Pet Shop Boys – Actually
(Parlophone Records 1987 PCSD104)
Matrix No’s: A3/B3 – UK Pressing
Sleeve in Excellent/Very Good+ condition
– no splits but let down by lots of foxing spots/discolouration
Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)
Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo, formed in London in 1981 and consisting of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.
Pet Shop Boys have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and are listed as the most successful duo in UK music history by The Guinness Book of Records. Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, since 1985 they have achieved 42 Top 30 singles, 22 of them Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, including four UK number ones: “West End Girls” (also number one on the US Billboard Hot 100), “It’s a Sin”, a synthpop version of “Always on My Mind”, and “Heart”. Other hit songs include a cover of “Go West”, “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” and “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” in a duet with Dusty Springfield. With five US top ten singles in the 1980s, they are associated with the Second British Invasion.
At the 2009 Brit Awards in London, Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2016, Billboard magazine named Pet Shop Boys the number one dance duo/group over the 40 years since the chart’s inception in 1976. In 2017, the duo received NME’s Godlike Genius Award.
Actually (stylised as Pet Shop Boys, actually.) is the second studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in the United States and Canada. According to Neil Tennant and music historian Wayne Studer, Actually loosely critiques Thatcherism, the political zeitgeist of the 1980s, and was recorded in anticipation of Margaret Thatcher’s re-election.
Actually is featured in the 2005 musical reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and in 2006 Q magazine placed the album at number 22 in its list of the “40 Best Albums of the ’80s”. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 88 on its list of “Best Albums of the 1980s”.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Pet Shop Boys (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe), except as noted.
| Side A | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | “One More Chance” | Tennant, Lowe, Bobby Orlando | 5:30 |
| 2. | “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” (with Dusty Springfield) | Lowe, Tennant, Allee Willis | 4:18 |
| 3. | “Shopping” | 3:37 | |
| 4. | “Rent” | 5:08 | |
| 5. | “Hit Music” | 4:44 | |
| Side B | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | “It Couldn’t Happen Here” | Tennant, Ennio Morricone, Lowe | 5:20 |
| 2. | “It’s a Sin” | 4:59 | |
| 3. | “I Want to Wake Up” | 5:08 | |
| 4. | “Heart” | 3:58 | |
| 5. | “King’s Cross” | 5:10 | |
Personnel
Pet Shop Boys
- Neil Tennant – co-production on tracks B1, B3 and B4
- Chris Lowe – co-production on tracks B1, B3 and B4
Guest musicians
- Andy Richards – Fairlight CMI and keyboard programming on tracks 1, 4, 5, 7 and 9
- Dusty Springfield – guest vocals on track 2
- J. J. Jeczalik – Fairlight CMI programming on track 3
- Gary Maughan – additional programming on track 3
- Angelo Badalamenti – orchestra arrangement on track 6
- Blue Weaver – Fairlight CMI programming on track 6
- Adrian Cook – programming on track 8
Technical
- Julian Mendelsohn – production on tracks A1, A3 to A5 and B2
- Stephen Hague – production on tracks A2 and B5
- David Jacob – co-production on track B1
- Shep Pettibone – co-production on track B3
- Andy Richards – co-production on track B4
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