Sure, I might have no money, but some things are just priorities, dammit.
Anyhow: This was billed as their return to super-ultra-grandiose synthpop (getting back to their fundamentals, as it were). And I’d say four songs on the record fulfill that more than completely - maybe 4.5: the hilarious, mordant satire of “I’m with stupid” (which I heard the first play of on the BBC when I was in London - a truly special moment), “The Sodom and Gomorrah show,” “Minimal,” and the incredible “Integral,” which completely r0xx0rz my b0xx0rz. “Casanova in hell” is a good addition.
Most of their slow music is not really my cup of tea (with some exceptions such as “Liberation,” “My October symphony,” “Home and dry,” and naturally “Being boring”) - and I was surprised that much of the middle part of the album is slow music. I expected more grandiose epics “Shameless”/“It’s a sin”-esque epics. They can do fast music with heartfelt, beautiful lyrics, and it’s something they’re especially good at - witness “Miracles” or “I wouldn’t normally do this kind of thing” - so it surprised me that the middle part of the album was so low-energy.
I got the bonus disc as well, and though most remixes leave me cold, it’s worth it if only for the heartrending “Fugitive,” which can either be heard as the rationalizations of a terrorist, or else, more lyrically, as the last thoughts of the boys hanged last year for homosexuality in Iran - to whom the album is dedicated.