Pet Shop Boys Community

Drico... come on spill the beans... why 2 stars ?

Numb is an incredible sad song. Lovely to play it while driving coming back from work....

The reviewer, some nomark by the name of Piers Somethingorother (don't you just love music journos with preposterously affected Etonian monikers), suggested that the PSBs have done nothing of note for well over a decade, that Trevor Horn is a has-been producer, and lauded Battleship Potemkin as their best work in 12 years.

After that opening salvo, he proceeded to describe Sodom and Gomorrah and Casanova in Hell as "twaddle" and suggested that Neil and Chris should have dumped Horn for someone called Michael Mayer (the Cologne DJ). Furthermore, the review was by-lined with the deadpan note: "Veteran pop duo release album" and accused the band of doing the unpardonable - being boring.

I'm saying nothing, for now.

Drico.

Drico One wrote:Neil and Chris should have dumped Horn for someone called Michael Mayer (the Cologne DJ).

Ha, they picked him to remix Flamboyant...I agree with what he/she said about Battleship Potemkin.

Do you have his last name so I can throw some sticks at him ? Anyone who can describe, arguably, two of the best songs on the album as 'twaddle' deserves to be hunted down and scratched slightly with some sticks.

After deleting the mp3's a couple of days ago and being able to digest the record, so to speak, the one thing that sticks in my mind is that it doesn't quite gel together in the way their best albums have; the pacing and balance of the songs is ever so slightly off. I think it needed one more stomper to balance it out and judging from the sample of 'The Resurectionist', I think that one should have bumped Twentieth Century or one of the weaker ballads off the album.

Numb lets the album down badly.

*googles Piers uncut*

Looking on the website, it says there is an interview with Neil by Jon Wilde in the current issue of Uncut.

Piers Martin writes for Uncut, so Drico probably refers to him.

Uncut has never rated the Boys. They gave Nightlife 3, Release 2,5 and PopArt (a 5-star album if there ever was one) only 3 stars.

Eldritch wrote:They gave PopArt only 3 stars.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/pet_shop_boys/reviews/6828

It doesn't really surprise me from a magazine still jacking off about The Stone Roses. For f*ck's sake, they made a decent album once. Get over it!!!!!

Janet Street-Porter wrote:*googles Piers uncut*

Looking on the website, it says there is an interview with Neil by Jon Wilde in the current issue of Uncut.

Yeah, there is, but it's the usual tedious stuff where Neil reckons Bilingual didn't sell because he came out two years earlier, Tammy Wynette was turned down by the PSBs for a collaboration prior to her KLF duet for fear of typecasting the duo, and Neil suggests it would be selfish of him to have a putative relationship with a woman because he's been "something" for such a long time and she'd only end up getting hurt. We've heard it all before.

Drico.

Janet Street-Porter wrote:

Eldritch wrote:They gave PopArt only 3 stars.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/pet_shop_boys/reviews/6828

It doesn't really surprise me from a magazine still jacking off about The Stone Roses. For f*ck's sake, they made a decent album once. Get over it!!!!!

an album I've been unable to obtain through Amazon

I read the review today. Apparently Casanova is Andrew Lloyd-Webber twaddle (I haven't heard it myself but I wasn't aware AL-W used the word erection in many of his songs). The rest of it is lazy journalism - they're past it (even though he says Potemkin was great) and while Minimal and Psychological get a cursory nod of approval, both I'm with Stupid and Integral are dated. This from the same magazine giving the Red Hot Chili Peppers new opus five stars for sounding exactly the same as they ever did - and for trying to write as many songs about California as to pique the late Roy Castle's attention.

And without wanting to go Erasure Forum-esque, I don't mind criticism which has some basis in fact. Disco 3 was bloody fantastic and Minimal is genius so up yours, Piers. I'm with Stupid does sound retro but it also sounds surprisingly fresh too. Just as Relax does on the trailer for The line of beauty but then only synths date, don't they?

Janet Street-Porter wrote:only synths date, don't they?

Exactly. If something sounds like the sixties, it's described as having a timeless quality, whereas eighties is always considered as the epitome of all things dated.

flicked through the Q review in Menzies today... looked like a solid review... their point about Numb seems fair... isn't my fave off the album... 4 stars is fine.. IIRC only Popart has achieved 5 stars from them... U2 always get 5 stars though

joe stalin wrote:flicked through the Q review in Menzies today... looked like a solid review... their point about Numb seems fair... isn't my fave off the album... 4 stars is fine.. IIRC only Popart has achieved 5 stars from them... U2 always get 5 stars though

It's more than fine, it's excellent!