Archive for September, 2006

Busy times for Pet Shop Boys


Pet Shop Boys’ first-ever live album Concrete will be released on October 23rd. The album was recorded in May at the Mermaid Theatre, London, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and produced by Trevor Horn. It features guest artists Rufus Wainwright, Frances Barber and Robbie Williams.

Parlophone Records will release Numb, the third Pet Shop Boys’ single from Fundamental, on October 16. You may recall the song was used by the BBC with footage of the England football team on the night England was knocked out of the World Cup. The single is already on the A list of BBC Radio 2 which means it will get significant airplay and is likely to be a hit, unlike the last single Minimal which, although I personally loved it, was never, ever going to be huge. I knew that. It was too clever. Why didn’t they know that? Oerhaps they didn’t care. Numb, on the other hand, manages to reclaim the term ‘power ballad’ as being a very good thing. Forget Peter Cetera, U2, REO Speedwagon, Heart et al. Numb shows you don’t need big hair or spandex to produce a song drenched in emotion. It’s incredibly dramatic. This drama queen loves it long time.

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Saturday, September 30th, 2006