Pet Shop Boys -- Super (another Stuart Price production)

Out April 1. Tracklisting:

01 Happiness
02 The Pop Kids
03 Twenty-something
04 Groovy
05 The dictator decides
06 Pazzo!
07 Inner sanctum
08 Undertow
09 Sad robot world
10 Say it to me
11 Burn
12 Into thin air

And here's "Inner Sanctum"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNLkcOqQSBM

"Inner Sanctum" has to be less a single, more a killer album track.

That single low piano note around 2:10. The whole song, holy moly.

Pretty great, though not unlike "Axis."

I almost feel we have a good pre-covers opportunity (let's make lots of songs) here.

So excited for this. Hope it's as good as Electric.

I've decided that Sad Robot Day is my favourite song on the album.

I almost feel we have a good pre-covers opportunity (let's make lots of songs) here.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, January 21, 2016 3:43 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Let's do this! I would be on board.

Oh, nice! I was was wondering when we'd get some further information on this album. I'm undoubtedly looking forward to it, especially since Electric came out so well. Agree with Ned that 'Inner Sanctum' sounds more like an album track than a single, but I still like it a great deal.

Am I the only one who's reminded of Age Of Love ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct_5jJV80dw

I almost feel we have a good pre-covers opportunity (let's make lots of songs) here.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, January 21, 2016 3:43 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Let's do this! I would be on board.

― daavid, Thursday, January 21, 2016 4:17 PM (2 hours ago)

cosign

I liked Electric and like this track too. But this, and Electric, feel a little...unambitious. Feels like it's the easiest route to not disappointing anyone to make an album of dancefloor bangers that could really have been recorded anytime in the last 20 years. IMO the (non-early period) Pet Shop Boys are better when they are trying on a different sound - Bilingual, Fundamental. Maybe we won't see anything surprising from them again?

They're old! It's enough that they keep listening to new collaborators.

I was listening to "Integral", "Electricity" and "Minimal" on my commute in and I don't think there's as wide a gulf between that work and them in Electric/Super mode as you are making it seem.

Okay, stupid to grumble. Makes it sound like I like my PSB albums to be patchy, which is not true. Electric was solid.

I don't think it's an invalid criticism; I just don't process their music that way.

Like, most of what they've released in the past 20 years falls in either the "dance track" bucket or the "adult contemporary" bucket, and their most adult-contemporary album was Elysium, which is a direction I really, really hope they avoid for the rest of their career, so those are the terms I'm mapping onto your statement (particularly when Fundamental has IMO a ton of dancey stuff on it).

That Elysium was a deflated, resigned, sodden mess made avoiding future PSB albums in that vein in the future.

And, to a lesser degree, Release, though it gets some love. But then just a few days ago I heard "Your Early Stuff" played in a bar and got a lot of pleasure from it!

Yeah it was well rubbish

"Your Early Stuff" is probably the most deflated, resigned, sodden mess the PSB's ever recorded.

Elysium was blatantly a contract-ender; they already knew they'd be doing an album of ALL BANGERS next for the first release on their own label (it was originally going to come out less than a year later), and before Electric was finished Neil was saying they aimed to do another JLC collab next.

working with jacques lu cont doesn't constitute listening to new collaborators imo.

these are easily one of my favourite bands but i can't even be sure how many recent albums i've ignored due to the certainty they can't compare to their best work.

Electric is their third-best album.

album of the decade

I want to pre-cover PSB!

Ha, retro-trance. I knew it was inevitable.

Yeah it's not so much "Age Of Love" as "Cafe Del Mar" it reminds me of. Having heard this, I'm looking forward to this album in a different way from how I would normally look forward to a Pet Shop Boys album.

Ah right, pre-covers! Sorry everyone, let me get on that...

We are live, claim your tracks:

ILX Pre-Covers Pet Shop Boys' "Super"

So, the official first single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JF3Gj8U0YA

I think it's kind of a mess. The music's alright (I wonder if they've been listening to Alex Anwandter) but there's something a about Stuart Price's production that leaves me cold (this is a problem that I also have with Electric, BTW).

