June 17, 201015 yr I'm not sure what I think about the album, it's not as commercial as I expected it to be. Obviously that's not normally a bad thing but this is Scissor Sisters and I expect strong and catchy melodies, what I've got is an album with no obvious duds but also one that kinda just passes me by as a whole. Fire With Fire is really quite misleading, there's precious little I can see being a successful single from the rest of the album.
June 17, 201015 yr I'm not sure what I think about the album, it's not as commercial as I expected it to be. Obviously that's not normally a bad thing but this is Scissor Sisters and I expect strong and catchy melodies, what I've got is an album with no obvious duds but also one that kinda just passes me by as a whole. Fire With Fire is really quite misleading, there's precious little I can see being a successful single from the rest of the album. I don't think they'll be too bothered about successful singles - they're bound to get at least 100K for first week sales (which is fantastic these days), the problem's just finding what will keep sales up for the Christmas period. Any Which Way will keep up interest in the album if they go with that second, as the obvious Filthy/Gorgeous-style choice, but they need a reliable third to stimulate Christmas sales - Skin Tight would be perfect for Christmas I reckon, then they don't really have to bother too much with a fourth given they've always been album sellers...
June 17, 201015 yr Author I'm not sure what I think about the album, it's not as commercial as I expected it to be. Obviously that's not normally a bad thing but this is Scissor Sisters and I expect strong and catchy melodies, what I've got is an album with no obvious duds but also one that kinda just passes me by as a whole. Fire With Fire is really quite misleading, there's precious little I can see being a successful single from the rest of the album. I thought you waited for physical releases?
June 18, 201015 yr I know a few people who have heard bits from the album and are disapointed with it, i hope im not one of those when i get to hear it
June 18, 201015 yr I'm not sure what I think about the album, it's not as commercial as I expected it to be. Obviously that's not normally a bad thing but this is Scissor Sisters and I expect strong and catchy melodies, what I've got is an album with no obvious duds but also one that kinda just passes me by as a whole. Fire With Fire is really quite misleading, there's precious little I can see being a successful single from the rest of the album. Agreed 100%.
June 18, 201015 yr I thought you waited for physical releases? I don't suppose you'd believe that they sent me this directly and it arrived just at the same time as it leaked for everyone else... honest.
June 26, 201015 yr Fire With Fire has finally grown on me. This isn't going a great era for them though.
June 29, 201015 yr Album is growing... 09|Night Work 07|Whole New Way 09|Fire With Fire 09|Any Which Way 06|Harder You Get 07|Running Out 06|Something Like This 05|Skin This Cat 09|Skin Tight 10|Sex And Violence 08|Night Life 09|Invisible Light Shame about the middle section.
June 30, 201015 yr 09 / Night Work 08 / Whole New Way 10 / Fire With Fire 10 / Any Which Way 06 / Harder You Get 09 / Running Out 10 / Something Like This 07 / Skin This Cat 10 / Skin Tight 10 / Sex and Violence 09 / Night Life 10 / Invisible Life Simply fantastic.
June 30, 201015 yr It's OUTRAGEOUS that not everyone is discussing this. Easily album of the year thus far! :o Where do you think it does rank in comparison with their two previous albums? Ta Dah had its moments but was quite "middle-aged" compared to the brilliant debut. Edited June 30, 201015 yr by SKOB
June 30, 201015 yr I (rather gingerly as I'm fully aware of the dangers of ranking an album after just two weeks of having it) would say it's definitely on a par with the debut, although it's nowhere near as instant - tracks like Sex and Violence et al really do take their time to dig in to your conscious. I adored Ta Dah at the time, but with hindsight it was definitely too overly safe and disjointed an album, too much of an attempt to pander to the Radio 2 fanbase they suddenly developed (I think you're spot on with the claim of it being 'middle-aged'). Too many honky-tonk piano ballyhoos, it was far too divorced from what made the Scissor Sisters the Scissor Sisters (although, that said, IDFLD, LOATW, Kiss You Off and Ooh remain among their best). The debut is one of my favourite albums of all time, but it really is ruined by Lovers In The Backseat and Better Luck Next Time - two 6 or 7 out of 10 tracks which come amidst solid blocks of 10s and utter classics of the genre. It Can't Come Quickly Enough is one of my favourite songs of the last decade and, to my mind, the best track they've done (I don't feel I've had Night Work long enough to judge anything through unbiased eyes, but Invisible Light and Sex and Violence could come close).
June 30, 201015 yr Too many honky-tonk piano ballyhoos, it was far too divorced from what made the Scissor Sisters the Scissor Sisters (although, that said, IDFLD, LOATW, Kiss You Off and Ooh remain among their best). The debut is one of my favourite albums of all time, but it really is ruined by Lovers In The Backseat and Better Luck Next Time - two 6 or 7 out of 10 tracks which come amidst solid blocks of 10s and utter classics of the genre. It Can't Come Quickly Enough is one of my favourite songs of the last decade and, to my mind, the best track they've done (I don't feel I've had Night Work long enough to judge anything through unbiased eyes, but Invisible Light and Sex and Violence could come close). I feel exactly the same...Kiss You Off and She's My Man are my favourites from Ta Dah and 'Quickly' and 'Tits' from their debut. I'm going to buy Night Work today or tomorrow..Can't wait!
