Alternative (album)

Alternative
Compilation album by Pet Shop Boys
Released	7 August 1995
Recorded	1985–1994
Length	134:12
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys chronology
Disco 2 (1994) Alternative (1995) Bilingual (1996)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	[2]
Melody Maker	(favorable) [3]
NME	6/10 [4]
Select	[5]

Alternative is a compilation album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 7 August 1995 by Parlophone.

Alternative is a two-disc set, consisting of 30 B-sides in chronological order. The title Alternative was a last-minute change from the title that had been long saved for such an album, Besides, but that title was taken by American rock band Sugar, who released their own B-sides compilation two months prior.^{[ citation needed ]}

A remake of the original 7-inch "Paninaro", titled "Paninaro '95", was released as a single (which was included on the later PopArt: The Hits set) to promote the two-disc compilation which reached number two in the UK Albums Chart. ^[6]

The cover of Alternative features photographs of Tennant and Lowe in fencing masks. The first copies of the CD have a lenticular image on the cover which shifts between the two photographs.

Neil Tennant revealed in a radio interview with Absolute Radio that a second B-side album may be released in 2010. On 11 November 2011, the duo announced through Varsity that they would release another B-sides album in February 2012, titled Format .

Track listing

All tracks are written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, except where noted

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Featured on	Length
1.	"In the Night"		"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (1985 release)	4:50
2.	"A Man Could Get Arrested" (10" Bobby Orlando version)		"West End Girls"	4:19
3.	"That's My Impression" (disco mix)		"Love Comes Quickly"	5:18
4.	"Was That What It Was?"		"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (1986 release)	5:14
5.	"Paninaro"		"Suburbia"	4:40
6.	"Jack the Lad"		"Suburbia"	4:31
7.	"You Know Where You Went Wrong"		"It's a Sin"	5:51
8.	"A New Life"	Tennant, Lowe, Helena Springs	"What Have I Done to Deserve This?"	4:56
9.	"I Want a Dog"		"Rent"	4:58
10.	"Do I Have To?"		"Always on My Mind"	5:14
11.	"I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)"		"Heart"	4:54
12.	"Don Juan"		"Domino Dancing"	3:54
13.	"The Sound of the Atom Splitting" (extended version)	Tennant, Lowe, Steve Lipson, Trevor Horn	"Left to My Own Devices"	5:12
14.	"One of the Crowd"		"It's Alright"	3:55
15.	"Your Funny Uncle"		"It's Alright"	2:16

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Featured on	Length
1.	"It Must Be Obvious"		"So Hard"	4:24
2.	"We All Feel Better in the Dark"		"Being Boring"	4:00
3.	"Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend"		"Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)"	4:28
4.	"Losing My Mind"	Stephen Sondheim	"Jealousy"	4:34
5.	"Music for Boys"		"DJ Culture"	3:36
6.	"Miserablism"		"Was It Worth It?"	4:10
7.	"Hey, Headmaster"		"Can You Forgive Her?"	3:06
8.	"What Keeps Mankind Alive?"	Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill	"Can You Forgive Her?"	3:24
9.	"Shameless"		"Go West"	5:02
10.	"Too Many People"		"I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing"	4:17
11.	"Violence" (Haçienda version)		"I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing"	4:58
12.	"Decadence"		"Liberation"	3:56
13.	"If Love Were All"	Noël Coward	"Yesterday, When I Was Mad"	2:59
14.	"Euroboy"		"Yesterday, When I Was Mad"	4:27
15.	"Some Speculation"		"Yesterday, When I Was Mad"	6:34
16.	"Girls & Boys" (live in Rio; Japanese edition bonus track)	Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, Dave Rowntree	"Paninaro '95"	5:03

