Night Work

Scissor Sisters | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 29, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Downtown
• ASIN: B003LXM1RS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,490 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2011 release, the third album from the American Electro-Dance/Rock act. Night Work is a Dance record but it's not all Electronic. You can still hear the sound of a band spinning out together in a rehearsal room. It is the first time Scissor Sisters have worked with another producer; they recruited Stuart Price (The Killers, Madonna) to co-produce. This collaboration sees the group's relationship with Stuart come full circle after they opened for his band Zoot Woman in 2004, their first UK tour. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sexy, Dirty, Playful, June 29, 2010

By 

H. Semones "soanim8ed" (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Work (Audio CD)

Four years after their mediocre sophomore effort, Scissor Sisters is back. Between albums they lost a band member and scrapped an album that was 18-months in the making. Upset, Jake Shears flew to Berlin to escape for a while. He found more than solace there and became inspired by the nightlife in the busy city which in turn became the launching pad of what is arguably the best of their three albums.

What's inside is perfectly described by the Robert Mapplethorpe cover: sexy, dirty, playful. It's an album showcasing a band rediscovering the fun of their hungry years. Night Work could easily be considered a concept album, but feels more like a raunchy history of pop music lesson. The band, with the help of producer Stuart Price (Madonna, Kylie Minogue), have encapsulated 1977 - 1982 in nearly perfect chronological order as homage to the occupation of hitting the clubs. In other words, the night work.

The opening track is an overture to a suite of music easily made into an underground Broadway show. "Night Work" tells us why we're here while the next track -- "Whole New Way" -- chronicles Jake's trip to Berlin. When he sings, "I found a whole new way to love you...it's going to blow your mind but, if not, this time we're through," he's not singing of a human relationship, but the one with his music-making abilities.

"Side 1' continues to take us through the 70's with songs that would make Disco Tex, Foxy and early B-52's proud. It also features background vocal turns by 80's icon Helen Terry on "Whole New Way," Kylie Minogue on the excellent "Any Which Way," and Santigold on "Running Out." The second half is full of Kraftwerk, DEVO and Gary Numan in its journey through the early part of the 80's.

And when we arrive at the last track, "Invisible Light," Del Marquis begins his Pink Floyd guitar and slowly the track builds into an epic disco song Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder were famous for bringing into existence. It's the swirling decadence of an opium den -- hyper, calming and dangerous all at the same time. Even Sir Ian McKellen shows up for some wickedness.

The only low spots are the bland, made-for-the-masses arrangements of "Fire With Fire" and "Skin Tight." These two songs seem a bit out of place within the confides of an album filled with music that show the band having fun with their sound. Still they're the kind of songs you'd wish were on radio more often.

Night Work is a cocaine-induced night at Studio 54 in its prime. It's writhing pleasure mixed with sweat from physical exertion -- dance related or not. If only all history lessons were this fun.

You Have To Hear: Ana Matronic's hilarious cooing bridge on "Any Which Way."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot, sexy, time period piece from 1980 to 1984, September 4, 2010

By 

S. Hughes (New Jersey, United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Night Work (Audio CD)

I can't recall that many artists who have created such an amazing time period piece as Scissor Sister just did with Night Work. A concept album like Donna Summer's "I remember yesterday". A story about a guy or woman going through life in the 80s working in the club scene and everything it has to offer like sex, drugs, and of course dancing. Every song is amazing and builds upon each other. Everything on here will sound like its from the early 80s, even "Any Which Way" which has a funky Town and Slyvester "Do You Wanna Funk" feel, songs that were part of Hi-NRG movement popular in gay community after disco was dead. As many reviewers have said this has a 70's feel, it doesn't, it's pure early 80's dance.

Most artists are now shooting for the fast sing songy stuff with a Hip Hop jargon sound and Scissor Sister don't and it's very refreshing to see a dance record like this going against the norm. Pick up this album, this is their best work to date for sure.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True dance record, their most mature to date, June 29, 2010

By 

vedderoh1 "vedderoh1" (NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Work (Audio CD)

After a four-year hiatus the Scissor Sisters return with Night Work, a work that is darker, polished and more mature than anything they've done before. Is this enough to put them back on top of the bill and take back the title they once heralded, or is this a page turned to write a new chapter in the band's life?

By now the story of how Night Work was gestated is vox populi: frontman Jake Shears was not wholeheartedly convinced of the recorded material working, got a nay from Elton John, split to Berlin for a few weeks, and there, among carefree creatures of the night, conceived what would be the spark to ignite the new sessions. It all sounds great in paper, but did the notion transfer legibly into music?

The first time they previewed material from Night work was in their twin shows at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC earlier this year. Songs sounded powerful, fun, pop flirting with electro and even some southern rock. After a first listen it is clear they took their time editing, with surprising results in some cases.

The title track opens the experience with an immediately enjoyable song that echoes of Ta-dah! but the fears are put to bed soon with lead single Fire with fire, in which Shears wonders "Is it just me or is everyone hiding out between the lines / what will we be when we come undone / Just a simple meaning of the minds" Sounding more like self doubt statement than a mere verse, it cues in to the heart of the record.

We are given a glimpse of the world he imagined while dancing in Berlin, of "what would have happened if we didn't have that crater (AIDS)" with the infectious Harder you get, which you can well guess what it's about. Skin this cat and Any which way you want are the mandatory Ana Matronic tracks, both in their luscious performance and subsequent mid-chorus rant, proving that more than a mere sidekick voice she is, indeed, the fine bridge between vulgarity and sophistication.

Something like this is a quirky tune that is an unmissable as it is perfectly crafted, while Sex and violence will probably be more exciting to hear in remixed mode. The true gem in here is Invisible light, a long time live favorite here given the treatment it deserved. Ian McKellen provides vocals for the suggestive interlude, which builds it into a dance floor anthem where sailors, whores, old party children and sexual gladiators have waken to enjoy the bacchanal.

Scissor Sisters were once the outrageous quintet that mocked the current estate of pop music, but they fed from and grew out of it to become trendsetters. Now they bet for a non complacent palette that pays off. Night work might be the Sister's most cohesive album to date, both musically and in concept, successfully dressing that darker side with the brightness of glam pop without intending to. Which is not to say this is a bad record, quite the contrary: they step (not too far) apart from the honky tonk and singalongs, and invest more on the sounds derived from those 80's bands that shaped them, and if we count among them Kraftwerk, Clash, Siousxie and Roxy Music this is one hell of an achievement.