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.

Bauhaus.....Go Away White

Well, the myth has turned into a reality. Bauhaus has released a new album. 25 years since the 1983 swan song "Burning From The Inside" the band returns and leaves forever with "Go Away White."

Bauhaus was always an unknown quantity, never the sum of its parts and somehow out of time and place. There's not much point in comparing this band to the band that recorded the last studio album-musical life has lead them all through so much terrain it was bound to produce a work that bears little resemblance to anything else that came before it.

If anything, I hear snatches of all the music the members have collectively produced SINCE they split. The slinky, eliptical guitar lines of Tones On Tail merge with the psychedelic atmospherics and pop tones of Love & Rockets. These sounds bubble up underneath Peter's Soaring, shouted and singed vocal lines. They still clearly have "it".

Although the album boasts some great tunes, not everything here translates into solid songwriting. That may be as much about the speed with which it was recorded(18 days) as it is the chemistry in its current configuration. There are rough moments where instead the overlapping of expressions creates something far more intriguing.

It sounds as though there was an incident during the recording of the album which nixed them ever working together again, nor are they touring to support the album. Perhaps this final release by Bauhaus is what we have for a cap on their legacy? I guess it could have been a lot worse...

The songs themselves are very different stylistically. Moving from glam-rock stompers to evocative black dirges to delicate reverential odes. There is something here for nearly everyone in their variously attuned fan base. They decided to include "The Dog's a Vapour" for some reason, though its more like a curio, having been recorded almost a decade earlier around the time of the 1998 "Resurrection Tour".

Peter Murphy's vocals have patinaed well with age, growing rough around the edges of those high notes but the urgency of his voice remains. One thing is evident at first listen-how much their playing has evolved. Strange then that they decided to hastily record the album's 9 remaining tracks. For those with access to Itunes, there are an additional 2 tracks but these are merely live video versions of "Bela Lagosis Dead" and "Dark Entries" recorded during their 2005 Coachella Festival appearance.

As albums go, this doesn't hold together as much as I would have hoped. Of course its creation leaves little mystery as to why. Perhaps with so many strong personalities trying to co-exist, like a star going supernova, it was inevitable that the conflagration that followed consumed the band. What we are left with is not so much the void of the remains but the white heat of the afterglow from a distance. Bauhaus...Return in Black...Go Away White.

Track Listing
"Too Much 21st Century" – 3:53
"Adrenalin" – 5:39
"Undone" – 4:46
"International Bulletproof Talent" – 4:02
"Endless Summer of the Damned" – 4:44
"Saved" – 6:27
"Mirror Remains" – 4:58
"Black Stone Heart" – 4:32
"The Dog's a Vapour" – 6:49
"Zikir" – 3:04