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

Yeah, I'm hoping to finally see them on this tour too. I was hoping for a Minnesota date but they're coming close enough.

Ned - I'm going to the Fox show in October. I saw them back in like 93 in Boston - amazing theatrical show...

I've been playing this album a lot this week and even with the Air pastiche in the middle, theres a noticeable euphoric lift starting at Inner Sanctum

isn't "Burn" awesome?

I'm increasingly agreeing with Alfred that someone should talk 'em out of making their next record ballad-heavy. As much as I love a lot of PSB ballads, knowing that PSB still stick up for Elysium is enough to make me worried that their next album will be like that, rather than, say, Behaviour. Nobody wants that!

If they want it, they should do it. You or I don't have to listen to it, and they're under no illusions as to how many more people want bangers than Elysia.

Well I hope to be pleasantly surprised by whatever they do next, and if they manage to pull off a great ballad-heavy album, then I'd be the last to complain - I'm not optimistic, though.

Just saw their first of two nights here in the Bay Area -- and I finally see them after thirty years of being a fan! That took me long enough.

I was there too! What a light show!

Really lovely. Pretty much a case where a band is well-seasoned, knows how to make a show work when they're mostly static themselves on static and has the money for it.

Was it just the two of them, two plus dancers, two plus band? I've seen them a few times and I think the best have been the Boys plus dancers, worst (or most disappointing) with musicians.

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?