The New Oldies: #2 2024 Album of the Year: Pet Shop Boys – Nonetheless

Something seems to be missing these days. It seems that record companies, radio stations, and streaming services are pushing some the great established musicians to the background. As a result these veteran artists are not getting the attention they deserve. Enter the Top 10 Album Countdown: The New Oldies. The main point is simple – to make this list you must have at least 20 years of producing established music. The album by the artist must have been released between November 1st, 2023 and October 31st, 2024

#2 Pet Shop Boys – Nonetheless

Nonetheless is the fifteenth studio album by the Pet Shop Boys. While their success in the U.S. has been modest at best, in terms of a global The Pet Shop Boys are one of the most successful artists of all time. This is a career than spans five decades. When it comes to the New Oldies, Nonetheless fits the bill as good as any selection.

Nonetheless is in a lot of ways an album where the Pet Shop Boys go back to where they started. While the album is on their own label X2, the this reunites the band with Parlophone albums – pretty much the label that started it all for them. While it’s still produced under X2, Parlophone is handling the distribution. In a lot of ways, this album is very much a throwback to the early 80s days of the Pet Shop Boys. At the same time, the album is one where the sound is not lost in the 2020s. They also are at no loss when it comes to socio or political commentary.

Loneliness is the opening track and its classic Pet Shop Boys Euro-Disco. Every time I hear this song, it simply grows on me. Feel and Why am I Dancing are tracks that has 1980s vocals with a 2020 sound. New London Boy has a spoken vocal that takes you back to the West End Girls, but a very different sound.,

There are slower tracks such as The Secret of Happiness and Love is the Law which remind you the Pet Shop Boys are not one trick pony.

I’ve always said every New Oldies artist has one great album left in their career. While this certainly is a great album, somehow I think the best is yet to come for Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys.