Bilingual
Studio album by Pet Shop Boys
Released	September 2, 1996
Recorded	???
Genre	Dance pop
Length	53:56
Label	Parlophone Atlantic (U.S.)
Producer	Pet Shop Boys Chris Porter Danny Tenaglia K-Klass
Pet Shop Boys chronology
Alternative (1995) Bilingual (1996) Nightlife (1999)

Bilingual is the tenth album, the sixth of entirely new music, by the UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It has sold 1.5 million copies globally. Cover of Pet Shop Boys album Bilingual Downloaded from petshopboys. ... A studio album is a collection of previously unreleased, studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist. ... Pet Shop Boys are an English synthpop/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. ... September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Parlophone is a record label which was founded in Germany prior to World War I by the Carl Lindstrom Company. ... Atlantic Records (Atlantic Recording Corporation) is an American record label, and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Pet Shop Boys are an English synthpop/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. ... Danny Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is a New York-based DJ and music producer. ... K-Klass are a house music group from Wrexham, North Wales. ... Pet Shop Boys are an English synthpop/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. ... Alternative is the ninth album by UK electronic music duo Pet Shop Boys. ... Nightlife is the eleventh album, the seventh of entirely new music, by the UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. ... An album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. ... It has been suggested that Electronica be merged into this article or section. ... Pet Shop Boys are an English synthpop/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. ...

Bilingual continues the heavily instrumented arrangements and backing vocals Pet Shop Boys began making to their music with the album Very. As suggested by the title, the songs on the album have worldwide influences, particularly from Latin America. After the release of their Very album, Pet Shop Boys toured South America and were influenced by the beats and rhythms associated with Latin American music. Three of the songs have bilingual lyrics, mixing the English language with Spanish and Portuguese. Pet Shop Boys are an English synthpop/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. ... Very is the seventh album, the fifth of entirely new music, by the UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...

In late 1995, the band had ended their contract with the American branch of EMI, and signed with Atlantic Records. A renewed marketing campaign was launched towards to promote the band in the U.S. via both radio airplay and club play.^[1] The EMI Group (LSE: EMI) is a British music company comprising of the major record company EMI Music which operates several labels, based in Kensington in London, England, and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York. ... Atlantic Records (Atlantic Recording Corporation) is an American record label, and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. ...

Bilingual never achieved the popularity of Very in the UK, despite following its predecessor into the album chart Top 10. The singles lifted from the album were all successful, with three of them - "Before", "Se A Vida E (That's the Way Life Is)" and "A Red Letter Day" - reaching the UK Top 10. A fourth, the English/Spanish language composition "Single", peaked within the Top 20.

The single "Se A Vida E (That's the Way Life Is)" peaked at number eight in the UK charts in late August 1996, having already gained a great deal of radio airplay, and secured the band their first appearance on UK music show 'Top of the Pops' in three years. The song soon became the summer party anthem of the year for those people who were not advocates of the UK's ever-growing club culture of the late 1980s and the 1990s, helped by its Portuguese/Brazilian feel, Latino influences and a popular video shot by Bruce Weber set mainly in a water park located in south Florida. "Se A Vida E" would spend eight weeks in the Top 40 before eventually dropping out in early November. Numerous dance remixes were also made which helped the track become one of the biggest club hits of the second half of the 1990s. Bruce Weber at the 2005 NCAA Final Four in St. ...

Earlier in 1996, prior to the album's release, Tennant's vocals were featured on two live recordings by the British group Suede, which were released as b-sides to their single "Filmstar". One track was a cover of the Pet Shop Boys track "Rent", while the second was a duet with Suede singer Brett Anderson on the Suede song 'Saturday Night'. suede (or The London Suede in the U.S.) were a popular and influential English rock band of the 1990s that helped start the Britpop musical movement of the decade. ... Filmstar is the fifth and final single off the album Coming Up by Suede, released on April 7, 1996 on Nude Records. ... Rent is a 1987 single by the Pet Shop Boys. ... Brett Lewis Anderson (born September 29, 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, and former lead vocalist of rock band Suede. ... Beautiful Ones is the third single off the album Coming Up by Suede, released on January 13, 1996 on Nude Records. ...

