| It's the food of love, but you probably think I'm on a pretty poor diet Soundtrack to my life |
| "Music is the effort we make to explain to ourselves how our brains work. We listen to Bach transfixed because this is listening to the human mind." (Lewis Thomas) |
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| 4 me |
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| 4 Bilingual |
| Last updated: Thursday, 10 April, 2003 |
| First Episode At Hienton I was one as you were one, And we were two so much in love forever, I loved the white socks that you wore, But you don't wear white socks no more, Now you're a woman. I joked about your turned-up nose, And criticised your schoolgirl clothes, But would I then have paced these roads to love you. For seasons come and seasons go, Bring forth the rain the sun and snow, Make Valerie a woman, And Valerie is lonely. No more to roam on the snowhills of Hienton, Undecided with the guardians of the older generation. A doormat was the sign of welcome in the winter months to come, And in the summer laughing, through the castle ruins we'd run. For the quadrangle sang to the sun, And the grace of our feeling, And the candle burned low as we talked of the future underneath the ceiling. There were tears in the sky, And the clouds in your eyes were just cover, For your thighs were the cushions, Of my love and yours for each other. |
| inside Ian's Website you will find... life is a real-time autobiography that grows as the years go by me is a name i call myself travel is from the outback to the arctic circle journalist is what i try to do but i can't hack it music is the food of love but you probably think i'm on a pretty poor diet books is what you should be reading and main index is where everything begins a bit like genesis |
| Pet Shop Boys Bilingual What does it matter if there�s no one here to share the flowers in the garden, the wine, the Waiting for Godot and so much modern time? Released September 1996 Bought September 1996, Seattle, USA. Age 20 I listen and I am back on a Greyhound travelling West Coast America. The album begins with a burst of energy. It has an frantic, impatient feel which coincided with my desire to see as much of America in the summer of 1996 before going back to university. Time was already running out when I bought the album in a small record shop in the trendy suburb of Seattle. There was a sign up in the shop telling customers: �We want you to enjoy new music, so feel free to bring any CDs back that you don�t like�. I hated it so much at first I almost took it back within the first couple of days. But it grew on me and swiftly became the soundtrack to my travels. Come outside and feel the morning sun, life is much more simple when you�re young. I am on a ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, quickly skimming past the archipelagos and I hear the fast beat of Discoteca and Se a Vida e. It�s an album that reminds me of hot weather, of being care-free and of not wanting to grow up. I look out the windows of the countless long-distance coaches and I see the world as a blur, miles and miles of plains and mountains racing by. Or am I racing past them? That fast beat of Up Against It quickens the pace even more. Face the future, find the will. If life is worth living, it�s got to be done. One might be forgiven if it�s a life on the run. The sound of this album reminds me of feeling happy when I shouldn�t be. Wandering around hot, cities all alone. This was the last time I was happy being alone, the last Pet Shop Boys album I really enjoyed. I sat on Santa Monica beach. It was already October. I flew home the following day. Being on my own for five weeks had taught me a thing or two. Bilingual had accompanied me most of the way. But it was time to move on. Look around, picture what�s in store. Is this the final edit or is the subject now a bore? |
| It's a soundtrack to our lives 4 Bilingual 4 Recovering The Satellites 4 Urban Hymns 4 Odyssey Number Five 4 Millionaires 4 Play 4 Songs From The West Coast 4 The Preston Course Soundtrack |
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| What they said: The critics As a title, Bilingual is a double-edged sword. Disregard its sexual connotations and concentrate on its musical implications -- Bilingual is a rich, diverse album that delves deeply into Latin rhythms. It's not a crass, simplistic fusion, where the polyphonic rhythms are simply grafted over synthesizers and a disco pulse. Instead, Bilingual is an enormously subtle album, with shifting rhythms and graceful, understated melodies. The music isn't the only thing subtle about the album -- Neil Tennant's voice and lyrics are nuanced, suggesting more than they actually say. Furthermore, Bilingual consists of the most optimistic, happy set of songs the Pet Shop Boys have ever recorded. Whether it's the smooth disco of "Before" or the insistent rhythms of "Se a Vida E," Bilingual is filled with joyous, if subdued, sounds. If anything, it's further proof that even if the Pet Shop Boys aren't gracing the top of the charts as frequently as they did during the late '80s, they are crafting albums that are more adventurous and successful than they did when they were one of the top singles acts in pop music. Stephen Thomas Erlewine |