Potemkin Review

[Janet Street-Porter]

And from The Thunderer itself:

Tennant/Lowe

Battleship Potemkin
(EMI Classics/Parlophone)

Eisenstein hoped that Battleship Potemkin, his classic 1925 silent film that describes the real-life mutiny of Russian sailors in 1905, would get a new soundtrack each decade. He probably didn’t foresee a version by a British electro-pop institution drawing on percolating electro-disco and orchestral pop (courtesy of the Dresdener Sinfoniker). Yes, it’s the Pet Shop Boys, despite Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe using their own names for the project. There are even two proper songs with lyrics, After All and No Time for Tears. But the pair haven’t missed the opportunity to stretch themselves. Drama in the Harbour is a mini movie all in itself, involving jazzy trumpets, electronic menace, simmering strings, choral drama and Tennant’s forlorn refrain, and as the on-screen mutiny becomes a massacre, the music racks up the tension. Given the cinematic range of their past work, it’s no surprise that their first original soundtrack is this strong.

MARTIN ASTON


http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 33,00.html

[13thJoerg]

And it does have a comical side because there's nothing more silly than listening to a camp nasal voice singing 'How come we went to war?' when you know it's insincere by the side of the performer and really quite irrelevant to the actual film.

I've read that in like five reviews already, but actually the movie gives an answer itself. Right at the beginning one of the first written lines go "Revolution is war. It's the only justified ... war."

I think if one thinks about it, the whole lines of the song make a sense. If people keep reflecting about iraq war, that tells a bit more than they realize...

[Zeus On The Loose]

Yes, however, they certainly were aware of the connotations given the time it is released and you can't blame people, including me, for thinking it's their insincere and misplaced Political Statement.

[joncool5]

From www.gigwise.com

Tennant/Lowe and Dresdner Sinfoniker - ‘Battleship Potemkin OST’ (Parlophone) Released 05/09/05

by Neil Condron More Film Soundtracks Articles...


First things first: this is nothing like The Pet Shop Boys. If you want to hear duets with Dusty Springfield or have choirs of men in funny hats then this is not the place. If, on the other hand, you have a free hour in which you want to listen to a fusion of electronica and orchestration that is often dark and frequently beautiful, please read on...

Eisenstein’s classic art-cum-propaganda film ‘Battleship Potemkin’, which describes the mutiny of Russian sailors on said vessel in 1905, was released in 1925, and there has been, in accordance with Eisenstein’s own wishes, various soundtracks composed to accompany the film. The Pet Shop Boys were approached to produce this latest musical interpretation of the film for its showing in Trafalgar Square last year, and the result is nothing like what we have come to expect from the clever-clogs popsters. Sweeping orchestral swathes of melancholia abound, bolstered by grim, industrial electronica, as on instrumentals ‘Comrades!’ and ‘Drama in The Harbour’.

It’s easy at times to compare such tracks to Vangelis or even the Teutonic symphonies of ‘Low’-era Bowie but, in spite of the necessary Russian themes running throughout, this is a thoroughly modern-sounding album. In fact, much of this album would probably suit a good dub treatment by a DJ/producer such as, say, Jacques Lu Cont – ‘The Squadron’, ‘Night Falls’ and in particular the perfect-for-Chibuku minimalism of ‘Nyet’ could all tear up dance-floors in the right hands.

Secretly though, you really do want it to sound like The Pet Shop Boys, don’t you?! It’s OK, you can admit it! Fortunately, there are enough traces of their unique brand of intellectual pop savvy on the Tennant-sung ‘No Time For Tears’ and ‘After All (The Odessa Staircase)’ to please die-hards and closet fans alike. The Tennant/Lowe sound, with it’s pomp and pulsing beats, is perfect for this project, and it really is a treat to stow away on ‘Battleship Potemkin’ for an hour and see where she takes you. So, go out and buy it – Gigwise won’t tell anyone, we promise!

[jamie1978]

I like the last comment, made me chuckle somewhat.

Are people still self-concious about the whole gay thing these days? I thought society had moved on - for example, Will Young. And what a fine example he is

[trussy74]

I didn't take the last sentence as referring to the gay thing; more that they're just not very hip! Or is that me?

[Flaffer]

I didn't take the last sentence as referring to the gay thing; more that they're just not very hip! Or is that me?

both I reckon, the gay thing is still a stigma for many

[joncool5]

Even NME gave it a positive review, 7/10.

[markus]

Swedish "Aftonbladet" gives it only 2/5. Says the music doesn't do much without the movie.


http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/noje/stor ... 02,00.html

[psb-freak]

Check this out: http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=7313 PSB at The Paddingtons concert. Scroll down the page to see the pic.