Coming down from the ambitious, politically charged Fundamental, Yes is the sound of the Pet Shop Boys unwinding and returning to their usual fascinations: isolation, fashion, grand arrangements, and witty synth pop anthems. Unfortunately, they're in a slump with their songwriting, and subject-wise, every song here has a companion piece on some earlier album, but that doesn't mean the party is spoiled. The delicate electro opener "Love Etc." is PSB perfection with its memorable hook and faultless construction. Brian Higgins and his Xenomania team (Saint Etienne, Girls Aloud) share songwriting and production duties on the track, and while that later credit continues for the remainder of the album, the hip crew becomes invisible as singer Tennant and synth-man Lowe take over. Employing an Abbey Road orchestra and hiring Johnny Marr for some Hollywood guitar seems a familiar Pet Shop Boys maneuver, and when Neil Tennant tops it off with some sardonic lyrics, "Beautiful People" becomes a pleasingly comfortable gift for any fan thrown by Fundamental's action committee attitude. "Did You See Me Coming" is the exhilarated infatuation of "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Sort of Thing" all over again, while "King of Rome" is the spitting image of the duo's 1987 chestnut "King's Cross." These are good things, especially for the sworn fan, and so are the few quirky new ideas, like the duo trading lines Run-D.M.C. style on "Building a Wall." The grand closer "Legacy" is the obvious songwriting highlight, partly because of the Kurt Weill-like breakdown in the middle, but mostly because of the grim way it comforts the brokenhearted. Neil proposes that glaciers melt and stars burn out so there's a pretty good chance that given time "you'll get over it." It's much better than the "Is that a riot/or are you just glad to see me" line in "Pandemonium" and just the touch Yes needs to put this above the standard PSB album.
It has been 25 years since the Pet Shop Boys made their first stab at making pop records. One thing that no amount of style changes have managed to do is to make the duo sound like anybody BUT themselves. While America seems to have ignored the boys for the past 15 years they've consistently made well-crafted, hook-filled records, loads of hit singles and written a ton of great music for ot...
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Pet Shop Boys performed "Love Etc" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on 9/4. Check it out below:Buy "Love Etc." on iTunes or Amazon MP3 or on CD
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Pet Shop Boys — my favorite drolly cynical synthpop duo and America's fourth (they're behind Madonna, Donna Summer, and Janet Jackson on the Billboard dance charts all time list) — are back with a new studio album that came out this week on Astralwerks. Entitled Yes, it features production by Xenomania (who has worked with Saint Etienne, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Cher, and Kylie Minogue), orches
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The new PET SHOP BOYS album YES entered the U.S chart at number 32, the highest entry for them since 1993's Very!The Village Voice also has a new interview with them up online that you can read here.The video below is a video the shot for DID YOU SEE ME COMING filmed on their manager's cell phone (they said it seemed like a good idea at the time LOL) (apparently the official video is still to ...
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The Pet Shop Boys are a strange one for us. They've always been on our radar and surely they were an imperative force in music during the 80's, the decade that spawned our music addiction. But we never really jumped in and paid much attention. Sure we loved West End Girls as much as the next guy and Opportunities was fun, but somewhere after that we lost track. They clearly went on to thrive...
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It has been 25 years since the Pet Shop Boys made their first stab at making pop records. One thing that no amount of style changes have managed to do is to make the duo sound like anybody BUT themselves. While America seems to have ignored the boys for the past 15 years they've consistently made well-crafted, hook-filled records, loads of hit singles and written a ton of great music for ot...
More >
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 "Yes")
