PET SHOP BOYS DISCO 3 ALBUM EMI RELEASE: FEBRUARY 3, 2003 REVIEW: FEBRUARY 5, 2003

I don't know exactly what it was that made me like last year's album "Release". I really shouldn't have. A qualified guess though: the songs! The very essence of Pet Shop Boys never went away with their change in sound. And as all of you probably know, it was a fluke, a one time thing. Neil and Chris felt a need to experiment and I cant' say I blame them. The dynamic duo may have overdone the whole guitar pop thing just a tad, but that only makes "Disco 3" all the more sweet.
One part remix album and one part kick-ass-new-dance tracks album, this is a journey through realms of synthpop, techno and club ventures. "Time on My Hands" is pure experimental eighties electropop bliss with both Lowe and Tennant on vocals. "Positive Role Model", from their very own musical "Closer to Heaven", captures the grandeur, pompous disco vein of the band. Still, the excellence of these tracks cannot surpass the stripped electronic coolness of "If Looks Could Kill" or the classically built "Somebody Else's Business", the perfect PSB dance track. These four new (some of them are developed embryos from the eighties) songs plus the Bobby Orlando piece "Try It (I'm in Love with a Married Man)" are overwhelmingly impressive in themselves.
But there' more! We are treated to some great remixes too, one of which is an alternative version of one of the "Release" highlights, "Here". On "Disco 3" it gets the serious club treatment and it works so well my jaw dropped upon hearing it. "London", another "Release" gem, is available in two versions, one laid back piano take to end the album and the electroclash remix by Felix Da Housecat. The bland, somewhat redundant remix of "Sexy Northerner" only serves as the exception to the Pet Shop Boys-rules rule. Pet Heads and dance pop fans alike, unite, for it's time to party!

NIKLAS FORSBERG