Background and compilation
Ultimate was released to celebrate 25 years since the band's first hit single, "West End Girls", in 1985. [5] It was aimed at casual fans and was packaged as one CD. [4] The tracks are in chronological order, ranging from the duo's earliest hits through "Love Etc." from their most recent album at the time, Yes (2009). [6]
Notable omissions include "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" and "Rent". [7] Some songs that were left off the album were on the special edition DVD as performances from Top of the Pops and other television programmes, [8] as well as a 90-minute set of 21 songs and medleys at Glastonbury on 26 June 2010. [9] [10]
"Together" was a new song written especially for Ultimate. [11] The track was made available as a digital download on 24 October 2010, and a single containing two cover tracks and an extended version of the song was released as a digital bundle and on CD on 29 November. [12]
Critical reception
Assessing the value of Ultimate as a greatest hits compilation, David Jeffries of AllMusic commented, "By 2010, the Pet Shop Boys' discography had grown to such a size that any one-disc compilation was bound to just scratch the surface, and that's what Ultimate does, splendidly". He noted, "Casual fans get to catch up on important late-period singles they probably missed". [6] Ian Wade of BBC Music observed, "What Ultimate offers is highlights from every album in a pleasingly ordered tracklisting ensuring that anyone who may've switched off around the mid-90s gets a taster of later treats such as New York City Boy, Home And Dry and last year's sublime Love etc." [7] Michael Horton of DIY called Ultimate, "A pretty bundle but, as a third greatest hits, a bit of a stretch. Still, whatever the quibbles about motivation, there isn't too much wrong with the rest of the package". [17]
Nick Bond of the Star Observer noted, "Arriving only two albums after their last compilation, 2003's essential Pop/Art, Ultimate might seem a slightly perfunctory release, were it not for the fantastic DVD accompanying the deluxe edition". [9] Simon Rueben of The Line of Best Fit suggested that the DVD should have been the main release and commented, "... PopArt – The Hits really showed the world how a great singles compendium can be done... New release Ultimate is the opposite, a rather shallow collection that barely scratches the surface of their glorious career". [18]
Michael Edwards of Exclaim! wrote: "Ultimate never gets close to living up to its title; it loses a bunch of great songs, such as "Love Comes Quickly" and "So Hard," so it can fit on a single CD, replacing them with lesser songs from later albums and the one obligatory new song. It just isn't the best representation of the band's career". [10] Josh Langhoff of PopMatters concurred, "As a single disc compilation, Ultimate lives up to that audacious adjective worse than any album in recorded history..." He added, "However redundant, Ultimate Pet Shop Boys still contains eight or nine bounce-off-the-walls, think-about-life, luxuriate-in-sound great songs". [8]
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