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Pet Shop Boys update fans on reissues

By Paul Sinclair

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54

Perhaps conscious that they’ve been mentioning the forthcoming reissues since February 2015 (see my wittily titled ‘Tennant Extra‘ post) the Pet Shop Boys yesterday made a point of updating fans about the current status of the project…

In a post on their website the band stated the following:

“Warner Music has informed us that the imminent launch of the forthcoming series of reissued albums, Nightlife, Release and Fundamental, has to be delayed because more time is needed to set up the global releases. Full track-listings and pre-order details will now be announced in mid-June.“

So the good news is that while there is another delay, there isn’t too long to wait. And the statement basically confirms what we already know, that multi-disc ‘Further Listening’ editions of those three albums are on the way.

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54 Comments

54 thoughts on “Pet Shop Boys update fans on reissues”

  1. They need to go back and properly remaster those Further Listening sets as those were brickwalled to hell and also had a track marker error on Behaviour.

  2. I remember the original post back from February 2015, and I recall there was discussion about a 5.1 mix (official – unofficial upmixes do exist) of the early catalogue? Although 5.1 mixes are a hit-or-miss affair, there are a few numbers on them I would love to listen to in surround.

  3. If they do it right, I’m willing to wait. Hate it when they rush out with these and end up delaying it more or having to reissue corrected discs.

  6. I already have all the further recording releases but if PSB were to revisit their back catalogue for some kind of deluxe set, I wouldn’t mind a set of 5.1 surround mixes similar to what Depeche Mode did with their back catalogue. Anyone who has any of these releases will know how well they sound and gave new life to the recordings.

  8. I hope the new booklets live up to the standards of the first six reissues. The booklet for Format and level of discussion was shocking compared to the superlative one we got with Alternative

  9. For me, the beauty of the original Further Listenings were that they were a cohesive listen. The discs are not meant to be comprehensive, more a fleshed out but digestible accompaniment to the main album. They also are a more ‘pure’ Pet Shop Boys experience as a result; there are no third party remixes just B sides, demos and their own extended versions. Of course there are omissions but collecting their records is a passion so I would rather not suddenly have EVERYTHING that I’ve spent years collecting appear on multi CD sets. And these sets do at least contain the excellent interview booklets and unreleased tracks/mixes plus sometimes some unexpected surprises (the extended fade out on DJ Culture 7″ mix for example) so they have value in their own right. Super deluxes of each album would be amazing (or even Depeche Mode style singles boxsets) but I don’t think that’s the rationale behind the Further Listening series.

    1. Agree 100% with this comment James. If it’s not going to be an ‘every single thing of the era included’ massive reissue, I’d rather have something I’m actually liable to listen to time and again – which is very much what the previous ‘Further Listening’ sets were.

  11. As much as I know there are other demos and extended versions out there from the early years, I think its great they’re just reissuing them as they were. Too unfair to those who’ve already made the investment.

  12. If you’ve been faithfully collecting the group’s CD singles and 12″ singles, you could assemble a 2-CD version of these albums yourself. And apparently, in one or more obscure territories, there once was a 2-CD edition of “Nightlife”. The longer that Warner Music waits, the smaller the market will be for these proposed releases.

    1. More obscure including… the United States ;) 5 b-sides and 6 remixes on “Nightlife Extra.” Part of their trend of bonus discs from Nightlife through Elysium (with Nightlife and Release exclusive to the US releases). https://www.discogs.com/Pet-Shop-Boys-Nightlife/release/95857

      Re: above comment, I actually view some of their later albums as on par with their earlier ones, with the exception of Fundamental and Elysium actually sounding like a band running out of ideas in places (with a few decent tracks thrown in).

    2. You could, yes. I have all their CD singles from this era and several 12″ singles – but I want an actual, official release, not something I made myself.

  13. It’s odd that Yes and Elysium aren’t included. The 2001 issue included the first six albums, with only the then most recent, Nightlife, left out. Electric and Super aren’t associated with Warner Music so can’t be included, but Yes and Elysium should be. Maybe it is a staggered release as probablyrustin suggests.

  15. I would really like a vinyl-reissue scheme (preferably with further listening supplements) to be added to these reissues. Is there any chance?

    1. Don’t know. No mention of vinyl by anyone, yet… Update: Having seen the other comment about some folks having actually received vinyl from Amazon.com, it looks like it will happen!

  16. Was the “Please” – “Anniversary-Release” only a dream ?
    I thought they planned a multi disc set of “Please” last year.
    I’m really confused.

    1. I’m vaguely remember Neil referring to the 30th anniversary of their debut… but I think it was mainly a ‘hoped for’ thing. Very disappointing, since you could imagine how good a well thought out Please box could be.

