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Superseded, but still a good one

5 von 5 Punkten
In many ways, the Pet Shop Boys were video artists as much as they were musical artists - many of their videos were ahead of the curve in production quality, values, and innovative techniques. They have gone for the simplistic and nihilistic to the over-the-top, fast-action, special-effects oriented kinds of things.
Perhaps this is reflected in the directors with whom they've worked. Perhaps their most stylish video was one rarely seen on MTV America, the video to 'Being Boring', directed by Bruce Weber, in a grainy black-and-white that involved dancers from the PSB tour of the time, and very similar to the kinds of photography and direction Weber was otherwise noted for.
Another stand-out is director Derek Jarman (noted avant-garde, postmodern, nihilist, anarchist director of Thatcher and post-Thatcher Britain). He directed 'It's a sin' (very much in Jarman's style, as well as subject matter) and 'Rent', both songs from the 'Actually' album. These are dark, brooding, sombre pieces that clash visually with their pop-oriented, fast-beat music tracks, but mesh together in an interesting way. Jarman also provided backing material for the PSB's first limited tour.
Eric Watson has pride of place in this collection for the most videos directed; his style is as varied as the songs, but seem to fit very well with the overall aspect of PSB songs, in that they are witty to the point of cynicism, intelligent but narrowly focused, and thoroughly enjoyable.
All the songs from Discography, the PSB's first 'greatest hits' collection, are here, with a few exceptions. A video to 'Was it worth it?' had not been done by the time this collection was released; also, the song 'How can you expect to be taken seriously?' was not included in the Discography collection because of the limitations on time on the disc itself.
This is a straight-forward collection of the videos as they appeared on the music channels - there are no extra bits (one of the earlier videos of the PSB, 'Television', had connecting footage taken from television interviews and such). Still, it has been a wonderful video, and is most likely now a collector's item.

Schöne Erinnerungen an die 80er

4 von 5 Punkten
Toll das man sich in der heutigen furchtbaren Videolandschaft mit diesem Video back to the eightees entführen lassen kann. Die PSB haben am Anfang ihrer Karriere nämlich ein paar sehr originelle Kurzfilme drehen lassen. Es fängt an mit dem Klassiker "West End Girls", dem wunderbar witzigen "Oppurtunities" und auch "Suburbia", indem ein Rudel Rottweiler durch die Gegend jagt. Das Duett mit Dusty Springfield bei "What have i done to deserve this?" ist auch einen Blick wert. Mit "Domino Dancing" geht's dann jedoch steil bergab. Die Idden zu den Videos sind eher langweilig und kitschig wie man am besten bei ""How can you expect to be taken seriosly" sehen kann. Doch "So Hard" genauso wie das schöne "Being Boring", die beide in dezentem S/W gedreht sind, lassen manches wieder vergessen. Das Bild ist ganz gut und auch der Ton überzeugt. Abschließend kann man sagen das dies ein schöner Rückblick auf die erste Erfolgswelle der PSB ist, und auf die 80er.