Do we like the Scissor Sisters?

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Do you?

― Jacob (Jacob), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

what i have heard, yes.

comfortably numb is a classic and this Laura/simone is rockin me too.

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the songs that Matthew Perpetua posted here. I just heard about them last week.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

And I think I need more big gay songs in my life.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I like most everything on the album except "Comfortably Numb."

A. I don't like Floyd's original all that much.
B. I hate Bee Gees impersonations.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

C. I Hate Fun

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

nah i can understand that completely - i surprise myself by liking it so much.

― jed (jed_e_3), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

comfortably numb is the only thing by them i've liked!

― minna (minna), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

out of two songs

― minna (minna), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

laura (simone) is ok i guess

― minna (minna), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

love them.

― adam west (adamwest), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Laura very much, it is ROMP

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i like them as people, anyway, even though one of them lives below me and wakes me up with diva house at odd hours!

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 7 November 2003 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I like them even more now i know they listen to diva house!

― Jacob (Jacob), Friday, 7 November 2003 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Who would have thought that a song that sounds like an unholy union between Moby's "Honey" and the theme to Thomas The Tank Engine would be so good? Rest of the stuff I've heard sounds extra-good too.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:14 (twenty-two years ago)

anyone heard the paper faces remix of scissor sisters? appropriate remix aka for jacques thin white duke

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Is that the one on the b-side of the picture disc?

I love picture discs.

― Jacob (Jacob), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:20 (twenty-two years ago)

It might be, I saw Erol Alkan talking about it and thought the name seemed cool.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Their name is too similar to the Scissors Girls. Me get confused!!

― dlp9001, Friday, 7 November 2003 05:37 (twenty-two years ago)

They were fun live for 20 minutes. I suspect if I saw them again I'd want to set them on fire.

The singer sported the single worst item of clothing I've ever seen a human wear, ever: a 'Division Bell' Floyd T-shirt, tie-dyed and with the arms cut off. Remarkable. I think it's ironic homo fashion or summat.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 7 November 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I love the Scissor Sisters, they are just so much fun. "Laura (Simone)," "Music Is The Victim," "Electrobix," "Backwoods," "Bicycling With The Devil," and the cover of "Comfortably Numb" all rock my world, and the rest of the songs aren't bad either. Their album is certainly one of the best pop records of the year that I've heard.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 7 November 2003 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I have a new favorite band. "Music Is the Victim" is "Nutbush City Limits" for circuit queens, it's awesome.

Matthew, post more songs, please!

― Arthur (Arthur), Sunday, 9 November 2003 05:58 (twenty-two years ago)

biclycling with the devil is great

"i see you defecating
damn you look good
i'd like to take a shit too
but i dont have no anus"

― jed (jed_e_3), Sunday, 9 November 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Filthy and Gorgeous is fantastic. So is the bit on Electrobix where he shouts 'I've nevah felt so alooone' and it goes all Big and stirring.

― Ferg (Ferg), Sunday, 9 November 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

They're like bizarro Junior Senior!

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Sunday, 9 November 2003 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Laura is single of the year material, no question. We adore them.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Sunday, 9 November 2003 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I Love the Scissor Sisters! I am a sister and the music is absolutly refreshing! Love Ya Jake Shears!

― Windi, Thursday, 20 November 2003 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Revive (again) because I've just read that the actual Scissor Sisters album does NOT include Electrobix, Bicycling With The Devil, or Doctor (I'm Only Seeing Dark) and maybe some others. And the finished album is more guitar-y.

They'd better be putting on some pretty damn good songs in place to make excising those songs, particularly Doctor which is just utterly fabulous, worthwhile at all.

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

two weeks pass...

can we soulseek this album yet ?
i heard the remix (tiga ?) of cmrtbly nmb last nite and it was ace.

― piscesboy, Monday, 8 December 2003 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, it's been on soulseek for a long time now. That's how I got it. I don't think the modified version has been leaked yet, though.

NYC fans should definitely get tickets for their January 10th show at the Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are on sale now.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 8 December 2003 15:57 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a 5-track sampler going around. Which obviously, I've not heard but want to.

Laura
Comfortably Numb (no idea what version, though)
Take Your Mama Out
Mary
Tits On The Radio

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 8 December 2003 23:01 (twenty-two years ago)

For a limited time, "Take Your Mama Out" will be available on my blog, and "Tits On The Radio" will be on Enthusiastic But Mediocre. Go get 'em, they both rule.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 15 December 2003 00:45 (twenty-two years ago)

They are my lil' bro's new favourite band! What this means I cannot tell you...

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 15 December 2003 00:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Pisc, I can put this on Ssk for you, send a pm to Ian SPACK. Did you go seeing them at the Roadhouse in Manc a few months back? Sparse crowd but good show.

― Ian SPACK (Ian SPACK), Monday, 15 December 2003 00:51 (twenty-two years ago)

They're the best band in the world, people.

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Monday, 15 December 2003 01:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Ian, what is the Scissor Sisters stage show like? What songs did they perform?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 15 December 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Album (apparently) tracklist:

1. Laura
2. Take Your Mama Out
3. Comfortably Numb
4. Mary
5. Lovers In The Backseat
6. Tits On The Radio
7. Filthy & Gorgeous
8. Music Is The Victim
9. Better Luck Next Time
10.It Can't Come Quickly Enough
11.Return To Oz

I have Lovers In The Backseat up on enthusiastic right now. It's good.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 19 December 2003 01:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, so 5 songs from the demo album, 1 track from a soundtrack and 5 new ones. 11 tracks is a teensy bit miserly given that they jettisoned some really good stuff, but.. all of this is just "I know what's better for the artist than the ARTIST" being fuelled by the fact that geminal versions of much of the album have been available for ages, so I'll shut up.

I think they've sort of ruined Music Is The Victim... a bit. They took out the talkie bit in the middle (you know, I'm gonna do the pony.. DAH! DAH! etc) ~~clearly just to annoy me~~ for some reason. On the plus side, the vocals are clearer and bolder, and the groove is tauter and tighter.

Filthy & Gorgeous has been trimmed down, including, again the talkie bit. But I don't mind so much, as the mega camp disco chorus is still gloriously intact (and the backing vocals going "filthy!" and "gorgeous" are still there, thankfully) and the original meandered a bit too much anyway.

It Can't Come Quickly Enough is about a minute longer than the version from the Party Monster soundtrack.

Some very good news is that Return To Oz has been improved immeasurably - much fuller, sharper and clearer, particularly at the end, where it gets all grand. I thought it was one of the weakest songs of the demo album, but its potential is fully realised on the proper version - the benefits of a proper mix, clearly.

Overall it is a bit more guitar-y than you'd have expected, but it's still very good stuff, and I'll be buying it when it comes out, definitely.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 19 December 2003 02:49 (twenty-two years ago)

When is the album due out?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 19 December 2003 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Next year.. 26 January perhaps? (that's a week after Comfortably Numb is released as a single in the UK)

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 19 December 2003 02:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks, Ed.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 19 December 2003 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

three weeks pass...

Bravo, Scissors Sisters! Jed, you summed it up when you said

"i surprise myself by liking it so much. "

Indeed!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 January 2004 05:36 (twenty-two years ago)

That Bowery Ballroom show was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. They've got the looks, the starpower, and the songs. If they aren't at least halfway big by the end of 2004, then the world just cruel.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 12 January 2004 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Also: A full review (with setlist) of the show, plus an mp3 of "Better Luck Next Time" will be on my blog for a while.

UK ILM folks: go see this band when they tour your country over the next six weeks.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 12 January 2004 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

They were on T4 last week doing "Comfortably numb" which was released in 2002 originally - they have other good stuff they could have played. I get the feeling this record will just keep getting delayed indefinately.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 12 January 2004 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Seeing them in B'ham on the 8th Feb, looking forward to it more now. I hope they do Electrobix though.

― Ferrrrrrg (Ferg), Monday, 12 January 2004 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I doubt they'll do "Electrobix" - they've kinda gone in a different direction. I was kinda hoping for "Backwoods," but they probably don't do any of the songs from that demo album which didn't make the proper record. Everything they played that wasn't on the forthcoming were b-sides to upcoming singles or new unrecorded songs.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 12 January 2004 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Hurrah hurrah, I am Sheffieldin' them at the leadmill, um, mid-feb sometime. DEAR CHRIST they are nice to look at. Should I anticipate pyrotechnics?

