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.”
PSB protegé Cicero returns to his home town of Livingston, Scotland, for a performance to celebrate the release of his first single, ‘Heaven Must Have Sent You Back to Me,’ co-produced by the Pet Shop Boys. Neil attends the show this evening, accompanied by their handler/assistant Dainton Connell.
Chris makes a brief cameo appearance on the popular Australian TV soap opera Neighbours.
The Trades Union Congress lists Neil among 250 entertainers who endorse a hotline to help reduce racism in U.K. workplaces.
The Boys appear on Top of the Pops, performing ‘I Get Along.’
The second of four consecutive nights of PSB shows at London’s Royal Opera House. Earlier this same day, it was announced on the Boys’ website that the book One Hundred Lyrics and One Poem by Neil Tennant would be published November 1.
Neil, together with Frances Barber and Jonathan Harvey, films interview segments to promote the upcoming production of Musik. Later Neil works with Frances on some of the spoken segments of its songs ‘to get the timings right.’