The real problem, though has to do with Tennant's out-of-place vocals ...and lyrics (that first verse is a mess)! And the chorus isn't much better. Yet, I could see the whole thing working with another singer. If It was up to me I would keep the backing track, the melody, and change everything else.

I have a feeling I will enjoy the pre-covers album more than "Super" itself. Let's see.

Hmm, I don't agree. The strength of his voice grabbed me on first listen.

Counterpoint: I loved this on first listen. It sounded to me like a dayglo reworking of "Being Boring" with the melancholy tied to the memory rendered as implicit rather than explicit. After I first heard it, I played it 3 times on repeat while getting ready to leave the house.

He's sounded better on the last two albums than he has in years.

Also sounded amazing live.

Yeah, I fucking love this. Vocals and production sound more than fine to me.

Love this song. I can't believe the difference between this and the tired sounding album they put out just four years ago. It's so great to have them properly back.

This is a very personal opinion but I've progressively gone from absolutely loving Tennant's vocals to absolutely hating them. To the point of thinking they are embarrassingly bad. And by this I mean I still love them in the old stuff and hate them in the new stuff. But that's just me.

Well IMO one of his most embarrassing performances is "Domino Dancing" and ppl generally are all over that nonsense so my take is that everyone has their own unique relationship with his voice

I like that most of you are reacting positively, because I love the PSB so much. But on the other hand, what is wrong with you, people??? ;)

Lol, DJP, you had to bring up "Domino Dancing", didn't you?

I'd like to hear Madonna cover this one.

xp: well duh

All day, all day!

But yeah, that I'd take this over the majority of Elysium or Release goes without saying, it seems to me that they're carrying on from where they left off with Electric, which is absolutely fine by me because that album was fucking great.

Sorry, LOVE this.

This is excellent!

Can Stuart Price produce the next New Order album, please?

just amazing, their best single since I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore IMO.

I *love* Domino Dancing.

yeah, I'm not feeling this... "cold" is the right word.

I liked the intro, but the verse and chorus didn't do much for me - pretty bland compared to most of the songs from Electric. It's the kind of song I could see enjoying in the album but not as a first single. I don't think Neil's voice has gotten any worse over time though, it's the best part about this song!

This is SO GOOD

Needs a Sarah Cracknell version too

with the melancholy tied to the memory rendered as implicit rather than explicit.

This is a lovely observation btw

Listening again, love it. My favourite single since "Before".

There could be a whole album of early/mid-90s artists (Robbie Williams et al.) covering this song.

Listening again, love it. My favourite single since "Before".

― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, February 23, 2016 8:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wouldn't say it's their best single since 'Before' myself, particularly as Electric had the wonderful 'Love Is a Bourgeois Construct' on it, but I still really like this a lot after countless plays. Part of me, though, is hoping that there are bigger and better highlights to come.

I want to draw so many lines back to Behaviour with "The Pop Kids"; not only is it a thematic successor to "Being Boring" but I keep hearing it as a musical cousin to "So Hard"/"The End of the World" (with heavy lifts from "It's Alright" but that breaks my thesis so I'm pretending they don't exist, ha)

I hear the "The End of the World," especially the tone of quiet dread.

I forgot about "Bourgeois"! So good. And "Thursday" too. But I like this better.

It's not really a single (I think it was put into limited release for Record Store Day?) but "Fluorescent" is the song on Electric I keep going back to the most, followed by "The Last To Die"

Some of their best songs from the last couple of albums were never released as singles unfortunately.
"Here", "Fugitive", "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show", "All Over the World", "The Way It Used to Be", "This Used to Be the Future", would all have made better singles than most of what was chosen.
I mean "Numb", really ?

"Numb" was a total cash-in on the World Cup tbf

'Integral' should have been a huge hit.

I'm listening to Yes for the 3rd time this week, it's pretty great isn't it? Like maybe a tiny step below Very, IMO of course

IYO

By the way, how dumb is it that Yes didn't name their 2011 album Pet Shop Boys? What an opportunity wasted...

Yes is a bit of a mixed bag and a step down from Fundamental for me. There's some great stuff on there like Love etc, More Than a Dream and The Way It Used To Be which are some of the best songs they've done since Very. There's a decent of songs that are pleasant but I can never really remember that well, King of Rome, Did You See Me Coming?, Legacy, Building a Wall etc. Beautiful People and Pandemonium are really bad and seem like the direction that they continued on for Elysium.

