My 4 least favorite PSB albums

1. Disco 2

There are some fans for whom this isn't their least favorite PSB album. Just not very many of them. When remixes bear only a passing resemblance to the songs that they're supposed to be remixes of, something's terribly wrong.

 2. Essential

The title is a misnomer. This limited-edition release from 1998 isn't a bad album by any means, but it's hardly "essential." In fact, it's pretty much only for completists like me. I think I've listened to it twice all the way through since I bought it.

 3. Disco 4

Taken strictly on its own merits, I quite like this album. But, with all those tracks by other artists simply remixed or "re-produced" by Chris and Neil (with their occasional support vocals added), is it really a "Pet Shop Boys album"? The very fact that you can ask such a question without sounding like an idiot explains its appearance in this list.

 4. Disco

In my opinion it's much better than Disco 2, and it's more fully a "PSB album" than Disco 4, but remix albums by their very nature are largely redundant affairs. And since "In the Night" and "Paninaro" were later made widely available on Alternative, this album is rendered more or less "nonessential."