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Monday, February 14, 2005

CD Spotlight -- 2/14/2005


Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters (2004)

I decided that I’d better make the Scissor Sisters’ eponymous debut the CD I write about because it’s virtually impossible to be in a cranky mood when you’re listening to the Scissor Sisters. I think I probably owe my interest in SS to my friend Scott (who has inexplicably stopped updating his great SaltwaterPizza blog—come on Scott! You’re killing me!) I noticed SS cropping up on his Audioscrobbler profile more and more often, but it wasn’t until I heard the Kylie Minogue song “I Believe In You” that was written by the Scissor Sisters that I really sat up and took notice. It seems to me that they take a lot of inspiration from Elton John, because a lot of songs sound like they could have been performed by Elton in his prime.

They’re probably best known for their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” I think life as a dance floor song by a gender-bending group is a suitable legacy for that song, although I wonder what Pink Floyd thinks about it. It’s just one of those songs that you can’t help but break into your falsetto voice and sing along. I’m not fond at all of the original “Comfortably Numb”—probably too much association with stupid guys on my college dorm floors blasting it at 5,000,000 decibels after their final exams were over. Come to think of it, I wonder what some of those guys think of the Scissor Sisters’ version.

But it’s great because it’s not just that one song that’s good—they’re all pretty good, although there is the varying degree of good that you’d expect. Some of the songs miss the mark some, but they’re still fun—something that seems to be missing from a lot of music these days. “Music Is The Victim” is my current favorite. How can you go wrong with lyrics like this?

I left my heart in San Fransisco
It's at some motherfucking disco
The people there where dancin' on it
And that's including Ms. Matronic

And that's even without mentioning the track "T*ts On The Radio."

So pick it up if you like your music with a little bit of camp and a whole lot of fun—it’s totally worth it. And if you buy it on iTunes, you get a bonus track. Have I mentioned how much I love iTunes?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dan,

Glad you like the Scissor Sisters. For awhile, anytime I'd go walking around the lake near my apartment, I would always have the Scissor Sisters playing on my iPod. I'm sure I got lots of strange looks as I sang along with "Laura" or any of the others songs on that cd. The whole cd is infectious, and impossible not to sing to!