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.”
Liza Minnelli’s Results, produced by the Pet Shop Boys, debuts on the U.S. album chart, beginning a ten-week run that peaks at #128.
‘Single’ is released as a single under the title ‘Single-Bilingual’ on account of another artist’s record titled ‘Single’ being released as a single around the same time.
The Boys perform at Wembley Arena as part of a special Prince’s Trust show in honor of Trevor Horn.
11/11/11 proves a propitious day for PSB fans: Neil and Chris reveal in an online interview that their second b‑sides collection, titled Format, is scheduled for release in February, and that they’re about to begin recording their next studio album, aiming for release the following autumn.
In the wake of the U.S. presidential election several days before, the Boys perform this evening in Washington, D.C.
Still working at Berlin’s Hansa Studios, the Boys work with Stuart Price on ‘An Open Mind,’ including Neil singing newly revised lyrics.
Chris and Neil host the first of four hour-long thematic programs on BBC Radio 6 as ‘Artists in Residence.’ These shows, in which the Boys present and discuss music of their choice, air for four consecutive nights.