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The Pet Shop Boys are icons of 1980s electronic music. They’re also the most successful music duo that the United Kingdom has ever produced. And they’re Turing Elves.
The Pet Shop Boys, then and now.
This July, at the BBC Proms music festival, the Boys will present their newest work, A Man from the Future, based on the life of Alan Turing and including text from Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges.
The Boys are reported to have worked closely with Hodges, as well as collaborating with Sven Helbig (who they previously worked with on their ballet, The Most Incredible Thing).
As we’ve seen in previous posts on this site, Turing has inspired rather a lot of music recently:
- Hum Along to Turing
- Hum Along to Turing, Part Deux
- Hum Along to Turing, Part III (+ Free Bonus Album)
Thus far the only part that’s been made public is a song called “He Dreamed of Machines” (embedded videos below).
The Boys have previously interceded on Alan’s behalf, sending a message to David Cameron’s assistant (in the period before Turing finally received a royal pardon in 2013) that read in part:
…sorry to bug you, but could you pass on to the Prime Minister that in Alan Turing’s centenary year it would be an amazing, inspirational thing to do to pardon him?”
On their web site the Boys have said:
“It is an honour for us to be invited to present some new music at The Proms and to celebrate Alan Turing 60 years after his death.”
Andrew Hodges, meanwhile, has been quoted as saying
“It’s just been wonderful working with Neil and Chris on this project”.
Here’s “He Dreamed of Machines,” the JCRZ remix:
I remember the 80s, and I have decidedly mixed feelings about the era, but my feelings about A Man From the Future are anything but: I’m waiting with Frankenfurterian antici—–pation. When there’s more to report, it will be reported right here.
And for those of you who don’t remember the 80s, let’s close for now with the Boys back in the day.
The Turing Centenary (+ Bicentennial) 