Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Classic Pop

WELCOME If you’re a regular reader of CP, the chances are that you’ll be well aware of Madonna’s much-trumpeted residency at the London Palladium. As with almost everything in Madonna World, it’s thrown up all manner of interesting talking points. This is a rare-as-hen’s-teeth chance to see the world’s biggest pop icon at close range – at one point in the show she even walks through the crowd itself. Yet the eye-watering ticket prices are a very hot topic. If you and your other half fancy checking out the show, then you may have to shell out the best part of a wallet-emptying £1,000. Similarly controversial is the star’s decision to play only a handful of greatest hits. You have to admire her artistic integrity – it’s a bold move…

POP UP © Ricardo Gomes MADONNA’S TOUGH RETURN TO THE LONDON STAGE Madonna has defied doctors’ orders to make a spectacular return to London with her latest live show. But the star explained to fans that due to “multiple injuries” she now has to undergo a punishing six-hour daily rehab routine to continue her much-anticipated Palladium residency. After doctors raised concerns at her injuries, the singer cancelled two dates during the London run on 4 and 11 February to allow her more recovery time between shows. However, despite cancelling all three-night consecutive runs at the theatre, doctors were still concerned that Madonna was pushing herself too far. In an Instagram statement the star told fans: “[Performing] three shows in a row is too much on my body. In fact, my…

Q+A JOHNNY MARR CELEBRATING THE FIRST 10 SINGLES OF HIS SOLO CAREER WITH A NEW BOXSET, JOHNNY MARR TELLS JOHN EARLS HE WON’T BE LOOKING BACK FOR LONG It’s rare that Johnny Marr takes time out of his perma-busy schedule to look back. But, as a dedicated singles devotee, reaching the 10th of his solo career was a landmark that even Johnny felt needed commemorating. With the sumptuously-packaged Single Life boxset rounding those up, it’s time for Marr to reflect on his solo life to date – and give a few indications about what’s next, as well as the lowdown on some of his upcoming collaborations… Why did you decide to release Single Life now? Well, 10 is a good number, and a boxset of 7"s is a no-brainer for me…

IAN PEEL’S A TO Z OF POP BIS FOR… TAKE IT TO THE BRIDGE! WHAT ON EARTH COULD POSSIBLY LINK HATE BY TALK TALK, MY CAMERA NEVER LIES BY BUCKS FIZZ AND TEENAGE DIRTBAG BY WHEATUS? SIMPLE, A KILLER BRIDGE… What is a bridge exactly? To the more musically-minded it’s usually referred to as the middle eight, simply because it comes in the middle of a song and is usually eight bars long. But what is its actual purpose? I remember a great series on Radio 2 from a few years ago called Sold On Song which summed it up perfectly. “Its purpose is to break up the simple repetition of verse, chorus, verse, chorus structure by introducing new elements into the song,” they explained. “This can be a new chord…

CLASSIC ALBUM VIENNA ULTRAVOX JOHN FOXX WAS OUT, MIDGE URE WAS IN, BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO THE SELF-CONFESSED ‘BROKEN BAND’. EUROPEAN BOTH IN ITS TITLE AND INFLUENCES, ULTRAVOX’S CHANGING OF THE GUARD RESULTED IN AN ERA-DEFINING SYNTH-POP MASTERCLASS. MARK LINDORES Were it not for Vienna sleeve designer Glenn Travis’ bold typography reassuring fans that the stark monochromatic cover photo by Brian Griffin was indeed Ultravox, the band’s fourth album could well have escaped the attention of their fanbase, such was the radical change of direction of the group with new lead singer Midge Ure. The stylish image overhaul reflected the musical shift on the encased record, with the glam-influenced art-rock of the band’s previous three albums replaced by sparse synth-pop and killer melodies resulting in a less pretentious entity that was capable…

THE VIDEOS SLEEPWALK With Ultravox having achieved little commercial success via their first three albums with John Foxx as leader, Chrysalis were hesitant to throw money at the group until they were confident that they were going to be successful. Therefore, when Ultravox released Sleepwalk as Vienna’s first single, it was without a music video as the label weren’t sure their investment would be financially viable. With no promo, the band was forced to travel around the country playing small gigs and performing on any TV or radio show that would have them. One of their TV spots was later released as an official promo for the single. youtu.be/vIdbeJzjKSs PASSING STRANGERS Director Russell Mulcahy was enlisted to create a visual for the band’s first bona fide music video. Shot in…

IS IT ME YOU’RE LOOKING FOR? When Paul Heaton made his first solo album Fat Chance in 2001, he wanted to write with two musicians: Joe Strummer and Lionel Richie. New album Manchester Calling was originally due out last year, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of The Clash’s London Calling. Strummer was initially interested in working with Paul, but it didn’t work out. “I met up with Joe,” remembers Paul. “Over talking to him, we discovered we do the same thing as each other when we write songs. Although Joe could play guitar, he wrote the lyrics and melodies in his songs, and I do that as well. Joe explained what I needed was somebody who’d come up with the chords while I sing over them. It was nice…

