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I've been listening "Release",the new album of PSB from last weekend. I'm supposed to write an article about it for a music magazine.
Well, what do you think about it?
Some good tracks on it. Home and dry is beautiful. but I think it's not good as well as Behaviour, my favorite PSB lp.
as far as i know it hasnt been released yet heather,although i heard it was more guitar based than any of their older stuff.i believe johnny marr plays on most of the tracks so i expect it'll sound a bit like behaviour,my favorite psb album.
I downloaded it from AG And the first half of the CD is great. But I find the second half of the cd to get a little boring. There are no fast songs on the cd at all. And with all the guitar on it, it sure sounds different. Come to think of it it sounds like a pop album. The best songs are the first 4 songs. Home and Dry is very cool. the second song (I forget the name) but its great. It will be their next single. And the song London is very good. Over all I like the cd. I'm going to buy it when it comes here. I'm not going to buy the UK version. But when it makes it to Canada I will buy it. But just to worn people, there are no dance tacks on the CD. but the songs are still very deep.
Well speaking as a PSB fan since 1985, I think Release is pretty awful. Some good tracks like London, Home & Dry, Samurai and Here but the guitar led stuff sounds bland and boring. Here's the review I wrote over at Electronically Yours, quite long but I really tried to be posistive after several listens...
You've Lost That Electronic Feeling...., 17 February, 2002 Reviewer: (orac_uk@yahoo.com) from Ascot UK Release opens with the new single Home & Dry and the track has the potential to become their strongest single since Can You Forgive Her? The electronic intro is suspiciously similar to the main guitar backing of song Every Breath You Take, you almost expect Sting to belt out the opening verse. Home & Dry however, manages to stand on its own with a catchy and mellow chorus and will also remind fans of the Electronic track Disappointed from 1992
I Get Along
Oh dear. What Have I Done To Deserve This Neil? This is the first of the tracks where Neil told Chris to 'make the tea' whilst he rushed through some 'PSB Unplugged' tracks with Johnny Marr in the recording studio. It comes as something as a shock to hear that the PSB's have become a hybrid of Oasis and Elton John without the melody. It can be great when groups try different things and Tennant has been threatening this on PSB fans for a few months now but the joke backfires here. The melody is dull and forgettable and even if Chris had been allowed to play the synths - it would not have saved this track. It really does sound like something from the early 70's and I would have to ask Mr Tennant: 'How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? You certainly won't be put in the 'rock n roll hall of fame' for this...
Birthday Boy
Sadly still no sign of Chris as we are presented with an iritating indie guitar song that again goes nowhere. There also seems to be something wrong with Johnny Marr's guitar playing here. It lacks that trademark uniqueness of The Smiths and Electronic and some parts of this track sound like Pink Floyd! This album has been likened to my favourite PSB album Behaviour that took a similar acoustic route way back in 1990 except that Behaviour had melodies and atmosphere so the comparison is a false one. Can this album get any worse? Its almost as if Neil & Chris are admitting that they have grown too old for the nightclubs as they try to sound like some long lost Eric Clapton records that should have been burnt at the Gates of Hell.
This track begins with the chords of West End Girls and some pleasantly lush sounding orchestral arrangements as Neil sings about of love via the modem. This is a much better song (similar in style to Very's Liberation) and the chorus is quite a good one. Lyrically, Neil is back on form here as he tackles 'romance' on the internet
London
Strongly tipped as the second single, London is one of the few acoustic numbers to actually work. It's a classic PSB arrangement that tells the plight of economic refugees who are trying to find a better life in the UK's capital. 'Our father fought in Afghanistan. His widow's pension ain't worth a damn. My mother works and goes home to cry, I want to live before I die.' Lyrics like this are typical of the song and prove to be thought provoking confirming London as one of their strongest tracks since the Bilingual period. It's another slow tempo song like the ones before it, but an irresistible electronic drum pattern is enough to make you tap that foot.
The Samurai in Autumn
A wicked song title for a real gem of a track. This is one of the few electronica tracks on Release and despite it's quality, Samurai sits uncomfortably with the dreary acoustic numbers. Samurai would have been worthy of inclusion on the b-side compilation album Alternative. Sounding like something from the PSB golden era between 1985-1993, its one of Lowe's best melodies in years. That's not to say that the track sounds dated as it contains some innovative synth layers with fresh new sounds. Deserves to be released as a single.
Love is a Catastrophe
Sadly it's another dull acoustic number though I love this song title. Had the track worked, it could have matched It Couldn't Happen Here from the Actually album but it just falls flat and becomes the track to skip.
The Night I Fell in Love
The problem with this album is that you keep thinking the low points are a blip until you hear another acoustic track that reaches new depths of banality. Neil sings about spending a romantic night with 'rapper' Eminem and it could have been quite amusing had the humour worked. You are the weakest track, goodbye!
Here
This is more like it. Here sounds like a lost PSB classic that they somehow forgot to release from the Actually period. Chris has turned up the keyboards on this one whilst Neil probably attended to some guitar tuning. A slow tempo track but very melodic with nifty little synth bits in the background. This is how the PSB's should sound and it's frustrating that there are so few songs like this on the album. The intro almost sounds like I Want A Dog and you instantly know that this track will deliver. The chorus is the highlight and the song is crying out for a single release.
