- Label: 'Care in the Community Recordings'
- Genre: 'Pop'
- Release Date: '15th June 2012'
Our Rating:
There are few things more certain to remind us of the ageing process than an anniversary, and I can’t have been the only one who felt crushingly ancient with all of the ‘Nevermind’ 20th anniversary coverage last year. So now we have Ergo Phitmiz for reminding us that it’s 25 years since The Pet Shop Boys released ‘It’s a Sin.’
While they have have become overblown and placed more emphasis on the live theatrics than quality material as their career progressed, back in the days of their first three albums or so, PSB created some outstanding pop songs.
With his idiosyncratic ‘Baroque-Skronk’ tribute, Phizmiz provides a timely reminder of this, successfully preserving the structure and spirit of the song, while at the same time trashing and reconstructing it in his own inimitable way.
If Wagner had composed the track, and recorded a demo version on a four-track with an overdriven electric guitar and only a chamber quartet, it might have sounded something like that. The lo-fi production contrasts with the monumental bombast, resulting in an interpretation that’s so crazed as to be genius. One thing’s for certain, you’ve never heard anything quite like it.
