Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2021 i Classic Pop

WELCOME @ClassicPopMag LISTEN NOW We don’t do things by half measures here at Classic Pop so it’s only fitting that we’ve pulled out all the stops to mark Duran Duran’s long-awaited return to the fray. In our exclusive cover feature interview this issue we serve up the ultimate story of their new studio album Future Past with Simon, Nick, John and Roger all providing fascinating insights into the band’s latest opus. And as you’ll see from our five-star review, they’ve certainly come up with the goods once again, managing to pull off that devilishly tricky balancing act of staying true to their roots but also incorporating fresh influences into the mix to keep things contemporary. Few bands manage to retain their very essence yet seamlessly welcome new contributors into the…

POP-UP Tears For Fears have finally reached their Tipping Point Tears For Fears have announced details of their first album in nearly two decades. The Tipping Point arrives on 22 February 2022 via Concord Records, a mere 18 years after their last LP together, 2004’s Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. “Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong,” reveals Roland Orzabal. “It took years, but something happens when we put our heads together. We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – it works really well.“ “If that balance doesn’t work on a Tears For Fears album, the whole thing just doesn’t work,” adds Curt Smith. “To put it in simple terms, a Tears For Fears record and what people perceive to be the sound…

1-HIT WONDER HOLD ME TIGHTER IN THE RAIN BILLY GRIFFIN Having achieved fame as the man who stepped into Smokey Robinson’s huge boots as lead singer of The Miracles, crooner Billy Griffin didn’t waste any time establishing a solo career once his own tenure with the group came to an end. In 1982 he issued his first solo album, Be With Me, and lead single Hold Me Tighter In The Rain was refreshingly stripped down as far as 80s clichés were concerned. Backing up Griffin’s affectionate falsetto, there’s a gorgeous, twisting electro bass, chunky guitar and an understated piano track. Every musician on board knows who the star of the song is and it lilts along enchantingly for the full three-and-a-half minutes. Hold Me Tighter In The Rain made No.17…

NEWS MIDGE URE REVEALS 80S PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION Spanning a five-year period from 1980-85, In A Picture Frame showcases the photography skills of Midge Ure. The collection includes shots highlighting Ultravox’s ascent to stardom during the early 80s as well as band video shoots and promos that Ure directed for other artists. Famous names included in the 240-page hardback book include Phil Lynott, Fun Boy Three, Glenn Gregory, Spandau Ballet, Paula Yates, Peter Saville, Conny Plank and George Martin. Here Midge talks Classic Pop through a selection from the book… ALL STOOD STILL Midge Ure: “My much-missed friend Mick Karn, on a video shoot for our song After A Fashion by the Sphinx in Egypt. Videos meant that you always had subjects nearby to shoot although it must have been slightly…

COMMUNARDS’ DEBUT ANNIVERSARY REISSUE The Communards’ self-titled debut album is to be reissued on its 35th anniversary by London Records. The duo’s cover of Don’t Leave Me This Way also gets a new remix from 7th Heaven as part of an expanded CD/digital release, and there’ll be a limited edition vinyl version of the LP, all available from 3 December. “We wanted to bring down Thatcher by doing cover versions of 70s disco classics and sort of supper club jazz music,” explains Richard Coles. “It seems a rather over-ambitious project now, but at the time it was a brilliant idea. Before anything else, Jimmy and I were activists. We’d grown up gay in a hostile world and for us that was a matter of life and death – literally – so…

DURAN DURAN THE MISSING LINK As part of their deal with new record label BMG, Duran Duran hope to finally finish unreleased album Reportage. Guitarist Andy Taylor left the band's line-up near the end of recording the album in 2006. “A few songs need final lyrics,” explains Nick Rhodes. “It’s in pretty decent shape overall, we’d need three weeks to finish it. It’s our missing link, both as our final record with Andy and as something a lot more political than any other Duran record. I like to destroy things I don’t think are good enough, but Reportage was never on the destruction pile. It should be out there.” Nick hopes Andy would be willing to finish his contribution to the album, saying: “I’d have no objection if Andy wanted to do…

DURAN DURAN AKA ’THE WEDDING ALBUM’ CLASSIC ALBUM THE PLAYERS SIMON LE BON The final member to make the band’s classic five-man line-up, Le Bon joined Duran Duran in 1980 after being recommended by his girlfriend at the time. He arrived at the audition with a great voice and book full of song lyrics which landed him the job. He’s fronted the band ever since. JOHN TAYLOR Duran Duran began as a teenage dream of music-obsessed Nigel John Taylor in the late 70s. Influenced by Roxy Music, punk and Chic, Taylor formed the band with best friend Nick Rhodes. Originally a guitarist, he switched to the bass in the very early stages and played with the band until 1997, when he left to pursue solo projects and acting. He rejoined…

