Pet Shop Boys – graphic design
* Chris Nash – photographs
* David Fielding – costume and set design
* Pentagram – CD packaging, concept, design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Notes

References

External links

1993 interview with Daniel Weil
designer of the ''Very'' package.

{{Authority control

1993 albums
Albums produced by Stephen Hague
Parlophone albums
Pet Shop Boys albums