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Pet Shop Boys Album Covers: All 14 Studio Artworks, Ranked And Reviewed

Developing a carefully crafted aesthetic, all Pet Shop Boys albums covers bear Neil Tennant and Chris Lowes’ unmistakable fingerprints.

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Mark Elliott

08 April 2021

The careful curation of every detail of Pet Shop Boys’ career, from what’s released to where it’s released and how it’s packaged, is widely recognised. Whether it comes from Chris Lowe’s time spent studying architecture, or Neil Tennant’s first career as a senior editor on magazines like Smash Hits, the UK’s most successful musical duo have an almost unparalleled grip on their aesthetic. So strong is their approach to visual styling it rendered the more traditional practise of big headshots and band logos redundant, even at the beginning of their lengthy run; Pet Shop Boys believe the sum is unarguably greater than any component parts. Across 14 studio albums, many remix and hits collections, countless singles, videos and DVDs, and even the band’s legendary Christmas cards and (now annual) fan publications, a strong visual narrative threads all the way back to their initial breakthrough. Few pop artists secure a prestigious hardback book celebrating their visual success, but 2006’s Catalogue, published by Thames & Hudson, supported an exhibition of the band’s work at London’s National Portrait Gallery the following year. The title of Pet Shop Boys’ 2003 greatest hits album says it all: Pop/Art. This countdown of all 14 Pet Shop Boys album covers reveals why.

Listen to the best of Pet Shop Boys here, and check out the stories behind every Pet Shop Boys album cover, below.

14: ‘Nightlife’ (1999)

Theatre designer Ian MacNeil was drafted in to create a bold visual strategy for the duo’s seventh studio album, released in 1999. “We didn’t want the look to be just fashion, we wanted something that had an element of ritual in it,” said Neil Tennant. Distancing themselves from contemporary pop dominated by acts like Britney Spears and Westlife, the Japanese styling is most striking on Nightlife’s first single, I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore, but this atmospheric album cover image was captured on the subway system of the world’s most exciting after-hours playground: New York.

Photographer: Alexei Hay

13: ‘Bilingual’ (1996)

Having worked with the duo ever since their 1986 single Love Comes Quickly, graphic designer Mark Farrow’s collaboration with Pet Shop Boys almost secures him third-member status. For Bilingual, issued ten years later, a luxury packaging concept was the starting point for the bold, fluorescent graphics that are lifted by the semi-opaque frosted surface on the CD packaging. Portraits by photographer Andy Early were used on some editions, but this default presentation is an example of Pet Shop Boys album covers at their most creatively confident.

Designer: Mark Farrow

12: ‘Super’ (2016)

The second of a trio of albums produced by Stuart Price for Pet Shop Boys to date, Super wore its club credentials loud and proud, with all three albums sharing a strong visual identity, and the band, as ever, increasingly keen to let the striking styling do most of the posing. Another Mark Farrow masterpiece, with photographer Pelle Crepin adding portraits to the album’s inner pages, this witty statement superbly complements tracks like The Pop Kids and Sad Robot World.

Designer: Mark Farrow

11: ‘Yes’ (2009)

Referencing its sleeve, working with production powerhouse Xenomania on Yes was likely a big box ticked for the band, who were keen to harness some of the magic dust that had turned Girls Aloud and Sophie Ellis-Bextor into chart mainstays in the early 21st century. This Mark Farrow design was a return to the simpler graphic treatment abandoned for their previous studio album, Fundamental. Different editions of the sleeve re-ordered the colour hierarchy of the package, while photographer Alasdair McLellan contributed shots of the pair for the inner sleeve.

Designer: Mark Farrow

10: ‘Elysium’ (2012)

Pet Shop Boys wanted a fresh approach for the recording of their 11th album, so relocated to the sunnier environment of California for studio sessions produced by Andrew Dawson. Mark Farrows’ bold design bleeds over the Gary Stillwell shot used on standard releases of the collection, while the double-CD edition featured a skyscape instead of the water image. This 12-track set remains a delicate, more organic triumph in whichever format, with the softer visuals setting the mood perfectly.

Designer: Mark Farrow

9: ‘Release’ (2002)

For their first album of the 21st century, Pet Shop Boys were in a particularly experimental mood, with Release featuring guitars and piano more prominently than ever before. With the CD format still at the height of its supremacy, the cases featuring the arresting portraits by Dan Forbes were packaged in card sleeves in striking metallic shades. Art Director Greg Foley earned a Grammy nomination for his design work on this 2002 project.