SONGS OF FREEDOM THE 90S MARKED ONE OF DAVID BOWIE’S MOST CREATIVELY FERTILE PERIODS. AS THE ERA GETS A MUCH-DESERVED BOXSET, WE TALK TO TWO KEY COLLABORATORS, REEVES GABRELS AND MIKE GARSON, TO FIND OUT MORE FELIX ROWE © Getty Few subjects spark greater debate in pop than Bowie’s most creatively rewarding alter ego. Arguments for Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke are well worn, but rarely does Nathan Adler or Leon Blank get a mention. In fact, few but the most ardent fans would even recognise these obscure oddballs from the mid-90s. Understandably, Bowie of the mind’s eye tends to linger largely in the 70s, save for a few honorary mentions either side of that ridiculously prolific decade. As far as his latter career goes, 2002’s…

THEIR NEXT STEPS As well as a possible new album, Pepsi & Shirlie are also planning fresh career moves. Shirlie has no plans to release a second LP with Martin. Instead, she’s planning a homeware range. “I love being at home,” she laughs. “I like Zoom, because it means I don’t have to leave the house. I’ve had lots of meetings about a homeware collection and hope to do something early next year.” Pepsi is writing a novel, based on her parents moving from St Lucia to London as part of the Windrush generation. “It’s their story of building a life for themselves in England,” she reveals. Windrush’s history has been in the headlines since 2018, when people who’d lived in the UK since the 1950s were wrongly deported by…

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REViEWS STING THE BRIDGE UMC On his 15th album’s first single, If It’s Love, Sting shared his morning routine, whistling nonchalantly as he went. He described his smile as he woke and how it survived a shave – apparently, he only grooms his chin – then he cooked himself some breakfast. Finally, he called his doctor with a pressing question: What’s with my shit-eating grin? The diagnosis? You’re in love. There’s no cure, the physician added. Well, of course not. There never is. This song’s indicative of Sting’s ‘comeback’: neither as profound nor eloquent as he thinks, and now’s hardly the time to waste health services’ resources, either. Nonetheless, it’s eminently listenable in a way Sting’s not been for a while (except, arguably, on that curious collaboration with Shaggy). After…

REViEWS WET WET WET THE JOURNEY TOWNSEND MUSIC Life doesn’t always offer second chances, let alone third ones, but Wet Wet Wet’s seventh studio album does. This isn’t only true for the band, for whom it’s their first in 14 years, having already enjoyed a second bite at the cherry when pearly-toothed housewife’s favourite Marti Pellow rejoined them in 2004, having quit five years earlier to overcome a drug habit. It also applies to Kevin Simm, who took over in 2018 after Pellow left the band a second time the previous year. Simm, of course, came to our attention in 2001 as part of Liberty X, formed by runners-up from that year’s Popstars, then returned to the spotlight in 2016, when he won The Voice. So, is it a case…

THE THE THE COMEBACK SPECIAL CINEOLA / EARMUSIC When The The frontman Matt Johnson retweeted a conspiracy theory last summer alleging Bill Gates’ involvement in COVID-19’s origins, it will have troubled those who consider him a purveyor of home truths, albeit uncomfortable ones. Johnson has always leaned towards the melodramatic, but this suggested he’d crossed to the dark side, and it retrospectively undermines his authority on this lengthy document of his 2018 Royal Albert Hall show. Scripted between-song comments, delivered in a deep, slow voice, now seem a little self-congratulatory and pompous instead of portentously prescient, not least his introduction to his second song, a fortunately still chilling Sweet Bird Of Truth: “It’s often been said that I write music for small bedrooms but spacious minds”. (Who said that? And…

REViEWS BILLY BRAGG THE MILLION THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED COOKING VINYL Even if his arrangements are more ambitious here, reminding us of his Wilco collaborations, almost 40 years after Billy Bragg opened his debut album with the lines “If you’re lonely, I will call,” little’s changed in terms of his worldview. I Will Be Your Shield offers similar support – “In the battle against your demons,” he sings, accompanied by piano, Mellotron and Moog, “I will be your shield” – and similar empathy remains central to much of his 10th album. Sometimes he’s personal. On the spartan Good Days And Bad Days he invites us inside the mind of someone paralysed by depression, and on I Believe In You, an acoustic ballad fleshed out with delicate accompaniment from The Magic…

