Comments on: The Top 100 Songs Of All Time: 1. Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind/In My House https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house Lollards in the high church of low culture Fri, 11 Jun 2021 20:22:36 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: Gareth Parker https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-2511895 Fri, 11 Jun 2021 20:22:36 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-2511895 Sublime write up from Tom and a great comment from Billy Hicks (#7). Wonderful song. I gave the single version a 10/10 on Popular, and if we were marking here, this piece of brilliance would get the same score. The Pet Shop Boys remain a very special duo for me.

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By: dollymix https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1530448 Tue, 27 Jan 2015 21:16:46 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1530448 This is a lovely piece of writing – thanks. (Also a pretty great song.)

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By: Andrew Farrell https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1526871 Sat, 17 Jan 2015 20:19:16 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1526871 I’ve actually read this now – the previous comment was written as I was out the door as well.

This is indeed great work Tom – I also liked the way that (er, for me at least, at my reading speed), it works well with listening to the track at the same time, enough of a gap to swish each stage around your head before heading on.

My recollection (though it was a while ago) was that a crucial part of the ‘methodology’ ten years ago was that the actual number we were voting on wasn’t at any point publically clear – it was obviously getting closer to 1 (and as more people joined in, it was harder for ahem fanbase tracks to get on) but there wasn’t a mantle of “now we are voting for the best track of all time” draped around the nomination.

Also Punka was robbed.

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By: BJ https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1521426 Mon, 05 Jan 2015 01:46:17 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1521426 I always preferred the single version and thought the Introspective mix dated really bad – almost soon as it was released – and wrecked a lot of the symphonics of the original. But this is convincing me to rediscover it.

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By: Garry https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1520551 Fri, 02 Jan 2015 11:05:04 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1520551 Wow. I’ve never heard the album version before. But I’d heard a version of the single at a formative time for me.

I remember my mother buying our first CD player in 1990. And because we were living in a small country town all she could buy to play on it were two CD box sets – one of instrumental classics (Bolero etc) and a 4 disc set called Synthesiser Sensations.

Synthesiser Sensations was a cheap set of synth covers of famous synthesised or electronic tunes. Some, like Popcorn, various Jam Hammer film tracks and Chi Mai were very faithful to the originals. Others were attricious, like the complete butchering of the opening of Tubular Bells via cheap synth tones.

Amongst the classic TV themes, Vangelises and Jarres was some pop, incluing Orchestral Manoeuvres on the Dark and the Pet Shop Boys. This was where I first heard All Ways On My Mind. It was fairly faithful to the single version (though like the entire album no vocals were added) though I would not know this for a few years.

Even though I can’t remember them from 1988 despite being a committed listener to Top 40 Australia, it’s wasn’t until their cover of Go West I first caught up with them. I hated the song and the video, but then again I didn’t understand their schtick. Later I heard their cover of Streets and West End Girls and I thawed, and I became a casual though enthusiastic fan with Single Bilingual.

But Always On My Mind will always to me be a slice of classic synth music, from back in the days before I heard house while drum n bass and other electronica were to come. This synth music to me was the future as much as the early computer generated film clips, Star Wars and the promises of VR. The 90s took it in directions I never imaged, but I am still nostalgic for those days.

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By: speedwell54 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1520220 Thu, 01 Jan 2015 10:26:01 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1520220 List – sorry, but will forget stuff otherwise.

1 Delighted with the No1 choice, love this track.

2 Relieved at the No1 choice, it has lifted the whole chart and a duffer here would have disproportionally downgraded my thoughts.

3 Great review Tom.

4 My review of the top 100. Love it not being similar to other charts. Admire it for not worrying about been cool. (it is very uncool in places – but I’m not exactly the in the cool police ) LIked the reviews; good mix of fact and opinion, and generally enjoyed the comments for the support and also for those who wrote the extraordinary dissent.

5 Tom’s line “we’ll be counting these down over the next few months..” from the post on Jan 3rd 2005, turned out a little optimistic. Reminds me of local newspaper stories of extremely overdue library books and decades late arriving Christmas cards. However please note this is a gentle tease, and I am overwhelmed with the work rate this year; I struggle to keep up just reading! Have a good break, and I look forward to February.

5 Pet Shop Boys – spoke to hardtogethits the other night about a few things we discussed at the time. Firstly ‘Always On My Mind’ getting to number one was made extra special as we were convinced that Rick Astley would be.

6 Secondly, the idea of going into Our Price and asking “can I have the Pet Shop Boys album please?” the assistant returning with “Please”, then saying “no, I wanted the new one actually”, them returning with “Actually” shouting “No! It’s called Introspective” followed by tutting and shaking of heads. (oh how we laughed!)

