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Tennant & Lowe (Pet Shop Boys) - Battleship Potemkin (2005)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 14 Aug 2023 13:25:37

Tennant & Lowe (Pet Shop Boys) - Battleship Potemkin (2005)

A few years after their foray into musicals, the Pet Shop Boys, who are quite possibly disco-pop's most intellectual act, have returned with another project: a live score to Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Battleship Potemkin was a silent film made in Leninist Russia in 1925, and tells the (somewhat idealized) story of a revolt among sailors of the Czar's Black Sea fleet. Given the Pet Shop Boys' history of playing with Leninist imagery (take, for example, the lyrics to 'West End Girls'), they were a suitably apt choice to do a live score to this film.

Battleship Potemkin is a beautiful piece of electro-prog (electronic music blended with classical music). Mostly instrumental, but containing a few vocal gems, this is one of the best things I have ever heard from Pet Shop Boys. They have always submerged their artistic inclinations under a shroud of pop and disco, but it occasionally surfaced in remixes, B-sides, and even the first half of their BILINGUAL album. Always afraid of breaking their string of perfect pop singles, this album was even released under their name as composers (Tennant/Lowe) rather than the Pet Shop Boys moniker. Then stickers were placed on the cover to make it clear that this is a Pet Shop Boys album in both writing and performance. In my opinion, it only strengthens their artistic credibility. A large share of the credit has to go to the orchestrations written by Torsten Rasch (performed by the Dresdner Sinfoniker)– the strings are amazing throughout. But the Boys turn in equally interesting performances. "After All (The Odessa Staircase") is a stunning composition– one of the best of their career– with excellent vocal melodies by Neil and an amazing merger of electronica and strings. For a focus on the strings, listen to the opening track, "Comrades!" "Men and Maggots" is one of the most successful instrumental tracks, but there are really no clunkers on this album. The slamming electronic beat of "Nyet" and the mantric chant ("Da….Nyet!") provides a compelling background for some scorching explorations on synthesizers and occasional blasts of strings. The only thing even remotely pop-like is "No time for tears," which was even considered for release as a single. It's a beautiful song, with Neil's high voice at its breathiest. It's a good thing it wasn't released, as this album works best as a continuous flow of music. Even this ballad ends with the rhythms picking up and segueing into one of the album's most beautiful orchestrations ("To the battleship"). There's no way to stop or start this soundtrack– just let if flow from start to finish.

As a soundtrack to the 1925 silent film, it does get a bit intense by the end, but mostly it is appropriate to the scenes of the film. There are a few scenes where I would have opted for something different, but quite honestly I think this is better than the classical scores that have been used previously. Oh, and if you are trying to get it in sync to the film, you have to hold the CD up at the end of track 3 (where the glass breaks) and wait for the scene in the film where a sailor washing dishes smashes a dish. This is because a large chunk of track 2 was deleted for the CD release. The soundtrack and film should play out pretty much together from that point on. I've watched them together so many times, I'm starting to have visual flashbacks when I listen to the soundtrack alone.

Aside from perhaps "Being Boring" or "Electricity," I think this is the best thing Pet Shop Boys have ever done. It irks me that they have performed it live in Britain and Germany, but we Americans are probably considered too shallow and artless to appreciate it in concert. Personally, I wish the Boys would do a tour where they perform it in its entirety. But alas, I'm living in the memory of the 1970s, when it was fashionable to pull out all the artistic stops and regale fans in the most complex music you can muster. Battleship Potemkin fits that bill perfectly.

