The Pet Shop Boys not only are expecting to release a new studio album in 2012, they’re currently assembling a brand-new B-sides compilation — a sequel to 1995’s 2CD set ‘Alternative’ that will be called ‘Format,’ and span the years 1996 to 2009 — for release in February, the duo revealed in a new interview this week.

Having wrapped their global Pandemonium Tour with a final show last December, the Pet Shop Boys now are at work writing material for their upcoming 11th album, which they hope to begin recording next month and then release sometime next year, singer Neil Tennant says in a recent post to the band’s official website.

Today marks the birthday of Neil Tennant — he’s 57 — and we celebrate by presenting the Pet Shop Boys’ earliest concert film, ‘Highlights.’ Released on VHS in 1990, this short film — which has yet to be released on DVD — features eight songs performed at London’s Wembley Arena in July 1989 during the duo’s MCMLXXXIX Tour.

With the Pet Shop Boys’ ballet ‘The Most Incredible Thing’ now in previews — it officially premieres Tuesday at London’s Sadler’s Wells dance house — the duo’s Neil Tennant sat down with the Associated Press to discuss scoring the Hans Christian Andersen adaptation.

Pet Shop Boys next month will release a 2CD set featuring their score to the Hans Christian Andersen adaptation ‘The Most Incredible Thing,’ the duo’s first-ever full-length ‘narrative ballet,’ set to debut in London in mid-March.

The Pet Shop Boys today announced details of their new single, ‘Together,’ which will be released Nov. 29 in the U.K. — backed by new studio recordings of two cover songs — and appear on the duo’s forthcoming best-of ‘Ultimate.’