“Love, etc.” is still in our top 10, then…

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[5.58]

Edward Okulicz: Ah, now this is much more like it. No messing around, straight into a killer chorus and nearly no let up from there. Sure, the lyrics are a bit naff, but in stark contrast to the limp but tricky “Love, etc.” this is a gorgeous cocktail disco stomp to rival some of Very‘s giddiest pinnacles. If your idea of a good song is one that would sound good just on an acoustic, this might simultaneously be their best since “Miracles” and their most joyous since “I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing”.
[8]

Chuck Eddy: I’m a big fan of their first three albums — wrote about them all the time back then, even did a hilarious interview with Neil once while Chris just sat there — but they haven’t made me care about a solitary thing they’ve done since Behavior 19 (!) years ago…well, maybe that one Eminem song was cute. And no doubt I’ve missed a few things. But this track definitely supports my suspicion that they’ve been spinning the same tepid singer-songwriterly wheels ever since. It’s pretty, I guess. So what?
[6]

Alex Macpherson: Sadly, I did indeed see this clumsy cliché of a song coming, as well as the accompanying tossed-off synth limpness masquerading as a “beat” — as should anyone else who’s endured the last 15 years of the Pet Shop Boys’ descent into Being Boring.
[2]

Ian Mathers: Truly horrific titular double entendre aside (Neil, Neil, you’re wittier than this!) and with the caveat that the protagonist is clearly so smitten that he’s reduced to a series of “I wuv you” clichés, this is still a nicely smooth example of why the PSB circa 2009 are more than just elder statesmen, even if it’s occasionally only slightly more.
[7]

Alfred Soto: The Boys have become such master songwriters that few “real” bands can cobble together a sun-kissed guitar groove as buoyant as this, by far the catchiest song on the lackluster Yes. It’s a nice companion to “I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing” — unfortunately, that was from 1993. Although the evolution of Neil Tennant into a well-adjusted man who’s not above ordering one drink too many and flashing some pink speaks well to the continued aesthetic health of fiftysomething pop stars, this feels rote, even unnecessary. Impossible to dislike, difficult to remember an hour later.
[7]

Andrew Brennan: I liked the Xenomania kick 8 seconds in, but that’s about it — the song rapidly becomes a languid, plodding, in-the-style-of-Copacabana mess.
[4]

Michaelangelo Matos: This is the kind of record I’d have given an indulgent 7 only a year ago, but I’ve gotten a lot less indulgent in the past half-year. In a lot of ways I’m still glad they’re around, and I won’t be that surprised if I find myself enjoying Yes more than I’d expected to after a few years, but right now this seems pretty damn same-old. Especially when you keep in mind that they’ve been doing sincere for many more calendar years than they spent doing ironic.
[6]

Jonathan Bradley: The streamlined exuberance is agreeable, but, on a song so thin in inspiration, that seems to be a crutch more than a triumph of aesthetics. The lyrics are banal rather than deeply affecting, and by the time the vacant middle eight hits (“I’m not superstitious/or really religious/Just to thyself be true”) they have lost all ability to be involving. Besides, the bassline’s nagging similarity to Madonna’s “Sorry” reminds all too well that Jacques Lu Cont has done this sort of thing far better for a long time now.
[3]

Iain Mew: Talking about being pop as something worth aspiring to rather than reluctantly falling into is positive and all, and Pet Shop Boys have been particularly good at it this campaign. Acknowledging the high value of good pop is also to acknowledge that not just anyone can do it, though. PSBs were clearly once that not just anyone, but their best moments of recent years have all been at least one step removed and as such it’s no surprise that, in pushing for their pure pop ideal, “Did You See Me Coming?” feels needlesly hamstrung by its directness rather than strengthened by it. Kind of sweet, though.
[5]

Doug Robertson: Enjoyably slight, but still a step backwards from their last single. If “Love, etc.” — which did at least demonstrate a vision beyond their own back catalogue — struggled to convince the world that they’re still relevant today, “Did You See Me Coming?” will have the duo riding a tour bus round the nostalgia circuit before they know what’s happening to them. They deserve better.
[6]

Additional Scores

Martin Kavka: [6]
Martin Skidmore: [7]