In 1997, Pet Shop Boys decided to perform a series of concerts at the Savoy Theatre in London. To promote the concerts they decided to release a cover version of "Somewhere" from West Side Story and to call the concerts "Pet Shop Boys Somewhere". The single reached the UK top 10, and Bilingual was re-released as a "Special Edition" including the new single and a bonus CD of remixes and B-sides. Savoy Theatre London, December 2003 The Savoy Theatre, which opened on 10 October 1881, was built by Richard DOyly Carte (1844 - 1901) on the site of the old Savoy Palace in London as a showcase for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, which became known as the Savoy Operas... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For The Games song, see Westside Story (song). ...

In 2001, Pet Shop Boys re-issued their first six studio albums, and Bilingual was rereleased as Bilingual/Further Listening 1995-1997. The re-released version was not only digitally remastered but came with a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release. In recorded music, the terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which singles have been released since the 1950s. ...

Track listing

Bilingual

1. "Discoteca"
2. "Single"
3. "Metamorphosis"
4. "Electricity"
5. "Se a vida é (That's the way life is)"
6. "It always comes as a surprise"
7. "A red letter day"
8. "Up against it"
9. "The survivors"
10. "Before"
11. "To step aside"
12. "Saturday night forever"

Bilingual Special Edition Bonus CD (1997)

1. "Somewhere" (Extended mix)
2. "A red letter day" (Trouser Enthusiasts Autoerotic Decapitation mix)
3. "To step aside" (Brutal Bill mix)
4. "Before" (Love to Infinity Classic Paradise mix)
5. "The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on" (Danny Tenaglia International Club mix)
6. "Se a vida é" (Pink Noise mix)
7. "Discoteca" (Trouser Enthusiasts Adventure Beyond The Stellar Empire mix)

Trouser Enthusiasts was an electronic dance music production group, active during the 1990s. ... Danny Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is a New York-based DJ and music producer. ... Richard Morel is an openly gay singer/songwriter, remixer and record producer from the DC Metro area of America. ... Trouser Enthusiasts was an electronic dance music production group, active during the 1990s. ...

Further Listening 1995-1997 CD (2001)

1. "Paninaro '95"
2. "In the night" (1995)
3. "The truck-driver and his mate"
4. "Hit and miss"
5. "How I learned to hate rock 'n' roll"
6. "Betrayed"
7. "Delusions of grandeur"
8. "Discoteca" (single version)
9. "The calm before the storm"
10. "Discoteca" (new version)
11. "The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on"
12. "A red letter day" (expanded single version)
13. "The view from your balcony"
14. "Disco potential"
15. "Somewhere" (extended mix)

Personnel

• Neil Tennant
• Chris Lowe

Guest musicians

• Pete Gleadall - Programming on tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 & 12
• SheBoom - Drums and percussion on tracks 1 & 2. Additional drums and percussion on track 5
• Robin Jones - Percussion on track 6. Additional percussion on track 1
• Davide Giovanni, Joseph De Jesus, Weston Foster & Lino Rocha - Additional vocals on track 1
• Sylvia Mason-James - Vocals on track 3
• Ritchie Birkett - Keyboards on track 3
• Simon Cotsworth - Programming on track 3
• Trevor Henry/The Ignorants - Scratching and additional keyboards on track 3
• Kevin Robinson, Bud Beadle & Fayyaz Virji - Brass on track 3
• J.J. Belle - Guitar on track 5
• Mike Innes, Noel Langley, Richard Sidell & Andy Hamilton - Brass on track 5
• Chris Cameron - Additional keyboards on track 6 & 9. String arrangement and conduction on track 9
• Hugh Burns - Guitar on track 6
• Andy Hamilton - Saxophone on tracks 6 & 9
• Katie Kissoon - Additional vocals on tracks 6 & 9
• Alyosha Zolotukhin - Choir arrangement on track 7
• Graeme Perkins - Choir co-ordinator on track 7
• Victor Popov - Choir director on track 7
• The Choral Academy of Moscow - Choir on track 7
• Barbara Tucker, Karen Bernod & Carole Sylvan - Additional vocals on track 7 & 10
• Johnny Marr - Guitar and additional vocals on track 8
• Greg Bone - Guitar on track 9
• Andy Duncan - Drums and percussion on track 9
• Danny Tenaglia and Louie 'Balo' Guzman - Drum programming on track 10
• Pete Dao - Keyboards on track 10
• Phil Pagano - Programming on track 10
• Eddie Montilla - Additional keyboards on track 12

Sylvia Mason-James with Pet Shop Boys Chris Lowe Sylvia Mason-James is a British singer who has worked extensively as a backing vocalist and solo artist. ... Andy Hamilton (born 1953) is a saxophonist who has played with bands such as Duran Duran, Wham!, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, Tina Turner, and more. ... Mac and Katie Kissoon as they appeared on their album, Love Will Keep Us Together. ... Barbara Tucker is an African American house music singer/songwriter/choreographer born in Brooklyn on 19 March, the year is unknown. ... Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher on 31 October 1963 in Ardwick) is an English guitarist, keyboardist, harmonica player and singer. ...

