Pet Shop Boys -- Super (another Stuart Price production)

Yeah it's not so much "Age Of Love" as "Cafe Del Mar" it reminds me of. Having heard this, I'm looking forward to this album in a different way from how I would normally look forward to a Pet Shop Boys album.

Ah right, pre-covers! Sorry everyone, let me get on that...

We are live, claim your tracks:

ILX Pre-Covers Pet Shop Boys' "Super"

So, the official first single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JF3Gj8U0YA

I think it's kind of a mess. The music's alright (I wonder if they've been listening to Alex Anwandter) but there's something a about Stuart Price's production that leaves me cold (this is a problem that I also have with Electric, BTW).

The real problem, though has to do with Tennant's out-of-place vocals ...and lyrics (that first verse is a mess)! And the chorus isn't much better. Yet, I could see the whole thing working with another singer. If It was up to me I would keep the backing track, the melody, and change everything else.

I have a feeling I will enjoy the pre-covers album more than "Super" itself. Let's see.

Hmm, I don't agree. The strength of his voice grabbed me on first listen.

Counterpoint: I loved this on first listen. It sounded to me like a dayglo reworking of "Being Boring" with the melancholy tied to the memory rendered as implicit rather than explicit. After I first heard it, I played it 3 times on repeat while getting ready to leave the house.

He's sounded better on the last two albums than he has in years.

Also sounded amazing live.

Yeah, I fucking love this. Vocals and production sound more than fine to me.

Love this song. I can't believe the difference between this and the tired sounding album they put out just four years ago. It's so great to have them properly back.

This is a very personal opinion but I've progressively gone from absolutely loving Tennant's vocals to absolutely hating them. To the point of thinking they are embarrassingly bad. And by this I mean I still love them in the old stuff and hate them in the new stuff. But that's just me.

Well IMO one of his most embarrassing performances is "Domino Dancing" and ppl generally are all over that nonsense so my take is that everyone has their own unique relationship with his voice

I like that most of you are reacting positively, because I love the PSB so much. But on the other hand, what is wrong with you, people??? ;)

Lol, DJP, you had to bring up "Domino Dancing", didn't you?

I'd like to hear Madonna cover this one.

xp: well duh

All day, all day!

But yeah, that I'd take this over the majority of Elysium or Release goes without saying, it seems to me that they're carrying on from where they left off with Electric, which is absolutely fine by me because that album was fucking great.

Sorry, LOVE this.

This is excellent!

Can Stuart Price produce the next New Order album, please?

just amazing, their best single since I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore IMO.

I *love* Domino Dancing.

yeah, I'm not feeling this... "cold" is the right word.

I liked the intro, but the verse and chorus didn't do much for me - pretty bland compared to most of the songs from Electric. It's the kind of song I could see enjoying in the album but not as a first single. I don't think Neil's voice has gotten any worse over time though, it's the best part about this song!

This is SO GOOD

Needs a Sarah Cracknell version too

with the melancholy tied to the memory rendered as implicit rather than explicit.

This is a lovely observation btw

Listening again, love it. My favourite single since "Before".

There could be a whole album of early/mid-90s artists (Robbie Williams et al.) covering this song.

Listening again, love it. My favourite single since "Before".

― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, February 23, 2016 8:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wouldn't say it's their best single since 'Before' myself, particularly as Electric had the wonderful 'Love Is a Bourgeois Construct' on it, but I still really like this a lot after countless plays. Part of me, though, is hoping that there are bigger and better highlights to come.

I want to draw so many lines back to Behaviour with "The Pop Kids"; not only is it a thematic successor to "Being Boring" but I keep hearing it as a musical cousin to "So Hard"/"The End of the World" (with heavy lifts from "It's Alright" but that breaks my thesis so I'm pretending they don't exist, ha)

I hear the "The End of the World," especially the tone of quiet dread.

I forgot about "Bourgeois"! So good. And "Thursday" too. But I like this better.

It's not really a single (I think it was put into limited release for Record Store Day?) but "Fluorescent" is the song on Electric I keep going back to the most, followed by "The Last To Die"

Some of their best songs from the last couple of albums were never released as singles unfortunately.
"Here", "Fugitive", "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show", "All Over the World", "The Way It Used to Be", "This Used to Be the Future", would all have made better singles than most of what was chosen.
I mean "Numb", really ?

"Numb" was a total cash-in on the World Cup tbf

'Integral' should have been a huge hit.

I'm listening to Yes for the 3rd time this week, it's pretty great isn't it? Like maybe a tiny step below Very, IMO of course

IYO

By the way, how dumb is it that Yes didn't name their 2011 album Pet Shop Boys? What an opportunity wasted...

Yes is a bit of a mixed bag and a step down from Fundamental for me. There's some great stuff on there like Love etc, More Than a Dream and The Way It Used To Be which are some of the best songs they've done since Very. There's a decent of songs that are pleasant but I can never really remember that well, King of Rome, Did You See Me Coming?, Legacy, Building a Wall etc. Beautiful People and Pandemonium are really bad and seem like the direction that they continued on for Elysium.

Oh and This Used To Be the Future should have been in on the proper album. Amazing song.

