To say
The Age of Consent is a great album of dance-oriented
synth-pop music is to sell it extremely short; this is simply a great album, period.
Jimmy Somerville's soaring tenor may take some getting used to, but the songs, many of them dealing with homophobia and alienation (none more eloquently than
"Smalltown Boy"), are compelling vignettes about the vagaries of life as a gay man. Cynics predisposed to dismissing entire genres of music based on trendiness or a limited appeal ("dance music is for dancing, not listening") miss the point in lumping this in with more mindless forays into
techno or neo-
disco. As
the Pet Shop Boys (the world's greatest
disco band) proved a few years later, you can have substantive content and wrap it up in a compelling, visceral, dance-oriented package. Few bands understood this better, or earlier, than
Bronski Beat. ~ John Dougan
![The Age of Consent [40th Anniversery]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5061017252016_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg)
![The Age of Consent [40th Anniversery]](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v12.11.4)
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