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PopArt: The Hits

PopArt: The Hits is a greatest hits album by the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 24 November 2003 by Parlophone. The album consists of 33 hits from the first 18 years of their career, along with two new tracks, "Miracles" and "Flamboyant", which were released as singles.

Background and compilation
PopArt was the duo's second greatest hits compilation released in the UK, following Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991). The title reflects their work as pop music with artistic influences. The songs were organised in two sections by theme instead of chronologically. The Pop section includes euphoric pop songs, such as "Go West" (1993) and "A Red Letter Day" (1996), while those in the Art section have more complicated narratives, like the autobiographical "Being Boring" (1990). On the US edition, the single versions of "Heart" (1988), "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" (1993), and "Flamboyant" (2004) were used. ==Release==
Release
PopArt was released as a double album on CD, as well as a limited edition triple LP boxset. There was also a limited edition triple CD boxset, with an additional Mix disc featuring some of the duo's favourite remixes of their songs. A DVD was released at the same time, with 41 music videos arranged chronologically, along with commentary by Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe, and Chris Heath. The album was re-issued on 26 November 2007 in the UK as a box set with the corresponding DVD included. PopArt reached number 30 on the UK Albums Chart on its original release in 2003. It did not achieve its highest position of 18 until 2009, when Pet Shop Boys received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and performed a medley of their hits at the televised ceremony. At that time, the album re-entered the chart at number 19, advancing to number 18 the following week. It was certified platinum by BPI in 2013, with at least 300,000 copies sold in the UK. It entered the chart at number five and rose to the second spot the next week, spending eight weeks in the top 40. ==Critical reception==
Critical reception
Several reviewers compared PopArt to its predecessor, Discography. David Jeffries of AllMusic called PopArt, "an excellent, hang-together listen and a better representation of the duo's career than Discography". Nitsuh Abebe of Pitchfork wrote: "The collection certainly doesn't make the Pet Shop Boys look as good as Discography did... At the same time, that makes this collection much more than an update of Discography: It's no longer just a string of pop hits to throw on when people are around, but something you can spend time digging your way through and coming to grips with — less a greatest-hits package, and more a Portable Pet Shop Boys, in something approaching their totality". Adam Sweeting of The Guardian commented that dividing the album into Pop and Art sections "appears to be purely arbitrary". Likewise, Stephen Dalton of The Times observed in a review of the DVD, "It’s a moot point where the "pop" on PopArt ends and the "art" begins — Tennant and Lowe certainly seem unclear on their audio commentary". He called the music video compilation, "a feast of brainy disco, sly social commentary and homoerotic subtext. Two decades of obliquely mapping trends in fashion, media, music and politics through bittersweet lyrics and opulent electro-pop". Both Dalton and Prasad Bidaye of Exclaim! found the DVD audio commentary by the duo to be primarily focused on their fashions. Bidaye concluded, "It is more fun watching these clips with Tennant playing pop culture critic, but it's unlikely that PopArt will convert first-time viewers. This one's really for the die-hard fans". ==Track listing==
DVD
• "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (original version) • "West End Girls" • "Love Comes Quickly" • "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (second version) • "Suburbia" • "Paninaro" • "It's a Sin" • "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" • "Rent" • "Always on My Mind" • "Heart" • "Domino Dancing" • "Left to My Own Devices" • "It's Alright" • "So Hard" • "Being Boring" • "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" • "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)" • "Jealousy" • "DJ Culture" • "Was It Worth It?" • "Can You Forgive Her?" • "Go West" • "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" • "Liberation" • "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" • "Paninaro '95" • "Before" • "Se a Vida É (That's the Way Life Is)" • "Single-Bilingual" • "A Red Letter Day" • "Somewhere" • "I Don't Know What You Want but I Can't Give It Any More" • "New York City Boy" • "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk" • "Home and Dry" • "I Get Along/E-mail" • "London" • "Domino Dancing" (extended version) [The 12" and Introspective Mix] • "So Hard" (extended version) [The "Extended Dance Mix"] • "Go West" (extended version) [The Mings Gone West: First and Second Movement Video Mix] ==Charts==
Charts
Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==
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