Pet Shop Boys say “Yes” to pop music perfection
Posted by bicycleshed in Dance, Films, New, News, Reviews, The Yellow Stereo
“You need more…” are the first lyrics that you will hear from album opener and lead single, Love Etc. and by the time you get to the end of this album’s 11 tracks you do indeed feel like you need more…more of this pop music goodness to grace the ears and dance floors of the world.
Yes (out 4/21 on Astralwerks) is the 10th studio album from this brilliant pop duo that have become a dance/pop staple since finding chart success with West End Girls, back in 1984. Since then, the Pet Shop Boys have sold over 30 million records and they just recently received the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the Brits this year. You may have lost touch with them here and there along the way, but they have never really stopped producing quality music for the masses and this new offering is a prime example of that. Yes was produced by Xenomania and features input from Johnny Marr and some beautiful string arrangements from Owen Pallet as well.
Album highlights include the aforementioned Love Etc., which just last week peeked at #2 on the Billboard Single’s Sales chart. Track 2 and eventual single All Over the World features Tchaikovsky in the writing credits, listen to find out why and Mr. Marr shows up to contribute some harmonica on the next track, Beautiful People. A couple of the other more danceable songs on the album, Did You See Me Coming? (slated to be the 2nd single from the album, features Marr on guitar) and More Than a Dream, merely serve as a chariot to deliver us to the glorious destination that is song # 9, Pandemonium. If you have to check out one track first, let it be this one as the Boys have pulled out all of the stops and come up with one of the best songs of their career. Chaos never sounded so good! The album rounds out with another song that could easily be a single, The Way It Used To Be and Legacy, an album closer for all time, that brings it home in an uplifting, reflective manner (grandly featuring the London Metropolitan Orchestra).
There is also a special 2-disc edition of them album that features dub versions of many of the album tracks remixed by Xenomania, as well as a new song with Philip Oakey called This Used to Be the Future, which is great enough to be a single in it’s own right.
So, in closing, this album may not be for everyone as I’m sure that many of you like your indie pop with more of the former and less of the later, but if you have followed this band in the past and are looking for something refreshing and danceable along with some heartfelt meaning thrown in for good measure, this could be for you. A special “thank you” should go out to Depeche Mode, for this week also sees the steaming pie of a release that is Sounds of the Universe, making this offering from the Pet Shop Boys sound even better in the realm of the dance/pop world. (Hey, look at that, I killed two reviews with one stone.)
Thanks for reading all and for indulging me in my Pet Shop Boys/fanboy excursion, I really appreciate it…happy listening!
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That’s a fantastic review! I’m really digging “Love Etc.” That’s just a killer single.
Sounds great. I can’t believe this is their 10th. I have been missing out and may have to go back to check out what I have missed. FYI: you can listen to the entire album here: http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/9