Pet Shop Boys - Super

You might think Pet Shop Boys albums were named to make us sound all middle-class and polite in HMV. We had Please, then came Actually, and now we have Super. Their 13th studio album will be seen as classic PSB by those who love this duo – and as more dreary electronic same old, same old by those who don't.

You don't have to be Mystic Meg to predict what's coming – throbbing and thrusting high-energy tunes; catchy choruses; clever, observational lyrics; and the one slow track everyone skips (that'll be Sad Robot World). And every song tells a story. First single Pop Kids – with a strong house vibe – charts the too-cool-for-school 1990’s club scene. The Dictator Decides tells the woes of a puppet dictator who really doesn't want the job any more. Twenty-Something captures the angst of a striving age group – you work hard, you play hard, but ultimately you “take your smart phone, make your way home... on your own”. The standout track is Say It To Me. It wouldn't sound out of place in an Ibiza club but it's still (to quote a previous album – politely, of course) Very Pet Shop Boys.