Oh and This Used To Be the Future should have been in on the proper album. Amazing song.

I still think 'Love etc.' is fantastic, but Yes is one of those records I don't return to very often. I like it more than Elysium, Release and Nightlife, but it doesn't even come close to touching Bilingual, Fundamental or Electric, IMO.

I find Yes about as uneven as Bilingual. I'd have a hard time deciding between those two if I were to rank their albums. Out of all the albums since Very, Electric is by far my favourite followed by Fundamental.

I'm hoping Super can be a similar level to Electric as I'd love them to follow a great album with one that's equally good. I don't think they've done that since Very followed Behaviour.

Bilingual has grown on me massively over the last couple of years, it was just an album that was in the awkward position of being the follow-up to Very and had a song order which didn't really showcase the songs in the best possible way. Song for song though, I think it's leagues ahead of Yes.

Descending order:

Fundamental
Electric
Nightlife
Bilingual

don't rate the rest except for salvaged tracks

Yes has "Love Etc" and "The Way It Used to Be," the dreary Release has "You Choose," "Home and Dry," that Eminem song, and a wonderful B-side called "Sexy Northerner."

I adore "Home and Dry" so much

for me it takes off when Chris drops in the WE'RE GOIN HOME bit, sounding like he's got a cold. I love his bit in "Thursday" too.

Yeah, 'Home and Dry' is one of my favourites too. It absolutely towers over the rest of that record, IMO.

I freely admit that a lot of my fondness for Release as an album lies in how much goodwill I give the rest of the songs due to their proximity to "Home and Dry"

I'm listening to Bilingual now for the first time in months and it's really hitting the spot... 'Discoteca' sounded as wonderful as ever, and apart from the ill-advised decision to put 'Metamorphosis' and 'Electricity' so close together and so early on in the album, it sounds very much like a strong PSB album to me. I can understand in some ways why it's not an album everyone likes, but I think it's an unfairly criticised record sometimes.

If I made a compilation of PSB's post-Very highlights, I'd put 'Up Against It' on there in a heartbeat. What a fucking song.

I think I'd put Release as my least favourite PSB album. The two singles are ok but they'd be close to the bottom if I ranked all their singles. The Samurai In Autumn is the only album track I really have any time for. Having said that, it doesn't have anything as awful as Winner, Give It a Go or Hold on,

"Winner" has the exact opposite effect on the rest of Elysium for me than I get from "Home and Dry"/Release; I dislike the song so much that it drags the rest of the album down for me even though there are a couple I like in isolation ("Ego Music", "A Face Like That")

Hmm. 'Winner' isn't my least favourite song on the record, I think there's a hell of a lot worse on there, which I guess says a lot about the record.

I really like 'Leaving', though, and I have a soft spot for 'Ego Music' which isn't a great song but I enjoy Neil's performance on it and the lyrical theme of it.

"Leaving" is good enough that I forget it comes from Elysium, lol

Elysium was a sad record. I thought they were done.

To be quite honest with you, I actually thought the same. Electric turned out so well that I keep forgetting how low my expectations were for it!

Release has some other high points - I think London and Love is a Catastrophe are both pretty delightful.

Also rep for the opening three on Nightlife - amazing.

Leaving is a great song. I'm sure I liked a few other songs too but looking at the tracklisting, I can't remember which ones.

I really like Nightlife. I Don't Know What You Want and You Only Tell Me are both in my top 10 PSB singles. Love the Kylie duet too despite it being a little clumsy.

I love Nightlife a lot and agree that the opening salvo is breathtaking

I know that Nightlife has its fans, and those fans tend to really, REALLY like the record, but it has so far failed to grow on me. It's really frustrating, actually, because I'd really like to enjoy it like others seem to. It seems to be one of those records that there's no real consensus over - there's people who adore that record and others that could easily live without it.

"Yes" is a pretty good album but my expectations for it were ridiculously high considering how much I loved everything Xenomania was doing at the time. It is no exaggeration to say it's been my most anticipated album ever, by any artist. Disappointment was inevitable, but it does have some solid tracks.

