I don’t really buy the anti-Elysium party line. I liked Pet Shop Boys last album just fine and if they seemed a little grumpy, well, so be it. Once you hit your 50s you get grumpy and why shouldn’t. 11 albums into your career and not a dog in the lot, maybe you can get as pissy as you like.
Or do I mean 12? Elysium had a one two punch, “Winner” followed by “Your Early Stuff” that was so good it was easy to follow Neil Tenant and Chris Lowe the rest of the way. Put it down to another real good disco album from the band who, at least through the first five albums of their career, might have been the greatest band in the world. Sometimes it felt like that.
The difference between PSB and Kraftwerk, or even Daft Punk, is just how English PSB are. They don’t sound German or French, for all their technocratic drum machine bassline on a loop stuff, they don’t sound like Eurotrash: there is a have a cup of tea Queen motherdom about the band.
Once you get past “Axis” on their 12th album, Electric, it is there for all to see. The acerbic twistedness of “Love Is A Bourgeoisies Construct” the dreamy smartness of “Lost In a Dream”, the slash and dash synths behind and on top of Neil’s cool snarky vocal, it becomes very English.
And very Pet Shop Boys: the essence of Anglo disco 30 years after synth pop. It sounds like all other electronic disco, but with less bass and more brains. This is such overwhelmingly brainy stuff and it goes on for a couple of years and I bet I have more to say about it once I actually have it, though I think I’ll remain a Elysium fan first . BUT on the first listen:
Grade: B
You can stream it on Pandora.