Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. "Fundamental" is the sound of the Pet Shop Boys reborn, and mindful of the important role they fill in the pop family.
  2. Fundamental is the thinking person's electropop album of 2006 so far.
  3. The Pet Shop Boys' best album in over a decade, sitting neatly between their previous career highpoints of Very and Behaviour.
  4. Much of it seems strangely blank, neither great nor at all sub-par.
  5. 'Fundamental' will not only be rated up there among the Pet Shop Boys finest albums -- it's also arguably the best electro pop record we've heard in years.
  6. Focusing on New Labour's trials has reconnected the Pet Shop Boys with something of their essence.
  7. It would be unthinkable to imagine a more pleasurable listen coming along in 2006.
  8. Q Magazine
    80
    It's like 10 years of treading water never happened. [Jun 2006, p.118]
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    83
    Balance[s] orchestral pomp with au courant club grooves. [30 Jun 2006, p.161]
  10. Trevor Horn's production has a pleasing fullness, opening the melodies without smothering them.
  11. The majority of Fundamental is like the majority of their great album Behavior in that repeat listens are required to do these rich songs justice.
  12. 100
    Fundamental is the group's most inspired album in nearly a decade.
  13. Blender
    80
    Fundamental ingeniously explores political chicanery through imaginative set pieces about private relationships. [Aug 2006, p.113]
  14. Spin
    80
    Like Confessions on a Dance Floor, Fundamental uses squelchy electro-disco grooves that smuggle sly pop-culture commentary. [Aug 2006, p.83]
  15. Fundamental offers pleasure as rewarding as The Magic Mountain or Glenlivet 18--indulgences best enjoyed as you approach the half-century mark, when your imagination is keen to leisured elongations of familiar tropes or newly appreciative of exotic sumptuousness.
  16. You’re unlikely to encounter another pioneering techno-pop act entering its third decade with style and substance largely intact.
User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 50 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 50
  2. Negative: 2 out of 50
  1. Apr 2, 2016
    10
    ..........................................................................Fundamental.............................................Of....................................................................................Fundamental.............................................Of...............................PSB.........................................................................Is........Fundamental.................For The.............Music................. Full Review »
  2. Jan 6, 2016
    10
    Fundamental is Fundamental hahahahahahahaha,
    Okey this joke was a ****
    But this album is Great... The Sodom And Gomorrow
    Fundamental is Fundamental hahahahahahahaha,
    Okey this joke was a ****
    But this album is Great...
    The Sodom And Gomorrow Show,Integral,Indefinite Leave To Remain,Casanova In Hell,Numb and Twentieth Century,I Made My Excuses And Left,God Willing,Luna Park and I'm With Stupid Are absolute great songs of PSB Career
    Full Review »
  3. May 14, 2014
    4
    I hate all synthpop actually but I really loved the song Minimal, it has good beats and is dreamy it's not like the other songs on this album.I hate all synthpop actually but I really loved the song Minimal, it has good beats and is dreamy it's not like the other songs on this album. I don't like Pet Shop Boys but Minimal is a really awesome song. Full Review »