Continuing the review of the Pet Shop Boys’ tenth studio album, Yes, this second part features tracks 7 to 11, Neil Tennant’s theoretical side B. Part one can be found here. (*Warning* Contains spoilers, so don’t read if you want to discover Yes yourself.)

Building a wall
Neil Tennant has said that if Yes was a traditional vinyl LP, this is where side B would start. With vocals from both of the gents, Building a wall tells stories of the Cold War and Neil Tennant’s childhood, and even includes a spoken word passage.

King of Rome
This song could have easily been plucked from the 1993 Very sessions. Reminding me of Dreaming of the Queen from that album, it’s the Pet Shop Boys at their subdued and balladistic best. With almost ambient-like subtle chord changes and music, it’s a reminder of the duo’s imitable style.

Pandemonium
This track is one of the tracks that Kylie (or her people) turned down, and they must have been deaf the day they heard it. Undoubtedly a highlight of Yes, Pandemonium tells of a relationship between straight-laced and wild lovers. The stomping bass line gallops along at quite a pace after a Doctor Who-like opening, and Bob Stanley from Saint Etienne even features somewhere in the soaring backing vocals.

The way it used to be
The way it used to be is the third and last track on Yes that was written with help from Xenomania. The story of a relationship between two lovers who meet again, the song is one of the album’s more obvious electro moments. It summons up visions of looking out of the window of a high-speed train as it whizzes through the sunny French countryside.

Legacy
The closing track of Yes tells of a fallen political leader, reminiscing about their time in power, and the legacy that remains. A almost marching drum beat backing track underlies typical PSB musical and orchestral flourishes, and once more is a reminder of their varying style.

This used to be the future
Only available on the limited edition Yes etc double CD, the first track on the bonus disc features Human League vocalist Phil Oakley. A kind of PSB meets Jean-Michel Jarre type of affair it’s very ‘80’s in sound, fitting Oakley’s vocals well.

All in all, Yes reminds me very much of PSB’s Very from 1993, surely one of the duo’s most loved long-players. Available in both CD and digital bundle formats, depending on where you choose to buy, the downloadable album is available with an insightful and interesting track-by-track commentary by Neil and Chris, if that’s your kind of thing.

So then, better than Fundamental, and close to the genius of Very. Yes is the best and most Pet Shop Boys album for over 10 years. But, after 25 years of setting the standard, are Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe still worthy of their place in the modern pop landscape? It’s a resounding ‘yes’ from here.

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But, despite all that, Yes hangs together and is both more traditional PSB and uplifting than 2006’s Trevor Horn-produced Fundamental. The project started in 2007 when the electronic duo was working on songs that would eventually be turned down by Kylie.

The modern day Xenomania hit factory has produced some of the most memorable and successful songs of the last year or two, and critics pop-hating could say that’s why Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe asked to work with them – to make hits. Fair enough, but then why has Yes turned out to be the most PSB album since 1999’s Nightlife?

Granted, some of the songs have more than a shade of Girls Aloud-like hooks, but, when these are weaved with the PSB’s musical flourishes and compositions, it all works to great effect. The lead single Love etc for example, sounds unmistakably PSB, but was co-written by Xenomania, and was the first track completed for Yes.

But, how does the album stack up? In interviews promoting Yes, Neil Tennant has said that it’s an album of two traditional sides. So, here’s a track-by-track rundown of the theoretical side A. (*Warning* Contains spoilers, so don’t read if you want to discover Yes yourself.) Read part two of the review here for a rundown of tracks 7 to 11 on Yes, and This used to be the future, the first song on the bonus disc which forms part of the limited edition double CD Yes etc.

Love etc
The opening track is classic PSB (even with that Xenomania co-write credit) and you can’t have failed to have heard it – it’s been all over the radio the last few weeks. Telling listeners to eschew celebrity culture material belongings, the chants bring to mind the male voice choir on 1993’s Go West.

All over the world
Originally a swing beat song with another title, All over the world features an excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. Allied to a rallying cry vocal, the uplifting song has both the full and grandiose feel and spectacle of certain previous PSB compositions.

Beautiful people
The Sixties-sounding Beautiful people started life as a possible theme tune for the Jonathan Harvey-penned and BBC-screened programme of the same name. More ‘proper’ music than electronic (using ‘proper’ instruments), it tells of possible happiness through fame and fortune.

Did you see me coming?
I liked this from the moment I heard it a few weeks ago, when it featured on the Pet Shop Boys Story: 25 Years of Hits CD given away with a certain Sunday newspaper. Not classic PSB in the traditional sense, it is happy sunny pop at its best, and relays the story of lovers meeting for the first time.

Vulnerable
French-sounding synth pop with sampled Spanish guitar flourishes best describes Vulnerable. Like its twin The way it used to be, this song has shades of Desireless’ 1980s Voyage Voyage and French supermarket pop to it in its electro bass line.

More than a dream
Another Xenomania co-write, More than a dream kicks in with a Girls Aloud-like sound, and is unmistakably a product of the hit making team. It’s none the worse for that, though, and marries the PSB sound with the Xenomania sound to great effect, making one of the highlights of the album.

Released today, and proof that Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are still as relevant to the music scene as they were 25 years ago. The first single taken from their new album Yes which hits the shops on 23 March, Love Etc. is produced by Girls Aloud hit-makers Xenomania, and shows that the boys are still making top-class pop and creative waves in the music world.

Even the title sounds like one by the Pet Shop Boys. Artist and film-maker Sam Taylor-Wood has strengthened her collaboration history with the electronic duo, as she has just released I’m In Love With A German Film Star. Produced by the PSBs, and a cover of The Passions’ minor hit from 1981, it’s the third time she has teamed up with Neil and Chris, previously having sung on cover versions of Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus, and Love To Love You Baby.

Sounding unmistakably PSBs, and with more than a familiar nod to their Behaviour period, the song has few words, which is maybe why it works. The title isn’t just very PSB (Saint Etienne could have come up with it, too), but also very atmospheric; exactly like the music it is allied to in 2008. Chords pulsate and drift in and out, and the track drifts along, like the smoke coming from the end of Taylor-Wood’s cigarette on the cover.

Should the PSBs have thought to make it truly their own, vocal duties could easily have been taken on by Neil Tennant, as Taylor-Wood’s sung and spoken lines sound eerily similar to previous deliveries by the PSB front man. A massive four-format release (limited 7â€?, 12â€?, CD and download) reveal a seven-track package, with the best undoubtedly Mark Reeder Stuck In The 80s Mix. A homage to the original’s period, it’s all electronic drums, sitars, and New Order-esque hooks.

Some might say that this record is just a vanity project to garner interest in the boys’ new album, due for release next year. Produced with help from Girls Aloud and Kylie tunesmiths Xenomania (the Pet Shop Boys even co-produced a track, The Loving Kind on Girls Aloud’s new album, Out of Control), it promises to be a corker. But, with a BRIT award coming in 2009 for their 25-year outstanding contribution to music, surely they’re as relevant as they always have been. This record is proof.