laohu
05-23-2014, 11:03 PM
Tennant/Lowe (Pet Shop Boys) - Battleship Potemkin (2005, FLAC)
Tracklist:
01. 'Comrades!' (03:52)
02. Men and maggots (04:57)
03. Our daily bread (00:52)
04. Drama in the harbour (09:00)
05. Nyet (06:14)
06. To the shore (03:12)
07. Odessa (06:50)
08. No time for tears (04:32)
09. To the battleship (04:34)
10. After all (The Odessa Staircase) (07:23)
11. Stormy meetings (01:31)
12. Night falls (05:55)
13. Full steam ahead (01:50)
14. The squadron (04:24)
15. For freedom (03:19)
https://mega.co.nz/#!gR0glRhC!Uq4mC-zaNJWBy7zO6DX4hsdzioO0XkHhdH1hPqQAyac
---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------
A few years after their foray into musicals, the Pet Shop Boys, who are quite possibly disco-pop's most intellectual act, have returned with another project: a live score to Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Battleship Potemkin was a silent film made in Leninist Russia in 1925, and tells the (somewhat idealized) story of a revolt among sailors of the Czar's Black Sea fleet. Given the Pet Shop Boys' history of playing with Leninist imagery (take, for example, the lyrics to 'West End Girls'), they were a suitably apt choice to do a live score to this film.
Battleship Potemkin is a beautiful piece of electro-prog (electronic music blended with classical music). Mostly instrumental, but containing a few vocal gems, this is one of the best things I have ever heard from Pet Shop Boys. They have always submerged their artistic inclinations under a shroud of pop and disco, but it occasionally surfaced in remixes, B-sides, and even the first half of their BILINGUAL album. Always afraid of breaking their string of perfect pop singles, this album was even released under their name as composers (Tennant/Lowe) rather than the Pet Shop Boys moniker. Then stickers were placed on the cover to make it clear that this is a Pet Shop Boys album in both writing and performance. In my opinion, it only strengthens their artistic credibility. A large share of the credit has to go to the orchestrations written by Torsten Rasch (performed by the Dresdner Sinfoniker)-- the strings are amazing throughout. But the Boys turn in equally interesting performances. "After All (The Odessa Staircase") is a stunning composition-- one of the best of their career-- with excellent vocal melodies by Neil and an amazing merger of electronica and strings. For a focus on the strings, listen to the opening track, "Comrades!" "Men and Maggots" is one of the most successful instrumental tracks, but there are really no clunkers on this album. The slamming electronic beat of "Nyet" and the mantric chant ("Da....Nyet!") provides a compelling background for some scorching explorations on synthesizers and occasional blasts of strings. The only thing even remotely pop-like is "No time for tears," which was even considered for release as a single. It's a beautiful song, with Neil's high voice at its breathiest. It's a good thing it wasn't released, as this album works best as a continuous flow of music. Even this ballad ends with the rhythms picking up and segueing into one of the album's most beautiful orchestrations ("To the battleship"). There's no way to stop or start this soundtrack-- just let if flow from start to finish.
As a soundtrack to the 1925 silent film, it does get a bit intense by the end, but mostly it is appropriate to the scenes of the film. There are a few scenes where I would have opted for something different, but quite honestly I think this is better than the classical scores that have been used previously. Oh, and if you are trying to get it in sync to the film, you have to hold the CD up at the end of track 3 (where the glass breaks) and wait for the scene in the film where a sailor washing dishes smashes a dish. This is because a large chunk of track 2 was deleted for the CD release. The soundtrack and film should play out pretty much together from that point on. I've watched them together so many times, I'm starting to have visual flashbacks when I listen to the soundtrack alone.
Aside from perhaps "Being Boring" or "Electricity," I think this is the best thing Pet Shop Boys have ever done. It irks me that they have performed it live in Britain and Germany, but we Americans are probably considered too shallow and artless to appreciate it in concert. Personally, I wish the Boys would do a tour where they perform it in its entirety. But alas, I'm living in the memory of the 1970s, when it was fashionable to pull out all the artistic stops and regale fans in the most complex music you can muster. Battleship Potemkin fits that bill perfectly.
