No problem, I'm sort of busy this evening too anyway! Looking forward to the next step!

Got it in one Rich (I presume you were thinking of the West End Girls and Magnus-from-Alcazar version?) For me, this is the perfect pop song, and got big points from across the board, and yet curiosly it's one of very few they recorded with another artist, and wrote with another writer. If they were going to pick a guest artist though, they couldn't have really done better than the fabulous Dusty. Despite the fact that she was in decline at the time of recording the song (and did bear a passing resembelance to Spagna) her vocals here are superb and bring a further touch of class to the recording.

 

Yep, great version but obviously not quite as good as the original. West End Girls are an interesting act altogether actually, I approve of their reason of existing!

I managed to miss the entire results! :o

 

I've just caught up and it was a great read, albeit a lot of things in the wrong place for my liking. :D

 

 

1. What Have I Done To Deserve This?

Brilliant, deserving of top 5 and no grumbles at seeing it win from me.

 

2. It's A Sin

A great track, I adore the OTT spoken sections.

 

3. Always On My Mind

I do like this but I think they have several better original tracks than this cover. It is however a great cover version none the less.

 

4. Being Boring

Love this. Not as much as I used to but it remains great.

 

5. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing

I prefer Can You Forgive Her from Very but this was still a good single from them.

 

6. West End Girls

This is a bit meh for me, it wouldn't even make a best of compilation CD round mine. I can acknowledge it as being a good pop track, it just doesn't sit that well for me.

 

7. Can You Forgive Her?

AMAZING. :wub:

 

8. Rent

AMAZING too. :wub: :D

 

9. Heart

Good position for this, an underrated and often forgotten about #1.

 

10. Suburbia

This is decent but I've tired of the production, the dog samples etc are just on the slightly too OTT side for me now.

 

11. Left To My Own Devices

I can't believe this isn't top 10! :o It's genuinely amazing and sounds sooooo good even today. :wub: :wub: :wub:

 

12, Go West

Okay but again they have better original tracks.

 

13. Opportunities

14. Domino Dancing

15. Love Comes Quickly

16. Yesterday When I Was Mad

All the above sit in the great tracks by others' standards but merely good for a PSB single category for me.

 

17. So Hard

Love this. The Giorgio Moroder stylings sit very well with me, I love the extended version too.

 

18. Jealousy

Another that I love the extended version of. The lyrics are just lovely too and, like Suedehead, I adore the strings.

 

19. Liberation

20. How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?

21. Where The Streets Have No Name/Can't Take My Eyes Off You

22. It's Alright

23. DJ Culture

24. Absolutely Fabulous

25. Was It Worth It?

All expected to be near the bottom I guess. A shame to see the lack of love for DJ Culture, another favourite of mine that I often listen to in it's extended form. It's Alright is my favourite of their cover versions too, I love the 10" version on the further listening edition of Introspective.

 

Great countdown. ^_^

Edited November 30, 201014 yr by Dandy*

Sorry about that Dandy, I'll try and be more precise about when I'm posting them next round...

 

Yep, great version but obviously not quite as good as the original. West End Girls are an interesting act altogether actually, I approve of their reason of existing!

 

Well, it would be difficult! Yeah I agree, I really like their song Little Black Dress that the PSBs gave them, I nearly entered it in BJSC myself a couple of years ago...

Sorry about that Dandy, I'll try and be more precise about when I'm posting them next round...

Oh no problem, I'm impressed by your speed of reveal! :D

 

Plus it's my fault for not checking the pop forum often enough. I just felt bad that I didn't notice the thread to comment in after you were putting so much effort into the results.

 

Don't worry about that, it's not a problem for me. Would you be able to publicise them a bit in the indie forum? I'd really like more rates than last time... part 2 is up now by the way :)

I'll think most of the PSB fans were in here, just missing Hitstastic and JamesP

Love 'Devices'. I have a t-shirt with the text 'Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat'

The delivery makes that the most middle class line in pop :lol:

9. Heart

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/70/HeartPetShopBoys.jpg/220px-HeartPetShopBoys.jpg

Score: 8.5/10. Highest vote: 9 (Silver Rocket, AH Gold, SKOB, Tonyttt31, Dandy*, M!key, gooddelta). Lowest vote: 6 (Ghosthunter)

 

 

"Neil and Chris were aiming for a seventies-style "mega-disco sound" with this track (dig those syndrums!), and many would say they succeeded admirably. Although they had originally considered offering it to British dance diva Hazel Dean, they changed their minds and instead developed it with Madonna in mind. But they decided against submitting it to her as well. (They themselves have suggested that they lacked the nerve to do so.) One can definitely imagine Madonna doing this; it's very much in her late '80s style, which itself often harkened back to the heyday of disco. Neil has also reportedly cited Phyllis Nelson's "I Like You"—a 1985 Shep Pettibone production that hit #1 hit on the U.S. dance charts—as an influence, although the strongest overt connection would seem to be the earlier track's prominent use of syndrums during its instrumental break.

 

Thematically, "Heart" is simply a confession, "quite sweet and sincere" according to Neil, of how deeply in love the narrator is—his "heart starts missing a beat" every time he sees the object of his affections. Neil has also described it as "a very warm song," and Chris has noted that it's "not ironic at all."

 

To promote the single (the fourth and final one released from Actually), the Pet Shop Boys starred in what is perhaps their most cinematic short-form video, featuring Ian McKellen as a rather creepy vampire closely modeled on Dracula. The plot of the video is very loosely based on the 1926 silent film classic Nosferatu, itself based on Dracula. Neil appears as a wealthy groom arriving at his castle with his new bride—who, contrary to rumor and occasional report, is not portrayed by the eighties hit singer Tiffany, though the resemblence is striking; the actress's name is Daniella Coli. Chris functions as Neil's chauffeur/valet, playing a rather ambiguous role in the plot. The vampire seduces Neil's young bride and absconds with her, leaving Neil, as he has put it, "bitter and twisted"—an excellent example of that genre of elaborate videos that have only a tenuous connection to the song itself."

 

Another song that was universally popular with the voters, although it didn't appear to be anyone's favourite, pretty impressive run of 9's though! I think it's one of their best 80s songs personally, and one of the first to have a truly epic (in the old fashioned sense) video.

Nosferatu is one of my favourite films. It isn't just based on Dracula, it is the story of Dracula. However, for copyright reasons, they couldn't use the name.

Brilliant number one. It opened my ears to Dusty's wonderful voice.

I think you got my votes wrong for Go West (I dont think I gave it 10) and Being Boring (If I gave it 6 I should be ashamed, it's at least a 9)

 

Never liked West End Girls.

 

It took me about 20 years to really really like Always on My Mind, now it was would make a Best Of.

Sorry, I'll check that out. Bear in mind the highest and lowest vote comments have nothing to do with the actual overall scores :lol:

 

Are you going to vote in the second part of the poll by the way? It's here

I will. Sorry, I haven't been on here much. I will do it tomorrow.

 

Thanks. Brilliant work so far - your commentary is well researched. I certainly would not have been able to do it that well.

That's OK Tony. And thanks, but tbh a lot of it is taken from http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm :heehee: