Sleeve: Minimalist yet typically tastefully camp. Tennant and Lowe in black-and-white silhouette with feathered plumage frothing from their heads.
Sleevenotes: More pictorial plumage plus credits list, but no comment piece.
Content: Ever-so-English electronic duo’s 25th anniversary retrospective in chronological order, but restricting Shopping list to 19 tracks means leaving out plenty of Pet loves, including much missed Opportunities.
High point: West End Girls’ magnetic lure to the metropolis.
Low point: Flippant cover of Always On Mind keeping The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York off the Christmas top spot in 1987.
Any glaring omissions? Love Comes Quickly; Opportunities; Rent; It’s Alright; So Hard; Can You Forgive Her; A Red Letter Day.
Anything new? Closing track, pumping disco floor-filler Together, plus DVD of unreleased BBC performance on TOTP, Wogan and Old Grey Whistle Test from 1985 to 2006 and festival show from Glastonbury 2010 on deluxe edition.
Cheerful or tearful excuse for release? Cheerfully pay the extra for deluxe edition’s nostalgia and Glasto glories.
Where might this end up at Christmas? West End boys everywhere.
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