abstractsolo4agirl

uhm i was wondering if there was a thread for them!!!!
i love them
:]]]]



and paninaro is the bomb

icebox

i missed them actually =D

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kalos

They are fantastic! Do you know they are recordering new songs?

abstractsolo4agirl

are they reallly??that awesome
i hope its going to be as good as all of their other songs :]

Dotoar

Now, this is a thread I bet you thought I'd never find reason to write in!

The thing is, when I was a kid and still hadn't developed any particular musical opinion, I for some reason got into Pet Shop Boys and I ended up collecting all of their records up until the 2-CD collection "Alternative" (around 1995, by which time I lost interest in them, discovered Beatles, bought a guitar and totally reset my musical tastes). However, still today I acknowledge at least their early output (up until the early 90's) as being among the best synth-pop to my knowledge. Being a bit more analytical today than when I was 12, I recognize a lot of their songs as being highly profound for being "just" radio-friendly pop and some of them are reaching almost artrock levels, if it wasn't for their utter hate of all things guitar-led. (Okay, that was an exaggeration but I recall them actually saying that they conciously wanted to break out from the guitar pop/rock oriented paradigm from the very beginning). And on top of that they penned some really intelligent lyrics to go with the well-crafted melodies as well.

All in all, maybe not an underrated band as such (they have had like half a gazillion hit singles after all), but I definitely feel they should be regarded as serious artists and musicians just as well if they haven't been already. So, anyone with me on this one?

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Guybrush

I also remember them from when I was a kid. I didn't collect their CDs, but I quite liked their hit song "So Hard" from their 1990 album Behaviour. Since then, I've gotten familiar with most of their singles, but I haven't checked out their albums. There's just something about the nasal voice of the singer that I find unappealing.

It's A Sin, their greatest hit and indeed a very memorable song from the 80s, is the song I like the most from them.

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Dotoar

"It's a sin" was a monster hit yes, and one of the songs that got me hooked (as a kid). Actually, I think Neil Tennant's voice is one thing that defines their sound (how many synth bands have a 'sound' by the way?). It makes them stand out among the otherwise rather low-pitched synthster vocalists.

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IWP

Please and Actually are really great albums from them. Some good quality synthpop ftw.

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*insert witty remark here*

Engine

Actually is probably the only pop album from that time that I bought and still listen to semi-regularly. I still can't really tell if it's just nostalgia or if it's actually good but I like it (and only it) anyway.

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Dotoar

I actually think "Actually" actually is good, actually.

(You know I had to)

That one and "Please" and maybe "Behaviour" qualify as their best albums IMHO. Then it just went too much down the techno-disco-dance-whatever you call it route. I was about to say "hit radio oriented" there, but they were set to that from the very beginning, but they managed to uphold it through intelligent songwriting as well, and not only shake-yer-booty floorfillers. That said, I still feel that even their more recent material (that I've heard of) is more genuine than the average dance pop throwaway and shows that they go down that route not just for the sake of remaining popular.

This one for example, may not be a classic by any means but it betrays influences from the early 80's synth movement of which they in addition were part of themselves:

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