Beautiful (Behavior - Pet Shop Boys)

Member Name: SkyscraperFanClu

Product:	Behavior - Pet Shop Boys
Date:	01/04/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Subtle, intelligent and musically exceptional

Disadvantages: none

The Pet Shop Boys fourth album and the follow-up to the heavily dance-orientated 'Introspective', 'Behaviour' is the Pet Shop Boys employing a more subtle twist, a delicate palette of sounds infinitely pleasing to the ear.
The whole album is an immaculate unsion of Neil Tennant's exquisitie lyrics to the unique dance styles of the Pet Shop Boys. But - as with no other of their albums - the tone of Behaviour is notably calm, subtle and smooth. Though 'Being Boring' has the typically depressive Pet Shop Boys undertones, other tracks are a little more positive, notably "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?" and "The End Of The World."

Both the subtlety of the music, and the intelligence of the content of 'Behaviour' is pervasive. No track is out of place, no element is superfluous. What would almost certainly come off as cheesy and predictable in the hands of other artists is instead presented flawlessly by the Pet Shop Boys. They manage the album's low-key approach often by tempering the delicacy of the music with bitter, saddening lyrics. As with 'Jealousy':
"I never knew.
Time passed so slow.
I wish I'd never met you
Or that I could bear to let you go."

In the case of 'So Hard' the music temporarily swells to a pounding dance throb to accompany the particularly harsh lines:
"I'm always hoping you'll be faithful
But you're not, I suppose."

This is the exquisite beauty of 'Behaviour.' The music is as expressive - and often depressive - as the music. We are attracted by the pleasant sounds and repelled by the often distraught lyrics. 'To Face The Truth' is so saddening it almost hurts.
So it's a bitter beauty, the sort of beauty that only the Pet Shop Boys can express.

This is a beautiful album.

Summary: Beautiful