Rocktrospectiva: The Elegant Live Album "Concrete" Turns 20

Released on 23 October 2006 "Concrete" was a live album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as a double CD. It was the duo's first live album. The concert was recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in May 2006, with accompaniment by the BBC Concert Orchestra and special guests including Frances Barber, Rufus Wainwright, and Robbie Williams.

The performance recorded for the album took place at the Mermaid Theatre in London on 8 May 2006, as an exclusive for broadcast on BBC Radio 2's Sold on Song programme on 27 May. Attendance, totalling 600, was by invitation or through competitions held by Radio 2 and the band's official website. The event was hosted by the BBC's Stuart Maconie.

The 27 May Radio 2 broadcast included an interview conducted by Maconie, but excluded four songs from the running order ("You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk", "After All", "Numb", and "Dreaming of the Queen"). The full concert was later broadcast on BBC 6 Music on 28 August.

The concert was a launch event for the Pet Shop Boys' new studio album, Fundamental, released on 22 May 2006. Trevor Horn, the producer of Fundamental, was the music director for the concert and also produced Concrete.

Due to the presence of the orchestra, the setlist was composed to consist of songs originally recorded with an orchestra. Consequently, in addition to an extensive selection of songs from Fundamental, various non-studio album tracks were chosen, including the arrangement of "Rent" from the Liza Minnelli album Results, originally arranged by Angelo Badalamenti; "After All", the portion of the band's Battleship Potemkin soundtrack that accompanies the Odessa Steps sequence from the film (performed with the scene projected on a screen in the background); "Friendly Fire", from the Closer to Heaven musical; and "Nothing Has Been Proved", the theme song from Scandal, also arranged by Badalamenti. "West End Girls" and "It's a Sin" were the only exceptions to the rule, and were reworked to integrate the orchestra.

Neil Tennant introduced the songs with anecdotes, which appear on the album. Special guests sang lead vocals on three of the songs. Rufus Wainwright performed "Casanova in Hell" from Fundamental. Frances Barber, who had played the lead role in Closer to Heaven, sang "Friendly Fire". On "Jealousy", the earliest song written by Pet Shop Boys, Tennant recited the opening quote from Shakespeare's Othello, and Robbie Williams sang the rest.

Opera singer Sally Bradshaw reprised her vocals from the 1988 hit, "Left to My Own Devices". Other guest musicians included Anne Dudley on piano, Steve Lipson and Phil Palmer on guitar, and Lol Creme and Sylvia Mason-James on backing vocals.

Pet Shop Boys agreed to release a live album to pay for the concert. The album was initially announced under the name Concert, but it was changed to Concrete, which was the duo's original preferred title. It debuted at its peak position of 61 on the UK Albums Chart. In the United States, Concrete was released as a digital download by Astralwerks on 17 May 2011.

Critics acclaimed the record, for instance, Michael Hubbard stated that Pet Shop Boys "have redefined what "live album" means" and added, "What's also clear from hearing this record is that to dismiss Pet Shop Boys merely as an '80s electropop duo would be to give them scant justice. Concrete feels like a contemporary classical cultural study". Others commented: the first live album by pop music's most stylish duo is an extraordinary achievement in capturing the artist in their element", this made the effort a strong case for one of the best-sounding live albums ever, as every note, instrument and nuance are loud and crystal clear". Althought David Jeffries of AllMusic gave the album three stars cause for him there was nothing special about the record pointing the duo was not built for live albums and only fans and fetishists will embrace this curio. 

 

Concrete Track List: 

 

CD1 

 

1. Left To My Own Devices featuring Sally Bradshaw/Orchestral Arrangement: Richard Niles

2. Rent/Orchestral Arrangement: Angelo Badalamenti

3. You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk/ Orchestral Arrangement: Craig Armstrong

4. The Sodom And Gomorrah Show/Orchestral Arrangement: Anne Dudley

5. Casanova In Hell sung by Rufus Wainwright/Orchestral Arrangement: Nick Ingman

6. After All/Orchestral Arrangement: Torsten Rasch

7. Frinedly Fire sung by Frances Barber/Orchestral Arrangement: Craig Armstrong

8. Integral/Orchestral Arrangement: Nick Ingman

 

CD2  

 

1. Numb/Orchestral Arrangement: Steve Sidwell

2. It's Alright featuring Sally Bradshaw/Orchestral Arrangement: Nick Ingman

3. Luna Park/Orchestral Arrangement: Nick Ingman

4. Nothing Has Been Proved/Orchestral Arrangement: Angelo Badalamenti

5. Jealousy sung by Robbie Williams/Orchestral Arrangement: Harold Faltermeyer

6. Dreaming Of The Queen/Orchestral Arrangement: Anne Dudley

7. It's A Sin/Orchestral Arrangement: Nick Ingman

8. Indefinite Leave To Remain/ Orchestral Arrangement: Nick Ingman

9. West End Girls  

Albums: A Man From The Future

 

Released on 9 October 2026, "A Man From The Future" is an electronic/orchestral album by Pet Shop Boys,  a concept album that follows the life of Alan Turing and his legacy and is a collaboration with Turing biographer Andrew Hodges. The album is credited to Tennant/Lowe/Hodges.

The duo originally wrote the songs with Hodges around 2012–2013, later performing it with the BBC Concert Orchestra at a BBC Prom in July 2014. They later decided to revise the piece to "give it more of an electronic emphasis", and Sven Helbig, the original orchestrator, suggested reworking his orchestrations in a more intimate arrangement for eight string players.

