 "Photo: Parlophone Records")
The Pet Shop Boys have a reached a point in their career in which the temptation to rest on their laurels must be overwhelming. Selling fifty million records worldwide over the stretch of an almost thirty year career, in addition to receiving something called the "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the 2009 BRIT Awards (last year's winner was Paul McCartney) does have a sense of finality. It has been almost two decades since their first greatest hits collection, after all.
Indeed, critics have been accusing them of coasting for some time. While most regard early Pet Shop Boys favorably, opinion is, at best, divided as to whether there's still life to be squeezed from the groups orchestral house dance beats and cheeky self-irony. The release of their latest album, "Yes," will probably drive the narrative that relevance never really left the British duo. While it probably won't redefine the PSB (who, in their heyday were emulated on Saturday Night Live) this album is an appropriate mile marker, and is every bit as fun as you'd reasonably expect from a younger band.
"Yes" showcases the PSB in comfortable terrain. The opener packs a strong, melodic punch, the wonderful "Love, Etc." which hits all the right chords. Neil Tennant sings, in an attack on materialism, "Well it's tough getting on in the world/When the sun doesn't shine/And a boy needs a girl." There's nothing as explicitly political as on their last disc "Fundamental," but that doesn't mean they aren't grappling with real topics.
The album doesn't get as strong again until "Pandemonium," a great track that's probably too exuberant for the club scene but demands a slot for itself on alternative radio. In between this and the opener, the album does sort of hit a drag, but the thoughtful dance-ability remains robust throughout.
The Pet Shop Boys have always found readymade success in Europe, while here in the states they're probably best known as the band that put out the "West End Girls" single in the mid-eighties. These twelve tracks probably won't change this formula, but followers of the group (and there many in this camp) will spin this one endlessly.
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