The degree to which this new approach succeeded is a matter of taste, but the sales figures do not lie. To me this album is the Pet Shop Boys nadir both commercially and artistically, but the extent of the failure took a while to register with the band themselves.
The lead single and opening track "Home and Dry" is somewhat misleading as it isn't representative of the wider album. The dominant synth refrain that runs throughout the song is quite brilliant and Neil's evocative lyrics paint a great picture - but once this track is done everything goes down hill.
The vaguely Beatles-eque "I Get Along" is a dull commentary on British politics of the time and doesn't really hold any relevance in 2024. The excruciating soft rock continues until we reach a track called "The Samurai in Autumn" which is a semi-instrumental electronic piece that sounds completely out of place, but is all the more welcome for that. Some of the compositions here are quite good and it's just but the execution that lets them down. However, the same cannot be said of "The Night I Fell in Love" or "You Choose" which are abysmal creations.
I was about to write, "I don't play this album often," but the reality is I don't play this album at all. I own the original 2002 LP on white marbled vinyl which hasn't been played once and the less valuable 2017 remastered version has only seen action on one occasion. 1/5
