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Pet Shop Boys, Literally
Pet Shop Boys, Literally
Oct 4, 2024 9:21 PM

Author:Chris Heath

Pet Shop Boys, Literally

The Pet Shop Boys are one of the most successful and unusual bands of the last five decades. They are the pop duo that proves pop music can be modern, ecstatic and playful as well as serious and intelligent, winning them legions of devoted fans throughout the world.

In 1989, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe invited journalist Chris Heath and photographer Lawrence Watson to shadow them around Hong Kong, Japan and the UK as they embarked on their first-ever tour. This book is the result: an immersive portrait giving access into the duo’s inner sanctum, showing them in brilliantly observed detail as they work, relax, gossip, argue and occasionally try to make sense of what they do.

‘As clear a picture as could be wished for of the seething mass of elegant contradictions that is the

Pet Shop Boys’ on-the-road experience.’ Independent on Sunday

‘This superbly reported book transcends tired rock journalism cliché. It’s about what it means to be a pop star, what it means to be a Pet Shop Boy… how to love pop, hold it to a higher standard and subvert its expectations.’

Laura Snapes

Reviews

One of the best biographies in pop history. A phenomenal piece of observational journalism. Heath's books offers unprecedented access.

—— Mark Savage , BBC News

Candid, hilarious and revealing...gloriously gossipy. [They set] a benchmark for music biographies. Engrossing stuff.

—— Classic Pop Magazine

Candid, insightful and frequently hilarious dispatches from the front line of pop stardom. An astonishingly intimate and honest portrait of the maverick duo. Page turners of the highest order, saying more about their subjects than any “straight” biographies could ever hope to achieve.

—— Record Collector Magazine

A magical marriage of the lyrical and practical: a book that makes us want to seek out the nightingale and then reveals how we can.

—— Tristan Gooley

A beautiful, lyrical, heartfelt book ... Certainly my appreciation of however many nightingalers are left to me will be for ever heightened by the time I've spent with this generous, sensitive book about our most glorious songbird

—— Alex Preston , Observer

Truly enchanting. Sam Lee takes the reader by an emotional hand and leads them through the labyrinth of poetry and song to elucidate humans' everlasting attachment to the nightingale.

—— Roger Phillips

Sam Lee has brought the poetic magic that has long enchanted so many of his musical fans into the written word. Allow yourself to glimpse the world Sam sees, to be part of his love affair with the nightingale, and you will no doubt be delighted.

—— Lily Cole

Enchanting. Full of piercing joy and love-fuelled lament and urgency. A beautiful book for a beautiful bird.

—— Anna Hope, author of EXPECTATION

Beautiful. A book to treasure which I'll keep on returning to.

—— Sue Stuart-Smith, author of THE WELL GARDENED MIND

This is nature writing at its most romantic

—— Geographic

This captivating miscellany, richly illustrated with paintings, photographs, maps and line drawings, is a scintillating celebration of the nightingale by a Mercury Prize-nominated folk musician, environmental activist and conservationist.

—— Caroline Sanderson , Bookseller, Editor's Choice

A marvellous miscellany of the nightingale, the sweet-singing bird which is now, alas, on of the "endlings" - the last of a species facing extinction

—— Independent

Lee's book is not just a lyrically crafted biography, but a moving rebellion against political inaction and lost connections. It is a bell to toll you out into a forest of re-enchantment.

—— New Statesman

A really beautiful book . . . Lovely.

—— Mark Radcliffe

A vivid and often moving account of a bird that has inspired everyone from the ancients to John Keats and Oliver Messiaen

—— Herald

Heaven to hold in the hand, mind and heart.

—— Dr Amy-Jane Beer

Lyrical, sweet and loving, this account of one bird's link to human culture and history through the evocative presence of its voice was impossible to put down.

—— Bernie Krause, founder of Wild Sanctuary

Lee delves into the intricacies of the song, habitat and migration of this mysterious, enchanting creature in a tale that's as lyrical as the bird itself

—— Radio Times

A composer who can write as eloquently as he sings. A rare bird, indeed!

—— Leah Borromeo

With our new-found love of wildlife, this book promises to lift the spirits of not just bird enthusiasts, but nature lovers, too.

—— People's Friend

The exuberance of folk-singer Sam Lee's The Nightingale is irresistible

—— Bird Watching

A master storyteller

—— Guardian praise for Sam Lee's Singing with Nightingales
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