Pet Shop Boys - Nightlife

Nightlife is a loose concept album -- more of a song cycle, really -- about nightlife (naturally), a collection of moods and themes, from love to loneliness. In that sense, it's not that different from most Pet Shop Boys albums, and, musically, the album is very much of a piece with Very and Bilingual, which is to say that it relies more on craft than on innovation. Depending on your point of view, this may not be such a bad thing, since Pet Shop Boys specialize in subtle craft and masterful understatement. Such skills serve them well when they're essentially following familiar musical territory, which they are on Nightlife. At its core, the record is very much like Very -- a clever, skillful updating of classic disco, highlighted by small contemporary dance flourishes, and infused with a true sense of wit, sophistication, and intelligence. Pet Shop Boys do this music better than anyone else ever has, and they're at the top of their form here, but it's hard to shake the initial impression that they've done this before. Each individual song works beautifully, from the wistfully dejected "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More" to the exhilarating Village People homage "New York City Boy," but as a whole, Nightlife seems less than the sum of its parts. Repeated listens reveal the songs' charms, yet Nightlife coasts on its craft a bit too much, which makes it feel like one of their second-tier albums. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Name Credits Alex Hay Photography Ali MacLeod Guitar Andy Bradfield Engineer Audrey Wheeler Vocals Bill Importico Assistant Engineer Chris Armstrong Orchestration, Keyboards, Arranger, Programming David Morales Producer Eric Watson Photography Gavyn Wright Orchestra Leader Geoff Foster Engineer Goetz Mixing Hugo Dwyer Engineer Ian MacNeil Costume Design Jennie O'Grady Choir Master Mark "Spike" Stent Mixing Mark Bates Keyboards Matt Dunkley Conductor Metro Voices Choir, Chorus Pauline Taylor Vocals Pet Shop Boys Producer Pete Gleadall Programming Peter "Ski" Schwartz Programming, Keyboards Peter Lockett Percussion Richard Norris Keyboards, Programming Rollo Mixing, Producer Stephen Hilton Keyboards, Programming Steven Barkan Engineer Tim Young Mastering