ENDLESS SUMMER There’s something about the music that comes out of California that instantly identifies it; those unique environmental circumstances that help to shape its character – what the state’s many winemakers might call its terroir. It can be summarised as that feeling of endless summer and opportunity that seeps into the recordings. Whether we happen to be talking about the state’s sun-ripened oranges or its rich musical heritage, each is a product shaped by those golden rays. Its genesis can be traced back further to the great Californian Gold Rush a century prior, when people flocked to the region in droves from far and wide to make their fortunes. In turn, this made way for Tinseltown. In each scenario, a life of riches and glamour awaited those who fortune…

“IT JUST LIT UP THE DESK!” It wasn’t until 1985 the band cracked the European charts thanks to the movie Back To The Future. Huey explains: “Steven Spielberg, Bob Zemeckis and the writers Bob Gale and Neil Canton called me to a meeting. They’d written a movie with a lead guy called Marty McFly whose favourite band would be Huey Lewis And The News so they said, ‘Would you like to write a song for the film?’ I was flattered but didn’t know how to write for movies and didn’t fancy writing a song called Back To The Future. But they just wanted a tune, so I agreed. The next thing we wrote was The Power Of Love.” It went Top 10 in 15 countries and earned an Oscar nomination,…

THE TWO THAT GOT AWAY Scottish brewers McEwan’s Lager decided to keep things local for their two most memorable ads of the decade. In 1986, they chose Edinburgh-based Win, an offshoot of post-punks The Fire Engines, to soundtrack their dystopian ‘Alive and Kicking’ campaign – the one where an army of slaves push a boulder downhill and into the TV screen of a modern-day pub. However, despite selling well in the band’s homeland, the insanely catchy You’ve Got The Power could only peak at No.95 in the national chart. It was a similar story with the neighbouring Love Decree, a soul-pop outfit who contributed to another memorable McEwan’s campaign two years later. This time around, a musical collective consisting of nothing but upside down chins belt out a track named…

NEW RELEASES PAUL HEATON & JACQUI ABBOTT MANCHESTER CALLING MIDDLE-AGED KITCHEN SINK DRAMAS ABOUND ON THE DUO’S LATEST, WHICH AFFECTIONATELY BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO THE NEGLECTED ART OF THE DUET VIRGIN EMI No one writes like Paul Heaton. He spurns fashion, zooms in on dreary minutiae, trades in genres as varied as they’re unstylish – Manchester Calling hints at Broadway musicals and English limericks – and few protagonists emerge unscarred. But his plainspoken sincerity, tempered with a wry, compassionate wit, ensure that his songs speak to the heart, whatever their form, whomsoever they address. Inevitably, on this fourth album with Jacqui Abbott, Heaton frequently tackles relationships, notably co-dependency’s multiple layers. The sprightly ska of If You Could See Your Faults finds Abbott asking “What’s better?/To be ignored, or to be used?” and…

NEW RELEASES DEACON BLUE CITY OF LOVE earMUSIC © Simon Murphy City Of Love follows the rather under-the-radar success of Deacon Blue’s most recent album Believers from 2016. At No.13 in the UK it was their highest-charting LP since 1993’s Whatever You Say, Say Nothing. Having taken an 11-year break before 2012’s The Hipsters, this is their fourth album in eight years. Audiences are relishing the reborn productivity – their autumn 2020 tour sees them at London’s Royal Albert Hall and an arena homecoming show at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro. City Of Love should only serve to increase the momentum. The fanbase won’t care, but timeless melodies like the title track and Take Me are so perfectly put together, you start to wonder why Deacon Blue don’t have the same critical cache…

REVIEWS THE FIZZ SMOKE MIRRORS ABSOLUTE Though it appears to cling to Brotherhood Of Man’s 1976 Eurovision victory as Britain’s proudest moment, The Fizz know their audience. 2017’s The F-Z Of Pop took them Top 30 for the first time since 1983, proving that there’s still a market for bands aspiring to ABBA’s classic pop. They stick to this formula on their third album under their new identity, leading off with Winning Ways’ innocent, uplifting cheer and the disco-lit All We Ever Can Do, while More Than These Words is a good-humoured number with cheeky synth-brass which appears to salute Sgt Pepper. Elsewhere, melodies are sticky sentiments are evergreen – Storm, which owes a hefty debt to late 80s Fleetwood Mac, employs heavy breathing to underline its central metaphor – although…

LUKE HAINES & PETER BUCK BEAT POETRY FOR SURVIVALISTS CHERRY RED With R.E.M.’s Peter Buck disappointingly subdued, this unlikely collaboration gives The Auteurs’ Luke Haines freedom to ramble about eccentric themes. As always, he sounds gruff, his quiet sneer often malevolent, whether on the muzzled Apocalypse Beach or sinister Witch Tariff. Buck’s chugging riffs are effective alongside Haines’ theatrical huffing on French Man Glam Man Gang, while the title track starts like Bowie’s Scary Monsters before transitioning into The Blue Aeroplanes. WW…

