Pet Shop Boys - Pop Art: The Hits

Genre pop Publisher Capitol Records External Links Official Pet Shop Boys Website Official Capitol Records Website

Rock critics talk about making music all the time, but few of us rarely do it. The ones who do rarely fare as well as Neil Tennant. The former editor of charmingly ironic UK pop magazine Smash Hits managed to parlay said charming irony into a brace of fantastic, Zeitgeist-defining pop singles. In doing so, Tennant has become the gold standard for journalists-cum-musicians, and, in fact, for musicians in general.

It is only when you listen to PopArt in its entirety that you realize how well the singles hold up. Even separated by thematic content-the "Pop" disc focuses on supposedly more upbeat material, whilst "Art" is more introspective - there is a surprising cohesiveness. Truth be told, however, it's hard to tell what really belongs on which disc; PSB material on the whole is fraught with a melancholy that is highlighted by Tennant's plaintive vocals, behind which sweeping strings echo like a Greek chorus. Even at his most deadpan, Tennant brings an undercurrent of emotion that makes even the cheesiest-looking lyrics work. And when the lyrics are awesomely cheesy, like the "tacky/Issey Miyake" couplet in new song "Flamboyant," the payoff is that much greater.

Sometimes the lyrics don't work and end up dragging the song down, but this is a phenomenon confined mostly to earlier work, like "Suburbia" (always one of my least favorite PSB tracks precisely for this didacticism). Luckily, Chris Lowe's sweeping synth washes arrive to save the day and make the dance floor safe for future revolutions. Emma Goldman would've loved this album.