Night Work (album)

Night Work is the third studio album by American band Scissor Sisters. It was released on June 28, 2010, and was preceded by the release of lead single "Fire with Fire" on June 20.

Night Work
Studio album by
Scissor Sisters
ReleasedJune 28, 2010 (2010-06-28)
Genre
Length44:21
LabelPolydor
Producer
Scissor Sisters chronology
K-Mart Disco
(2007)		 Night Work
(2010)		 iTunes Festival: London 2010
(2010)
Singles from Night Work
  1. "Fire with Fire"
    Released: June 20, 2010
  2. "Any Which Way"
    Released: September 20, 2010
  3. "Invisible Light"
    Released: December 16, 2010

Background

On May 8, 2010, it was reported that a previous version of the record had been "scrapped" in 2009. Singer Jake Shears said, "If it wasn't something we could fully get behind and believe in, I think the band was going to be over."[1] The band then teamed up with producer Stuart Price to create Night Work. Shears fled to Berlin for a few months, where he gained inspiration for the songwriting and tracks on Night Work.

Per the album tour programme, over a dozen songs did not make the cut for the album, including "Who's Your Money", "Thanks For Asking", "Television", "Taking Shape", "Second Heart", "Number 1 In 3rd World", "Hey Now", "Major For You", "Dogs", "Hollywood Wives", "Permanent Wave", "Private Midnight", and "Sadistic". In addition to some of these songs, others were crowd-tested in 2008 at two gigs in New York, where Scissor Sisters were billed as Queef Latina and Debbie's Harry: "The Other Girls", "Singularity", "Not The Loving Kind", "Uroboros", "Who's There?" and a cover of Roxy Music's single "Do The Strand".[2][3] "Do The Strand" was recorded and released in 2009 as a part of the War Child charity album War Child Presents Heroes, among several covers performed by Franz Ferdinand, Beck, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others.

The cover art is a 1980 Robert Mapplethorpe photograph of dancer Peter Reed's buttocks, which led to controversy among conservative people.[4][5] When asked about the cover, guitarist and bass player Del Marquis stated, "The way someone reacts to it will tell you a lot about that person. People could view it with reactionary homophobia, or they could view it as camp, or high art, or something beautiful. It reminds me of the back of [Rolling Stones' 1971 album] Sticky Fingers actually - it's a really classic-looking album cover" and added that it was controversial "because people still react in a really strange way to the sexualisation of the male form. We're much more comfortable with the sexualisation of the female form. The cover's been blown up on billboards all over town and it's really exciting for me to be driving through religiously conservative neighbourhoods and seeing this giant gorgeous clenched man's ass!".[6]

Singles

The first single released from the album was "Fire with Fire", which met critical and commercial success, debuting and peaking at N° 11 in the UK Charts and N°1 at Billboard's Dance Club Songs. It was followed by "Any Which Way", which features uncredited backing vocals by Kylie Minogue, to moderate success in European charts. "Invisible Light", which features guest vocals by actor Sir Ian McKellen, was released as the third and final single in an EP format on Boys Noize Records on August 16, 2010, featuring the original track as well as remixes by Boys Noize, Stuart Price, and Siriusmo. This EP was released on a transparent, yellow vinyl edition in addition to CD and download formats.[7]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Night Work"Jason Sellards, Scott Hoffman, Derek Gruen, Stuart PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters3:08
2."Whole New Way"Sellards, Hoffman, PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters2:53
3."Fire with Fire"Sellards, Hoffman, PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters4:13
4."Any Which Way"Sellards, Hoffman, Ana Lynch, PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters4:41
5."Harder You Get"Sellards, Hoffman, PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters3:06
6."Running Out"Sellards, Hoffman, Santi WhiteStuart Price, Scissor Sisters3:09
7."Something Like This"Sellards, HoffmanStuart Price, Scissor Sisters3:02
8."Skin This Cat"Hoffman, Lynch, SellardsStuart Price, Scissor Sisters2:41
9."Skin Tight"Sellards, Hoffman, PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters3:26
10."Sex and Violence"Sellards, HoffmanStuart Price, Scissor Sisters4:14
11."Night Life"Sellards, Hoffman, Lynch, Gruen, PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters3:37
12."Invisible Light"Sellards, Hoffman, Lynch, PriceStuart Price, Scissor Sisters6:14
iTunes Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."Fire With Fire" (Digital Dog Radio Edit)2:42
14."Invisible Light" (Siriusmo Remix)4:34
Japanese bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."Fire With Fire" (Digital Dog Radio Edit)2:42
14."Invisible Light" (Stuart Price US 12" Mix)7:27
15."Invisible Light" (Siriusmo Remix)4:34

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number eighteen on the US Billboard 200, selling 18,260 copies in its first week, giving Scissor Sisters their second top 20 album.

