Introspective is the third studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 10 October 1988 by Parlophone. It is the duo's second-best-selling album, with over 4.5 million copies bought worldwide. It is so named because "all the songs, although it's a dance album, are introspective". Perhaps the biggest change in Pet Shop Boys' sound evident on this album is an increasing attention to orchestration using real orchestras, particularly on the Trevor Horn-produced "Left to My Own Devices", which took months to produce.
Background
The album was unusual in that it reversed the typical process by which pop/dance acts released singles. Instead of releasing an album of regular-length songs, then releasing lengthy remixes of those songs on subsequent singles, Introspective was released as an LP consisting of songs that all lasted six minutes or more. Tracks released as singles were issued as shorter, more radio-friendly mixes. Of the four tracks released as singles — "Left to My Own Devices", "Domino Dancing", "Always on My Mind" and "It's Alright" — none was released as a radio single in the same form as it appeared on the album. Notably, of the seven songs on the album, only two were actually written specifically for this project — "Left to My Own Devices" and "Domino Dancing". "Always on My Mind" and "It's Alright" are cover versions, "I Want a Dog" is a song that previously appeared as B-side of the single "Rent", and "I'm Not Scared" is their own version of a song they had written for Patsy Kensit's pop group Eighth Wonder. "Always on My Mind" was re-recorded for this album and mixed with "In My House", a new acid-house track on the album which expanded the lyric. Introspective was re-released in 2001 as Introspective/Further Listening. The re-released version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release. Yet another re-release followed on 9 February 2009, under the title Introspective: Remastered. This version contains only the six tracks on the original. With the 2009 re-release, the 2001 two-disc re-release was discontinued. On 2 March 2018, the two-disc version of the album was re-released, this time featuring newly remastered versions of the tracks. It was also released as a digital download and on vinyl. Neil Tennant, in a speech he gave to the Oxford Union, said he regretted releasing Introspective so soon after Actually as he felt the 12-inch nature of the songs may have put some fans off the band and this probably impacted on the sales of Behaviour, the subsequent album critically regarded as the Pet Shop Boys' finest album but commercially one of their least successful. Nevertheless, Introspective remains, according to Tennant, the best-selling Pet Shop Boys album internationally. It peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, behind U2's Rattle and Hum.
Andy Richards and Gary Maughan - fairlight programming on track 5
H. Robert Carr, Dee Ricketts, Derek Green, Gee Morris, Herbie Joseph, Iris Sutherland, Judy Bennett, Mario Friendo, Michael Hoyte, Paul Lee, Sharon Blackwell, Yvonne White – backing vocals on track 6