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Monday, 12 January 2004 23:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw them in Manchester the other month. They were good but it wasn't well-attended. They didn't play Electrobix.

― Affectian (Affectian), Monday, 12 January 2004 23:15 (twenty-two years ago)

There probably won't be pyrotechnics, but Jake Shears will likely not wear a shirt.

The dude is BUFF.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I expect there to be about seven people at the Brum one.

― Ferrrrrrg (Ferg), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm so disappointed at that tracklisting.

This band are so good.

But I really loved the tunes (Make way for the man, Backwoods, Monkey Baby) which are like rocky diva-house. Its such an unexpected combo...

And it seems like that's being lost, huh.

― Jacob (Jacob), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Jacob, I'm disappointed about them dropping Backwoods too, but I think that they've done a good thing with the album. I don't think they are necessarily abandoning that more electro sound, because when I saw them they played one new song that was definitely in that style, and it was a highlight of the show. The first LP is a bit more glam rock, but it works as a cohesive album, and I think they probably were considering how to make the biggest splash, and what they could best pull off live on tour. The electro/housey stuff may be better suited for singles, maybe.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought we agreed that Take Your Mama Out had to be the next single?

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess I have to hear it.

Btw, Matthew, I think they have to get massive respect purely for being a band that you, I and Joe all like unequivocally, which is pretty rare.

Also, I'm enormously jealous of you going to that gig, cos the likelihood of them ever coming to Singapore is remote, to say the least...

― Jacob (Jacob), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait, don't we all like lots of hip-hop acts? Only *white* band we like, maybe...

― Flyboy (Flyboy), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

"Take Your Mama Out" is the third single in the UK, after "Comfortably Numb."

The Scissor Sisters in Singapore! Ha!

Flyboy is right, by the way. And wait, don't we all like LCD Soundsystem?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Not unequivocally.

Too arch, too tryhard (some of the time, anyhow).

I positively loathe 'losing my edge' now.

― Jacob (Jacob), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, okay. I glossed over the 'unequivocal' part.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

So, at the risk of completely rotting this thread, the first thing that comes to mind that I think we all unequivocally agree on would be Jay-Z, right?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

the bowery ballroom show was one of the worst i have ever seen. i think i broke my all time record for speed of getting the hell out of a gig. it was excrutiating painful on every level imaginable (although i should have probably hung around long enough to see fred schneider).

oh, and the manager of the bowery ballroom is officially A DICK!

― stirmonster, Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

What did you hate?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

er, the songs, the look, the 'lets use every bad gay cliche in the book' ness, the between song banter ('this one's for the fierce ladies in the house'), the sheen of their sound, the guitar playing, the overall blandness of every song, the overt 'trying too hard to be fun and quirky' nature....

fuck, they made junior fucking senior seem like joy division.

― stirmonster, Tuesday, 13 January 2004 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

(although i should have probably hung around long enough to see fred schneider)

hey, we had drinking to do.
seriously, though... i was disappointed. i'm not big on comfortably numb, but i do like the other stuff i've heard. live they were just a big dud for me - very flat. i realize that they're not the deepest act going, but there wasn't the sparkle there to make it fun.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 16:59 (twenty-two years ago)

i wasn't big on comfortably numb either but laura really grew on me.i know they are meant to be a fun act but there is fun and there is trying too hard. i should have been forwarned when some of my friends had said 'you'll love it'. a sure fire sign i'll hate it!

sorry i didn't see you there matthew. or maybe just as well as i'd probably just have rained on yr parade.

― stirmonster, Tuesday, 13 January 2004 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

fuck, they made junior fucking senior seem like joy division.

oh i am gonna LOVE seeing this band onstage.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I honestly don't think they are trying too hard - I mean, yeah, they clearly push their aesthetic to stylistic excess, but I think it comes somewhat naturally to them and it appeals to me quite a bit. I like that kind of flamboyant showmanship. I like the polish and the sheen. They are super pop, and it's hard to meet them halfway, probably.

Yeah, it's too bad I didn't see you, Stirmonster. It's true, though, I was having a pretty good time and I wouldn't have really wanted to hear anything negative about the show at the time.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I am upset at the removal of some of the more abject mentalism from the demo album, but damn, the overblown Moonage Daydream-y version of Return to Oz is great

― Ferrrrrrg (Ferg), Saturday, 24 January 2004 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

so, what was the deal with this again ? the album's out
next week with what looks like two more tracks than mentioned upthread (according to amazon uk at least) but, was there was an original totally different version that they ditched (the one with electrobix on)? or was it just a totally different album that's already available ? who's the expert on this ?

thanx !

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 28 January 2004 12:46 (twenty-two years ago)

christ i missed this thread completely - i think i am about to be totally sold by them anyhow

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i still like comfortably numb a lot

― minna (minna), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 12:53 (twenty-two years ago)

The original album is of demos, possibly recorded for a US label 18 months ago - not too sure on this. It wasn't released, nor intended for release.

They're good - some spectacularly so, but some of the songs sound unfinished - Return To Oz is the best case of this, it's the weakest song on the demo album but one of the strongest on the finished album. Of course, haven't heard the tracks that are on the final album that weren't on the promo.

― edward o (edwardo), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Album not so good then, IMHO. Thoughts?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Then again this just wasn't what I wanted it to be, which is "Bobby Conn with DFA beats".

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

UK ILM folks: go see this band when they tour your country over the next six weeks.

Matthew, thanks for the recommendation. I've just come back from seeing them live, and they were fantastic. Some of the tracks didn't work so well on the album I though (though everyone raved about them), like Music is the Victim and Tits on the Radio, but live it was ace. And Filthy/Gorgeous live (with the spoken bit) was just brilliant.. it's probably my favourite track off the album as well.

― jellybean (jellybean), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh and is anyone else seeing them in their UK tour?

― jellybean (jellybean), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, the UK bonus tracks are OK, but not great.

― edward o (edwardo), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 05:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Errr... I must say the press around this lot had me intrigued!!!! Until I heard that flipping "Comfortably Numb" cover tho!!!!! Don't get me wrong, it's not actually BAD or anything- in fact, it's quite pleasant, and therein lies the problem!!!! With the image projected ahead of them, I was expecting something considerably more in your face and less polite than the sort of music used to advertise "Diamonique Bracelet Hour" on QVC!!!!! If this equals "big gay songs", the Air's "Talkie Walkie" is the New Wave of S&M!!!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree that the UK bonus tracks are good, but not great. "Rock My Spot (Crevice Canyon)," which is the b-side to "Comfortably Numb" is much better.

Out of curiosity, Jellybean - did they perform "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" or "Return To Oz" when you saw them?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

They didn't do either of those at the Birmingham show which was frustrating as they're my favourite ones off the new album. They finished with Filthy Gorgeous (sans monologue, I think?) and did Music Is The Victim as an encore.

I love Tits On The Radio, but it is miles better live yeah, they did it with a synth bassline instead of a guitar and it sounded immense.

― ferg (Ferg), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

i just got the album (thank you amazon uk!). is it bad to say that i like the demo version of 'laura (simone)' an eense better than the version on the full-length?

― maura (maura), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

They ditched all the monologues in Brum, possibly in protest at the ugly stage and the crash barriers.

Comfortably Numb sounded an awful lot beefier live than on record too. But generally it was all quite smashing, ignoring the shortness of the set and the Worst Support Band Ever (Syntax - A Tribute To The Solo Work Of Dave Gahan)

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I cower before Syntax's awfulness.

― ferg (Ferg), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah. they didn't do those 2 songs in Oxford. I guess the set is pretty similar for the entire tour.

Syntax were crap. I got so annoyed with them, I didn't understand why everyone around me was getting really into their set and raving it up.

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 12 February 2004 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I dissent! I dissent! We luuurved Syntax at the Leicester Charlotte on Monday (although after the 1st support act, one David Wrench, a hopeless Matt Johnson soundalike who MURDERED Radiohead's Creep, anything would have sounded good). A bit like Dirty Vegas (oh, stop your tutting: DV made dull records but they sounded great live).

The Scissor Sisters played the album MINUS It Can't Come Quickly Enough, Mary & Return To Oz, i.e. all the slow stuff. This was my one disappointment with what was otherwise a typically fantastic set (3rd time I've seen them). They also played The Skins, Rock My Spot (Crevice Canyon), and two new unrecorded songs which I think Matthew mentioned on his Fluxblog review: a fabulous throbbing campy disco stormer probably called Magnifique (a bit Lene Lovich in places, and a dead cert future hit), and a reggae-tinged tune (a bit Ace Of Base in places, if truth be told, but nice enough).

