On March 19 two books by Chris Heath – Literally from 1990, and Pet Shop Boys versus America from 1993 – were reissued by the Penguin imprint Cornerstone, completely redesigned by Farrow design, and new introductions and afterwords written by the Pet Shop Boys and Chris Heath.
On April 21, Discovery, the film of the Pet Shop Boys 1994 South American tour – “the tour I enjoyed the most,” Chris notes – is released on DVD, accompanied by the release for the first time of a CD of their performance.
On May 7, a new Pet Shop Boys song, the ten-minute “Cricket wife”, is released on CD (accompanied by “West End girls (New lockdown version)”) with the periodical Annually 2021. “Cricket wife”, written during lockdown, began as an extended piece of music created by Chris. “My mum asked me if I would write a piece of classical music for her,” he explains. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got nothing else better to do.’ ‘Classical’ in inverted commas, obviously – I’m no classical composer. In the style of classical music.” When Neil received it, it struck him that it might fit a poem he had written some years before. “It’s really about my parents,” he says. “My father played cricket for many years.”
On December 26, the Pet Shop Boys host a three-hour radio show, Pet Shop Boys, Takeover, on BBC Radio 2 between 9pm and midnight, playing a selection of favourite songs; a broadcast also billed by Radio 2 as “Neil and Chris’s Unpredictable Party Playlist”. (The show has been pre-recorded on the afternoon of December 13.) The Pet Shop Boys have recorded five new jingles for the show, titled “Takeover”, “Strings”, “Beautiful”, “Boxing Day” and “Electric”, and introduce a joyously eclectic selection of music, including records by Matt Monro, Alcazar, Paul Weller (their recent remix of his song “Cosmic Fringes”), Gloria Ann Taylor, Eric Prydz, Françoise Hardy and The 1975. “We’ve only ever done radio when we can play records that we want,” says Chris. “I love doing radio. There’s something very satisfying about broadcasting to the nation.”
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.