Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 68

You certainly should try the new Pet Shop Boys CD. I lost track of them around Very, but I picked up Yes on a whim and absolutely loved it. Be certain you get the 2CD version–there's a song with Phil Oakey from Human League called “This Used to Be the Future” that's a lovely nostalgic synthpop song.

The single edit of “Suburbia” is much more interesting than the album version, “Love Comes Quickly” is great too. Introspective remains my favorite record, but none of the single versions do it justice. I wish they hadn't chosen a ridiculous band name; it tags them as unforgivably 80s.

According to “Why Me?,” the aliens will come back this way in 2010. Just warning y'all…

“A Million Miles Away” is on so many comps that I wonder if it slipped into the public domain by accident, like Night of the Living Dead.

Our local top 40 station pushed Platinum Blonde a lot for god knows wot reason. They walked the line between faux wave and hard rock better than your average Holly Knight-esque project. I thought they had a few more Hot 100 tracks, they never made top 40 right?

I am steadfast in my dislike of Tom Petty and Pink Floyd, although I too think Floyd's “Learning to Fly” is nicely atmospheric. Doesn't Tom Petty also have a song called “Leaning to Fly”? Petty earns a circle in hell for touring with the Replacements, treating them like crap, and stealing their “rebel without a clue” lyric.

You're damn right I'm gonna come outta the woodwork! Your mother is vile, and if you don't admit that Petty is the most aweso– what? Oh. Wrong P. Nevermind.

He's always had the look, the 'tude, the chops and the hits, but you are right in your assessment of Tom Petty as a guy who has never quite produced the timeless tune he seems capable of. I've always considered his best cut to be one that he wrote for someone else (“ways to be wicked” – Lone Justice).

I've also wondered about his apparent theft of the “Heartbreakers” name from the aesthetically-superior yet ultimately doomed Johnny Thunders version. Were they just too strung out too care?

Doesn't this feel like Christmas morning! (It'd feel even more so if I had the scratch for both of those Beatles boxes, but I digress.)

I don't think you could post ANY Pet Shop Boys single from the 80s (or early 90s) and fail. “Devices” gets Neil a special nod for the most blasé enunciation of “party animal” ever uttered by anyone under 50. For best PSB album, I nominate Behavior (as alluded to in last week's comments), and I second the notion of Yes being their strongest set in years.

“A Woman in Love” gets my Meltie vote for the week…as often as I heard it on the radio in its day, it derserved way more than a #79 showing. (By coincidence, I heard that and “Burning Down One Side” last night at Five Guys, courtesy of Sirius Classic Rewind. That station makes me yearn for a dimly lit arcade and $20 in quarters.) I like Petty well enough, but I can't listen to him every day. “You Got Lucky” FTW.

Mike Pinera deserves his worst-song staus this week. Putrid. Incidentally, Blues Image gave us the immortal “Ride Captain Ride” (“upon your mystery ship”) back in '70.

I own every Floyd studio album up to The Final Cut and they all have their personal merits. I won't get into a sparring contest with anyone who disagrees, I admit they're not for everyone. I once referred to Roger Waters on-air as the band's “emotional linchpin”; the two albums after his departure are all atmosphere and no weight.

My best song of the week? “Why Me?”, baby. Atmosphere AND weight in droves. I finally picked up the album last year; one listen left me underwhelmed but it sits on the shelf waiting another spin. I also have Tony Carey's self-titled album (with “I Won't Be Home Tonight”) to audition properly.

I'm starting to get my taste back for Zeppelin after years of burnout, and a reassessment of Plant's solo records may result. The only one I ever owned was The Principle of Moments, and that was a jam. His Grammy-grabber with Alison Krauss ain't half bad either.

The only Platinum Blonde track that ever registered with me was “Doesn't Really Matter”. The vocals land somewhere between Graham Parker and Donnie Vie.

