When their hypnotic debut single West End Girls reached number one way back in 1986, even the Pet Shop Boys themselves suspected they might be one hit wonders. Since then, however, the deadpan duo have managed to rack up 35 further top 20 singles, all of which are gathered here on this glorious two-disc retrospective. The songs have been split into the categories Pop and Art, a division that feels highly artificial since almost all of them contain elements of both. But who cares? The Pets have aged better than just about every one of their 80s contemporaries, always wearing their intelligence on their sleeves but never forgetting the importance of having tunes you can dance to. PopArt confirms their reputation as the thinking person's pop stars, infusing their luxuriously orchestrated dance music with a sense of theatricality and wit that owes rather more to Noel Coward than the Rolling Stones. Smart, stylish and impossibly sexy - who could not love these men?