The album features string arrangements composed by Helbig and performed by the Manchester Camerata Octet. Actress Juliet Stevenson provides spoken word narration adapted from Hodges' book Alan Turing: The Enigma. Four of the eight songs additionally feature children from Manchester Grammar School choir. The title track features an excerpt from a 2009 statement made by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown acknowledging Turing's work and apologizing for the inhumane treatment he received, which is followed by the posthumous royal pardon granted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013.

The songs recount Turing's school days and early interest in mathematics, his time at Cambridge University, his work breaking the German Enigma machine's codes during the Second World War, his role in the invention of the digital computer and his early predictions about artificial intelligence, his trial and conviction for a homosexual relationship, his death in 1954, and his legacy.

"A Man from the Future" is not a pop album, but rather a musical biography and a sonic memorial dedicated to Alan Turing—the father of modern computing and a hero of the Second World War. Structured as an avant-garde audiobook interwoven with cinematic passages, the work prioritizes historical narrative over danceable choruses.  It serves as an immersive audio monument, designed to prompt the listener to reflect on technology, institutional injustice, and the price of being ahead of one’s time.

Despite being the father of artificial intelligence—and having his cryptographic work shorten the Second World War, thereby saving fourteen million lives—Alan Turing went from being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1951 to being convicted by the British government in 1952, solely due to his homosexuality. The script for this journey was not crafted within the superficial confines of a typical commercial studio. 

The album is officially credited to the trio of Tennant, Lowe, and Hodges. Indeed, the third name in the credits is Professor Andrew Hodges—Turing’s definitive biographer, whose acclaimed book "Alan Turing: The Enigma" serves as the foundational text for the entire album. The majestic voice that weaves the narrative belongs to the award-winning British actress Juliet Stevenson; her performance—at once detached yet profoundly moving—evokes both the clinical tone of documentary footage and the warmth of human compassion. On the sonic front, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe collaborated with the renowned German composer Sven Helbig, who oversaw the production and crafted exquisite, intimate string arrangements, performed by the Manchester Camerata Octet. They are joined by the ethereal voices of the Manchester Grammar School children’s choir on four of the tracks, with additional electronic production provided by Maarten Vos. 

As a historic crowning touch, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown himself appears, reading the moving formal apology that the government issued posthumously to Turing in 2009. The title of the album, "A Man from the Future", carries a dual, unavoidable layer of meaning. On one hand, it is a literal description of Turing: a genius who, as early as the 1940s, was already theorizing about thinking algorithms, artificial intelligence, and portable computers.  

On the other, it reflects his personal life: an openly gay man who looked forward to a tomorrow where loving freely would be considered normal. The title serves as a reminder that Great Britain destroyed a hero simply because the future he already inhabited took decades to arrive for the rest of the world. This conceptual project was not a sudden thing; it was originally conceived between 2012 and 2013 and premiered in a symphonic format at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in July 2014. At the time, however, critics were left puzzled by the show’s restraint. 

More than a decade later—now in 2026—the duo decided to retreat and rework the piece, replacing the full orchestra with a far more electronic, synthetic, and minimalist approach. Much like they did in 2005 when they composed an alternative soundtrack for the silent film "Battleship Potemkin",  with this new projecy, they demonstrate that their creativity expands quite naturally beyond the confines of the traditional pop-chart canon.  

True to British precision, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe conceived this release as a perfect binary equation: the first disc contains the complete work, featuring a commanding dramatic narration by Juliet Stevenson, while the second disc presents the same tracks in purely instrumental form—allowing the analog electronics and Sven Helbig’s string octet to take center stage. The track sequence is not the product of a modern, randomized algorithm, but rather follows an unyielding chronological timeline.  

The journey is divided—with surgical precision—into two complementary temporal blocks: two mathematical acts that separate the brilliance of a rising genius from the institutional darkness that would eventually extinguish his mind. It is the rise and fall of the man who designed tomorrow—told not with the cold detachment of an encyclopedia, but through the electric pulse of synthesizers and the organic, plaintive resonance of string instruments. 

This electronic odyssey begins with "Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know," an expansive, seven-minute-plus opening that introduces us to Turing’s childhood and his early fascination with biology and the geometric patterns found in nature. This is followed by "He Dreamed of Machines," in which the synthesizers begin to take on an industrial rhythm. The track captures Turing’s university years at Cambridge and his obsessive drive to design a mechanical brain capable of resolving human logic. Next comes "The Enigma," the tense heart of the first section. An electronic pulse emulates the urgency of war, while the narration details how Turing and his team cracked the secret codes of the Nazi war machine at Bletchley Park. The section concludes with "Other Ranks," a transitional piece—evocative of the music of that era—that explores the military environment, its hierarchies, and the human relationships kept hidden during the conflict. 

The second part introduces "The Memory and the Control," an experimental, minimalist track that addresses Turing’s revolutionary theoretical predictions regarding artificial intelligence and the limits of digital memory. After a brief silence, "The Trial" emerges—the album’s darkest and most harrowing passage. The music turns stern and dramatic, recounting his 1952 prosecution for "gross indecency" due to his homosexuality—a legal ordeal that led him to accept state-mandated chemical castration. As we approach the end, "Only in His Death"—a devastating elegy led by the strings of the Manchester Camerata—commemorates his tragic 1954 suicide, brought about by consuming a cyanide-laced apple. The album concludes with its title track, "A Man from the Future"—the record’s true climax.  

