Vinyl sleeves for iconic tracks such as West End Girls were inspired by blocks of primary colours, following the Memphis school of aesthetics, and a decidedly transatlantic image was used across artworks \u2013 merging British loafers with anoraks. As you can see from all sorts of 80s figureheads, such as Duran Duran and Adam Ant, the decade was defined by remixing the past; the duo famously wore on the artwork for Opportunities (Let\u2019s Make Lots Of Money) 50s-style shirts and American leather jackets, all rendered through Italian disco influences, which Neil called \u201csad melodies with a disco beat\u201d. Even if you have never seen a PSB music video before, Volume includes detailed breakdowns of every motion image with colourful language, referring to the MV for Suburbia as caught in the \u201cstratified light of California\u201d, whilst the pages are rife with fascinating PSB lore, especially an anecdote where the duo split up for an evening during the shoot for the iconic and enduring track Rent.<\/p>\n
Who knows that Always On My Mind is actually a Brenda Lee cover, made commercially successful by Elvis Presley? Any fans of the brilliant British film All Of Us Strangers (as well as this particularly lovely moment from the Xavier Dolan film Matthias & Maxime<\/a>) will be familiar with the song, but Volume proves why this is the definitive retrospective for fans who missed the heyday of the iconic duo, as one chapter explains how the music video was created during the filming of It Couldn’t Happen Here, originally conceived as an hour-long video based on 1987 album Actually, but it eventually evolved into a surreal, full-scale feature film directed by Jack Bond.<\/p>\n Volume is a sumptuous visual feast of every inch of Pet Shop Boys, including even Christmas cards from the band\u2019s merchandising history. Featuring luminaries including Wolfgang Tillmans, the late Martin Parr, Bruce Weber, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Derek Jarman and Es Devlin, this is a must-have for fans of this exciting era.<\/p>\n