You Choose
Slow tempo acoustic number that begins quite pleasantly but then becomes forgettable. It's a poor conclusion to a very mixed album that sounds quite bizarre in places as if it was recorded in an alternative reality where folk music fills out the dancefloors. Ultimately, it sounds like an album of two opposing sides. Some fans will really like this mellow, guitar version of the PSB's but I think they are the ghosts of themselves, tainting the great memories of previous albums. Very poor compared to the Human League's Secrets, Depeche Mode's Exciter & Sophie Ellis Bextor's Read My Lips.
5 out of 10
The problem with the Pet Shop Boys is that all their song and album titles are so spectacularly boring: Please, Actually, Behaviour, Disco, Very, Tedious, Interminable, Wry, Smirk, Release, ...... For a band that pay so much attention to presentation and being allegedly witty and observational, they let themselves down badly with such literal constipation. Why can't they title their albums like: "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Shagged Me" or "The Only Way Thru Your Heart Is Via The Back Entry" or "Slimus McPartus Tuttocks, It's Your Round Now Chrissy, Dear Boy!" or "We Like Getting Up People's Noses By Being So Deadpan And Dry But Really We Are Laughing At You All For Being So Gullible And Stupid, Cos We're So Much Smarter Than You, So There."
That reads much better, dont you reckon?? Words are FUN! USE THEM!!!! :D :D :D
pet shop boys!!! we,ll have no talk of pet shop boys round here please........................
Haha! True about the album titles ;)
I think the PSB posts are innevitable though as both bands have worked closely with each other in the past and Bernard is a PSB fan (probably of the older stuff) whilst Tennant is a huge New Order fan.
You must both like Electronic's Disappointed no? It's a classic track.
didnt care much for disappointed,the music on it wasn't as good as u would expect from electronic.it was their highest chart placing if i remember correctly,#7 or #8 i think.
Originally posted by Hubert Mickle The problem with the Pet Shop Boys is that all their song and album titles are so spectacularly boring: Please, Actually, Behaviour, Disco, Very, Tedious, Interminable, Wry, Smirk, Release, ......For a band that pay so much attention to presentation and being allegedly witty and observational, they let themselves down badly with such literal constipation. Why can't they title their albums like:"Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Shagged Me"or"The Only Way Thru Your Heart Is Via The Back Entry"or"Slimus McPartus Tuttocks, It's Your Round Now Chrissy, Dear Boy!"or"We Like Getting Up People's Noses By Being So Deadpan And Dry But Really We Are Laughing At You All For Being So Gullible And Stupid, Cos We're So Much Smarter Than You, So There."That reads much better, dont you reckon?? Words are FUN! USE THEM!!!!:D :D :D
Truly matey, you have taken the very words out of my mouth!!! (well, almost!). Spot on! The Pet Shop BORES more like.....Never ever understood how they became so much more successful than The Order..... 
Little known fact, but the name "Pet Shop Boys" was their second choice of name. "Boring Arses" wasn't thought to have that much of an appeal to the masses, and we know what suckers we are for little furry creatures
Originally posted by Zizou Zidane Little known fact, but the name "Pet Shop Boys" was their second choice of name. "Boring Arses" wasn't thought to have that much of an appeal to the masses, and we know what suckers we are for little furry creatures
No No No No No...... I believe Neil Tennant actually considered using the - more appropriate - name Ice Cream Bandits but then they discovered Stephen Morris already owned the rights to that one, (in fact they were thinking of calling their first single that instead of West End Girls, did you not know that?) hence their decision to go for a more neutral sounding moniker. Seeing as Chris used to live above - or was it beneath? - a Pet Shop - the name was duly chosen! Whoopee!!
I was surprised at how BORING and SLOW this CD is. However, London is the one very good track.
I saw them in concert last week! They sounded amazing. The new album is really mellow. So whenever they would play a new song, it would totally bring down the tempo and energy of the show. I've only listened to it a couple of times. Home & Dry and I Get Along are amazing songs. It sucks that they are the first two songs, cause the rest of the album is downhill from there.
Owning all the CDs released by the PET SHOP BOYS -that is the official ones and quite a few dodgy ones,i must agree with MR AFROPUFF that this is a very dull album apart from a couple of tracks.They are survivors just like NEW ORDER but i still think that INTROSPECTIVE is their finest hour. Rocket i want a dog Mick
I thought there was an off-topic list in this place. The Pet Shop Boys have precisely cock-all to do with New Order. I mean, each to his or her own but the sooner that the US fans realise that being a fan of New Order does NOT mean you automatically have to like the PSBs, The Cure or indeed a miriad of other has-beens that just happen to have existed around the same time as New Order or in the case of the aforementioned 2 bands - simply ripped off everything they ever did.
Originally posted by Steven Brotherdale I thought there was an off-topic list in this place. The Pet Shop Boys have precisely cock-all to do with New Order. I mean, each to his or her own but the sooner that the US fans realise that being a fan of New Order does NOT mean you automatically have to like the PSBs, The Cure or indeed a miriad of other has-beens that just happen to have existed around the same time as New Order or in the case of the aforementioned 2 bands - simply ripped off everything they ever did.
I would have thought the first Electronic album suggests there is at least a slight connection.
"I would have thought the first Electronic album suggests there is at least a slight connection."
...and not much more.
