Release (Pet Shop Boys album)

Release is the eighth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 1 April 2002 by Parlophone. It was recorded between 2000 and 2001 and produced by the duo with Chris Zippel. The album produced three singles: "Home and Dry", "I Get Along", and "London", the latter of which was only released in continental Europe. It reached number seven on the UK Albums Chart and received positive reviews from critics.

Background
After the release of their previous studio album, Nightlife (1999), Pet Shop Boys originally planned to release a greatest hits collection in the autumn of 2000 with the two new tracks "Positive Role Model" and "Somebody Else's Business". While recording the new songs for the hits collection, it was decided to produce a full-length studio album instead.

The album reached number seven in the United Kingdom and number three in Germany. On its first release, a limited run of metallic effect embossed sleeves were available in a choice of four colours: grey, blue, pink or red. In the US, this limited run also came with a bonus CD including remixes and new tracks. The artwork was designed by Greg Foley of the New York design group and magazine publishers Visionaire and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

The album marked a significant departure from previous work, being guitar- and piano-driven. However, the album was made like their previous albums with most tracks mainly programmed on computers; however, the sampled or synthesised guitars and drum sounds chosen often sound "real" and the synthesisers always present are sometimes used to sound like guitars (the solo in "Birthday Boy", for instance, or the opening figure of "Home and Dry"). Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr was brought in later on in the sessions to play real electric and acoustic guitars on seven of the album's ten tracks in London, with "Home and Dry" being completed in Dublin, Ireland. Apart from the track "London", recorded in Berlin with producer Chris Zippel, Pet Shop Boys produced the album themselves and then commissioned Michael Brauer to mix it.

The original version of the album had eleven tracks but "I Didn't Get Where I Am Today" was removed from the album before release and later became a bonus track on the 2004 single "Flamboyant". Other tracks recorded during the sessions for the album which ended up as B-sides are "Between Two Islands", "Searching for the Face of Jesus", "Sexy Northerner" and "Always". Another track, "Time on My Hands", appeared on the 2003 release, Disco 3.

The directors for all three music videos for the album's singles are photographers by trade: Wolfgang Tillmans directed "Home and Dry", Bruce Weber directed "I Get Along" (following his previous work on the "Being Boring" and "Se a vida é" videos), and Martin Parr directed "London". The Tillmans video, consisting almost entirely of footage of mice filmed at Tottenham Court Road tube station in the London Underground, is considered by some to have significantly undermined the commercial potential of the lead single, due to being deemed nearly unplayable by MTV and other music video channels.

Perhaps partly because of the modest commercial success of this album, and perhaps partly because of the habit of distancing themselves musically from their most recent work, Tennant and Lowe have since returned to their dance roots. One year after the release of Release, Pet Shop Boys released Disco 3 which included remixes of some of the songs from Release along with new material that they were working on at the time of writing and producing material for Release.

The album re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number 30 in August 2017 following the Release/Further Listening 2001–2004 reissue.

Sample credits

 * "Birthday Boy" features a sample from the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge performing "In the Bleak Midwinter", written by Harold Darke and Christina Rossetti.
 * "Between Two Islands" contains an excerpt of "I Want You", written by Leon Ware and T-Boy Ross.
 * "I Didn't Get Where I Am Today" includes a sample from "Father's Name Is Dad", written by Dave Lambert and performed by Fire.

Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Release.

Pet Shop Boys

 * Neil Tennant – vocals, guitar, keyboards
 * Chris Lowe – keyboards, drum programming

Additional musicians

 * Pete Gleadall – programming (tracks 1–3, 5–10)
 * Johnny Marr – guitars (tracks 1–3, 5, 7, 9, 10)
 * Jody Linscott – percussion (tracks 1–3, 5, 7–10)
 * Steve Walters – bass guitar (tracks 2, 3, 9)
 * Chris Zippel – keyboards (track 4); spoken idea (track 5)
 * "Little Mike" – guitar, bass (track 4)
 * Richard Niles – string arrangement, string conducting (track 5)

Technical

 * Pet Shop Boys – production (tracks 1–3, 5–10)
 * Pete Gleadall – engineering (tracks 1–3, 5–10)
 * Michael Brauer – mixing
 * Rick Chavarria – mix assistance
 * Chris Zippel – production, engineering (track 4)
 * Kai Diener – premix (track 4)
 * Florian Richter – premix (track 4)
 * Mike Ross – string recording (track 5)
 * Andrew Nichols – recording assistance at Sony Music Studios
 * Philippe Rose – mixing assistance
 * Greg Calbi – mastering
 * Steve Fallone – mastering assistance

Artwork

 * Dan Forbes – photography
 * Pennie Smith – portrait
 * Greg Foley – art direction
 * Jake McCabe – design production
 * Tatiana Gaz – design associate