PRETTY GOOD, ACTUALLY - Pet Shop Boys - Yes, Reviewed

It could have been as late as 2001 with Miss Kitten, or maybe earlier in 1999, with Basement Jaxx, but somewhere around 2000, a subtle shift occurred in dance music tastes - not that it was ever a homogenous entity to begin with – certainly not at the time anyway. That shift, was the return to an appreciation of ‘proper’ song structures in the mainstream of dance music, a move away from the linearity of trance, or the abstractness of drum ‘n bass or ambient. Anyone care to hum an ambient track a decade on? Let alone name one!

Thought not…

A return to melody then; to narrative, and of course, a rejection of the faceless techno and ‘big beat’ sample-based mayhem that the nineties had spawned.

This “electro-pop” revival was dubbed ‘electroklash’ by the UK music press and its impact is still being heard on indie-dance bands from Cut Copy to LCD Soundsystem, from the Knife to the Klaxons. Soon enough, pop songs began to be sung by the club kids again, at the tops of their lungs. Just as they should.

It took another decade however for the Pet Shop Boys to get with the program again and ditch the guitar affected melancholy of albums like 2002’s RELEASE or the pretentiousness of BATTLESHIP POTEMPKIN and\or FUNDAMENTAL. Ten years to go back to their roots of good old fashioned Euro-disco, circa 1984-1986, and then some…

Yes? Heck! What took you so long?

Of course the Pet Shop Boys have always dabbled in a bit of disco now and then, but for some reason the boys have neglected to fuse penmanship and beats since NIGHTLIFE, that’s ten long years of deprivation for the likes of yours truly!

Sensing the time was ripe in 2008, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe looked to Girls Out Loud producers and songwriters Xenomania for an altogether more upbeat and adventurous production. And thank god for that, for what we have in Yes, is nothing less than eleven (almost) perfect pop songs. Songs I finally have in my hands.

From the opener of “Love etc.” one knows immediately that one is in capable hands. The simple swing of a plucked rolling synthesizer is suddenly fresh, more minimal than anything they have done before and lyrically the antithesis of “Paninaro” or “Shopping”. A sign of the times – realistic, optimistic and altruistic – a goodbye to ‘bling’ indeed.

Next up is the Nutcracker Suite inspired “All over the world”, a triumphant romp in the vein of Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) off BILINGUAL. Arguably too short, like the next track “Beautiful People”, perhaps it will be remixed into something more ambitious? Anyhow, both tracks are the closest PSB come to filler on this album – just like the ‘80s I suppose.

From a musical perspective “Did you see me coming?” is a standard Pet Shop Boys (read gay) anthem, although this time a lot more personal than Go West, and a lot more down to earth, about the happiness of requited love. Now ain’t that something new for Neil? Perhaps there is hope for everyone then.

By the sixth track, “More than a dream”, one is under the impression that Neil and Chris are on some first class anti-depressants with yet another uncharacteristically upbeat ditty in the vein of, wait for it, Modern Talking, but MUCH slicker, and of course tinged with the irony we have come to expect from this institution. On tracks like this, one gets the feeling that Neil wishes he was Patsy Kensit or some other blonde pop tart. It’s bloody marvelous! I can just picture the monstrous remixes in Ibiza in a few months time.

Another two songs of typical Pet Shop Boys lushness and melancholy and then we come to, arguably the second best offering on Yes, “The way it used to be”. This is classic PSB, aching, soft, and best heard in the car with rain on the windscreen driving at far more than the speed limit – a track that could have sat easily on PLEASE. Interesting to note Xenomania have loaned Carla Marie Williams to lend this song an almost Dusty Springfield spectrum to counterpoint Neil’s falsetto. If it ain’t broke…

In all, the album is dense, experimental, melancholy and uplifting in turns. We see Neil trying new things vocally, while the trademark strings, timpani and French horns sooth us and remind us of the company Pet Shop Boys prefer to keep. Neil’s respect for Cole Porter, Rufus Wainwright and Jaques Brel simmers beneath the surface – and like the best of French cooking, these ingredients are subtle, but essential. Pet Shop Boys have always been the most sumptuous sum of diverse influences, but its not often that they pull of an album as consistent and downright enjoyable as this.

Let’s hope Parlofone/EMI can get this duo back onto the mainstream dance-floors where they belong - lest we succumb to the inanity of the Lady Gagas and Britneys of this world. If their handling of Kylie’s latest album is anything to go by, a stiffer effort is required.

Welcome back boys! Your disco needs you.