Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental

I consider "Nightlife" an overlooked gem of sorts. Particularly "Boy Strange" is a great song.

Regarding their forthcoming album, I didn't notice the links upthread, but that track sounds very promising. I suppose there will be a bit of Neil Tennant in there, and the backing track is exactly what I was hoping for them to do now.

Geir and I agree. The world is a benevolent place.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Mental%20As%20Anything

http://www.mentals.com.au/mentals/

I'll guess a mostly instrumental thing like Samurai in Autumn, in which the title does not appear in the lyrics.

This statement is not an opinion I can respect in the slightest.

Obviously, you have no ears.

http://petshopboysinparis.free.fr/promogowest.jpg

It's not as easy as it was
or as difficult as it could be
for the Samurai in autumn

'fandago' is rather spot-on; their more recent material stands up as pretty good in general terms. It's only poor next to their formidable earlier career. Hopefully this album will be a return to those heights...

If Paddy is going to do more of the "I Travel The Megahrz" oddities, then he may as well stay away from the limelight for some more time. I would rather have a compilation of all the leftover material he made between 1990 and 1997 and never released.

-- Tom May

I was being rather more unkind than that re: the later material :(

agreed.
good job its on the new Disco 4 album then aint it.
though tis a shame they had to include the dreadful Killers on the album.

lol, I'm listening to this album at the moment and decided to look up this thread so I could talk about how nice it sounds (especially "Minimal") and noticed the restatement of my Introspective disdain

I have come around on "Left To My Own Devices"! I like that now!

I still hate "Domino Dancing" tho

I have come around on "Left To My Own Devices"! I like that now!

It only took you over two decades!

I still hate "Domino Dancing" tho

This may take two more decades.

I love the sound of Tennant's voice on "Minimal' – yearning but restrained. Minimal, you might say.

I absolutely fucking love this record. Over time this has grown into one of my favourite albums of theirs.

I can still scarcely believe it, but I saw them on this tour. It was great.

This thread went quiet late '06 when they were touring. Did anyone else happen to catch them live that year?

yeah i saw the Liverpool date with Client(!) supporting. Dreaming Of The Queen was a highlight.

I saw them on that tour too. I adore "Dreaming of the Queen" and it was a cool surprise, but I don't think it worked that well as a live song. I was really surprised how good "Shopping" was, though.

"Shopping" is a super underrated song

It sounded excellent on that tour, which was the best I've seen.

Pretty sure I saw this tour, but I liked the "Electric" tour a lot better. I think the sound was bad on the "Fundamental" local date. Too soft, too quiet. It had its moments, though.

Electric tour was great yeah. the Yes tour is the best i've ever seen them, went back to see it again i liked it so much.

I most vividly remember "It's a Sin," with that giant cube contraption transforming into a stormy cityscape. That seemed too perfect at the time.

Just found that my college paper writeup of the show is still online, believe it or not. I swear I was out to myself at the time but you wouldn't know it from some of the things I say.

Link or it didn't happen

I found my old review!

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-10-30/features/0610300141_1_sodom-and-gomorrah-show-tennant-and-lowe-west-end-girls

"Shopping" is a super underrated song

― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Thursday, August 6, 2015 12:37 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Completely OTM!

It's strange, Very is seen as the Pet Shop Boys peak, and I'd agree that pretty much everything the band did from Please to Very (including the B-sides) is excellent, yet I keep finding myself returning to Bilingual, Fundamental and Electric very regularly. Yes still gets quite a bit of play, too, although not as much as those three. Nightlife, Release and Elysium hardly ever get played.

No explanation required: Release and Elysium are their worst.

Yeah. I quite enjoy a couple of songs on both records - 'Leaving' and 'Home and Dry' in particular. But yeah, on the whole I find 'em to be quite boring/dull records really. Release probably being the more boring of the two, for me.

No explanation required: Release and Elysium are their worst.

It's more dramatic than that, because they are possibly their *only* truly disappointing records, which is some achievement.

Link or it didn't happen

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, August 6, 2015 4:15 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever? http://themacweekly.com/2006/11/we-are-still-the-pet-shop-boys/

I don't know why I felt the need to distance myself from my pleasure back then. I guess the show's become more significant in memory.

