Release (Pet Shop Boys album)

Release is the eighth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 1 April 2002 by Parlophone.

Release
Studio album by
Pet Shop Boys
Released1 April 2002
RecordedSeptember 2000 – November 2001
Studio
GenreSynth-pop
Length44:53
LabelParlophone
Producer
  • Pet Shop Boys
  • Chris Zippel
Pet Shop Boys chronology
Nightlife
(1999)		 Release
(2002)		 Disco 3
(2003)
Singles from Release
  1. "Home and Dry"
    Released: 18 March 2002
  2. "I Get Along"
    Released: 15 July 2002
  3. "London"
    Released: 14 October 2002
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
BBC MusicUnfavourable[3]
Robert ChristgauB+[4]
Drowned in Sound6/10[5]
Hour3.5/5[6]
NME4/10[7]
Now[8]
Playlouder4/5[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
The Village VoiceFavourable[11]

Background

After the release of their previous studio album, Nightlife, it was originally planned that they would release a greatest hits collection in the autumn of 2000 with the two new tracks "Positive Role Model" and "Somebody Else's Business".[12] While recording the new songs for the hits collection it was decided to produce a full studio album instead.

The album reached number seven in the United Kingdom and number three in Germany. On its first release, a limited run of metallic effect embossed sleeves were available in a choice of four colours: grey, blue, pink or red. In the US, this limited run also came with a bonus CD including remixes and new tracks. The artwork was designed by Greg Foley of the New York design group and magazine publishers Visionaire and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

The album marked a significant departure from previous work, being guitar- and piano-driven. However, the album was made like their previous albums with most tracks mainly programmed on computers; however the sampled or synthesised guitars and drum sounds chosen often sound "real" and the synthesisers always present are sometimes used to sound like guitars (the solo in "Birthday Boy", for instance, or the opening figure of "Home and Dry"). Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr was brought in later on in the sessions to play real electric and acoustic guitars on seven of the album's ten tracks in London, with "Home and Dry" being completed in Dublin, Ireland. Apart from the track "London", recorded in Berlin with producer Chris Zippel, Pet Shop Boys produced the album themselves and then commissioned Michael Brauer (who mixed the first two albums by fellow Parlophone artists Coldplay) to mix it.

The original version of the album had eleven tracks but "I Didn't Get Where I Am Today" was removed from the album before release and later became a bonus track on the 2004 single "Flamboyant". Other tracks recorded during the sessions for the album which ended up as B-sides are "Between Two Islands", "Searching for the Face of Jesus", "Sexy Northerner" and "Always".[12] Another track, "Time on My Hands", appeared on the 2003 release, Disco 3.

The directors for all three music videos for the album's singles are photographers by trade: Wolfgang Tillmans directed "Home and Dry", Bruce Weber directed "I Get Along" (following his previous work on the "Being Boring" and "Se a vida é" videos), and Martin Parr directed "London". The Tillmans video, consisting almost entirely of footage of mice filmed at Tottenham Court Road tube station in the London Underground, is considered by some to have significantly undermined the commercial potential of the lead single, due to being deemed nearly unplayable by MTV and other music video channels.

Perhaps partly because of the modest commercial success of this album, and perhaps partly because of the habit of distancing themselves musically from their most recent work, Tennant and Lowe have since returned to their dance roots. One year after the release of Release, Pet Shop Boys released Disco 3 which included remixes of some of the songs from Release along with new material that they were working on at the time of writing/producing material for Release.

The album re-entered the UK Album Chart at number thirty in 2017 following the album's Further Listening 2001-2004 reissue.

Track listing
  1. "Home and Dry" – 4:21
  2. "I Get Along" – 5:49
  3. "Birthday Boy" – 6:26
  4. "London" – 3:46
  5. "E-Mail" – 3:55
  6. "The Samurai in Autumn" – 4:17
  7. "Love Is a Catastrophe" – 4:50
  8. "Here" – 3:15
  9. "The Night I Fell in Love" – 5:04
  10. "You Choose" – 3:10[13]

US bonus disc
  1. "Home and Dry" (Ambient mix) – 5:29
  2. "Sexy Northerner" – 3:40
  3. "Always" – 5:06
  4. "Closer to Heaven" (Slow version) – 6:30
  5. "Nightlife" – 3:56
  6. "Friendly Fire" (Studio version) – 3:26
  7. "Break 4 Love" (UK radio mix) (with Peter Rauhofer) – 3:29
  8. "Home and Dry" (Blank & Jones mix) – 6:38[13]

CD-ROM content: "Home and Dry" (video)

