Jake Shears - Last Man Dancing

Dancefloor wizardry is so expected of Jake Shears that it made the country, classic rock, and New Orleans homages of his self-titled debut album that much more surprising -- and effective. He returns to dance music old and new on his second album, and two decades after he and the rest of Scissor Sisters turned "Comfortably Numb" into a mirrorball spectacle, Shears still finds ways to make club-oriented music that's equally catchy and innovative. He even splits Last Man Dancing's halves along those lines, beginning the album with self-contained bursts of instant-gratification disco-pop that are flashy and heartfelt at the same time. His timing couldn't have been better: When Last Man Dancing was released, disco was at a peak of popularity, with stars like Dua Lipa and Beyoncé reimagining it in their own ways. Another Shears song that sounds like a long-forgotten favorite on first listen, "Too Much Music" pays loving homage to classics like Vicki Sue Robinson's "Turn the Beat Around," no