I took a week off from the blog. Sometimes, it is just good to have a little break. Well, the past week I bought the Pet Shop Boys new album "Electric" and I wanted to listen to it for a few days before giving my review. As always, click on the song title to hear the track.
The album cover for "Electric."
The album starts with the track "Axis" that was a teaser single as the group made it available on iTunes first. You can read what I wrote about it by clicking on the song title.
The single cover artwork for "Axis."
The second track is the fun "Bolshy." Although it is mostly fun for its beats and saying "Bolshy-O" over and over. It's kinda mindless, and that is part of the charm.
Pet Shop Boys are Neil (Vocals) and Chris (Music).
Track 3 is the glorious "Love is a Bourgeios Construct." It has uplifting strings and lovely melody. The lyrics are quite clever. And it has that classic PSB feel to it. And even a male chorus that comes in at the oddest moments. I hope this is the next single. However, this clocks in at 6:42 so we definitely need a 4-minute radio edit. **Update! This is the next single!**
The fourth track is called "Fluorescent" and it is dark and groovy! And has some cords that remind you of the new wave sound without sounding retro at all.
"Inside a Dream" is the fifth track. And while being a good song, I think it might suffer from being right in the middle of the album as I don't think it is all that memorable. Having said that, I like it.
Track 6 is called "The Last to Die" and it is a remake of Bruce Springsteen song! Don't recognize it? Well, it was on Bruce's 2007 album called "Magic." I'm not sure what made the PSB to cover it. I think they did a good song. The lyrics seem a bit out of place for them, but oh well. It's more dance/pop than the original. You can listen to the original version here.
The seventh track is "Shouting in the Evening." And it has the honor of being the shortest track on the album as it clocks in at 3:36. It's aimed directly at the dancefloor and the pace is really picked up with this number. It's a good thing it is a short song, as it is rather relentless.
"Thursday" is Track 8. And a lot of people are hoping this is the next single and I wouldn't mind if it is. It features the British rapper/singer Example. And I loved his song "Kickstarts" from 2010. But this song is great. The music is foot tapper. And the lyrics and melody just come along so easily. It's really good. But at 5:03, we need a shorter radio edit.
The last track of the album is "Vocal." Technically, it is the second single. But I almost kinda view it as the first proper single. I first wrote about it here and then here when the video was released. There is a radio edit out there, but unfortunately the PSB haven't made it available for fans to buy. Hopefully soon, as the album version is 6:35 long!
The single artwork for "Vocal."
Overall, I think the album is good. After their album "Elysium" that came out last year, it is nice to have the beats back. I didn't even review the album last year because I wasn't all that impressed with it. However, it did have an amazing electro-chill track called "Invisible" and the main single last summer "Winner" came in at #17 in my favourite songs of 2012.
So while it is nice to have the beats back, I think some of the melodies that PSB are famous for are missing here. Well, perhaps not missing, but you have to get in and find them since most of the songs are 5+ and 6+ minutes long.
This album definitely has 3 stand-out tracks that make the album worth buying and they are "Vocal", "Love is a Bourgeios Construct" and "Thursday."
If you like dance music and dance beats. You'll like this. I can't wait to see them in concert for the very first time in October! Yay!
Cheers then,
—Davearama
P.S. Now we just need the Pet Shop Boys to collaborate with Bananarama.
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