"The Way It Used To Be" is probably my favorite PSB song of the past 10 or 15 years.

"Love etc." would have been perfect if it wasn't for that first verse. I don't know how it got past Brian Higgins, should've been vetoed immediately.

do you mean the "I believe that we can achieve" bit? I love it. He sounds like a lover using corporate jargon (hence the title).

No, no, I love that bit too!

I'm referring to the melody of "Boy, it's tough getting on in the world when the sun doesn't shine and a boy needs a girl..."

Also the lyrics are not great either.

I don't have a problem with that melody at all. In fact, I think 'Love etc.' is perfect as it is and there's literally nothing I'd change about it!

Melody is great, and a playful leadup to the bass melody of the chorus; lyrics are nothingy

So, I'm giving Nightlife another try tonight, and it's still not happening, really. I like 'I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore' and 'You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk', but I would put neither up there with their strongest singles, and I like the production on 'Boy Strange' and the sweeping chords on 'In Denial'... The rest is striking me as ranging from "dull" ('Vampires', 'Radiophonic', 'The Only One') to execrable ('Closer To Heaven', 'Happiness Is An Option', 'New York City Boy')

You didn't mention "Boy Strange" or "Footsteps."

'Boy Strange' is one of my highlights of the record - I love the production on it, the way that it moves from the acoustic-led verses into the lightly psychedelic choruses. 'Footsteps', I'd place in the "dull" pile (it doesn't really do an awful lot for me) and 'For Your Own Good' isn't too bad, but I don't really think there's much of a song there, even if there's some nice production touches.

Overall, though, I'm left with the same impression I've always had about Nightlife, in that I feel the songwriting isn't really that strong. I genuinely think that Bilingual is a far stronger collection of songs, even if the track order isn't the greatest they could have come up with and even though I can understand why the style of the record might not be for everyone.

I guess that for me, Nightlife and Release represent the first big "dip" in the PSB discography, which they managed to climb out of with Fundamental, before dipping again with Yes and Elysium before miraculously recovering a second time with Electric. I'm hoping that Super represents a continuation of the quality of Electric rather than the beginning of another dip, but I feel confident that they'll never make another record as bad as Elysium.

I'm very happy with Disco 3 and not revisiting the other 2000+ ones.

Which isn't even knocking the other ones, just that I'm completely happy with Disco 3 song for song.

Elysium is the only record without anything worth saving; even if Super sucks it will still have "Pop Kids"

I dunno, I think 'Leaving' is a keeper, and I have a soft spot for 'Ego Music', but yeah, I'm happy to forget about the rest!

"I'm Happy to Forget the Rest" is a good song idea/concept.

this is probably as much to do with my age as anything else, but I always thought of Bilingual as being the last album from their 'classic' period, or at least the last album where they were seen as a contemporary act, with everything from Nightlife onward a 'late-period' album. I'm surprised whenever I'm reminded that Nightlife was released only three years after Bilingual, I remember Nightlife being very much sold as a comeback record at the time? Bilingual is wonderful anyway, I'm surprised that so many people seem to think that it's one of their weakest.

Agreed. Bilingual felt like a followup whereas Nightlife felt as it were released 7900 years later.

Yeah, that's pretty much the way I saw it too. I seem to remember 'Se A Vida E' being everywhere in 1996, whereas by the time of Nightlife they seemed to be struggling commercially. I think Radio 1 were even no longer playlisting their singles by then?

Look at their American chart positions too.

I think that 'Se A Vida E' was the last of their big iconic hits, the ones that would probably be remembered by a majority of random people stopped in the street (looking at the UK chart placings 'You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk' actually reached the same position - they both got to #8 - but I don't think it had anything like the amount of radio play or general ubiquity of 'Se A Vida E')

(that said, although people remember 'Se A Vida E' I'm not sure that they remember it was a Pet Shop Boys song? I don't really have anything to back back this up, but I get the impression that people would be less likely to associate the song with the PSBs than their other best remembered hits, say 'West End Girls', 'Opportunities', 'Always On My Mind' and 'Go West'? maybe because they don't appear in the video?)

According to Wiki, Se a Vida was a considerable European hit.

