Fundamental (Pet Shop Boys Album)

''Fundamental'' is the ninth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released in May 2006 in the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, and Canada, and in late June 2006 in the United States. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number five on 28 May 2006. In the US the album peaked at number 150 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 7,500 copies in its first week. As of April 2009 it had sold 46,000 copies in the US and 66,000 copies in the UK.

''Fundamental'' earned two Grammy nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards for Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording for " I'm with Stupid". The album was generally well received by critics, but its sales failed to improve much on those of their last two albums.

Background and composition

''Fundamental'' features eleven Pet Shop Boys compositions and a song by Diane Warren, " Numb", which was originally intended to be a new track on '' PopArt: The Hits'' (2003). Two other songs, "Casanova in Hell" and "Luna Park", were written by the duo during the ''PopArt'' sessions; they wrote the rest between January and April 2005 in London and Naples.

In planning for the album, Pet Shop Boys drew up a manifesto of their intention to write songs about authoritarianism and fundamentalism in the contemporary world, with minimal electropop music. The songs turned out to be more epic in scope, and they decided to approach Trevor Horn, with whom they had worked on " Left to My Own Devices" (1989), to be the producer. Recording took place from May to November at Sarm West in London.

The title is intended to convey that the album has a fundamentally Pet Shop Boys sound, in addition to touching on the subject matter.

Subject matter

The album has been noted for being more political than any other of the duo's albums to date; even the title, in one sense, is a reference to religious fundamentalism – portrayed here in a light, critical manner, which singer Neil Tennant attributes to the relatively relaxed status of religious freedom in the United Kingdom.

Specific contemporary issues discussed in the lyrics include tensions and fears in the United States caused by the War on Terrorism, addressed in songs such as "Psychological" and "Luna Park" (" Luna Park" being the name of various amusement parks around the world). Other songs refer to the politics of the band's home country; " Indefinite leave to remain" refers to an immigration status in the United Kingdom, while "Integral" criticises the Identity Cards Act 2006. (A statement from a band spokesman cites the issue as the reason that Tennant ceased his well-publicized support of Tony Blair's Labour Party.) " I'm with Stupid", meanwhile, touches upon both countries by satirizing Blair's alliance with George W. Bush. (See also special relationship.)

Other subject matters are dealt with as well. "Casanova in Hell" is about the 18th century historical figure Giacomo Casanova, and how he immortalized himself by writing memoirs about his history of sexual seduction of numerous women. Tennant refers to, specifically, the book ''Casanova's Homecoming'' by Arthur Schnitzler as his inspiration for the song. (It was sung by Rufus Wainwright at its first live performance, at a private concert recorded for BBC Radio 2 at the Mermaid Theatre on 8 May 2006.) "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show" references two of the biblical cities of sin, Sodom and Gomorrah, in saying that to learn to 'go where angels fear to tread' (i.e. to sin) is to learn to live freely.

The liner notes show that the album is dedicated to two executed Iranian gay teenagers, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, who were hanged on 19 July 2005. Some reports have suggested the two may have been executed for engaging in homosexual behaviour, though the official Iranian report was that they were hanged for raping a 13-year-old boy.

Music

The album is Pet Shop Boys' first collaboration with Trevor Horn since the 1989 single " It's Alright". Its sound bears the producer's heavily orchestral style (also present on that song), most frequently associated with the 1982 ABC album '' The Lexicon of Love'' as well as the 1984 Frankie Goes to Hollywood single "Two Tribes" and subsequent album '' Welcome to the Pleasuredome''. Horn was also musical director for the Radio 2 concert, which featured the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The album's personnel included many of Horn's frequent musical collaborators, including Anne Dudley, Tessa Niles, Jamie Muhoberac, Phil Palmer, Steve Lipson, Lol Creme, Tim Pierce, Earl Harvin, Frank Ricotti, Luis Jardim, Lucinda Barry.

''Fundamentalism''

Special limited editions of the album include a second bonus CD called ''Fundamentalism''. The disc includes remixed tracks with contributions by artists such as Alter Ego. "In Private", here presented as a duet with Elton John, was originally a Dusty Springfield song written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys. First released as a single in 1989, it was later included on the 1990 album ''Reputation''. The powerful opening track "Fugitive" contains lyrics suggestive of a dialogue between a male terrorist and a person who has a close relationship with him — originally conceived by Tennant as the terrorist's sister, but later re-cast in his thoughts as either the terrorist's sister, his brother or a close friend — thus continuing the political themes of the main album.