      1. and i remember that you paul released here a comment by neil like
        “we were so surprised what we found in the vaults”…

  17. Paul, as the first 6 Further Listening albums will be reissued, will they be remastered or have updated mastering? 16 years is a long time ago.

      1. I bought the remastered in 2001. At that time I believed the hype that remastering meant better sound quality. I put my original 80s and 90s CDs away thinking the new editions must sound better. I listened to the remaster for the next few years but kept thinking that they didn’t sound as good as the original cms but it must just be me. In the end the I listened to the original CD of behaviour and was amazed how good it sounded. The remasters were compressed and sound harsh. They need to get the new editions sorted. I’m more likely to buy a 1986 copy of please off ebay.

  18. Oh. OK.
    I missed the news about the early albums not being reissued again, expanded further. That’s a shame, there’s still quite a lot of material didn’t make it to the ‘Further Listening’ discs. Vinyl-only mixes etc.
    And these latter albums are where I tuned out from PSB, where they stopped being essential so no sale here.
    Never mind!

  19. I loved the booklets from the first 6 and look forward to the same quality as before. In relation to the 3 new reissues, there are a load of demos out there, it would be nice if they were included.

  20. Also have to add that I’m a bit confused as to the overall plan – the picture’s got a proof sheet for a cover of Yes (upper right corner), and I was for whatever reason under the impression that Yes and Elysium would be included in the new series to round out the Parlophone releases. BUT this announcement only touches on those three – I’d heard elsewhere that maybe a 3-2 staggered release strategy might happen? Hoping they clear up some of the “long-term” questions with the impending announcements.

    1. I also heard somewhere that Yes and Elysium would be included (the last two of their Parlophone albums). Hope that will be the case.

      It seems that quite a lot of people view their later albums as non-essential. It all comes down to taste I guess – Nightlife, Release, Fundamental, Yes and Super are all a very worthy additions to their previous catalog IMO.

    2. If I remember well, Neil talked about “all the 6 next albums that were released under the Parlophone Era” in an interview…

      I would have killed to get the “everything boxes” of the first 4 albums… There are plenty of mixes / Edits / Remixes / extended versions that are still not released on CD (or rare, such as the extended version of “This must be the place…” only released in Japan…)
      You just have to take a look at the wonderful book “Catalogue” to be sure of that. there are also some demos and unreleased tracksthat have surfaced on the net… We must not also forget demos that were done for “Closer to Heaven” !

  21. Looking forward to the reprints as I missed the first two albums, and aside from Fundamental (a low point, IMO) the new ones should be pretty interesting.

  22. Really looking forward to these and thankfully it sounds like it won’t be much of a wait now.

    I have all the earlier ones and I’ll buy these of course! But what about Yes and the later albums –
    are they also getting Further editions? An “Everything” box set would also be a blind buy for me.

    I would love for re-pressings of their albums on vinyl – I have them all except Very and Release, which I would pick up in an instant!

  24. I’m glad the earlier ones are coming back into print, I had to sell a few off in harder times so it’s nice to know it’ll be easier to get them back in the near future.

  25. Neil has been putting up the odd photo of vrry early cassettes. Here’s hoping it is for a future ‘Everything’ type release. The reissues of the early Further’s is due to updated copyrights.

  26. the further listening sets of the 1st 3 albums were brilliant its a shame we cant get the missing 12″ singles on a compilation. ie rent 12″ mix, devices disco mix
    and all the other non psb remixes

  27. If the tracklists leaked last month are to be believed, it’s similar mix of demos, b sides and the psb own extended mixes, to the first six.

    1. @Billy Dojcak : If these new “Further Listening” editions are like the old ones published 16 years ago, the extra material is a selection of B-Sides / Remixes / Demos of the albums’ era.

  31. It’s great that the artwork is retaining the same format as the first series of Further Listening. I’d have been shocked if they hadn’t, such is the Pets’ attention to detail.

  32. Is it me, or am I a bit confused?

    Are they releasing super deluxe fully expanded many disc versions of the early albums, and 2 disc reissues of latter ones, under the different Further Listening moniker?

    I was SO hoping that they dropped Further Listening for proper, full, 5 or 6 disc per album editions, with ALL the content – audio and video – rather than the mildly expanded Further Listening versions.

    1. The old ‘Further Listening’ releases (Please, Actually etc.) are coming back into print, but there isn’t going to be any new expanded versions of the old albums (unfortunately). However, Neil has referred to some future big box which will contain ‘everything’, although my interpretation of that is that it won’t have anything over and above buying the individual further listening sets.

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