Personnel

• Neil Tennant
• Chris Lowe

Producers

• Pet Shop Boys – all tracks except disc 1: track 13
• Phil Harding – disc 1: track 1
• Bobby O – disc 1: track 2
• Shep Pettibone – disc 1: track 7, additional production on disc 1: track 4
• David Jacob – disc 1: track 8
• Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson – disc 1: track 13
• Harold Faltermeyer – disc 2: track 6
• Stephen Hague – additional production on disc 2: tracks 7 and 9
• Jonathon Ruffle – disc 2: track 8
• Richard Niles – disc 2: track 13

Guest musicians

• Blue Weaver – Fairlight programming on disc 1: tracks 1 and 11, Hammond organ on disc 1: track 11
• Adrien Cook – Fairlight programming on disc 1: tracks 5, 6 and 7
• Helena Springs – additional vocals on disc 1: track 7
• Stephen Lipson – guitar on disc 1: track 11
• Shirley Lewis and Dee Lewis – additional vocals on disc 1: track 11
• Chris Newman – assistant Fairlight programming on disc 1: track 12, additional programming on disc 2: track 4
• Juliet Roberts – additional vocals on disc 2: track 2
• Dominic Clarke – programming on disc 2: tracks 2 and 3
• Gary Maughan – additional keyboards on disc 2: track 3
• Scott Davidson – programming on disc 2: track 5
• Harold Faltermeyer – programming on disc 2: track 6
• Pete Gleadall – programming on disc 2: tracks 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15
• Richard Coles – additional keyboards on disc 2: track 8
• Carol Kenyon, Katie Kissoon and Tessa Niles – additional vocals on disc 2: track 9
• Bruce Woolley – additional vocals on disc 2: track 10
• J.J. Belle – guitar on disc 2: track 11
• Sylvia Mason-James – additional vocals on disc 2: track 11
• Johnny Marr – guitar on disc 2: track 12
• Frank Ricotti – percussion and vibraphone on disc 2: track 12
• Richard Niles – string arrangement and conduction on disc 2: track 12, arrangement and conduction on disc 2: track 13
• Tony Walthers, Daniel Gaha & Lance Ellington – backing vocals on disc 2: track 13
• Gerard Presencer – trumpet solo on disc 2: track 13

Charts

Chart performance for Alternative

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [7]	8
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [8]	33
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [9]	44
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [10]	44
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [11]	29
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [12]	27
European Albums ( Music & Media ) [13]	37
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [14]	17
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [15]	28
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [16]	31
Scottish Albums (OCC) [17]	7
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [18]	14
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [19]	19
UK Albums (OCC) [6]	2
US Billboard 200 [20]	103

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for Alternative

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [21]	Silver	60,000^
United States	—	68,000 [22]
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Pet Shop Boys: Alternative at AllMusic. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
2. Christgau, Robert. "Pet Shop Boys". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
3. Mathur, Paul (12 August 1995). "Pet Shop Boys - Alternative Pet Shop Boys" . Melody Maker . Vol. 72, no. 32. p. 33. Retrieved 6 March 2024– via Internet Archive.
4. Harris, John (5 August 1995). "Long Play: B-ing Boring". New Musical Express . p. 44. ISSN   0028-6362.
5. Harrison, Andrew (September 1995). "New Old Albums". Select . p. 105. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
6. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
7. "Australiancharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
8. "Austriancharts.at – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
9. "Ultratop.be – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
10. "Ultratop.be – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
11. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 8533". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
13. "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media . Vol. 12, no. 35. 2 September 1995. p. 20. OCLC   29800226 – via World Radio History.
14. "Pet Shop Boys: Alternative" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
15. "Offiziellecharts.de – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
16. "ペット・ショップ・ボーイズのアルバム売り上げランキング" [Pet Shop Boys album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
17. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
18. "Swedishcharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
19. "Swisscharts.com – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
20. "Pet Shop Boys Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
21. "British album certifications – Pet Shop Boys – Alternative". British Phonographic Industry. 1 August 1995. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
22. Caulfield, Keith (23 May 2006). "Ask Billboard: Pet Shop Shopping". Billboard. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.