the new single 'Flamboyant' out on 29th March

March 17, 2004
The Guardian

"Flamboyant", the new single from Pet Shop Boys, is released by Parlophone on March 29. And the three formats of the single - 2 CDs and a 12" - contain very special tracks, including a new mix of "West End Girls" by DJ Hell, the legendary unreleased PSB track "I Didn't Get Where I Am Today" and mixes of "Flamboyant" by Scissor Sisters, DJ Hell and Tomcraft.

The single version of "Flamboyant" is a different mix from that which features on the album "PopArt". Neil and Chris went back into the studio at the end of last year and added extra vocals and keyboards with producer Stuart Crichton.

The "Silhouettes and Shadows" remix was described by Jake of the Scissor Sisters to Neil Tennant as "very 'Station To Station"" (a reference to David Bowie's 1976 album).

The enhanced CD also has the original demo for "Flamboyant" plus the extraordinary video for the track, which is based on an eccentric Japanese tv show called "Kaso Taisho". The video juxtaposes Pet Shop Boys in commercials endorsing a variety of incredible invented products with real footage taken from the game show (one of the most popular in Japan) and narrative footage of a prospective contestant on the show. In typical Japanese game show style, our hero goes through a variety of situations in preparation for his becoming a game of billiards (it all makes sense when you see the video).

"I Didn't Get Where I Am Today" features Johnny Marr on guitar and was originally intended to be included on the "Release" album but was thought to be too "up" for that album. The song features a sample of the mid-60s beat classic, "Father's name was Dad" by Fire.

On March 6, Pet Shop Boys played their first-ever full show as a live duo at London's Barfly Club as part of a series of shows to raise money for Shelter and War Child. This show sold out immediately and tickets were selling for up to 2,200GBPounds a pair on E Bay. Although Pet Shop Boys have recently played three major tours of the UK, they have never before appeared as just a duo in a full concert - previous tours have seen them collaborate with their studio programmer Pete Gleadhall and an onstage cast of other musicians and, often, dancers. This Barfly performance was just Neil and Chris onstage with two Keyboards and a Powerbook. They described the show as "Two Men and an Apple Mac Powerbook" .