Sunday, June 18, 2006

Fundamentally Sound

Amongst other things, I'm a Pet Shop boys fan; I've ben to several of their concerts, have all the albums (well, not the Further Listening 2 CD sets, I'll admit!) and most, if not all, the singles (including the Fan Club exclusive!)
So, although I had high hopes for the new album, "Fundamental" when it came out a month ago, I was concerned lest it turn out to be another "Release" which, to be brutally honest, left me lukewarm.
I had nothing to fear. "I'm With Stupid" the excellent first single is representative of a return to the sound most PSB fans love them for - electronics, multi-layered backing and touching, ascerbic and typically PSB style lyrics!
Personal stand outs are "Integral", the aforementioned "I'm With Stupid" and "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show" which not only show the band in their best light, they also show the hand of Trevor Horn, who produced the album.
This is not going to be a detailed, track-by-track review - you can get that elsewhere. All I'm going to say is - if you like PSB, you'll love this album; if you don't already like them, this might be the CD you've waited years to hear*.
(the link above goes to amazon.com who, at time of posting, are doing the 2 disc version - complete with guest vocalist Sir Elton John :) - for £8.99)

* apologies for the dismal paraphrase of a PSB single...

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