NEW RELEASES ANDY BELL VARIANCE III – THE TORSTEN IN QUEERETERIA REMIXES CHERRY RED Since first playing the semi-immortal, gender-fluid adventurer Torsten at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014, Andy Bell has released three albums as “The Bareback Saint”. Each LP also has a remix set, with volume three getting a new twist: Bronski Beat offer a remix of the project’s early single I Don’t Like, as well as a moody take on the recent We Hadn’t Slept For 20 Years. The album highlight is a pulsing, dramatic Matt Pop mix of the same track, though Jerome Froese’s ambient version of Lowland Lowriders runs it a close second. The three radio edits of its parent album’s singles are dispensable except to collectors, as is a solo version of If We Want To…

MARIA MCKEE LA VITA NUOVA FIRE RECORDS Joni Mitchell echoes resound on McKee’s first album in 13 years. Mapping her transition from frustrated wife to “pansexual, polyamorous, gender-fluid dyke”, it’s full of quietly theatrical flourishes: Right Down To The Heart Of London’s sprightly melody gives way to market cries, while Page Of Cups recalls Hejira, McKee’s voice swooping amid jazzy guitar embellishments. Ceann Bró adds tinges of Irish folk in tribute to William Butler Yeats, its subject, while However Worn brings things to an intimate, acoustic close. WW…

JOSS COPE INDEFINITE PARTICLES GARE DU NORD Joss Cope’s career has been overshadowed by brother Julian – though, to be fair, he quit music in the 90s to campaign for Greenpeace – but his second solo album’s a whimsical affair that sometimes recalls Stephen Duffy, whose voice his resembles. Naturally, there are echoes of Cope Jr’s late 80s band, Something Pretty Beautiful, not least in Hit The Wall, and – genes being what they are – of Cope Sr in Lifeboat Service’s melody. Additionally, his 60s psych influences are pronounced: on Healed he sounds like a chipper Syd Barrett. WW…

ELECTRONIC ELECTRONIC RHINO Most supergroups don’t work because they’re a hobby, self-indulgence rarely far away. Electronic were different because, in 1991, Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr badly needed each other. Having been an invaluable foil for The Pretenders and The The, Marr wanted a project that was his responsibility again. With the Haçienda, Factory Records and New Order imploding around him, Sumner was simply chasing something that wouldn’t fall apart if he left it alone for 10 minutes. Finding solace and adventure in each other, they were able to temper the other’s excesses where necessary: the everpractical Sumner was happy to encourage Marr’s burgeoning love of keyboards, but occasionally nudged him that playing guitar would be nice every now and again. In return, singles addict Marr reminded Sumner their new…

CLANNAD IN A LIFETIME BMG Marking both their 50th anniversary and a farewell tour, In A Lifetime arrives at a point when Clannad deserve reassessing. Patronised at their 80s commercial peak as Enya’s former band and Gaelic folkies only really useful for soundtracking windswept moments in arty film and television dramas, the Brennan family now appear trailblazers for the alt-folk movement and for singing in their own language, rather than bowing to English commerciality. Available as a double album Best Of or a 5CD/2LP boxset, even the box – rarities disc and all – only gives a flavour of how rich Clannad’s career has been. They’re able to master traditional Irish music with apparent ease. Where they always beguiled was in ensuring they made their sound contemporary, too, with the likes…

M PEOPLE RENAISSANCE EDSEL/DEMON Arriving after the recent Gold compilation, Renaissance is a complete boxset of the group who were pioneers at placing rave culture in the mainstream. Haçienda mainstay Mike Pickering was not just a brilliant DJ, he had the commercial sense to spot a gap, with Heather Small the perfect voice to give club tracks some power: Small had already been the then anonymous singer on Black Box’s Ride On Time. Elegant Slumming has long been mocked as the album which beat Blur, Pulp and Oasis to 1994’s Mercury Prize, but it’s a terrific pop record which finessed the pop/rave mix of the quartet’s 1991 debut Northern Soul. Not only were One Night In Heaven and How Can I Love You More? huge hits, they sound remarkably dancefloor-ready more…

BOOK SANDTV DARYL EASLEA EVERYBODY DANCE: CHIC AND THE POLITICS OF DISCO OMNIBUS PRESS Chic – and particularly its mainstay Nile Rodgers – thoroughly deserved their critical re-evaluation and resurgence experienced throughout the 2000s. Perhaps an instigating factor in that renewed interest was Daryl Easlea’s superb biography, Everybody Dance, originally published in 2004 and now fully revised and updated to include Rodgers’ subsequent appointment as Godfather Of Pop. This new edition takes the original’s meticulous research and revealing interviews and brings the story up to the present day with 2018’s It’s About Time album. As well as new interviews with Rodgers himself – always on hand with an incredulous anecdote or 10 – Everybody Dance includes contributions from the many luminaries to have benefitted from some Chic cheer. As well as…

ANITA POINTER AND FRITZ POINTER FAIRYTALE: THE POINTER SISTERS’ FAMILY STORY WYATT-MACKENZIE PUBLISHING Although The Pointer Sisters are renowned for a string of uplifting 80s party anthems such as Jump (For My Love), Automatic, I’m So Excited and Neutron Dance, Anita and Fritz Pointer’s biography of the group is a multi-layered read which looks at the struggles the girls endured to get to the top only to find a whole new set of challenges awaiting them when they got there, threatening the supposedly unbreakable family bond. Set against a backdrop of the changing social and political climate in the US, it traces the roots of the family from their religious upbringing to surviving abject poverty to a catalogue of horrific personal experiences. A reminder of how big The Pointer Sisters were…

