The band was disappointed by the limited success and some of the reviews of their previous album Behaviour, and the fact that it was not a dance album. For Very, they decided that it was going to be a more 'up' album, and that each song should be written as though it were good enough to be a single. They began recording demos at Chris' flat, and then later moved to Sarm West Studios in London to record.
A central concept for the record was that they wanted it to sound "computery" -- meaning that many of the songs have beeps, bleeps and other electronic sounds that might be associated with video games.
On all CD releases, the last track, Go West, was indexed with 2 minutes of silence and a hidden unlisted track, called Postscript (I Believe In Ecstasy), sung by Chris. This outro does not appear on any cassettes or vinyl releases of the album.
Personnel[]
While many people assisted in the creation of the record, it is the first time that the Pet Shop Boys primarily produced themselves. Stephen Hague mixed the album and performed additional production and Brothers In Rhythm came on board to produce 'Go West'. Anne Dudley of Art Of Noise also arranged and conducted the orchestra for three tracks on the record.
The band decided to completely alter the way they were presented visually. For everything related to this album, they wanted to appeared as though they were not a part of reality, and everything, including their album covers, videos, and photographs reflected this. Most of this new image in terms of costuming was from the mind of David Fielding, who had designed the 1991Performance Tour. The pointy orange and white striped "dunce caps" are the most recognizable icon from this time period, as featured on the Very artwork and the video for Can You Forgive Her?
Very on CD was originally packaged in a specially designed orange molded jewel case with raised dots on the front, designed by Pentagram. This proved to be expensive to produce so reissues of this album merely featured a picture of the orange case on a blue background.
Vinyl copies of the album featured floating Neil and Chris helmet-heads on a yellow background, similar to the artwork from the CD booklet. Cassette copies showed the same design, but on a blue background.
In many countries, Very was also packaged as a limited edition 2CD release, coupled with Relentless, a 6-track EP of mostly instrumental techno tracks. This was issued in a flexible clear frosted plastic 'bubble wallet', mirroring the design of the orange Very case.
For the 'Further Listening' edition of the album, the design attempted to graphically represent the raised dots from the Pentagram jewel case for the front cover.
Reception[]
Chart Performance[]
Country
Peak Position
Australia
2
Austria
6
Belgium
5
Canada
9
Europe
1
Finland
1
France
19
Germany
1
Holland
6
Hungary
2
Ireland
7
Italy
8
Japan
14
New Zealand
19
Norway
8
Portugal
7
Spain
6
Sweden
1
Switzerland
1
UK
1
USA
20
Certifications[]
Very acheived quadruple-Platinum in Spain. In the UK, it ranked as Platinum, as well as in Canada, Germany and Switzerland. In Austria, France, Sweden and the USA, it received Gold.
