Spread The Word, 4 Out of 5 StarsBeth Ditto could sing your shirts off. She channels every diva from Dolly to Stevie Nicks
and then her bandmates drive the point home with new-wavey dance-beats and bare-knuckles instrumentation. Music For Men 
is so subtle that it overpowers all in its path, and this is a good thing. The CD kicks off with "Dimestore Diamond," all about a girl who makes it glamorous on the cheap. With Ditto's public antics (posing naked, etc), it is easy to see how much she would identify with being a non-conformist while trying to get yourself noticed. Same with "Spare Me From The Mold," which reminds me of another great punk-dance band led by a lady with attitude, Romeo Void. The dance kick off "Heavy Cross" plays it tough while still making you want to get on your feet. If that song doesn't get you off your duff, there's plenty of jittery synths to come.
Still, "Music For Men" isn't all punch and pop. "Love and Let Love" and "Four Letter Word" let Ditto get emotive even as the disco ball is spinning. The Gossip cover so much ground and to it so effectively that the temptation to give the album a perfect score is daunting. Every song connects here; my only gripe is that producer Rick Rubin keeps the sound too spartan for my taste (which is unusual in that I rarely find fault with the way he frames the bands he works with). A bit more meat on these bones might have made the album juicier, and I suspect any club-remixes will head in that direction. On the other hand, fans of old-school female-fronted new wave or the new school of 80's agit-pop revivalists (think Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Franz Ferdinand) should pick this up now.
And on the next album? I have a fantasy of hearing The Gossip take on "Our Lips Are Sealed" or "Never Say Never."
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