On the Turntable: “Electric” by Pet Shop Boys, x2 Records, 2013. Rating: 8/10
The first (and best) of their three albums with producer Stuart Price caused a welcome bit of whiplash. Arriving less than a year after the woozy and contemplative Elysium (and keep in mind, the Pet Shop Boys typically take 3 years between albums), Electric is full of thick, industrial dance beats, sloganeering lyrics, and, what the hell, a cover of a 21st Century Bruce Springsteen deep cut.
Neil Tennant’s voice is often decentralized and manipulated and buried throughout the record’s glorious racket. The album’s nine long-ish tracks are given plenty of room to breathe on this double LP and there’s not a dud in the bunch. “Thursday” is a late-arriving pop banger with a guest appearance by singer-rapper Example (then just past his commercial peak), and “Love Is a Bourgeois Construct” is vintage Pet Shop Boys - the kind of song they might have put out at virtually any point in their 40 year career.