Well, it is very wet and rainy here in drizzly Birmingham, so I thought I would post on some things that have brightened my day this dark damp Thursday…including a couple of 70s influenced albums, some creative output and all the topnotch stuff out there in the blogosphere…

Dead Lesbian and The Defibrillating Scissor Sisters

I've always been kind of sad that the Scissters ultimately shortened their name, but Ruthless assures me that it is still filthy yet quite achievable within the lesbian community ;) Now I wasn't going to do a review of the new Ta-Dah (no exclamation point) album, but I enjoyed it so much on the way to work this morning that I thought I would add my twopenneth worth:

The scissters are the second of four acts I fell in love with in early 2004 to release their sophomore set this year. Keane's "Under The Iron Sea" for me was an ok follow up but in no way matched the quality of their debut album. And therein lies the problem for bands who go nuclear with their first outing – everyone is in on the secret and mass appeal sometimes has the effect of dampening the band's inspiration. It's the pressure to create a follow up that the fans and critics will love without being too similar to the debut that can force out any individuality, only to be replaced with 11 songs of self doubt. Fortunately I feel that Ta-Dah represents a positive step forward for the New York five piece – the collection of songs are revelling in the creative spunk of 70s stars like Abba, Nolan Sisters, beeGees and new BFF Elton John. In an era where acts are servicing the 80s like a cheap Hollywood boulevard hooker, the scissters take their influences and wear them proudly on their sleeves, while mixing it with electro clash which gives them a bit of that old magic that made the debut so spontaneous.

I remember writing on a forum when I saw the group perform I Can't Decide at last years V festival that if that went onto the album it would be my favourite song for at least 9 weeks. And I'm glad it did – it’s a rollocking piece of EJ lovin' honky tonk with suitably bitter yet witty lyrics. Lights definitely should be a single (as suggested by J'Ason) – it’s a sumptuous string drenched disco track that sounds like the backalley love child of Grease and Stayin Alive, without sounding like that’s what was meant to happen. But Lights should be the third single – the Christmas release belongs to Just Might Tell You Tonight. It’s a simple effective love song with a great chorus.

It's hard for me to be objective because I adore this band so much. Overall, I think it’s a quality release and enough to keep me happy, but I need to listen to it a bit more. For alternative views make sure you check out the quality writings of J'Ason or the musings of the lovely Samuel. And Nick is so right – the ltd edition box set is SO worth buying. Twice :) Now hurry up November so I can see them live!!

MP3: Scissters – I Can't Decide

Captain Marvel

As stated before I have a bit of a hit and miss relationship with Elton John – I find him quite irritating but he does seem to produce some brilliant music from time to time. And with his mucky fingerprints all over Ta-Dah, he suddenly seems relevant all over again. So cast your minds back to 1975 – EJ was releasing one of his best albums Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy. Quite rightly it topped charts all around the world – a concept album about struggle; about how rubbish not being famous is. It’s the album that really made me want to play piano and now – 31 years later comes the followup: The Captain and The Kid. This is a recollection of what happened once EJ and Bernie became famous. 10 short précis of what happened from 1970 –2006. The autobiographical nature of the tracks brings greater emotional resonance to the work than witnessed on his last two albums. The Bridge is a gorgeous first single with an understated choir part during the middle eight. I Must Have Lost it On The Wind is a sweet sorrowful lament to lovers past and the title track is a country styled trip down memory lane referencing rocket men and yellow brick roads. Listened to with its predecessor makes for a lovely listening experience and reaffirms Elton's role as one of Britain's premiere singer songwriters.

MP3: Elton John – I Must Have Lost It On The Wind
MP3: Elton John – Captain Kid

I just noticed that homoeclectic also reviewed these two albums!

HOT LINKS:

We send lots of lovely hugs to the people at Chartrigger for recognising the genius that is DazPants. I was quite touched to see their tribute. And DazPanic was most touched. Then I noticed Dazpants new flat stomach so I touched him. Basically there was lots of touching…

Let me count the ways we love Poppostergirl. Ok, there are 26. The latest is because she posted a Simon Curtis song. I blogged about Simon before and will do a review of his rather brilliant unreleased debut album shortly. I love that PPG recognises the brilliance of the same acts that I love... ps are we totally loving the horns in Star Girl?

I miss XO…oh good he's back :)

Oh – I totally forgot I was going to post about Jesse McCartney. Well here are the songs instead:
MP3: Jesse – Right Where you Want me (radio edit)
MP3: Jesse – beautiful soul stripped and acoustic

Coming tomorrow: who knows? I'm winging it til I go and see Wicked on Saturday and then there is bound to be a post or two about that, as well as some other fun stuff :)