Pet Shop Boys Actually Of these ,
1987's Actually hasn't aged too well-it sounds too calculated, as if Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe were as busy playing at pop as being pop,

and somewhat old-fashioned too, with that Fairlight-bouncy, synth-bubbling euphoria-pop going slightly flat over time like champagne, despite the evergreen What Have I Done To Deserve This?, It Couldn't Happen Here, I Want To Wake Up and It's A Sin. By 1990's Behaviour, they were wiser, looser and more natural. The sound is lusher and warmer, with syncopated guitars and orchestras in the mix. Life, meanwhile, isn't about Shopping now, it's about aging, mortality,

AIDS, freedom, growing up, having a heart and other such behaviour, which songs like Being Boring, This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave, To Face The Truth and Jealousy admirably reflect. Cynicism normally increases with age but in Pet Shop Boys' case, clearly this isn't so, which is yet another reason to love them.

Martin Aston