Pet Shop Boys: Introspective (2018 remaster) [PARLOPHONE]

Why you'll love it

This Parlophone edition carries the 2018 remaster on 180g heavyweight vinyl with a printed inner sleeve. Introspective peaked at No. 2 in the UK and Germany and went double platinum in Britain.

This edition

• 2018 remaster
• 180g vinyl
• Printed inner sleeve
• Pressed in the EU
• Lyrics included

About the album

Most pop albums try to squeeze ten songs onto a side. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe went the other way: six tracks, most of them well past six minutes, built like twelve-inch mixes and stitched together for people who'd rather not stop dancing to flip the record.

"Left to My Own Devices" opens with Tennant's deadpan diary of a day, swept up in a full orchestra and Trevor Horn's production. "Domino Dancing" heads to Miami for a Latin freestyle groove, "I Want a Dog" is a wry little house track about wanting a dog in a London flat, and "Always on My Mind / In My House" stretches their 1987 Christmas No. 1 cover into a club workout. "It's Alright," a cover of the Chicago house tune by Sterling Void, closes the album with a hopeful wave across the room, and "I'm Not Scared" brings back a song they first wrote for Patsy Kensit's band Eighth Wonder.

It sits between Actually and Behaviour as the duo's most club-minded album, and it still sounds bright and generous on a good system. Six songs, forty-odd minutes, and the stylus does nearly all the work.

Also at Kops: more Pet Shop Boys on vinyl · browse Pop

Tracklist

Listen

On Parlophone, a reissue of the 1988 album.