Further Listening 2001–2004
Disc two
No.TitleLength
1."Between Two Islands"5:10
2."Searching for the Face of Jesus"3:25
3."Time on My Hands"3:52
4."Motoring" (demo)4:02
5."Love Life"3:44
6."Transparent"3:51
7."Sexy Northerner"3:39
8."The Night Is a Time to Explore Who You Are" (demo)3:52
9."Closer to Heaven" (Slow version)6:27
10."Run, Girl, Run" (demo)3:48
11."I Didn't Get Where I Am Today"3:37
12."Always"5:02
13."Home and Dry" (Ambient mix)5:29
14."Bright Young Things" (demo)4:26
15."Kazak" (demo)2:48
16."A Powerful Friend" (John Peel version)3:16
17."If Looks Could Kill" (John Peel version)4:24
Total length:66:52
Disc three
No.TitleLength
1."Try It (I'm in Love with a Married Man)"4:04
2."Here" (PSB New Extended Mix)6:17
3."If Looks Could Kill"4:10
4."A Powerful Friend"3:22
5."Party Song"3:40
6."No Excuse" (demo)3:34
7."Blue on Blue"3:10
8."Jack and Jill Party" (demo)3:42
9."Baby" (demo)3:43
10."Flamboyant" (original demo)4:23
11."Miracles"3:55
12."Flamboyant" (7″ mix)3:37
13."Numb" (demo)3:38
14."In Private" (featuring Elton John)4:10
15."Alone Again, Naturally" (featuring Elton John)3:24
16."Reunion" (Electro mix)4:29
17."Bright Young Things"4:55
18."We're the Pet Shop Boys"4:55
19."It's a Sin" (Barfly version)3:58
Total length:77:06

Personnel
  • Neil Tennant – vocals, guitar, keyboards
  • Chris Lowe – keyboards, drum programming, additional vocals on track 1
Guest musicians
  • Pete Gleadall – programming and engineering on all tracks except 4
  • Johnny Marr – guitar on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 10
  • Jody Linscott – percussion on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10
  • Steve Walters – bass guitar on tracks 2, 3 and 9
  • Chris Zippel – keyboards on track 4
  • "Little Mike" – guitar and bass on track 4

Charts

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[37] Silver 60,000^
United States — 73,000[38]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes
  1. Additional recording
  2. "London"

References
  1. https://www.metacritic.com/music/release/pet-shop-boys
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Pet Shop Boys: Release > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  3. Hodges, Jacqueline (20 November 2002). "Pet Shop Boys Release Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  4. Christgau, Robert (11 June 2002). "Down and Alt". The Village Voice. New York. ISSN 0042-6180. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  5. Reed, Graham (11 April 2002). "Pet Shop Boys: Release". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  6. Burnett, Richard (4 April 2002). "Pet Shop Boys: Release". Hour. Montreal. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  7. Robinson, Peter (5 April 2002). "Pet Shop Boys : Release". NME. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  8. Liss, Sarah (4 April 2002). "Pet Shop Boys: Release". Now. 21 (31). ISSN 0712-1326. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  9. Bee, Sarah (8 April 2002). "Release: Pet Shop Boys". Playlouder. Archived from the original on 10 July 2003.
  10. Walters, Barry (23 April 2002). "Pet Shop Boys: Release". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 20 February 2008.
  11. Lim, Dennis (7 May 2002). "October Symphonies". The Village Voice. New York. ISSN 0042-6180. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  12. "Interviews – Diary Literally 25". Absolutely Pet Shop Boys. petshopboys.net. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  13. "Pet Shop Boys discography". Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  14. "Chartifacts!" (PDF). The ARIA Report (635): 2. 29 April 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "Austriancharts.at – Pet Shop Boys – Release" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  16. "Ultratop.be – Pet Shop Boys – Release" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  17. "Danishcharts.dk – Pet Shop Boys – Release". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Pet Shop Boys – Release" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  19. "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 20 no. 17. 20 April 2002. p. 12. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 26 April 2020 – via American Radio History.
  20. "Pet Shop Boys: Release" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  21. "Lescharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Release". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  22. "Offiziellecharts.de – Pet Shop Boys – Release" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  23. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2002. 17. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  24. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Pet Shop Boys". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  25. "Italiancharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Release". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  26. "ペット・ショップ・ボーイズのアルバム売り上げランキング" [Pet Shop Boys album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  27. "Norwegiancharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Release". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  28. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  29. Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  30. "Swedishcharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Release". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  31. "Swisscharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Release". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  32. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  33. "Pet Shop Boys Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  34. "Pet Shop Boys Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  35. "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201732 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  36. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts – 2002" (in German). Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  37. "British album certifications – Pet Shop Boys – Release". British Phonographic Industry. 5 April 2002. Retrieved 12 April 2012. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Release in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  38. Caulfield, Keith (23 May 2006). "Ask Billboard: Pet Shop Shopping". Billboard. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
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