Blending avant-garde electronics with the actual voice of Gordon Brown offering an official apology, the track features Tennant delivering lines that link Turing’s tragedy to the algorithmic dilemmas that shape our lives today. It is certainly disorienting for an electronic pop group to swap catchy choruses for spoken-word passages. Yet, the Pet Shop Boys made the most honest choice possible.  

By opting for a "spoken word" format, the duo steps aside, ceding the spotlight to the story and acting instead as directors of a cinematic soundtrack. The tension generated throughout the record is an artistic marvel: the mathematical coldness of the synthesizers evokes Turing’s computational mind, while the classical strings introduce a human lament for the horrific institutional injustice he endured.  

Free from the constraints of radio singles or commercial ambition, this double album feels like a work of pure art. It is a dense, demanding, yet profoundly beautiful record—provided one understands that what is being heard is a historical memorial, not dance music. Ultimately, the album's instrumentation creates a stunning contrast between the artificial and the organic. On one hand, Chris Lowe's analog synthesizers, programmed sequences, and drum machines recreate the concept of a "thinking machine" through hypnotic, mathematical patterns. On the other, an eight-piece string ensemble—conceived by Sven Helbig—infuses the work with the warmth, drama, and human pathos that the historical narrative demands. Neil Tennant's vocals do not seek the prominence typical of a melodic lead singer; instead, they exist as whispers, echoes, and solemn choruses that cradle the resonant, theatrical narrative voice of Juliet Stevenson. 

Both international critics and the band's own fanbase agree that "A Man from the Future" stands as one of the most daring, restrained, and moving works in the Pet Shop Boys' 40-plus-year career. It has been met with immense respect, recognized not as a collection of chart-topping hits, but as an immersive sonic monument—a work that demands full attention and should be experienced from start to finish as a multifaceted audio adventure, rather than as a conventional pop album.  Definitely is a masterpiece of historical justice and artistic risk-taking. Pet Shop Boys have adopted the format of spoken word and neoclassical electronic music—not out of pretension, but out of absolute respect for their subject matter. By silencing commercial choruses and activating the sonar of our collective memory, they have crafted a devastating sonic testament.  In summary, they demonstrate that electronic music serves not only as a means to escape reality on a dance floor, but also as a way to rescue from oblivion the ghosts of the geniuses who built the tomorrow in which we live today.

 

A Man From The Future Track List: 

 

1. Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know

2. He Dreamed Of Machines

3. The Enigma

4. Other Ranks

5. The Memory And The Control

6. The Trial 

7. Only In His Death

8. A Man From The Future

Rocktrospectiva: The Mental "DJ Culture" Turns 35

Released on 14 October 1991 "DJ Culture" was a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their first greatest hits album, Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991). It was the album's lead single, peaking at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. Another version of the song, remixed by The Grid and entitled "DJ Culturemix", was also released as a single and reached number 40 on the UK Singles Chart. The B-side was "Music for Boys".

According to the singer Neil Tennant, the song concerned the insincerity of how President George H. W. Bush's speeches at the time of the First Gulf War utilised Winston Churchill's wartime rhetoric, in a manner similar to how artists sample music from other artists.

"DJ Culture" was one of two songs written as singles for Discography, along with "Was It Worth It?"  Pet Shop Boys decided to use a structure of spoken verse and sung chorus, similar to "West End Girls". The music for the chorus came from a piece Chris Lowe had composed on a Fairlight.

In early 1991, Tennant used the phrase "DJ Culture" to draw an analogy between DJs sampling music and people who "sample attitudes from the past", at a time when he felt the response to the Gulf War was inauthentic. He later described the concept: "Political postures and social attitudes are glibly sampled from the past and the present like beats on dance records".

Parsing the lyrics, Tennant said the refrain "Living in a satellite fantasy" is an observation on the lack of meaningful content on 24-hour satellite television. The trend of reinventing oneself is conveyed in the lines "Like Liz before Betty", about Elizabeth Taylor at the Betty Ford Clinic, and "she after Sean", referring to Madonna's new image after her divorce from Sean Penn. "And I, my lord, may I say nothing?" paraphrases Oscar Wilde's response after he was sentenced to hard labour for homosexual practices in 1895. 

The song also included samples of French dialogue from the 1950 Jean Cocteau film Orphée, in which coded and poetic messages are sent over the radio.

Both singles for Discography were recorded at Sarm West with the Brothers in Rhythm production team. The chorus of "DJ Culture" features Tessa Niles echoing Tennant in a style inspired by the David Bowie song "Absolute Beginners" (1986). The duo asked producer Stephen Hague to do additional work on the 7-inch mix. Hague added a string line in the middle section, and he suggested a change to the chorus, resulting in the alternating lines "waiting for the night to end" and "wondering who's your friend".

Preceding the album's November release, "DJ Culture" came out on 14 October 1991 on 7-inch vinyl, 12-inch vinyl, cassette, and CD. The original release debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 13 and spent two weeks in the top 40, and the remix entered the chart at number 40.

The single's B-side, "Music for Boys", was written by Lowe at Sarm West, inspired by stadium house music he had heard at the London Astoria. Lowe made two mixes, including an "Ambient mix". A third mix was done by Altern-8. In the US, "DJ Culture" and "Music for Boys" were released as a double A-side; it reached number 13 on the Dance Singles Sales chart.

The original cover photo, taken by Eric Watson, shows Lowe and Tennant with DJ equipment. The remix cover is a depiction of TV static.

