Pet Shop Boys Community

For those who care, this is my first take on the almost complete album. I might do a grander thing at later stage when I've really gotten to know the album.

1. Psychological
Having not been too excited about the instrumental version, I am positively surprised by this. It makes more sense with the vocals and the track does occasionally become interesting. It still reminds me of 'Speak and Spell' at times. I don't think this is a very good album opener. It doesn't really build up major excitement and it isn't very representative for the album as a whole.

2. The Sodom and Gomorrah show
The whole intro really raises expectations - in many ways it would have made a better first track. The song that follows is quite generic PSB which is very good though perhaps not fantastic. I cannot really believe that this would shock people in this day and age.

3. I made my excuses and left
A bit disappointing on first listen, though I can imagine it will be a grower. The intro is just too long, the lyrics aren't all that interesting to me and while the music has some great elements with the strings building up and generally a great arrangement, it doesn't really do it for me. Still, at least a solid album track, perhaps I'll think more of it after 50 listens.

4.Minimal
A very good song, though it has rightly been said that it sounds like something by Eifel 65 (which is not a bad thing). If they had made it 5 years ago, it would have been genius and perhaps a hit. Today it's just another great album track. The New Order nod I find rather unnecessary in the context of this song.

5. Numb
Expectations could hardly have been lower but this track does present a positive surprise. The arrangement and Neil's ability to really put feeling in the vocals saves it. Not one of the best but an acceptable album track.

6. God Willing
The 30 second snippet of this song does not excite me much. If they wanted it in, they should have kept it at the beginning.

7. Luna Park
Another really good ballad with a fantastic atmosphere of a party drawing to a close. Generally one of the really good things about this album is how Neil's voice sounds so very relaxed and in pact with the music. He really makes the best of it without really trying. Luna Park is not a song I am going to love but compared to other songs in their past that it sounds a bit like (Hit&Miss, View from your balcony, Calm before the storm etc.), it is really much better.

8.I'm with stupid
My opinion of this hasn't changed much since the first listen - a really good song and a decent choice for first single. As it stands, this is also one of the best tracks from the album, which is not quite what I had hoped.

9. Casanova in Hell
Musically I like this but there's something about the lyrics that remind me of 'The Night I fell in love'. The basic idea of Casanova in Hell is nice enough but the execution isn't all that clever and it certainly isn't subtle. Still, as a song it is quite powerful and builds up quite a climax.

10. 20th Century
The somewhat sparse arrangement is okay but I find the tune somewhat repetitive. Not bad but definitely one of the fillers on the album.

11. Indefinite Leave to remain
Again a decent ballad, though with the lyrics I'm beginning to feel that Neil is overdoing it with the political content.

12. Integral
A very good song that works on all levels, simple as that. It won't make my top 10 of PSB songs but it is the best song on this album.

All in all, based on just a few listens this album confirms both my hopes and my fears. It is truly a return to the old ways for Neil and Chris, which I have been praying for for years. The songs are excellently arranged and produced and for the most part Neil's lyrics have bite and content again and he really sings well and sounds like he means it. Still, while I like almost all the songs, none of them really make my heart jump the way so much of their back catalogue has. Even from Release, 'I get along' made more of an impression on me on the first few listens than any of these songs. Each new leak has built up the expectations for a great new album on the understanding that there'd be more tracks and probably one or two would be completely wonderful. Sadly, not quite. Hopefully I will change my mind - many of these songs sound like they have great potential for growth. On the other hand, with those songs that I have listened to enough times to make up my mind I haven't really changed my evaluation since the first few listens.

Joemoz wrote:10. 20th Century Boy

Yay!

fluffmoln wrote:

Joemoz wrote:10. 20th Century Boy

Yay!

Okay, perhaps I was in a hurry

I'll add my thoughts next to Joemoz, if that's all right?

