Potemkin Review

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Vince · #16 Post by **Vince** » Sat 03 Sep 2005, 6:39 am

Eldritch wrote: leading to that famous scene with the baby's pram plummeting down a flight of steps, as borrowed for The Untouchables.

I didnt know that! Thanks for the info!!

GalataPSB · #17 Post by **GalataPSB** » Sat 03 Sep 2005, 8:40 am

TENNANT/LOWE

Battleship Potemkin **

As The Pet Shop Boys, Chris and Neil have done arch pop to death, so now they're stepping into the classical arena. This soundtrack to the 1925 Russian silent film is achingly highbrow, and tries a little too hard to be taken seriously. The Boys always hid a wry smile behind their shrewd melodies, but there's no fun here. What have we done to deserve this?

www.mirror.co.uk

Zeus On The Loose · Sat 03 Sep 2005, 9:24 am

joncool5 wrote:Time Out gave it a decent review and says that it is one soundtrack that you can "turn up loud". Uncut magazine slagged it off and gave it 2/5, describing 'After All' and 'For Freedom' as showtunes!!

They are showtunes. Both have pretty standard cabaret-style chord changes, you only just realised!?

Dipso · #19 Post by **Dipso** » Sat 03 Sep 2005, 6:09 pm

From today's Times newspaper:

September 03, 2005

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.

4/5

MARTIN ASTON

Eldritch · #20 Post by **Eldritch** » Sat 03 Sep 2005, 7:00 pm

Oh, and some hack also gave BP 4/5 in a Finnish rock tabloid called Rumba.

joncool5 · #21 Post by **joncool5** » Sat 03 Sep 2005, 7:09 pm

Zeus On The Loose wrote:
joncool5 wrote:Time Out gave it a decent review and says that it is one soundtrack that you can "turn up loud". Uncut magazine slagged it off and gave it 2/5, describing 'After All' and 'For Freedom' as showtunes!!
They are showtunes. Both have pretty standard cabaret-style chord changes, you only just realised!?

'After All' is a really dark and broody track, can't hear anything that hints at a showtune.

westendboy87 · #22 Post by **westendboy87** » Sat 03 Sep 2005, 7:09 pm

neither can I. I love it to death though, it's one of my favorite PSB tracks of all time.

jamie1978 · #23 Post by **jamie1978** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 1:09 am

joncool5 wrote:
Zeus On The Loose wrote:
joncool5 wrote:Time Out gave it a decent review and says that it is one soundtrack that you can "turn up loud". Uncut magazine slagged it off and gave it 2/5, describing 'After All' and 'For Freedom' as showtunes!!
They are showtunes. Both have pretty standard cabaret-style chord changes, you only just realised!?
'After All' is a really dark and broody track, can't hear anything that hints at a showtune.

Okay, so 'Phantom of the opera' isn't a showtune then. Its a bit 'broody'.

Naughty Zoot · #24 Post by **Naughty Zoot** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 3:38 am

[quote="joncool5"]. But that’s exactly what happened to Neil Tennant, with a bit of help from his long-term comedy sidekick Chris Lowe (though whether Pet Shop Boys ever contained either a gag man or a straight man is debatable

My .. My .... My .......

Naughty Zoot · #25 Post by **Naughty Zoot** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 3:44 am

joncool5 wrote: The result – falling somewhere between house, minimalist electro-pop and Walter Carlos’ soundtrack to ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and the background music to CSI: Northumberland – is a brooding and atmospheric take on Eisenstein’s tale of aquatic encapsulation of the communist uprising that may not have you storming the local kebab shop & inspecting the quality of their meat, but should still keep you pleasantly entertained for 68 minutes.

Uhh,,,, isn't the PSB ST 73 or 74 minutes long ?

I guess the other 5 or 6 minutes is boring ..

Eldritch · #26 Post by **Eldritch** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 9:19 am

Naughty Zoot wrote: Uhh,,,, isn't the PSB ST 73 or 74 minutes long ?

No, the album is just over 69 minutes.

#27 Post by **StevePSB** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 9:50 am

I bought my copy yesterday, for sake of collection completeness more than anything.
Listening to it on the way back home in the car, I did think it didn't make much sense without the film to accompany it.

Here's looking forward to the studio album, as this definitely does very little for me...

StevePSB

joncool5 · #28 Post by **joncool5** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 10:39 am

jamie1978 wrote:
joncool5 wrote:
Zeus On The Loose wrote: They are showtunes. Both have pretty standard cabaret-style chord changes, you only just realised!?
'After All' is a really dark and broody track, can't hear anything that hints at a showtune.
Okay, so 'Phantom of the opera' isn't a showtune then. Its a bit 'broody'.

Erm, yes it is Zeus 2 but it isn't a dark electronic song about war and death. I've always seen a comical side to the song 'Phantom of the Opera', the same can't be said for 'After all'.

GalataPSB · #29 Post by **GalataPSB** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 10:48 am

Thanx for review..

There are some photos at www.gettyimages.com

trussy74 · #30 Post by **trussy74** » Sun 04 Sep 2005, 11:39 am

There is a 4 star review in the new issue of Attitude.

"This is not an album to purchase out of PSB loyalty, but a brilliant expansion on everything that makes them great to begin with."

It also got a favourable 3 star review in Friday's Independent.