[…continued from last post]
The third single from the album was the apparently synth-free sweeping ballad, “A New Bohemia.” Though the band swear there’s electronics on every track, the orchestra carried the weight here with producer James Ford contributing what sounded like very real drums and guitars to the elegy for the queer art collective les Petites Bon-Bons.
The one song on the album that didn’t really work for me was “The Schlager Hit Parade” where the satiric potential of the actually funny title never really delivered a payoff to me. The middle eight was as close at it ever came to being truly schlagerific. And even then, they held back far too tastefully. Maybe they should have teamed up with OMD for this song as the Liverpudlians have been known to scrape body paint with true schlager status on some of their “wurst” material.
Things got much more interesting with the sumptuous ballad “The Secret Of Happiness” which, apart from the rhythm box chugging along with the Latin rhythm sounded like a grandiloquent dream ballad from 1957; ripped directly from a Douglas Sirk film. The rhythm box imparting to it delightful frissons of a Martin Denny vibe. Sure, sure. The harp glissandos were perhaps gilding the lily, but I’d say that their absence would have been cause for alarm.
I bought this album perhaps 24 hours after the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump at one of his rallies. And as I looked at it in my hands before sticking it into the CD player in my car that day, I saw that the ninth song was called “Bullet For Narcissus.” Oh my. This was the largest flaming slice of mile-high zeitgeist as I’ve ever encountered. Ironically, it starts out like a “banger” with a funky beat before the twangy guitar hook pulls it back a little from being strictly club worthy.
The lyric was simply jaw dropping as it explored the point of view of a [cough-cough!!] unnamed politician’s Secret Service agent musing on the duty he had to prevent the target from getting shot. But given that the lyric was primarily describing the unnamed politician in excoriating terms as he prepares for a rally where the unthinkable may happen, I can’t help but think that the agent’s thoughts are him trying to convince himself to follow through with his duty.
As I survey the big event, people think he’s heaven sent
“Bullet For Narcissus”
Devoted crowds who chant his name, I sometimes think he lives for fame
Oh Narcissus, it’s so delicious – to watch his makeup run
He sweats and panicky, fakes reality
He only cares for number one
I’ve got eyes in the back of my head, for anything suspicious
And if my number’s up, I’ll take a bullet for Narcissus
And if my number’s up, I’ll take a bullet for Narcissus
The album closed with a stately balled, “Love is the Law.” No, Pet Shop Boys hadn’t become Aleister Crowley devotees. This was a dispassionate examination of love itself. Anchored by portentous minor key piano chords throughout implied distance and even mistrust. The coda with strictly the orchestra managed to end the album on a chilly note.
I was very happy that I finally came across the new Pet Shop Boys album actually in a store! On CD!! I had been amenable to buying their latest for over a decade but retail wasn’t cooperating with me. The album paid back my investment immediately with a well balanced collection of material that ran the gamut from historical sketches with a decidedly queer subtext, to Tennant reflecting back on early periods of his life. With studied examinations of emotional hot-button states and a still astonishing bit of zeitgeist relevancy that I don’t think can be bettered.
“Nonetheless” was happy to stray far from the Boys’ usually present dancefloor emphasis, and the grounding presence of the Elysian Collective Orchestra throughout the album served as a unifying sonic fingerprint. The band had used strings strategically on the albums I had already [’86-94], but this gave the album a vibe that slotted in close to “Behaviour,” one of my favorites by the group. This reminds me that I still have not heard the “Elysium”‘ album from whence the orchestra presumably took their name. It may be that this album is stylistically connected to that one but I’ve not yet heard it to tell.
It feels gratifying to know that my instinct to pivot back to contemporary Pet Shop Boys has played out in such a rewarding fashion. I’d read a variety of opinions on their oeuvre once I stopped listening on a regular basis in 1994. Many of which suggesting that I’d gotten out at a good time, but two of the three albums from the last 30 years that I have managed to purchase were Pet Shop Boys material that would sit proudly with the imperial phase of their career. And after a shocking initial impact, even “Release” contained new shoots of growth amid the possibly quixotic pathways the group had explored that I could eventually get behind. That “Nonetheless” reached number two status in the UK album charts; their best showing since 1995, shows that the last great synthpop duo are back, back, back!
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Post-Punk Monk 
The latest single has a demo of the Schlager song which is to me better than what we got on the album.
It is great to hear that you like “The Secret of Happiness.” I don’t go to many online PSB communities, the one that I go to the most often the folks who populate the forum there are not fond of this one and I think it’s a great song, would love a proper extended version of it (NOT a Very era noisedubtribesthousetramental). Just read a thread over there on lunch yesterday where they were offering hopium for a 5th single at Christmas and they were calling for…..Schlager. Oof.
Elysium has two of their best tracks ever, Invisible and Leaving. The rest of it is hit and miss, there’s a few too many songs that want to retread “How Can You Expect to be Taken Seriously”, Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin is a 3rd good track and your mileage will probably vary on the rest. I would surgically download the three better ones and buy Yes, which is much more consistent.
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Yeah I, lost track of the duo’s past few albums and wondered if they would hold up to their 80’s/90’s stuff! So their recent is recommended then, and what others would be a standout PPM?
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*Mike B.* – Hard to say. I have missed most of the later ones, but I did enjoy “Fundamental” when I picked it up some years ago. I thought I might have reviewed it but I can’t find it in the site!
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They’ve been back for a while, really, but I’ll leave that for you to explore. Their first 10 years gave us six albums that I absolutely adore.
I didn’t get “Relentless” and “Bilingual” was to me a very weak release, but 1999’s “Nightlife” got me back in the fold with the single “I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore,” which is utterly brilliant. I skipped “Closer to Heaven” because it was a musical cast album, and “Disco 3” because too many remixes had put me off them for a while back in the 90s.
I thought 2002’s “Release” was quite good, 2006’s “Fundamental” was fine, but I skipped “Concrete” despite Trevor Horn being mentioned on the cover because there was no new material on it. In hindsight I regret that and will get to buying it at some point.
“Yes,” which came out in 2009 was to my ears average on their scale. The did a ballet soundtrack called “The Most Incredible Thing,” but I haven’t yet gotten round to hearing it, as I’m not big on soundtracks.
“Elysium,” “Electric,” “Super,” and “Hotspot” were where IMO they got their groove back. I’m pleased to hear that “Nonetheless” has met your high standards.
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chasinvictoria – We actually saw the US premiere of “The Most Incredible Thing” and since the music was not live for that they used the (unissued in any form, as far as I know) original PSB electronic demos behind Javier Frutos’ (the original UK choreographer) US production with the Charlotte Ballet! I’m here to say that it was great, clubworthy PSB!
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The BBC continues its longstanding relationship with the Pet Shop Boys on Sunday 8th September when they headline a BBC Radio 2 festival which is being broadcast live. It should be available for a month at BBC Sounds. Go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds after the 8th and you should be able to hear it. It’s worth registering, and installing the app, because then you can download the concert.
Some might also want to check out the opening act, Hairct 100.
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They have announced another release of this due 11/22/24. The second cd will have demoes of the parent album, covers of The Dark End of the Street, All the Young Dudes, Misere (a classical composition) and an original track called Adreneline.
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Tim – Aha! Pulling from the David Bowie playbook with a DLX ED the year in first release following near Xmas to goose sales! Nice try!
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I am very intrigued to hear what they do with Misere. Luckily the announcement said also available digitally so I can do a surgical purchase of these 4 new ones.
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