As a fan this is my review -
How times have changed. In July '97 Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe attended a general election victory reception, hosted by Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street. Admittedly, they quietly went in the back, resisting the photo opportunities willingly excepted by Noel Gallagher and alike.
Nine years on, and Pet Shop Boys are set to release ‘Fundamental’, an album of lush strings, computer presets and social aghast.
It’s obvious their support for the Labour Government has substantially diminished, but thankfully their ability to write intelligent, thought-provoking pop songs hasn‘t.
Trevor Horn, like this particular project, knows a thing or two about crafting songs for a popular culture, and he must have been bursting with glee when 'Fundamental' came his way. The production is virtually faultless, as orchestra is suitably juxtaposed to synthesizer, with at times breath-taking precision.
Proceedings open with a sparse synth riff, similar to an early Kraftwerk record. ‘Psychological’ finds Tennant in a paranoid mood. Random thoughts and scenarios are relayed, setting up an album that is as much about our inner thoughts regarding love, as it is about disillusionment at a seemingly unresponsive Government.
The mood then swiftly changes, the paranoia temporarily pauses. We’re transported by a spoken voice, proclaiming “Sun, Sex, Sin, Divine Intervention, Death And Destruction” to a post-biblical Magaluf!
‘The Sodom And Gomorrah Show’ is fantastic fun, a journey to sexual awareness, but beware - the fun comes early in this album, and stops there.
Moody strings pour scorn over what was ‘The Sodom And Gomorrah Show’. The comedown arrives swiftly, in the shape of ‘I Made My Excuses And Left’.
A strangely structured, but still beautiful track. The narrator is left in the cold, he realizes he is the third-part of a two piece jigsaw. Feeling “As awkward as an elephant” he’s forced to make his excuses and promptly leave the room. Heartbreaking.
Trademark electro beats present us with ‘Minimal’. Apparently marked as the original lead-single, it’s easy to see why. The vague lyric is strangely intriguing, and the obvious M-I-N-I-M-A-L hook becomes immediately lodged in the brain.
Hit making machine, Diane Warren, would seem a strange choice for Neil and Chris to employ. Her material usually falls into the Celine Dion mode, and ‘Numb’ was rejected by American rock dinosaurs Aerosmith.
However, once you get over the prejudicial history of this track, you realize its beauty. Tennant’s voice is often labelled as detached, bereft of pure emotion, yet he comes across here as wholly sincere.
A one minute plus instrumental gives us time to gather our thoughts before the gloom continues its descent.
‘Luna Park’ offers us little optimism. “A storm will come one day, to blow us all away, like dust on the moon.” Tennant likens our contemporary world to that of a spooky amusement park, where “The ghost train always leaves on time“.
And now the Blair bashing starts. ‘I’m With Stupid’ is already well documented as a cheeky observation on the Prime Minister’s relationship with the powerful one across the ocean. Yet, is our writer paying Bush an underhanded compliment? “Is stupid really stupid or a different kind of smart?”
‘Casanova In Hell’ and the 18th century hero is finding himself with problems in the downstairs area. Tennant’s warming voice leads the listener down the garden path, all sweetness and light. Then the failed erection line kicks in and you find yourself spending the rest of the track with an array of horrifying images lodged in your head. Superb lyric writing, conjuring up the weird and the wonderful.
A song of warning, again clearly amid at the warring fractions, comes accompanied by a simple electronic backing. ‘Twentieth Century’ evokes memories of falling leaders - the initial hope that offers us, and then the harsh reality of divided nations. After Sadam’s statue fell to joyous celebration, what does the future hold now? “Sometimes the solution is worst than the problem” is crystal clear in its direction.
‘Indefinite Leave To Remain’ incorporates a strained relationship into Government policy on foreign nationals. The application is complete and the wait for approval obviously painful. Another moving balled that manages to pull you in with its dramatic prose.
And then the finale. It’s probably what most people will be expecting with a Horn/Tennnat/ Lowe collaboration. Over the top production across a scathing, satirical thought on the proposed I.D card scheme in the UK. The main misconception on the whole subject is used as the bombastic chorus “If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear.”
The wonderful lyric would make Orwell proud, another segment of his 1984 predictions where “our lives exist as information”.
This goes down as a great Pet Shop Boys album, along with the other great records they’ve produced. It’s their sign of the times and the times are a changing record and as a body of work it is hugely enjoyable.
The nostalgic fans, who I’m sure were hoping for a cross between Tatu and Frankie Goes To Hollywood might, just might be slightly disappointed. This album only soars at pinpointed junctures. At other times it swoons, slowly working its way into your consciousness sneakily, like the two pop stars slipping in the back door of Britain‘s establishment. On the basis of this record, it was like they were never there. But they know, that we know, that they were...

Great review, Native!

Native wrote:I'll add my thoughts next to Joemoz, if that's all right?

I am honoured to have such a brillantly written review next to my hurried effort...

bravo, native....that review sums up the album very nicely

I can't even get close to writing something like what Native put up, so i'll give the songs ten pin bowling scores, because i want to.

Psychological - A nervous start - 5.
The Sodom and Gamorrah Show - Warming Up - 9.
I Made My Excuses - Still going along steady - 7.
Minimal - Dominating the game now - 9.
Numb - A bit of a shakey patch - 6.
God Willing - Time for a break - 5.
Luna Park - Getting back into the swing - 7.
I'm With Stupid - Back of the net. - 9.
Cassanova In Hell - Steady now - 6.
Twentieth Century - Wheres that next gear? - 6
Indefinate Leave To Remain - Here It Is - 7
Integral - Game Set Match - Strike.

Overall after 4 or 5 listens and with such fantastic production 8.5/10.

Dave