Yes, this is another LP I picked up for $1.99 from a thrift shop. By the way, the Opportunities 12" single, from a few days back, was also from a thrift shop. I should call the band the Thrift Shop Boys. From Wikipedia:
The album was unusual in that it reversed the typical process by which pop/dance acts released singles. Instead of releasing an album of regular-length (3–5-minute) songs, then releasing lengthy remixes of those songs on subsequent singles, Introspective was released as an LP consisting of songs that all lasted six minutes or more. Tracks released as singles like "Always on My Mind" and "Domino Dancing" had been issued as shorter, more radio-friendly mixes prior to the album. None was released as a radio single in the same form as it appeared on the album. It was also the case for the two other singles "Left to My Own Devices" and "It's Alright". [source]
The songs are all very long. This is a pretty good record.
This record is entitled Actually or Pet Shop Boys, actually. I actually couldn't tell you which is right. I found this one in a thrift shop for $1.99 as well. There were some big hits from this record, like It's a Sin, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Rent, and Heart. It's not bad, in a pop kind of way.
The first time I head West End Girls, I was dismayed, even horrified, especially since so many of my friends loved the song. I hated it. I thought it was disco reborn in 1986. Hadn't we had enough disco to last a lifetime by then? The answer is yes.
One day, many, many, many years later, I stopped into a thrift shop and found a minty-fresh copy of the LP sitting in the bin. I paid my $1.99 for it and left. My opinion of the track had mellowd over the years, and now I don't mind it. It's far better than I remembered. It's still not top-shelf music for me, but I can honestly say that I like the track.
Other popular tracks from album are the afore-mentioned Opportunities, plus Love Comes Quickly and Suburbia.
My list of top ten overrated acts continues. Number 8....
8) Depeche Mode - In the early days, Depress Mode was a slightly offbeat, perhaps alternative, band. They fit firmly into the New Romantic Camp, part of the New Wave movement. (As an aside, I really hate how the term "alternative" has been hijacked by the music industry to define the herds of new guitar rock bands that emerged in the 1990s. The corruption of that term is a slap in the face to the true alternative music scene of the very late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. Down with corporate music! But, back to these chaps with the hurry-up lifestyle).
I enjoyed Blasphemous Rumours for a while, but quickly tired of it. God was probably laughing at that song. I'm not the first person to think that Depeche Mode's lyric "I just can't get enough" could be easily misheard as "I just can't get it up." It's a pseudo-mondegreen.
The Pet Shop Boys have said that they were influenced by DM when they were recording Behaviour, so I rest my case. Pseudo-disco breeds pseudo-disco. Why have I used pseudo so many times? I am not sure, but I am reminded of Sussudio, that insipid Phil Collins disaster of a song. I originally thought it was spelled Psue-pseudio. Boy, was I wrong. Just to digress even further, Sussudio checked in at number 24 on VH1's "40 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever." There is also a list called the 40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirrty [sic] Songs...Ever, which is very amusing. Have a look at that, since I can't find a link to the other list.
Which leads me to KMFDM. If you are a Depeche Mode or KMFDM fan, you know what follows, so I don't have to say it ;-)