The music video was directed by Pet Shop Boys' long-time collaborator Eric Watson and was choreographed by Jacob Marley, who had worked on the Performance Tour. Tennant and Lowe alternately appear as a pair of doctors, a pair of soldiers in desert combat dress, and a football referee and fan. Lowe portrays a judge presiding over the trial of Oscar Wilde, who is played by Tennant, in a visualization of the line "And I my lord, may I say nothing?" Watson observed: "It's a line-by-line interpretation of the lyrics, completely literal". Watson used computer-generated imagery to create a computer wargame for the opening sequence and composite shots such as Tennant and Lowe in front of the Acropolis. The production cost £150,000 and was their most expensive music video up to that point.

Critics described the single as a minor league West End Girls, complete with a melancholic rap from Tennant". A languid synth/pop romp, reminiscent of early hits, while ["Music for Boys"] is an NRGized techno-rave".

 

DJ Culture Track List:  

 

UK 7-inch: Parlophone / R 6301

 

1.  "DJ Culture"

2.  "Music for Boys"

 

UK cassette: Parlophone / TCR 6301

 

1.  "DJ Culture"

2.  "Music for Boys"

 

UK 12-inch: Parlophone / 12R 6301

 

1.  "DJ Culture" (extended mix)

2.  "Music for Boys"

3.  "Music for Boys" (Part 2/Ambient mix)

 

UK CD: Parlophone / CDR 6301

 

1.  "DJ Culture"

2.  "Music for Boys"

3.  "DJ Culture" (extended mix)

DJ Culturemix

UK 12-inch: Parlophone / 12RX 6301

UK cassette: Parlophone / TCRX 6301

UK CD: Parlophone / CDRX 6301

1.  "DJ Culturemix" – 5:51

2.  "Music for Boys" (Part 3) – 5:37

3.  "Overture to Performance" – 6:15

New Music: A Man From The Future

           

Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant aka The Pet Shop Boys has rework their 2014 BBC Proms performance about Alan Turing into a tighter, more album-shaped package, with the voices of Juliet Stevenson and Gordon Brown. Originally written in 2012, this version of A Man From the Future has been reworked and rerecorded to step away from the grandiosity of the Royal Albert Hall. An orchestra becomes an octet, amid the inclusion of more electronic elements – as befits a subject such as Turing.

Rocktrospectiva: Pet Shop Boys' Top Ten Single "Suburbia" Turns 40

Released on 22 September 1986 "Suburbia" was a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their debut album, Please. It was re-recorded with producer Julian Mendelsohn for release as the fourth single from the album. Peaking at number eight on the UK Singles Chart, "Suburbia" was the band's second top 10 hit after "West End Girls", and in their view it saved them from becoming a one-hit wonder.

The song's primary inspiration was the 1983 Penelope Spheeris film Suburbia, and its depiction of violence and squalor in the suburbs of Los Angeles. The recent events of the Brixton riots of 1981 and of 1985 were another influence. The lyrics convey the boredom of suburbia ("I only wanted something else to do but hang around") and the underlying tension among disaffected youth. The music is punctuated by sounds of suburban violence, riots, and smashing glass, along with barking dogs—a motif derived from scenes in Spheeris's film.

"Suburbia" was written in 1985 at Terminal Studios in London. Chris Lowe composed the music; according to him, the bassline was inspired by Madonna's hit song of that time, "Into the Groove". Neil Tennant wrote the lyrics afterwards. They added car crash samples from an Emulator and riot noises from a film. The duo did not have time to rework the track during the 10-week recording session for Please, and the album version is essentially a polished version of their demo.

A completely new version was made for the single, using barking dogs recorded at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, audio of riots obtained from the BBC, and real breaking glass. Julian Mendelsohn brought in Fairlight programmer Andy Richards, who created a horn section sound with the synth line. Gary Barnacle played saxophone on the track. The single version is an edit of a longer piece called "Suburbia (The Full Horror)", which includes a spoken word segment with the refrain, "Suburbia, where the suburbs met utopia…", and ends in a series of explosions.

Pet Shop Boys had thought that their career might be on a downward trajectory when "Love Comes Quickly", the follow-up single to their number one hit "West End Girls", only reached 19 on the UK Singles Chart, but "Suburbia" alleviated those concerns. 

"Suburbia" was released on 22 September 1986. It spent four weeks in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, with two weeks at its peak position of number eight. The duo promoted the single heavily in Europe, where it received widespread radio airplay. In West Germany, "Suburbia" was in the top 10 for nine weeks from 10 November 1986 to 12 January 1987; its peak position was number two, which it held for four weeks. The song was also a top 10 hit in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden, and Austria.

The B-side of the 7-inch single had Lowe's first lead vocal appearance, "Paninaro". A 7-inch EP in a double pack sleeve, limited to 25,000 copies, came with the standard single on one disc and a Shep Pettibone remix of "Love Comes Quickly" backed with "Jack the Lad" and the short edit "Suburbia Part 2" on the other. "Suburbia (The Full Horror)" was released as a 12-inch single and is also on Disco and the reissue Please: Further Listening 1984–1986.

The 7-inch version of "Suburbia" has been included on the compilation albums Discography: The Complete Singles Collection, Ultimate, and Smash: The Singles 1985–2020. PopArt: The Hits includes the "Video Mix" from the music video, which has an intro featuring the spoken word refrain.