Photographer: Dan Forbes

8: ‘Fundamental’ (2006)

Perhaps the nearest Pet Shop Boys have come to making a consistently political album, Fundamental is a darker 12-song collection focused on the concerns of the era, including the “War On Terror” and the UK’s growing debate about immigration. There’s an air of caricature about the styling of the album, with Neil in a top-hat and Chris sporting those trademark shades, but this isn’t being played for laughs. Uniquely among Pet Shop Boys album covers, it’s a perceptive mirror back on the troubled theatre and high drama rife across the planet in 2006.

Photographer: John Ross

7: ‘Electric’ (2013)

The first of the duo’s Stuart Price-produced synth-pop masterpieces, Electric buzzes with frenetic confidence, and this simple graphic treatment is a bold signal of understatement among Pet Shop Boys album covers. Few acts routinely abandon even the simplest of navigation like a title but, since Pet Shop Boys began issuing their material on their own label, there has been an even greater abandonment of commercial convention in their presentation.

Designer: Mark Farrow

6: ‘Hotspot’ (2020)

Their final Stuart Price production to date, Hotspot, released in January 2020, just before the global pandemic seized its icy grip on us all, moves away from the straightforward graphic approach of the previous two Pet Shop Boys album covers. Of course, it’s Neil and Chris, so there is no attempt to field a predictable portrait formula, but the image is unmistakably Pet Shop Boys – so much so that the barely-there cover shot and inner sleeve photography is credited to Tennant/Lowe.

Designer: Mark Farrow

5: ‘Very’ (1993)

Incredibly still the duo’s only UK No.1 album to date, Very’s slick pop electronica was housed in arguably the most striking graphic treatment of all Pet Shop Boys album covers. Initial copies of the CD case were manufactured to a “Lego” concept created by Daniel Weil, of design outfit Pentagram. Mark Farrow worked on the brief, too, which he has described as being edited closely by Neil and Chris. When the orange-cased original run ran out, the album was issued in a standard jewel case with artwork featuring a Trevor Kay photograph of the original box on a blue background.

Designers: Daniel Weil, Mark Farrow

4: ‘Introspective’ (1988)

The band’s boldest visual treatment of the 80s, this collection of extended versions of already-released songs and new tracks made it to No.2 in 1988. A designers’ colour combination palette provided the inspiration for this striking approach to a release that Neil says was the first artwork they commissioned specifically for CD rather than vinyl. The limited-edition triple-disc vinyl edition is, however, a feast of colour co-ordinated sleeves and inset pictures featuring shots by Eric Watson and Michael Roberts, among others. Neil said in 2006 that it was his least favourite Pet Shop Boys album cover, but this is a fan favourite issued at the height of the duo’s imperial era.

Designer: Mark Farrow

3: ‘Behaviour’ (1990)

The band’s liberal use of white space to enhance the impact of the visual message is well documented, but here it’s reframed by a collection of four images, including the back of Chris’ head – perhaps as a nod to his celebrated reluctance to move centre-stage. Designer Mark Farrow felt the band needed the white space to reference what had gone before (with 1988’s Introspective shattering that mould as befits its quasi-studio collection status). In Japan, Behaviour was even released in a white velvet box, which no doubt caused many a distribution and storage headache. Neil likes the dramatic flourish of the four images in this standard issue, stating there was “a sort of story implied”.

Photographer: Eric Watson

2: ‘Please’ (1986

Pet Shop Boys’ ambition to play with the design conventions of the day is perfectly illustrated by their 1986 debut album, Please, for which designer Mark Farrow drew on an idea he had for the band Section 25, who were signed to Factory Records. This shot was chosen, as the towels and T-shirts draped around the pair complemented the standout white frame, which would become the design staple of Pet Shop Boys album covers. The rear sleeve mirrored the minimalist structure of the front and, though less confident markets chose to rework the image with a more obvious portrait approach, this is the genesis of the visual styling the public still most closely associates Pet Shop Boys with.

Photographer: Eric Watson

1: ‘Actually’ (1987)

Plans to use a commission from Alison Watt, fresh from her success as the National Portrait Gallery’s annual portrait prize-winner, were abandoned when Chris decided he didn’t like how she had painted him, and Neil conceded the approach wasn’t right for the album. Instead, a session with Eric Watson was scheduled, which again failed to hit the mark (though one shot was used on Actually’s inner sleeve). Running out of time for the album’s September 1987 release date, Pet Shop Boys seized on a shot snatched at the set of the What Have I Done To Deserve This video recording, which was destined for the cover of pop bible Smash Hits. Desperate calls to block the release of this iconic image were made – along with a hastily organised reshoot for the magazine to compensate – resulting in this classic cover making it to the record plant just in time. “It’s very much the defining image of Pet Shop Boys,” concedes Neil, and it neatly captures every clichéd perception of the two men’s roles in the partnership.

Photographer: Cindy Palmano

You’ve seen the best Pet Shop Boys album covers, now check out our 20 best Pet Shop Boys songs.

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