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 the new LP's singles, while the latter eventually "gets bored" and yawns, with the image then freezing to create, roughly, the album's cover shot. 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". During this period the Pet Shop Boys also completed a full-length motion picture called It Couldn't Happen Here. Featuring songs by the duo, it was most famous for containing the video for "Always on My Mind", which—while not on Actually was released as a single during this period. Actually was re-released in 2001 as Actually/Further Listening 1987–1988. The reissue was digitally remastered and included a second disc of B-sides, remixes done by the 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. Robert Christgau gave the album an A– grade, writing "this is actual pop music with something actual to say—pure commodity, and proud of it." In his retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that Actually is the album " the Pet Shop Boys perfected their melodic, detached dance-pop".
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. "Shopping" was also used in a season 1 episode of the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire.
Track listing
''Further Listening 1987–1988''
Personnel
Pet Shop Boys
Neil Tennant – co-production on tracks B1, B3 and B4
Chris Lowe – co-production on tracks B1, B3 and B4
