Before we ever met, I thought like everybody did - you were just a moron, a billion dollar kid

Who’d of thought that I’d be writing about the Pet Shop Boys doing a Diane Warren song. Diane Warren, queen of the overblown pity-ballad. I mean think about it. Think about Neil Tennant trying to sing “Beautiful”. No. Just no. Well, Warren’s song, “Numb”, is surprisingly tucked into the middle of the Boys’ latest studio album, Fundamental, and it’s unbelievably not totally out of place. That it’s so does serve as proof of the group’s talent more than anything else. Fundamental seemed to be presented as a comeback album of sorts, after the lowkey Release and the slipped-under-the-radar hits collection PopArt. It’s been also compared to their earlier releases like Please or Actually. Well, as much as this album bring more levity to the game, there’s enough moody interludes to prove they haven’t gone the Madonna non-stop-geriatric dancing format. In fact, the album begins with “Psychological”, a sparse proto-new wave track that would’ve probably found more fans in 1981 than 2007. It does have a good old-school groove, though retro in a way that the Pet Shop Boys never were (it was always about the busy production). And speaking of busy productions, after that comes the first “standard” Pet Shop tune, the anthemic “Sodom And Gomorrah Show”, which follows the “Go West” rulebook apparently geared for the San Francisco pop-dance clubs. They follow it up jarringly with “I Made My Excuses And Left”, another moody piece about stumbling across one’s love caught with another. “Minimal” lives up to its name, with lighter than air lyrics over a New-Order-ish backdrop, which does succeed as a dance number. And here’s where “Numb” comes in. On the surface, it really isn’t like most of Warren’s other songs, being a picture of introversion and despair. I can imagine her having trouble trying to pitch this to, like, Aerosmith, which apparently she tried. After a brief instrumental interlude, the Boys put across a couple “commentary” cuts, each taking a different tack. While “Luna Park” seems to lull one while describing society’s distractive behaviour, “I’m With Stupid” is as direct as they get. How can you read “See you on the TV, call you every day, fly across the ocean, just to let you get your way, no one understands me, where I’m coming from, why would I be with someone who’s obviously so dumb?” and not think Tony Blair and George W. Bush? It succeed on so many levels, as a gay-baiting taunt, an accusation of Blair’s lemming-like tendencies, and the brush-off “everybody thinks you’re nuts” barb. “Casanova In Hell” is the best of the “mood pieces”, since it has a good followable narrative and the topic fits the somber production well. “Twentieth Century” is an enjoyable if vague edict on some political problem, while “Indefinite Leave To Remain” tackles a more specific issue, namely the issue of immigrants in Britain. There is a huge trouble with foreigners wanting permanent status as citizens in the UK, and this song is a short but heartful plea on their behalf. Finally, the subject of National ID cards, not really a “fun” musical topic, does give a peppy dance close to the album with “Integral”, with the premise being “you think you’re safe cause you’ve done nothing wrong, until they’ve changed the rules to include you and it’s too late”. True words indeed.

Some copies of Fundamental (like mine) came with a bonus disc called Fundamentalism. Comprising of eight tracks, it includes five remixes of songs from Fundamental as well as a few stray tracks. One of those stray tracks, “In Private (Stuart Crichton Club Mix)”, remakes their song from Dusty Springfield’s album Reputation as a duet between Neil Tennant and Elton John, accentuating the plight of the boyfriend “keep secret to keep appearances.” The disc also includes a “Michael Mayer Kompakt” remix of “Flamboyant”, one of the new tracks from PopArt, which does fit this collection in political tone, while “Fugitive (Richard X Extended Mix)” is more cinematic, with a great remix by Richard X. As for the Fundamental tracks, “I’m With Stupid (Melnyk Heavy Petting Mix)” succeeds the most, probably more due to the content than the mix itself, while “Minimal” and “Psychological” get artier remixes, more suited for a hip clothing store than a club. “The Sodom And Gomorrah Show” gets two treatments, “Sodom (Trentmoller Mix)” which is the more straightforward dance-mix, and “Gomorrah (Dettinger Mix)” which attempts to put it in a bass-and-drums environment, which even when it was relevant back maybe in the late 90s wouldn’t have made it good.

Fundamental is an enjoyable and thoughtful post-new-wave album, not the Pet Shop Boys’ best but certainly of merit. It is pretty jarring to go back and forth with the mood and dance pieces, but aside from that (and the lack of any classic-type track save “I’m With Stupid”) it’s a solid, but not a first-purchase, Pet Shop Boys album.

Grade: Fundamental:B Fundamentalism: B-
Best Cuts: "I'm With Stupid", "Integral"
Weakest Link: "Gomorrah (Dettinger Mix)"

Fundamental hit #150 pop albums and #4 electronic albums in the US, #5 in the UK.

"I'm With Stupid" hit #7 Dance club play and #8 in the UK. Here's the clip...

"Minimal" made #3 Dance club play and #19 in the UK. Here's the video...

"Numb" made #23 in the UK. Here's the video....

and as a bonus, to listen to the duet version of "In Private" with Elton John you can click here to download (right-click to bring it up in a new window).

and buy the album. You can buy it at sites like here and here or ITunes of course...