6. Liza Minelli And Pet Shop BoysResults
Somehow this is the Pet Shop Boys-associated album I’ve ended up listening to the most. They’re a band where I love their body of work so much, but there’s not an album that’s my go to album. I would be listening to Pet Shop Boys songs with friends and always skipping from album to album. I don’t know if you’ve read that book, Pet Shop Boys Versus America. A lot of it is concerned with artists living up to their own idea of themselves, these plans and expectations that whatever happens will always slightly fail. That’s how I see any music I’ve ever been involved in, a shadow self of a good idea but that hopefully someone can find some value in.
But the Pet Shop Boys with Liza Minelli on vocals, they’re almost the ultimate version of Pet Shop Boys. That’s not to say this is a perfect album from beginning to end. On the second half of it there’s some terrible stuff, but there’s no veneer of irony. With Liza Minelli there’s no sideways glance at the camera. She’s the full voice, the total performer. It’s a sound that probably was never that cool, that bordered on Italo, this total bombast. When it comes to actually making music, I’ve always struggled to have a chill, to maintain a cool in the making of it. I’ve always been drawn to stuff where people put everything into it. This feels like one of these albums, and also just an amazing moment of passing ships in the night, two people on their own career paths who then continue in different directions.
