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.”
Accompanied by Liza Minnelli, Neil attends the London premiere of the film Batman starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.
Alternative and DiscoVery (Live in Rio) are released simultaneously.
Johnny Marr records guitar parts for ‘Birthday Boy’ and ‘You Choose.’
The Pet Shop Boys perform at Denmark’s Skanderborg Festival.
Chris and Neil fly to Singapore for their concert there the following evening.
Exactly one decade to the day since their previous appearance in Skanderborg, Denmark, the Boys perform there once again this evening.
A new Superchumbo remix of the classic Bronski Beat track ‘Why?’ with added spoken parts by Neil Tennant is released to digital/streaming services today.
A signed limited-edition 7‑inch vinyl single of ‘Hymn (In Memoriam Alexei Navalny)’ goes on sale today, its proceeds slated for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. With a printing of only 300 copies, it sells out almost immediately.