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The Pet Shop Boys
The dour duo return with what is rumoured to be their most extravagant stage show yet - and that’s saying something. Fifteen years on, the Boys are still dealing in crystalline pop music that manages to be both profoundly emotional and yet as cool as cucumber sorbet. Quiet frontrunners in the development of British dance music, conceptual artists of the most unassuming kind, stars and enigmas and dead nice blokes, Chris ’n’ Neil are inimitable. They're currently working on a musical but, in the meantime, make do with what promises to be the live spectacle of the year.
The Pet Shop Boys’ new album Night Life is out now on Parlophone; the single You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk is released on Mon 13 Dec; they play SECC, Glasgow on Sat 4 Dec.
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What you can’t afford to miss in the weeks ahead. Game: Tomb Raider 4 Lara Croft, the Virtual icon of the 90s, returns in an adventure that fav0urs the original game’s emphasis on puzzle-solvmg rather than ever more complex moves. Egypt IS the setting for The Last Revelation. See rewew, page 122. Out now for PC and PlayStation.
Music: Macy Gray The soul of Aretha, the emotion of Billie, the cracked beauty of Janis - put these three vonces together, and you’ve still not quite got the quality that sets Macy Gray apart from today’s R&B crowd. See feature, page 10. Glasgow: Barrow/and, Tue 74 Dec.
Film: The Straight Story No small-town psychos, no pie- eating FBI men. Davrd Lynch's latest is straight from the heart, the movrng story of one man’s trip across America on a lawnmower. See feature and review, pages 12 and 24. Selected release from Fri 10 Dec.
Art: Rene Magritte The language of dreams is rendered as orl-on-canvas in this major retrospective exhibition of one of 20th century art's grants. See feature, page 14. Edinburgh: Dean Gallery, from Sat 78 Dec.
TV: History Of The Pop Video From 'Bohemian Rhapsody’ to Britney Spears, the history of the pop promo is nothing less than the story of all our lives. Two hours of glorious self- indulgence await. See feature, page 18. Channel 4, Sat 71 Dec.
Theatre: King Of The Fields Playwright Stuart Paterson takes a break from his dominance of the panto scene for this re-write of his 1986 tragedy, Mr Government. See preview, page 58. Edinburgh: Traverse, Fri 3—Sun 72 Dec. Books: luneteenth America went wild this year wrth the posthumous release of Ralph Ellison's follow up to the 19505 landmark Invisible Man. You will, too. See prevrew, page
1 14. Published by Hamish Hamilton on Thu 2 Dec. Videos: The Lodger Alfred Hitchcock's silent masterpiece is heightened by digital remastering and a powerful score from The Divine Comedy’s Joby Talbot. Nothing short of magical. See review, page 1 18. Released by BF/ Video on Mon 6 Dec.
2—16 Dec 1999 THE llSTS