Rocktrospectiva: The Back To The Form "Fundamental" Turns 20

Released on 22 May 2006 "Fundamental" was 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. The album spawned three singles "I'm With Stupid", "Minimal" & "Numb." 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 featured 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.

 

So far, 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". 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. 

 

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. "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 music featured in the album was 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 reviews were the best in over a decade sitting the record neatly between their previous career highpoints of Very and Behaviour, and it propels them back into the pop premier league". 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," some have said that this album was 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. 

 

Fundamental Track List: 

 

1. Psychological

2. The Sodom And Gomorrah Show

3. I Made My Excuses And Left

4. Minimal

5. Numb

6. God Willing

7. Luna Park

8. I'm With Stupid

9. Casanova In Hell

10. Twentieth Century

11. Indefinite Leave To Remain

12. Integral