Ropey sound at the start was sorted out after the second song, and after an interlude during which Ana Matronic improvised a "performance art" piece based around her favourite trashy US soap, while the band improvised a suitably filmic soundtrack. They got off on the Charlotte being such a sleazy, sweaty, dark hole of a joint, ("We love playing places like this!") comparing it to CBGB's.

Highlights were the best version I've heard them do of C.Numb, and the aforementioned Magnifique. Main set ended with Filthy/Gorgeous, Jake started the encore with an impromptu accapella of a Sinatra song, beautifully sung but I forget which song, then the band encored with Music Is The Victim.

Quite a few grizzly old hippies knocking around the venue, who had presumably come along on account of Comfortably Numb (I spotted plentiful sage head-nodding when this was played). Why, one of them even hugged me for wearing a Camembert Electrique T-shirt...

What I like about the Scissor Sisters on stage: their immense enjoyment in performing, and the balance between their larger-than-life personas and an utterly down-to-earth, unassuming quality. Still my favourite band, then.

― mike t-diva, Thursday, 12 February 2004 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to know somebody in a synthpoppish band called Syntax - any sites/pics around?

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 12 February 2004 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

That's too bad that they didn't do "Mary" for you all - that was one of the highlights when I saw them in NYC.

I'm wondering right now if they never play "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" and "Return To Oz" - the latter seems like a pretty obvious live tune to me. If I saw them do "...Quickly Enough," I'd probably get tears of joy! I've come to really love that song.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 12 February 2004 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm wondering: Was Ana's favorite trashy soap by any chance The OC?

Also, does anyone know if they are doing any radio sessions or having any of their shows broadcast on the radio while they are in Europe?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 12 February 2004 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought it made sense that they didn't play any of the slower songs. Most of the audience there would only have heard Comfortably Numb and maybe Laura, so if they played the slower stuff the set might have dragged a bit

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 12 February 2004 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Matthew: It had a one word name: Dazzle, or Sparkle, or Diamond, or Precious, or...nope, forgotten it. Something spangly, anyhow. When Jake re-appeared with a fixed mike, he added his own endorsement.

Tico: Syntax are Mike Tournier (music, ex-Fluke) and Jan Burton (vocals), although there were 4 people on stage (I think). MP3s for the forthcoming album are here. Official site is here. More blah and a photo here.

― mike t-diva, Thursday, 12 February 2004 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, thanks, it's not them then.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 12 February 2004 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

Jake from Scissor Sisters was flirting outrageously with Simon Amstell on Popworld. It was really hot.

― lid, Sunday, 14 March 2004 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Rrrrrrrowl.

Anyone heard Heron? He's like a one-man Scissor Sisters! Well, I've not seen him live, but that's what the album sounds like...he's probably not a go-go dancer.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Sunday, 14 March 2004 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

'Comfortably Numb' is a bad song. It is still bad when the Scissors Sisters cover it. I feel that the Scissors Sisters are this year's Junior Senior (ie no good but inexplicably popular with people who ought to know better).

― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 14 March 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Those other Sisters that cover "Comfortably Numb" do it really well, though, redeeming the original.

― anode (anode), Sunday, 14 March 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Scissor Sisters of Mercy, there's an idea.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 14 March 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

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― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 5 April 2004 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

this is like when the newspaper i work at (the "mirror") got this elaborate letter from a chinese mirror-making factory! ("We would like to state that we specialize in MIRROR.")

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

good grief (w/r/t m yaseen)

I do not like the scissor sisters, their music makes me feel unhappy.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 5 April 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

rotten gig on saturday @ astoria.

so much good feeling/good will/positive anticiapation vibes visbly draining from the crowd. there was a slagging in the paper for the norwich gig too ('very ordinary cabaret'). all a bit of a yawn.

next!

― piscesboy, Monday, 5 April 2004 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

What's "Backwoods Discotheque" on the Take Your Mama single like? Better than "Backwoods Pt II" off the demo? I gather it's not exactly the same song...

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 5 April 2004 13:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Their (or Ana's) favourite soap is called "Passions" I think... she sold it to me. It sounded kinda like Sunset Beach (in the "I'm your secret long lost brother and I do VOODOO!" "no!" "Yes! It is I who bring you to this place to bear witness to your third cousin's rampant affair with your brothers dog's owner!" "I still love you!" way).

Apparently they had guitar problems at a recent show, and they acted out whole scenes from it. I appreciate that.

― John Cei Douglas, Monday, 5 April 2004 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm so glad that "Backwoods" is getting released! That's fantastic.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 5 April 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

No, United States of Electronica (worst band name ever) is this year's Junior Senior.

― scottontharox (scottkundla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:50 (twenty-one years ago)

why compare these guys to the bee gees?, they sound WAAAY closer to Elton John..

― chris andrews (fraew), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Chris, "Comfortably Numb" sounds like The Bee Gees. "Take Your Mama Out" sounds like Elton John. Single comparisons don't work for the Scissor Sisters b/c they have a deliberately chameleonic approach.

I was deeply ambivalent about them initially but I really like the album now.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

At different times they sound like a lot of other bands, including The Bee Gees, Elton John, Erasure, The Darkness, Pink Floyd, Prince, and even Steely fuckin Dan, man.

― scottontharox (scottkundla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

the album is okay, but implying that any of their songs contain the sophistication of Prince or Steely Dan or the Bee Gees is a collosal fucking joke. The Scissor Sisters stuff is fun and goofy, but it isn't particularly complex or stuffed with masterful musicianship.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"Laura" >>>>> the entire Steely Dan catalog except for maybe "Through With Buzz"

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

you're insane. Have you actually listened to Katy Lied, Aja, etc?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

We've listened to Aja enough.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Shakey, all three bands you mention are frequently fun and goofy. If there is a problem with Scissor Sisters it's certainly not that their music isn't sophisticated or masterful - if anything what put me off the album initially was that it sounded too studied and thought through.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I still wish they were Bobby Conn with DFA beats.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

They're just not fun enough for me.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sayin I don't like the Scissor Sisters record - I'm saying that in terms of pop composition, musical technique, actual playing chops, etc. Steely Dan, Prince, and the Bee Gees were all INSANELY technically accomplished. Those guys were all highly trained musicians working in a very tight idiom that required a voluminous knowledge of music theory and pop history in order to get over. The Scissor Sisters play shit that the Ramones could play. Those parts are not hard, their songs are simple, there's nothing particularly innovative or daring in their arrangements or in the way the songs are performed. They're slick, yes, but that's just the computers and the budget talkin.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i find it nearly impossible to believe the mimsy joke i heard on "comfortably numb" is fit to lick the dirt from steely dan's toenails

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

on top of that, lyrically Steely Dan's stuff is pretty complex and fun to dissemble - they're jammed with details and sly turns of phrase. Prince too (albeit in a very different way - and he's fully capable of atrocious lyrics). The Scissor Sisters don't tell stories, their lyrics aren't dark counterpoints to the music, they don't even have particularly memorable lyrical hooks (apart from that 'take your mother out tonight' line). Masterful popsmiths these guys are not. They're more like bubblegum songs, Chinn/Chapman, that kind of thing.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Besides "Take Your Mother Out" is a note-for-note rip of the Primals "Loaded" - right down to the beat, the wah-wah guitar part, and the piano-led chord progression (which iteslf is copped from "Sympathy for the Devil"). That ain't genius pop musicianship - that's laziness, funny tho it may be.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I find the subtext of "Take Your Mother Out" to be pretty sad, actually. The predicament in the song reminds me of a lot of people I know.

Strongo, I'd argue that "Comfortably Numb" is the weakest moment on the album.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Steely Dan can be alright, but they could never be half as great as a POP band as the Scissor Sisters. Songs like "Laura" and "Better Luck" stomp all over them in this respect.

Though I respect chops, they really aren't necessary to pull off a great pop song. The Scissor Sisters aren't virtuosos on the level of Prince or Steely Dan, but that isn't really what they are going for.

Bubblegum > "dark counterpoints"

Prince's lyrics > Becker & Fagan's lyrics

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Scissor Sisters = music primarily to sing along and dance to

Steely Dan = music to write a thesis paper about

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't understand why anyone is comparing them to Steely Dan in the first place. It's probably more accurate to compare them to George Michael circa Faith.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

And ha, George Michael > Steely Dan!

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

are you fuckin mad??? Do I need to remind you that Steely Dan actually had radio pop HITS on the charts??!? For years?!? The Scissor Sisters haven't reached a fraction of the pop audience that Steely Dan had in their heyday. I don't think I understand what your definition of "pop" is... but yeah, I don't get how anyone could compare Steely Dan to the Scissor Sisters. They don't sound anything alike as far as I can tell, and obviously their respective approaches to music couldn't be more different.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Could some please get Shakey a bib?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

fetch me a Manhattan on the rocks while you're at it.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

scottontharox, since you've driven Shakey to drink, which SS song sounds like Steely Dan to you? Cause I'm hearing Elton John (and thus Wham/George Michael), I'm hearing the Bee Gees, I'm hearing Bowie, but after that you've lost me.

― Sean Thomas (sgthomas), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Why is it so important that SS sounds like Elton John/Steely Dan/Beegees/Bowie etc?

I view this album as my disposable pop album of the year. I'll listen to it now, but in 12 months time it'll probably be relegated to the back of the CD cupboard.

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah, it's total pastiche and I'm not arguing that's a bad thing, I just couldn't see that SD was one of the bands that was being, er, honored.

― Sean Thomas (sgthomas), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

jellybean echoes my feelings on the album to a 'T'. The record is fun and, like a lot of good pop, ultimately totally forgettable.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't see the necessary connection between "good pop" and "ultimately totally forgettable". The NKOTB argument has been raised a thousand times on this board and I've never seen it substantiated convincingly.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:00 (twenty-one years ago)

The record is fun and, like a lot of good pop, ultimately totally forgettable.

I don't buy that. Good pop records are things that you listen to a lot, then kinda phase out, but if you hear it again, you get that nice rush of "oh man, I LOVE this song, I haven't heard it in forever!"

You don't forget great pop.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess that depends on whether you consider NKOTB "good pop" or not. Conversely, I consider Steely Dan good pop but obviously I don't consider them forgettable. The Scissor Sisters strike me as more the disposable version of pop (yes, like NKOTB or Duran Duran).

x-post

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

eh, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Duran Duran there - strike that.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe you just like Steely Dan more than the Scissor Sisters and Duran Duran, and there really isn't some special reason for that.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I wasn't aware I was giving special reasons for liking anything - I was just irritated at people comparing apples (the Scissor Sisters) to oranges (Steely Dan). They're both pop, but they're vastly different. And IMHO Steely Dan's got them beat in terms of lasting tunes and the depth of their work.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:13 (twenty-one years ago)

and I do like Duran Duran! Totally barmy lyrics, "The Chauffeur" is the greatest, etc.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)

People still remember NKOTB songs! Whether they're actually good is irrelevant to this!

I don't believe there is an intrinsic quality that makes one tune "lasting" and another transient.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

you don't see any connection between considering a song "good" and enjoying it over a long period of time?

I don't understand you people.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the SS album is great pop, but this is also the problem with any pop albums. It's very NOW. So a few years on, it'll just be a strange thing to listen to regularly.

It's also like the Darkness album, that I haven't touched since last autumn.

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:28 (twenty-one years ago)

No.

― John Cei Douglas (John Cei Douglas), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)

the answer is now no. still like comfortably numb tho

― minna (minna), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Andrew WK vs Scissor Sisters

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Shakey my point was that people use this concept of memorabilty as a yardstick of quality (or a stick to beat the music they dislike) - but memorability is not really an inherent quality to certain types of music, and nor does it equate to the music being good. The transience or otherwise of groups such as Scissor Sisters and Andrew WK is not an indication of their quality so much as the contexts within which their work is received - tellingly both have received support from "sophisticated" music fans, who (if I were to conjecture) value the *idea* of ephemeral transience and thus actively approach such artists with the pre-established intention of forgetting them soon enough.

The pop consumer doesn't really do this! Anastacia is still having bit hits!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm going to see them on monday!

(tend to skip comfortably numb tho)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:04 (twenty-one years ago)

and i think laura is a terrific pop song!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:05 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm controversial

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:05 (twenty-one years ago)

My top pics: "Take Your Mama Out", "Lovers In The Backseat", "Music Is The Victim", "It Can't Come Quickly Enough"

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:09 (twenty-one years ago)

take your mama out really is very good, and an excellent song to have on in the background at a party

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

"Music is the Victim" is the song which convinced me there's definitely something there, I thank Ally for turning me onto it. I have to say I think they're best listened to one song at a time, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah I agree with that. It's one of those albums where each time you listen to it you like a different song, but for a while the necessary corollary is that you dislike the song you liked the previous time. It's hard to be in the mood for so many varied homages in one sitting.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Treat it as a mix tape and there could be something. As it is, interleaving the songs with other 'transitional' songs from other bands could result in something pretty damned cool.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree again! That comment before about "Take Your Mama Out" working particularly well as background music at parties actually applies to the whole album, and I'd hazard that this is partly because this music works best when you don't think to heavily about what kind of band Scissor Sisters are ultimately, at core, in the last instance etc. etc. They are a band with no center. The album may as well be a compilation of random good songs. It's when you try to compute the album as a unified piece of art that all the transitions and shifts and dress-ups become exhausting and a bit numbing.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Rockism that defeats itself! If you will.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

it's a trojan horse aimed at rockism's fortified city!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 04:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Steely Dan can be alright, but they could never be half as great as a POP band as the Scissor Sisters. Songs like "Laura" and "Better Luck" stomp all over them in this respect.

*Head explodes*

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Friday, 14 May 2004 09:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Electrobix", duh. Just kidding. Okay, seriously:

1. "Mary"
2. "Take Your Mama Out" (= My Old School, 2004)
3. "Better Luck Next Time" (at 1:03)
4. "Return To Oz" (although this sounds a bit like ELO as well)

Derrrr. Do any of you even own Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic? Go back and listen to "Kid Charlemagne", "Peg", or "F.M." again, you'll figure it out. No static at alllllll...

― scottontharox (scottkundla), Friday, 14 May 2004 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to mention that scissors are made out of steel.

― scottontharox (scottkundla), Friday, 14 May 2004 09:35 (twenty-one years ago)

All I'm hearing in those songs is Robbie Williams (must be the voice)

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Friday, 14 May 2004 09:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually "Take Your Mama Out" sounds more like George Michael's "Faith". Or is it "I Want Your Sex"?

― scottontharox (scottkundla), Friday, 14 May 2004 09:42 (twenty-one years ago)

show was cancelled :(

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Within the context of Merritt's comment that the Magnetic Fields make the musical equivalent of a variety show, Scissor Sisters are the dance version of same. They're my favorite band since Turbonegro, which ignores the fact that they are just Turbonegro in go-go boots. I hope they release totally different singles in the US, though. I've played "Tits on the Radio" at college dance-punk parties and it gets a "House of Jealous Lovers"-like response. And the demo version of "Filthy/Gorgeous" is quite simply the best song since "Adolescent Sex" (or do I mean "I Got Erection"?) Their AM radio jive is great too, it makes me want to dance to Creedence.

― Otis Wheeler (Otis Wheeler), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 01:41 (twenty-one years ago)

So I suppose I'm the only one who likes their electro-disco tracks more than their elton john rocki-ish moments?

― djdee2005, Tuesday, 18 May 2004 05:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Noooo... Electrobix is still where it's at.

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

I think they're on early at Spaceland tonight (free). I might try to check it out...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:20 (twenty-one years ago)

They are. And it is.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

They go on at 10 tonight, actually.

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Spaceland? Free?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Mondays always free, always a residency (The Like, this month). Pretty much.

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Free for everyone except @d@ml.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

That reminds me, my air tax bill is due.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

This month is Low Flying Owls, Giant Drag. (actually)

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha so it isn't the Like, for once. Nice.

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I was a big fan of the Dance Disaster Movement month. I think it was October.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

The only people I hear who like Low Flying Owls are the ones who've booked them. If I go tonight I won't need to stick around. Giant Drag gurl is ok though it was a while ago I saw her at Silverlake Lounge (on a Monday night residency jag, I think)

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"Turbonegro in go-go boots"?

― Allyzay, Tuesday, 8 June 2004 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

which?

