Scissor Sisters

Like their New York burlesque/performance art brethren Fischerspooner, Scissor Sisters' music is almost an afterthought, a campy soundtrack to their theatrical live shows. That being said, this Elton John-obsessed quintet's debut album is far better than it has any right to be, and certainly a far cry from Fischerspooner's electro-pop posturings. Yes, everything here is derivative, but nearly all of it works, thanks largely to Jake Shears' pitch-perfect falsetto and a grasp of '70s pop cliches so firm that the sly nods to earlier songs become part of the fun.

The most obvious example of this is their love-it-or-hate-it cover of "Comfortably Numb," which transforms the Pink Floyd classic into a Bee Gees homage, but most of the Scissor Sisters' best moments are cheeky riffs on familiar hits. The first single "Take Your Mama" apes Honky Chateau-era Elton John, "Lovers in the Backseat" cops the jittery beat of David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes," "Mary" sighs longingly like a lost David Cassidy ballad. It takes a lot of chutzpah, or gall, or possibly both, to knowingly echo so much great music in a single album, but Scissor Sisters pull it off with panache.

If you like music that at least tries to sound original, you'll dismiss Scissor Sisters as the latest in a growing list of acts that coast along on nostalgia for a lack of talent. But if you count cagey repurposings of old sounds as a talent in itself, you'll find much here to enjoy. - Andy Hermann

Midway through the 2000s, theft with an artful nod and wink has become quite fashionable, and frilly is the new black. Combos like Chromeo and the Electric Six are finding mileage in long-shuttered, retrospectively laughable genres like synth pop and new romantic, and revisiting disco's most damning elements with a vigor for recombination. The results certainly elicit some snickering, but they can also be too cool -- or, for the insecure, too much of a guilty pleasure -- to ignore. New York's Scissor Sisters access these ideas and more on their debut full-length for Polygram. The eponymous release is a gleaming composite of epic, unabashedly pretty '70s songwriting and fancy-pants disco hedonism, reflecting the decadent dance-pop afterglow of all that George Michael wrought. "Lovers in the Backseat" is powered by the androgynous groove of Michael's "Everything She Wants." "Jealous glances/Now I'm lookin' for another song on the radio," they sing. "I'll take it to a side street/In the shadows you can touch one another/And I'll just watch the show." This flirty, satiny sexuality tingles in every lyrical inch of Scissor Sisters, as the Sisters save their subtlety for the songcraft. Opener "Laura" is a swaggering, absolutely irresistible update of vintage Stevie Wonder, illustrated with piano breaks and a honking sax. "Take Your Mama" chirps in a high register, a honky chateau dreamland of the Beta Band covering Elton John. All of this wackiness occurs before Scissor Sisters drop their dusky dancefloor version of "Comfortably Numb." They're hopped up over a twittering glitterball beat, referencing Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the Bee Gees even as the song functions as a Floyd redux. "I! I! I've become...'fortably numb!" As fun as all of this is (and the lip-smack glam of "Music Is the Victim" is very, very fun), the Sisters' revisionism can also get them in trouble. "It Can't Come Quickly Enough"'s dance-pop is too accurate, getting the bland side way too right, while "Return to Oz" cribs from Pink Floyd without the salve of artful dance club redirection. Still, these missteps are forgivable when pseudonyms like Del Marquis and Paddy Boom populate the band. Like some of their in-the-know peers, Scissor Sisters are happy to raid rock and pop's simpering peony past to soundtrack the parties and prurience of the silvery present day. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide