•
Rating: Off with the costumes! And down with the masks.
Let me explain: the promo videos of the singles that accompanied the previous album, “Very”, the year of grace 1993, saw Neil and Chris dressed like Lego figures in a bright orange-blue, pink, and 3D sunglasses. As for the wigs, better not to mention.
The context, even cyber, worked: the album was well-received, went to number one, the related tour in Latin America ("Discovery", ed) was a hit.
Ctrl+Alt+Del? Yes. Or rather, not really.
“Bilingual”, an album for which the author of this review holds a sinister, evergreen, authentic respect, arrived in 1996 preceded by two singles, “Before” and “Se A Vida E”, which only broke through with the core fan base. Like the album, after all.
The idea of making a bilingual album (which only is in certain very rarefied moments) was born in 1994, when the PSB, between dates of the aforementioned tour, spent evenings in Brazilian clubs, rather than Chilean or Argentine.
Completely unfamiliar with the Spanish language, Neil, who is essentially the lyricist of the duo, sent Dainton (RIP), at the time the band’s PA, to buy an English/Spanish dictionary.
Done and done: the snippets we find in “Discoteca”, “Single” and “Se A Vida E” are taken verbatim from demo phrases that in an elementary sense serve those who are just starting to learn the language.
A few examples? ‘Cuanto tiempo tengo que esperar’ (‘How long must I wait?’), Neil recounts, comes from possible phrases to say in a doctor’s waiting room.
Furthermore, in the rush, the singer only later realized that “That’s The Way Life Is” translates to “Essa Vida E” and not “Se A Vida E”, an error remedied in the track's fade-out.
Stylistically, the work slows the frantic pace of “Very”.
The highest point of the record, in the opinion of the writer, is “Discoteca”, whose rhythm section, played in the studio by SheBoom, shines in the bridge that connects “Discoteca” to the subsequent “Single”.
Pleasant is the outing recounted in “Metamorphosis” as well as the filler “Electricity” that features a Drag Queen opening up to a young boy.
“It Always Comes As A Surprise”, which the PETS wanted as the lead single, shines with its own light. Because it has everything: sadness, melancholy, regret.
The second part of the album takes us back to the past. “A Red Letter Day”, “The Survivors” and “Saturday Night Forever” inevitably nod to the recent past, whereas “Up Against It” (supported by the guitar of the ever-present Johnny Marr) and “Before” explore other territories with mixed success.
“Bilingual” also has another peculiarity, unusual yet pleasant. It spawned an exorbitant number of b-sides: an average of two for each single from four extracted singles, plus those of “Somewhere” aggregated in the reissue of the following year, the count is quickly done. B-sides that veer into experimentation or simply enrich the path taken with the album, reinforcing its karma.
In short, an album that fits in the Pet Shop Boys discography, indeed. A thoroughly crafted work, perhaps overly developed, as Neil himself would admit a few years later: “Maybe 12 tracks are too many.” I disagree. It's fine as it is.
“Bilingual” remains a cut above the works that would follow, from “Nightlife” onwards, through “Fundamental”.
There is an underlying uncertainty that does not escape those who know the group viscerally. At times, it tries to leap or look forward without succeeding. Initially, it tries to absorb Latin atmospheres but almost immediately gives up. Eventually, it reluctantly turns back to find certainties.
A fragility that makes it credible, stylistically pure, at times surprising.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Discoteca (04:37)
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
I don't speak the language
I can't understand the words
Where angels fear to tread
I sometimes walked and tried to talk
But how can I be heard
In such a world
When I am lost
I'm doing what I do
To see me through
I'm going out and carrying on as normal
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Te quiero
Entiende usted
Digame
Cuanto tiempo tengo que esperar?
I don't speak in anger
Though the chances that I've let
Pass me by and now regret
I can't forget
They're haunting me
Like a score of unpaid debts
Is it enough
To live in hope
That one day we'll be free
Without this fear
I'm going out and carrying on as normal
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Hay una discoteca por aqui?
Te quiero
Entiende usted
Digame
Cuanto tiempo tengo que esperar?
08 Up Against It (04:16)
(Tennant/Lowe)
-----------------
News in the city
breaks without pity
Long after the war has ended
we're still in fatigues
Up against it
The higher you fly
the further you fall
Up against it
Wondering why we
fought after all
Such a cold winter
with scenes as slow as Pinter
Synchronise your watches
there's still time to kill
Up against it
Drinking this swill
to sweeten the pill
Up against it
The more that it hurts
the less that it works
Wrapped up in nostalgia
to queue for a show
Back to Trafalgar
one kiss then I'll go
So deep in quicklime
the bones of an old crime
I knew a man who raked them over
He's still suffering
Up against it
Buried so deep
it gives me the creeps
Up against it
The longer you hate
the more that it grates
Up against it
Look left then right
and run for your life
Up against it
The more that it hurts
the less that it works
09 The Survivors (04:30)
(Tennant/Lowe)
-----------------
Cross a windy bridge
one winter night
Past Embankment Gardens
enter warmth and light
Face the music
(it's never easy)
Forget the chill
Face the future
(it's never easy)
Find the will
If life is worth living
it's got to be done
One might be forgiven
for thinking
it's a life on the run
Many roads will cross through
many lives
but somehow you survive
Look around
Picture what's in store
Is this the final edit
or is the subject now a bore?
Don't shrug your shoulders
(it's always easy)
You can't ignore
That life is worth living
it's still worth a damn
One might be forgiven
for thinking
it's something of a sham
Many words may make it sound contrived
but somehow we're alive
(The survivors)
Our heads bowed
(The survivors)
At memorials for other faces in the crowd
Teachers and artists
(it's never easy)
and Saturday girls
in suits or sequins
(it's never easy)
or twinsets-and-pearls
If life is worth living
it's got to be run
as a means of giving
not as a race
to be won
Many roads will run through
many lives
but somehow we'll arrive
Many roads will run through
many lives
but somewhere we'll survive
Loading comments slowly