More people here know "New York City Boy" than "Se A Vida E". It was a genuine hit in Canada.

looking at the UK chart placings 'You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk' actually reached the same position - they both got to #8 - but I don't think it had anything like the amount of radio play or general ubiquity of 'Se A Vida E'

As I remember it, it didn't... nowhere near! Apart from one TV performance of 'You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk' I actually don't recall hearing any Nightlife single on radio or TV, whereas 'Se A Vida E' was in regular rotation on radio and on MTV Europe etc. Weirdly, I remember 'I Get Along' and 'Home and Dry' getting far more radio play than any Nightlife single, although not to the extent of 'Se A Vida E' ...

I remember being so shocked when You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk went in at number eight. I'm not sure I'd even heard it before it charted (I didn't have the album until a few years after). Think it just did well as sales were low in those first few weeks of the new year. The previous two singles scraped into the top 15 after a decent amount of exposure.

The single was one of the most widely played records on UK radio in 1996 and its video set in a water park was shown on both MTV and VH1 on a regular basis that summer.

It was the second single to be lifted from the album Bilingual, which saw the duo take on a Latin influence as a reaction to the Britpop explosion that was prevalent at the time.

In the US, the single was released by Atlantic Records in April 1997 with "To Step Aside" as a double A-side. Thirteen mixes of the track were commissioned and spread over various formats, several of them promotional only. The single did not chart in the States, but following its success in the UK it became a major success all over Europe.

It was the second single to be lifted from the album Bilingual, which saw the duo take on a Latin influence as a reaction to the Britpop explosion that was prevalent at the time.

Yeah, I remember them talking about this in interviews at the time, and it did sound (and was) very apart from the whole Britpop thing that was going on then, but it still didn't prevent it from being a hit.

'Before', on the other hand, I seem to remember not being particularly well-received, even though it eventually went Top 10.

So, there's a new b-side out there apparently! I haven't heard it yet, though!

There's (I think) 7 mixes of The Pop Kids, plus In Bits and One Hit Wonder. Something else?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaBUT6Jx8eM

It's on Spotify too.

WHERE IS MY ADVANCE COPY

Ooh, new Chris Lowe interview at The Quietus too!

Apparently, this record is supposed to be a follow on from Electric and then they're planning to make another album with Price which is to be more in their ballad-heavy mode.

I'm sure no one will agree with this but

"The Pop Kids" < "In Bits"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLPP0nAJxBo

I love everything about Happiness.

That is some straight-up EDM, but... I like it?

if that were made by anyone but the Pet Shop Boys I would have turned it off after 45 seconds...

Yeah probably.

CHRIS: that were made by anyone but the Pet Shop Boys I would have turned it off after 45 seconds...

NEIL: Yeah probably.

first part of a 4 hour (!) docu series starting as we speak

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b073qwf8

Wow -- they actually (heh) discuss songs ("Violence," "Two Divided by Zero," "Kings Cross").

wow shit yeah, and Young Offender!

I haven't heard any of that documentary yet, but haven't they talked about those songs in detail a million times before? At this stage, I'm more interested in how the songs take shape musically and their methods of building up a track in the studio than I am about what the songs are about or the inspirations for the lyrics.

You can read that in the liner notes of the 2001 reissues.

Next part on now!

Actually laughed out loud when Chris started talking about 'Hold On' ... "The fans didn't appreciate the effort that went into this, because the fans don't like this do they? That's why they're wrong. Where they're wrong."

I wondered if they might address how much people hated Winner and that record in general. Couldn't believe they picked Hold On, terrible song.

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/musicians-richard-marx-chris-lowe-neil-tennant-and-billy-idol-pose-in-picture-id117056640

Well, put it this way: how many times have you ever heard PSB slag off one of their albums? Or even, apart from the odd B-side, one of their songs?

Chris did on the documentary. He doesn't rate So Hard and thinks it spoils the flow of Behaviour. I'm sure I read they're not that keen on Red Letter Day too.

That opinion on So Hard is complete and utter madness

Definitely. It's probably in mt top five PSB songs. As for it spoiling the flow of the album, wouldn't How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously be a similar problem for him?

