You need more: PSB's Love etc.

YES YES YES

Too much Pet Shop Boys is never enough. Love etc leaked today and it is... plucky. It is plucky and weird. A grower.

Love etc. begins with a gorgeous climbing vocal on the intro. How does this man sound so crystalline 25 years on? Does he keep a rotting portrait in the attic? The chanted don't have to be chorus - the "A" chorus - is a surprise. It's like Girls Aloud did the verses and handed their footballer boyfriends the mics for the chorus. The "B' chorus, where the shouting hooligans drop out, is beautiful in a Loving Kind fashion. You need more gets repeated over and over - a sticky hook.

The details in the song are typically lush: Listen for the brief-but-grand string line at 1:31 - it starts repeating at that point. Listen for the little bubbles of synth at 1:52. Listen for the cynical outro: (don't have to be) beautiful but it helps. Lovely Phil noted that lyrically this is a bit anachronistic. Right now, today, the world is not about a "life of power and wealth." Minor quibble.

I don't think it's a "hit" single, but will sound brilliant on a career retrospective. I admire their willingness to take to the best of Xenomania and mix it with their own style. This song is a beautiful culture clash: the rough trade mixing with the pretty, delicate ones.

Love etc is released on March 16 (my birthday, of course) with the new b-sides Gin And Jag and We're All Criminals Now

Thanks for being the first to the fire, David at Euphoric