Please was the first studio album released by the band on 24 March 1986. It contained many of the songs originally recorded with Bobby Orlando, including 'West End Girls' and 'Two Divided By Zero'.
Production and Recording[]
According to Neil, they titled this album 'Please' so that people would walk into the record shop and ask the shopkeeper, "Could I have the new Pet Shop Boys album, Please?" The album tracks, either accidentally or intentionally, seemed to form a storyline.
We had the idea for the album that it was sort of linked together... They run away in the first song, they arrive in the city, they want to make money, they fall in love, move to suburbia, go out clubbing, there's violence in the city, and casual sex, someone tries to pick up a boy...it does sort of work.
Indeed, the lyrics and subject matter within the songs have been observed to relate to both hetero- and homosexual relationships, which was also Neil's intention.
Songs considered but not done for 'Please': 'It's A Sin', 'Rent', 'What Have I Done To Deserve This?', 'Jealousy', 'One More Chance' and 'In The Club Or In The Queue'.
Tracklisting[]
| 4:09 | Two Divided By Zero |
| 4:45 | West End Girls |
| 3:43 | Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) |
| 4:19 | Love Comes Quickly |
| 5:05 | Suburbia |
| :33 | Opportunities (reprise) |
| 4:31 | Tonight Is Forever |
| 4:27 | Violence |
| 4:05 | I Want A Lover |
| 2:46 | Later Tonight |
| 4:44 | Why Don't We Live Together? |
Album Credits[]
Writing and Composing[]
All songs were written by Tennant and/or Lowe with the addition of Bobby Orlando as writer on 'Two Divided By Zero', a track originally worked on before signing with Parlophone Records. Stephen Hague gets a writing credit on 'Love Comes Quickly'.
Studios and Personnel[]
The album was recorded between November 1985 and January 1986 at Advision Studios in London. Stephen Hague did final production work on most of the tracks with David Jacob as engineer. However, J. J. Jeczalik of the Art Of Noise appears as producer, as do Blue Weaver and Ron Dean Miller on some tracks which were cut before reaching Advision.
Musicians[]
Helena Springs appears on 'Violence' and 'West End Girls', her first (but not last) work with the band. Andy McKay plays a sax solo on 'Love Comes Quickly'.
Releases[]
French LP with altered artwork
Design and Packaging[]
The original packaging concept for the album was a complicated 'paper engineering' project that involved a kind of latticework weave for the sleeve. Ultimately, this idea was scrapped, and the final artwork was produced by Mark Farrow, beginning a long-standing relationship between them.
They hadn't intended to put the band and album name on the cover, but EMI insisted they do so, to increase customer recognition. The final sleeve artwork, featuring a small photo taken by Eric Watson, caused a stir as well. The French, in particular, objected to the small size of the photo and simply redesigned it to appear larger on their releases. Inside the package were more smaller photographs of the same caliber and motif as the cover, laid out in a grid format.
Singles[]
Prior to the album release, three lead-up singles had already been released: 'Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)', 'West End Girls' and 'Love Comes Quickly'. Shortly after Please hit the shelves, a second remixed version of the 'Opportunities...' single appeared, followed by a new production of 'Suburbia'.
In Italy, an exclusive 12" single of 'Paninaro', the b-side to 'Suburbia', was released.
Videos[]
In December 1986, a video compilation entitled Television was released, containing all the music videos from the album interspersed with promotional TV footage shot during their album marketing stage.
Reissues[]
Further Listening edition
As their first album, 'Please' was reissued many times throughout the world. In 1997, it was repackaged by Parlophone Records with Actually and Behaviour in a special box set called 'The Originals'.
Then in 2001, it was remastered and specially repackaged as part of the 'Further Listening 1984-1986' release, containing many tracks previously unavailable on CD as well as previously unreleased material. In 2009, the remaster was issued once again, also as a digital download, but without the Further Listening material. in 2018, A new 2CD remaster of the same material was completed and was also released on 180g vinyl.
Reception[]
Chart Ranking (1986)[]
|
Chart (1986) |
Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia | 10 |
| Canada | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 |
| Finland | 4 |
| Germany | 38 |
| Italy | 30 |
| New Zealand | 2 |
| Norway | 13 |
| Sweden | 21 |
| Switzerland | 20 |
| UK | 3 |
| US | 7 |
Certification and Awards[]
Please achieved Platinum status in the UK, the US and Canada and Gold Status in Hong Kong.