Smile If You Dare

by Ramzy Alwakeel

Smile If You Dare is the book that finally puts the Pet Shop Boys under the academic microscope following decades of near-total neglect. A creative analysis of the band's fifth album Very, it examines topics as diverse as technological paradise, sexual paranoia and representations of class in British pop music. As well as a keen critical edge, it is equipped with an undisguised mad love for the source material, a sense of passionate abandon induced by the tragic/ecstatic synth-pop that pours out of the speakers. In an attempt to uncover the heart of this technicolour record, Smile If You Dare rummages frantically through an impossible orange room, an aeroplane, a gaming arcade, an East End council flat and the beaches of California. It is also a partial history of Aids, the recording industry, homelessness in London and the doomed but rapturous search for the gay utopia.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

113 pages

Published July 24, 2016

Reviews

[david james · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did write a longer review for this but Goodreads decided to delete all my text as I posted it, so can't be bothered to write it again.

To summarise my original review, 3 stars for the first half, 2 stars for the second half, rounded up to 3 stars as I listened to the album again for the first time in years and forgot how good it was (unlike this book).

Too much rambling in the book, too much emphasis on the (non) political stance of the Pet Shop Boys compared to other artists, and too much analysis of whether the group did enough to support the gay community, rather than making their songs more 'universal'.

The book is well written though, but I feel the author misses the point - mainly that the album is just a bloody good pop album that got to number one on the back of the music rather than the political views of the group.

[Alex Sarll]

The back cover makes the odd claim that this "is the book that finally puts the Pet Shop Boys under the analytical microscope following decades of near-total neglect", when surely by the nature of the fanbase such a cerebral act attracts, they've been more analysed than many of their peers. Perhaps it simply means that they should really have had a 33 1/3 by now; that series is fine with subsidiary imprints for non-Anglo music, but definitely has blind spots for distinctly British acts, and I don't think has ever published a synthpop volume – even Depeche Mode only got in with the peak of their rock god posturing, 101. And this does feel a lot like a 33 1/3, in length and voice, mixture of research and personal approach, and of course, although the title only hints at it, being firmly focused on a single album, Very. Which Alwakeel remembers, though it's easy now to forget, was seen at the time as a late album (the one after the greatest hits!), though of course the cruel mathematics of time have retroactively rendered it an early one, even before you consider it as representing the peak of PSB chart success. He's very good on how that changed the perception of the duo's trajectory and career, gave them greater licence to continue, and on the distinctly nineties feel which the packaging and videos bolstered, a new virtual world back when the graphics were shonkier but the political implications more optimistic. I don't always agree with him, especially on Go West, where he has apparently always heard the lament for AIDS' detonation of the original's promised gay utopia, with the fall of the USSR a secret, secondary theme. To me it was the other way around, though of course that has itself been considerably complicated and corroded over the years, especially now the act legally considered to be the Village People are set to play a show celebrating the fall of America as orchestrated by a die-hard KGB agent. Still! The book is especially good on Very as a riposte to grunge's silly obsession with authenticity, though of course that too would soon return in a slightly different form, as the rubbish wing of Britpop.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

NOT As Listed (and NOT What I’d Hoped)

Buyer Beware. Amazon and GoodReads both list this as being 300 pages. It is NOT. It is 118 pages. You can read this in a few hours. It is not comprehensive. A detailed analysis of VERY would be most welcome. This is NOT that.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional perspective into PSB's remarkable album Very and vital analysis of their critical politics that is intrinsic to their aesthetics.

[j · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting analysis of a brilliant pop album

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a First Read. It's an odd little book - an ode to the Pet Shop Boys album Very. It reads like stream of consciousness. It compares the album to other music of the era. It also puts the music in context of UK policies under Margaret Thatcher, sexuality, and AIDs. It's almost like an exceptionally long Rolling Stone album review. Fans of The Pet Shop Boys or music criticism will enjoy this book.

[Sydne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very is the PSB album that's closest to my heart, and the one I know inside out. I could talk and read about it endlessly. This book is an in depth analysis that shows the author's commitment to representing this album as closely as possible. Yet, I struggled in bits to keep going, as the language got a bit stilted and overly trying too hard. I'm still giving it four stars as I can see the kind of work that Ramzy had to put into this to make it what it is.

[Nik · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, I didn't realize I needed an analysis of the Pet Shop Boys' album Very. But apparently I did. And it was pretty interesting. I feel ever so slightly British now.