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.”
Neil and Chris are in the studio working on ‘Positive Role Model.’
The Fundamental Tour comes to Miami Beach.
Still in Buenos Aires following their concert the night before, Chris and Neil watch television coverage of the funeral of former Boyzone singer Stephen Gately. On their official website they write, ‘We got to know him a few years ago and he was always such fun to be around. A very sweet guy gone far too soon.’ Later the Boys fly to Lima, Peru, where fans greet them at the airport. They are then driven directly to a TV studio for a live evening appearance on El Show de los Sueños (‘The Show of Dreams’). They perform two songs—‘Love etc.’ and ‘Always on My Mind’—and are interviewed by host Gisela Valcárcel.
They work all day in the studio on the song ‘Odd Man Out.’
Neil and Chris make a live appearance at the Rough Trade East record store in London to sign copies of an exclusive seven-inch vinyl single of ‘Leaving’ as well as copies of their most recent album Elysium.
Neil and Chris attend Cliff Richard’s concert this evening at London’s Royal Albert Hall. They share a box-seating section with Chris’s mother and sister.