Scissor Sisters Album: “Ta-Dah”

Ta-Dah speaks to my inner 70s child and part of my 80s. I could waste valuable time (which you should spend buying this) writing endlessly about how great this CD is, but I'll sum it as quickly as possible. Here goes:

THE OVERALL SOUND REMINDS ME OF:

the best of Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, Abba, Times Two, a tinge of Go West, "Xanadu" (as Amazon.com so rightly puts it in their review) and even the harmony of the Beach Boys and Carpenters...

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT SO MUCH:

Because you can dance AND listen! While the incredibly energetic, fun sound of disco is here and welcome, the often horrible lyrics that genre generated is most definitely (and with much relief!) missing.

TA-DAH IS THAT MOST RARE AND TREASURED OF ALBUMS:

the one where every track's either a winner or at least "not bad"!

AND THESE ARE JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS:

Track #1) "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"--Do you remember the awful movie XANADU with the terrific soundtrack? This song reminds me of ELO and ONJ's collaboration on one of the most underappreciated soundtracks of the early 80s!!

Track #2) "She's My Man"--At the risk of implying Scissor Sisters borrows a lot from their favorite 70s idols, I've got to say this wonderful, quirky song reminds me so much of "Still Standing" by Elton John. (This is a good thing, though!)

Track #3) "I Can't Decide"--A great tongue-in-cheek song that reminds me of the Beatles if they were writing in the 21st century...any other song about killing someone would be totally out of line, but somehow it works here because...well...it's tongue-in-cheek of course!

Track #4) "Lights"--I can't help but hear echoes of "Grease is the Word" when this song is on, but again, they're echoes, NOT imitation. The power of this album is that it merges great lyrics with undeniably great beats!!!

Tracks 5 and 6 ("Land of a Thousand Words" and "Intermission") are pleasant enough but I can't automatically bring them to my mind and ear right now the way I can all the others..."Intermission" is a fitting title, though, since once it's over TA-DAH returns to its wonderful spirit!

Track#7) "Kiss You Off"--With its Pat Benetar bursts of energy, "KYO" forces you to sing along and you WILL do so, especially if that special someone's got you all hot and bothered.

Tracks 8 and 9 ("Ooh" and "Paul McCartney") are, hands down, the best of the best here. I hit repeat on "Ooh" at least five times before I continued on to "Paul" (a witty and sometimes funny pop powerhouse!)

SO TO SUM IT ALL UP:

Do you remember how you felt when you were a kid and you were worried the second time you listened to a spectacular album you'd find all its flaws?? Well your worries can be put to rest here. Each TA-DAH is good as the last one and that's a hard "feat" to do in contemporary pop.

I had never heard of the group but kept hearing about them and was curious. I picked up Ta-Dah! and at first listen was laughing because this was reminiscent of the bad 70's disco crap I grew up with. I hated the idea of having wasted the money so I gave it a second listen and then a third and was totally hooked! I can't even pick a favorite track, I love the tongue-in-cheek "I can't decide", the title track, love "She's My Man" and "Kiss You Off" and all the rest. I am so glad I took a chance and then gave it a second chance!!!!!

These guys are very talented and very smart and very true to themselves. They obviously master every musical style of the last 40 years, and if they wanted, they could have made 'alternative rock' crap that is selling by the pound in North America and become very rich. But instead, they choose to make pure pop, that is fun, humerus, unpretentious and sophisticated at the same time. They write catchy tunes, intelligent lyrics, and they perform them flawlessly. The lead singer has an amazing voice, there's no other way to describe it. There is not a single weak song on the album. Pick up a copy and you'll be singing along after two plays. What more can you ask from a pop album?

After making both one of the most hailed and one of the most controversial albums of 2004, Scissor Sisters had to find a new path for their much anticipated sophomore album TA-DAH. You have to feel some sympathy for the quirky band considering how do you supercede or surpass a gay concept album the quality of SCISSOR SISTERS. Sure TA-DAH once again affirms the sexuality of the majority of the band through glamorous pop things, but it is nowhere near the level of SCISSOR SISTERS. With that said, TA-DAH is consistent and nearly as good as SCISSOR SISTERS, though it isn't as exciting. Here you don't have the "gay-concept" think as heavily as ingrained as the debut and the listener must rely on the pop, dance, electronic arrangements more as opposed to the lyrics such as "t*ts on the radio" or "I left My heart in San Francisco/ at a motherf**king disco". While there may be no hit the size of "Take Your Mam", the Sisters have definitely still got it, if not to the same exciting level as they did before.

