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.
PSB DESIGNING par Alex Camarillo est sur facebook et instagram
A red letter day” was released in 1997 as the forth and last single of “Bilingual”, the sixth studio album of the band. The artwork was designed by Mark Farrow who took entire inspiration on the title of the song using ‘red’ as the main design element in all formats. Farrow used a series of photos of Neil & Chris taken by Pennie Smith on ‘All Saint’s Road, West London’ near the Sarm West studios during the downtime of the recording sessions. All the promotional and commercial UK editions were treated in ‘sepia’ tones with just the photo on the front cover without any typography and included stickers and/or an outer sleeve with an embossed title in red; the european releases were treated in ‘red’ tones using the photos inside rectangles on the front covers leaving free space on top for the title in white type and the disc printed on red. The UK Promo CD and the first European commercial CD used a photo of Neil & Chris over a wired ad board on the front cover and three small photos of the band during the recording sessions in the back an included a new edit of the single along with the B Side “The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes on” with a slightly different version included on the commercial releases where some sleigh bells can be heard at the end of the song.
The commercial release of “A red letter day” in the UK included two CDs and one limited edition 12” single. Both CDs were issued in cardboard sleeves and the second part included an outer sleeve designed to fit both parts, same as most of “Very” CD singles. The front cover on the first CD showed another shot of the photo used on the Promo CD with Neil & Chris over the wired ad board but in a different position and at the back cover there were 3 small photos, one from the Promo CD and two new ones; the cardboard sleeve was coloured red in the inside and for the outside there was a red sticker in the front with the name of the band, song title, a legend promoting CD 2 and 12” Single and the barcode; the CD was ‘sepia’ tinted and included “A red letter day”, two B Sides: “The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes on” and “Delusions of grandeur” and “A red letter day (Moscow Mix)”. The second CD showed a different photo of Neil & Chris, this time over a graffiti wall on the front cover and three new photos on the back cover; the outer sleeve was printed entirely in red with the words “Pet Shop Boys” and “A red letter day” embossed on the surface in capitals, part of the cover was overprinted so people could notice 2 different shades of red and on the outside there was a red sticker closing the opened side of the sleeve with the name of the band, song title, a legend promoting CD 1 and 12” Single and the barcode; the CD was also ‘sepia’ tinted and included 5 remixes of “A red letter day”.
Finally the limited edition 12” Single followed the same design as CD Part 2 with the red outer sleeve and the inner sleeve showing the same photo on CD 2 but in a different position and all six small photos from both CDs on the back cover, the vinyl was coloured in the same red as the outside sleeve and included one remix from CD 2, one new remix of “A red letter day” and an exclusive remix of “The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes on”. The European releases of the single were issued in slim jewel cases and included both parts of the UK CDs but using a different cover artwork with fragments of CD 2 sleeve cover all in red and/or in black & white, both CDs contained the exact same tracks but printed in red discs. There was also one German CD issued in a slim jewel case with the exact same artwork and track list from the first European single. Even when “A red letter day” was not released on cassette or 7” vinyl, the details on the production of all the singles from “Bilingual” was brilliant and has been one of the best from the entire career of the Pet Shop Boys becoming very appreciated by the fans around the world.