Review by N. Kokoshis

Pet Shop Boys Biography
Pet Shop Boys at Wiki

Film at IMDB
Film at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. 'Comrades!' (03:52)
02. Men and maggots (04:57)
03. Our daily bread (00:52)
04. Drama in the harbour (09:00)
05. Nyet (06:14)
06. To the shore (03:12)
07. Odessa (06:50)
08. No time for tears (04:32)
09. To the battleship (04:34)
10. After all (The Odessa Staircase) (07:23)
11. Stormy meetings (01:31)
12. Night falls (05:55)
13. Full steam ahead (01:50)
14. The squadron (04:24)
15. For freedom (03:19)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 23. August 2009, 8:47

Tennant/Lowe / Battleship Potemkin

Used drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7173A Adapter: 0 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:52.03 | 0 | 17402
2 | 3:52.03 | 4:57.02 | 17403 | 39679
3 | 8:49.05 | 0:52.37 | 39680 | 43616
4 | 9:41.42 | 9:00.45 | 43617 | 84161
5 | 18:42.12 | 6:14.25 | 84162 | 112236
6 | 24:56.37 | 3:12.03 | 112237 | 126639
7 | 28:08.40 | 6:50.56 | 126640 | 157445
8 | 34:59.21 | 4:32.04 | 157446 | 177849
9 | 39:31.25 | 4:34.19 | 177850 | 198418
10 | 44:05.44 | 7:23.22 | 198419 | 231665
11 | 51:28.66 | 1:31.38 | 231666 | 238528
12 | 53:00.29 | 5:55.21 | 238529 | 265174
13 | 58:55.50 | 1:50.02 | 265175 | 273426
14 | 60:45.52 | 4:24.01 | 273427 | 293227
15 | 65:09.53 | 3:19.27 | 293228 | 308179

Track 1

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\01 - 'Comrades!'.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 08132E51
Copy CRC 08132E51
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\02 - Men and maggots.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FEB56A46
Copy CRC FEB56A46
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\03 - Our daily bread.wav

Peak level 84.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C7E762A2
Copy CRC C7E762A2
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\04 - Drama in the harbour.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC C2F9AACF
Copy CRC C2F9AACF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\05 - Nyet.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 857F5D17
Copy CRC 857F5D17
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\06 - To the shore.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A2941325
Copy CRC A2941325
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\07 - Odessa.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 28CF6D8E
Copy CRC 28CF6D8E
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\08 - No time for tears.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC AC820A75
Copy CRC AC820A75
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\09 - To the battleship.wav

Peak level 92.0 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 82519CA5
Copy CRC 82519CA5
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\10 - After all (The Odessa Staircase).wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 261B9228
Copy CRC 261B9228
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 11

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\11 - Stormy meetings.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 018F3C1A
Copy CRC 018F3C1A
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 12

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\12 - Night falls.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FE6D4938
Copy CRC FE6D4938
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 13

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\13 - Full steam ahead.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 69EBC86B
Copy CRC 69EBC86B
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 14

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\14 - The squadron.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 253FA4EF
Copy CRC 253FA4EF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 15

Filename C:\Downloads\Tennant,Lowe - Battleship Potemkin\15 - For freedom.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 31FF91B8
Copy CRC 31FF91B8
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

No errors occurred

End of status report

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2013-12-18 18:34:35

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Tennant/Lowe / Battleship Potemkin
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR8 0.00 dB -11.41 dB 3:52 01-'Comrades!'
DR8 0.00 dB -11.85 dB 4:57 02-Men and maggots
DR11 -1.41 dB -17.27 dB 0:52 03-Our daily bread
DR7 0.00 dB -9.93 dB 9:01 04-Drama in the harbour
DR7 0.00 dB -8.61 dB 6:14 05-Nyet
DR8 0.00 dB -11.57 dB 3:12 06-To the shore
DR7 -0.01 dB -9.12 dB 6:51 07-Odessa
DR6 0.00 dB -8.74 dB 4:32 08-No time for tears
DR7 -0.72 dB -9.73 dB 4:34 09-To the battleship
DR7 -0.01 dB -9.01 dB 7:23 10-After all (The Odessa Staircase)
DR8 -0.01 dB -9.49 dB 1:32 11-Stormy meetings
DR9 -0.01 dB -12.15 dB 5:55 12-Night falls
DR6 -0.01 dB -6.37 dB 1:50 13-Full steam ahead
DR6 0.00 dB -7.27 dB 4:24 14-The squadron
DR7 0.00 dB -10.38 dB 3:19 15-For freedom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 15
Official DR value: DR8

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 968 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

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