2011.
The most activity came through being the special guests of Take That as the fully-reformed five-piece boy band embarked on a tour lasting from 27 May to 1 August, and consisting of twenty-nine shows in outdoor sports stadia in the UK and Ireland, followed by six similar efforts in mainland Europe. The estimated audience across the entire tour was 1.8 million. Pet Shop Boys played a 45-minute set each time, consisting mostly of the biggest and most popular hit singles.
2012.
Format, a 2xCD collection of many of the b-sides issued between 1996 and 2009 is released in February.
3 July 2012.
A new digital single is released.
6 August 2012
The new single is issued in physical form.
It all comes in the middle of London preparing for and then hosting the 2012 Olympic Games (27 July – 12 August) during which Team GB bags itself a record number of medals and the country is engulfed by a feel-good factor. The PSB single is very appropriately named, and its artwork resembles a medal ceremony podium.
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Winner
Neil and Chris are quick to say that the mid-tempo number has nothing to with sport and that it was written about being part of something like Eurovision or the X-Factor. Nevertheless, the promo video has a sports theme in that it features a real-life roller derby team from London and the introduction into the team of a new transgender rookie.
It’s a real feel good number, and very appropriate for the times and the mood of the nation. It stalled at #86…………..
Three songs were added to the physical release:-
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – A Certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – The Way Through The Woods
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – I Started A Joke
The first of these demonstrates that, even after all these years, Neil and Chris can come up with a b-side that carries a real punch. It’s a million miles better than Winner, and it’s incredible to think, again, that the duo had quietly slipped out, without any fanfare, one of the best tunes they had written in years.
I’m indebted to Commentary, the ridiculously informative PSB fan site curated by Wayne Studer for otherwise hard-to-find information on the second track, the credits list of which on the back of the CD runs to three producers (including Neil and Chris), four engineers, a mixer, six individual backing vocalists and an unknown number from a backing vocal group who prove to act as a choir. Oh, and a co-writing credit for Rudyard Kipling.
Wayne informs visitors to his site that it stems from a fresh idea that Neil and Chris hoped could develop, whereby they would set famous poems to music, specifically for schoolchildren to sing. It really is among the strangest and most experimental tracks they have ever recorded – as far removed from any of the hit singles as can be imagined – with a lengthy, but very gentle near two-minutes worth of what feels entirely like incidental music to a film or TV programme before any the delivery of the poem begins.
Given this, it would have been fair to anticipate the words/lyrics to be of the spoken variety, but it’s a singing effort which seriously tests Neil’s range, especially as he tries to match the singing from the choir. And then it gets incredibly weird and otherworldly.
The final track is a cover. As you night imagine, a lot of studio time was required to complete The Way Through The Woods, and while they were recording, the news broke that Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees had passed away. Neil and Chris decided to record one of his songs as a tribute and then chose to include it on Winner.
There’s one final postscript to all this.
Pet Shop Boys appeared at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics on 12th August, a short two-minute segment in which West End Girls was performed as the duo were cycled around the running track on chariots.
On 10th September, the day after the 2012 Paralympics were completed, the streets of London played host to a ‘Parade of Champions’ in which the host nation’s medallists were celebrated, an event which went out live across three different TV channels to even more millions of people watching at home. The Pet Shop Boys were in among it all, performing Winner, West End Girls and Go West.
Kind of surreal eh?
This has been a long posting, and so I’ll return to later releases from 2012 next time around. But you’ll need to show a little bit of patience, as next Sunday will be turned over to revealing the #1 entry in the 60 albums at 60 rundown.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I really want to get a copy of “Format,” but since it was not released in America like “Alternative” was, it’s a bit tricky… and expensive. But the B-sides to the divisive “Winner” all sound very interesting. One hopes that there will be a 3rd B-side collection any day now!