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 01:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone go last night? I had a good time. I felt bad for the bands who had to actually follow them. They even did encores..

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't go, but I did like The Like last month...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The only people I hear who like Low Flying Owls are the ones who've booked them.

HA. How funny. I was going to make a similar comment but somehow resisted, shockingly. They opened up for Clinic a few weeks ago. Low Flying indeed.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh god, so is this band the Polar Goldie Cats of this decade, then?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Scissor Sisters last night were pretty silly, if you ask me but I guess that's what they're about. The fag hag made me blush; her "vogue-ing" comments and such were rather sad. The music wasn't much beyond fun, funky pop but the stuff I've heard on the album's a bit better.

Yeah I missed Low Flying before Clinic went on but friends who caught them were not impressed (the ones who don't book bands, anyway).

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

MONKEY BABY RULES MY WORLD

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 August 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd definitely hang out with Shears. And the rest.

― R.I.M.A. (Barima), Monday, 30 August 2004 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Scissor Sisters album is actually quite good. I like it a little.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 30 August 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Finally got the album (or files thereof). If it lives up to the singles (that weren't the Floyd cover), then all is well.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 30 August 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

scissor sisters rool! i don't actually own a copy of the album, but i hear it so much in other people's houses that i don't really need one. definitely one of my favourite things from this year.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 30 August 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

So I'm finally hearing the album and it's quite the treat! Amusing sleaze, like a Soft Cell with guitars and no angst (or not as much).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

bored me senseless but I might give it another try

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Alternately, like U.S.E., they work a certain Andrew WK approach in a way that I actually like.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

It's one of those albums that you don't need to own because hald the people you know are bound to own a copy, but one that is pleasant company at the time.

Ultimately, though, I'm afraid I have to partly agree with Andrew Weatherall on this one. Shawadawoddy for our times.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Weathers is a well known fun hater

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

They're not even as good as Showaddywaddy! Showaddywaddy had two drummers! They supported Einsturzende Neubauten!

Otherwise "Weathers" proves yet again his impeccable taste, impeccable that is apart from the ghastly mess that constitutes the current Two Lone Swordsmen album.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 12:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i can say categorically say that weatherall is not a fun hater
the swordsmen album is not as good as it might be, though

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 12:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i'll have to give Tiny Reminders another go (yes you will stevem)

Weatherall's 'tache was fun.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

They have actually passed that threshold where I become borderline homicidal if I so much as hear them.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)

you mean you have actually killed people?

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

everyone's criticism of them seems a direct kneejerk to the abundance of praise they get i.e. over-rating, as with The Strokes. these are not at all bad bands lacking talent but just because they're not revolutionary i wouldn't bother pouring scorn on them either.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Not yet... close, but not yet.

No, it's not a reaction to the praise that they get, it's a reaction to the fact that not only have they been the (unchosen) soundtrack to some dire times recently, but also that people tend to play their records OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER and *that* makes me homicidal.

The Strokes Overexposure Award, for "Band I Love To Hate", this month, clearly goes to the Libertines, but that's another thread...

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I will say this, "Laura" fell flat. Was that the biggest single of theirs?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

The one I've had inflicted on me the most is that Comfortably Numb cover. Which really does make me want to stick rusty nails into my eardrums to STOP THE GODAWFUL NOISE!!!

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

The difference between my reaction to The Strokes and my reaction to The Libertines lies solely in the fact that, aside from that Cars-influenced single from their last album, Julian's singing can go suck a gigantic piece of moose shit. (Also I am predisposed towards liking something like The Scissor Sisters more than something like The Strokes.)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I would grudgefuck Julian C. I would totally grudgefuck blokey out of the Libertines.

There is NOT ONE SINGLE MEMBER OF SCISSOR SISTERS who even comes remotely near a murmer from my clitoris, so I don't even have the option of "I hate them so much I actually want to grudgefuck them till their penises bleed!"

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

It's one of those albums that you don't need to own because hald the people you know are bound to own a copy, but one that is pleasant company at the time.

So so true. I might even say it's past pleasant to quite enjoyable but I still feel no need to own.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

getting played over and over again amounts to praise in my book. you are saying you hate them because you can't avoid them rather than you hate them because their music is bad. criticisms like 'it's just 70s Elton John' (he was good then!) and 'for hipster wankers' fall flatter than 'Laura' which is a good track i think (tho 'Mary' is my current fave on the album)

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate the Scissor Sisters because their music is bad.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Techno dj in hating pop non shocker.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I dislike them because their music is a sort of insipid, hyper-bland, SO BLAND IT'S LIKE DRINKING VANILLA FLAVOURING STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOTTLE, IT'S SO BLAND IT PHYSICALLY HURTS YOU, gay-gay-super-gay, 70s, cocaine-fuelled RUBBISH.

What's pushed me over the line from mere "meh, this sucks, change the channel" is yes, the overexposure. I've started another thread about this, because I'm interested in my extreme reactions to certain artists.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Late 70s/early 80s vibe, rather than pure 70s. It just reminds me of when I first moved to America, it sounds like all the crap that was all over the radio when I was a miserable child.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not bland for all those reasons.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

In what bizarro universe does straight vanilla extract have a bland taste?

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

That's exactly my point, Dan! Have you ever drank vanilla flavouring straight out of the bottle? IT ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY HURTS YOU. That's what listening to this music is like. It is concentrated, painful, blandness.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

it's actually "fun"

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Then it isn't really bland, is it?

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Dan otm.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes it is. It is cocaine white blandness. It just *sounds* slick, it sounds so slick that you can't actually hear the music because it just slides off your eardrum.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

actually one thing that bugs me about 'tits on the radio' is the way they repeat a line just before the chorus - i can't really see the worth of that. it's still a great track tho.

slick != bland. tho that is subjective, i love a lot of slickly produced music. dirty edge = over-rated, possibly more than the siziziziziz

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

ESPECIALLY in indie-influenced circles.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Slick does not equal bland if there is substance to the music. I mean, I love bubblegum, I love slickness in music, if it's the right kind of slickness. This is like slickness as a *substitute* for music, rather than shining up something that is already good.

But yes, all this is subjective.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

The substance is there, Swygart nailed why the Scissor Sisters are quite good perfectly in his Pop Eye thread when 'Laura' charted - I quoted it on the Top 100 Albums 2000-2004 thread as a result.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:01 (twenty-one years ago)

disco=cocaine music=blandness etc etc etc etc

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Scissor Sisters live - grebt.
Scissor Sisters on record - "meh", ranging to "argh what is this shit?"

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

reading the thread again, some very interesting points. stirmonster think they're trying too hard too, and i can see that. but conversely adam was suggesting they're not trying hard enough. i think they could stand to be more like Deee-Lite, they already have better songs than Deee-Lite (apart from THE ONE)

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, its cabaret, and if you're going to do cabaret you might as well do it all singing all dancing PROPERLY rather than the muted offering on the album.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like the music, I don't like the way it sounds, I don't like their melodies, I don't like their harmonic structures, their lyrics make me want to scratch my own ears out, I dislike their production, I dislike their image, I dislike everything about them.

Yeah, that's just me being shallow and "indie", yeah.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:07 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not meant to be full on cabaret, it's meant to be cheesey rock music.

personally, though the album's not all classic, I think the good songs are better than most of the utter drivel in the album charts, at least there's a sense of difference there.

and "comfortably numb" is a brilliant record.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The Scissor Sisters are vile. Robbie Williams jamming with Jools Holland. Rolf Harris in bell bottoms with the Young Generation in 1973. Cannon and Ball's Casino with special guest Nick Kamen. Tom Fucking Jones. Nitty gritty. Music being played on the stereo system of that smug, smirking woman on the Standard Life advert, having just read the news about the 1000 redundancies Standard Life are making and licking her lips at the increased dividends these job losses will bring to her as a customer, and thus enabling her to flick crumbs of coulis at the dole queue from within the second BMW which she has been able to buy with said increased dividend plus or minus interest. Smug Roaring Boys spawn who ought to have their livers cut out with fucking scissors and fed forcefully to them via their newly denuded eye sockets, before having their semi-severed heads nailed to the door of the Islington Marquee and being forced to listen to the Go West remixes album until they expire painfully and pedantically in pallid puffs of arduous apnoea.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Also it's not as good as the last one.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

can you strickly have a 'crumb' of coulis?

