Following the failure of their West End musical Closer To Heaven, the Pet Shop Boys have a point to prove - and on their eighth studio album they do it in style. Rumours that Tennant and Lowe have gone rock have been greatly exaggerated, but with much of Release propelled by Johnny Marr's swooning guitar rather than the duo's trademark synthesisers, it's certainly their most unvarnished record to date. Appropriately enough, then, the songs are deeply personal, eschewing irony in favour of melancholy reflections on love in the 21st century. Unlike most of their 80s rivals, the Boys' concerns are as contemporary as ever - 'E-mail' explores the problems of a relationship conducted by modem, while elsewhere there are lyrics clearly inspired by such diverse figures as Peter Mandelson and Eminem. Beautifully judged and often deeply affecting, Release is a consistently fine album which should confirm the Pet Shop Boys' status as the thinking person's pop stars.

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