Synopsis
The "Love Comes Quickly" video uses a deliberately minimal, impressionistic approach. Neil Tennant is shown in tight facial close-ups, while blurred images of other faces drift across the screen. Chris Lowe appears lying on a square grid-like structure, with his image layered over the montage. Rather than illustrating the song's story directly, the clip creates a detached, dreamlike atmosphere that matches the track's melancholy view of romantic disappointment and the sudden, uncontrollable arrival of love.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was made during the Please era and was included on Television, the Pet Shop Boys' first collection of promotional videos, released in December 1986.
- Its visual language is unusually restrained for an early MTV-era pop video: close-ups, soft focus, superimposition, and abstract imagery take precedence over narrative or performance spectacle.
- The clip is notable for giving Neil Tennant more visual emphasis than Chris Lowe, although Lowe's appearance on the geometric structure provides its most distinctive surreal image.
- Eric Watson later judged the finished video very harshly, describing the production as a complete failure. The clip has consequently become an interesting example of the Pet Shop Boys' sometimes uneasy relationship with conventional music-video presentation.
- The song was performed by the duo at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside "West End Girls," helping keep the single visible in the United States even though the promotional video itself was comparatively understated.