PET SHOP BOYS SINGLES (Part Twenty-six)

The thirteenth studio album, Super, was released on 1 April 2016.  It was warmly received by critics and fans alike, with many commenting on how it felt like a companion piece to Electric.  One pithy review from a UK newspaper opens with ‘Without breaking new ground, Super ticks all the right boxes.’, and ends with ‘Neil Tennant still sounds simultaneously wry and mournful and Chris Lowe’s euphoric surges still tickle both heart and body. They are indestructible.’

The fan base was still there and the album entered the charts at #3.  Nobody was paying too much attention to the singles, but as this series hopefully has shown, that often meant something rather special or different wasn’t picked up from new songs as b-sides.

The second single from the new album was issued on 24 June 2016.

Pmp3: Pet Shop Boys – Twenty-Something (radio edit)

It’s about a minute or so shorter than the album version.  Twenty-something weeks into this series, and it’s nigh-on impossible to find something new to say about the PSB and their songs.  I like this one…..I probably would have hated it in the 80s and 90s, and I’m not sure about the 00s.  But some slack has got to be cut…..it’s not one I’d place high up on any rundown, but I wouldn’t have it propping up the table either.

Released digitally and as a CD single, there were, once again, two new tracks as B-sides:-

mp3:  Pet Shop Boys – The White Dress
mp3:  Pet Shop Boys – Wiedersehen

The official PSB website describes The White Dress as ‘a haunting electronic track’ while provides the information that Wiedersehen was ‘a piano ballad featuring Rufus Wainwright on backing vocals.’

Given that some of the minor criticism levelled at Super had been its lack of slowed down and more mournful material, it is something of a surprise to find these two songs sneaked out in such a low-key fashion.  But then again, PSB have always looked to reward the fans who go digging deep.

JC