REVIEWS MADONNA  THE PALLADIUM, LONDON AFTER A STRING OF GIG CANCELLATIONS PUT THIS LONDON DATE IN DOUBT, MADONNA TURNED ON THE STYLE FOR HER HOTLY-ANTICIPATED PALLADIUM RESIDENCY DEBUT 29 JANUARY I’ve been wanting this intimacy for so long,” teases Madonna, during one of several extended speeches. Until now, the pop icon’s tours have always been about scale. She may be more generally seen in arenas than stadiums these days, but even on the Rebel Heart tour, Madonna would never have sat among her audience and chatted to fans before taking a swig from a devotee’s beer, announcing, “I’m about to share your backwash.” Intimacy suits her. As much of An Audience With Madonna show as a regular concert, she reveals much about the making of Madame X, including her life…

LIVE & EVENTS KAISER CHIEFS MOTORPOINT ARENA, NOTTINGHAM AS FRONTMAN RICKY WILSON CELEBRATES HIS 42ND BIRTHDAY, THE KAISER CHIEFS HIT ROBIN HOOD COUNTRY 17 JANUARY © Getty Images Ricky Wilson sure knows how to work a big crowd. Barely four songs into the opening night of the latest Kaiser Chiefs arena tour and the singer has already served up impassioned retro-soul testifying, rabblerousing terrace chants, jumpsuit-clad Elvis-in-Vegas showmanship, Freddy Mercury-style vocal volleys and umpteen dollops of deadpan Yorkshire banter with the audience. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, as Wilson has turned 42 the very same day as the show. Indeed, the band halt the set midway through to present him with a giant dog-shaped cake while the crowd roar Happy Birthday. Typical Kaisers, never missing a chance to…

COURTEENERS PRYZM, KINGSTON 30 JANUARY Last seen on an arena tour in November, to launch sixth album More. Again. Forever. Courteeners are keeping it intimate. Local shop Banquet Records’ club nights are a cult sensation, with everyone from The Who to Stormzy playing the small club’s dancefloor. Ticket prices are in line with Pryzm’s usual nights – after tearing through early hit Not Nineteen Forever and surveying the resulting mass of flailing limbs, singer Liam Fray announces, “That’s got to be worth 16 quid, right?” Fray is right – at such a low-pressure, cheap show, Courteeners could have got away with playing everything from their new album and a token oldie or two. Instead, their 75-minute set seems a preview for their next tour, with a host of classics causing…

MOMENTS QUEEN FILM THE VIDEO FOR I WANT TO BREAK FREE 22 MARCH 1984 © Simon Fowler These days, young British pop stars are so eager to break America, they’d never dare jeopardise their chances by showboating their Britishness in their songs or videos. But Queen never seemed to tailor, or water down their act for the Yanks. So it was with the video for I Want To Break Free, a pop promo that must have been unfathomable to most American eyes in 1984. Directed by David Mallet, who also co-helmed Bowie’s iconic Ashes To Ashes clip, it had the quartet gussied up in women’s clothing for a toweringly camp Coronation Street-styled video. For those of us in the UK, more accustomed to the grand tradition of cross-dressing from the…

OUR CONTRIBUTORS Best known for editing Teletext’s music pages Planet Sound in the 2000s, John Earls has also written about pop for the Sunday People, News Of The World, Daily Star and NME. This month, he meets Simple Minds, Johnny Marr and Paul Heaton, helms our reissues section, and reviews Madonna at the London Palladium. Jon O’Brien is an entertainment journalist and music curator who has written for a wide variety of publications and websites including Billboard, Esquire, i-D, Metro, Paste, Allmusic and Digital Spy. In the latest issue of Classic Pop, Jon explores the 80s trend of hit-making TV adverts and also counts down the best posthumous singles. Wyndham Wallace is formerly a publicist, label representative and artist manager who has written for Uncut, The Guardian and The Quietus.…

THE WONDER EDIE BRICKELL & NEW BOHEMIANS WHAT I AM The tuneful hoarseness of Edie Brickell’s vocals on What I Am are so good that they manage to stand out on an upbeat song that works on every level. Brickell joined the band of college acquaintances after a successful spontaneous open spot as lead singer. New Bohemians subsequently bequeathed her top billing and their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars, was released in 1988. What I Am became a Top 10 hit in the US shortly afterwards, giving her instant star status. The fuzzy guitar, aided by a wah-wah pedal usually adopted on funk and disco tracks, gave what was otherwise a breezy chunk of alternative rock a distinctive edge while Brickell’s excellent, playfully strained vocals really are a…

Pop Quiz 1 Which iconic singer appears on Simple Minds’ This Is Your Land? 2 Name the two songs that famously held Vienna off the No.1 spot in the UK singles chart at the start of 1981 3 Which classic Californian girl band have just announced an unexpected return to touring? 4 Complete this Human League song title: John Cleese: _ _ _? 5 Johnny Marr has been revealed as working on the soundtrack to which forthcoming spy blockbuster? 6 Name M People’s percussionist 7 Hugh Anthony Cregg III is the real name of which rock singer? 8 Whose first hit was the 1987 single The Motive? 9 Name Kylie’s only duet to have made it to No.1 in the UK singles chart 10Duran Duran’s Liberty album was released in…