Two remixes of "Suburbia" by Arthur Baker, the "Club Vocal Mix" and the "Dub Mix", were originally used on a promotional 12-inch EP. In 2023, both remixes were released by Pet Shop Boys as digital downloads, and the "Club Vocal Mix" was included on Arthur Baker: The Classic Dance Remixes from Baker's Dance Masters series.

The sleeves for the single were designed by Mark Farrow with photos by Eric Watson. The standard 7-inch single (pictured) has a motion-blurred image of Tennant holding Lowe in a headlock. The main 12-inch single has a selenium-toned portrait of Lowe wearing a striped Poshboy shirt and a pair of Issey Miyake shutter sunglasses. Farrow won a Design and Art Direction silver award for the 12-inch sleeve, and Watson's portrait of Lowe is in the Photographs Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The video was directed by Eric Watson and features footage of the duo in a Los Angeles suburb, while they were there for that year's MTV Video Music Awards, and a contrasting image of British suburbia, filmed in Kingston-upon-Thames, a suburb of south-west London. It opens with the barking dog motif in an extended "Video Mix" of the song, and dogs appear throughout. Tennant and Lowe are shown walking in the streets among the residents and sitting on a sofa in a house full of unpacked boxes, which represent sudden wealth and the acquisition of things that haven't been used, according to Watson.

Suburbia Track List: 

7-inch: Parlophone / R 6140 (UK)

 

1. Suburbia

2. Paninaro

  

2×7-inch: Parlophone / RD 6140 (UK)

 

1. "Suburbia" 

2.  "Paninaro" 

3.  "Love Comes Quickly" [Shep Pettibone Mastermix] (Early Fade) 

4.  "Jack the Lad" 

5.  "Suburbia Pt. Two" 

 

MC: Parlophone / TC R 6140 (UK)

 

1. "Suburbia" 

2.  "Paninaro" 

3.  "Jack the Lad" 

4.  "Love Comes Quickly" [Shep Pettibone Mastermix]

 

MC: Parlophone / TR 6140 (UK)

 

1. "Suburbia" (The Full Horror) 

2.  "Paninaro"

3.  "Jack the Lad" 

4.  "Love Comes Quickly" [Shep Pettibone Mastermix] (Even Earlier Fade) 

 

12-inch: Parlophone / 12 R 6140 (UK)

 

1. "Suburbia" (The Full Horror) 

2.  "Paninaro" 

3.  "Jack the Lad" 

 

12-inch: EMI America / V-19226 (US)

 

1.  "Suburbia" (The Full Horror)

2.  "Suburbia" (7-inch version) 

3.  "Jack the Lad"

News: Pet Shop Boys Announce The Release Of "A Man From The Future"

 

The Pet Shop Boys are pleased to announce the forthcoming album release of  "A Man From The Future", along with a special listening and conversation event in Manchester to mark the occasion.

Created in collaboration with Alan Turing biographer, Andrew Hodges, and performed by Pet Shop Boys and the Manchester Camerata Octet with narration by Juliet Stevenson and string arrangements by Sven Helbig, the work explores eight significant chapters in the life and death of Alan Turing, the pioneering British mathematician and cryptanalyst who laid the foundations of modern computing. The work has been revised and updated since its first performance at the BBC Proms in 2014. This new version, produced by Pet Shop Boys and Sven Helbig, will be released as an album on October 9th., via Parlophone Records. It is now available to pre-order in various formats at this link: AMFTF

Pet Shop Boys and Andrew Hodges will take part in a listening and conversation event for “A man from the future” on Thursday, 8th.,  October at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester which will feature a full playback of the album followed by a discussion about the work by Pet Shop Boys and Andrew Hodges. Tickets for the event go on sale on Monday, 7th., September at 10am BST via the link below. The conversation will also be filmed and made available online shortly afterwards.

Rocktrospectiva: The Adventurous And Successful "Bilingual" Turns 30

Released on 2 Septembre 1996 "Bilingual" was the sixth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, lower than their previous five studio albums which had all reached the top three. It yielded four successful singles, with three of them—"Before", "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" and "A Red Letter Day"—reaching the UK top 10; the fourth one, the English/Spanish-language composition "Single-Bilingual", peaked within the top 20.

Bilingual continues the heavily instrumented arrangements and backing vocals Pet Shop Boys began adding to their music with the album Very (1993). As the title suggests, a number of the songs on Bilingual have international influences. On their 1994 Discovery Tour in South America, the duo were influenced by the beats and rhythms associated with Latin American music. Initially, the whole album was intended to have a Latin American sound, but the concept was not fully realised.

Three songs have bilingual lyrics, mixing English with Spanish on "Discoteca" and "Single-Bilingual" and with Portuguese on "Se a vida é", which was based on a song by the Brazilian group Olodum."It Always Comes as a Surprise" opens with a sample of Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto and features percussion sounds from a berimbau and cuícas. A sample of Spanish gypsy music was used on "To Step Aside", and a Russian choir sang on "A Red Letter Day". Neil Tennant described four of the songs—"Metamorphosis", "Electricity", "Before", and "Saturday Night Forever"—as a "New York dance album" within the album.

In August 1994, Pet Shop Boys started writing songs for the album, including "Discoteca", at Unique Studios, where they had originally recorded "West End Girls". While in New York, they heard live samba drums at the Sound Factory Bar, which inspired their Discovery Tour later that year. For the album, they worked with the Scottish women's drumming ensemble SheBoom, who specialised in samba rhythms, as well as samba percussionist Robin Jones.

