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.”
‘Home and Dry’ is released as a single in the U.K.
The Pet Shop Boys bring their Fundamental Tour show to Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Neil and Chris appear on BBC1 prime-time television’s The One Show.
They’ve been very busy in the studio of late. Today they announce on their official website that they have just finished composing the music for Act One of their ballet, scheduled for debut in 2011.
Photographer and videographer Eric Watson succumbs to a fatal heart attack at the age of 56. Watson was extremely important in the history of the Pet Shop Boys, having taken their first publicity photos as well as shots for numerous single covers and the albums Please and Behaviour. He was also instrumental in their signing with Epic Records, and directed several of their early music videos and their Performance concert film.
Today sees the release of the CD single of ‘The Pop Kids’ with bonus tracks. A digital bundle of remixes is also released. This same evening, Neil attends a performance by electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss at the Rich Mix performing arts center in London’s East End.
This afternoon the final scheduled performance of the debut U.S. run of the Boys’ ballet The Most Incredible Thing takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina.