Fundamental

Performer: Pet Shop Boys
Engineer: Tim Weidner; Robert Orton; Taz Mattar; Robert Smith; Tim Lambert; Chris Waugh; Tim Weidner; Robert Orton; Pete Gleadall
Producer: Trevor Horn; Trevor Horn
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Trevor Horn (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar); Oliver Poulot (vocals); Phil Palmer (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Lalo Creme (guitar, acoustic guitar); Steve Lipson (guitar, electric guitar); Tim Pierce (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Lucinda Barry (harp, background vocals); Skaila Kanga (harp); David Clayton (keyboards, programming); Jamie Muhoberac, Simon Chamberlain, Pete Murray (keyboards); Earl Harvin (vibraphone, marimba, drums, electronic drums); Virgil Howe (drums, percussion); Cliff Hewitt (electronic drums); Robert Orton (shaker); Frank Ricotti, Louis Jardim (percussion); Pete Gleadall (programming); Laura Edwards, Emma Brain Gabbott, Alanna Tavernier, Andy Caine, Tessa Niles, Sarah Eyden, Helen Parker, Debbie Doss, Bruce Woolley (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Robert Orton; Tim Weider. Recording information: Sarm West Studios, London, England. Photographer: John Ross . The cover of 2006's FUNDAMENTAL, the Pet Shop Boys' first studio outing since '02's RELEASE (not counting their BATTLESHIP POMTEMKIN project), is strikingly stark--seemingly solid black save for the band name and album title--though a closer look reveals the subtle images of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe's faces. Any suggestions of anonymity or reinvention, however, are quickly jettisoned by the songs, which are very obviously the work of the British duo. Tennant's distinctively plaintive vocals and Lowe's soaring synth lines here recall their prototypical sound more than almost anything since the late 1980s. This is, at least in part, due to the group's reunion with dance-pop uber-producer Trevor Horn, who gives each track on FUNDAMENTAL a lustrous sheen, whether it's the surging club-ready tune "Minimal," the willfully melodramatic ballad "Numb," or the funky and fiercely political "I'm with Stupid" (a harsh criticism of Tony Blair and George W. Bush). A record that hints at past Pet Shop glories while remaining remarkably contemporary, FUNDMENTAL is synth-pop at its most irresistible. Working together for the first time since the 1988 single "Left to My Own Devices," the Pet Shop Boys and producer Trevor Horn partner together for Fundamental, an extremely well-crafted effort that is more of its time message-wise than any previous PSB album. Fundamental is heavily influenced by Tony Blair's allegiance to George W. Bush and his dragging of the U.K. into the Iraq War, which has left previously Labour Party-loving vocalist Neil Tennant bitter and disillusioned. Fully aware that the Pet Shop Boys would sound ridiculous if angry and punkish, Tennant and partner Chris Lowe show restraint, putting their venom on simmer on the most riveting songs and searching for a reason not to stick their head in the sand elsewhere. Surprisingly, the usually extravagant Horn follows suit, and while he gives the album a very modern, slick sheen, the production is well designed instead of gloriously decorated. Beautifully polished by Horn, "Luna Park" lazily strolls through a holiday where fortunetellers and fire breathers divert attention from the slowly developing storm. Giving up hope entirely is "Numb," an insular ballad that songwriter Diane Warren originally gave to the duo for the hits collection PopArt that's much more at home here. Better still is infectious and uptempo "I'm with Stupid," which casts Blair and Bush as irresponsible lovers who grin and pose while having their way with the world. It's not the only instantly gripping track -- the paranoid "Integral" speaks out for personal freedom with a wicked hook while the New Order-esque "Minimal" ranks with their best club cuts -- but the majority of Fundamental is like the majority of their great album Behavior in that repeat listens are required to do these rich songs justice. For Pet Shop Boys fans who lean to the left and are skeptical about the future, this is as close to heaven as they want to be. ~ David Jeffries

Spin (p.83) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "FUNDAMENTAL uses squelchy electro-disco grooves that smuggle sly pop-culture commentary." Entertainment Weekly (p.161) - "[The] CD finds the synth-pop pioneers still in fine form....[With] immaculate arrangements, which balance orchestral pomp with au courant club grooves." -- Grade: B+ Q (p.118) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]heir ninth album balances social comment you can dance to, dramatically melancholy ballads and Tennant's always sanguine musings on the pros and cons of hedonism." Q (p.123) - Ranked #23 in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums of 2006" -- "Songwriting-wise they seemed to have rediscovered their sharpness."

Formed in the mid-1980s, the British electropop dance duo Pet Shop Boys neatly summed up the age of WALL STREET player Gordon Gecko's greed-is-good dictum and Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics policy in one of their early singles, "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)." However, unlike most of their companions in the 1980s charts, they proved to have remarkable staying power, scoring hits throughout the decade and well into the '90s, and undertaking intriguing and successful collaborations with iconic pop artists like Dusty Springfield and Liza Minnelli. Their later projects included scoring a West End musical and a 2004 live soundtrack to the classic 1920s Russian film, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN.

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