They're barking mad about Elysium, which sounds as tentative and wan as ever.

highlight of part 2 was Neil bursting into I Have Confidence from The Sound Of Music and Chris pissing himself. i don't know of 2 bandmates who can make each other laugh so much or appear to get on so well.

Yeah, 'So Hard' is one of my favourites and I don't think it spoils the flow of Behaviour at all, and I think their "issue" with 'A Red Letter Day' is more in the recording rather than the song itself, but it's very rare you'll hear them slag off their work. If anything, they (particularly Neil) get really defensive about their post-Very work.

Oh come on, Chris takes the piss out of literally everything they do, especially when Neil takes himself too seriously.

(Having said that - a friend of mine was a backing dancer during the Yes tour. Apparently the Boys got fairly miffed when the dancers all openly slagged off Winner after it was first played to them.)

well, how can you dance to that drivel?

So, this definitely isn't as good as Electric. Anyone else heard it yet?

This album has exceeded my expectations so far. I'd say the only thing still bothering me is Price's "cold" production. I know it's not a good word to describe it, but I can't think of a better one atm. I think probably any other producer would have done a better job. I wonder how good this could've been in the hands of Greg Kurstin, for instance.

This one's my favorite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J50nLCeTHIk&index=10&list=PLxFN5K79aSHDQYsre_8b_nQW2Mvru_waR

A couple of tracks excepted, this is smashing. I love "Twenty-Something" and "Groovy."

I still haven't heard it yet, but what I've read/heard about it seems to be mostly positive.

So, having my first listen to this now... the intro to 'Twenty-Something' sounds like it could soundtrack a 16-bit side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game from the early '90s...

like "Young Offender"?

Ha, yeah!

I'm not too far into the album yet, but one thing that's striking me so far is that I don't think this record sounds as good as Electric production-wise.

I was not expecting "Sad Robot World" to sound like an Air pastiche

This has been growing on me a lot over the last few days. Pazzo and Groovy are a bit throwaway but I'm enjoying the rest. The Dictator Decides is my current favourite. Brilliant lyrics. I really love Undertow too. The chorus reminds me so much of New Order.

"The Dictator Decides" reminds me of "Hairstyle Of The Devil" by Momus.

Oh yeah, that's a great comparison.

I cannot get Happiness out of my head. I just keep repeating "it's it's it's it's it's it's" over and over to myself.

Gave it a first listen tonight -- I like it but it feels like more of a grower than Electric. But that said I'm also glad they didn't simply do Electric Part 2.

Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too. I'm having a second listen to it now and it's sounding a little better than the first listen. Unsure at this stage at where I would rank it in PSB's discography... but I will say that at the moment I'm not feeling it as much as Electric, Fundamental or even Bilingual. It may grow on me further, though.

It pains me to say it, but I'm thinking at this stage that I'd rate this album roughly about the same as Yes.

you need more you need more

I like it about as much as Nightlife. I definitely prefer it to Yes.

Yeah, after another couple of listens to this I'm fairly comfortable with ranking this one about the same as Yes, in that I'd rank it higher than Nightlife, Release and Elysium, but it doesn't touch Bilingual, Fundamental or Electric. There's some brilliant moments on Super, but I was expecting a little more from the production this time around because Price did such a wonderful job on Electric. I'm also getting a kinda weird hollow feeling from this record. Here's hoping the next one, which is meant to be ballad-heavy, is a bit of a better effort.

I'm rating this as marginally better than "Yes" and a significant improvement over "Electric," which didn't do much for me (I know I'm in the minority here).

I hope someone talks them out of a ballad album.

I only realised recently that the second half of Yes really isn't that strong. The Way It Used To Be is probably my favourite song they've done in the last fifteen years but apart from that, it just passes me by.

Yeah, a ballad album doesn't excited me at all.

Well, it depends on the ballads for me. If it's stuff like "Always" or "The Crying Game" I'm down. If they're more "Numb" or "Winner," no thank you.

My review: http://www.spin.com/2016/04/review-pet-shop-boys-super/

Nice review, Alfred. And I agree about "Undertow," the only track I'm not feeling immediately.

I'm with daavid upthread, I like "In Bits" quite a bit and wish it was an album track.

But yeah, early (first listen) impressions: this is really good!

Loving this album very much lately :)

I haven't felt compelled to listen to it since those first listens, whereas with Electric I found it hard to not play it. I'm not saying they've made a complete dud this time around, but I don't feel much of a connection to it either.

I think I like it better than the last album.

No "Thursday" on this album, alas.

The Pop Kids is the only song that is of the same quality of Thursday, Vocal and Fluorescent but I am enjoying Super a lot. I still think Groovy and Pazzo could have been left off. I ended up loving every song on Electric, even Bolshy.

I really wish "The Dictator Decides" had more hints of it being a relationship allegory because it's nearly perfect otherwise.

Did someone already post this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USOSo67Trn8

https://twitter.com/empiresend/status/718493856065527809

Jerk.

Well, finally tried to listen to this one all the way through, and it's pretty dire. The music is great, but the lyrics are hard-to-take, and feel especially shoehorned-in. A couple of good mostly-instrumental tracks, though.

^^^ dictator has decided to terminate your life

Death by eye-rolling at horrible lyrics!

Lyrics are fine, exceptional in the case of "The Pop Kids." More importantly, I can dance to this thing.

McNabb tweeted this back in February as well: https://twitter.com/empiresend/status/702868868126154752

did Tennant once give the Icicle Works a bad review in Smash Hits or something?

a truth seeker

Yeah, I've gone cold on this one pretty quickly, it seems :(

xxpost - what a twat!

Who in their right mind could possibly dislike Neil Tennant.

McNabb appears to be a massive cunt if you check out his social media posts

Fall tour:
http://petshopboys.co.uk/tour

I'll have to give this another listen to see if I can get into it a little more.

And the video for "Twentysomething" is out, and it's marvelous.

Well fucking hell, this is sounding absolutely marvellous to me this go-round!

told you!

Alright, alright...I'll give it another spin!

It does run a teeny bit out of steam towards the end, IMO, but the first five tracks or so are a great run, I think. May actually grow on me further!

Apt choice of adverb.

'The Pop Kids', 'The Dictator Decides', 'Groovy', 'Twenty Something' and 'Undertow' are all marvellous, I think, but the only one I didn't really enjoy was 'Sad Robot World', and maybe 'Pazzo!' could have been left off. But this go-round pretty much confirmed to me that I'm not done with this record yet.

"Burn" has become the one I've listened to most.

I love it how the beginning of the vocal melody to 'The Dictator Decides' reminds me of 'Love Goes On!' by The Go-Betweens. It's got me thinking that these guys would do a wonderful cover of a Go-Betweens song.

Hehe, yeah, that synth riff on 'Burn'! It's not too hard to imagine '80s PSB coming up with that.

I agree! A lot of the album reminds me of vintage PSB in a good way.

Looking forward to finally seeing them in October. That took me long enough. (But I felt better when Tom Ewing admitted he's still never seen them either!)

Yeah, I'm hoping to finally see them on this tour too. I was hoping for a Minnesota date but they're coming close enough.

Ned - I'm going to the Fox show in October. I saw them back in like 93 in Boston - amazing theatrical show...

I've been playing this album a lot this week and even with the Air pastiche in the middle, theres a noticeable euphoric lift starting at Inner Sanctum

isn't "Burn" awesome?

I'm increasingly agreeing with Alfred that someone should talk 'em out of making their next record ballad-heavy. As much as I love a lot of PSB ballads, knowing that PSB still stick up for Elysium is enough to make me worried that their next album will be like that, rather than, say, Behaviour. Nobody wants that!

If they want it, they should do it. You or I don't have to listen to it, and they're under no illusions as to how many more people want bangers than Elysia.

Well I hope to be pleasantly surprised by whatever they do next, and if they manage to pull off a great ballad-heavy album, then I'd be the last to complain - I'm not optimistic, though.

Just saw their first of two nights here in the Bay Area -- and I finally see them after thirty years of being a fan! That took me long enough.

I was there too! What a light show!

Really lovely. Pretty much a case where a band is well-seasoned, knows how to make a show work when they're mostly static themselves on static and has the money for it.

