Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Return to Form, 11 Jan 2007
"Psychological"
Gratifyingly electronic and a tad menacing with a spooky little synth refrain just before the word "Psychological"
"The Sodom and Gomorrah Show"
This song has a fantastic chorus, reminiscent of "It's a Sin" or "Shameless" - the kind of singalonga camp that the PSBs do better than anyone else.
"I Made My Excuses and Left"
This illustrates that the Boys can produce really quite moving, slow tempo songs just as well as the disco-based foot-stompers. Like "Your Funny Uncle", it is a perfectly crafted, melancholic mini-opera. Its more minimal production allows the message of the song, along with the wistful vocals, to take centre stage.
"Minimal"
Continues with the Kraftwerk-like vein of the first track. Good, `cos I like Kraftwerk. It sounds both retro and futuristic.
"Numb"
The only PSB album track not written or co-written by Neil or Chris since "It's Alright", I believe, so unusual in that respect. Having said that, it's a very good song (otherwise it would not have passed their quality control). I can see why they chose it as a single.
"God Willing"
Interesting if a bit cheeky of them to list it as a separate track. It consists of a minute of city noise which I'm sure adds to the feel of the album but it's not really a separate song but then again as it's them they're forgiven.
"Luna Park"
A bit REM-ish but that's not a bad thing. Spectral lyrics and an almost Pink Floyd-ish atmosphere.
"I'm with Stupid"
I don't like this very much for the same reasons I didn't like "Heart". Not a bad song per se, just a little meandering. Full marks for attacking Blair and Bush, though. Bet Neil won't get invited back to No. 10 for champers like he was when Tony came to power!
"Casanova in Hell"
The melody is wonderfully tuneful and quite sweet, developing into a pleasingly orchestral, almost melodramatic chorus. They're very good at chord changes, are the Boys.
"Twentieth Century"
I like the rhythm in this one, which sounds gentler than it actually is because of the relative lightness of the music.
"Indefinite Leave to Remain"
Clever title, given the thematic history of their sometimes ambivalent love songs. Seems to be they have a habit of rounding off their albums with a nice little love ditty (think "Footsteps" on "Nightlife"). Nowt wrong with that, except there's one more track!
"Integral"
PSBs do CCTV. The mood and vocal delivery suggests a police state where we are all watched "now we've got the mandate". That's it: DEFINITELY no more champagne at No. 10.
Pet Shop Boys are one of the very, very few artists who have never written a bad song. I don't like absolutely every single thing they've written but not particularly liking a song does not make it a bad song. The longevity of their career is testament to that. I know I sound like an old duffer (I'm not), but I've always liked the fact you can hear what Neil is singing. No semi-literate gabbling shouty youngsters here!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Like dust on the moon", 22 Sep 2006
Fundamental is their most complete album since 1993's Very but in contrast to the cartoon pop of Very, this is a dark and brooding state of the nation record. Lead single I'm with Stupid sounds like a lost gem from the 1980s, full of Trevor Horn bombast and neatly encapsulates the Blair/Bush relationship in the line "you grin, I pose", Minimal is Kraftwerk meets New Order and the gorgeously sad Luna Park imagines America as a sinister fairground awaiting imminent destruction. Bonus disc Fundamentalism contains the sublime Richard X collaboration Fugitive.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indefinite Leave To Remain, 31 May 2006
This could be their best work; it's certainly right for 2006.
The slower songs reach dizzy heights not seen on a Pet Shop Boys record since Behaviour: Indefinite Leave To Remain and I Made My Excuses And Left explore the hope and sadness of love as well as Jealousy and To Face The Truth from their greatest album.
With Integral and I'm With Stupid, they strike at the heart of the New Labour they once championed in a way reminiscent of their ridicule of Thatcher's government of the eighties with Opportunities and Shopping. On Twentieth Century Neil Tennant recognises that he, along with many other well-intentioned people, was wrong about the Iraq War: "I bought a ticket to the revolution and cheered when the statues fell", but "Sometimes the solution is worse than the problem". Well, yes, that's what we were trying to tell you.
Other highlights are Minimal which is an epic younger sibling of New Order's True Faith and The Sodom and Gomorrah Show, an invitation to a fabulous party that would have Being Boring as its climax.
But the coup de grace is Numb. Yes, it is jarring to hear Neil Tennant sing the words "I don't wanna feel nothing"; he might have got the War wrong but he does know a thing or two about grammar. At first I was shocked to find myself keep going back to this song that wasn't written by the Pet Shop Boys and thinking "this is wonderful" - I thought I loved them because they were original. But then I thought of the songs they had recorded that they hadn't written - Always On My Mind, Go West, It's Alright. All classics, all improved by the Pet Shop Boys' treatment. I realised then why I really love the Pet Shop Boys: because they have taste and style and they recognise a great song and perform it the way it should be done.
They have indefinite leave to remain.
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