Pet Shop Boys: Disco 4
Pet Shop Boys mix it up
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Monday, 08, Oct 2007 05:29
Parlophone, out October 8th 2007.
In a nutshell...
Dancey if straightforward remix fun
What's it all about?
In 1986, the Pet Shop Boys released Disco, a collection of remixes from tracks off their debut, Please, released earlier that year. Disco 2 followed in 1994, seeing Danny Rampling mix up tracks from the previous year's Very and some assorted b-sides, while Disco 3 featured remixes, b-sides and some new tracks.
Disco Four takes a step away from that template, being mainly made up of Pet Shop Boys remixes of other artists; The Killers, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Madonna, Atomizer and Rammstein, together with mixes of two tracks from the boys' 2006 politics and dance mashup Fundamental.
Who's it by?
The Pet Shop Boys are rightly regarded as one of the most important and best groups making electronic music since people first started plugging in keyboards. Since their heyday in the mid-to-late 80s they've drifted in and out of fashion while managing to keep both current and undeniably aloofly cool.
Last year's Fundamental was a high water mark in a career of many, further cementing their reputation as a group that has something to say and the ability to make you dance while doing it , coming after 2003's PopArt best of summed up the previous two and a half decades odd for new fans.
As an example...
"Ground to Major, bye bye Tom/Dead the circuit, countdown's wrong" - Neil Tennant takes William Burroughs' scissors to Space Oddity to reconstruct Bowie's Hallo Spaceboy from the 1. Outside LP
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Not a chance. It's a rare and special remix album which is strong enough to be considered award-fodder, and sadly, despite some fine moments, Disco Four is neither.
What the others say
"Simply put, this is good, addictive pop music for fans and new listeners alike." - Matt O'Leary at Virgin Media
"You'd think the Pet Shop Boys -who have contributed truly a hell of a lot to dance music over the years - would be able to pull off an artists' mix album better than they have, but no: apparently not." - Mike Walker at Twisted Ear
So is it any good?
It's certainly far from bad. The problem with Disco Four is that it comes across as quite pointless. There's nothing here which truly surprises or astounds, nothing that you couldn't have predicted the sound of having heard the original and knowing Neil and Chris would be at the desk. Not even the cheekily titled PSB There Are No Guitars on This Mix version of Rammstein's take on murder and cannibalism in the news, Mein Teil, really shocks.
The best tracks are those working with the best source material. The aforementioned mix of Bowie's Hallo Spaceboy is the first official release of the fantastic full-length 12" promo that was cut down for a surprise hit single in the mid 90s, while remix of Madonna's Sorry easily outdoes the original for dancefloor fun.
An orange alert mix of Atomizer's Hooked On Radiation impresses, as does an electro remix of Walking On Thin Ice from Yoko Ono. Both tracks give a glimpse of how a touch more adventure in song selection across the board could have made this a classic.
But the remix of The Killers Read My Mind does little, and the mixes of their own I'm With Stupid and Integral being featured alongside other artists' work makes it all seem a bit ramshackle and something of a missed opportunity.
6.5/10
Mayer Nissim