THE PLAYERS MIDGE URE Following the departures of Ultravox’s singer and guitarist, Midge Ure joined the group to replace both. As singer, guitarist and songwriter, Ure went on record six albums with the band as well as scoring a solo No.1 with If I Was and co-writing Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? with Bob Geldof. He continues to record and play live, most recently his 1980 tour on which he played Vienna and various Visage tracks. BILLY CURRIE The only member of the group to have performed on every Ultravox album, Billy played piano, keyboards and violin on Vienna. After the band split in 1988, Billy reformed Ultravox in 1992 with a new line-up, which was unsuccessful. Outside the group, he is a solo artist, was part of…

POPARAZZI READERS SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE PHOTOS AS THEY GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN PLANET POP Send your Poparazzi pics now to steve.harnell@anthem.co.uk KIM WILDE WITH MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN “I met Kim after her set on the main stage at the first Forever Young 80s festival in Dublin in July 2019. I’ve been a fan since first seeing her on Top Of The Pops in 1981 and she didn’t disappoint – she was lovely and friendly and signed my vinyl albums. I told her that I’d been waiting for the chance to meet her since 1981 and she thanked me, smiled and posed for the photo – what a woman!” GARY NUMAN WITH KEVIN CARTER “This was taken a few years ago. I was in San…

MAGIC MOMENTOS Paul Heaton has started thinking about his autobiography, but it wouldn’t be a regular memoir. Instead, Paul would give an insight into his mindset as a collector. His initial plan was to make it an interactive coffee table book. “You’d be able to press the Golden Wonder sausage and tomato crisps I had on such-and-such a significant day,” explains Paul. “It’d be, ‘I saw The Clash that day, here’s the ticket stub’ and ‘I saw Sheffield United that day, here’s the programme.’” He’s aware such a tome would be too impractical, but says: “I’d like it to be a diary. You’d be able to trace every part of my life, as I’ve kept all the plane boarding passes, letters people sent me, the beermats…” Paul isn’t sure where…

MAYOR of the SUNSET STRIP © Masao Nakagami A key figure in championing the LA club scene was Rodney Bingenheimer, the son of celebrity-obsessed autograph hunter parents, who himself became the ultimate groupie. Throughout the 60s and 70s, he hung out with the likes of Bowie, Sonny and Cher, and the Ramones, assuming his own level of celebrity by association. His story is documented in the touching 2003 film, Mayor Of The Sunset Strip. He founded ‘Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco’, an über trendy club on the Sunset Strip in the 70s, which became a key hangout. Bingenheimer fervently supported LA’s young upstarts, and his radio show on KROQ was notable for railing against the ‘classic’ West Coast sound. He gets namechecked in Rodney On The ROQ by The Three O’Clock,…

TOP TEN WEEK ENDING 12 MARCH 1989 CORKS WERE POPPING IN THE STOCK AITKEN WATERMAN OFFICE THIS WEEK IN 1989, AS THEY CELEBRATED THREE SONGS IN THE TOP 10 STEVEO’ BRIEN 01 (1) TOO MANY BROKEN HEARTS JASON DONOVAN (PWL) 3RD WEEK ON CHART Though he’d pulled off a UK No.1 alongside screen squeeze Kylie Minogue with the smoochy Especially For You, Jason Donovan had to wait until his second single to hit the top spot in a solo capacity. While debut 7" Nothing Can Divide Us (No.5) is a fine pop record, Too Many Broken Hearts is clearly in a loftier league (even Jason describes the track as his “signature song”). A chart-conquering hit in Australia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, it was a top-tier pop tune, and…

REVIEWS THE BOOMTOWN RATS CITIZENS OF BOOMTOWN BMG It’s unclear what persuaded Bob Geldof the world needs a new Boomtown Rats record 36 years since their last, not to mention a decade since his own How to Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell. Whatever the inspiration, he and the band’s three remaining members intend to make the most of the situation: coinciding with this seventh album is a book of Geldof’s lyrics, while a documentary’s on the way, plus a UK tour. Despite having reached retirement age, then, the quartet have plenty of energy, even if, like Citizens Of Boomtown itself, it’s largely devoted to looking back. Certainly, their musical references are spliced together in brazen fashion. Trash Glam Baby finds Geldof evocatively recalling the 1970s while leaning heavily on Ziggy…

RUSTIN MAN CLOCKDUST DOMINO RECORDS Paul Webb’s second solo album arrives unexpectedly hot on the heels of last year’s beguiling Drift Code, his first release since Out Of Season, a 2002 collaboration with Portishead’s Beth Gibbons. Adding poignancy, it follows the sudden passing last February of his Talk Talk colleague, Mark Hollis, whose work – perhaps not surprisingly – Webb’s own sometimes recalls. On the introspective Gold And Tinsel, for instance, its largely acoustic nature and his gentle mumble are suggestive of Hollis’ only solo LP, while mid-album instrumental Rubicon Song is awash in strange reverberations that’ll remind older fans of The Colour Of Spring’s most extreme moments. Webb’s very much his own man, though, his voice generally only comparable to Robert Wyatt’s, his arrangements often appealingly peculiar. Carousel Days sounds…