ELBOW FLYING DREAM 1 POLYDOR Sentimentality in any art is confusing, even controversial. To some it’s a crime; to others, it’s the very quality sought. Elbow have, over the past 24 years and eight records, made a career of treading the fine line separating the two, and their new album’s no different. If, however, Zen-inspired author Reginald Horace Blyth was right when he wrote, “We are being sentimental when we give to a thing more tenderness than God gives it”, then few could accuse Elbow of schmaltz, because they assign compassion where it ought to be conferred: to life’s overlooked or overcooked moments. Few songs illustrate this better than Six Words, on which, accompanied by rippling harp arpeggios, Guy Garvey sings, in that patented voice of sincerity, “I’m falling in…

RICHARD ASHCROFT ACOUSTIC HYMNS VOL 1 BMG Spanning both his self-penned Urban Hymns tracks and solo career highlights, Ashcroft mostly takes a maximalist approach to the unplugged concept here. Rather than stripping his back catalogue down to its bare bones, he’s retooled what’s essentially a career-spanning Best Of selection to position his acoustic guitar upfront in the mix accompanied by his live band plus additional session man support including keyboardist Chuck Leavell. Wil Malone supplies his trademark emotive orchestral arrangements, making slight nuanced tweaks to the original incarnations. The Verve’s guitarist Nick McCabe is, of course, irreplaceable but this material is strong enough to withstand his absence. While there are no radical reinventions, a slide guitar treatment replaces McCabe’s FX pyrotechnics on Velvet Morning, Space And Time now comes with…

REViEWS MAGDALENA BAY MERCURIAL WORLD LUMINELLE This Miami duo’s debut makes little secret of their debt to the 80s, with the title track’s flurry of psychedelic electronica ending with a quiet tribute to Madonna’s Material Girl. Secrets (Your Fire) takes sultry electro-pop to the disco for Babycham cocktails, and Mica Tenenbaum’s subtly autotuned vocals shift between helium inhalation and a more smouldering style, with recent single Chaeri’s rumbles boosted by a semi-industrial rhythm before its explosive climax, and Hysterical Us like a kindergarten Michael McDonald. WW…

SELF ESTEEM PRIORITISE PLEASURE FICTION Formerly of Slow Club, Rebecca Lucy Taylor pushes themes of self-empowerment and sexual equality to her second album’s forefront, declaring on opening, pounding manifesto I’m Fine, “I won’t rein in my need/ To be completely free”. This theme’s repeated in the title track’s gospel strains and on It’s Been A While’s trebly electro-pop, where she concludes “I’ll admit I miss that body/ But not the personality”. Best is I Do This All The Time, a witty but powerful confessional which takes no prisoners while nodding to Baz Luhrmann’s Sunscreen Song. WW…

JOHN CARPENTER, CODY CARPENTER AND DANIEL DAVIES HALLOWEEN KILLS OST SACRED BONES John Carpenter may not be in the director’s chair for the new Halloween instalment, but his music’s still ever-present, and even if the film’s only half this scary, you’ll need extra underwear. His score finds his sinister, famed piano melody blanketed in epic chords on the Main Title Theme and given a booming bass treatment on He Appears, while First Attack’s Psycho chords and skittering percussion are going to prompt a lot of folk to spill their drinks. WW…

REISSUES VARIOUS ARTISTS NATIONAL ALBUM DAY VARIOUS LABELS This year’s theme of women in music for National Album Day means a wide range of pop is reissued on vinyl across record stores. There weren’t many exclusives, barring Belinda Carlisle’s 1987-93 compilation Nobody Owns Me ( ): Belinda picks eight songs and adds an impassioned new cover of The Youngbloods’ Get Together. There’s a 20th anniversary edition of Kylie’s Fever ( ), but that simply means there’s a new print and it’s on white vinyl. Ho-hum, but it’s one of Minogue’s finest albums and any excuse to hear Come Into My World is welcome. Some albums, including Tinderbox by Siouxsie And The Banshees ( ) and Kirsty MacColl’s Kite ( ) have only recently been reissued. But Kirsty’s final album Tropical…

