Neil Tennant reading a chapter of Moby Dick:
http://www.mobydickbigread.com/chapter-11-nightgown/
― thrill of transgressin (Eazy), Saturday, 6 August 2016 17:32 (seven years ago) link
I bought 'Introspective' recently and have been listening to it quite a bit. It's great, isn't it?
― michaellambert, Monday, 31 October 2016 21:45 (seven years ago) link
It is indeed, although I prefer the 7" version of 'It's Alright' to the album version. They should have used that version as the basis for the Introspective version!
Otherwise, the definitive versions of 'Left To My Own Devices', 'I Want a Dog' and 'Domino Dancing' and 'I'm Not Scared', and a different but just as good take on 'Always On My Mind' ... great stuff!
― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Tuesday, 1 November 2016 21:00 (seven years ago) link
some days I just loop "Left to my Own Devices" and "Tryouts for the Human Race"...man I wish there was more music like that out there
― frogbs, Tuesday, 1 November 2016 21:12 (seven years ago) link
I mean, please show me some
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9jEuHbB0GQ
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 15:25 (five years ago) link
Their worst single, alas. They can't have it both ways: singing from the POV of a Trump supporter, then having the supporter endorse Tennant's POV (the chorus).
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 15:26 (five years ago) link
Really not feeling this at all although I'm enjoying seeing one of their self claimed lifelong fans on Facebook claim they shoudln't start singing about politics as it will alienate their fanbase!
― kitchen person, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 15:29 (five years ago) link
Hahaha... christ, that's funny. They've only been doing that since ever!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 15:36 (five years ago) link
Anyway, no - it's not one of their better singles and falls well within the "lighters aloft" section of their discography alongside 'Winner' ... on the plus side, it's not a painfully slow, sombre ballad, which was what I was expecting.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 15:39 (five years ago) link
"I'm With Stupid" was similarly stupid.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 15:46 (five years ago) link
It makes sense, really. They give you a stupid song about a stupid president, and then give you a more stupid song about a more stupid president.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 15:54 (five years ago) link
Without having heard the song (I'm not eager), I'm thinking that if this is an itch they couldn't help but scratch, they nonetheless had the wisdom this time to put it on a separate EP rather than on the forthcoming album.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 16:24 (five years ago) link
That song sucks.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 16:27 (five years ago) link
Oh right, this isn't destined for the new album at all but a completely different thing recorded with a completely different producer.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 17:02 (five years ago) link
It's just their fan club EP for the year, but they're releasing it digitally for all. Understandable move, really.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 17:03 (five years ago) link
PHEW DONT PANIC
It is *wildly bad* though - and just to rub it in, some echoes of Hey Headmaster, an all-time fave.
Lyrics are bad but might’ve worked with a less structured (and boring) backing
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 18:32 (five years ago) link
This is terrible. I don't necessarily agree that they should stay away from politics/social commentary but could they at least tone down the obviousness? It just doesn't work.
Songs like "Shopping" work so well precisely because you could listen to them without even realizing they're political (almost, anyway).
Also, Tennant using phrases like "WTF" annoys they hell out of me.
I'm no fan of "I'm with Stupid" either but at least the intent there was to make it plausible that it's about a couple's relationship.
According to Popjustice, the new EP contains 3 satirical songs and a sad one. That's the only one I'm looking forward to, TBH.
― daavid, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 19:21 (five years ago) link
"Did you see me coming" probably has a couple of meanings too
― frogbs, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 19:22 (five years ago) link
Neil Tennant's lyrics book had me pondering why there were so few of the 'out in the city/hedonism' early songs (no Why Don't We Live Together, Later Tonight, I Get Excited etc) and so many of the 'from the pov of a Russian spy' ones. I have a dreadful feeling NT thinks those are what he's best at.
― piscesx, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 19:27 (five years ago) link
I think Norm MacDonald was pretty otm as to why satire was dead in the age of Trump, it's hard to effectively satirize someone you have nothing but contempt for
― frogbs, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 19:32 (five years ago) link
"Out in the City/Hedonism" is a good PSB title.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 19:47 (five years ago) link
that's why Alec Baldwin's Trump is such a dire mimicry xp
― omar little, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 19:53 (five years ago) link
"Why Don't We Live Together" is my favorite PSB song.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 20:18 (five years ago) link
This song is ludicrously bad.
