08/10 • SCISSOR SISTERS ... Night Work
CanNOT shut this one off, it's been spinning regularly (near daily) for
weeks. And when that happens I have to babble about it. (And with my,
ahem, lack of attention here it's best I get on it while it's
hot!) I've shoved this album down the ear canals of several people and
it's been embraced by all but one (actually he hasn't gotten back to me
on it yet). Never been a Scissor Sisters fanatic myself — loved
"Take Your Mama" on its own, but despised their
take on "Comfortably Numb" and considered it blasphemous. (Sue
me, I'm a purist when it comes to Pink Floyd, you can't touch that stuff!)
But around my birthday, when a friend alerted me to the release of this
album (thank you, Pedro!) with the question, "Does this
take you back?" I had to give it a whirl; my mind and ears are always
open. My first trip through it was easy, because hell YES
it took me back. The music on this album spans the hazy nether region
between disco and 80s dance music, when disco was fading, dance went decidedly
electronic, and new wave emerged — precisely when I was doing what's
now considered "clubbing" (we never used that term). It was
nuts... flooding from the speakers came echoes
of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Wham, Flock of Seagulls, The Cult, David
Bowie, Prince, Devo, Scritti Politti, U2, Pet Shop Boys, and even a little
Elton John in the balladesque intro to one of my favorite tunes on the
album. If that's not enough, they went so far as to add an ode to Thriller
w/ Sir Ian McKellen giving the Vincent Price treatment to the end of the
last track. (Given the era to which this takes us back, U2 was yet to
emerge, but there are undeniable Edge-like guitar treatments twinkling
about.) The flashback blew my mind and I had to give it a rest. But a
few days later, on a rainy work day, I went back to it and realized three
hours later that I'd looped it four times. Hooked! Had
to buy it. Maybe it's because it instantly sounded familiar. Gotta face
it, there's nothing really novel here. But it's a damned good, seamless
and high-energy trip through a time when dance music was all over the
map and rapidly evolving. The lyrics are all dark and clubby, nothing
terrifically deep, and from the Mapplethorpe shot on the cover to most
of the lyrics (e.g. "I found a whole new way to love you / I've
got a big surprise, I can't see your eyes, but I think you'll like it,
too / I've found a whole new way to love you / my sneak-up-from-behind
is gonna blow your mind, but if not this time we're through"),
it's decidedly the gayest album ever. Suck it up! No idea what critics
think, but this band has been dancing around the mainstream crowd for
years by my ears, and I think they're finally at their best having come
full out of the closet! For the first time I was crazy anxious to see
Scissor Sisters live. Surprise: the next day they announced a DC tour
date. But DAR Constitution Hall, seriously??
Uggh, couldn't pick a worse venue for music that gets you up and moving
(unless you're on the floor) — that's a widely held opinion around
here. This fare would make for an incredibly hot, intimate night at the
9:30 Club, but no dice. Alas, due to growing affection for the entire
album after dozens of spins, we succumbed and hit Ticketmaster
this week — and (score!) snagged seats in the front row of a great
section. No seats to kick in front of us, DAR here we come! / Blubaby
Faves: Whole New Way / Fire With Fire / Skin This Cat / Sex and
Violence / Invisible Light
03/09 • CHRIS CORNELL ... Scream