GRIMES MISS ANTHROPOCENE 4AD Claire Boucher’s been threatening Miss Anthropocene for a year, though tracks have leaked like US intelligence agencies, and she, apparently, has been ‘over’ it a while. Perhaps she’s noticed it’s the equivalent of a Swarovksi ‘diamond’: initially dazzling, but it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. She’s certainly a gifted producer: her electronica is scintillatingly rich, so digital you expect her to sing in binary, but she trades in disappointingly unimaginative visions of the future, something her fifth album’s cover inadvertently concedes. That said, sage-burning opener So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth feels gravity-defying, even if its whispered vocals are unnecessarily cutesy. Still, they’re nothing compared to IDORU’s: beginning with what may be birdsong interrupted by a car alarm, the song’s melodies are as aimless as a two-legged…

YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX CANYONS LEGERE Hoist the sails! Yacht rock ahoy! Mamas Gun singer Andy Platts (the ‘Young Gun’) and journeyman Shawn Lee (the ‘Silver Fox’) return with a third album of tasteful blue-eyed soul. Hall & Oates are, inevitably, a touchstone, whether on opener Kids, its chorus lifted by Platts’ sweet falsetto, or Baby Girl, whose woozy keys are underpinned by muffled drums. Things We Left Unsaid, though, sounds like a soulful Steely Dan, while Jamiroquai would kill for Dream Woman’s sparkly brass WW…

GRAHAM GOULDMAN MODESTY FORBIDS LOJINX Despite his fifth album’s title, modesty doesn’t forbid Graham Gouldman borrowing from Bowie’s Fame to kick off Standing Next To Me, though it already features Ringo Starr, whose All-Starr Band is the song’s subject. Waited All My Life further underlines his Beatles affiliations, but on That’s Love Right There he exercises his croon, and there’s something Daltrey-esque about Wake Up Dreamer, even if the song’s more Squeeze than Who. Some tracks feel a little humdrum, but Hangin’ By A Thread’s definitely there for Gouldman’s 10cc fans. WW…

COLD BEAT MOTHER DFA Few names would better suit this San Francisco art-synth-pop quartet, who blow a chill wind through fastidious electronic pop. Mother is Jan Hammer attempting to convert Joy Division to krautrock, while Through lies somewhere between Visage and early New Order. It’s never cold-hearted, though: Hannah Lew’s vocals are quietly dazed but pretty, and there are further sweetly stirring moments. Paper’s guitars and sax solo recall Angelo Badalamenti, and Smoke provides a John Carpentermeets-M83 opener, though Flat Earth verges on the twee. WW…

THE DISTRACTIONS NOBODY’S PERFECT MAN IN THE MOON/OCCULTATION Originally signed to Factory, Manchester indie popsters The Distractions were poached by Island’s Nick Stewart, the A&R who signed U2. Forty years later, Stewart reissues his charges’ debut album on his own Man In The Moon label. His long-standing faith that The Distractions deserve more acclaim is fully justified. Singer Mike Finney has the same mix of intense fervour and soulful beauty as Kevin Rowland, while guitarist Steve Perrin’s melodies take in Undertones-style melodic punk (Louise), pre-Smiths wistful wonder (Stuck In A Fantasy) and Phil Spector dramas (Boys Cry). A lost classic, it may be The Distractions’ diversity that proved their undoing as they tear through so many styles and cheerfully master all of them. The reissue is lovingly done – the original…

VARIOUS ARTISTS C90 CHERRY RED It was only a matter of time till some bright spark realised they could gather 1990 indie-pop tracks and – in honour of not only NME’s legendary C86 tape but also the TDK cassettes on which favourite songs were compiled – entitle it C90. To be fair, this is only the latest in a series. Plus, back then indie was in rude form, with Madchester colonising the country following The Stone Roses’ debut and the shock of Happy Mondays in the charts. Sadly, both acts are absent here, but further significant reminders of such commercial crossovers include Ocean Colour Scene’s Roses-like Sway, Saint Etienne’s inspired cover of Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart, The Sundays’ sublime Can’t Be Sure, and The Boo Radleys’ Swansong,…

MICHAEL BRACEWELL RE-MAKE/RE-MODEL: THE ART SCHOOL ROOTS OF ROXY MUSIC FABER Republished as part of Faber Greatest Hits, a series in which they’ve chosen their pick of many long-out-of-print top-drawer rock reads, Re-make/Re-model is NOT the definitive story of Roxy Music. Instead, it’s an in-depth trawl through the formative years of Bryan Ferry and his ascent from product of a working class family to fine art milieu at the prestigious Fine Arts Centre in Newcastle in the 60s under the tutelage of pop art pioneer Richard Hamilton. As well as Ferry’s cultural coming-of-age, Re-make/Re-model examines the trajectories of other key members of the Roxy story – both musically and visually. Featuring band members Brian Eno and Andy Mackay, both of whom receive in-depth analysis, the book examines key influences and collaborators…