Was it just the two of them, two plus dancers, two plus band? I've seen them a few times and I think the best have been the Boys plus dancers, worst (or most disappointing) with musicians.

My dullest show was in 2002 for the Release show: they sat on stools, Tennant strumming a guitar.

No dancers, though the three backing musicians did accompany Neil on a couple of gently choreographed stage moves, sometimes wore masks or costume elements, etc. It did work very well, though! They provided a number of striking moments during the whole thing -- one of my favorites was the one in the middle (didn't fully catch her name at the end -- Christine something) who plays violin, and did the fanfare melody of "Love is a Bourgeois Construct." Absolutely perfect extra element to totally send that song.

"Release" was a full band, iirc. Nightlife had ... a set and dancers? Fundamental tour had a sorta-band and ... movable cubes? Last tour, behind Electric, was my fave, minimal, cool lights, and just the two dancers.

Obviously I can't directly compare it to experiences from previous tours (sadly) but I was impressed how they included the early/inevitable hits without having them dominate the show. (And they didn't play all of them either!). The spacing out of cuts from the 90s/00s was pretty sharp -- nothing from Behaviour but one from every album since then.

I suppose my other two key takeaways were how Neil works a crowd (juuuust indulging himself as he goes) and that if you took him out of the context and outfits he essentially looks like an old Tory grandee now. I suspect he was thrilled when he finally didn't have to worry about his hair any more.

Too many hits to play. A bit too much of the current album (which isn't my fave) imo. However, they should have ended the show with Burn! Perfect sentiment to end a show.

Weirdly, they ended the show with a cover (Go West - Bay Area crowd-pleaser, to be fair), and then ended the encore with a cover (Always On My Mind). Both are good, but I would have preferred to end on an original.

Also, no Being Boring, which was too bad, but again - too many choices!

I saw them at the Orpheum in Boston for the Performance Tour (1991), which was amazing and over-the-top (they even wrote an overture for the show!). This show wasn't as nuts as that, but I still had a good time.

Can't believe there aren't a ton of Burn remixes...

I haven't much listened to the album since reviewing it in April, but "Burn" has remained lodged in my head, including the end of last week. It and "The Pop Kids" are the keepers.

It's weird how "Burn" doesn't stick in my mind as much as it should. Maybe a relisten or two.

Taking my daughter tonight for her birthday (like she knows the PSB from Adam, ha ha). Should be a blast as always. I can't wait for her to go to school on Monday and brag about it to her equally clueless friends.

I listened to this album again yesterday after not hearing it for a while, and 'Burn' struck me as being a clear highlight. This album has grown on me a hell of a lot.

Great show. My daughter went to a last minute sleepover so missed out. At the same time, about 2/3rds of the way through this little old dude on some sort of drug showed up in the row in front of me and spent the remainder of the show reacting to every song like he never ever expected the PSB to play it ("OMG, 'It's a Sin'!!!!!!"), hugging everyone, kissing the hands of ladies around him and otherwise being a distracting jackass. That and these three hulking Euro bros who spent the whole show hopping from empty seat to empty seat, bro-ing it up, bummed me out a bit.

"Burn" rules a lot

Burn, The Pop Kids, Happiness, Undertow and The Dictator Decides are the highlights for me. Super definitely isn't as consistent as Electric which is an album I'm still playing a lot, but it's a good mid-level Pet Shop Boys album. I'd put it on a similar level to Bilingual and Nightlife.

Yes to all the above, plus 'Twenty-Something' ... I'd rank it above Nightlife but below Bilingual (which has become one of my favourite albums of theirs)

I think "Sad Robot World" is incredibly charming.

WE'RE GONNA BURN THIS DISCO DOWN
TIL THE MORNING COMES

Ah yeah, and 'Groovy'!

GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVY!

Look at me
Look at me

I pretty much like everything on this album apart from 'Say It To Me' ... surely they must be doing some work on the follow-up now?

06 Pazzo!
07 Inner sanctum
08 Undertow

^^ really into these three as a suite

I thought this album was very underrated. I like it just as much as Electric. "Say It To Me" > "Burn" > "Into Thin Air" is also a great trio.

Good remix, if not radically changed from the original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WdjldHlSI8

They should have another album out next year, surely?