Pet Shop Boys Super: more slick disco beats from dance kings [Review]
The Pet Shop Boys have long been relied on to for slick dance beats, and the electronic duo’s latest release Super continues to deliver. The album opens with a blast of Happiness, an energising song with musical transitions as smooth as a cruise down an empty highway, and solos infectious enough to provoke an adrenaline rush.
The Pop Kids continues the strong start, a pulsing ode to retro pop that oozes with nostalgia as singer Neil Tennant dreamily recalling days when “rock was overrated” and they could go out five nights a week.
While songs like Groovy, Pazzo, and Inner Sanctum are upbeat dance pieces that will get your arms in the air, there are pieces with more serious messages. The Latino-styled Twenty-something addresses the plight of youth today, at times when it’s so difficult to succeed and easy to get disillusioned. Military-style The Dictator Decides is another interesting piece where Tennant imagines himself as a conflicted ruler. The music is intense and dismal, reflecting Tennant’s mood as he sings, “If you get rid of me, we can all be free.”
The album loses traction in it’s second part, and the mournful ballad Sad Robot World pales in comparison with the other songs. But overall, as its title suggests, this album is pretty Super.