On February 28 the Pet Shop Boys begin a short, four-concert Russian tour, visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg, inspired by their visit to St. Petersburg to see Brian Eno the previous summer. In Moscow they perform twice in one night, once in a large arena then later in the middle of an over-crowded nightclub. The local media ask them whether they speak Russian, “We’re very good at saying ‘nyet’,” they explain.
On April 13, Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward is released. It is an album of Noel Coward songs covered by contemporary musicians, co-compiled by Neil, who has been working on it for the past eighteen months. He has loved Noel Coward’s music since he first heard it in about 1970. “I think as a songwriter he’s slightly underrated,” Neil says, “simply because his plays are so famous, and people forget.” The Pet Shop Boys do a version of “Sail Away”, and amongst the other interpreters are Elton John, Paul McCartney, Suede, Robbie Williams and the Divine Comedy. “We tried to choose artists,” Neil explains, “who somehow seem to be in the Noel Coward tradition of wit, theatrically and style.” To promote the album, Neil appeared along on TFI Friday where he sang along with a busker playing Pet Shop Boys songs on an acoustic guitar.
At the request of their former American record company, the Pet Shop Boys agreed to the release of ‘Essential Pet Shop Boys’, a compilation of early Pet Shop Boys songs recorded between 1985 — 1990, including a number of rare remixes, as part of a series of limited edition CDs by other artists.
At the behest of director Gus Van Sant, the Pet Shop Boys wrote a new song, with Tom Stephan, at extremely short notice for the soundtrack of Van Sant’s remake of ‘Psycho’. It is called “Screaming”. “It’s about an obsessive fan, written from the obsessive fan’s point of view,” Neil says. “Or actually just by someone obsessed with someone who doesn’t love them.”
Having recorded vocals for ‘You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk’ the day before, the Boys now spend time in the studio listening to the playback.
Neil records vocals for ‘Vulnerable.’ He and Chris also begin writing ‘Get Over It,’ which eventually becomes ‘Legacy.’
In the wee hours of the morning, an admittedly drunk Neil and Chris (following the preceding evening’s visit to a karaoke bar) are back in the studio writing a new dance song titled ‘Axis.’
It’s announced today that Neil is among a group of eleven ‘visiting fellows’ at Oxford University’s Lady Margaret Hall for the following year. (Among others announced at the same time are actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Watson.) As college principal Alan Rusbridger describes the appointment, ‘At a minimum we’d like them to drop in occasionally at college, eat with us and meet informally with a variety of the LMH community.… We’d like them to do one thing a bit more structured. It could be a conversation or debate, a performance, a lecture or seminar, a form of outreach—or something we haven’t thought of.’
The official PSB website makes the surprise announcement today of the release, one track per day for the next several days, of a new four-song EP titled Agenda. Its first track, ‘Give Stupidity a Chance,’ begins streaming today.
The second London run of the PSB/Jonathan Harvey one-woman stage show Musik at the Leicester Square Theatre, starring Frances Barber, begins this evening with a ‘preview’ performance. Both Chris and Neil as well as collaborator Jonathan Harvey are in attendance. After the show, the Boys attend a celebration at Koha Restaurant & Bar.