Fridae

"It's the new Pet Shop Boys meets the old Pet Shop Boys."
- Neil Tennant on Disco 3.

It is Ms Scary's fervent belief that disco, like 70s inspired baby blue frosted eyeshadow, will never really go away. And the reason for this phenomenon can be attributed (or blamed - depending on your dancing agility) on pop acts that have and will always keep the campy torch of disco burning bright.

Case-in-point: Pet Shop Boys and their latest offering Disco 3.

For their untiring efforts in making and releasing dancelicious albums aimed solely at bringing throes of gay men back to the dancefloor, it is Ms Scary's personal recommendation that the aging pop duo should be presented with an outstanding achievement award - but I digress.

Following in the tradition of previous Disco albums, Disco 3 follows Release just as Disco follows Please (1986) and Disco 2 follows Very (1986). Like its predecessors, Disco 3 can be regarded as the dance-remix companion to a Pet Shop Boys' album - but unlike its predecessors, Disco 3 features five previously unreleased dance tracks recorded during the Release sessions.

One part remix album and one part club-till-you-shed-your-clothes dance album, the ten tracks on Disco 3 sound positively hyperactive compared to the heavily sedated affair that is Release. An album of sheer electro-dance bliss, Disco 3 finds members Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe back in familiar musical waters as the dynamic duo offers the listener the sonic equivalent of a heady nightout at his or her favourite club (minus the hangover).

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The album opens with the Kraftwerksque Time On My Hands featuring both Tennant and Lowe on vocals set against thumping beats and a myriad of electro beeps weaving in and out of the bassline. Positive Role Model, a tune from their musical Closer To Heaven, keeps up the tempo with its combination of ostentatious synthpop and infectious hooks while the duo's take on Bobby Orlando's 1983 piece Try It (I'm In Love With A Married Man) is almost guaranteed to become every unfortunate homebreaker's disco anthem for this year.

And as if these new dance tracks are not tempting enough, there are great remixes of tracks originally found on Release. London is transformed into an electroclash dance track by Felix Da Housecat while Here could seal the Boys' dancefloor reputation the way Believe resuscitated the career of that divine mannequin Cher. Likewise Home and Dry has all the makings of a major club hit with its insistent beat, ambient echoes and Pet Shop Boys' trademark pop sensibility re-packaged exclusively for the dance crowd. Best of all, the album closes with a stripped down chill-out version of London guaranteed to soothe even the most e-lated of Queens after a night of hard partying.

So what is Ms Scary's verdict on Disco 3?

Well, Ms Scary's sentiments are perhaps best conveyed by the following lines from an earlier "Absolutely Fabulous" song by the Boys:

Absolutely fabulous
(Edina: Pump up the volume!)
We're absolutely fabulous
(Edina: Just put the needle on the record.)
Absolutely fabulous
(Edina: Pump up the volume!)
We're absolutely fabulous
(Edina: Are you ready for this, Sweetie?)