Put me in the camp of people who had no clue that Pet Shop Boys were still around and making music. In fact since their first album in 1986 the longest stint they've gone without releasing an album is three years. Apparently I'm not the only person who thought they had long since disappeared as they have a song on this album called "Your Early Stuff." The song is obviously dealing with the fact that sense they got commissioned to do music for the London Olympics they have struggled with people saying things like "You've been around but you don't look to rough and I still like some of your early stuff. It's bad in a good way if you know what I mean . ." At best this is an odd album. The song "Your Early Stuff" doesn't really fit and neither does the music that they did for the London Olympics. If you remove those songs and "Your Early Stuff" you are left with a pretty mature and smart sounding synth-pop album. In other words classic and mature Pet Shop Boys.
So I would say make your own version of this album. It would look like this.
1. Leaving
2. Invisible
3. Face Like That
4. Breathing Space
5. Memory of the Future
6. Everything Means Something
7. Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin
Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.
Andrew Sullivan is a huge, huge Pet Shop Boys fan and he refers to their music a lot on his web page. He regularly tells us when they have a new album, and he says that ever since the 1980's, it has seemed as though the Pet Shop Boys were doing a soundtrack for his life.
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