Review by N. Kokoshis, Amazon.com
Tracklist:
01. 'Comrades!' (03:52)
02. Men and maggots (04:57)
03. Our daily bread (00:52)
04. Drama in the harbour (09:00)
05. Nyet (06:14)
06. To the shore (03:12)
07. Odessa (06:50)
08. No time for tears (04:32)
09. To the battleship (04:34)
10. After all (The Odessa Staircase) (07:23)
11. Stormy meetings (01:31)
12. Night falls (05:55)
13. Full steam ahead (01:50)
14. The squadron (04:24)
15. For freedom (03:19)
https://mega.co.nz/#!gR0glRhC!Uq4mC-zaNJWBy7zO6DX4hsdzioO0XkHhdH1hPqQAyac
---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------
A few years after their foray into musicals, the Pet Shop Boys, who are quite possibly disco-pop's most intellectual act, have returned with another project: a live score to Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Battleship Potemkin was a silent film made in Leninist Russia in 1925, and tells the (somewhat idealized) story of a revolt among sailors of the Czar's Black Sea fleet. Given the Pet Shop Boys' history of playing with Leninist imagery (take, for example, the lyrics to 'West End Girls'), they were a suitably apt choice to do a live score to this film.
Battleship Potemkin is a beautiful piece of electro-prog (electronic music blended with classical music). Mostly instrumental, but containing a few vocal gems, this is one of the best things I have ever heard from Pet Shop Boys. They have always submerged their artistic inclinations under a shroud of pop and disco, but it occasionally surfaced in remixes, B-sides, and even the first half of their BILINGUAL album. Always afraid of breaking their string of perfect pop singles, this album was even released under their name as composers (Tennant/Lowe) rather than the Pet Shop Boys moniker. Then stickers were placed on the cover to make it clear that this is a Pet Shop Boys album in both writing and performance. In my opinion, it only strengthens their artistic credibility. A large share of the credit has to go to the orchestrations written by Torsten Rasch (performed by the Dresdner Sinfoniker)-- the strings are amazing throughout. But the Boys turn in equally interesting performances. "After All (The Odessa Staircase") is a stunning composition-- one of the best of their career-- with excellent vocal melodies by Neil and an amazing merger of electronica and strings. For a focus on the strings, listen to the opening track, "Comrades!" "Men and Maggots" is one of the most successful instrumental tracks, but there are really no clunkers on this album. The slamming electronic beat of "Nyet" and the mantric chant ("Da....Nyet!") provides a compelling background for some scorching explorations on synthesizers and occasional blasts of strings. The only thing even remotely pop-like is "No time for tears," which was even considered for release as a single. It's a beautiful song, with Neil's high voice at its breathiest. It's a good thing it wasn't released, as this album works best as a continuous flow of music. Even this ballad ends with the rhythms picking up and segueing into one of the album's most beautiful orchestrations ("To the battleship"). There's no way to stop or start this soundtrack-- just let if flow from start to finish.
As a soundtrack to the 1925 silent film, it does get a bit intense by the end, but mostly it is appropriate to the scenes of the film. There are a few scenes where I would have opted for something different, but quite honestly I think this is better than the classical scores that have been used previously. Oh, and if you are trying to get it in sync to the film, you have to hold the CD up at the end of track 3 (where the glass breaks) and wait for the scene in the film where a sailor washing dishes smashes a dish. This is because a large chunk of track 2 was deleted for the CD release. The soundtrack and film should play out pretty much together from that point on. I've watched them together so many times, I'm starting to have visual flashbacks when I listen to the soundtrack alone.
Aside from perhaps "Being Boring" or "Electricity," I think this is the best thing Pet Shop Boys have ever done. It irks me that they have performed it live in Britain and Germany, but we Americans are probably considered too shallow and artless to appreciate it in concert. Personally, I wish the Boys would do a tour where they perform it in its entirety. But alas, I'm living in the memory of the 1970s, when it was fashionable to pull out all the artistic stops and regale fans in the most complex music you can muster. Battleship Potemkin fits that bill perfectly.
Review by N. Kokoshis, Amazon.com