Review
Jonathan's Take
As the Pet Shop Boys and Ellen DeGeneres have proven, sexual orientation has no effect on ratings - perhaps even boosting them. The English electronic dance duo Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe offer their 10th studio album, "Yes," which is a swirling adventure to the underground.
The origins of electronica are unclear. While some may attribute its beginnings to douard-Lon Scott de Martinville's tinkering of the phonautograph, and others have stayed alert on the smooth texture of Daft Punk, there is no denying that electronica has been quickly progressing throughout the decades. It offers a unique genre that is always reinventing itself - a niche for futurists to scoff at the establishment.
Formed in London in the early '80s, the Pet Shop Boys achieved crossover status with their synthesis of skepticism and technique. They earned their place on both the charts and the dance floor. "Yes" is a well deserved return. While radically different from albums that "pet heads" have grown accustomed to with previous albums such as "Fundamental" or "Release," "Yes" proves that Tennant and Lowe have never lost their terms with music. The record reifies how they can transform themselves without losing any integrity or status that the Pet Shop Boys have earned over this past decade.
Kicking off with the phenomenal lead single, "Love Etc.," the Pet Shop Boys offer an itchy electronic polish and melodic, flamboyant (no pun intended) beginnings. It makes me wish I could reminisce the early '80s, but after thinking more about it, I'm not sure if I want to. "Yes" is dance-pop at its best - catchy tunes with intelligent lyrics (often a delicacy). "Pandemonium" is one of the best Pet Shop Boys tracks I've heard in years - many, many years.
"Yes" shows that the boys have endured relaxation within their own aesthetic. This sentiment spills over into the Tchaikovsky-filching, stately electro-pomp of "All Over the World."
"It's something, that look in your eyes tonight, like magic it's changing everything in sight, I hear it all around me every day in the music that you play. This is a song about boys and girls; you hear it playing all over the world," Tennant spiritualizes. Bear the redundancy; this is electronica. While the Pet Shop Boys have shaped a hefty legacy unto themselves, "Yes" is an album that has the ability to reach out beyond the die-hards. At first listen, the fluttering synth and electro squiggles might be initially off-putting, but Lowe's trademark orchestral accompaniments make you realize that their sensibilities are still there.
Because of the circumstances of my generation, it's hard to truly understand the nostalgic experiences that older generations may sense listening to "Yes." It's difficult to comprehend an album that doesn't reintroduce a world of texture and beams of sound that others experienced in the late '80s. Nevertheless, the fact that I can enjoy it fresh off the bat is testimony that the Pet Shop Boys have the ability to harness an audience of multiple demographics.
GRADE: B+
Tom's Take
It's difficult for me to think about the Pet Shop Boys in a contemporary context. With the resurgence of a synthesizer-drenched pop environment, however, it's only natural that this is when the band would stage the release of its new album, "Yes."
The disco-beat magic the group is remembered for is still here in a big way, but it lacks the heaviness featured so prominently in songs such as "West End Girls" and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"
This lack of a sound might not bother the Boys' more die-hard fans but will definitely be noted by new listeners. Instead of the pop hooks being grounded, in the lead single "Love, Etc." the music feels featherweight, as if you could turn it off and not notice a thing. Similar to elevator music but probably constructed with a dance floor in mind; I can't really see hipsters getting down to this.
What they lack in thematic complexity is easily forgettable when the band hits its stride, though. The antithesis to "Love, Etc.," "More Than a Dream" hits all the right notes, and it will probably bring the listener back to a dance floor they've never been on. The song is an example of how much the group can get right when they hone in on a certain sound: '80s club music.
I found the time of this release to be especially worth consideration. Depeche Mode just released their new album a couple of weeks back, and along with the Pet Shop Boys we seem to be having a massive resurgence in the late '80s/early '90s synthesizer-powered pop. How has this all changed in the 2009 context? The curious thing is that it really has not; fuzzy synth dance music that was good yesteryear is still good today, but demonstrates a disappointing lack of evolution.
Don't let this deter you from either record, though, if you are a fan of the aforementioned type of music. My bone to pick as a critic, however, is that both the Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode aren't maturing with the times; they're just taking the same approach as they always have. What I was looking for in the record was progressive motion, and I didn't manage to find any.
Maybe they're just playing to the same audience they always have. Maybe they're just doing it for the retirement fund. Whatever the reasoning behind the record is, it didn't leave me with much sense of musical satisfaction, and I don't think it will for many others ... unless "Love Comes Quickly" sends you back to the days of Day-Glo clubs in London.
GRADE: C