PSB DESIGNING par Alex Camarillo
Alex Camarillo explore en détail la créativité faite autour des albums et singles des Pet Shop Boys au cours de leur longue carrière ,la personnalisation des différents formats et la participation d'artistes très talentueux , photographes, créateurs de costumes et graphistes tels que Mark Farrow ,Eric Watson ,David Fielding et Jeffrey Bryant parmi ceux qui ont contribué au design des Pet Shop Boys comme une icône visuelle de la culture pop.
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Love Comes Quickly” was released in 1986 as the second single of “Please”, the first studio album of the band. The artwork was designed by Mark Farrow and Chris Lowe and was the single that saw the refinement of Chris wearing a baseball cap becoming an icon for the band. The photo was taken by Eric Watson with only the lower part of Chris’ face visible while the upper part was shadowed by the cap with the word ‘BOY’, another icon for the band that now a days is still used by Chris on different ways. On the 12” Single, Farrow decided to use this close shot of Chris without any type on the front sleeve -something unusual and probably never seen before- arguing that Chris wearing the ‘BOY’ cap was kind of a logo and after “West End girls” been number one where Chris worn the same outfit on live shows, it was obviously a Pet Shop Boys record and didn’t need anything else. The 7” Single used a wider shot of the same photo leaving space at the bottom for the name of the single and the 12” release used the same shot with the name of the band on top of the sleeve because the band was not that famous there.
The 7” Single included the original version of “Love Comes Quickly” and the B Side “That’s my impression”. Later on, a second 12” vinyl was issued in the UK with 6” labels (as seen before on “West End girls”) with the photo of Chris in the Side A label and the tracklist on the Side B label and the die-cut outer sleeve was completely white just showing the vinyl labels; both 12” releases included “Love Comes Quickly (Dance Mix)” and a remix of the B Side “That’s my impression (Disco Mix). In the US there was also a second edition of the 12” Single using the exact same artwork from the UK edition without any type on the front and including two new exclusive remixes of “Love Comes Quickly” by Shep Pettibone.
Finally a Limited Edition 10” Single was released in the UK with the same tracklist as the 12” Single but with a very original packaging: An outer translucent PVC 12” sleeve with the name of the band, title and the legend “Collectors Edition 10” And Poster” in the front and tracklist on the back, everything in white type… inside the PVC sleeve there was a paper sleeve folding the 10” vinyl that once unfolded became a 34” x 34” poster with 9 different photos of Neil & Chris, most of them can be seen in the inner sleeve of “Please” LP. A very interesting detail is that owners of this edition can fold the poster and choose what photo to use as the front cover that once inside the PVC sleeve, would show the type in front and back. This Collectors Edition became a very valuable item for fans since that time.