Behaviour perfectly captures the other side of Pet Shop Boys. Considered. Quiet. Very introspective. Adult. This is an incredible set of songs, one I have yet to tire of. And it hasn't aged a bit like some of their earlier material. I think it is the best the Boys have to offer. In terms of consistant songwriting, lush, rich, layered instumentation and production, and some of Neil Tennant's best vocal performances. Incredibly heartfelt and full of nuances. Every song on this disc is a winner. Nothing here that can be called "camp" or "ironic" ( things PSB have often catered to ). Behaviour is, along with "Very", the peak of the Tennant/Lowe partnership. They have since come very close at times to capturing what is in spades on Behaviour, but they have yet to better it, and I don't think they ever will. Highly recommended.

This is what a "real" album sounds like, when a band isn't focused on generating two or three singles and padding the rest with filler.

Aside from being a flawless masterpiece, Behavior is a time-capsule of the first years of the nineties. Spirits were high, then, as the end of the eighties saw the tumbling of the Berlin wall, and the thawing of the Cold War. Sure, AIDS was becoming a global epidemic, but there was a grain of hope. Does anyone feel hope in 2006?

Behavior has many things going for it. After scoring a few hits on their prior albums, PSB were free to experiment. The songwriting is top-notch, with briliant lyrics that never sound trite or gimmicky. Each song is carefully crafted, with just the right sound. And, in my opinion, Neil's singing has never sounded better.

As other reviewers have stated, you can't pick our the highlights, because the whole album is a highlight. You have wistful songs (It's Only the Wind, Jealousy, My October Symphony, Nervously), nostalgic songs (Being Boring), urgent songs (This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave, The End of the World), a sexy ballad (To Face the Truth), burning disco (So Hard), and catchy pop (How Can You Expect to be Taken Seriously?).

Although some of the tracks are filled with dry humor and sentiment, they never become maudlin, i.e. Morrissey at his worst. And the most disco-sounding song is nevertheless poignant and accusatory.

I could go on and on forever, but Behavior speaks volumes about itself. It is the definition of perfection.

This is a truly outstanding album. Of the various Pet Shop Boys albums, all of which I consider excellent, this is by far my favorite. I still listen to this album regularly, fifteen years after I bought it. In some ways I appreciate it even more now than I did when I first bought, if only because songs like "Being Boring" or "October Symphony" have become easier to relate to as I have aged. Moreover, it doesn't date itself at all. You could listen to it and not really pin it down to a particular year or even decade.

The album, perhaps more so than any of the other PSB albums, has a very consistent voice and mood. I don't know if it was intended as a concept album, I doubt it was, but it certainly could have been one. The songs all hang together as if they are pieces from the life of a specific person looking back over their life filled with regret, loneliness, and a sense of loss.

Other PSB albums may have a consistent musical style, but they are more like collections of songs, whereas this hangs together as a unified and cohesive piece of work. It is the only PSB album that I feel obligated to listen to from start to finish, with the tracks in their original order.

This may sound bizarre, but I would compare it to Steely Dan's "Gaucho" in terms of its timelessness, cohesiveness, and sense of place.

Well... Ten years after this album was released... and I still listen to it like if I had just bought it yesterday. This is, I believe, the best PSB album ever. Something that came in a long process of maturing their art. This is one of those albums that we can listen to without changing tracks: we can go through it from start to finnish and every track seems like a beautifully crafted song, written with taste, heart and wit. Many albums came after this one and none of them came closer in quality to "Behaviour". "Being Boring" is a master song full of ideas and deep toughts (about the times, Aids, youth, etc.). "To Face the Truth" and "Only the Wind" have a warmth that is quite rare (and in fact, I can't recall having the same feeling about a song since). "My October Symphony" (my favourite) is a fantasticaly produced piece with a string quartet that, in a way, previews many things that other artists would do in the subsequent years. Actually, this one is the last of the three "white" albums (the others are "Please" and "Actually") and it marks the end of that journey. In fact, one of the most important things about this album is that it clearly marks the duos's passage from an 80's sound to the 90's sound. And they did it with this album. "Very" came 2 or 3 years after this album and is quite good (the ones who followed are a downhill...) but "Behaviour" is simply one of the best pop albums ever released. It stands proudly along the best albums pop music ever produced. Listen to it carefully and enjoy. Today I still catch myself singing some of those songs.

This album is simply astounding as it showcases how lush and beautiful electro-pop can sound. You will begin to realize how talented Neil and Chris are as each song unveils and unwinds into an amazing tapestry of sound.

You can hear a whole orchestra perform and yet you try to fathom which is real and which is synthesized. The best part is the end result is just so beautiful you wouldn't bother to figure out anymore how they did it.

I loved "To face the truth" as the beauty of this piece only hits you after a few hearings.
"My October Symphony" is I think a labour of love as the song will linger in your mind for the next few days after you have listened to it for the first time. Listen towards the end when the Boys employ the hardly used cello for that heart-string tugging effect. So moving!
"Only the wind" is another soul stirring song as Neil Tennant's almost angelic voice plays with the simplistic melody.
And boy, are the fast songs good! The Boys drive "So hard" and proves that "Being Boring" is not what you are when you own this CD!

The other songs are also very good as well and there are no fillers here. I will be their fan for life!