TAYLOR SWIFT MISS AMERICANA NETFLIX (STREAMING) Where once music documentaries were the domain of copious amounts of sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll, the past few years have seen a shift incontent, with the subjects now more likely to bare all emotionally rather than figuratively. Like Katy Perry’s Part Of Me and LadyGaga’s Five Foot Two, Miss Americana follows the narrative that being an internationally famous pop icon actually isn’t all it’scracked up to be. Spending perhaps a little too much time recounting Swift’s rise, her achievements and tabloid dramas, the film hits its stride when it focuses on where she is in her life now. As Taylor approaches her 30th birthday, she waxes lyrical about how female artists over that age face many more obstacles and are forced to continuously reinvent themselves.…

REVIEWS TOYAH THE SLADE ROOMS, WOLVERHAMPTON BEFORE HER CO-HEADLINE TOUR WITH HAZEL O’CONNOR KICKS OFF, TOYAH RUNS THROUGH A BRISK SET THAT MAPS HER CAREER FROM PUNK ICON TO CRIMSON QUEEN 18 JANUARY © Dave Freak Toyah Willcox is not an easy figure to pin down. From her early days as ‘Punk’s Princess’, she morphed into a multi-coloured pop star, before enjoying later success with presenting, musical theatre and, perhaps most unexpectedly, children’s television. Hard to imagine for those who recall her in Derek Jarman’s Jubilee or leaping about on TOTP, but there’s a generation of 20-somethings out there who only know Toyah from Teletubbies, Brum, and as the lead character in Barmy Aunt Boomerang. Yet whatever path she’s chosen, many of her decisions seem underpinned by a certain rebelliousness, a…

LOST & FOUND ROD STEWART OUT OF ORDER Like contemporaries David Bowie and Elton John, Rod Stewart struggled to react to the ever-unrolling 1980s, and was lambasted for clinging on to the coattails of youthful synth-pop when it simply didn’t suit him. His rip-snorting 15th album, Out Of Order, issued in 1988, acted as a career reboot, though. The Power Station and Chic’s Bernard Edwards co-produced a meaty LP of ballads and blues rock with the main man finding his voice again, literally and figuratively. The opener, Lost In You, one of five co-written by Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor, sees an entertaining face-off between Stewart’s gruff tones, Taylor’s bombastic guitar and Tony Thompson’s beefy drums. It’s replicated on their other co-projects, especially The Wild Horse, a mid-tempo travail through Stewart’s…

THE SONGS 1 ASTRADYNE Such was the shock of the new with regards to the fresh line-up and the invigorated sound that came with those changes, many Ultravox devotees of the John Foxx era were vocal about the group’s more mainstream direction, some even branding them ‘sell-outs’. Ultravox addressed their critics head on with the album’s opening track, delivering a sprawling, experimental instrumental number which clocked in at more than seven minutes. Making use of the state-of-the-art kit they’d bought with the proceeds of their session work for other artists, the track uses a Roland CR-78 drum machine, Yamaha CP70, Yamaha SS30 string machine, Yamaha CS8Q and a Minimoog. Originally titled Ad Astra (To The Stars), the name was changed during recording to Astradyne, a combination of the Royal Air…

THE HOT LIST WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT AT CLASSIC POP TOWERS THIS MONTH STEVE HARNELL 1 GORILLAZ SONG MACHINE Gorillaz are ditching the traditional album and single release format, instead opting for weekly transmissions – dubbed Song Machine – from their own Kong Studios with an everchanging list of collaborators. First up is the punky Momentary Bliss featuring slowthai and Slaves. As CP went to press, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker was set to be the next guest. Gorillaz drummer Russel Hobbs said: “Song Machine is a whole new way of doing what we do. We don’t know who’s stepping through the studio door next. It feeds on the unknown, runs on pure chaos. Whatever’s coming, we’re ready to produce like there’s no tomorrow.” gorillaz.com 2 KANTO YU6 POWERED SPEAKERS £349…

MORRISSEY I AM NOT A DOG ON A CHAIN BMG Does anyone know who, exactly, is calling Morrissey “a dog on a chain”? He’s provoked other colourful epithets, but canine references have been sparse. Few, anyway, would claim he’s on a leash: he’s regularly stirring up controversy with his pronouncements, if not his records. Fortunately, headlines about his 13th solo album ought to focus on how it’s better than its many predecessors, not least California Son, 2019’s covers collection. It begins with Jim Jim Falls, whose twitchy programmed percussion and rubbery synths may shock those who consider him technophobic. Hurrying to a sizeable chorus, it suggests Morrissey’s eager for approval, as did the album’s first single, Bobby, Don’t You Think They Know?, an intriguing confrontation with a secretly drug-addicted, otherwise unidentified…

CUTTING CREW RANSOMED HEALED RESTORED FORGIVEN AUGUST DAY Cutting Crew – or what’s left of them, since only Nick Van Eede survives from the original line-up, and guitarist Gareth Moulton didn’t arrive till 2005 – follow 2015’s Add To Favourites by joining the long line of artists bolting on strings to their hits. With only two UK Top 40 tunes to their name, it appears, like many such collections, a little unnecessarily extravagant, while the album’s title, taken from the hymn Praise My Soul, seems like a vain gesture, the words representing what Christ (allegedly) did for us, not what the man behind (I Just) Died in Your Arms managed with some superfluous brackets and a melodramatic chorus. Still, that song’s sturdy enough to support both a wailing guitar solo and…

