The Most Wonderfully Wierd Band In the World Pull It Off (Ta Dah! - Scissor Sisters)

Member Name: Under Rug Swept.

Product:	Ta Dah! - Scissor Sisters
Date:	03/10/06 (525 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, catchy, with a good number of great single potential tracks

Disadvantages: Sounds a bit samey towards the end, and there are some very weak bland tracks

The american band "Scissor Sisters" return this year. Fun, camp and wonderfully wierd, this band should not be tossed aside lightly after a glance at their outrageous attire. They clearly think their album is magic - but is it?

Well, it certainly pulled a bunny or three out of the hat.

"I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” is the lead single from “Ta-Dah”. This song was extremely well received in the UK and has experienced astounding success so far – it has spent three weeks at the top chart spot up to now and helped the album shoot straight to number one too. The success is well deserved – funky, catchy, dancey and the sheer brilliance of it make “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” one of the best songs of 2006, and a more than promising way to kick off the new album. Did you know Elton John played the piano in this song? If that isn’t enough to raise the campness in you, I don’t know what is. The only downside to this song, as with any huge UK hit, is you’ve heard it three hundred too many times. But in ten years, when this is played it will still be a floorfiller.

Track 2 is called “She’s My Man”. The title of this song piqued my interest for some reason. It starts off more rock than I would have expected. One of the first things you’ll notice is the piano is back from the previous track – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you’ll be hoping it isn’t on every track. “She’s My Man” sounds like something right out of the 1980’s, and whilst in places I found the verses pretty weak, the chorus will get your shoulders moving. The structure of this song reminded me a bit of “Laura”, a hit from the Scissor Sisters’ debut album. This second track is a strong song on the album, and definitely worth a listen.

Track 3, “I Can’t Decide”, is one of my favourite tracks on the album, even though it reminds me of something from Postman Pat. The chorus is so catchy it will make you smile – “I can’t decide whether you should live or die – though you’ll probably go to heaven, please don’t hang your head and cry”. True, the lyrics are a little lacking, featuring lines such “Oh, I could throw you in a lake and feed you poison birthday cake”, but “I Can’t Decide” is a fun, catchy song which I think should definitely be considered as a single release.

“Lights” starts off like something from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Jake Shears adopts the same singing style as the previous track. I personally find this quite a weak track on the CD, with hardly any noticeable chorus, just Jake doing a “hee-hee” sound which resembles Michael Jackson. The second verse picks up the Scissor Sisters’ deadly catchiness, and whilst you will enjoy this song, it doesn’t stand out on the album.

Track 5, “Land of A Thousand Words”, starts off like something from a bad cowboy film. But pretty soon it develops into a rather beautiful ballad and the only song of its kind on the whole CD – not a trace of trance, dance or laser beam effects. Just the piano and the soft drums, then a little air guitar and tambourine – and the result is fantastic. This is definitely a highlight of the CD.

The intermission is surprisingly funky, and more of a song at over two and a half minutes long. After half an album of quite fun light lyrics, this is quite an unsettling change, with lyrics such as “We were born to die”. Nevertheless this is one intermission which you shouldn’t skip.

“Kiss You Off” is another song title which intrigued me. After starting with what sounds like singing angels and demons, the girl in the group (Ana-Matronic) makes her first vocal appearance on the album which is a refreshing change. Again, this song sounds like something straight out of the 1980’s with a rock influence. The chorus is very catchy and this is a highlight of the album. I really like this song, and would be a wise single choice.

“Ooh”, track 8, is the “Ta-Dah” version of the fabulous “Filthy Gorgeous” and is one of the best tracks on the CD – its fun, catchy, and also it’s quite raunchy. In the chorus, Jake Shears sounds precisely like the Bee-Gees. A funky disco tune, I think we may be seeing “Ooh” on the single CD shelves someday soon.

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to track 9, “Paul McCartney”, although I don’t know why. The song is catchy and very disco and better than what I expected (even though I don’t know why I expected something bad). Apart from being something danceable to, though, this song doesn’t really stand out to me.

“Other Side”, track 10, is one of the slower songs on the album, quite trancey. It being “slower” doesn’t mean it’s this album equivalent of “Mary”, however (the ultimate ballad from the Scissor Sister’s previous album). I find this song mildly boring, especially through the verses, and while the chorus is better, it doesn’t make this track anything special. By now, you’re starting to get bored of the same kind of music throughout the entire album and you’re thirsty for a refreshing change.

When I first played “Might Tell You Tonight”, I thought I had gone back to track 3, I Can’t Decide. They sound almost exactly similar. The choruses are quite different, this one being more slower. Again, I don’t find this song anything spectacular and I’m starting to think this album has gone downhill.

Just when you want a refreshing change, track 12, “Everybody wants the same thing” gives you this. I like this song; it is definitely the best track at this mediocre end of the album. It does still sound vaguely similar to the rest, but anything with even a structural difference is nice. The chorus is quite powerful, particularly towards the end, and this wouldn’t be too bad a single choice.

“Ta-Dah” ends with track 12, “Transistor”. This song is most definitely different from the rest of the album, but in an extremely negative way. It sounds like something Marilyn Manson would scream. I’m not overly fond of this track at all. Quite a bad way to round off a good CD – I would have put “Everybody wants the same thing” at the end, to at least finish the CD in a good way.

Overall, this is a good CD – the only problem is the way it tails off at the end. I would recommend this CD to everybody, it’s a lovely pop record with disco, rock, country and even cowboy mixed in there too. This is a mature pop CD – light, fun and catchy. It has quite a few good potential singles which make up for the weaker tracks. This record definitely deserves its 4 stars, but I can’ help but wish that the band took another few months to perfect the CD and bump it up to 5 stars. Oh, and please, watch out for track 3 “I Can’t Decide” – I can’t believe how much I love this track!

Summary: Definitely worth a place in your collection - particularly any 80s music lovers