Rocktrospectiva: The Conceptual "Nightlife" Turns 25

 

Released on 8 October 1999, "Nightlife" was the 7th., studio album by iconic British duo Pet Shop Boys, the album came after the production of "Closer To Heaven", considered a conceptual album that was inspired by the musical that the duo composed. Musically, the album is one of the most influential and varied, from hard trance sounds thanks to Rollo's production in some tracks like "For Your Own Good" and "Radiophonic", going through the dance pop of "Closer To Heaven" and "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore", euro disco in "New Yoir City Boy" a certain country sampling in the great "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk", as well as classical pieces in "Happiness Is An Option" that were inspired by the songs of Sergei Rachmaninoff. 

 

The album spawned three singles "Don't Know What You Want It But I Can't Give It Anymore", the famous "New York City Boy" and finally the sad and calculating "You Only Tell You Love When Your Drunk" that allowed the album to have a moderate success thanks to the 1.2 million copies sold, although in the United States, the album was their lowest in terms of reception and success, since it only reached No. 84 on the Billboard.  

 

Even thought, the album stands out mostly for their appearance that the band adopted for the album, a purely sinister and unhinged look for Neil Tennant courtesy of theater designer Ian Mcneil, who made the duo look dark eyebrows inspired by the Kabuki theater, various hair colors inspired by the punk subculture, and dark glasses, as well as dark suits and with certain colors adopting culottes, like a samurai-type outfit. The outfits were used to promote the singles and the videos, especially for the video of the first single where Tennat took on various appearances and began in an experimental laboratory courtesy of Pedro Romhanyi, whose visuals were inspired by films such as THX1138, Ridicule and even 2001: A Space Odyssey, there was an ode to New York in the second single, where certain clichés and visits to iconic places in the Big Apple were taken up again and in the third single, everything takes place on a dance floor, where the party-goers appear lying on the floor and as the song progresses they get up and start the action.

 

The first part of the album is nice, "For Your Own Good", "Closer to Heaven" and the single track "I Don’t Know What You Want but I Can’t Give it Any More" assorted and considered classic in ther career, the danceable "Radiophonic" is fast, and then you have the ballads in midtempo sound as the heartbreaking "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk" is not only a very long song title, it’s also one of the highlights of "Nightlife", where the voice of Neil Tennant is the most dominant feature. Neil’s voice is without question one of the most charismatic and personal in the business today. There’s also a duet with Kylie Minogue called "In Denial", and it’s actually quite good, and then the little boring "Boy Strange" with a guitar dominated thing with silly lyrics and strange rhythms, but in the end, the album is one of the most astonisihing recordings delivered by the Pet Shop Boys.

 

Nightlife Track List:

 

1. For Your Own Good

2. Closer To Heaven

3. I Don't Know What You Want It But I Can't Give It Anymore

4. Hapiness Is An Option

5. You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk

6. Vampires

7. Radiophonic

8. The Only One

9. Boy Strange

10. In Denial

12. New York City Boy

13. Footsteps