REISSUES ERASURE I SAY I SAY I SAY MUTE BMG Although Erasure’s sixth album I Say I Say I Say reached No.1 in the spring of 1994, it was the start of a turbulent decade for the duo. Andy Bell recently admitted to Classic Pop it marked his and Vince Clarke’s songwriting becoming a little too hectic and eager to please. By trying to mask the burnout from their rise to stadium status with a wild-eyed mania, Erasure replaced their natural euphoria with a more formulaic approach to clubland. Then and now, it suddenly felt worryingly desperate. It wasn’t new producer Martyn Ware’s fault – his love of offbeat pop occasionally added a teasing glint. But the songs are often too hollow to rescue, with Run To The Sun resembling…

THE WATERBOYS THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: FISHERMAN’S BLUES/ROOM TO ROAM BAND, 1989-90 CHRYSALIS When, in the late 80s, Mike Scott switched The Waterboys’ focus from his so-called “Big Music” to the seemingly provincial realms of Irish folk, it was too much for some, who found this raggle-taggle gypsy incarnation a little twee and insular. This 5CD, 102-song set of demos, jams, outtakes and more helps explain Scott’s enthusiasm for his journey, which, having already led from This Is The Sea to Fishermen’s Blues, sailed on to Room To Roam’s almost full-blown citizenship. That album makes up the final disc here, and, suddenly, bridging the gap between its soulful A Life Of Sundays and Spring Comes To Spiddal, a light-footed jig, becomes less of a stretch. Bolstered by Sharon Shannon, Colin Blakey…

REISSUES ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN CROCODILES/HEAVEN UP HERE/PORCUPINE/OCEAN RAIN/FLOWERS/SIBERIA RHINO/DEMON With a rescheduled tour next year for the 40th anniversary of 1980 debut album Crocodiles, the time feels right for the Bunnymen’s influence to become apparent, as happens roughly every decade. Vinyl reissues of their first four albums and the coincidental first vinyl editions of two noughties albums will help. Despite being produced by Bill Drummond, Ian Broudie and Dave Balfe, Crocodiles is patchy, the frantic Rescue its only perfect pop moment and the menacing Going Up the best intense rocker among far-out jams. The solid Hugh Jones was a more reliable producer, helping showcase Ian McCulloch’s vocals better on Heaven Up Here, while Pete de Freitas and Les Pattinson’s rhythm section became the ideal fusion of post-punk venom and…

DEAD OR ALIVE FAN THE FLAME PART 2: THE RESURRECTION DEMON After the commercial failure of the first Fan The Flame in 1990, Part 2 went unreleased. Pete Burns and Steve Coy had planned to revisit it before Burns’ death in 2016. Following Coy’s passing two years later, the eight songs have been pieced together, revealing what would have been one of the most varied of all DOA albums. There’s plenty of Hi-NRG extravagance, of course. First single Tonight and I Want 2 B With U are trademark full-on imperial romps. But there’s also a smattering of Balearic smoothness on Are U Ready 2 B Heartbroken and Where Is The Love, the latter an unusually vulnerable vocal for Burns, even as Coy’s beats head straight to Café del Mar. It’s…

VARIOUS ARTISTS THE SUN SHINES HERE: THE ROOTS OF INDIE-POP (1980-84) CHERRY RED A 74-song 3CD compilation remembering the dawn of where angular indie met traditional guitar pop. Future stars Altered Images, Everything But The Girl, Pulp, Scritti Politti, Del Amitri, Prefab Sprout, It’s Immaterial and Aztec Camera are here, as are The Jesus And Mary Chain, stretching the “pop” boundaries. More importantly, there are dozens of long-forgotten names who deserve to have their three minutes celebrated anew. A varied bunch of dreamers who led a quiet revolution. JE…

ALICIA KEYS SONGS IN A MINOR RCA/LEGACY Launching a megastar, the 20th anniversary 2LP edition of Alicia Keys’ debut adds two unreleased songs, piano vamper Foolish Heart and wild stomp Crazy (Mi Corazon). They’re fine tunes, but so was virtually everything on Keys’ unstoppable calling card. Hits such as Fallin’ and A Woman’s Worth have become radio standards, while the rest of the album still sounds contemporary, because Keys was busy establishing the sound of so much of 21st century R&B and pop music. Here was a new visionary who’s mostly maintained the standard since. JE…

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 issue, he meets cover stars Duran Duran for an exclusive interview, catches up with Pepsi & Shirlie and helms our reissues section. Ian Wade has written for a variety of Classic Pop specials, The Quietus, musicOMH, Official Charts and The Guardian, as well as doing time for Smash Hits and The Face many years ago. He’s also DJed at Spiritland, BFLF and Soho Radio, and is currently writing a book about 1984. For Classic Pop, he tells the story of 808 State with founder member Graham Massey. Anthony Reynolds is a singer-songwriter who first came to…