7 Finally, the ‘unlucky’ release dates of Pet Shop Boys albums, ‘Brothers In Arms’ was still up there when ‘Please’ came out, ‘Bad’ came out the week before ‘Actually’ – both top 10 in the UK all time best selling albums and, as mentioned above, ‘Introspective’ clashed with ‘Rattle and Hum’ which was a top 10 selling album of the year.

8 Enjoyed Popular ’79 thread tremendously this year, and have been amused and informed on a regular basis by Mark G, Lazarus and the Swede – thank you.

9 Happy New Year.

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By: healingandy https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519581 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 22:08:53 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519581 I, er, always preferred It’s Alright to LTMOD or AOMM/IMH. But Introspective would have been one of the perfect albums had it not been for Domino Dancing.

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By: Tom https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519550 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 20:04:48 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519550 The very positive reaction to this piece (thankyou all!) makes me really kick myself for not getting in the 33 1/3 proposal for Actually I worked up – I misremembered the deadline and then decided not to pull an all-nighter to get a sample chapter written. Maybe next time.

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By: themilkman https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519548 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 19:57:02 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519548 Wow. There’s ‘dissecting a track’, and there’s this. A pretty impressive job, and an interesting list.

Oddly, I never have considered Introspective as the PSB’s third album, but as one of their ‘in between albums’ escapades, a bit like the Disco series in a way, perhaps because of the extended dance formats instead of ‘regular size’ songs.

I guess we all have our favourite PSB songs, and mine often sway from Some Speculations or Being Boring to October Symphony or Left To My Own Devices, but there’s no denying their cover of Always On My Mind is, still, 27 years on, truly magnificent, and never fails to get me on my feet, either this or the original, or every time I’ve seen them do it live.

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By: chelovek na lune https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519530 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 18:55:55 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519530 This is a great piece – and it’s great that the mystery of who and what was no 1 was revealed – and I agree it’s a fitting one. Imperial Phase PSBs For Adults, maybe.
We had joy, we had fun….

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By: Rudy https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519462 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 15:57:33 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519462 Tom surely can wax poetic. Your deconstruction of an excellent track mixed with your reconstruction of the influence of pop music was wonderful to read. You pulled a tight rope in both directions: pop music vs everything else; music trends vs trendsetters; On My Mind vs In My House- and everyone won like a “permanent holiday in endless sun.” I’m sure Chris and Neil have big smiles on today. Thank you.

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By: szil https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519455 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 15:11:22 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519455 What a trip down memory lane thinking back to the PSB infatuations of my teenage years. They have been rekindled! But I actually think that Very was as good a PSB album, if not more stimulating given its variety, as Introspective. Thanks for writing this great piece!

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By: Tom https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519450 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 14:51:09 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519450 Billy, I suggest you don’t look at the site tomorrow ;)

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By: Billy https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519424 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 13:14:07 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519424 Jaw droppingly great. After the horror story that is ‘The Millenium Prayer’, this is just what’s needed to end the year on a high.

Can’t have old Sir Cliff having the final word for 2014.

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By: Fivelongdays https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519399 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:56:37 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519399 I suppose, ten years on, we need to do the poll all over again…

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By: Tom https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519398 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:55:07 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519398 (I actually like the full version of “Devices” more too Billy, but that’s not what was nominated :))

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By: Billy Hicks https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519395 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:52:42 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519395 My favourite group of all time. Their best album of all time. I always ranked the full version of ‘Devices’ above this, but this has put AOMN/IMH in a whole new light.

Spotifying it now on a sunny but frosty December morning, after reading that, it sounds like the greatest song ever created.

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By: thefatgit https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519147 Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:03:21 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519147 I think I’m gonna cry…

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By: Andrew Farrell https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519044 Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:26:02 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519044 And so, we return again to the beginning/pub.

Also Punka woz robbed.

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By: katstevens https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519039 Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:15:32 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519039 Next up: we finish the FT Periodic Table

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By: Matt DC https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519037 Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:09:49 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519037 Suppose we should all just pack up and go now then?

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By: admin https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519019 Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:00:27 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519019 END OF DAYS

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By: p^nk s lord sükråt cunctør of that effin ilk https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2014/12/the-ft-top-100-songs-of-all-time-1-pet-shop-boys-always-on-my-mindin-my-house/comment-page-1#comment-1519018 Mon, 29 Dec 2014 12:53:57 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28218#comment-1519018 oh
my
god
:D

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