― GDPR vs GAPDY (DJP), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 03:38 (five years ago) link
Second track. Marginally better but still kind of a mess, imo. It's sounding a little better on a second listening, probably because I'm not paying attention to the lyrics as much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuNBJkLLnOs
I think this "satire" output is such a disaster in part because it's nothing new (both self-obsessed social-media culture and post-truth politics/Trumpism have already been scrutinized to death) and because it's so basic: no new insights, wit or anything meaningful to convey. And it's painful/embarrassing to witness an act so dear to my heart do such a poor job. That's a third problem, it's the PSB so expectations are higher than normal.
― daavid, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:09 (five years ago) link
Musically it's a lot better. The lyrics still seem kind of clunky though.
― kitchen person, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:12 (five years ago) link
What happened to the Neil Tennant that was great at writing lyrics?
― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:14 (five years ago) link
"You're feeling 'hashtag blessed'" - an actual lyric from an actual Pet Shop Boys song
― GDPR vs GAPDY (DJP), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:43 (five years ago) link
This exists already, recorded in....1993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG5oi1FGf_I
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 19:08 (five years ago) link
The lyrics (to "On Social Media") are something Brad Paisley would write for an awards show appearance, and the music is completely bland. This is frankly depressing.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 19:11 (five years ago) link
I never took you for a fan.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 19:12 (five years ago) link
I stopped paying serious attention after Very but yeah, I was on board for a while.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 19:13 (five years ago) link
30 seconds into the new one and these are definitely the two worst songs they have ever released
it's wild that someone who has always been so great at assessing and analysing his own work has a blind spot that lets him keep writing such thudding clunkers as these, I'm With Stupid and Winner
― The Very Fugly Caterpillar (sic), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:17 (five years ago) link
well, they're old now.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:18 (five years ago) link
An aging artist devolving into writing a bunch of blindingly obvious social critiques actually seems like a great subject for a Pet Shop Boys song
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:21 (five years ago) link
(though I heard half of the Maxi-Mix of IWS the other day and very nearly enjoyed the middle-eight's counterpoint against the main thrust of the song)
also Powell is not a great collaborator for them, I can't remember anything at all about Together. hopefully this EP is deliberately, like Elysium, clearing the pipes of tedious soggy chaff before an album of Stuart Price rave bangers
― The Very Fugly Caterpillar (sic), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:22 (five years ago) link
― frogbs, Wednesday, February 6, 2019 4:21 PM
ahem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLBN6CAs8oY
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:22 (five years ago) link
yes, but they've written the likes of Vocal and Thursday and Love Is A Bourgeois Construct and The Former Enfant Terrible since then! and even, say, Pandemonium and The Pop Kids are diminished versions of things they used to write that take their aging into account.
xpost ha that too I guess, one listen to Elysium was enough
― The Very Fugly Caterpillar (sic), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:30 (five years ago) link
I loved the last two records.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:34 (five years ago) link
On a brighter note, I listened to Electric yesterday for the first time ever, and it includes a lengthy interview track discussing each song on the album, and it was sharp and entertaining.
― ... (Eazy), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:42 (five years ago) link
^^ The interview is on Spotify
― ... (Eazy), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:43 (five years ago) link
I like I’m With Stupid. The drums, man.
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 22:45 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHMk9WdoFHg&
― daavid, Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:32 (five years ago) link
I don't know if I'm suffering from extremely lowered expectations now but I kind of like this one
Mind you, I'm still googling for a GIF of Neil and Chris jumping over a shark
― GDPR vs GAPDY (DJP), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:49 (five years ago) link
Whew -- this is easy. It's terrible too!
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:51 (five years ago) link
It's better than the other two, though
― GDPR vs GAPDY (DJP), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:52 (five years ago) link
It's hard to forgive those hamhanded emphases and squeezing in of polysyllabic words.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:57 (five years ago) link
They need to release a song called 'Jumping The Shark' about how they've jumped the shark.
― just another country (snoball), Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:58 (five years ago) link
I mean W T F
― frogbs, Thursday, 7 February 2019 21:58 (five years ago) link