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.”
‘So Hard’ debuts on the U.S. singles chart, where it will peak at #62.
The Boys launch their Nightlife Tour in Miami, Florida.
They perform at the Jockey Club in Lima, Peru—the final date of the South American leg of the Pandemonium Tour, after which Chris and Neil have scheduled a month-long break from concert appearances.
Chris and Neil go to the EMI offices to meet with their manager Angela Becker to play her their demos of songs planned for their next album and to discuss ideas for a producer.
The Pet Shop Boys were scheduled to appear this evening on the U.S. CBS network’s The Late, Late Show with James Corden, but Neil comes down with a nasty case of food poisoning, forcing them to cancel their appearance.
The albums Yes and Elysium are reissued today, both with ‘Further Listening’ discs of bonus tracks.
The Pet Shop Boys reissue their album Relentless in a newly remastered edition on the thirtieth anniversary of its original release as a bonus disc with limited-edition copies of Very.