Notes
- signifies a remixer
- signifies an additional producer
Sample credits
- "Birthday Boy" features a sample from the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge performing "In the Bleak Midwinter", written by Harold Darke and Christina Rossetti.
- "Between Two Islands" contains an excerpt of "I Want You", written by Leon Ware and T-Boy Ross.
- "I Didn't Get Where I Am Today" includes a sample from "Father's Name Is Dad", written by Dave Lambert and performed by Fire.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Release.
Pet Shop Boys
- Neil Tennant – vocals, guitar, keyboards
- Chris Lowe – keyboards, drum programming
Additional musicians
- Pete Gleadall – programming
- Johnny Marr – guitars
- Jody Linscott – percussion
- Steve Walters – bass guitar
- Chris Zippel – keyboards ; spoken idea
- "Little Mike" – guitar, bass
- Richard Niles – string arrangement, string conducting
Technical
- Pet Shop Boys – production
- Pete Gleadall – engineering
- Michael Brauer – mixing
- Rick Chavarria – mix assistance
- Chris Zippel – production, engineering
- Kai Diener – premix
- Florian Richter – premix
- Mike Ross – string recording
- Andrew Nichols – recording assistance at Sony Music Studios
- Philippe Rose – mixing assistance
- Greg Calbi – mastering
- Steve Fallone – mastering assistance
Artwork
- Dan Forbes – photography
- Pennie Smith – portrait
- Greg Foley – art direction
- Jake McCabe – design production
- Tatiana Gaz – design associate
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Weekly chart performance for Release
! scope="col"| Chart (2002)
! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 62
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)
| 19
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)
| 5
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| 26
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)
| 16
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Year-end chart performance for Release
! scope="col"| Chart (2002)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 94
|}