Artist: Pet Shop Boys
Singles: Love Etc, All Over The World
Back for a tenth album. Who'd have thought it?
This album is absolutely wonderful. After the slow decline down to Release (2002), Fundamental was good, but this just goes beyond expectations, back to the wonders of Behaviour and Very, mixing sounds of both, while employing a much more modern sound. Yet they never seem to change their sound, which makes this duo so special.
Love Etc
The first single. It's a great song, extremely bouncy and catchy, with the chants "Don't have to be..." making this sound epic. Moreover, there are plenty of songs that are better than this on the album, although this one seemed suited to the job of first single.
All Over The World
Tchaikovsky meets Pet Shop Boys? I'd never have thought it possible. But they did it, fantastically. Well-deserved second single. Very catchy, great beat.
Beautiful People
Wow. Two great songs, but now we go down a bit in quality. But I emphasise a bit. This album is wonderful, not a bad song on it. But for all this song's great sound, you can't help but feel Neil Tennant was maybe scraping the bottom of the barrel for the chorus lyrics. But that doesn't matter one little bit. Great song.
Did You See Me Coming?
This sounds like a "Very" song with its very own "Yes" makeover. It is great as well, with a memorable chorus and greatness all around. It even has guitar!
Vulnerable
Quite repetitive, it doesn't change much. But it makes five minutes fly by. It is truly amazing how the duo can still surprise me after ten albums. Although to be fair, I only got into them after Nightlife, and to be fair, that and Release were the worst of their albums. Not bad at all, just not their finest hour.
More Than A Dream
A retro-sounding song that sounds like Pet Shop Boys working at their best. The natural high-pitch of Tennant's voice played against his deeper voice ("Live it" and "It's the story of our lives..." played at the same time) is good, and the hands-in-the-air chorus (described as this in a different review, and I thought it described perfectly what I thought)
Building A Wall
Wow. Odd. But excellent. Now we're getting into the greatest part of this album. So, odd parts include Chris and Neil alternating: Protection! Prevention! Detection! Detention! at two parts in the song, and also the weird spoken part where Neil goes on about sand in sandwiches... wait, what? Yes, I did just say that. But who cares? It's wonderful.
The first truly beautiful song on this album. Five and a half minutes of slow, downbeat, brilliant music. And when the lines "Baby, call me..." just gets to you. It's wonderful.
Pandemonium
In which the greatness goes into overdrive. The best song on the album. A heavy, quick beat, with an opening that sounds a bit like the Doctor Who theme tune, with trumpets, and then dives straight into the epicness of this song. I'm going to use the phrase "hands-in-the-air-chorus" again. It really makes you want to sing along. Or clap along. Or both.
The Way It Used To Be
The second best song on the album. A five minute epic, which just narrates a love long lost, and doesn't pause for a chorus or anything. It gives you goosebumps (good ones), particularly if you're into your music. Neil's vocals soar over this beautiful melody.
Legacy
Ah. Well... I like this song, and understand why it was a last track, but after the greatness of Building A Wall through to The Way It Used To Be, it just doesn't seem to work. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but its placement isn't great, it drags on for a bit, and has a weird fairground sound towards the end where Neil sings in French. Interesting. Good song, but my least favourite.
So, generally, fantastic. Starts off great, goes down into the good tracks and builds up into four songs of sheer brilliance - true Pet Shop Boys - and then, well... I've ranted about Legacy - which I think I like enough to give the album an overall score of:
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