It's been quite the weather day in New York City, with humidity feeling like it's a 100% and rain pouring down intermittently as a cold front starts through the region.
I got partially wet on the way to the train but when I got home, all was better because a package was waiting for me with some Pet Shop Boys reissues from the Catalogue: 1985-2012 remasters series
Back in 2001, the Pet Shop Boys reissued 6 albums from 1984-1997 in their "Further Listening" series that added a second disc of B-sides, remixes, additional tracks and unreleased songs to remastered versions of Please, Actually, Introspective, Behavior, Very and Bilingual.
In July the Pet Shop Boys embarked on a new series of "Further Listening" reissues, this time starting with the Parlophone albums Nightlife, Release, Fundamental. They followed those up with releases of Yes and Elysium, two of their more recent albums, in Further Listening form. The previously released 1984-1997 albums, long out of print, will see re-releases as well.
All five of the 2017 remasters were waiting for me when I got home, but I knew which one I was going to listen to even before I got them unwrapped the package.
I have long been a big fan of Release, the 2002 PSB album with Johnny Marr on guitar for seven of the tracks. The liner notes to the remaster say this is one of the least favorite albums for PSB fans, and I get that, as it has a more guitar-oriented sound than other PSB albums. But I really dig this album (in fact, I initially bought the Limited Edition version of it that had a second disc of some extra songs and remixes), especially the first five songs, so I was excited to get the remastered version.
It's on right now and I have to say, the remaster sounds excellent to my ears. There are two extra discs, "Further Listening 2001-2004 Volume 1 and Volume 2," that "contain tracks of master quality recorded during the same period of time as the main album as well as the Pet Shop Boys own remixes of their tracks." Most of the stuff from the Release Limited Edition made it to "Further Listening 2001-2004" discs (a couple ended up on the 2017 Nightlife remastered package, though Break 4 Love: US Radio Edit, originally on the Limited Edition, doesn't appear to be on any of the 2017 reissues.)
In any case, I highly recommend these Pet Shop Boys remasters. If you're a bit of an obsessive and you like having a lot of what got recorded in a particular time period in one place, the Catalogue: 1985-2012 remasters series is for you. I am really interested to see what the remasters of the 1984-1997 cds have because the "Further Listening" track listings are said to be different from the original 2001 releases. I had to track those 2001 remasters down via Amazon third party sellers, so I'm going to hold onto them no matter what, but this 2017 remastering campaign is, as as usual with the Pet Shop Boys, a classy and interesting exercise in art, commerce and music, and really lets you delve deep into the music.
PS: A nice remastered box of Liza Minelli's album Results, produced by the Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn, is also out recently, and the partially PSB-produced Dusty Springfield album Reputation came out in 2016. So if you're looking to immerse yourself in the Pet Shop Boys catalogue and some of their ancillary projects, there's no time like now.
Here are the links to the remasters out so far - give them a chance if you haven't already:
Release: Further Listening 2001-2004 (3cds)
Nightlife: Further Listening 1996-2000 (3cds)
Fundamental: Further Listening 2005-2007 (2cds)
Yes: Further Listening 2008-2010 (3cds)
Elysium: Further Listening 2011-2012 (2cds)
And if your so inclined:
Liza Minelli Results (4cds)
Dusty Springfield Reputation (3cds)
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