Recording began in April 1995 and continued on and off into the following year. The duo worked at Sarm West and Bunk Junk & Genius in London, and they also set up their own studio in a rented house outside Henley-on-Thames and used nearby Sarm Hook End as well. In June 1995, they went to New York to record the single "Before" at Axis and Bass Hit studios with Danny Tenaglia, who later came to the UK to produce the track "Saturday Night Forever". Pet Shop Boys worked with producer Chris Porter on five tracks: "Se a vida é", "It Always Comes as a Surprise", "Up Against It", "The Survivors", and "To Step Aside". One track, "Metamorphosis", was produced by Paul Roberts and Andy Williams of K-Klass. In March 1996, Tennant traveled to Moscow to record the Russian choir on "A Red Letter Day" at the State House of Broadcasting and Sound Recording.

Prior to the album's release, Pet Shop Boys collaborated with David Bowie on the song "Hallo Spaceboy", which reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1996. In April, Bilingual was preceded by the top 10 single "Before", followed by another hit single, "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)", in August. The album was released on 2 September 1996 by Parlophone in the UK and on 10 September by Atlantic Records in the US.

In late 1995, Pet Shop Boys ended their contract with the American branch of EMI and signed with Atlantic Records. A renewed marketing campaign was launched to promote the band in the United States via both radio airplay and club play. Bilingual was positioned as one of Atlantic's top releases for the fourth quarter of 1996, with an aggressive pricing strategy. 

The CD cover (pictured) had a screen printed frosted finish of dirty varnish, with the album title in clear plastic revealing a yellow booklet and the band name through the lettering. The LP was yellow with white lettering. The concept, designed by Mark Farrow, was meant to convey luxury packaging; however, a Parlophone executive later described it as giving the message "I'm not for you" instead of "Buy me". Rather than doing a photoshoot of the duo, informal pictures were used for the booklet and inner sleeve. The photos were in duplicate, playing on the "bi" theme. The special edition cover had a double image of the duo taken by Andy Earl. Lyrics were included in the packaging for the first time.

Bilingual debuted at number four on the UK albums chart and spent nine weeks in the top 100 in 1996. The album was certified gold upon release by the British Phonographic Industry. Worldwide, Bilingual had sold 1.5 million copies by February 1997, with the top markets for the album being Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and Asia. In the US, where Bilingual peaked at 39 on the Billboard 200, the album sold 149,000 copies by 2006.

In 2001, Pet Shop Boys reissued their first six studio albums; Bilingual was re-released as Bilingual: Further Listening 1995–1997. It was digitally remastered and included a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release. A remastered single-disc edition followed on 9 February 2009, under the title of Bilingual: Remastered, containing only the 12 tracks of the original. In 2018, a newly remastered edition of Bilingual: Further Listening 1995–1997 was released, with the same contents as the 2001 edition.

Critics were mixed and positive on their reviews, some cited Bilingual as further proof that even if the Pet Shop Boys aren't gracing the top of the charts as frequently as they did during the late '80s, they are crafting albums that are more adventurous and successful than they did when they were one of the top singles acts in pop music", a near-perfect album for converting discophobes to the pleasures of dance music", a fresher and far more commercially accessible album than the act has offered in years".

 

Bilingual Track List: 

 

1. Discoteca

2. Single

3. Metamorphosis

4. Electricity

5. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)

6. It Always Comes As A Surprise

7. A Red Letter Day

8. Up Against It

9. The Survivors

10. Before

11. To Step Aside

12. Sturday Night Forever 

News: Pet Shop Boys Announce A New Recording Of "A Man From The Future" Will Be Premiered On BBC This October

Made in collaboration with Turing's biographer, Professor Andrew Hodges. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, it was first performed it at the Royal Albert Hall in 2014, as part of the BBC Proms, with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers. For this new version, both the text and the music have been revised.

BBC Radio 6 Music will broadcast the 2026 edition on Sunday 4 October, within Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone (8–10pm) and Maconie will also speak to Tennant, Lowe and Hodges about the reworking, including their approach to combining electronic and orchestral music.

A man from the future will then air on BBC Radio 3 later the same evening, within Unclassified (11.30pm–12.30am), with Pet Shop Boys and Hodges joining presenter Elizabeth Alker in the studio to discuss the original performance and its revision. After that, both broadcasts will be available on BBC Sounds for 30 days afterwards.

The piece follows Turing's life chronologically across eight parts: his school days and early interest in mathematics, his time at Cambridge, his work breaking the German Enigma machine's codes during the Second World War, his role in the invention of the digital computer and his early predictions about artificial intelligence, his trial and conviction for a homosexual relationship, his death in 1954, the royal pardon granted to him in 2013, and his lasting influence.

The duo explain the piece was intended as a tribute to Turing's life and treatment. "Our motive in creating this work was to make a musical memorial to Alan Turing, who gave so much to his country and the world and was rewarded for it by being prosecuted for his sexuality. In both his professional and private lives, he was ahead of his time."

Lorna Clarke, BBC Director of Music adds: "When Pet Shop Boys debuted A man from the future at the BBC Proms twelve years ago, audiences were treated to an ambitious and moving tribute to the life and legacy of Alan Turing."

The 2026 recording is co-produced by Pet Shop Boys and German composer Sven Helbig, who also worked on the original 2014 orchestrations. This version leans further into electronic production, alongside a more intimate string arrangement from Helbig. Olivier-winning actress Juliet Stevenson, who appeared in the 2014 Royal Albert Hall performance, returns to deliver narration adapted from Hodges' biography, Alan Turing: The Enigma, which Hodges has updated for this revision. Manchester Camerata Octet perform the strings, with Manchester Grammar School choir also featured.

