Pet Shop Boys Community

Still 3 out of 5 ain't bad !

Patrick Bateman wrote:3 out of 5 from Classic Pop magazine: "how on earth were Vince and Andy going to turn the albums lead single, Gaudete - beloved of beardy types who drink real ale and Alan Partridge - into an electro classic? The answer is they don't and it comes across as camp karaoke to a terse industrial drumbeat. Conclusion, early music and modern technology don't mix."

So easy to quote negative stuff, if it was PSB of course this would on the whole be ignored. Not everybody will like this album of course, I have nothing against it and am glad they are releasing it as it is something they have always wanted to do. Obviously its not a musical or ballet which would have been perfectly acceptable of course.......

Disco. wrote:Still 3 out of 5 ain't bad !

Hey, it's Classic Pop magazine, which usually gives at least "3 out of 5" to every Swing Out Sister reissue as well.

Will the single be released before the album? I'm curious to hear what they've done with that song. I like the snippet of Silent Night.

No, the single will be released on December 16.

You can listen to snippets of everything over here.

Whether you like Erasure or not, I think people are working themselves up into unnecessary histrionics about the whole Christmas thing. It's themed, but it's not as if it's an album packed with tedious, unimaginative standards. Some of it is borderline bonkers.

Jamesqdot wrote:You can listen to snippets of everything over here.

Whether you like Erasure or not, I think people are working themselves up into unnecessary histrionics about the whole Christmas thing. It's themed, but it's not as if it's an album packed with tedious, unimaginative standards. Some of it is borderline bonkers.

Haven't followed Erasure that close for quite a long time. But I think it sounds quite promising actually, not bad at all. For some reason i was not able to listen to two of the tracks.

There are a few tracks that sounds a bit dodgy ! But overall it sounds very good. Bring on Christmas ! And my special limited edition Snow Globe box

To be fair I like the sample of Make It Wonderful, even though it's a terrible title. Overall, while it might not be as bad as Union Street, it's nowhere nearly enough to be acceptable. Why can't they be as dark and spooky as Vince's recent remixes, which have generally been enjoyable and, need I say, throbbing four on the floor affairs?

Jamesqdot wrote:It's themed, but it's not as if it's an album packed with tedious, unimaginative standards.

Yes. In the Bleak Midwinter, Silent Night, The Christmas Song, and White Christmas are certainly outre choices. Everybody knows a turkey.

Jamesqdot wrote:You can listen to snippets of everything over here.

Whether you like Erasure or not, I think people are working themselves up into unnecessary histrionics about the whole Christmas thing. It's themed, but it's not as if it's an album packed with tedious, unimaginative standards. Some of it is borderline bonkers.

Thanks for the link. The snippets I like are "Sleep Quietly," "Silent Night," and "There'll Be No Tomorrow." The rest don't really do much for me.

I like Bells of Love.

Gaudete is the worst single in the history of the hit parade. I couldn't listen to anymore. Although I quite like the video clip of Silent Night.

I've never been a fan of Christmas albums anyway. You can only really play them a few times a year. It seems wrong to be playing Bleak Midwinter while sitting in the sun.

I can see this being their worst ever release.

Patrick Bateman wrote:

Jamesqdot wrote:It's themed, but it's not as if it's an album packed with tedious, unimaginative standards.

Yes. In the Bleak Midwinter, Silent Night, The Christmas Song, and White Christmas are certainly outre choices. Everybody knows a turkey.

Silent Night and White Christmas are fantastic songs ! They are classics !

Undertaker wrote:I like Bells of Love.

Gaudete is the worst single in the history of the hit parade. I couldn't listen to anymore. Although I quite like the video clip of Silent Night.

I've never been a fan of Christmas albums anyway. You can only really play them a few times a year. It seems wrong to be playing Bleak Midwinter while sitting in the sun.

I can see this being their worst ever release.

Well I love Christmas music, and I think that this will turn out to be a fine release indeed. Even though I agree that Gaudete doesn't work.
Should we start a petition to get the boys to do a Christmas album ? Just imagine Neil singing White Christmas.

Undertaker wrote:Gaudete is the worst single in the history of the hit parade. I couldn't listen to anymore.

At least Andy gets to sing some Latin. For me, the essential difference between PSB and Erasure is that the former could have a number one single with Latin on it, whilst the latter had one wearing spandex. There was always something (even at their peak) deeply unfashionable about Vince and Andy which didn't matter when they were producing sparkly hit after sparkly hit. However one of the reasons why they've fared so poorly in comparison to PSB in subsequent years is that their very kitschness just seems grotesque without the buffering of the hit parade. So now we get Andy given full rein to sing medieval Latin ditties whilst wearing a codpiece like Lord Percy on poppers.