Playlist Update: Fundamental Hunting

Bear with me: the Pet Shop Boys, the only band I truly worship, are about to release a new album titled Fundamental. The promo has been circulating since January and all the music press people have been quick to release early ecstatic reviews, keeping me excited.
The first single "I'm With Stupid," that comes out officially next week, failed a bit to impress me. Catchy enough but heavy-handed too. Big on nostalgic sounds (that the boys pioneered), short on subtlety. Also the supposed political content of the lyrics, about the relationship between Tony Blair and George W. Bush, seemed a bit forced for the boys, who have always been proud to embrace the image of wealthy popstars happy to live in their ivory tower. In fact, the old single "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously" was a satire of the socially conscious, self-important rock musician who feels entitled to deliver simplistic political messages, Bono-style. "I'm With Stupid" seems content with having a sense of humor, although not a particularly sophisticated one. I started worrying if the hype was to be believed: the PSB have never released a completely disappointing album, but on the last two "real" albums inspiration was patchy, especially on "Nightlife".
Now the tracks of "Fundamental" are beginning to leak on the internet, I've found about half of them, and I'm liking them more than "Stupid." The coherence of the album is still missing and I sense some of the versions available are demos, but some of the elements I will always love are already there.
The sparkling synthetic sounds fused with the lush melancholic string arrangements, sometimes so over the top they border on self-aware parody. Love the dry wit and the whispered camp that will always be the Tennant/Lowe trademark, and I'm talking music, not lyrics. The Pet Shop Boys have never been, in my opinion, a singles band. Their strenght reside in the complete opus, the album tracks, the B-sides, the remixes. Especially the remixes are often better analysis of tracks that didn't seem memorable in the album incarnation. One of the songs on Fundamental, "I Made My Excuses and Left," is one of my favorite, so far. A Broadway-style, cinematic number the crosses the confessionalism of "Being Boring" and the gloom of "The Survivors," the song is divided in an epic instrumental intro and a second quiet "movement" delivered in true first-person account style. You can see and smell the Douglas Sirk-ian scene playing before your eyes.

I walked into the room, imagine my surprise
you were sitting close to him, staring in each other's eyes
each of you looked up but no one said a word
I felt I should apologize for what I hadn't heard.
The silence filled the room awkward as an elephant
in the crowded court of your love, I was now a supplicant.

I'm sure Neil Tennant is not the nicest guy; he comes across as an uptight cunt actually. However he will always be a hero of mine: it reminds me of the possibilities of ole' good gay eloquence in today's world. Campy humor is not just for flamboyant comedians, and he's a contemporary Truman Capote minus the misery. Watch the "I'm With Stupid" video here.