Pet Shop Boys - Disco 1-4 — -1986-2007- 4-cd Set
Most of all, “Somebody Else’s Business” is savage. Tennant sneers over a relentless electro beat: “Why don’t you just shut your mouth? / It’s really nothing to do with you.” A forgotten classic of PSB’s political edge.
Owning Disco 1–4 as a 4-CD set is a pleasure of curation. The cardboard mini-sleeves replicate the original artwork – from the stark black-and-white of Disco to the geometric blue of Disco 3 . There’s no new material, no bonus tracks. But that’s fine. This is a historical document.
Disco set the template: take the album, tear it apart, rebuild it for 4 a.m.
Let’s walk through each disc.
So turn off the lights. Turn up the subwoofer. And let the Pet Shop Boys take you from 1986 to 2007, one midnight at a time.
The Disco series is not for beginners. Start with Actually or Behaviour if you want songs. But once you’ve fallen for Pet Shop Boys, once you understand that their heart beats in 4/4 time, these albums become indispensable.
But nowhere is their dedication to the dancefloor more clear than in the Disco series. Spanning 1986 to 2007, the four albums—now collected in the sleek Disco 1–4 CD box set—aren’t just remix collections. They’re alternate universes. They’re what happens when Neil Tennant’s dry, observational wit meets the pounding, euphoric, sometimes melancholy machinery of the 12-inch single. Pet Shop Boys - Disco 1-4 -1986-2007- 4-CD Set
It’s less a PSB album and more a DJ mix of their taste. But that’s the point. Disco 4 shows how deeply the Boys are embedded in dance music culture – not just as stars, but as fans and facilitators.
Why? Because it’s not just remixes. Half the tracks are brand new or B-sides, including “Time on My Hands” and “Positive Role Model,” which deserved album placement. But the highlights are the reworkings.
“Miracles” (Lemonade Mix) – wait, that’s not right. Let’s be accurate: “Miracles” (Eric Prydz Mix) is pure euphoria, building like a cathedral of lasers. And “Try It (I’m in Love with a Married Man)” – a cover of a lost disco classic – turns adultery into a thumping, breathless confession. Most of all, “Somebody Else’s Business” is savage
For four decades, Pet Shop Boys have been that second kind of band.
The centerpiece? The nine-minute “West End Girls” (Sasha Mix) – though here it’s actually the famous “Shep Pettibone Mastermix,” turning an already iconic track into a nocturnal journey through paranoia and ambition. But the real gem is “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” (Version Latina). Suddenly the cynical yuppie anthem gets congas, piano stabs, and a sweaty, carnivalesque desperation. It’s brilliant.
They are, in the best sense, the sound of letting go. Of trusting the DJ. Of realizing that a remix isn’t a secondary version – sometimes, it’s the definitive one. Owning Disco 1–4 as a 4-CD set is a pleasure of curation