June 30, 201015 yr The debut album is by far their best album it was a fantastic debut, on saying that their are parts of ta dah i love aswell, night work isnt as instant as either so its a little more dispointing on first listen although i have a feeling its an album that grows and grows which i do like with albums at times. Im disapointed with the album sales rather than its #2 poistion in the midweeks, i was sure it woul dhave gone number 1 but more importantly i expected strong sales. Fire with fire deserved to go top 10 and unfortunatly it seems its gonna miss out. I hope the follow up singles can do reasonably well and sell the album further.
June 30, 201015 yr I wouldn't count on second or third singles. During the Ta Dah era they didn't do well on charts... sold the album though I predict no Top 10 hits for them with this era.
June 30, 201015 yr I think they've gone back to default - subsequent singles sold barely anything with Ta Dah because everyone had the album. We might go back to a stage where subsequent singles all go top twenty for Night Work and sell the album nicely...
June 30, 201015 yr After two listens 09 Night Work 08 Whole New Way 10 Fire With Fire 07 Any Which Way 07 Harder You Get 08 Running Out 09 Something Like This 07 Skin This Cat 08 Skin Tight 10 Sex and Violence 08 Night Life 10 Invisible Light Kylie does the backing vocals on 'Any Which Way'. You can barely hear that. As a whole, this seems to be a bit more solid than Ta Dah. 4/5 stars. Singles after FWF could be Night Work Something Like This Sex & Violence Edited June 30, 201015 yr by SKOB
June 30, 201015 yr I'm not sure what I think about the album, it's not as commercial as I expected it to be. Obviously that's not normally a bad thing but this is Scissor Sisters and I expect strong and catchy melodies, what I've got is an album with no obvious duds but also one that kinda just passes me by as a whole. Fire With Fire is really quite misleading, there's precious little I can see being a successful single from the rest of the album. That's made my mind up. Have their previous 2 albums but not buying this until it comes down to a fiver.
July 1, 201015 yr PITCHFORK STAMP OF APPROVAL YALL: If the cover of Night Work did not clue you in, let's just state the obvious right now: This is a very, very gay album. Whereas the first two Scissor Sisters records found a way to translate specifically gay subject matter into big-tent camp that opened up their appeal to anyone with a taste for colorful dance music and 1970s radio pop, their third album isn't quite as inclusive. They are no less tuneful, but their aesthetic and lyrical themes are more firmly rooted in gay culture, to the point that many straight listeners may find themselves feeling like outsiders looking in. Instead of presenting a queer pop sensibility for the masses, they've gone deeper into their subcultural niche. Though it starts off with a set of songs that wouldn't sound out of place on the two previous albums, Night Work quickly slips into hyper-sexualized gay club mode and sticks with that vibe until the end. The band's reference points have shifted, abandoning 70s pastiche in favor of calling back to the sort of deeply uncool 80s pop that was largely ignored in the past decade of Reagan-era revivalism. "Night Work" comes off like an arena rock version of the Pointer Sisters; "Something Like This" and "Skin This Cat" find the band diving into the deep end of sleazy, neon-hued synth pop. "Harder You Get" is an immensely appealing hybrid of Judas Priest leather-daddy metal and sleek Eurodisco; "Running Out" embraces the decadent corniness of David Bowie at his mid-80s nadir and somehow spins that sound into pure gold. Best of all, the epic "Invisible Light" does for gay clubs what "Thriller" did for horror movies, right on down to Sir Ian McKellan turning up for a Vincent Price-esque monologue like some kind of Italo-disco wizard. The album is low on potential hits but high on inspiration, with the group finding clever angles on familiar sounds rather than simply aping their favorite guilty pleasures. The band's change in tone and focus is essentially a matter of shifting their emphasis from camp to overt sexuality. To be sure, there is no shortage of camp on Night Work, but the homoeroticism that has always been present in their music has been foregrounded, and many of the songs deal with situations specific to modern gay life. In some cases, the lyrics couldn't be more obvious, as with the blatant man-on-man S&M action in "Harder You Get", but in others, the lyrics are subtle and coded. "Skin Tight" is a moving ballad dealing with condom use and intimacy; "Sex and Violence" explores the self-destructive impulse to indulge in anonymous, sometimes Internet-facilitated sex. Neither song is entirely obscure in its sentiment, but the "dog whistle" lines deepen the drama considerably. One example is when Jake Shears sings in the latter track, "Does anybody know right now exactly where you are?"-- a reference to the commonly advocated practice of letting someone know the address of your hook-up in case you never turn up alive again. The back half of Night Work includes some of the darkest music the Scissor Sisters have recorded. The songs are not bleak or joyless, but there's a clear thread of loneliness and desperation for human connection running through the lyrics that puts a damper on the group's usually celebratory spirit. Shears and his bandmates are wise to broaden their emotional range, and it is apparent that this work is coming from a deeply personal place. The album is basically about the need for night life as a way of finding community, identity, and escapism, and obviously we wouldn't require any of that were it not for the feelings of loneliness, confusion, and boredom that color even the perkiest songs on the record. The songwriting on Night Work may not be as strong overall as on their debut, but they've improved greatly in terms of tonal consistency, avoiding the scattered eclecticism of their second album. Without drastically changing what they do, Shears and company have successfully pushed their style to a new extreme. This could turn out to be either a transitional work on the path to even more niche-oriented material, or an artistic tangent that the band had to get out of their system before returning to more chart-friendly music. But in any case, Night Work is a bold, uncompromising album that more than earns its inevitable cult adulation.
July 1, 201015 yr Sissor Sisters are working on my expectation as i was wondering a very wonderfull track by them but it is not soo ..
July 2, 201015 yr This is so much better than Ta-Dah and just as good, if not better, than their debut. A return to form. Loffly. Definitely one of the best pop albums of the year.
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