Discography: The Complete Singles Collection
Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox album Discography: The Complete Singles Collection is the first greatest hits album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 4 November 1991 by Parlophone.
Composition
Discography collects all of the singles released by Pet Shop Boys up to 1991 except for "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" 16 of the 18 tracks were singles, while the last two tracks ("DJ Culture" and "Was It Worth It?") are new songs recorded exclusively for this compilation. Discography also contains a non-album single: the duo's cover version of U2's song "Where the Streets Have No Name", which later in the song breaks into the chorus of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Although many of the album's songs were released in other forms, this compilation only features the seven-inch single versions.
Pet Shop Boys also released a companion video compilation, Videography, consisting of the music videos for each of the songs on Discography, arranged in a slightly different order. Additionally, the song "Was It Worth It?" was replaced with "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", which was not on the audio version of the album, despite being a double A-side with "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)" (the exclusion being due to the constrictions of the CD's running time).
Critical reception
Template:Album ratings Upon its release, Andrew Collins of NME praised the compilation as "sublime and clever pop music" and added that you "don't have to despise rock music in order to love it". He added, "These songs are rooted in a distinctly bourgeois variety of urban angst but just think how closer it all is to your life than 'Vienna' and all that New Romantic nonsense to which the PSBs are so clearly indebted."<ref name="NME"/> Simon Price of Melody Maker summarised, "Somehow the lush symphonic sweep of these singles seems deeply cinematic. Every song is a full-scale Panavision epic whose recurrent moods are regret, nostalgia, and above all, jealousy. If you want near-faultless shimmering, shuddering disco melodrama, nobody does it better."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Track listing
Notes
- Template:Note signifies an original producer
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- Template:Note signifies an associate producer
- Tracks 1–4 are taken from Please (1986).
- Tracks 5–7 and 9 are taken from Actually (1987).
- Tracks 8 and 10–12 are taken from Introspective (1988).
- Tracks 13, 14 and 16 are taken from Behaviour (1990).
- Track 15 is a non-album single.
- Tracks 17 and 18 are previously unreleased.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Discography: The Complete Singles Collection.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>
Pet Shop Boys
Technical
- Stephen Hague – production Template:Small; remix Template:Small; additional production Template:Small; mixing Template:Small
- David Jacob – engineering Template:Small; original track production Template:Small
- J. J. Jeczalik – original recording production Template:Small
- Nicholas Froome – original recording production Template:Small
- Ron Dean Miller – New York overdubs Template:Small
- Julian Mendelsohn – production Template:Small; engineering Template:Small; mixing Template:Small
- Pet Shop Boys – production Template:Small; original track production Template:Small; associate production Template:Small
- Andy Richards – production Template:Small
- Tony Phillips – engineering Template:Small
- Lewis A. Martineé – production, engineering Template:Small
- Mike Couzzi – engineering Template:Small
- Trevor Horn – production Template:Small
- Stephen Lipson – production, engineering Template:Small
- Pete Schwier – engineering Template:Small
- Harold Faltermeyer – production Template:Small
- Brian Reeves – engineering Template:Small
- Bob Kraushaar – engineering Template:Small
- Ren Swan – engineering Template:Small
- Brothers in Rhythm – production Template:Small
- Paul Wright – engineering Template:Small; mixing Template:Small
- Nick Webb – mastering
Artwork
- Mark Farrow – design
- Rob Petrie – design
- 3a – design
- PSB – design
- Eric Watson – main photographs, other photographs
- Peter Andreas – other photographs
- Michael Roberts – other photographs
- Douglas Brothers – other photographs
- Lawrence Watson – other photographs
Charts
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Weekly charts
| Chart (1991–1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (IFPI)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 4 |
| European Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 12 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> | 4 |
| Greek Albums (IFPI)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 10 |
| Irish Albums (IFPI)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 4 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 29 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> | 28 |
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Croatian International Albums (HDU)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 11 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1991) | Position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 36 |
| Chart (1992) | Position |
|---|---|
| European Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 80 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 82 |
Certifications
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References
External links
- Discography: The Complete Singles Collection at PetShopBoys.co.uk