Its noted inclusion on countless '80s comps has diminished the power of “A Million Miles Away” somewhat for me, but I'd still like to add Everywhere at Once to the library. Peter Case's solo career hasn't been too shabby from what I've gleaned over the years.

All told, an about-face from last week's slim pickin's. I take it we're back to gruel in part 69?

As a Floyd fan and most notably their later releases, I am used to receiving criticism from the “Fanboys” or the old-school Floyd fans about how disrespectful it was for those gentlemen to even fathom calling themselves “Pink Floyd” without Roger present…blah blah blah. Who cares? I think everything prior to “Meddle” is quite weak musically, Roger is an egotistical blow-hard and blah blah blah ad nauseum. But you know, that's just my opinion, and I'm not going to bash you for having one of your own. I agree with your assessment of “The Wall” though and you nailed the mentality. I couldn't have worded it better myself.

Hate on Floyd all you want, but “Run Like Hell” is one funky-ass rock dance record, neatly presaging The Fixx.

And all this time, I thought “presaging the Fixx” wasn't a good thing.

Peter Case is a badass mofo. We should set up an interview with him.

Always been a big fan of PSB, but I've never seen them in concert yet either (I guess they're on my 'list' too).

However, they are one of the only music acts I've actually met in person – it was at a record signing event at the San Francisco Tower Records back around 1988 or so during a vacation trip with my family. I ended up talking with Neil, and he autographed my cassingle (!) of “Always on My Mind”. He commented that he really enjoyed his trips to Texas (where I'm from) but that they didn't get a chance to visit there as often as he'd like. Really down-to-earth and easy going guy.

And…Dave, to echo others here, the new album “Yes” is indeed excellent and well worth your time.

You mentioned Jim Photoglo at the end, but he's not listed in the post. *confuzzled*

Well, it's certainly nice to read so many positive things about Pet Shop Boys. Whenever I tell someone that they're one of my all-time top five favorite bands, they give me a look like they bit into a pice of rotten fruit. It usually takes one or two “No, really”s to proceed. Back in '84, our coolest radio station – WLIR in New York – played the hell out of the original “West End Girls” and that was all they had out. I bought it at the time and have remained a dedicated fan ever since. My accumulation of PSB vinyl and cds is bigger than most people's entire music collection. I can only think of one song that hits me wrong, and that's “New York City Boy” from the Nightlife album. It's a bottom feeder from 1999 (#53 – sales) and their only chart hit since 1991. That figures. But if it turned out that it's supposed to be an intentional dig at the Village People, I'd re-evaluate.
Also, along with Madness and perhaps Saint Etienne, they are without a doubt one of the best singles band ever. Once you get bitten by the B-side bug, you are hooked for good. Even to this day, some of their greatest tunes end up buried on 45 flipsides and cd singles, and yes, as exclusive tracks on the 12″ singles.
You could pull any PSB album out of a stack with your eyes closed and most likely be satisfied, but the same cannot be said of Pink Floyd or Tom Petty. I am a rabid fan of both, but I cannot lie to myself anymore about the disappointments. I quite like Floyd's “Momentary Lapse of Reason” as well as *gasp* The Division Bell”. “On the Turning Away”, “Sorrow” and “Keep Talking” sound wonderful to me. On the other hand, I can't get into “The Final Cut” or “Atom Heart Mother” at all. However, “Animals” and “Meddle” will forever remain untouchable. Desert Island discs, both. As far as Petty, he seems so…I dunno… sleepy lately. He very well might be one of the coolest and most likeable men on the planet but it just sounds like he's on autopilot sometimes. Even so, we're running out of meat-and-potatoes rockers as it is, and you could do far worse than TP even at his lowest ebb.
As for next week's “worst remix”, I'm thinking of a certain British trio…but that's a re-recording, not a re-mix. I'll have to wait and see…

If everything goes as planned I will see the PSB up close in their concert in Lima, Perú on Oct 20th! Can´t wait!

You, sir, are a great writer. I wish I could put things as cleverly and succinctly as you do.

Ya flatter me!