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| “Electric”
was released on July 2013 and is the twelfth studio album of the Pet Shop
Boys. The artwork was designed by Mark Farrow and PSB using photographs
by John Ross for the inner sleeves of the 12” Album and the CD Booklet.
The cover design resembles an electric wave formed by perpendicular blue
lines created in such a way that looks that is moving. All the text used
on the sleeves, the discs and even in all the singles from “Electric”
has a 45 degrees inclination. |
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The
photos used on the album features Neil & Chris wearing the “black straw
jackets” used on the “Vocal” single and during the “Electric Tour”.
The album included 9 tracks and was issued in a double 12” vinyl for
the regular edition and for the CD was issued in jewel case with clear
plastic tray. Back insert came with "Electric / Pet Shop Boys" printed
'under tray', on the front side left edge.
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| Five moths
after the launch of “Electric”, a LimitedEditionBox Set designed
by Mark Farrow and handcrafted by The Vinyl Factory was released with
only 350 copies worldwide. This Box Set included a custom-made, multi-coloured
fluorescent-edged acrylic box; five coloured 180-gram vinyl records, four
of which are fluorescent colours (the VF web site announced one of the
five colours was never used before), and the fifth is white, single sided,
individually hand-numbered and signed by Neil and Chris on the blank side;
five 12"x12" clear protection sleeves and a 12 page fold-out leaflet with
credits. |
| Once shipped,
the package box included a pair of white gloves to help manipulate the
box and the vinyls; five regular paper inner sleeves (protecting the vinyls
for transport); a 12"x12" white card envelop (storing the five clear inner
sleeves for transport); a 12"x12" information sheet named "Instructions
for assembly", explaining on how to unpack and store vinyls and clear
sleeves in the acrylic box. This release features Electric's nine album
tracks, one per vinyl side and mastered for vinyl and pressed on the EMI
1400. |
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| In addition
to the CD and the regular and limited vinyl editions of “Electric”,
there was another Limited Edition format never seen before: The “Electric
Playbutton”. It’s a memory stick with 160kbps MP3 files housed in a button
with an audio jack and a USB charging port, showing the “Electric” artwork
in the front, limited to 500 copies worldwide and sold via the Pet Shop
Boys official website only. |
| There wasn’t
any other international formats different to the British releases, but
the artwork was taken for more PSB-related items: The 2013 Christmas Card
printed and delivered to the members of the official PSB Fan Club used
the same “Electric” lines to create a Christmas forest with the legend
“Seasons Greetings from the Pet Shop Boys” on top and the signatures of
Neil & Chris; another application of the artwork was used in a self-AD
for the UK magazine “Attitude” that recreated the cover as an AD promoting
‘gay rights’ with the “Electric” lines in all 6 colours from the ‘pride
flag’, the legend “Pet Shop Boys, attitude” and the ‘X2’ icon at the bottom
right of the page… this ‘coloured’ version of the cover was also printed
on T-Shirts sold as official merchandise on the second leg of the “Electric
Tour” in Europe and United States. |
