Disco

Released - 1986
Chart peak - UK #15, US #95

Visitors' rating (plurality): ★★★☆☆

Visitors' rating (rounded average): ★★★☆☆

Wayne's rating: ★☆☆☆☆

These star-ratings reflect how PSB albums compare to each other—not how they compare to albums by other artists.

The Pet Shop Boys asserted their proud self-identification as a dance-oriented group with their second album, which consisted of extended dance mixes of their four hits from Please and two of those singles' b-sides. Titling the album Disco was a bold, almost reckless statement that must have made certain record-company executives wince. After all, it was still 1986, and the extreme backlash that occurred against disco music circa 1980 was a relatively fresh memory.

It's interesting to note that a third b-side, "A Man Could Get Arrested," was originally slated for inclusion on the album—not in place of another song, but as an additional seventh track—and was listed as such on an early EMI press release. But for some as yet unrevealed reason, the decision was made not to include it after all.

Even more intriguing, however, is that the November 8, 1986 issue of Billboard magazine offered a list of upcoming releases by various record labels, including PSB's (EMI America), which cited this album with the stated title Disco Number One. Was this merely the result of miscommunication among the Pet Shop Boys, their record label, and/or Billboard? Or had the Boys actually seriously considered giving the album that full title? If the latter, it would strongly suggest that Disco was never planned as a "one-off," but that Neil and Chris had from the start regarded it as only the first in a series—which of course it would indeed prove to be, followed by Disco 2 (1994), Disco 3 (2003), and Disco 4 (2007).

Note: Most of the following links will take you to the section for the album Please. "In the Night" and "Paninaro" will take you to the section for Alternative. Please keep this in mind for "navigational" purposes.

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