045: Pet Shop Boys - Bilingual (1996)

Returning guest Dave Weigel lived in England in the late ‘90s, the era of Tony Blair, New Labour, ecstasy, the European Union, and, most importantly of all, the Pet Shop Boys. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a hi-fi shop in the early ‘80s and went on to make beautiful, quintessentially British dance music together for the next four decades (and counting!). For this episode, Rich leads Dave, Phil, and Will track by track through the duo’s 1996 album Bilingual, where Tennant and Lowe were inspired by a recent tour of Latin America, as well as a rapidly globalizing post-Cold War world. It’s not one of the group’s more celebrated albums, but it’s so, so dense with all of the tight, grandiose, literate popcraft that they do so well.

NOTE: Rated Explicit for occasional language.

Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Phil Maddox, Dave Weigel, Chris Willie Williams

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/045-pet-shop-boys-bilingual-1996

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