In the UK, the album debuted at number two, behind Eminem's album Recovery, selling 46,071 copies. In its second week, the album fell to number four.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[8]
Attitude[9]
Daily News[10]
Drowned in Sound(4/10)[11]
Entertainment WeeklyA-[12]
The Guardian[13]
musicOMH[14]
NME(7/10) [15]
Pitchfork Media(7.6/10)[16]
PopMatters(5/10)[17]
Robert ChristgauA-[18]
Rolling Stone[19]
Slant Magazine[20]
Spin(6/10)[21]
The Times[22]
Yahoo! Music UK[23]

According to Metacritic the album was met with generally favorable reviews, reaching a metascore of 72 based on 21 reviews.[24]

Chart performance
Charts (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart 10
Austrian Albums Chart[25] 36
Belgium Albums Chart (Flanders) 43
Belgium Albums Chart (Wallonia) 38
Canadian Albums Chart 23
Danish Albums Chart[26] 36
Dutch Albums Chart 29
Finnish Albums Chart[27] 22
French Albums Chart[28] 19
German Albums Chart[29] 29
Greek Albums Chart[30] 2
Irish Albums Chart 11
Italian Albums Chart[31] 39
New Zealand Albums Chart[32] 36
Norwegian Albums Chart 31
Spanish Albums Chart[33] 28
Swedish Albums Chart 15
Swiss Albums Chart[34] 12
UK Albums Chart 2
US Billboard 200[35] 18
US Billboard Digital Albums[35] 5
US Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums[36] 3
US Billboard Independent Albums[36] 1

Personnel

References
  1. "New Scissor Sisters album had to be scrapped, admits singer". dailyrecord.co.uk. 2010-05-08. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  2. https://www.stereogum.com/28361/scissor_sisters_debut_new_songs_at_secret_ny_shows/video/
  3. https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/scissor-sisters/2008/mercury-lounge-new-york-ny-63d386cf.html
  4. Shears, Jake (2011-01-20). "What Robert Mapplethorpe means to me".
  5. exhibit-E.com. "The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation - Olga Korper Gallery - May 1 – 31, 2008". Mapplethorpe.org. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
  6. Levine, Nick; Del Marquis (16 June 2010). "Scissor Sisters". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  7. "Boys Noize Records Presents Scissor Sisters Invisible Light Remixes EP". boysnoize.com. 2010-08-06. Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2011-04-22.
  8. Night Work at AllMusic
  9. Crummy, Colin. "Scissor Sisters: Night Work". Attitude. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
  10. Farber, Jim (2010-06-27). "Scissor Sisters' 'Night Work': Band's best album yet recalls art-gay-pop scene before AIDS". Daily News. New York.
  11. Wood, Marie (2010-06-29). "Scissor Sisters - Night Work". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
  12. Dolan, Jon (2010-06-23). "Music Review: Night Work". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  13. Sullivan, Caroline (2010-06-24). "Scissor Sisters: Night Work". The Guardian. London.
  14. Monk, Christopher (2010-06-28). "Scissor Sisters - Night Work". musicOMH. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
  15. Martin, Dan (2010-06-28). "Album Review: Scissor Sisters - 'Night Work' (Polydor)". NME. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  16. Perpetua, Matthew (2010-07-01). "Album Reviews: Scissor Sisters: Night Work". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  17. Fairall, Jer (2010-07-02). "Scissor Sisters: Night Work". PopMatters. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  18. Christgau, Robert. "CG: Scissor Sisters". RobertChristgau.com.
  19. Hoard, Christian (2010-06-29). "Night Work". Rolling Stone (1108/1109): 107. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
  20. Keefe, Jonathan (2010-06-26). "Scissor Sisters: Night Work". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
  21. Beta, Andy (2010-06-09). "Scissor Sisters, 'Night Work' (Universal)". Spin. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  23. Wright, Lisa (2010-06-28). "Scissor Sisters - Night Work". Yahoo! Music UK. Archived from the original on 2011-01-25. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
  24. "Critic Reviews for Night Work". Metacritic. 2010-06-29. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  25. "Scissor Sisters Austrian Charting". Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
  26. Steffen Hung. "Scissor Sisters - Night Work". danishcharts.dk. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  27. "Musiikkituottajat - Tilastot - Suomen virallinen lista - Albumit". Ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  28. "Scissor Sisters - Night Work - Music Charts". Acharts.us. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  29. musicline.de / PhonoNet GmbH. "German Albums Chart". Musicline.de. Archived from the original on 2013-05-11. Retrieved 2011-03-14.
  30. Steffen Hung. "Scissor Sisters - Night Work". greekcharts.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-11. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  31. "Artisti". Fimi.it. Archived from the original on May 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  32. "Scissor Sisters Night Work New Zealand Charting". charts.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
  33. "Scissor Sisters Spanish Charting" (PDF). promusicae.org. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
  34. "Scissor Sisters Swiss Charting". hitparade.ch Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
  35. "Billboard.com: Night Work - Scissor Sisters". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
  36. "Billboard.com: Night Work - Scissor Sisters". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
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