Very

Very
Studio album by Pet Shop Boys
Released	September 27, 1993
Recorded	1992 - 1993
Genre	Electropop, dance
Length	53:17
Label	Parlophone EMI/ERG (US)
Producer	Pet Shop Boys Stephen Hague Brothers in Rhythm
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Rolling Stone link Robert Christgau (A) link
Pet Shop Boys chronology
Discography (1991) Very (1993) Disco 2 (1994) Very Relentless

Very is the fifth studio album by UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It was released in 1993, going on to sell more than 5 million copies worldwide.

History

This section includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

Very exhibits one of many turning points the Pet Shop Boys would make to their music, shifting from the subdued electronic pop of Behaviour to richly-instrumented dance arrangements. The content and lyrics led to Very being called their coming-out album, since it was during this time that Neil Tennant had publicly discussed his long-rumoured homosexuality.

A limited edition of Very was also released as a double album entitled Very Relentless. The second disc, Relentless, was a six-track dance album containing tracks that are more experimental and instrumental. There were plans to expand upon Relentless in 1994 by releasing the six tracks along with others, making a full dance album, but this evolved into Disco 2. The six tracks on Relentless have not been released elsewhere since (though the original version of Forever in love is found on Very/Further Listening 1992-1994 as track 2).

The original release of Very was packaged in a unique orange jewel case with raised bumps (sometimes unofficially described as the Lego case), designed by Daniel Weil of Pentagram in London. Very Relentless was similarly unique, with the two CDs housed in card sleeves (Very in orange and Relentless in pink) with both of these housed in a translucent rubber case with raised bumps.

The album was reissued in 1996 as a mid-price release, this time in a standard jewel case with a new sleeve showing an image of the original case.

Very was re-released in 2001 (as were most of the group's albums up to that point) as Very/Further Listening 1992-1994. The re-released version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release.

Yet another re-release followed on 9 February 2009, under the title of Very: Remastered. This version contains only the 12 tracks on the original

In 2000, Q magazine placed Very at number 91 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Very

1. "Can you forgive her?" – 3:57
2. "I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing" – 3:03
3. "Liberation" – 4:05
4. "A different point of view" – 3:24
5. "Dreaming of the Queen" – 4:20
6. "Yesterday, when I was mad" – 3:55
7. "The theatre" – 5:10
8. "One and one make five" – 3:30
9. "To speak is a sin" – 4:45
10. "Young offender" – 4:50
11. "One in a million" – 3:52
12. "Go West" – 5:00

+ "Postscript (I Believe In Ecstasy)" (Hidden track which starts at track-clock 7:07 of “Go West”) – 1:15^[1]

Relentless

1. "My head is spinning" – 6:33
2. "Forever in love" – 6:19
3. "KDX 125" – 6:25
4. "We came from outer space" – 5:24
5. "The man who has everything" – 6:01
6. "One thing leads to another" – 6:24^[1]

Further Listening 1992-1994

1. "Go West" (1992 twelve-inch mix) – 9:09
2. "Forever in Love" – 5:44
3. "Confidential" (demo for Tina) – 4:47
4. "Hey, Headmaster" – 3:06
5. "Shameless" – 5:04
6. "Too Many People" – 4:25
7. "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" (seven-inch version) – 4:45
8. "Violence" (Haçienda version) – 5:00
9. "Falling" (demo for Kylie) – 4:38
10. "Decadence" – 3:55
11. "If Love Were All" – 3:00
12. "Absolutely Fabulous" (single version) – 3:46
13. "Euroboy" – 4:30
14. "Some speculation" – 6:34
15. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (single version) – 4:01
16. "Girls & Boys" (live in Rio) – 4:55^[1]

Singles

• "Can You Forgive Her?"
• "Go West"
• "I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing"
• "Liberation"
• "Yesterday, when I was mad"

Personnel

• Neil Tennant
• Chris Lowe

Guest musicians

• Pete Gleadall - Programming
• J.J. Belle - Guitar on tracks 3 & 12
• Frank Ricotti - Percussion on track 5
• Phil Todd, Snake Davis, John Barclay, John Thirkell and Mark Nightingale - Brass on track 12
• Anne Dudley - Orchestra arrangement and conduction on tracks 3, 5 & 7
• Richard Niles - Brass-, choir- and additional keyboard arrangement on track 12
• Sylvia Mason-James - Additional vocals on tracks 7, 11 & 12
• Dainton Connell - Additional vocals on track 8
• Carol Kenyon - Additional vocals on tracks 9 & 10
• Katie Kissoon and Tessa Niles - Additional vocals on track 10
• Joanna Wyatt, Thomas Rogers, Laurie Smith, Hody Smith, Nigel Francis, Francis Hatson, Lee Harris, Lucy Clark, Marie-Claire Peterson and Victoria Ferher – Choir on track 7
• Scott Altman, James Bassi, Hugh Berberich, Rodne Brown, Maurizio Corbino, Martin Doner, Dan Egan, James Gandre, Paul Houghtaling, Michael Hume, Robert Kuehn, Drew Martin, Joseph Nelson Neal, Mark Rehnstrom, Steven Tachell and Frank Nemhauser. With thanks to Graeme Perkins and Jaqueline Pierce – Choir on track 12

References

External links

• 1993 interview with Daniel Weil, designer of the Very package.
• Very lyrics