PET SHOP BOYS | Legacy

Available on:
x Pet Shop Boys - Yes (2009) CD

Credits:
Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.
Produced by Brian Higgins/Xenomania.
Mixed by Jeremey Wheatley.
Keyboards & programming: Chris Lowe, Neil Tennant, Pete Gleadall, Tim Powell, Jason Resch, Matt Gray, Kieran Jones, Nick Coler.
Orchestral arrangement by Owen Pallett.
The London Metropolitan Orchestra, led by Cathy Thompson, conducted by Andy Brown, recorded at Abbey Road studios by Andy Dudman.
Mastered by Dick Beetham at 360 Mastering, London.
Published by Cage Music Ltd/Sony ATV.

Notes:
x Neil Tennant: "Legacy, a bit like Building a Wall, has a a collage approach. I think it has an amazing atmosphere and also it has an extraordinary melody. The first, the opening line of the song, 'That's it, the end,' was the last thing Tony Blair said to the House of Commons. That's why the song is called Legacy. It's about a politician losing his power. The language is all of being taken to exile. It's the idea of someone going from power to a normal kind of life but really, they're never going to get over the loss of power. I don't think many people do get over losing power. So this is one of the Pet Shop Boys' more self-indulgent songs."

x In China, "Legacy" will appear on the album only as an instrumental. The lyrics of the song failed the censorship of the General Admission of Press and Publication department.

The offending lyrics are: "Governments fall/ Glaciers melt/ Hurricanes bawl"; "Resentment remain/ both east and west/ Police expect/ an arrest"; "They're raising an army/ in the North/ from York Minster/ to the Firth of Forth/ A pilgrimage of grace/ you won't believe it/ Such a human face..."

REVIEWS
x In the grand, elegiac "Legacy," singer Neil Tennant delivers what's either a farewell kiss or simply a cheeky end to the most thoroughly heartfelt chapter in the pair's 25-year story. Spin

x The album ends with a further out on a limb composition, Legacy, a fusion between the elegiac qualities of Behaviour and their soundtrack to Potemkin coupled with swirls of musical theatre. Neil's vocal on this is marvellous too. It's a montage composition telling of police arrests, armies being raised in the North, 'from York Minster to the Firth of Forth' (very West End Girls), lots of brass and strings as well as jittery electronics. 'Public opinion may not be on your side / there are those who think / they've been taken for a ride' suggests Tennant is working through his Labourite disappointment with Tony Blair and his decision to join the Iraq War. The continuing refrain of 'you'll get over it' is either his sympathy with the public's political disenfranchisement, or a snippet of his own internal thoughts. It's an idiosyncratic way to end the album, will probably puzzle a great many, but it secretly thrills me that it's a through line from It Couldn't Happen Here and My October Symphony all the way here to Legacy. Cathode Ray Tube

x The only song that feels out of place is the last track, Legacy, which brings the album to a more sombre close than I was expecting. Same Same

x (...) where the kettle drums, Johnny Marr-arranged orchestral flourishes, and decision to stick roughly the entire history of the world into what, more than any closing track in recent years, actually merits the term grand finale all come in. We're not convinced the words "bourgeoisie" and "Carphone Warehouse" will ever appear in the same song again, nor are we sure that placing gentle bursts of Megadog-alluding techno alongside an approximation of the sunset on a western soundtrack that gets cruelly swept aside by the circus bit in French is going to be de rigeur in this or any other year, but these, and many of the other manoeuvres here, are all things to admire at the very least and, more often, simply adore. The PSBs haven't been as beatific as 'Legacy' ever, and they've not been as brilliant as Yes in years. The Quietus

x Closer "Legacy" is what happens when Pet Shop Boys let their Art get the best of their Pop. A better choice would have been "This Used to Be the Future", included on the "Special Edition" release. It's a more suitable lament for old times, featuring Philip Oakey doing a brilliant reprisal of early Human League "futurism". Good stuff, indeed. PopMatters

x The grand closer "Legacy" is the obvious songwriting highlight, partly because of the Kurt Weill-like breakdown in the middle, but mostly because of the grim way it comforts the brokenhearted. Neil proposes that glaciers melt and stars burn out so there's a pretty good chance that given time "you'll get over it." It's much better than the "Is that a riot/or are you just glad to see me" line in "Pandemonium" and just the touch Yes needs to put this above the standard PSB album. AMG