045 (feat. Dave Weigel): Pet Shop Boys - Bilingual (1996)

April 21, 2020 / Amanda Rodgers

“It's fundamental that what we do only exists in our own universe. When you like Pet Shop Boys, you are in our world.”

—Neil Tennant

Returning guest Dave Weigel lived in England in the late ‘90s, the era of Tony Blair, New Labour, ecstasy, the European Union, and, most importantly of all, the Pet Shop Boys. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a hi-fi shop in the early ‘80s and went on to make beautiful, quintessentially British dance music together for the next four decades (and counting!). For this episode, Rich leads Dave, Phil, and Will track by track through the duo’s 1996 album Bilingual, where Tennant and Lowe were inspired by a recent tour of Latin America, as well as a rapidly globalizing post-Cold War world. It’s not one of the group’s more celebrated albums, but it’s so, so dense with all of the tight, grandiose, literate popcraft that they do so well.

Miscellany

Dave previously joined us for our episodes on Todd Rundgren’s A Wizard, a True Star and our double feature on Yes’s The Yes Album and Drama, but we figured this time we’d have him on for an album that sticks more reliably to 4/4.
We barely scratched the surface of the band’s massive catalog in our recommendations section, so here are a few more: 1991’s Behaviour and 1993’s Very are a sort of yin-yang of the Pet Shop Boys at their most morose and most upbeat, respectively, though there’s a decent amount of overlap. 2009’s Yes, recorded with English dance production team Xenomania, is pretty easily the best of the “wilderness years” albums we referred to broadly. And though they’re not nearly as great as Electric, 2016’s Super and their new album Hotspot follow broadly in the same vein.
We mention Neil Tennant’s “imperial period” term being a favorite of podcaster Chris Molanphy. Molanphy hosts Slate’s chart history podcast Hit Parade, which is a huge influence on this show.
Olodum is far more than just a band, and can more accurately be described as a a cultural activism group, founded by percussionist Neguinho do Samba to fight racial discrimination and socioeconomic inequality. The group is credited with creating samba reggae music, and draws ~4,000 people to parade in its 200-musician bloco at Salvador Carnival every year.
Chris disagrees with Neil’s assertion that life is much simpler when you’re young.
This episode is the first of our main, album-centered episodes to be produced by Rich, though he will generally remain the talky Neil Tennant to Producer Mike’s Chris Lowe.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

Rich Bunnell (host)
Phil Maddox (moderator)
Chris Willie Williams (Pet Shop Boys fan)
Dave Weigel (special guest)
Mike DeFabio (guest appearance)

Bilingual tracklist

Discoteca
Single-Bilingual
Metamorphosis
Electricity
Se a vida e (That’s the Way Life Is)
It Always Comes as a Surprise
A Red Letter Day
Up Against It
The Survivors
Before
To Step Aside
Saturday Night Forever

Other clips used

Pet Shop Boys:

I Want a Dog
Always on My Mind
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
In the Night (1985 version)
West End Girls (Bobby Orlando Mix)
West End Girls
Go West
Ego Music
I’m With Stupid
What Are We Going to Do About the Rich?
Bet She’s Not Your Girlfriend
Love Is a Bourgeois Construct
Somewhere
Monkey Business
Heart (Shep Pettibone Mix)

Others:

Oingo Boingo - Insects
Eagles - Heartache Tonight
Def Leppard - Animal
Pinkfong - Baby Shark
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Yes - Yours Is No Disgrace
Mastodon - I Am Ahab
Pink Floyd - Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict
The Flirts - Passion
Mel and Sue - Decorating (from Late Lunch)
The Lonely Island - Jizz in My Pants
Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes - Get Dancin’
Olodum - Estrada Da Paixão
Dorival Caymmi - Berimbau
Astrud Gilberto/Stan Getz - Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 (Conductor: Christian Thielemann)
Best Service - “World Colours” (compilation)
David Bowie - Hallo Spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys remix)

Band/album personnel

Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe – Pet Shop Boys
Pete Gleadall – programming (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7–9, 11, 12)
SheBoom – drums, percussion (tracks 1, 2); additional drums, percussion (track 5)
Robin Jones – additional percussion (track 1); percussion (track 6)
Davide Giovanni – additional vocals (track 1)
Joseph De Jesus – additional vocals (track 1)
Weston Foster – additional vocals (track 1)
Lino Rocha – additional vocals (track 1)
Sylvia Mason-James – vocals (track 3)
Simon Cotsworth – programming (track 3)
Ritchie Birkett – keyboards (track 3)
Trevor Henry/Ignorants – scratching, additional keyboards (track 3)
Kevin Robinson – brass (track 3)
Bud Beadle – brass (track 3)
Fayyaz Virji – brass (track 3)
Mike Innes – brass (track 5)
Noel Langley – brass (track 5)
Richard Sidell – brass (track 5)
Andy Hamilton – brass (tracks 5, 6); saxophone (track 9)
J.J. Belle – guitar (track 5)
Chris Cameron – additional keyboards (tracks 6, 9); string arrangement, string conducting (track 9)
Hugh Burns – guitar (track 6)
Katie Kissoon – additional vocals (tracks 6, 9)
The Choral Academy of Moscow – choir (track 7)
Victor Popov – choir direction (track 7)
Graeme Perkins – choir coordination (track 7)
Alyosha Zolotukhin – choir arrangement (track 7)
Barbara Tucker – additional vocals (tracks 7, 10)
Karen Bernod – additional vocals (tracks 7, 10)
Carole Sylvan – additional vocals (tracks 7, 10)
Johnny Marr – guitar, additional vocals (track 8)
Greg Bone – guitar (track 9)
Andy Duncan – drums, percussion (track 9)
Danny Tenaglia – drum programming (track 10)
Louie "Balo" Guzman – drum programming (track 10)
Peter Daou – keyboards (track 10)
Phil Pagano – programming (track 10)
Eddie Montilla – additional keyboards (track 12)
Bob Kraushaar – engineering (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7); mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11)
Paul Roberts – production (track 3)
Andy Williams – production (track 3)
Simon Cotsworth – engineering (track 3)
Chris Porter – production, recording (tracks 5, 6, 8, 9, 11); mixing (tracks 5, 6, 9)
Tatyana Vinnitskaya – choir recording (track 7)
Danny Tenaglia – production (tracks 10, 12)
Dana Vlcek – recording, mix engineering (track 10)
Rob Rives – engineering assistance (tracks 10, 12)
Rich Lowe – engineering (track 12)
Doug DeAngelis – mix engineering (track 12)
Claire Tonkinson – recording assistance
Andrew Green – recording assistance
Tom Elmhirst – recording assistance

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Pet Shop Boys - Discoteca (this episode only)

You can buy Bilingual and other albums by Pet Shop Boys at their official website, petshopboys.co.uk, or buy or stream it at the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon [affiliate link]. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing and production on this episode is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to Mike DeFabio for beat-matching on the theme song, that excellent berimbau segment, and letting Rich take the helm this week. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.

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tags / Rich Bunnell, Dave Weigel