DISCO 3
Pet Shop Boys

The third album in the PSB's Disco series, in stores Tuesday, is a collection of mostly dance-oriented tracks written, recorded or re-mixed at the same time as the veteran British synth-pop duo's last studio album, 2002's Release.

Some are duds, like the plodding opener Time On My Hands, while others are revelations, such as the fun and frothy Positive Role Model -- recorded in Berlin with producer/programmer Chris Zippel, who also handled another standout, Somebody Else's Business.

Other highlights feature two of Release's best songs: Home And Dry, which is turned into a fast-paced disco number without sacrificing the song's lovely sentiment, and a stripped-down, slower-paced piano version of London.

Incidentally, the Felix Da Housecat re-mix of the latter, released as a single in Germany with an accompanying video, bored me.

But I dug the wildly radical reworking of Here, another Release tune, which improves greatly in its new dance version.

The oldest track here -- Try It (I'm In Love With A Married Man) --goes all the way back to 1983 and was written by original PSB producer Bobby 0. Strangely, it doesn't sound that dated.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for If Looks Could Kill, which was also started in 1983 but not completed until 2002. It should have remained in the vaults. (More on the Pet Shop Boys)