Dancing Past Pop's Surface

It has been 25 years since the Pet Shop Boys made their first stab at making pop records. One thing that no amount of style changes have managed to do, which is to make the duo sound like anybody BUT themselves. While America seems to have ignored the boys for the past 15 years they've consistently made well-crafted, hook-filled records, loads of hit singles and written a ton of great music for others. Rarely have they made a false step.

Many have pointed to their 1993 album, "Very" as the boy's pop peak. Though their albums since then have been equally regarded, "Very" seems to hold a particular piece of nostalgia and appreciation. Equally hailed by critics as well as reflected in chart sales, like a greatest hits collection of entirely new material, very was "pop" that connected by expressing universal ideas about love.

That their new album "Yes" harkens back to this time in their career is in no small way due to their decision to work with the production team Xenomania, hit makers for pop sensations like Girl's Aloud. Love them or hate them, they have buckets full of hits-and as "serious" sounding as the pet shop boys may occasionally be they are still trading as a pop band. Good thing too as "Yes" is about as "pop" as these two have sounded in ages and I have to say it suits them well. They still sound like the pet shop boys. Neil still sounds arch and witty as hell and Chris still hides behind his shades and hats, twiddling the knobs somewhere several feet away. Oops, double entendre.

The first tracks from the new album that hit me were “Did you see me coming?” "More than a dream" and "The way it used to be." Each of them upbeat dance tunes, done like they should be. You can't HELP but tap your feet and shake your hips to this album, unless they're broken. Its not all dance music however, ranging from four on the floor thump thumps like Pandemonium (sure to be a single) and lead off single Love etc. to the wistfully reflective, almost tender King of Rome.

Other than closing the album with the maudlin “Legacy”-which, while pretty would have been better suited between “More than a dream” and “Building a wall”, this album is really well paced. I always loved the way the Bilingual album closes with the amazingly upbeat “Saturday night forever.” The new album is so pop it would have worked a little better to have it end with the great “The way it used to be” or “This used to be the future” with Human League's Phillip Oakey, for some reason marooned on the 2nd disc of the limited edition version. C'mon you two, what's with the tease?

Happily the summer looms, where singles like “Did you see me coming?” should be pumping out of fan’s car stereos everywhere. This, their tenth album finds the boys stepping forward with a few old friends (Johnny Marr!) and some new ones, creating what is arguably their best album this decade. Yes, it’s incredibly pop.

Outrage

Went to see this film this evening at the Embarcedero Cinema and boy did it get me angry. Rarely have I wanted to throw things at the movie screen as I did during this documentary. There are of course always problems with documentaries in general and this is not totally free of those, but it hits home pretty hard.
I am always leary of outting people based on the fact that some random guy claims he's had sex with them. However there are enough corroborated stories in this film that cancel out the need for proof in many cases. There are just so many damning facts its hard to ignore them.
Probably the things that enraged me so much was seeing how many gay people actually helped these homophobes in the process of selling us down the river. What total bastards! Well done and worth seeing if you've got a few extra bob.

Will You Sleep Downstairs tonight?

Its always winter
somewhere, but it comes too late
to you.
In your chair
you've been sitting there
drawing up your letters
like a blanket of ink
will it wash away
all the pain
that I remember?
Will it wash away
the stains on my heart?
Or will they show up
as the beauty in my art?
or will it be just so tragic
it comes as a surprise
to anyone.
You will keep them at a distance
far enough away
to keep them all from
sticking holes in your heart.

Pet Shop Boys

Dear god I can't stop playing the new single "Did You See Me Coming?" Its just so damn catchy and has "feel good hit of the summer" written all over it. It is with some delight that I come of the realization that I have been listening to them for nearly their entire career in music(and as an aging Smash Hits reader, even earlier in Neil's former one as a music journalist). While I wasn't surprised to find out they were gay, I am rather proud of saying that I like their music. They set the bar incredibly high in asking their audience to be intelligent, witty pop and dance music fans. When so much of dance music is vapid, meaningless trash, the Pet Shop Boys were referencing Wittgenstein, making great dance-pop wrapped in great sleeves. Their work as a whole is pretty substantial for what is "throw away" music. They have rarely misfired and other than the fact that the video for the new single sux, I can live with the fact that they are still making great music and that I am still tapping my feet to their music, sitting here at nearly 37. Go Neil and Chris. Whew!

Foxx

was waiting,
Waiting, savage
gazing out of random skyscraper windows
electric valleys
blanketed in matrix fog
engendering
my sex
in digital
urban outlines blindfolded
separated from
car-crash reality
and the grit of
the overpass,
two hands
and the spark
at the beginning of time
like faded film
fading

Window in Hiroshima After the Rain

I've been out to the garden....

Twins peaks after the rain
the night is awash with sway,
your strands will part
and stray.

The stain glass shimmering
in the eastern light
and the end of the day
in europe

will be tragic
will be magical, rains, trains
I cannot wait,
hesitation after the strain

will you see me there?
Will you see me after I am scared,
I'm flashing back to the car crash
your beauty and the long, long lash.
re-arrange my heart,
create an anagram that lasts...

Its glamour and mon amour
those splintered roses
will sing no more
in harmonies visions
strip away with the weight
while gravity dislocates
with its indecision.

and just for a moment we are liquid
and just for a moment we are liquid...
pooling...

The Awful Ache

In self help
they call it
the god shaped hole
or the endless siphon

The need that can never be met
or you keep looking
for years
to find it
and until you do
until you find the shape
and the color
and the texture
of that penultimate thing
which finally fills up
the unknown space
you are never whole.

You are wandering
and unfulfilled,
Empty...

My Website is Up and Live

Yo, People! Check out my Fetish Drawing website

http://www.fetishalchemy.com/index.html

Composition in Black and White

Even a dull stone can be polished to the point of beauty

my eyes close dreaming of venus

you lull me into sleep
with stories of the moon
and her make-up.
imaginary women
cooing in caves
and stirring cauldrons
full of lost souls

I'll try and stay asleep
another night as
a stranger in a strange land
without a name
I'd beg to be released
or for relapse
if only there was someone
here with the key
to the locked door
of my waking mind...

Brave New World

I was covering the revolving world
In paper-mache death certificates
Filling the sphere with all the blood
And moons I could find.
A few tears and
Some strange music
At midnight
For the glowing ones
For the lonely ones
And you?
With your
American spirit?
Lift me up
‘Til I can’t talk.
My words becoming useless,
Like the hills against
The waves, dear…
It’s a brave new world
And no one knows nothing
About you.

the jaded underworld

There's no point in choosing
which way, which path?
stick to the soft shoulder
can I cry on you
when my soul feels empty
or drink from you
like a glass of wine
in verticle puddles
growing in my mind...

Will we say goodbye
again...to those still alive?
will we last through the night
or get lost...again
in a pool of a thousand eyes?
the acting trip is over,
the sun is up
will it use up all
the rest of me
to rise above?


fuck this...I can't wait around for the sun to shine again

words as weapons

In a moment in the sky
there were birds
and insects,
I was laughing
as I ran
into the grass...

there were no statues there
there was a sense of quiet
though I could not hear it
the field shrugged its shoulders
and laughed

I cannot hold my breath
while you build an empire
cannot be the unknown civilian
In this game of cat and mouse

words worked all his life
words as weapons, laughed off
the next day would come again,
his comfort was the pain of confirmation
a life of toil
in a bed of shallow soil

So now in silence
why he waits alone
the bed is wide and vapid
when empty
and do I even care?
Do I even care?