Pet Shop Boys

In the mid-'80s, near the beginning of the music video era, a good promo video for your new song could make or break you, and the Pet Shop Boys provide a perfect example. The band's first single, "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," was released with a slightly creepy video, and the single stiffed. With a much slicker second video for "West End Girls," the band started to rocket up the charts, and when "Opportunities" was re-released with a new video, that single also went up the charts. Released in conjunction with the PopArt CD collection, this DVD collects the band's singles, from that faltering first step through the band's major chart success on both sides of the Atlantic ("What Have I Done to Deserve This?," "Rent") and on to an era of waning U.S. success but continued European popularity ("Go West," "Before," "A Red Letter Day"). Though the videos are listed chronologically on the DVD case (which was not the case with the CD), you can also play them in random order to mix things up. You can even go through the videos with the commentary track on, and listen to Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant slicing and dicing their own performances throughout. It's interesting watching them one after the other, in order, because you can see the band's development from nice lip-syncing party material to the stranger and more artistic, including a serious push into computer graphics about halfway through the collection, culminating in the stunning "Liberation." No matter which way you choose to watch it, though, it's always interesting and it's a great overview of one of the best electronic pop bands going. ~ Sean Carruthers, All Music Guide