A couple of years ago I heard a disco remake of “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. Now, if you know Pink Floyd, and haven’t yet heard the remake, you’ll be thinking that I am on drugs. This may be true, but the song exists, and it’s damn fine (it’s just stomach medication, and I have a prescription).
As soon as I could identify the artist of this twisted little gem (the Scissor Sisters – the Wikipedia entry is totally worth checking out), I bought the album. Some people buy a new CD a few times a week, or at least every month. Not me. I buy a new CD every time The Pet Shop Boys, They Might Be Giants, or Kylie Minogue put out a new release. And sometimes Sinead O’Connor. Seriously. So to race out and buy a CD from an artist that I have only heard one track from is a rather rash and outrageous act for me.
Nevertheless, I was in raptures. The beat was pure and righteous, the camp factor was high, there was falsetto singing, and adult themes. I couldn’t ask for more. I think there was even a mirror ball on the cover art. It was that good.
So you can imagine that I waited with trepidation for the follow up album, which took rather too long for my liking. But late last year, “Ta Dah!” was released, and it was every bit as good as the first, eponymous album. The single “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin'”, which reached number 1 in Australia, was co-written by Elton John, who also played piano on the recording. The dancingest song about feeling down I ever did hear. Another beautiful moment in musical history is the achingly brassy “Kiss You Off”. “I Will Survive” has been my fave breakup survival song for nearly two decades now, and I think it’s time I made room at the top for this number. The lyrics deserve a special mention.
I don’t need another tube of that dime store lipstick
Well I think I’m gonna buy me a brand new shade of man
Kiss you off my lips
It’s standing room only for a piece of my pigment (or business?)
So excuse me a minute while I supply demand
Kiss you off these lips of mine
Kiss you off for a custom shine
Pissed yours truly off this time
It’s why I ain’t just kissin’ you I’m kissin’ you off
And then I heard they would be touring Australia. We had missed the first tour because we don’t read the street press, and obviously don’t listen to the radio enough, but we promised ourselves that if the ever came back to Australia, we would see them. The timing sucked, between both of us becoming unemployed, and our international adventures, it was a poor time to be spending money on concert tickets (or so we found out, just after we bought the tickets), but what the hell, this was a band I would dance to, even sober. Little did I know that I would be handicapped on the big day, but again, a mere trifling matter.
So tonight was the big event.
It was good.
They dedicated the song “Laura” to Laura Bush (“I hope she dies and rots in hell”, was the quote I believe).
But for me the highlights were “Kiss You Off”, and the last encore “Filthy/Gorgeous”. Dirty and sparkly, all at the same time. And the DJ, who is so good, he is the official tour DJ. If he played in Sydney, and they let fat people into nightclubs, I would soooo become a disco bunny again….
Please buy their music, and tell them that you want them to come back and play very soon.
Disco Knitter 