Please
Producer Stephen Hague worked on the Boys debut, despite the record company and management suggesting Stock Aitkin & Waterman, and his re-recorded version of West End Girls (the original having been a club take produced by NY legend Bobby 0) reached No 1 in the UK. Tracks like Why Don't We Live Together and Two Divided By Zero set the PSB blueprint, with loosely connecting tales of love, sex and loneliness in the big city. Pure, danceable   'f pop, albeit tinged with delicious melancholy. Bonus tracks on the CD reissue include besides Paninaro, In The Night and A Man Could Get Arrested.

Behaviour
Produced in Munich with Giorgio Moroder (of Donna Summer I Feel Love tame)'s ex knob-twiddler, Harold Faltemeyer. Behaviour is wistful with a capital W, and also includes very-long-song-titles-indeed (eg, This Must Be The P/ace You Waited Years To Leave and How Can You be To Be Then Seriously). The tragic-yet-defiant Being Boring is the intro track, contrasting teenage dreams with the death from AIDS of one of Neil's oldest friends, and was released as a single complete with a very power-some Bruce Weber video. Additional tracks now include (the very gaily titled) Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend, We All Feel Better In The Dark and It Must Be Obvious.

Bilingual,
 was so-called because - as Neil explained 'it was sort of a joke on bisexual; and also because of its strong Latin influence. Certain tracks had already been in development since 1994, when they had begun working on them in NYC. Trips to the go-go boy-tastic Sound Factory also played a part in the direction of the songs. These included Se e vida e, Discoteca and Red Letter Day. Going against the grain of their previous heavily stylised appearance and imagery, the album's accompanying booklet simply featured the boys' holiday snaps. Strangely, the original album sold rather poorly by their previous standards the new version Includes extra tracks such as Saturday Night Forever and The Boy Who Couldn't keep His Clothes On.

Actually

Following a year of intensive songwriting, Actually spewed a mass of hits - including Heart, Rent, It's A Sin and the wonderful Dusty Springfield collaboration what Have I Done To Deserve This. Other tracks, such as the haunting Kings Cross and double-edged Shopping, revealed a sharp, politically-critical edge in the lyrics, in stark contrast to the sleeve image of the two some yawning and looking bored in   ~ posh dinner suits -unfunny perceived as 'smug' or 'ironic; by many-a-tedious rock bore. Extras on the CD reissue include Do I Have Though? And A New Life.

Very

For Very, pop's grand dames deliberately wanted the songs to be more upbeat than in previous albums - and they succeeded. Yesterday When I Was Mad, Can You Forgive Her and an OTT version of the Village People's Go West all kept the giddy factor high, as did their new image: orange jumpsuits, large white glasses and pointy dunce hats. The original CD cover broke with normal design convention by having raised coloured dots embossed to the surface. The new CD includes Absolutely Fabulous (from the TV serous), a revamped version of Violence (originally on the Please album) and Falling, which they long ago penned for Ms Kyle Minogue.   

Nightlife

After a three yearlong absence, Nightlife came yet another image change for the PSBs: spiky fright wigs, painted-on Dennis Healy-type eyebrows and sharp suits. This album, more so than previous ones, had the distinct feel of a musical about it - a precursor for their current West End venture Closer To Heaven? I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore, You Only TeIl Me You Love Me When You're Drunk and New York City Boy were released as singles, and the track In Denial -mentioning 'queens and Marys and muscle Marys' -a duet with a pre-comeback Kylie.

Introspective

Their best-selling album, produced variously by Trevor Horn, Lewis Martinee, David Jacob and Neil & Chris themselves, took on board the newly emerging US House music sound, and included a re-working of Sterling Void's It's Alright, along with a stripped down-Housed-up cover of Elvis' Always On My Mind (which the boys performed in leather clone drag on TV)- The standout track is Left To My Own Devices, in which Neil's low key recounting of a day in the life of a loner, succeeds in his ambition to combine 'Debussy with a Disco beat..' I Want A Dog had originally been written for Patsy Kensit's ill4ated band Eight Wonder; and with its talk of wanting a Chihuahua in one's small flat was simultaneously camp and sad. And yes, the  ~ cover does look like a TV test card. Extras on the reissue include the demo of Liza Minnelli Losing My Mind and the wonderful Your Funny Uncle