Introspective

Infobox Album |
Name = Introspective
Type = Album
Artist = Pet Shop Boys


Released = October 11, 1988
Recorded = 1988
Genre = Synthpop
Length = 48:08
Label = EMI Manhattan (US/Canada) Parlophone
Producer = Pet Shop Boys, Trevor Horn, Stephen Lipson, Lewis A. Martinee, David Jacob, Julian Mendelsohn
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:eaud6j6h71l0 link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|2|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/petshopboys/albums/album//review//introspective link]
*Robert Christgau (A-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Pet+Shop+Boys]
Last album = "Actually"
(1987)
This album = "Introspective"
(1988)
Next album = "Behaviour"
(1990)

"Introspective" is the fourth album, the third of entirely new music, by the UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It was first released in 1988 and is the Pet Shop Boys' best-selling album, selling over 4.5 million copies worldwide.

It is so named because "all the songs, although it's a dance album, are introspective". Perhaps the biggest changes in Pet Shop Boys' sound evident on this album are an increasing attention to orchestration using real orchestras, particularly so on the Trevor Horn-produced "Left to my own devices," which took months to produce.

The album was also unusual in that it completely reversed the typical process by which pop/dance acts released singles: Instead of releasing an album of regular-length (3-5 minute) songs, then releasing more lengthy remixes of those songs on subsequent singles, "Introspective" was released as an LP consisting of songs that all lasted six minutes or more. Songs from the album that were released as singles were released as shorter, more radio-friendly mixes.

Of the four tracks on the album that were released as singles -- "Left to my own devices," "Domino dancing," "Always on my mind," and "It's alright" -- none of them were released as radio singles in the same form that they appeared on the album.

It is also notable that, of the six tracks on the album, only two were actually written specifically for this project - those being "Left to My Own Devices" and "Domino Dancing." "Always on My Mind" and "It's Alright" are cover versions, and "I Want a Dog" and "I'm Not Scared" are re-recordings of earlier Pet Shop Boys tracks.

"Introspective" was re-released in 2001 (as were the group's first six albums) as "Introspective/Further Listening ". The re-released version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release.

Neil Tennant, in a speech he later gave to the Oxford Union, said that he regretted releasing "Introspective" so soon after "Actually" as he felt that the 12" nature of the songs may have put some fans off the band, and that this probably impacted on the sales of "Behaviour", the subsequent album which is critically regarded to be the Pet Shop Boys' finest album but commercially one of their least successful. Nevertheless, Introspective remains, according to Neil Tennant, the best-selling Pet Shop Boys album internationally.

Track listing

# "Left to My Own Devices" – 8:16
# "I Want a Dog" – 6:15
# "Domino Dancing" – 7:40
# "I'm Not Scared" – 7:23
# "Always on My Mind/In My House" – 9:05
# "It's alright" – 9:24
#

Further Listening 1988-1989

# "I get excited (you get excited too)"
# "Don Juan (demo version)"
# "Domino Dancing (demo version)"
# "Domino Dancing (alternative version)"
# "The sound of the atom splitting"
# "What keeps mankind alive?"
# "Don Juan (disco mix)"
# "Losing my mind (disco mix)"
# "Nothing has been proved (demo for Dusty)"
# "So sorry, I said (demo for Liza)"
# "Left to my own devices (seven-inch mix)"
# "It's alright (ten-inch version)"
# "One of the crowd"
# "It's alright (seven-inch version)"
# "Your funny uncle"

Personnel

*Neil Tennant - vocals
*Chris Lowe - keyboards

Guest musicians

*Richard Niles - Orchestra arrangement and conduction on track 1
*Sally Bradshaw - Additional vocals on track 1
*Frankie Knuckles - Mix and additional production on track 2
*Josh Milian - Piano solo on track 2
*Fro Sossa & Mike Bast - Additional keyboards on track 3
*Nestor Gomez - Guitar on track 3
*Tony Conception, Kenneth William Faulk, Dana Tebor & Ed Calle - Brass on track 3
*The Voice In Fashion - Backing vocals on track 3
*Blue Weaver - Fairlight programming on track 4
*Andy Richards & Gary Maughan - Fairlight programming on track 5
*Judy Bennett, Sharon Blackwell, H Robert Carr, Mario Friendo, Derek Green, Michael Hoyte, Herbie Joseph, Paul Lee, Gee Morris, Dee Ricketts, Iris Sutherland & Yvonne White - Additional vocals on track 6

External links

* [http://www.music-nerds.com/album.php?id=2568 Music-Nerd track by track review]