Release

In December 2005, the official Pet Shop Boys website announced an early track listing for the album and gave a release date of 17 April 2006, naming "Minimal" as the lead single. This was quickly followed up on 23 December, when pop music fansite Popjustice gave the first review of the album. On 13 February 2006, it was announced that the release date of ''Fundamental'' had been pushed back to 22 May, because EMI needed "more set-up time". At the same time "I'm with Stupid" was announced to be the revised lead single. This was followed on 4 April 2006, with news that there would be a limited edition of the new album that would include a bonus CD called ''Fundamentalism''.

In 2017, the album was reissued as ''Fundamental: Further Listening 2005–2007''. The new version was digitally remastered and came with a second disc of B-sides and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release. ''Fundamental'' re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number 33 following the reissue.

Artwork

The album design was inspired by Dan Flavin's art made with fluorescent tubes, exhibited at the Hayward Gallery in London. The album title on the cover and the track listing on the back were created using cold cathode tubes.

Promotion

The music video for the lead single, "I'm with Stupid", starred Matt Lucas and David Walliams of the popular comedy series ''Little Britain''. Released as a mobile download in April, the video created "something of a viral phenomenon" according to ''Music Week''. Pet Shop Boys also made original ringtones as a promotion, including "Answer the Phone!", "Where Are You?", and "Water".
A Channel 4 career retrospective, '' Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop'', aired on 24 May.

The album was launched at a concert at the Mermaid Theatre on 8 May 2006, with musical director Trevor Horn and special guest vocalists Rufus Wainwright, Frances Barber, and Robbie Williams. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and featured songs from ''Fundamental'', including "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show", "Casanova in Hell", "Integral", "Numb", "Luna Park", and "Indefinite Leave to Remain". A recording of the concert was released as the Pet Shop Boys' first live album, ''Concrete'' (2006).

The album was also supported by the Fundamental Tour in 2006–2007. A concert filmed in Mexico at the Auditorio Nacional was released on the DVD ''Cubism'' in 2007.

Singles

*"Psychological" – In December 2005, a limited 12-inch white label record of "Psychological" was released. This one-track promo single featured an instrumental mix of the track, clocking in at 4:05.
*" I'm with Stupid" – the first commercially available single from ''Fundamental'' released 8 May 2006 in the UK. Bonus tracks included "The Resurrectionist" and "Girls Don't Cry".
*" Minimal" – released 24 July 2006, "Minimal" was announced by the Pet Shop Boys on 6 May as the second commercially available single from ''Fundamental'' in the UK. Bonus tracks included "In Private" (featuring Elton John), "Blue on Blue", and "No Time for Tears" from ''Battleship Potemkin''.
*" Numb" – released on 16 October 2006, announced on the official website on 4 September. Bonus tracks included "Party Song", "Bright Young Things", and "Psychological" (Ewan Pearson remix).
*"Integral" – a new version of this song was released to promote the album '' Disco 4''.

Critical reception

''Fundamental'' received a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 22 reviews at Metacritic.

Several reviewers compared ''Fundamental'' to earlier albums. Following what he termed the "lukewarm reception" of ''Release'' (2002), Peter Robinson of ''The Observer'' called ''Fundamental'' "the Pet Shop Boys' best album in over a decade, sitting neatly between their previous career highpoints of Very and Behaviour, and it propels them back into the pop premier league". Andy Gill of ''The Independent'' wrote: "Reuniting the duo once again with Trevor Horn, Fundamental is a confident affirmation of the PSBs' musical strengths. The result may be the very best album of their career, a mature and considered work which satisfies head, heart and feet simultaneously". Popjustice felt it was the duo's best album since ''Very'' (1993), whereas ''NME'' found "little on PSB's album that matches the big twizzly dunce-hatted glory of their 'Very' peak".

Benjamin Boles of ''NOW Magazine'' countered: "Some have said this is the best Pet Shop Boys album in 10 years, but looking back at their last decade of work, that's not really saying that much. For this expedition, they've gone back to their electro-pop fundamentals, and do so quite well for the most part. Unfortunately, it's not that consistent. For every moment of cynical dance pop genius, there's a dull midtempo dirge bereft of decent hooks". Keith Phipps of ''The A.V. Club'' described it as "A politically charged album that's free of musical sparks… Trevor Horn… provides characteristically slick production, but there's little to cast light on the gloss, and the political exasperation translates into music that sounds simply exhausted".

