My recommendations 2006:Fundamental by Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental
Rhino 6/27/2006

When I am burned by a band I love, it's very difficult for me to trust them again. Take, for example, Pet Shop Boys. The release of Very coincided with my coming-out at the age of sixteen. I fell in love with that album and it came to represent that period of my life in my memory. I soon had all of their albums and EPs. Bilingual took some time, but I warmed up to all but one or two songs. Then they followed it up with the absolutely abysmal Nightlife, which contained about a dozen of their worst songs ever, one decent single and a perplexing duet with Kylie Minogue. Since then, I have largely ignored their output for fear of being subjected to something even worse. However, the past two years have been marked by a series of return-to-form albums by artists I had given up on years ago, so I felt intuitively that I should give Fundamental a chance. I'm glad I did. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have finally made maturity work for them, drawing upon the strengths of their first four albums and innovating musically as well. Almost every song ranks among their best early material, easily making Fundamental their best album since Very.