Please

In 1986, post-disco synth-dance pop was commercially waning, with even Madonna moving towards a more conventional pop sound with her single "Live to Tell", and the real hardcore stuff was reduced to an underground that had been dubbed "Hi-NRG". That is, until the Pet Shop Boys, ex-music journalist Neil Tennant and synth player Chris Lowe, made the jump from that underground to the pop charts with the gloriously sleazy "West End Girls" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)". Unlike most similar dance-pop records, however, PLEASE has more to offer than just the hits; songs like the dreamy "I Want a Lover" are on par with the aforementioned singles, and the album's two best songs--the pulsating-yet-languid "Love Comes Quickly" and the beautifully melodic, lyrically creepy "Suburbia"--weren't nearly as successful on the singles chart. Overall, PLEASE is a thoroughly enjoyable record that has not dated nearly as much as many other synth records from the period, thanks to Tennant's witty lyrics and Lowe's compelling melodic gifts.

Alternative Press (7/95, p.102)
- Ranked # 84 in AP's list of the `Top 99 of '85-'95' - "...synths and drum machines form the perfect carpet for Neil Tennant's funny and intelligent lyrics to walk over. As fey as Morrissey, but with a yearning to be Bertolt Brecht, they really did paint a true picture of England in the mid '80s....Dance music for people who couldn't dance, and had no interests in trying..."