Actually Explained

Actually
Type:studio
Artist:Pet Shop Boys
Cover:Pet Shop Boys - Actually.png
Alt:The duo wearing tuxedos, with one person on the right side yawning and the other staring at the viewer. The words "Pet Shop Boys, actually." appear on top.
Border:yes
Released:[1]
Recorded:1986–1987
Studio:Sarm West and Advision (London)
Label:Parlophone
Prev Title:Disco
Prev Year:1986
Next Title:Introspective
Next Year:1988

Actually (stylised as Pet Shop Boys, actually.) is the second studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in North America. According to Neil Tennant[2] [3] [4] and music historian Wayne Studer,[5] Actually loosely critiques Thatcherism, the political zeitgeist of the 1980s, and was recorded in anticipation of Margaret Thatcher's re-election.[6]

Recording

Actually was recorded at Sarm Studios. On the album Pet Shop Boys worked with several producers, including Julian Mendelsohn and Stephen Hague. Mendelsohn produced and engineered half of the albums ten tracks, including the lead single and UK number one "It's a Sin", while Hague who had produced the duos previous album Please this time only produced a few tracks, including "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", and mixed "It's a Sin". "Heart" that went on to became a UK number one single was produced by Andy Richards and mixed by Mendelsohn. Wanting to keep everything fresh and not lose perspective, the production method was usually to work only a few hours at the time on each track and then switch to another.[7]

Album cover

The album cover was originally going to feature a painting by Scottish artist Alison Watt who had just won the National Portrait Gallery supported John Player Portrait Award.[8] The group traveled to Glasgow, along with photographer Eric Watson and designer Mark Farrow to meet her. Sittings for the painting would have taken three weeks, so instead photos were taken of the duo in different poses. After a few weeks, Watt submitted the painting, but Lowe was unhappy with how he looked in it. The painting was reworked and although Tennant was pleased with it, Lowe still had reservations.[8] It was decided that the painting wasn’t right for the album and shelved it. The painting was bought by Tennant.[8]

While shooting the video for What Have I Done to Deserve This?, photographer Cindy Palmano was commissioned to take photographs of them for a Smash Hits cover. She placed them in front of a waist high piece of reflective metal, with a similar sheet behind them.[8] The photo where Neil is yawning was the favourite and Smash Hits were keen to use it as a front cover. Eric Watson then took some photos, however it was thought these weren’t strong enough for the album cover, but were used for the inner sleeve.[8] The group then decided that Palmano’s photo for Smash Hits was the best choice. The edition of Smash Hits was due to go to press the following day. They persuaded Smash Hits to release Palmano’s photograph and agreed to do a hastily arranged photo session for them.

Inspired by Jean-Paul Goude’s design for Grace Jones album Slave to the Rhythm, Mark Farrow tightly cropped the photo to remove the reflective background and just have the duo on a plain white background.[9] Chris Lowe was, and remains, unhappy with the cover. However it has come to be seen as the defining image of them.[9]

Release and promotion

Actually was released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in the United States and Canada. In television commercials for the release, Lowe and Tennant were shown in black tie, blank-faced against a white background. The former seems unimpressed by a radio DJ-style Alan 'Fluff' Freeman voiceover listing their previous hits and new singles from Actually, while the latter eventually "gets bored" and yawns, with the image then freezing to create, roughly, the album's cover shot. Actually has one of only two Pet Shop Boys album covers (the other being Please) where Lowe's face is shown completely unobscured—and not wearing either his trademark baseball cap or sunglasses.

Actually spawned four UK top 10 singles: the number-one single "It's a Sin", "Rent", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"—a duet with fellow Parlophone artist Dusty Springfield, which peaked at number two in both the UK and US and led to a resurgence of interest in Springfield's earlier work—and another UK number one in April 1988 with a remixed version of the song "Heart".[10]

During this period Pet Shop Boys also completed a full-length motion picture called It Couldn't Happen Here.[10] Featuring songs by the duo, it was most famous for containing the video for "Always on My Mind" (starring Joss Ackland as a blind priest), which—while not on Actually—was released as a single during this period.

Actually was re-released in 2001 (as were most of the duo's albums up to that point) as Actually/Further Listening 1987–1988.[11] The reissue was digitally remastered and included a second disc of B-sides, remixes done by Pet Shop Boys and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release. Another re-release followed on 9 February 2009 under the title of Actually: Remastered, containing only the 10 tracks of the original release. With the 2009 re-release, the 2001 two-disc reissue was discontinued. On 2 March 2018, a new remastered two-disc Actually/Further Listening edition was released; the content remains the same as the 2001 edition.

Critical reception

Actually was well received by critics. In December 1987, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice praised it as "actual pop music with something actual to say—pure commodity, and proud of it." In his retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that Actually is the album where "the Pet Shop Boys perfected their melodic, detached dance-pop."