Singles

Before

• UK release: 22 April 1996, #7
• US release: 28 June 1996, #1 (Dance)

The first single to be released from Bilingual was "Before" on April 22, 1996. It was co-produced with Danny Tenaglia and featured Barbara Tucker, Carole Sylvan and Karen Bernod on backing vocals. The B-sides were "Hit and miss" and "The truck-driver and his mate". is the 112th day of the year (113th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Barbara Tucker is an African American house music singer/songwriter/choreographer born in Brooklyn on 19 March, the year is unknown. ...

In the U.S., Atlantic's gay marketing division launched the single with a series of parties at gay nightclubs in cities where the band had previous commercial success. Several hundred clubs received import promotional 12" singles, and the subsequent domestic 12" and CD maxi-single releases were focused entirely on remixes. Promotion was also targeted at Top 40, alternative, and college radio formats.^[1] Ikea commercial widely thought to be the first commercial featuring a gay couple. ... A gay bar is a drinking establishment which can vary in character as much as any other type of bar, but which caters exclusively or primarily to a gay and / or lesbian clientele. ... Top 40 is a radio format based on frequent repetition of songs from a constantly-updated list of the forty best-selling singles. ... Adult Album Alternative (also Triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format broadcast mostly on FM. A spin off of the Album-oriented rock format, its roots may have been established sometime during the 60s from what was called underground music and later progressive. ... Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. ...

Se a vida é (That's the way life is)

• UK release: 12 August 1996, #8
• US release: see below

The second single from Bilingual was "Se a vida é (That's the way life is)". It was co-produced with Chris Porter and featured drums by Glasgow group She-Boom. Remixes were done by Mark Picchiotti, Deep Dish and Pink Noise. The B-sides were "Betrayed" and "How I learned to hate rock'n'roll". For the footballer, see Chris Porter (footballer). ... “Glaswegian” redirects here. ... Deep Dish is a duo of DJ and house music producers consisting of Iranian-American members Ali Dubfire Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi. ... Richard Morel is an openly gay singer/songwriter, remixer and record producer from the DC Metro area of America. ...

The right translation of the song title would be If life is…^{[citation needed]}.

Single-Bilingual

• UK release: 11 November 1996, #14
• US release: not released

The third single to be released was "Single" and was renamed "Single-Bilingual" because Everything But The Girl had released a different single also called "Single" around the same time. It was also co-produced by Chris Porter with drums by She-Boom. The single also included remixes of "Single-Bilingual". The B-sides were "Confidential (Demo for Tina)" and "The calm before the storm". Everything but the Girl Is a song composed and written by Tyler Buckkie of Ontario. ... Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock) November 26, 1939) is an 11 time Grammy Award-winning (sharing three), American Singer, Dancer, Record Producer, Executive Producer, Film Producer, Actress, Writer, Performer, Songwriter, Author and occasional Painter whose career has spanned from 1956 to present. ...

To step aside/Se a vida é (That's the way life is)

• UK release: not released
• US release: 28 February 1997, #1 (dance)

Released as a double A-side in the USA, this single featured exclusive remixed of "To step aside" that were unreleased in the UK. The single was also nominated for a Grammy award for best dance single. Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music...

A red letter day

• UK release: 18 March 1997, #9
• US release: see below

A new version of "A red letter day" with additional production by Motiv-8 was released as the fourth single from Bilingual. It features Barbara Tucker, Carole Sylvan and Karen Bernod on backing vocals along with the Choral Academy Of Moscow. The B-sides were "The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on" and "Delusions of grandeur". Steve Rodway (born in Cambridgeshire),[1] also known under the alias Motiv 8 or Motiv8, is an Eurodance music producer and remixer. ...

Somewhere

• UK release: 23 June 1997, #9
• US release: 28 October 1997, #19 (dance)

Released to promote their residency at the Savoy Theatre in London and to promote a repackage of Bilingual. In the USA, it was released as a double A-side with "A red letter day". For the UK release, the B-sides were "Disco potential" and "The view from your balcony".

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Mirkin, Steven (August 10, 1996), "Pet Shop Boys reopen on Atlantic with 'Bilingual'", Billboard 108(32): 14-15