Pet Shop Boys - Super

[Luke]

Pet Shop Boys will issue their thirteenth studio album SUPER in April this year, but the first single (The Pop Kids) is a horrible one if you ask me. It sounds like any other of the throw away dance songs. Same goes for the track Inner Sanctum which sounds more like a club-/dub-/remix. No high expectations for me for SUPER.

I hope to be pleasantly surprised for the rest of the album.

[schwenko]

Pet Shop Boys will issue their thirteenth studio album SUPER in April this year, but the first single (The Pop Kids) is a horrible one if you ask me. It sounds like any other of the throw away dance songs. Same goes for the track Inner Sanctum which sounds more like a club-/dub-/remix. No high expectations for me for SUPER.

I hope to be pleasantly surprised for the rest of the album.

totally agree!

[WLR]

I also agree, it sounds a right mess production wise. It plods along with no real direction, the spoken section is diabolical

It is certainly no "It's A Sin" or "Left To My Own Devices". I hated "Electric", the first album by them I didn't buy. Stuart Price is doing them no favours with his style of production, they should not have used him after "Electric", personally I think they should have gone for Stephen Hague to produce the album.

It's looking like I will be avoiding the second album on the trot, which is sad as I am a long time fan.

[hypnohighball]

I also agree, it sounds a right mess production wise. It plods along with no real direction, the spoken section is diabolical

It is certainly no "It's A Sin" or "Left To My Own Devices". I hated "Electric", the first album by them I didn't buy. Stuart Price is doing them no favours with his style of production, they should not have used him after "Electric", personally I think they should have gone for Stephen Hague to produce the album.

It's looking like I will be avoiding the second album on the trot, which is sad as I am a long time fan.

What he said! I wasn't crazy about the one before Electric, either. Elysium, I think it was.

[Neil Kelly]

Loved 'Electric'. Absolute class!

[negative1]

the album is decent, but not great.

reminds me of 'electric' and 'very' a lot.... but not as good as them.

almost every song could be remixed, and its very dancey and upbeat.

not much on lyrics though, it lacks depth.


later
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[chris74]

I sadly have to say: it is rather "Superficial" or "Superfluous" than just "Super". At least the lead single "Pop Kids" is very good if you just want to listen to it as an autobiographic song. Having listened to "Super" twice, to me the album is the "Elysium" of today: a rather boring album with a great single ("Leaving"). So I am already looking for 2019, hopefully with a new album...

[Fred Taghon]

I downloaded "Super" yesterday because I had some driving to do and ended up listening to it four times. Upon my return home I first went straight to the local music store and bought the cd because I absolutely love it! "The Pop Kids" is a decent track, but in my opinion it is the weakest one of the bunch. I personally like Stuart Price's production and loved "Electric". But then again I do tend to prefer the Boys when they are in dancing/upbeat/tongue in cheek mode. "Super" is a fun listen especially given that after 30yrs the PSBs have tended to fallen into a familiar melodic rut quite often but this album finds them coming up with all kinds of fresh new ideas musically. If you liked "Electric", "Yes" or "Very" I'd say you will probably embrace "Super" with open arms. If you lean more toward "Elysium", "Release" or "Bilingual", not so much. I should also say "One Hit Wonder" on the "The Pop Kids" single is pure bliss!

[Dominik500]

I'm so surprised to see people not loving this album! Pet Shop Boys are probably my favorite band of all time, but I judge them really harshly with each album. To me, Super is the best album they've put out since Very. I think Nightlife and Fundamental were great, but I was less enthused about Yes, Elysium and Bilingul. The only (minor) weak spot on the album for me is Groovy, which would've made a great b-side. I would've swapped it out for One Hit Wonder. But songs like Twenty Something, The Dictator Decided and Burn are among the best they've ever done.

Dominik

[Fred Taghon]

I'm so surprised to see people not loving this album! Pet Shop Boys are probably my favorite band of all time, but I judge them really harshly with each album. To me, Super is the best album they've put out since Very. I think Nightlife and Fundamental were great, but I was less enthused about Yes, Elysium and Bilingul. The only (minor) weak spot on the album for me is Groovy, which would've made a great b-side. I would've swapped it out for One Hit Wonder. But songs like Twenty Something, The Dictator Decided and Burn are among the best they've ever done.

Dominik

Fundamental is one of my favorites as well. And totally agree Twenty-Something, Dictator and Burn are definitely among their best. I'd have to add Happiness which I absolutely could not shake out of my head the last few days. Catchy as hell. I even like Groovy with its disco throwbacks. The unexpected Italo-tango-y Twenty-something really made me smile. It's totally new territory for PSB and they nailed it. The lone ballad Sad Robot World still feels at home with all the other upbeat tracks. It's not often I listen to an album start to finish these days but once I start this one there literally isn't a track I skip. On most other PSB albums I tend to skip the sappy or overly dramatic ballads which all kind of sound the same after 30yrs. Super hits my sweet spot from start to finish. But yes, One Hit Wonder would have been a nice addition to the album too

[Luke]

Now that I got a chance to listen to the album, I'm not impressed at all. I did the following: while I was taking a long run of 90 minutes, I played Electric, their B-sides and Super.

I wanted to know if the producer (Stuart Price) could make a cohesive album after Electric (which I liked for a couple of tracks like Axis, Vocal, Love Is A Bourgeois Construct and Thursday). In my first listen, I found out that there is no real 'hit single' or 'catching tune' on Super that sticks in the mind and that there's no progression at all with the producer. I will give it a second try by listening only to the Super album.

[blaaah]

After playing it all week, i think there are five good songs, Happiness, Pop Kids, Dictator Decides, Inner Sanctum and Burn, and two of them arent really songs... It has too many b sides and Relentless type 90s bangers for me, Neil appears to gave forgotten how to write songs. Cant wait for Opera House shows though!

[Sean]

As Pet Shop Boys fans, I think we all have really high expectations of them and rightfully so. Like Depeche, we always want them to sound like they sounded in the 80's and even 90's. I gave this album a full listen and the first time, I was a little disappointed. Going back now, I am listening tracks at random and some of the tracks are starting to grow on me. I have a feeling this is one of those albums that the more I listen to, I will find more songs I like. Right now, I find "The Dictator", "Inner Sanctum", and "Sad Robot World" pretty good.

[negative1]

i remember when yes came out, and i grew to like the songs slowly but they didn't last.

then when electric came out, i thought i would learn to enjoy those, but i've only listened to that
a few times since it came out.

i think with super, it wouldn't even make it to that point, since there's not even that much lyrical depth
to it. unfortunately, this album will probably be one of the last to listen to from them.


later
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