Bilingual (album)


Bilingual is the sixth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 2 September 1996 by Parlophone. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, lower than their previous five studio albums which had all reached the top three. It yielded five singles which all reached the UK top 20—all but one of which charted inside the top 10.

Overview

Bilingual continues the heavily instrumented arrangements and backing vocals Pet Shop Boys began adding to their music with the album Very. As suggested by the title, the songs on the album have worldwide influences, particularly from Latin America. After the release of their Very album, Pet Shop Boys toured South America and were influenced by the beats and rhythms associated with Latin American music. Three of the songs have bilingual lyrics, mixing the English language with Spanish and Portuguese.
In late 1995, the band ended their contract with the American branch of EMI and signed with Atlantic Records. A renewed marketing campaign was launched to promote the band in the United States via both radio airplay and club play.
The singles released from the album were all successful, with three of them—"Before", "Se a vida é " and "A Red Letter Day"—reaching the UK top 10. A fourth, the English/Spanish-language composition "Single-Bilingual", peaked within the top 20.
The single "Se a vida é " gained a great deal of radio airplay and peaked at number eight on the UK chart in late August 1996. Like the lead single "Before" a promotional video was used instead of a live performance on 'Top of the Pops. The video shot by Bruce Weber set mainly in a water park located in south Florida featured youthful models and evoked memories of the 1990 single "Being Boring". "Se a vida é" would spend six weeks in the UK top 40 before dropping out in early October. It was eventually released in the US in April 1997 as a double A-side single with "To Step Aside". To promote the package, thirteen mixes of "To Step Aside" were commissioned, most of them released promotionally only.
Earlier in 1996, prior to the album's release, Tennant's vocals were featured on two live recordings by the British group Suede, which were released as B-sides to their single "Filmstar". One track was a cover of the Pet Shop Boys track "Rent" while the second was a duet with Suede singer Brett Anderson on the Suede song "Saturday Night". In addition, the Pet Shop Boys collaborated with David Bowie on the song "Hallo Spaceboy", which reached No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1996. In late 1996 The song "Up Against It" became a radio hit in Sweden and some other countries but never had a release as a CD single.
Bilingual was recorded at Bunk Junk & Genius, Sarm West and Sarm Hook End in London, at Axis and Bass Hit in New York City, and at the State House of Broadcasting and Sound Recording in Moscow.
In 1997, Pet Shop Boys decided to perform a series of concerts at the Savoy Theatre in London. To promote the concerts they released a cover version of "Somewhere" from West Side Story and called the concerts "Pet Shop Boys Somewhere". The single reached the UK top 10 and Bilingual was re-released in a "Special Edition", including the new single and a bonus CD of remixes and B-sides.
In 2001, Pet Shop Boys reissued their first six studio albums; Bilingual was re-released as Bilingual/Further Listening 1995–1997. The reissue was not only digitally remastered, but included a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release.
Yet another re-release followed on 9 February 2009, under the title of Bilingual: Remastered. This version contains only the 12 tracks on the original. With the 2009 re-release, the 2001 double-disc re-release was discontinued.

Singles

"Before" was released on 22 April 1996 as the lead single from Bilingual. It was co-produced with Danny Tenaglia and featured Barbara Tucker, Carole Sylvan and Karen Bernod on backing vocals. The B-sides were "Hit and Miss", "The Truck Driver and His Mate" and the 1995 version of "In the Night".
In the United States, Atlantic's gay marketing division promoted "Before" with a series of parties at gay nightclubs in cities where the band had previous commercial success. Several hundred clubs received import promotional 12" singles and the subsequent domestic 12" and CD maxi-single releases were focused entirely on remixes. Promotion was also targeted at Top 40, alternative, and college radio formats.
The album's second single, "Se a vida é ", was co-produced with Chris Porter and featured drums by Glasgow group SheBoom. Remixes were done by Mark Picchiotti, Deep Dish and Pink Noise. The B-sides were "Betrayed" and "How I Learned to Hate Rock 'n' Roll". The single was released as a double A-side in the US, featuring exclusive remixes of "To Step Aside" that were unreleased in the United Kingdom. "To Step Aside" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 1998.
The third single to be released was "Single", which was renamed "Single-Bilingual" because Everything but the Girl had released a different single also called "Single" around the same time. Produced by Pet Shop Boys with drums by SheBoom. The single included remixes of "Single-Bilingual" and a new mix of "Discoteca". The B-sides were "Confidential " and "The Calm Before the Storm".
A new version of "A Red Letter Day", featuring additional production by Steve Rodway, was released as the fourth single from Bilingual. It features Barbara Tucker, Carole Sylvan and Karen Bernod on backing vocals along with the Choral Academy of Moscow. The B-sides were "The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On" and "Delusions of Grandeur". It was also the only Top of the Pops studio performance of any single released from Bilingual. The previous singles had been promoted on the hit music show by the official videos. The performance of "A Red Letter Day" in March 1997 was the first studio performance by Neil and Chris as a duo since "Paninaro 95" in July 1995, and since appearing alongside David Bowie for "Hallo Space boy" in February 1996.
During this era, an additional single not part of the original Bilingual package, "Somewhere", was released to promote the duo's residency at the Savoy Theatre in London and to promote a repackage of Bilingual. A Special performance of "Somewhere" was recorded at the Savoy Theatre For Top of the Pops in the UK. In the US it was released as a double A-side with "A Red Letter Day". For the UK release, the B-sides were "Disco Potential" and "The View from Your Balcony".

Track listing

Notes

2001 reissue bonus disc: ''Further Listening 1995–1997''

  1. "Paninaro '95" – 4:11
  2. "In the Night" – 4:18
  3. "The Truck-Driver and His Mate" – 3:33
  4. "Hit and Miss" – 4:07
  5. "How I Learned to Hate Rock 'n' Roll" – 4:38
  6. "Betrayed" – 5:20
  7. "Delusions of Grandeur" – 5:04
  8. "Discoteca" – 5:14 *
  9. "The Calm Before the Storm" – 2:48
  10. "Discoteca" – 3:47
  11. "The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On" – 6:09 **
  12. "A Red Letter Day" – 5:36 *
  13. "The View from Your Balcony" – 3:44
  14. "Disco Potential" – 4:07
  15. "Somewhere" – 10:55
Credits for adapted from the liner notes of Bilingual.
Pet Shop Boys
Additional musicians
Technical
Artwork
Credits for adapted from the liner notes of Bilingual/Further Listening 1995–1997.
Additional musicians
Technical
The sampled lines in "Electricity" were taken from the 1942 film My Gal Sal and were spoken by Rita Hayworth. The film happened to be playing on television while the track was being recorded, and was not publicly identified until 2019.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

! scope="row"| Worldwide

Release history