Bilingual [Canada Bonus CD] (CD)
As a title, Bilingual is a double-edged sword. Disregard its sexual connotations and concentrate on its musical implications -- Bilingual is a rich, diverse album that delves deeply into Latin rhythms. It's not a crass, simplistic fusion, where the polyphonic rhythms are simply grafted over synthesizers and a disco pulse. Instead, Bilingual is an enormously subtle album, with shifting rhythms and graceful, understated melodies. The music isn't the only thing subtle about the album -- Neil Tennant's voice and lyrics are nuanced, suggesting more than they actually say. Furthermore, Bilingual consists of the most optimistic, happy set of songs the Pet Shop Boys have ever recorded. Whether it's the smooth disco of "Before" or the insistent rhythms of "Se a Vida E," Bilingual is filled with joyous, if subdued, sounds. If anything, it's further proof that even if the Pet Shop Boys aren't gracing the top of the charts as frequently as they did during the late '80s, they are crafting albums that are more adventurous and successful than they did when they were one of the top singles acts in pop music. [The UK release offered a bonus CD that features fifteen bonus tracks, including different versions of "Red Letter Day" and "Discoteca"] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
| Tracklisting | |
| Disk | 1 | 2 | |
| 1 | Discoteca |
| 2 | Single |
| 3 | Metamorphosis |
| 4 | Electricity |
| 5 | Se a Vida + (That's the Way Life Is) |
| 6 | It Always Comes as a Suprise |
| 7 | Red Letter Day |
| 8 | Up Against It |
| 9 | Surviors |
| 10 | Before |
| 11 | To Step Aside |
| 12 | Saturday Night Forever |
| Russell E Scott
- Austin, , USA |
| As I?ve found a lot of today?s radio listening as being boring, I?ve gone back in time to fill in certain gaps of musical plentitude. Bilingual by the Pet Shop Boys was released in the fall of 1996 while I was working on a movie with Latin based themes. I thought what better to score those daily task than with Latin influenced music. Thus daily spins of Bilingual became commonplace. Tracks Discoteca, Single, Metamorphosis, Se a Vida e?, To Step Aside are multicultural amalgamations of heat, rhythm, style, substance, and movement. We?re talking disco beats, Latin percussion, cocktail jazz, nuance vocals, and innuendo lyrics aplenty. The upbeat, up-tempo material presented here in all sunny yellow overtones speaks of equatorial holiday ? fun in the sun. To stay the mainsail, Up Against It, Red Letter Day, Saturday Night Forever shore up what becomes one of the Pet Shop Boys more adventurous musical odysseys. The real crown jewel on this album is Before. Possibly one of the most beautiful love ballads written by Tennant and Lowe, this song is masterfully crafted, with the perfect accompaniment on guitar by the always-prodigy, Johnny Marr. In no way should this album be taken lightly since the nature of the music and disposition is. Don?t be fooled, overtones, undercurrents, hidden layers, depth of field and vision help make Bilingual a stunning musical achievement.
In the Further Listening 1995 ? 1997 package of Bilingual gets you the bonus disc of what some might consider fodder as the Boys can pen songs in their sleep. Serving as a high water mark, opening track Paninaro ?95 continues the Latin influx as a disco-drama floor stomper. Next up, In The Night (1995), the original b-side of Opportunities back when, has been updated to a smart, smashing house opus. The next four songs, The Truck-driver and His Mate (a Smiths type rocker), Hit and Miss, How I Learned To Hate Rock ?n? Roll, and Betrayed, reveal no drop off in quality, integrity of songwriting skill. What we have here is shaping up to be it?s own album of almost equal parameter. Outside the additional remixed versions of Discoteca and Red Letter Day, the support material gleamed from these sessions can take the melancholy out of any rainy day. The Boy Who Couldn?t Keep His Clothes On serves the anthem crescendo. Produced by Danny Tenaglia, the song comes complete with a scolding by Vanessa Ichak ? classic scuttlebutt. The sum of all efforts comes together on the Somewhere (extended mix) finale. At eleven minutes, the Leonard Bernstein classic from ?West Side Story? plays as a mini symphony of sorts. Enlisting the Trouser Enthusiasts to help bring up the rhythm with samples from ?Menace II Society?, the Pet shop Boys fly right out of some show tune window nary a wave goodbye. I?ve read that some think Bilingual is an off album. I couldn?t agree less. Even on an off day, PBS are songwriters nonpareil.
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