Album Review: "Release"- Pet Shop Boys

*Get the album on Amazon here*

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the Pet Shop Boys, score another winner, and if you are expecting pure synth pop, do not look here. This review is of the mainstream release, as well as the bonus CD. On the album:

Home and Dry
-Vintage PSB features a great guitar riff in a song about missing a traveling lover. One of the best songs here.

I Get Along
-Breaking up may not be so hard to do, the way Tennant sings it. Very unsynth; great line: "You've got quite an appetite/for being wronged and in the right"

Birthday Boy
-Some Christian overtones confuse a song that cannot find a central thrust. Tennant's too deep vocals do not help some good riffs; too long, too.

London
-Incredible song tells of immigrants pouring into London for construction jobs. Striking instrumentals.

E-Mail
-The insecure songwriter wants an e-mail from a distant lover "that says 'I love you'". A very good song.

The Samurai in Autumn
-Funky old school PSB with light lyrics- "It's not as easy as it was/or as difficult as it could be/for the Samurai in autumn"- and that's it! Cool, danceable track.

Love is a Catastrophe
-An angry, bitter song about a painful breakup is slowed to the point of frustration. The lyrics are snarling and mad, the music is light and sad.

Here
-Nice song about offering physical and mental sanctuary to the pained. Deep heartbeat-style percussion works.

The Night I Fell in Love
-Lofty instrumentals cannot hide the worst song here, as a high school age boy has a liaison with a rap star, probably a veiled slam against the overrated Eminem. A stuttering statement against hip-hop homophobia.

You Choose
-"You try/You lose/You don't fall in love by chance/You choose". Radio friendly pop song that finishes this impressive effort.

Also included in the limited release is a bonus CD with eight tracks:

Home and Dry (Ambient Mix)
-The first of two remixes of the song compares favorably with the Chemical Brothers.

Sexy Northerner
-A mysterious sex machine befuddles those around him with his success. Driving, harsh, brilliant song.

Always
-Nice beginning, but eventually a monotonous song.

Closer to Heaven
-Found on the "Nightlife" CD, this good trance remix has nice choral-like vocals.

Nightlife
-Whispery vocals help a standard dance song.

Friendly Fire
-Answers critics who trash the Boys in a funny song.

Break 4 Love
-The Pet Shop Boys team with Peter Bauhofer in a rocking hardcore techno edit.

Home and Dry (Blank & Jones Mix)
-Another remixed version of the great song.

The CD also features an alternate music video for "Home and Dry" that you can play on your computer- don't bother. The footage consists of mice crawling around a rail line with a few glimpses of Tennant and Lowe onstage. A real waste of technology. "Release (Special Extended Edition)" has Johnny Marr on guitar and Jodie Linscott on percussion on most of the album tracks. The two really strengthen the music, and take the duo in a different direction from anything they have ever done. Fans won't be disappointed, and others will hopefully be brought into the Boys' fold. Neil and Chris prove they still got it, and know how to use it. I highly recommend this album and bonus CD.