Actually is featured in the 2005 musical reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,[12] and has been recognised in various other "must-listen" lists. In 2006, Q magazine included Actually in its list of the "40 Best Albums of the '80s" at number 22.[13] In 2012, Slant Magazine ranked the record at number 88 on its list of the "100 Best Albums of the 1980s".[14] In 2020, Rolling Stone placed Actually at number 435 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[15]

In popular culture

Although not released as a single, the track "Shopping" is frequently featured as background music in British television news and current affairs programmes dealing with retail business issues and as bumper music on home shopping shows. This is despite the fact that the song is actually a critique of privatisation in 1980s Britain, and has little to do with actual shopping.[16] "Shopping" was also used in a season 1 episode of the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. "King's Cross" served in the Japanese media as a commercial song to the Aurex's (owned by Toshiba) cassette tape recorder model XDR.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Actually.[17]

Pet Shop Boys

Additional musicians

Technical

Artwork

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1987)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)16
European Albums (Music & Media)[18] 4
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[19] 1
French Albums (IFOP)[20] 19
Icelandic Albums (Tónlist)[21] 1
Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)[22] 12
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[23] 2

Year-end charts

Chart (1987)! scope="col"
Position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)78
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[24] 70
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[25] 61
European Albums (Music & Media)[26] 33
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[27] 42
UK Albums (Gallup)[28] 15
Chart (1988)! scope="col"
Position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[29] 16
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[30] 72
European Albums (Music & Media)[31] 22
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 10
UK Albums (Gallup)[33] 35

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. 5 September 1987 . Index . . 2 . 0144-5804.
  2. Tennant . Neil . Tomas Mosler . Between the lines – Actually . Pet Shop Boys at Dead of Night . 14 January 2017 . When this album came out many people, including ourselves, took the whole album to be loosely about Thatcherism.
  3. Tennant . Neil . Explication . Pet Shop Boys Catalogue . 14 January 2017 . The first line sets up the song. It's an angry song about Thatcherism. Mrs Thatcher came in on the promise of firm government and I'm interpreting 'the smack of firm government' literally as hitting someone..
  4. Web site: Studer . Wayne . King's Cross . 29 April 2017 . As Neil has described it, the song is 'a hymn to the people getting left out of Thatcherism' (the economic policies of the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher)..
  5. Web site: Studer . Wayne . Twenty-something . 2 May 2017 . Thematically, this song could have sat comfortably alongside "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" from the dawn of their career, or had a place on their subsequent classic Thatcherism-critiquing album Actually..
  6. Web site: I'm with stupid . Absolutely Pet Shop Boys . 3 February 2017 . 4 . 2 April 2006 . 30 . Just like we were terrified Margaret Thatcher was going to lose the 1987 election just before Actually came out, ruining our album about Thatcherism, even while voting Labour..
  7. Web site: Buskin . Richard . Pet Shop Boys 'It's A Sin' . . December 2010 . 4 June 2020 . 4 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200604192502/https://www.soundonsound.com/people/pet-shop-boys-its-sin . dead .
  8. Book: 1988. Annually. World Distributors. 14-15. 978-0723568421.
  9. Book: 2006. Catalogue. Thames & Hudson. 74-75. 978-0500513071.
  10. News: Levine . Nick . 25 Reasons To Love Pet Shop Boys' Actually' . 12 August 2018 . nme.com . 2 February 2012.
  11. Web site: Pet Shop Boys To Release New Batch of Remastered Albums . . 4 July 2018 . 12 August 2018.
  12. Book: Harris, Sophie . Pet Shop Boys: Actually . 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . Dimery . Robert . . 2006 . 978-0-7893-1371-3 . 581.
  13. 40 Best Albums of the '80s . . 0955-4955 . 241 . August 2006 . 29 September 2011 . 84–89.
  14. Web site: The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s . . 5 March 2012 . 2 January 2021.
  15. The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . . 22 September 2020 . 22 September 2020.
  16. Web site: Marszalek . Julian . Pet Shop Boys: Our Back Catalogue is 25 Years of Social Commentary . . 19 March 2009.
  17. Actually . liner notes . . . 1987 . CDPCSD 104.
  18. European Hot 100 Albums . . 4 . 42 . 24 October 1987 . 22 . 29800226 . World Radio History.
  19. Book: Pennanen, Timo . Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 . fi . 1st . Helsinki . . 2006 . 233 . 978-951-1-21053-5.
  20. Web site: Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste . InfoDisc . fr . 3 August 2018. Select "PET SHOP BOYS" from the drop-down menu and click "OK".
  21. News: Ísland (LP-plötur) . . is . 2 October 1987 . 43 . 1021-8254 . Timarit.is.
  22. Web site: Classifiche . . it . 3 June 2022. Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "Pet Shop Boys" in the "Artista" field and press "cerca".
  23. Book: Salaverrie, Fernando . September 2005 . Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 . es . 1st . Madrid . . 84-8048-639-2.
  24. Top 100 Albums of '87 . RPM . 47 . 12 . 26 December 1987 . 9 . 0033-7064 . Library and Archives Canada.
  25. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – LP 1987 . nl . . 3 August 2018.
  26. European Charts of the Year 1987 – Albums . Music & Media . 4 . 51/52 . 26 December 1987 . 35 . 29800226 . World Radio History.
  27. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts – 1987 . de . GfK Entertainment . 3 August 2018.
  28. News: Gallup Year End Charts 1987 – Albums . . 23 January 1988 . 37 . 0144-5804 . World Radio History.
  29. Web site: Jahreshitparade Alben 1988 . austriancharts.at . de . 3 August 2018.
  30. Top 100 Albums of '88 . RPM . 49 . 10 . 24 December 1988 . 13 . 0033-7064 . World Radio History.
  31. 1988 Year End Eurocharts – Top 100 Albums . Music & Media . 6 . 52/1 . 1 January 1989 . 31 . 29800226 . World Radio History.
  32. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts – 1988 . de . GfK Entertainment . 3 August 2018.
  33. Top 100 Albums – Year-End Chart 1988 . Music Week Awards . . 4 March 1989 . 8 . 0265-1548 . World Radio History.