― HKM, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

look come on this thread is on indie overload already without a clichéd tirade about the evil men in suits

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to a show of theirs once with some friends and we all forgot to listen to the music and just kind of talked to each other the whole time, although we did boogie a little bit. I was surprised by how "straight" the crowd was, given how bent the Scissors are (haha er). But people were really going bonkers over them.

Kate they kind of slide off my ears, too, but I'm not sure it's because their arrangements or production are slick, as much as it's just all kind of unmemorably executed. I lurrrve male/female vocal combos in bands but nothing grabs me about this one. Like I said though, I wasn't really paying attention.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost to HKM)

They used to do them in Le Petit Blanc.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Tracer on the money. Unmemorable would be the word. I honestly would not remember any of their songs if I hadn't been utterly overexposed to them.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

totally disagree about 'unmemorable' - their tracks really linger in my head, epitomy of catchy

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

ONLY BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN RAMMED INTO YOUR HEAD AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN LIKE PINOCHET'S TORTURE POLICE!!!!

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't think they have. i didn't even hear 'Comfortably Numb' until it entered the Top 10, i thought it was a bit silly but fine. i missed the buzz on 'Laura' last year but that had instant appeal. I didn't hear the album until after Glastonbury where they did a great show or at least it was a great time. TV and radio coverage seems to have been no more than the normal level and in fact I was surprised the album has sold as well as it has.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

They're not as good as Alcazar.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost)

Didn't surprise me. Look at the album charts this (or any) year...Katie Melua, Dido, Keane...shit sells.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

pretty much horrible. i just can't get past the pisstake-beegees vocals
the new single (Mary) is doing the internet rounds now, for anyone that's interested

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

what is?

(xpost)

do you really think the Siziziziz fit in the same comfy bracket as Melua, Dido and Keane? perhaps a big quadrant of people are buying it cos they've heard it's the thing to buy for parties and dancing and super-fun times or something...maybe they don't actually listen to it. or maybe that's all horseshit.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

comfortably numb is a perfect track for them to cover - they are totally comfortable, easy, undemanding obvious and the feeling they leave me with is ... nothing.

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

and marcello how in the name of nigella lawson does one "flick crumbs of coulis", you nutcase?

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Right!!!!! I've finally listened to this album!!!!! Ang again, it's been a bit of a surprise!!!! On the strength of the "Comfortably Numb" I was expecting a mildly annoyingly innoffensive House music flavoured record, and instead got for the most part a late 70s rock/pop record with solid, if slightly workmanlike, production, and reasonably decent tunes!!!!! In fact, at times it comes across almost like a Christopher Cross album with balls!!!!!!

Still don't get this "Scissor Sisters = Super Gay Camp Explosion!!!!!" bobbins tho!!!!! I'd only regard "Tits on the Radio" and "Filthy/Gorgeous" as even remotely camp, and the rest are about as camp as an episode of "One Man and His Dog"!!!!!! Even their "outrageous" image looks suspiciously like it was ripped off 70s fashion- eg that photo shot on the album looks uncannily like the inside cover shot on Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure"!!!! (And that was far camper- look at Eno, for Cliff's sake!!!!) I mean let's face it, if Scissor Sister dressed like some cartoon ELO rather than a wonky collision of Roxy Music and Manhattan Transfer, they could have released exactly the same album and people would have labelled them "ironic" rather than "camp"!!!!!! (Mind you, given how the media routines equates "gay" with "camp" anyway, maybe not...)

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

surely gay and camp are synonomous with good logic and reason?

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

No, people buy Scissor Sisters records because they are stupid and lazy and think that doing a disco cover of a Pink Floyd song constitutes adventurous new music whereas they are simply gentrified bourgeois corporate gutrot packaged by Polygram to look new.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah that's totally why i like them

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I once flicked crumbs of coulis at Nigella Lawson. She was trying it.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

'Donnie' if you most people buy records because they're always looking for adventurous new music then you're being just as stupid and lazy as you claim they are.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

That is what most people should be buying records for. Otherwise they might as well stick with the ones they already have.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

steven do you mean that the words "gay" and "camp" mean "logical".

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

and may i suggest if you're not actually interested in dancing to this kind of music, it's going to be hard convincing people your criticisms of it are valid

(xpost x2)

lots of people buy records because they find them fun, and because they like to dance to them

stelfox - no gay smoke without camp fire geez

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't mind SS if they were actually dancable, but I can't even dance to them. Sigh.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

well obviously, as in i can't believe you wrote that, other people can dance to them

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not "other people." And I don't want to dance to them. And I am right.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"Dancing" and "fun" are invalid critical memes. Read your Spinoza.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Donnie Smith The Cliched Indie Kid, I didn't particularly like the Floyd cover myself!!!! (Basically because it didn't go FAR ENOUGH!!!!! They really should have done a hardcore gabber remix job on it!!!!!) But I was most surprised to like the rest of album when i heard it from "unofficial" sources!!!!

Hence I bought it, but not because of the Floyd cover, in fact despite it and all that "camp" hype!!!!

Hence your "theory" is utter twallox!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

idiocy levels on overdrive now.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

oh man, when resorting to "this is how other people SHOULD act" you know the argument is over

i just don't like the record. can't explain it. i love disco. i love fun retrovival records. i love camp as tits records.
i just don't care for this one at all. sounds so trite (and "forced" at the same time) that its really rubbed me the wrong way every time i've put it on.

but i would certainly never tell anyone else that they "SHOULD" or "SHOULD NOT" enjoy it for whatever reason they do. yuck.

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

in the name of clarity:

i thinking marcello means couscous. coulis is like a kind of thin sauce type dealio they sort of do weird 'lines' of at posh restaurants, like petit blanc indeed.

― HKM, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

the idea that the Floyd cover is "new" or meant to be new is so utterly ridiculous.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

no-one better steal my 'camp fire' gag

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost to rentboy)

Well I would, can, do and have. We need more elitism in art, in order for it to matter again.

Also Old Fart! I am neither cliched nor indie!!!!

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

No, sorry, it's a stupid defense of a band when people go "But no! You don't get it because you don't like dancing, blah blah" when it's just a question of "No, sorry, I *do* actually like to dance, I just can't dance to *this*."

If your defence of a band is going to be "but they're danceable!!! That makes them fun!" then it is a valid criticism that I can't dance to them. If their only excuse is to be a dance band... well, that's an excuse I just fail to see!

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

All of you UK people complaining that people only like/remember The Scissor Sisters due to forced exposure should really remember that they aren't being forced on everyone across the globe; I don't even think they're getting airplay in the US and I still like them.

Dom is right though; Alcazar is better.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

have you read your posts on this thread?

nobody said "dancing" either. it's just this age old if it's not bleeding guitar strings and death or twee lemonade in the fields it can't possibly be guitar music, no no!

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The Scissor Sisters are fab! I won't hear a word said against them!

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Dom is right though; Alcazar is better.

Ah yes? Plz recommend things...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

basically I'd rather listen to vacuous cheesey MOR which is done consciously and wittily than most of the albums which have charted in the top 40 this year.

but as I said "Comfortably Numb" is a good disco/house record in its own right, I have never heard the Pink Floyd version and judging from their other stuff I'll be happy and have an extra 38 minutes of my life to spend doing something else if I don't.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I've not been listening to much except classical music lately, so disco, indie, rock, it's all shite to me compared to the Early Baroque period.

Now if they were camp like THAT, I might give them a chance.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

you don't like disco at all tho right?

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

We need more elitism in art, in order for it to matter again.

elitism in art only makes it matter to those who feign the self-importance and elitism they help to create. one can hold oneself up to some "standards" and miss out on a whole lot of fun stuff, and just wind up looking like a dumb, self-absorbed prick to everyone else

just ask all the indie rock kids from the mid-90s who recently discovered dancing

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned,

'Crying At The Discotheque'
'Sexual Guarantee'
'This Is A World We Live In'
'Physical'

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Also Old Fart! I am neither cliched nor indie!!!!
Well, "people buy Scissor Sisters records because they are stupid and lazy and think that doing a disco cover of a Pink Floyd song constitutes adventurous new music whereas they are simply gentrified bourgeois corporate gutrot packaged by Polygram to look new. " does bear resemblence to a pretty cliched "idiotic masses enslaved by the corporate capitalists" type rant beloved of certain died-in-the-wool indie fans!!!!
So you can understand my confusion!!!!!
― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

End blockquote...