Track listing

Limited edition

Remastered edition

Notes

Personnel

;Pet Shop Boys
*Neil Tennant – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, guitarInformation taken from ''Fundamental: Further Listening 2005/2007'' booklet, as above.
*Chris Lowe – keyboards, synthesizers, drum programming

;Guest musicians
*Pete Gleadall – original programming
*Nick Ingman – orchestral arrangement and conduction on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 & 12
*Alanna Tavernier and Laura Edwards – backing vocals on track 1
*Pete Murray – additional keyboards on track 1, 4, 5, 10 & 11
* Jamie Muhoberac – additional keyboards on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 12; bass on track 4
*Patrick Lannigan – bass on track 1, 3 & 4
*Earl Harvin – vibraphone on tracks 1 & 2; acoustic drums on track 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 & 12; electronic drums on track 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12; marimba on track 2 & 4; bass on track 3
*Skaila Kanga – harp on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 & 9
* Anne Dudley – orchestral and brass arrangement and conducting on tracks 2 & 11
*Helene Parker, Sarah Eyden, Emma Brain Gabbot and Julia Doyle – backing vocals on track 2
* Tessa Niles – backing vocals on tracks 2, 8, 9 & 12
*Jenny O'Grady – choir master on track 2
*Fred Applegate – narration on track 2
*Oliver Pouliot – additional voice on track 2
*Dave Clayton – additional keyboards and programming on tracks 2, 7 & 9; keyboards and programming on track 6
*Luca Baldini – additional keyboards on tracks 2 & 11, additional programming on track 2
*Phil Palmer – guitar on tracks 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11
*Steve Lipson – guitar on tracks 2 & 12
*Lalo Creme – guitar on tracks 2, 8, 10 & 12
* Trevor Horn – guitar on tracks 2, 6, 9, 11 & 12; bass guitar on tracks 2, 4, 6 & 7; additional keyboards on track 3 & 7; additional vocals on track 4, additional programming on track 7
*Virgil Howe – acoustic drums on track 2; percussion on track 7
*Cliff Hewitt – electronic drums on tracks 2, 7, 8; acoustic drums on track 9; percussion on track 12
*Frank Ricotti – percussion on tracks 2, 7, 9, 10 & 12
*Lucinda Barry – harp on tracks 2, 4, 7, 9 & 12; backing vocals on tracks 9 & 12
*Steve Sidwell – orchestral arrangement and conducting on track 5
*Gavyn Wright – orchestra leader on track 5
*Tim Pierce – acoustic and electric guitars on track 5
*Luís Jardim – percussion on track 5
*Simon Chamberlain – additional keyboards on track 7
*Robert Orton – shaker on track 7
*Debi Doss – backing vocals on tracks 9 & 12
*Andy Caine and Bruce Woolley – backing vocals on track 12

;Guests on ''Fundamentalism''
*Pete Gleadall – Original programming
*Richard X – Production on track 1
*Pete Hoffman – Mix on track 1
*Anders Trentemøller – Additional production, instrumentation and remixing on track 2
*Mikael Simpson – Additional bass on track 2
*Roman Flügel and Jörn Elling – Remix and additional production on track 3
*Michael Mayer and Superpitcher – Remix production on track 4
*Melnyk – Remix and additional production on track 5
*Elton John – Duet vocals on track 6
*Stuart Chrichton – Production and mix on track 6
*Lobe – Remix and additional production on track 7
*Olof Dettinger – Remix production on track 8

Technical personnel
* Trevor Horn – producer
*Tim Weidner – recording engineer, vocals recording on track 10
* Robert Orton – recording engineer, mix engineer, vocals recording on tracks 7 & 11
*Taz Mattar – additional recording
*Rob Smith – additional recording
*Pete Gleadall – vocals recording on tracks 1–6, 8, 9 & 12
*Jay 'Buju' Blatch – assistant engineer
*Delaina Sepko – assistant engineer
*Chris Waugh – assistant engineer
*Isobel Griffiths Ltd. – orchestra contractor
*Tony Cousins – mastering
*Tim Young – mastering

Artwork
* Farrow/PSB – design, art direction
*John Ross – photography

Release details

The album was released in various countries:

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Pet Shop Boys' official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fundamental (Pet Shop Boys Album)
2006 albums
Pet Shop Boys albums
Parlophone albums
Rhino Entertainment albums
Albums produced by Trevor Horn