CARIBOU SUDDENLY CITY SLANG Grammy-nominated Dan Snaith’s come a very long way since his early Manitoba releases, and little less since Swim raised his profile a decade ago. Most obviously, Suddenly starts and ends in tranquillity: Sister and Cloud Son are both lovely, hushed electronic ballads, the latter’s pulse raised just a notch, while on New Jade Snaith’s voice is as soothing as his Syndrums are precise. You And I, meanwhile, switches between classic AOR and contemporary digital skulduggery, and Home samples Gloria Barnes to glorious yet poignant effect. WW…

PETE ASTOR YOU MADE ME FAUX-LUX/GARE DU NORD For his 10th solo album, one-time Weather Prophet Pete Astor hooks up with assorted indie luminaries for an album of covers – plus one original tune, the witty, rumbling Chained To An Idiot. His casual yet rich vocal pays dividends: Generation X’s Dancing With Myself gets a tender reworking, matched by an intimate reading of Astor’s kindred spirit Loudon Wainwright III’s One Man Guy, and a lo-fi interpretation of Joe Strummer’s Nitcomb is touching, too. John Martyn’s Solid Air, meanwhile, is almost unrecognisable, far less flash yet still oddly hypnotic. WW…

WRANGLER A SITUATION BELLA UNION Synths have always been useful tools for expressing fears of dystopia, as Wrangler know. Oddly, however, despite its inspiration, their third album is also their most upbeat, if only relatively speaking. Certainly, Machines Designed To Eat You Up sounds bubbly, but this masks distressing themes of electronic surveillance, while the title track’s a menacing techno-influenced banger and Mess pops and peeps like a dysfunctional robot. Talking of which, Rhizomatic sounds like Kraftwerk gone beserk, which surely heralds the world’s end. WW…

CORNERSHOP ENGLAND IS A GARDEN AMPLE PLAY Cornershop’s DIY attitude shines as they celebrate Tjinder Singh’s Midlands metal childhood, with St Marie Under Canon opening with a stomping Stonesy Get Off My Cloud beat and No Rock: Save In Roll rekindling rock and roll’s spirit for a tenth of Primal Scream’s budget. Its flutes, though, brightening Highly Amplified and balancing out Singh’s distorted vocal on Slingshot. Everywhere That Wog Army Roam’s, meanwhile, is deliciously catchy, while The Holy Name delivers a joyful, shambling climax. WW…

REISSUES TOYAH SOLO EDSEL/DEMON The complexities of Toyah leaving her band – called Toyah – to become a solo singer – called Toyah – takes up several spreadsheets and pages of footnotes. In short, Solo rounds up the first six albums Toyah made when she left Toyah in 1985. It coincided with the hits drying up: the breezy Don’t Fall In Love (I Said) from first solo album Minx was her last Top 40 single. That coincided with Toyah falling out of fashion, rather than a drop in quality, as Minx is a reliably eclectic set making full use of her charismatic voice. True, the following Desire from 1987 is probably Toyah’s worst album. The glam stomp of Dear Diary apart, it mostly consists of stodgy AOR. If Desire saw Toyah…

REISSUES THE CURE DISINTEGRATION: DELUXE EDITION UMC It’s ironic The Cure’s eighth LP, released in 1989, was called Disintegration: with it, they built a towering double album. Forms of fragmentation surrounded its making, though: keyboardist Lol Tolhurst’s alcoholism provoked an early bath, while Robert Smith was taking acid to battle depression brought on by his imminent 30th birthday. Certainly, its mood is dismal, its synths as deep as a dark ocean, Smith wailing with delirious desperation. Plainsong arrives like the end of the world in slow-motion, while Closedown is a murky whirlpool and Last Dance as desperate as its title. Fascination Street pounds like a fierce migraine, and The Same Deep Water As You’s nine minutes of velveteen grandeur – not to mention Prayers For Rain – stresses the album’s overwhelming…

MILES KANE COLOUR OF THE TRAP MUSIC ON VINYL Noel Gallagher, Gruff Rhys and Alex Turner feature on this 2011 debut solo album, now getting a lavishly packaged first vinyl release. It began Kane’s reputation as someone more known for his starry mates than his own music, but that’s unfair. Kane’s cool vocals have a natural warmth, while his unshowy guitar playing is underrated in carrying a song along. The charging Inhaler and moody Counting Down The Days have an easy charm, which Kane has finessed over subsequent albums until he’s quietly become one of indiepop’s most reliable talents. JE…

REPUBLICA REPUBLICA CHERRY RED Aside from their bubblegum hits Ready To Go and Drop Dead Gorgeous, Republica’s 1996 debut album failed at harnessing singer Saffron’s magnetic personality. Among the flat Britpop brattishness, this new 3CD reissue shows they should have ventured more seriously into the clubs. Of the 30 additional remixes, many are single filler. But Way Out West’s skittish take on Bitch and Justin Robertson’s powerful Out Of This World make the band far more adventurous – as do The Chemical Brothers, with two early examples of their mayhem. JE…