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I like disco if it's got good basslines. That's the only excuse for disco that I can see. Their basslines are tedious.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

fair enough, perhaps you shouldn't bother speaking about disco then.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Have you heard "Monkey Baby", Kate? Actually scratch that, that's tailor-made to be the type of thing you'd hate.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

But disco is ALL ABOUT THE BASS. If you don't have a good bassline, you don't have dance music, and you don't have disco.

Scissor Sisters aren't shit *because* they are disco, they just are BAD disco.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

'Filthy Gorgeous' has a great bassline. it depends what you want tho i suppose. obv. we're not talking Chic genius pop sensibility or production talent, but then Chic can be pretty tedious themselves at times.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

yes Comfortably Numb doesn't sound like any disco or house does it, nor Moroder/Frankie Knuckles, nobody!

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Disco is surely not all about the bass - i can't recall 'Can You Feel It' having a particularly good bassline, but it's still amazing

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

did Deee-Lite get shit from people at the time for lazily ripping Herbie Hancock and just hollering over the top?

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

THERE IS AN ALCAZAR VERSION OF SEXUAL GUARANTEE?! WHY WASN'T I INFORMED OF THIS?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Disco doesn't necessarily have to have that octave-hopping, leaping about Chic basslines (that I actually love and appreciate) - there are other ways of bass being good, being solid, being 3-dimensional.

I don't hear that in SS.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Marcello was right up thread though - all these Scissor Sister fans are moving ILM a little to the right.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Matt, what other versions of 'Sexual Guarantee' are there?

Bass is not the problem at all with the Siz, jeez

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

No, it's not *the* problem with SS. It's one of the MANY problems with them.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

'Crying At The Discotheque'
'Sexual Guarantee'
'This Is A World We Live In'
'Physical'

Hahaha, this band was tailor made for me from the titles alone!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

get a better stereo Kate

this argument can't continue if it's just going to amount to 'yes it is/no it isn't' status tho

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, maybe the song I'm thinking of was Alcazar all along without me noticing. Maybe I just assumed it was a timeless pop classic all along.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

how can you possibly compare disco, a massive genre encompassing great musicians, scorching vocalists and production geniuses, with the turgid work of one overhyped, underperforming band? thread is now officially mental.

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

(i do also realise that disco emcompassed an awful lot of shit, too)

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

because the Scissor Sisters obviously love disco and incorporate aspects of it into their tracks, 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Filthy/Gorgeous' the prime examples. is that really so difficult to comprehend?

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

that said, the amount i am bothering to defend them does not equate with the amount i actually like them (which is a fair amount but hardly fanboy).

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i think it would be better to be more specific.

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, like I said on that other thread that withered and died, the sheer volume of my hatred has little to do with the insipid mild turgicity of their music, so obviously the amount I am bothering to attack them says more about me (and ILM) than about them...

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

And nothing said here today has convinced me that the antipathy is anything but a kneejerk to the praise.

(xpost)

come on, 'Filthy/Gorgeous' reeks of Sylvester, call it karaoke/cabaret if you want, i don't find that a problem, it strikes me as a competent stab at apeing the style irrespective of the fact there is no large black T.V. fronting it

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

obv. the disco genre itself reflects a thin spectrum at which perhaps Moroder and the darker Italo stuff are at one end and the more cheesy stuff (Bee Gees, yer man Sylvie) at the other

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I must just be responding to "praise" because I have no musical taste of my own, and I'm incapable of disliking something or forming my own opinions just because it doesn't conform to my own tastes and expectations of pop.

I don't know how many times I have to state that I dislike them because I don't like their music. I HATE them because I'm overexposed to them. I admit that, but it doesn't negate the fact that I really don't like their music.

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyway, this has all been very fun, but I'm off to rehearsal now...

― Danger Whore (kate), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)

but it seems you only feel you have to speak out about hating their music so much because you've had trouble avoiding them so much

it's just that when you (not YOU) get to actually criticising the ethos, or the music itself, it always seems to revolve around 'they think they're sooooo cooooool, but i know better, i remember when this stuff actually was new!' which is fair enough but a little tiresome to hear every time someone comes out with a record unasbashed in revivalism (goes for 'Is This It' too i guess). people have different ideas of what constitutes good party music but ignoring snobby pretensions, this stuff fits the bill just fine.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like them because they dsound like Elton John, and lots of other music I really really don't like. The ridiculous hype merely serves as the ketchup on the chips of criticism.

also I hate fun, obv

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Let us take the 'hate fun' meme out back and kindly and sweetly club it over the head with a shovel.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i hate the scissor sisters' music, i hate the dull jaded camp, i the fact that they're touted as being great when they're merely tolerable. i hate the fact that people ask me to play their stuff when i dj because they don't know any better.

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

and they are not fun. they are bland and annoying.

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

ooh snippy Ned!

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

The whole point of the "hate fun" meme is that it's annoying. That's what it's there for.

I have nothing to say about the SS. I've only heard that one song about taking your mom out. I thought it was ok but pretty repetitive.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

did this band scrub the nu-metal guitar approach? Because when I saw them like 2 years ago that was one of the main things about their sound that annoyed me.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

There is no fucking hype about the Scissor Sisters, for christ's sake! Or if there was it ended long ago.

And if people can't see that their version of "Comfortably Numb" is a disco/house record then I'm utterly amazed. Listen to the fucking thing!

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

it's a shit record - listen to the fucking thing!

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

whether you like it or not doesn't matter, the point is it fits into disco/house sets just fine, I can't help but feel the baggage the Scissor Sisters image and it being a Pink Floyd song bring are muddying the waters here.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

whether you like it or not doesn't matter

i didn't see the thread title reading "do we like the scissor sisters? (apart from stelfox and carlin because their opinions really don't matter)"

― stelfox, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I meant in the context of the argument on the thread here, I am pointing out that it is a disco/house record, regardless of peoples feelings on it one way or another.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

surely that should be 'rogering the waters', ahahahaha

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

oh it's a disco record yes, but a disco version of a terrible song, so it's really horrible. On the focus group that never was I gave it 0+joker

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 17:46 (twenty-one years ago)

At this point, is there anything more boring than people complaining that stuff from _The Wall_ is the worst music ever? (hyperbole acknowledged)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Their version of FF's 'Take Me Out' is one of the worst things I have ever heard. It should be enough to convince anyone that the Scissor Sisters are very, very bad indeed.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Although to be fair the FF cover sounds nothing at all like anything else they've ever done...it's essentially a novelty.

― nameom (nameom), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sorry I'm boring you Dan, but I honestly really don't like it. (I do like some Pink Floyd mind you, just not that song, it always annoyed me - but then so do a lot of things right now)

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

It's okay, I'm a benevolent narcissist.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

and quite fancy too.

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Fancy benevolent narcissism... that sounds like The Scissor Sisters' raison d'etre!

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

WUV (of self)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Duh everybody of course "Comfortably Numb" is a disco track (italo disco really, but whatever); ironically the rock-based ATOC Dub is much better (the chorus of the original slips into Idol crap audition realms a bit).

The second half of this record is much better than the first, apart from "Take Your Mama Out" which is fantastic.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 16 September 2004 04:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Are there two completely different versions of this album? I've seen wildly different tracklistings/playlists for some reason.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 September 2004 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I realize I said this on my blog a while back (not that any of you necessarily care), but I didn't like Ben Folds when he was straight. The camp frission would seem to be something I'd like (I usually do), but this time it generates a pretty big meh. Maybe I'll come around in six months or something, though.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 16 September 2004 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck, daily backup ate my post. um I really like the 2002 version of "Filthy/Gorgeous", sort've like something Sylvester might have done if he'd lived a few years longer & great bassline & that women's spoken-word bit & appropriate title; the couple of times I've seen the "Take Your Mama Out" video it seems sweet+sad in a way I can't recall many examples of in chart rock recently (tho r&b has that covered usually).

― etc, Thursday, 16 September 2004 06:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Covering Pink Floyd in the style of the late '70s Bee Gees. Didn't the Scissor Sisters get this idea off an old Kenny Everett sketch?

Nothing that the Scissor Sisters have done comes even remotely close to the genius of "Snot Rap."

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Thursday, 16 September 2004 06:52 (twenty-one years ago)

did you used to present top of the pops?

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 September 2004 08:24 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost: Are there two completely different versions of this album? I've seen wildly different tracklistings/playlists for some reason.

