Very. A blog about Pet Shop Boys.

Ben Thompson chats with Pet Shop Boys about a bunch of things. As Russell says, “Excellent music, top chat, good anecdotes and an incredibly long version of Soft Cell’s Bedsitter.”

Going back to my iPod here for a minute. I was retagging some tracks in iTunes, sorting songs by the number of plays, etc, etc, and this weirdest thing crops up: Introspective is the album I listen to the most, even with other albums (Fundamental and Disco 4) having been released since installing iTunes. Maybe it’s the uptempo feel of the album (its slowest track, “I want a dog,” still clocks it at 110 BPM,) or the connection I have with the album (it was among the first CDS I was given with my first disc player, along with No Jacket Required and the soundtrack for the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but according to iTunes, I return to the record again and again and again. I wouldn’t even say it’s my “favorite” Pet Shop Boys album, but it is apparently the one I enjoy the most as a whole. Later this week, I’ll go into the album a bit, I think, talking about it as a single unit versus its tracks, how it’s built like a DJ set, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

I swear, I’m going to get back to normal posting soon enough here, partially energized by last night’s three-hour shuffle through the Tennant/Lowe playlist on my iPod. I’ve put all the non-concert, non DJ-mixed (so, no ripped copies of Cubism or Disco 2) mp3s from Pet Shop Boys, along with any remixes or production they’ve performed on other artists (such as Liza Minnelli and Rammstein - who else can claim that) and the occasional cover I’ve found that didn’t annoy me.

The total? 449. If you have a Pets-related playlist, how many songs are on yours?