What the record is and where it came from
Actually is Pet Shop Boys’ second studio album, released in September 1987. It was recorded at Sarm Studios and Advision Studios. It follows their debut Please. Its lead single ‘Rent’ reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart. It was the first Pet Shop Boys album to include a collaboration with Derek Jarman—on the ‘It’s a Sin’ video—and the first to adapt Morricone’s music.
How it sounds, and how it was made
It sounds like synth-pop built in short, rotating studio sessions at Sarm and Advision Studios. Julian Mendelsohn produced and engineered half the tracks—including ‘It’s a Sin’—using programmed Fairlight textures instead of live orchestras. Stephen Hague produced ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’ and mixed ‘It’s a Sin’. Andy Richards produced ‘Heart’, which Mendelsohn then mixed. Angelo Badalamenti’s orchestral arrangement for ‘It Couldn’t Happen Here’ was programmed into a Fairlight by Blue Weaver. Chris Lowe composed the music; Neil Tennant wrote lyrics referencing ‘Tainted Love’ and ‘Love Is Strange’ on ‘I Want to Wake Up’. The production method was to work only a few hours per track before switching.
What lands
The detached melodic precision of ‘It’s a Sin’ lands. The juxtaposition of dance tempo and lyrical dread in ‘King’s Cross’ lands. The deadpan delivery over rigid Fairlight pulses in ‘Rent’ and ‘Shopping’ lands. The chorus lift in ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’ lands—because it was the first track recorded and shaped the album’s collaborative architecture.
What does not
It does not rely on live strings or brass. It does not use extended instrumental solos or acoustic guitar. It does not feature vocal improvisation or field recordings. It does not include unreleased session material, alternate mixes, or spoken-word interludes.
The ideas inside it
It contains a critique of Thatcherism, references to AIDS, and personal experience. ‘King’s Cross’ unintentionally foreshadowed the November 1987 King’s Cross fire. ‘It Couldn’t Happen Here’ adapts Ennio Morricone’s chorus with new verses and chord changes by Lowe. The lyrics treat unrequited love as a bad dream, name-checking specific pop songs.
Who should hear it, and who should not
People who want to hear how synth-pop was built in 1987—not as nostalgia, but as a series of documented decisions: Fairlight substitution, rotating producers, short sessions, lyrically charged songwriting. People who distrust praise without technical grounding should hear it. People who expect emotional exposition or genre-blending should not.
Is it worth your time
Yes—if you want a tightly constructed, politically inflected synth-pop record made with deliberate studio pragmatism, not mythmaking. It rewards attention to how the parts were assembled—not what they supposedly mean.