Rocktrospectiva: Pet Shop Boys' Summery And Fun Single "Se A Vida É" Turns 30

Released on 12 August 1996 "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" was a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, as the second single from their sixth studio album, Bilingual (1996). The song was based on "Estrada Da Paixão" by African-Brazilian band Olodum, which Pet Shop Boys heard during the South American leg of their Discovery tour in 1994. The band shares songwriting credits with Pet Shop Boys. The correct English translation of "Se a vida é" from Portuguese is actually "If Life Is...". ("That's the way life is" would be "É assim que a vida é..." or "A vida é assim".) The other Portuguese lyric is "Essa vida é..." ("This life is..."), which sounds very similar to "Se a vida é". Neil Tennant acknowledged that he started writing the lyrics with a mistranslation of the phrase but decided he liked it as is. The addition of "Essa vida é" was intended as a more accurate way to convey "that's the way life is".

"Se A Vida É" spent eight weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number eight, and became a top-five hit in the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, and Spain. It topped the European Hit Radio chart, with airplay on 98 stations in 23 countries. 

In the United States, the song was released in 1997 as a double A-side with "To Step Aside". This version reached number eight on the Billboard Maxi-Singles Sales chart while "To Step Aside" by itself reached number one on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart.

The single covers (CD1 pictured) featured photos from the music video shoot at a water park, taken by Lynda Churilla. The photos were printed on a yellow background in duotone pink, blue, green, red, and orange, with flecks of spot varnish to give an effect of splashing water. The 12-inch double vinyl cover had plain panels of the same colours, with the photos on the inner sleeves. The compact discs were yellow, and the vinyl records were green for side A/B and yellow for side C/D. Designer Mark Farrow described the look as "summery and fun and wet and sexy".

The accompanying music video for "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" was shot at the Wet 'n Wild water theme park in Orlando, Florida, and was directed by Bruce Weber, who had also directed the video for "Being Boring" (1990). Actress Eva Mendes appeared in a small role as a teenager with her friends at the park. The video entered heavy rotation on MTV and VH1 that summer.

The single has been described as "a sexy and vibrant song", and a "life-affirming lambada". Other described it as the best Pet Shop Boys single in years. Justice demands it be the biggest of summer hits." An extremely commercial and very positive song, it features a four-piece brass section, a guitar and 20 female drummers. The latter's inclusion gives a sometimes thunderous rumble to appropriate sections of the song, but the rest is very lightweight and breezy, with a vaguely Latin flavour floating in with the brass section.

 

Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) Track List: 

 

UK And Australian CD1 Japanese Maxi-CD Single: 

 

1. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)

2. Betrayed

3. How I Learned To Hate Rock 'n' Roll

4. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) (Pink Noise Mix)

 

UK And Australian CD2:

 

1. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) (Mark Picciotti's Deep And Dark Vocal) 

2. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) (Mark Picciotti's Shelter Dub)

3. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)" (Deep Dish Liquid Remix)

 

UK Cassette Single And European CD Single

 

1. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)

2. Betrayed

 

Japanese Mini CD Single: 

 

1. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)

2. Go West 

US CD Single: 

 

1. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) (Album Version) 

2. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) (Mark Picchiotti's Deep And Dark Vocal)

3. To Step Aside (Album Version)

4. To Step Aside (Ralphie's Disco Vox)

5. The Calm Before The Storm

6. Betrayed

 

US 2x12 inch Single: 

 

1. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) (Mark Pricchiotti's Deep And Dark Vocal)

2. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) (Deep Dish Liquid Remix)

3. To Step Aside (Ralphie's Disco Vox)

4. To Step Aside (Hasbrouck Heights Mix)

5. To Step Aside (Davidson Ospina Dub)

6. To Step Aside (Ralphie's Old School Dub) 

7. To Step Aside (Brutal Bill Mix)

8. To Step Aside (Ralphi's House Vox)

Rocktrospectiva: The Back To The Form "Fundamental" Turns 20

Released on 22 May 2006 "Fundamental" was the ninth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released in May 2006 in the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, and Canada, and in late June 2006 in the United States. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number five on 28 May 2006. In the US the album peaked at number 150 on the Billboard 200, selling 7,500 copies in its first week. The album spawned three singles "I'm With Stupid", "Minimal" & "Numb." Fundamental earned two Grammy nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards for Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording for "I'm with Stupid".

 

The album featured eleven Pet Shop Boys compositions and a song by Diane Warren, "Numb", which was originally intended to be a new track on PopArt: The Hits (2003). Two other songs, "Casanova in Hell" and "Luna Park", were written by the duo during the PopArt sessions; they wrote the rest between January and April 2005 in London and Naples.

 

In planning for the album, Pet Shop Boys drew up a manifesto of their intention to write songs about authoritarianism and fundamentalism in the contemporary world, with minimal electropop music. The songs turned out to be more epic in scope, and they decided to approach Trevor Horn, with whom they had worked on "Left to My Own Devices" (1989), to be the producer. Recording took place from May to November at Sarm West in London. The title is intended to convey that the album has a fundamentally Pet Shop Boys sound, in addition to touching on the subject matter.

