Yes is the tenth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 18 March 2009 by Parlophone. The album was recorded throughout 2008 and was produced by Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania.[13] Xenomania also co-wrote three of the tracks. Guitarist Johnny Marr and string arranger Owen Pallett appear as well.[14] "Love Etc." was released on 16 March 2009 as the album's lead single.[13]
Background and release
Yes debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 27,639 copies, the duo's highest-placing album since Bilingual (1996).[15] Early sales figures predicted that the album would enter at number one,[16] but its release was beset by distribution problems and Yes proved unable to hold onto its midweek position. The download version erroneously went on sale through the iTunes Store three days before its official release date, rendering 2,500 sales ineligible for the chart, while, the following week, a number of suppliers of the physical album reported stock level problems.[17]
The closing track "Legacy" was subject to censorship in China for political sensitivity reasons, as it contains the lyric "governments fall". The song was changed to an instrumental.[18]
The album was released in multiple formats, including a digital version that included a 48-minute track-by-track commentary on the album, and an 11-disc vinyl version limited to 300 copies, with each disc containing a different album track on the first side and a corresponding instrumental version on the second.[19] The double CD edition of the album incorporated a bonus disc titled Etc., which featured mostly instrumental dub mixes of six album tracks, as well as a new song called "This Used to Be the Future", which features guest vocals by Philip Oakey of the Human League. A standard, single-disc vinyl LP was also issued, but did not coincide with the international CD and download release.
Yes spawned three further singles. On 1 June 2009, "Did You See Me Coming?" was released worldwide on a number of physical and digital formats, backed with three new B-sides.[13] A limited German-only "Beautiful People" CD and download followed in October. The five-track Christmas, Pet Shop Boys' first EP release,[20] was released on 14 December 2009, with "All Over the World" acting as the principal radio promo and gaining a music video.
Yes was supported by a comprehensive world tour that stretched across 2009–2012. A recording of the tour made in London in December 2009 was released in a CD/DVD package on 15 February 2010 as Pandemonium.
Yes was re-released on 20 October 2017 (along with Elysium) as Yes/Further Listening 2008-2010. This reissue was digitally remastered and contained two bonus discs of B-sides, demos, remixes and rarities from the era.
Artwork
The album sleeve was designed by Mark Farrow and Pet Shop Boys. The tick on the cover consists of 11 coloured squares, each one representing a track.[21] It was inspired by German artist Gerhard Richter (who is referenced in the album's opening track, "Love Etc."), specifically his 4900 exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and the stained glass window in Cologne Cathedral.[22]
The album's cover was nominated in the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Awards shortlist in the Graphics category.[23]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 13.Týden 2009 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
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