Disco (Pet Shop Boys album)

Untitled

Disco is the second album by the UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It was first released in 1986 (see 1986 in music).

Disco was not really an original studio album, but rather an album length collection of remixes of songs from their first album, Please, and B-sides. Many fans of 1980s synthpop see the mixes on this album as some of the best examples of the extended dance mix and this album includes remixes by Arthur Baker, Shep Pettibone and Pet Shop Boys themselves. Despite the title, it would be a stretch to call the music on this album disco; although these versions of the songs are certainly more danceable, the disco influence is indirect, or even difficult to detect.

It is difficult to say where Pet Shop Boys saw this album fitting in among their other albums when they released it. When, in 2001, they rereleased what they deemed their first six albums, this one got left out, confirming perhaps what many fans had already suspected, that the group did not consider this album on the same level as the others. In addition, Pet Shop Boys would later release Disco 2 and Disco 3, also albums of remixes, although they differ greatly from the original album: Disco 2 is a continuous megamix of dance remixes and Disco 3 is a mixture of remixes and new songs.

The sleeve cover was a clip from the promo video to "Paninaro" directed by the Pet Shop Boys themselves.

The Disco mixes of "Suburbia" and "Paninaro" can also be found on the "Suburbia' 12" and the 2001 two-disc rerelease of Please. 7" versions of both mixes of these songs were used for the "Suburbia" single release.

The original version of "In the night" was the B-side to the original release of "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)". Arthur Baker's Extended Mix of "In the Night" was used as the theme for the BBC's The Clothes Show. In the mid-1990s, the Pet Shop Boys remixed "In the night" again in a then contemporary style so that the programme would continue to use the theme. This version, known as "In the Night 1995", was released as a B-side to the single "Before" and was then collected on the 2001 two-disc rerelease of Bilingual.

Track listing

1. "In the Night" (Arthur Baker's Extended mix)
2. "Suburbia" (Julian Mendelssohn's Full Horror mix)
3. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (Ron Dean Miller and Latin Rascals's Version Latina)
4. "Paninaro" (Pet Shop Boys and David Jacob's Italian mix)
5. "Love comes quickly" (Shep Pettibone's Mastermix)
6. "West End girls" (Shep Pettibone's Disco mix)

Personnel

• Neil Tennant
• Chris Lowe

Remixers

• "In the Night" remixed by Arthur Baker
• "Surburbia" produced and mixed by Julian Mendelssohn
• "Opportunities" remixed by Ron Dean Miller and the Latin Rascals
• "Paninaro" remixed by Pet Shop Boys and David Jacob
• "Love Comes Quickly" remixed by Shep Pettibone for Mastermix Production
• "West End Girls" remixed by Shep Pettibone for Mastermix Production

Guest musicians

• Andy Richards - Fairlight on track 2
• Gary Barnacle - Saxophone on track 2
• Blue Weaver and Khris Kallis - Additional keyboards on track 3
• Adrien Cook - Fairlight on track 4
• Andy Mackay - Saxophone on track 5