I still think 'Love etc.' is fantastic, but Yes is one of those records I don't return to very often. I like it more than Elysium, Release and Nightlife, but it doesn't even come close to touching Bilingual, Fundamental or Electric, IMO.

I find Yes about as uneven as Bilingual. I'd have a hard time deciding between those two if I were to rank their albums. Out of all the albums since Very, Electric is by far my favourite followed by Fundamental.

I'm hoping Super can be a similar level to Electric as I'd love them to follow a great album with one that's equally good. I don't think they've done that since Very followed Behaviour.

Bilingual has grown on me massively over the last couple of years, it was just an album that was in the awkward position of being the follow-up to Very and had a song order which didn't really showcase the songs in the best possible way. Song for song though, I think it's leagues ahead of Yes.

Descending order:

Fundamental
Electric
Nightlife
Bilingual

don't rate the rest except for salvaged tracks

Yes has "Love Etc" and "The Way It Used to Be," the dreary Release has "You Choose," "Home and Dry," that Eminem song, and a wonderful B-side called "Sexy Northerner."

I adore "Home and Dry" so much

for me it takes off when Chris drops in the WE'RE GOIN HOME bit, sounding like he's got a cold. I love his bit in "Thursday" too.

My dullest show was in 2002 for the Release show: they sat on stools, Tennant strumming a guitar.

No dancers, though the three backing musicians did accompany Neil on a couple of gently choreographed stage moves, sometimes wore masks or costume elements, etc. It did work very well, though! They provided a number of striking moments during the whole thing -- one of my favorites was the one in the middle (didn't fully catch her name at the end -- Christine something) who plays violin, and did the fanfare melody of "Love is a Bourgeois Construct." Absolutely perfect extra element to totally send that song.

"Release" was a full band, iirc. Nightlife had ... a set and dancers? Fundamental tour had a sorta-band and ... movable cubes? Last tour, behind Electric, was my fave, minimal, cool lights, and just the two dancers.

Obviously I can't directly compare it to experiences from previous tours (sadly) but I was impressed how they included the early/inevitable hits without having them dominate the show. (And they didn't play all of them either!). The spacing out of cuts from the 90s/00s was pretty sharp -- nothing from Behaviour but one from every album since then.

I suppose my other two key takeaways were how Neil works a crowd (juuuust indulging himself as he goes) and that if you took him out of the context and outfits he essentially looks like an old Tory grandee now. I suspect he was thrilled when he finally didn't have to worry about his hair any more.

Too many hits to play. A bit too much of the current album (which isn't my fave) imo. However, they should have ended the show with Burn! Perfect sentiment to end a show.

Weirdly, they ended the show with a cover (Go West - Bay Area crowd-pleaser, to be fair), and then ended the encore with a cover (Always On My Mind). Both are good, but I would have preferred to end on an original.

Also, no Being Boring, which was too bad, but again - too many choices!

I saw them at the Orpheum in Boston for the Performance Tour (1991), which was amazing and over-the-top (they even wrote an overture for the show!). This show wasn't as nuts as that, but I still had a good time.

Can't believe there aren't a ton of Burn remixes...

I haven't much listened to the album since reviewing it in April, but "Burn" has remained lodged in my head, including the end of last week. It and "The Pop Kids" are the keepers.

It's weird how "Burn" doesn't stick in my mind as much as it should. Maybe a relisten or two.

Taking my daughter tonight for her birthday (like she knows the PSB from Adam, ha ha). Should be a blast as always. I can't wait for her to go to school on Monday and brag about it to her equally clueless friends.

I listened to this album again yesterday after not hearing it for a while, and 'Burn' struck me as being a clear highlight. This album has grown on me a hell of a lot.

Great show. My daughter went to a last minute sleepover so missed out. At the same time, about 2/3rds of the way through this little old dude on some sort of drug showed up in the row in front of me and spent the remainder of the show reacting to every song like he never ever expected the PSB to play it ("OMG, 'It's a Sin'!!!!!!"), hugging everyone, kissing the hands of ladies around him and otherwise being a distracting jackass. That and these three hulking Euro bros who spent the whole show hopping from empty seat to empty seat, bro-ing it up, bummed me out a bit.

"Burn" rules a lot

Burn, The Pop Kids, Happiness, Undertow and The Dictator Decides are the highlights for me. Super definitely isn't as consistent as Electric which is an album I'm still playing a lot, but it's a good mid-level Pet Shop Boys album. I'd put it on a similar level to Bilingual and Nightlife.

Yes to all the above, plus 'Twenty-Something' ... I'd rank it above Nightlife but below Bilingual (which has become one of my favourite albums of theirs)

I think "Sad Robot World" is incredibly charming.

WE'RE GONNA BURN THIS DISCO DOWN
TIL THE MORNING COMES

Ah yeah, and 'Groovy'!

GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVY!

Look at me
Look at me

I pretty much like everything on this album apart from 'Say It To Me' ... surely they must be doing some work on the follow-up now?

06 Pazzo!
07 Inner sanctum
08 Undertow

^^ really into these three as a suite

I thought this album was very underrated. I like it just as much as Electric. "Say It To Me" > "Burn" > "Into Thin Air" is also a great trio.

Good remix, if not radically changed from the original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WdjldHlSI8

They should have another album out next year, surely?