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8.0
115400
8.0 |
The Irish Times
This is a poignant record that provides moments for darkened dance floors and private consideration
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8.0
115402
8.0 |
The Independent
You sense this album is intended as an expression of hope for the future, rather than a fond look back
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8.0
115403
8.0 |
All Music
Tennant and Lowe feel as confident and progressive as ever, honoring their signature sound while continuing to push it into the future
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8.0
115325
8.0 |
The Arts Desk
If the Pet Shops Boys are evangelists for anything, it’s the power of cheap dance music
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8.0
115429
8.0 |
Clash
Tennant and Lowe have lost none of their capacity for dancefloor exuberance but with this album they’ve perfected their journey of the last decade of connecting with their musical past while pointing a way towards the future
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8.0
115434
8.0 |
PopMatters
Four decades in the music business is no small feat, and yet the Pet Shop Boys enter the new decade sounding just as current and catchy as the pop landscape they helped construct
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8.0
115436
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Hotspot is just another jewel in the already-sizeable crown of Britain’s greatest ever pop band, and will only grow in power over time
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8.0
115442
8.0 |
NME
Astutely observed social commentary in the form of absolute mega bangers
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8.0
115445
8.0 |
Evening Standard
When they’re on form like this, there’s always room for more Pet Shop Boys
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8.0
115544
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
If the world is burning, the album asserts, you might as well enjoy the bonfire
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8.0
115567
8.0 |
XS Noize
Hotspot is classic Pet Shop Boys, mixing irony, dry wit, sublime pop tunes together with a dark heart grounded in reality
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8.0
117201
8.0 |
Long Live Vinyl
Hotspot is one of the downright oddest albums Pet Shop Boys have ever made, and all the better for it
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8.0
117529
8.0 |
American Songwriter
Good stuff all around from a band that makes it look easy by keeping true to what got it here in the first place
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8.0
115472
8.0 |
The Quietus
Lowe and Tennant have always been romantics, ironic or otherwise. Hotspot retreats further into the domain of dreams – the worlds mutually created and sustained by couples both straight and gay – and in so doing backs away from the harsh reality Tenant and Lowe share with their countrymen
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8.0
115511
8.0 |
Q
Tennant and Lowe still chime with the times. Print edition only
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7.0
115439
7.0 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
For those who haven’t bothered with the pop veterans since their golden days, I encourage you to grab these last three albums and rediscover them
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7.0
115440
7.0 |
The Music
Dreamland featuring Years & Years is radio-friendly pop magic and Wedding In Berlin is a bouncy celebration of marriage equality, leaving the Pet Shop Boys in a pretty fabulous spot as they enter their fifth decade
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7.0
115430
7.0 |
musicOMH
There are still more than enough highlights on Hotspot to make the record worthwhile, and when they put their mind to it Tennant and Lowe’s wordsmithery is still as sharp as ever
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7.0
115335
7.0 |
Loud And Quiet
With their first Greatest Hits tour on the horizon, you could forgive Pet Shop Boys for winding down – you could forgive them anything, really – but Hotspot shows a creative force that’s still curious, still with things to say
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7.0
115386
7.0 |
Exclaim
Fans will find much to enjoy here, but Hotspot is best viewed as a victory lap
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7.0
115404
7.0 |
Gigwise
A relevant comment on human emotion and current affairs
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6.8
115407
6.8 |
Paste Magazine
The synth-pop duo ends their Stuart Price trilogy with mixed results
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6.1
115540
6.1 |
Pitchfork
On their 14th studio album, the best-selling duo in UK pop dampen the euphoria; the result is a tuneful, wan album that lands somewhere in the middle of their rich catalogue
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6.0
115446
6.0 |
The FT
The UK synth duo’s third Berlin album has elements of techno and 1980s pop pastiche
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6.0
115447
6.0 |
The Observer
At its heart is yearning – for the migrant’s safe haven, for a dancefloor utopia and for Berlin’s Hansa studios, where Hotspot was produced by Stuart Price
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6.0
115453
6.0 |
Crack
For all the bizarre choices and sidesteps made on Hotspot, Pet Shop Boys live up to their own adage of never being boring. For a legacy act entering its fourth decade of existence, what more could you possibly want?
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