Friday, December 23
The first great pop album of 2006
There are many reasons to be excited about pop in 2006, and we don't mind saying that the rumoured dancefloor mashup of Air Supply's 'All Out Of Love' with the theme from Cagney & Lacey is fairly high on the list. And then there's the new Pet Shop Boys album, 'Fundamental'.
Regular Popjustice viewers should be well aware that the Pet Shop Boys are the greatest British pop act of all time. As you can see from the graph below, even when the Pet Shop Boys are relatively ropey they are still better than anything else ever.
HRNK! WORRYING TREND ALERT! WORRYING TREND ALERT! Could the Pet Shop Boys be heading towards being only as good as everone else's best ever work?
No!
OMG etc it's the best Pet Shop Boys album since 'Very'!
There are about a million reasons why, some of which include:
IT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH!
'I'm With Stupid' is about being in love with a "billion dollar kid" who's "obviously [so] dumb": "See you on the TV, call you every day, fly across the ocean just to let you get your way." What could it all mean, etc etc etc.
IT WILL MAKE YOU CRY!
'I Made My Excuses And Left' is classic PSB boo-hoo-athon about walking into a room and realising two of your friends are in love with each other: "Each of you looked up but no-one said a word - I felt I should apologise for what I hadn't heard." '...Excuses...' is also notable for the line "The silence filled the room, awkward as an elephant".
IT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO HAVE A LITTLE DANCE!
Vital statistics time: on 'Fundamental' there are six upbeat songs, including three complete thunderers and two sort of vibey electro things. First single 'Minimal' is a vibey electro thing whose chorus is a Vocoderised chant of 'M-I-N-I-M-A-L'. The last 50 seconds of the song are everything New Order should be sounding like in 2005 instead of all that 'Waiting For The Dumper's Call' nonsense they were bandying around earlier this year.
IT'S HORNY, HORNY HORNY HORNY
The whole thing's been produced by legendary Lisa Stansfield producer Trevor Horn, meaning that 'Integral' has amazing 'Two Tribes' orchestra bangs and 'I'm With Stupid' sounds a bit like 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome'. No Glam Metal Detectives influence, sadly.
THERE'S ONLY ONE DUFF SONG
Taxi for 'Twentieth Century'!
IT'S BETTER THAN AEROSMITH
The big Diane Warren ballad 'Numb' is just completely heart-stopping and brilliant and if we had copied it to iTunes (which, EMI lawyers, we have obviously not done) it would have the highest play count of any song on the album. With the possible exception of...
OTHER SONGS ARE ABOUT VERY SERIOUS MATTERS INDEED
...'Integral', which is one of the best songs on the album and the one which came nearest to blowing the speakers on the Popjusticemobile on Monday evening. It has the belting chorus "If you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to fear / If you've got something to hide you shouldn't even be here". A little bit of politics for you there ladies and gentlemen.
CERTAIN SONGS RATHER LEND THEMSELVES TO HAVING QUITE GOOD VIDEOS
'The Sodom And Gomorrah Show' surely has to be a single. It kicks off with a spoken word intro (probably by Lovejoy if Trevor's up to his old tricks) of "Sun! Sex! Sin! Divine intervention, death and destruction! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sodom and Gomorrah show!", then careers into a Proper PSB-sounding anthem of the 'Metamorphosis' / 'New York City Boy' variety. Which is to say that it goes from "I lived a quiet life, a stranger to champagne, I never dared to venture out" to "it intrigued me when you called to say, 'Are you gonna go to the Sodom & Gomorrah Show? It's got everything you need for your complete entertainment and instruction'".
Seriously, this is a properly good Pet Shop Boys album.
