Scissor Sisters are never exactly going to be the coolest band in the world. Their first single was a bizarre cover of Pink Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb', performed in the style of a Bee Gees disco track. Naturally, the resulting album turns out to be a tribute to every terminably naff outfit of the 70s and 80s, with the ghosts of Elton John, Queen and Billy Joel nodding approvingly in the wings. Unfortunately for the cynics, the songwriting here is so good that any nagging doubts are quickly swept away. The dashing New Yorkers may be camp, but they're also deadly serious and their glossily-produced songs about coming out, celebrity antics and the drawbacks of Rudy Giuliani's zero tolerance policy are far more affecting than their cabaret image would suggest. So on this evidence, the Sisters who looked like pantomime dames have instead turned out to be the new queens of the electroclash scene.