It's more dramatic than that, because they are possibly their *only* truly disappointing records, which is some achievement.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, August 6, 2015 10:31 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My thoughts back in 2002 whenever I heard 'I Get Along' come on the radio at work: "Why are the Pet Shop Boys trying to write an Oasis song?"

'Integral' may just be one of my favourite PSB songs of all time... seriously!

Love "Minimal". "I'm with Stupid" is underrated single, albeit tainted by that dreadful David Walliams video. If you ignore the first three songs (Psychological/Sodom/Excuses), it's a pretty good record. But even though it's not their worst record - in general I find it a bit cold, calculating, unlikable, immodest.

I saw the Yes tour twice, in Montreal (sober) and London (less sober) -- both were amongst the best shows I've seen. I vaguely knew one of the dancers and she introduced me to Chris after the London show. Didn't do much more than feebly shake his hand and say thanks, but it was a sort-of thrilling bucket-list-check moment.

I've never seen the video for 'I'm With Stupid', thankfully... love the first three songs on the album as much as the rest, 'The Sodom and Gomorrah Show' is great!

They're all probably fine songs but the sequencing is a bit off. "Psychological" seems a bit low-key for opening the record. "Fugitive" would have been great, though (it's on the extra CD).

when was the last time we ranked PSB albums?

I do it every four days.

When I saw the Electric tour in Boston (with sic!), they ended with Integral and I think I had an out-of-body experience

Here's the ranking for my current four-day cycle, from least good to most life-changing:

PopArt
Elysium
Format
Release
Nightlife
Fundamental
Yes
Relentless
Discos
Bilingual
Electric
Actually
Introspective
Very
Please
Alternative
Discography
Behaviour

I'm only including studio albums.

1. Behaviour
2. Very
3. Actually
4. Electric
5. Please
6. Introspective
7. Fundamental
8. Nightlife
9. Yes
10. Bilingual
11. Elysium
12. Release

The positions could all change except for Behaviour - I could basically be buried with that record.

Why do you rate PopArt so low?

studio albums, best to worst:

Actually
Please
Behaviour/Electric (tie)
Very
Nightlife
Fundamental
Yes
Bilingual
Release
Introspective
Elysium

If I included Alternative, that would be #1 pretty easily

Xpost

Great songs but sequencing is daft. The album mix of Flamboyant is incredible, though

You don't like Intorspective, Curious?

oh man

No, I do not. I never have. To this day, I feel that "Domino Dancing" is one of the gravest missteps a band has ever taken and its total horseshittiness doomed subsequent, far superior material to relative obscurity in the US. I think the club mix of "I Want A Dog" removes the deep house pathos that made the original b-side something special and haunting. I think the extended mix of "It's Alright" is a plodding, overcooked mess. I've grown to appreciate "Left to My Own Devices" but on first impression, it was a lyrical failure that featured some of Neil's ugliest singing. "I'm Not Scared" and "Always On My Mind" were okay but not okay enough to compensate for the myriad musical failures and terrible mix decisions that marred the rest of the songs on the album. It's a career lowpoint PSB would flirt with but not quite reach again until they made Elysium, the single worst album of their career and a hideous embarrassment to recorded music.

*popcorn.gif*

1. Please
2. Very
3. Fundamental
4. Electric
5. Bilingual
6. Introspective
7. Behaviour
8. Actually
9. Yes
10. Elysium
11. Nightlife
12. Release

Not sure if I said this in 2006 but the first promos of Fundamental had a different running order which I much preferred.

1. God willing
2. Minimal
3. The Sodom and Gomorrah Show
4. I’m with Stupid
5. Psychological
6. I made my excuses and left
7. Integral
8. Numb
9. Luna Park
10. Casanova in Hell
11. Twentieth Century
12. Indefinite leave to remain

That's so much better.

Nah, I'm happy with the way things turned out: 'Integral' needs to be the closer, it's perfect in that position.

M
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I
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A
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O
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btw I hate "Left To My Own Devices" again

Oh dear

Wow, of all the songs to hate.