Retro-fit, retro-groove

One really popular recording trend nowadays is utilizing a musical genre or niche of the past, updating it, and giving it a contemporary sheen and skewing. Even locally, this pays great dividends, as witness the runaway record sales of the Apo remakes CD. Two recent releases show how this trend is parlayed in order to produce great music, and enjoy global success. John Legend's sophomore effort is entitled Once Again, and the rage of the season, Scissor Sisters, check in with its second full-length CD, Ta-Dah.

John Legend – Once Again (SonyBMG)

After the critical and popular acclaim that greeted his first album (Get Lifted), one wondered what John Legend would do to top that first effort. We get our answer with his new CD, Once Again. It's an assured and confident CD that demonstrates Legend himself had no qualms or doubts on what musical direction to take. It's no apologies, old school R ’n B, for today's rap and hip-hop generation. You might even label it neo-sweet soul music; but no matter the label, it succeeds precisely because even if it has that retro-feel, it sounds fresh and different.

One thing I must make comment on though is how upon hearing the carrier single, Save Room, I was racking my brain, trying to remember an old hit song that this new song of Legend's sounded very similar to. It was Stormy of the Classics IV; and after repeated listening, Save Room just sounds great, so why belittle the song if it reminds us of an age-old hit. With Kanye West and will.i.am on board, and great tunes like PDA (We Just Don't Care), Each Day Gets Better and Slow Dance, this is a sultry, seductive set of tunes that I can highly recommend. Maxine is John's neo-Bossa cut, and While Again is this CD's Ordinary People. The Legend lives on!

Scissor Sisters – Ta-Dah (MCA Universal)

Every modern musical epoch had it, a band that slyly looks back at a musical trend from some 20 to 30 years ago, is part-parody, part-tribute and enjoys popularity precisely by being campy to the max. The Village People, the B-52’s, and now, 2006’s smash wonders, Scissor Sisters. Its new CD is Ta-Dah, and based on the carrier single, I Don't Feel Like Dancing, we have a certified global runaway hit that’s reminiscent of the Bee Gees, Abba, and the soundtrack of Xanadu, all rolled into one.

Starting out as a New York underground novelty band, the Scissor Sisters enjoys tremendous success and cult devotion in Europe, something it is hoping to replicate in the US. With tracks that are entitled naughtily, like Paul McCartney, you know that the Scissor Sisters is out to have its cake and eat it, too, and not be taken too seriously. What was engaging to find was that Dancing is only the tip of the iceberg. The CD is artfully constructed pastiche of musical styles, from glitter and glam rock to Putting On the Ritz-type tunes, to Pink Floyd noodling and indulgence. And throughout, it is just a lot of fun.