It’s now about thirty years since “West End girls”, the best-known hit of synthpop superstars Pet Shop Boys, topped the US chart – and the British legends have marked the milestone in… well, maybe slightly predictable style, but still to the accomplished standard that we’ve come to expect.
“The Pop Kids”, the first single from the band’s upcoming album Super, tells the nostalgia-inducing story of two young people enjoying the early 1990s disco beats. The underlying music is also in-keeping with that theme – while a longer version of the song, subtitled The Full Story, extends the narrative a little further on this EP, which is now available in the iTunes Store.
The PSB Deep Dub version is also worth checking out – while the extra tracks, the beautifully melancholic “In Bits” and Eurodance-style “One-Hit Wonder”, continue a long tradition of the bleep boys continually cranking out a far greater volume of top material than they even need.
If there’s any problem with this modest bundle of new tracks, it’s that, in sticking so closely to the energetic template set by the duo’s previous album, 2013’s Electric, the boys seem too busy catering to their established fanbase to make serious attempts to extend their appeal.