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The songs themselves have moved on from neediness and seediness to far more adult themes; opening tracks "Being Boring" and "This Must Be the Place I Waited Years To Leave", with their lyrics of reminiscence, fond and otherwise, set the tone for the next 50 minutes. There are gently melodic songs of betrayal-"To Face The Truth", "Only The Wind"--and more upbeat variations on the same theme in "So Hard" and the string-laden "Jealousy" and a touching tale of first attraction in "Nervously". The album's only real downer comes in the pompous shape of "My October Symphony", a wincingly pretentious thing which suggests the band have fallen prey to the kind of po-faced muso nonsense they poke fun at in "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously".
Behaviour is possibly the best album for fans of Neil and Chris' more circumspect outpourings; what it lacks in upbeat anthems and disco production it more than makes up for in intelligent, introspective song writing. And with a bonus CD of 12 remixes and B-sides, it's a must-have for anyone who likes their pop meticulously crafted and shrewdly lyrical. --Rikki Price
One of the things that Behaviour has that is lacking in the previous work of the Pet Shop Boys (and in much of the pop music of the 1980s generally) is maturity. The Pet Shop Boys show in this album that they can go beyond gimmickry, beyond simple tunes and witty lyrics, to have music and lyrics of real poetic merit (okay, so we're not talking Tennyson here, but quite a cut above the usual popular wordsmithing). Perhaps this is why the album didn't fare as well financially as its predecessor.
This album marked the beginning of the decline of the Pet Shop Boys on the American scene. Only one song really made much of a dent, So Hard, and this was perhaps their last real American hit. Other songs from the album that were released as singles, and every single released since, has failed to make progress of any significance in the charts. Beyond the shores of America, the Pet Shop Boys are still fairly popular, and this album was a financial as well as artistic success.
It is unfortunate, because many of the songs on this album are truly beautiful. Being Boring is my favourite song, the first track on the album, as it recounts a tale of life, with interjections from the Parisian set (read, Gertrude Stein and company) comparing it to circles today, remembering lost friends ('some are here and some are missing in the 1990s'), all done to the backdrop of an electronic-yet-symphonic quality musical setting.
All the music and lyrics fall together so well in this album, the Pet Shop Boys can be seen to have come of age. A pity that it was, by that point by and large, an age that had passed already.
Lyrically, Neil Tennant hit his peak on Behaviour. Also, the arrangements have not been matched since.
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