The album starts off strong with the Elton John co-penned "Don't Feel Like Dancing", which would've sounded equally at home in the 1970s on a Bee Gees album. It features great songwriting and immaculate falsetto by none other than the band's quirk, flamboyant, STUNNING, frontman Jake Shears. The album continues to look upward with the consistent, though not as catchy or infectious second track "She's My Man". What is interesting and unique about "She's My Man" is the fact that the chord changes aren't incredibly predictable and the switch of tonal center (keys) makes for an even more intriguing listen. it is quirky, but it is quirky in good ways.

"I Can't Decide" is track of brevity, but it is one of the very strongest on the album with the exception of "I Don't Feel Like Dancing". The track feels incredibly like a "cabaret" performance, yet the novelty-dance feel here is incredibly potent. "Intermission" later on will feature that same "cabaret" feel, but it doesn't quite come over as potent as "I Can't Decide".

"Lights" has nice funk-soul production with a bumping-beefy bass line with Shears's Bee Gee reminiscent falsetto sitting on top. However, the track isn't as alluring as one would hope it to be, but it is above par if nothing else. It is "Land Of A Thousand Words", this album's "Mary" (my favorite track from SCISSOR SISTERS), that is one of the show stealers. There is an obvious slackening of pace along with beautiful orchestration and vocal work here. It is simply amazing.

After the "take it for what it is worth" "Intermission", The Sisters return strong with "Kiss You Off", which isn't quite as strong as say "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" or "I Can't Decide", but is strong enough to be better than most of the tracks on TA-DAH!. After "Kiss You Off" things begin to die and feel like filler as opposed to hits. However, even on the Scissors debut, the end of the album was dull with the very best at the forefront. With this album being no different in this regard, you can't help but to see that SCISSOR SISTERS simply had more obvious hits while TA-DAH doesn't quite make the cut. That isn't to say it doesn't have strong tracks, but not with the exception of the few mentioned trump any of their previous material.

Still, Scissors are one of my favorite new bands and it is ashamed they can't be embraced more. However, in my eyes, this album receives 3.5 stars.

I had the pleasure of seeing the Scissor Sisters perform at the Warfield Theater last month in San Francisco, and as expected, they put on a terrifically entertaining show mixing kitsch-centric glam and disco-driven beats. You can leave your boogie shoes on while listening to their damnably catchy sophomore effort. The five-person band kicks off the disc with the double-clap bop of their radio hit, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'", which sounds very much like a sly response to Leo Sayer's 1976 hit, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'", complete with Giorgio Moroder-style disco riffs and co-writer (and obvious inspiration) Elton John pounding the keys. The gender-bending romp, "She's My Man", is almost as dance happy.

Even though the lyrics speak of committing suicide, "I Can't Decide" seems to reflect Elton's Honky Chateau phase with a bit of Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" thrown in for good measure. Other fun, derivative tracks include "Oooh" with Bee Gees-inspired falsetto voices, the Ziggy Stardust stylings of a "Land of a Thousand Dances", and an intro to "Lights" that sounds like Lipps Inc. reborn. The band drives harder on "Paul McCartney", which doesn't sound much like the former Beatle/Wing; and "Kiss You Off" with a deceptively calm chorale opening segueing into a song that sounds like a hybrid of Blondie's "Call Me" and Pat Benatar's power chord hits.

There appears to be a greater percentage of slower tracks this time around, and fortunately, they make for nice respites - the short, aptly named period piece, "Intermission"; the more conventional-sounding love song, "Might Tell You Tonight"; and the melodramatic "The Other Side", which bears a striking resemblance to Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat" with a saxophone solo and even a sampling of late-period Judy Garland speaking at the close. The disc ends on a rather magnanimous note with the "We Are the World" sentiments of "Everybody Wants the Same Thing". If "Ta Dah!" lacks the nostalgic surprise of the band's debut disc, this one compensates by adding dimension to their trademark buoyant sound.