Yes... there's an unreleased demo version from, erm, late 2002 I think, and the official studio version from this year. The demo versions of "Music Is The Victim" and "Filthy/Gorgeous" are definitely worth hearing (extra spoken-word passages in both, which should have been retained); the demo of "Return To Oz" isn't.

Some of the more whimsical/pervy/electronic tracks on the demo version have never been officially released: seek in particular "Electrobix", "Step Aside For The Man", "Backwoods Discotheque" (not the version which came out as a UK B-side), "Monkey Baby".

Donnie Smith, yr breakin my heart...

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 16 September 2004 08:44 (twenty-one years ago)

"Backwoods Disco" is great.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 16 September 2004 09:02 (twenty-one years ago)

he couldn't if he tried

xost

― the neurotic rassafrassa of harrumph (blueski), Thursday, 16 September 2004 09:02 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a load of old verbals that don't make sense. I get it off the wall at the local gents.

― Sid Snot, Thursday, 16 September 2004 11:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Baby, you're not that kind.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 16 September 2004 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

this is the Sizziziz next single, I am pretty certain

― the neurotic rassafrassa of harrumph (blueski), Thursday, 16 September 2004 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

babydaddy from the scizzors is a jbz fan. I tried to get them as support on the european tour (playing 1000 capacity venues). it almost happened...

― nick.K (nick.K), Thursday, 16 September 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost)

Not their cover of "Big Six" by Judge Dread, then.

"Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, her knickers all tattered and torn/It wasn't a spider who sat down beside her/It was Little Boy Blue with the horn," uh huh uh huh, etc.

― Sid Snot, Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:00 (twenty-one years ago)

did this band scrub the nu-metal guitar approach? Because when I saw them like 2 years ago that was one of the main things about their sound that annoyed me.

That sounds really really brilliant!!!!!!!! Perhaps they ought to bring them back!!!!!

Mind you, if they did, some of folks here would still be wittering on about how they're just a Big Camp Gay Disco Band!!!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The Scissor Sisters would greatly benefit from a welcome improv/glitch input. Perhaps they should get Jim O'Rourke to produce them.

― Alice Rage, Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, in that case I think I have the demo version and not the official one! I'll double check on that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Disappointingly, apparently Jake hates "Someone To Touch (How Many Times)" so no chance of it ever surfacing properly.

― edward o (edwardo), Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I always loved 'Bicycling With The Devil', it's like so stern and melodramatic and it's about not having an asshole.

I thought the b-side version of Backwoods was the same as the one on the demo?

― Michael Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Thursday, 16 September 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the "Comfortably Numb" cover was fun but I basically agree with what Tracer said about the originals being pretty unmemorable. I'm not a big Elton John fan though, so musically this isn't my cup of tea. As far as crazy-ass camp whatever goes, I prefer Junior Senior and Electric Six by far (they're more aggro).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 16 September 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Junior Senior? Christ.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, if ever there was an act that deserved gigantic piles of vitriol and scorn, it's Junior Senior.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

knock yourself out, nu-Alex.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I've only heard two songs by them but they basically seem to have all of the irritating, horrifying traits that Kate was attributing to The Scissor Sisters; I've never understood why anyone would like them and sort of assumed you had to be on coke to understand.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

that's because you've only heard two songs you big silly

― the neurotic rassafrassa of harrumph (blueski), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Granted. They were the singles that everyone was going gaga over, though, and usually if someone cannot win me over with the singles they can't win me over with the album tracks (although they might win me over with the remixes).

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Dan otm about Junior Senior. They were bloody annoying.

I agree with Tim's analysis of the Scissor Sisters as being very chameleonic, it seems that a lot of people are acsribing sets of values to them which are very much applicable to some of their songs, but not to most of their songs.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost: I thought the b-side version of Backwoods was the same as the one on the demo?

They're completely different in every way, except for a few shared lyrics (the "in the sweat set met gettin' freaky with the hot tub jets..." section). The B-side version is called "Backwoods Part II". The demo version is infinitely better.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't think Dan would like Junior Senior truth be told. i find a lot of their tracks have a great 'harking back to 50s/60s in a good way' vibe ala The Avalanches i guess). It's true also that not all Scissor Sisters tracks have the same values/influences but some are more common, even dominant, than others (Reg bleedin Dwight all over the shop, bit of Chicago/Italo disco).

is 'Mary' really the next single? i like Shears voice on that.

― the neurotic rassafrassa of harrumph (blueski), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

hate Junior Senior.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I assumed it was the demo 'Backwoods' one I had. It's 3:43 in length, and has that "I like playin' cards but you mothafuckas best not be playin' poker with my asshole!" sample in the middle. The one on the UK B-side is 4:25. But I thought they were both called 'Backwoods Part ii' - is that wrong? Other people on the web seem to refer to the demo one by that name too.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

(as you all know!)

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

"Mary" is the next single? Jesus, their choice of singles is abysmal... apart from "Laura", I haven't really cared for any of them even though I like the album a lot.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I love "Mary".

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The big Junior Senior song doesn't sound like ANYTHING else on the rest of the album, it even has a different singer!! Of course Ronan probably likes the rest of the album even less because none of the rest of it sounds like disco.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 September 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Much as I love "Mary", I agree that there have been some weird singles choices. After "Comfortably Numb", I'd have gone for "Music Is The Victim" and "Filthy/Gorgeous", both of which fairly SCREAM "hit single".

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 17 September 2004 07:55 (twenty-one years ago)

If they're going to release a slow one, "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" would have seemed obvious, anyway. Anyway, slow ones as singles don't work. "Music Is The Victim" - a new radio edit with Ana's talkie bit reinstated - should have been IT.

It's a bloody shame some of those old demos are gathering dust when something as dull as "Borrowed Time" gets released as a B-side. (Or is it just me who doesn't like that one?)

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 17 September 2004 08:11 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

Apparently they are coming to Australia to headline the good vibrations festival. Does anybody know if they are appearing anywhere else in Australia?

― Caitlyn Jones, Thursday, 2 December 2004 05:31 (twenty-one years ago)

anyone got the new remix album .. any good or nasty cash-in ?

― mark e (mark e), Thursday, 2 December 2004 10:31 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Hey, any news on when the new album comes out? I've been whistling "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" almost constantly since Coachella.

― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Thursday, 4 May 2006 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

Don Bluth did a freaking video of theirs!

Probably my favorite song of theirs, too.

― i'm shy (Abbott), Saturday, 7 February 2009 00:08 (seventeen years ago)

>8 SIZZCORE 4 LIFE 8<

― i'm shy (Abbott), Saturday, 7 February 2009 00:08 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

scissor sisters really need to cover tim curry's "i do the rock"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiLNCJdXmX0

― a dystopian society awaits if we continue on this path. (contenderizer), Friday, 27 August 2010 04:16 (fifteen years ago)

four months pass...

Night Work is actually kind of an amazing album.

― a no-fault dick to suck. (the table is the table), Friday, 7 January 2011 06:16 (fifteen years ago)

Yep. Some discussion here...
scissor sisters are back! back!! back!!!

― Dr. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 7 January 2011 06:39 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

I like most everything on the album except "Comfortably Numb."

A. I don't like Floyd's original all that much.
B. I hate Bee Gees impersonations.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, November 6, 2003 9:37 PM (10 years ago)

I was being an a-hole that day. Floyd's original is a great song and I rather like Bee Gees impersonations. Pretty sure these were my feelings at the time, too, so my early days on ILM were full of fake contrarianism.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 2 June 2014 20:57 (eleven years ago)

five years pass...

s & d :: desert sessions is a thread I keep reviving and receiving very little interest, so I'm reaching out to its members' home threads.

― ☮ (peace, man), Thursday, 3 October 2019 19:24 (six years ago)

three years pass...

Do we like the Scissor Sisters? A little, but certainly loving the new Jake Shears album especially the house stylings of ‘Doses’.

― Dan Worsley, Sunday, 4 June 2023 14:31 (two years ago)

Yeah, I was really impressed with this. I like the Italo disco influences on the second half. It goes quite dark in places.

― kitchen person, Monday, 5 June 2023 14:20 (two years ago)

seven months pass...

And suddenly out of nowhere, Jake guesting on TR/ST's just-released cover of "Being Boring."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFA9huryUek

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 26 January 2024 05:09 (two years ago)

― nxd, Friday, 26 January 2024 07:44 (two years ago)

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