 

So far, the album has been noted for being more political than any other of the duo's albums to date; even the title, in one sense, is a reference to religious fundamentalism – portrayed here in a light, critical manner, which singer Neil Tennant attributes to the relatively relaxed status of religious freedom in the United Kingdom. Specific contemporary issues discussed in the lyrics include tensions and fears in the United States caused by the war on terrorism, addressed in songs such as "Psychological" and "Luna Park". Other songs refer to the politics of the band's home country; "Indefinite leave to remain" refers to an immigration status in the United Kingdom, while "Integral" criticises the Identity Cards Act 2006. (A statement from a band spokesman cites the issue as the reason that Tennant ceased his well-publicized support of Tony Blair's Labour Party.) "I'm with Stupid", meanwhile, touches upon both countries by satirizing Blair's alliance with George W. Bush. 

 

Other subject matters are dealt with as well. "Casanova in Hell" is about the 18th century historical figure Giacomo Casanova, and how he immortalized himself by writing memoirs about his history of sexual seduction of numerous women. Tennant refers to, specifically, the book Casanova's Homecoming by Arthur Schnitzler as his inspiration for the song. "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show" references two of the biblical cities of sin, Sodom and Gomorrah, in saying that to learn to 'go where angels fear to tread' (i.e. to sin) is to learn to live freely.

 

The music featured in the album was Pet Shop Boys' first collaboration with Trevor Horn since the 1989 single "It's Alright". Its sound bears the producer's heavily orchestral style (also present on that song), most frequently associated with the 1982 ABC album The Lexicon of Love as well as the 1984 Frankie Goes to Hollywood single "Two Tribes" and subsequent album Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Horn was also musical director for the Radio 2 concert, which featured the BBC Concert Orchestra.

 

The album reviews were the best in over a decade sitting the record neatly between their previous career highpoints of Very and Behaviour, and it propels them back into the pop premier league". Reuniting the duo once again with Trevor Horn, Fundamental is a confident affirmation of the PSBs' musical strengths. The result may be the very best album of their career, a mature and considered work which satisfies head, heart and feet simultaneously," some have said that this album was the best Pet Shop Boys album in 10 years, but looking back at their last decade of work, that's not really saying that much. 

 

Fundamental Track List: 

 

1. Psychological

2. The Sodom And Gomorrah Show

3. I Made My Excuses And Left

4. Minimal

5. Numb

6. God Willing

7. Luna Park

8. I'm With Stupid

9. Casanova In Hell

10. Twentieth Century

11. Indefinite Leave To Remain

12. Integral  

Rocktrospectiva: The Energetic "Super" Turns 10

Released on 1 April 2016, "Super" was the 13th., studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on the band's own label, x2, through Kobalt Label Services. Super debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart, and it was number one on Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, the album spawned five singles "The Pop Kids", "Twenty-Something", "Inner Sanctum", "Say It To Me", & "Undertow".

Super was the second in a trilogy of albums produced by Stuart Price, preceded by Electric (2013) and followed by Hotspot (2020). As on the first album, the music on Super was purely electronic, with no additional instruments. Pet Shop Boys wrote 25 songs between November 2014 and July 2015, working in London and, mainly, Berlin. Twelve were ultimately used on the album, with an emphasis on upbeat electronic dance tracks.

"The Pop Kids" was the first song written for Super. The music originated as a demo titled "Munich", written in that city by Chris Lowe during the Progress Live tour in 2011. Neil Tennant added the lyrics during the album writing sessions, telling a story about two students and their shared love of pop music. The music of "Twenty-something" was inspired by reggaeton, which Lowe heard at a club in Bogota, while the lyrics refer to young professionals in London. "Sad Robot World" was written after the duo were given a tour of the Wolfsburg Volkswagen Plant, where they saw cars being washed by robotic arms.

Some tracks on Super were largely instrumental, with only a few lyrics and non-traditional song structures. "Pazzo!", meaning "crazy" in Italian, was made using a collection of sounds saved from another track. "Inner Sanctum" celebrates an exclusive club experience; the duo imagined how it would sound in the Berlin nightclub Berghain as they worked on it. Tracks that were not used for Super included more conventional pop songs, as well as some dark, topical songs like "In Bits", which became a b-side of "The Pop Kids", and "The Lost Room", which was eventually released with other Super-era tracks on the Lost EP (2023).

Pet Shop Boys teased Super in January 2016 with an anonymous poster and social media campaign using the circle logo (pictured), leading to the now-defunct website What Is Super, which featured a brief music clip. On 21 January, the site went live with the album announcement, along with a video preview of the song "Inner Sanctum". Super was made available for pre-order on compact disc, vinyl, or digital download. 

The album was released with colour variations of cover. Each format was given its own fluorescent colour scheme. The different music streaming services also have their own colour schemes

Super received generally favourable reviews from music critics. Some described it as a record that's frequently playful, vibrant and witty and shows off all the hallmarks of classic Pet Shop Boys… 'Super' was confirmation of their position at the head of the pop pantheon with an album brimming with excitement and fizzing with energy". Other critics said that  Super was a grower and a brave rejection of pipe and slippers, embracing the mythical dance floor with admirably vacuous experimentation, even if it mines the mid-nineties, when dance music grew least interesting, but other stated that the album offered nothing new but definitely it was made for fans caused the brand was already established.

 

Super Track List:  

 

1. Happiness

2. The Pop Kids

3. Twenty-Something

4. Groovy

5. The Dictator Decides

6. Pazzo!

7. Inner Sanctum

8. Undertow

9. Sad Robot World

10. Say It To Me

11. Burn

12. Into Thin Air