Viva La Vida! - PSB Domino Dancing Style

Ok.  Fanboy post here again for the Pet Shop Boys.  They are great at doing covers.  Their list of covers includes

Always on my mind by Elvis
Go West by the Village People
Where the streets have no names by U2
Always on my mind by Sterling Void.

I pretty like all of them as they managed to turn these classic rock and ballads to something dancy and poppy.. haha.. I'm more of a poppy guy.  Especially the U2 melody which they mixed the song with I can't take my eyes off you.... brillant stuff.

So the recent christmas while in thailand I was surfing the web and found out they did it again with another cover.  Viva La Vida by Coldplay.  Actually the song was already performed on their tour recently but it was so well received that they throw the song in their special Xmas EP album.

Basically the title means Long Live Live in English.   The song bascially is about a King who lost his power to rule... And what they did was again brillant stuff... merging my favourite song Domino Dancing into the song.  Here's the radio edit version of the song... Watch them all fall down!

The way it used to be...

You can call me a fan boy but I just loved this song from the new Pet Shop Boys album. It just that this songs really co-incite how I was feeling when I was in hospital bed. I was in a room filled with patients of different age and sizes. Some of the had their legs amputated due to diabetic reasons. Normally I would be the youngest in the room but it did not seems to be the case when 2 young man (believe to be in the teens were wheel-chaired in) Then it dawned on me. I am no longer young and I started to think about my childhood, my naivety on the world when I was just a teen and etc. I think I am already going mid-life crisis and I'm just 33! hahaha

Anyway, its an interesting song because the melody is simple and the lyrics are cleverly written. I especially like the line: "We could do anything cause we're fearless when we're young." and "I survived with only memories. But I want more than only memories" and especially the last line before the "ping" : "Sometimes I need to see/the way it used to be."

And so I did. I started visiting those childhood places and taking photographs of them while I was on MC (hahaha). I'm glad I did that and there are still many places that I need to cover before all fades away.....Plan to start a new personal project which I think will last quite some time.

I am a Pet Head!

I am a fan of Pet Shop Boys (thus the term Pet Heads). Ever since in 1988 I heard that bloody Domino Dancing song.. It introduced me to the world of electro pop music. Not sure why though, but I think its the drums and the bloody "All day! All day" chant. hehe

Before all of that, I listened only to classical music or Chinese operas at home. My father is a avid fan of Classical music like Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mozart and etc. Mum is a fan too. They also like Chinese Classics like 梁祝，採云追月...etc etc. I do love them too but you need to spend more time to enjoy them as a piece can go as long as 40 mins.

Naturally, I get to like other artists like Madonna, Belinda Carlise, Eurasure, Depeche Mode and etc etc but I always find them to be a bit special. I think another reason that I was attracted to their act is the way their lyrics go. Neil used to be Smash HiT! magazine editor and he writes very well. The more I read up about them and lyrics makes me even more fascinated by them. Not to mention 2 blokes dresses like some campy clowns singing campy music (and they did it deliberately to taunt the new 90s entertainment industry).

So I am glad after 24 years (they released their first album in 1985), they are still coming out something that I like :)

Head over here to listen to some samples of their latest album, YES.

And here is their 2009 brits award performance

btw... I dun mind at all if you call them Pet Shop Ah Pek (Uncles)... hehe even those die hard fans I knew in Singapore love that term :P