Pet Shop Boys

Oh, those pet shop boys - once upon a time, they were the most flip and flamboyant pop
spectacle around, prancing across MTV with a little bit of Siegfried and a whole lot of Roy.
These days, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have settled into a more leisurely pace as a
venerable, long-running cult act - Eurotrash disco's answer to the Grateful Dead, with fans
trading rare remixes the way Deadheads trade live tapes. The faithful will find pl... More >

Having spent the decade risking l-o-v-e, Neil Tennant settles down with "A borderline fool/Naive and cruel," cushions the pain with melody, adds up the damages, and accounts himself ready for more. "I only worry for your sake," the altruist-as-ironist insists as he wonders where "Boy Strange" is with who. Not to worry, he will survive--for as long as he at least hears B.S.'s "footsteps in the dark." "Only love can break your heart," he observes, and that we've heard that one before doesn't make it any less poignant--maybe more. (Grade: A-)