Disco divas around the world grab your pink glitter cowboy hats and get ready to dance, Andy is back and with his latest album Electric Blue, and he is determined to ring your bell. Handbag house has had its day and it’s about time and Andy Bell is the Fifth column to Scissor Sisters’ avant garde’ mission to regain the power of the dance floor. Electric Blue is a procession of dance anthems from beginning to end, with the odd ballad (yawn) along the way. The one major low point being track 12, the cheesy ballad Fantasy, I see people swaying with their lighters out and its not pretty.
Andy has done well to hook up with Manhatten Clique with whom he co-wrote the album. There are still the quirkey lyrics and his powerful vibrato. It might lack the mirror ball lustre of Erasure although Vince
Clark has worked on some club remixes, the album does lack his electro-genius and the album flags towards the end. The absence of Clarke means that it also lacks the abject catchiness that was Erasure’s
trademark, which can also be a good thing. I’m not sure that "Crazy" was the right choice for the first single release, I prefer "Caught in a Spin", it’s a natty little black dress of perfect pop reminiscent of
New Order’s recent return form "Jetstream Lover". I do hope his duet with Jake (Scissor Sisters) Shears makes it to single status, it is a perfect marriage and quite frankly I want to see what outfits these two
get tarted up in when they shake their behinds on Top of the Pops. I remember the rather interesting rubber all in one combo outfits that Mr Bell sported in the 80s, they were brave choices for such a well built
man, but it gives the rest of us the confidence to wear our Daisy Dukes and gold cowboy boots with abandon. Fag hags of the world unite, stand by your men, because your disco needs you!