IAN PEEL‘S A TO Z POP OF W IS FOR… WOGAN CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT JUST ONE TV SHOW GAVE US PERFORMANCES FROM A UNIQUE ABC LINE-UP, JIMMY CAUTY’S BRILLIANT, AND A THEATRICAL RENDITION OF KATE BUSH’S EXPERIMENT IV? POSSIBLY. BUT CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY’RE ALL IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE WOGAN SHOW? Every few years there’s a campaign to bring back Top Of The Pops, complete with protestations of how it was a vital platform for pop music, creating and breaking new acts and bringing them to mass appeal. But I’m not convinced. Or rather, I think there are other TV shows that did a huge amount for classic pop that seem to have been forgotten. Not least – and hear me out on this one – Wogan. It’s possible…

DURAN DURAN MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD Tonight United and particularly Invisible show a more explicitly political side to Duran Duran than usual, but Simon Le Bon has been an environmental activist since he was part of a Greenpeace conference in 1986 to halt drilling in Antarctica. “Greenpeace got a 50-year moratorium to stop extraction from Antarctica,” he recalls. “A lot has happened over the past 35 years and, when the subject comes up again, the opinions on whether to resume drilling will be informed by the current global situation.” Before the pandemic, Simon had sensed a change in political protests, which informed Invisible. “The idea that politicians are in charge because they know best is old-fashioned now,” he muses. “The voice of the crowd is increasingly being heard, particularly in the…

A BOWIE BOND While Future Past features a new generation of guests in Ivorian Doll, Tove Lo and Chai, the album ends with the majestic piano playing of David Bowie’s former keyboardist Mike Garson on gorgeous ballad Falling. John Taylor had met Mike at a photography event in West London, and Duran covered Bowie classic Five Years at a charity event organised by Mike earlier this year. “Nick and I first bonded over being Mick Ronson freaks,” remembers John of Bowie’s old guitarist. “The first gig we went to together was to see Mick’s solo tour in 1974, when Mike was in Mick’s band. When we recorded with Mike, we were asking more about Mick Ronson stories than Bowie tales. That’s what led to us covering Five Years.” Duran’s cover is on…

THE SONGS 1 TOO MUCH INFORMATION Kicking off the album, Too Much Information is a powerful, up-tempo track which matches the energy of the band’s earlier work. Bookended by two superb guitar parts from Warren Cuccurullo – acoustic to open and electric to close – the song is built around a stomping ‘Madchester’-esque beat and funk-inspired groove over which Simon delivers a prescient lyric which describes, said Cuccurullo, “a tail wagging the dog type media-centric world, as distant from ordinary as one could imagine, the masses subjected to too much (dis)information while under a constant state of surveillance. Not an ideal situation for humankind.” Even more relevant in today’s social media-obsessed world (“I hate to bite the hand that feeds me so much information/The pressure’s on the screen to sell…

AN ARTISTIC PARADOX Reeves Gabrels likens Bowie to a benevolent puppet master, pulling the strings, while giving his players license for expression. “One of the beautiful things about working with David was that he viewed himself more as an art director,” says Reeves. “He was harnessing the talent and moving it towards what he wanted. Or like a film director who brings in actors to play certain roles. Some of them can only do the thing they do and other ones are more trained and able to do a variety of things, and so he’ll be specific about what he wants the lead ones to do, then basically leave the character actors to just do their thing.” It’s the Bowie paradox: an artist famed for his singular vision, while giving…

DAVID SYLVIAN ALBUM BY ALBUM COMPILATION A fine overview of Sylvian’s vocal work spanning 30 years, the material within leans toward the songwriter at his most traditional if not quite poppiest. Sylvian had been, at heart, a writer of ballads with an increasing interest in deconstructing and even inverting the form. His voice was the glue that held it all together. A Victim Of Stars compiles key tracks from every phase of this journey; from the almost bubblegum occidental pop of 1982’s Bamboo Music to the string-drenched chamber confessional of 2009’s Small Metal Gods. In between we get some bona fide classics; Ghosts, Forbidden Colours, Orpheus. We even gain a ‘new’ song; the monk-onmorphine sleepwalk of Where’s Your Gravity?. And as we follow the chronological arc, Sylvian’s vocals seems to…

BOOK REVIEW IT’S ALL IN BLACK AND WHITE PEPSI & SHIRLIE WELBECK Pepsi & Shirlie have spent most of their career in the background, firstly behind George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in Wham!, then retreating from fame after their second album Change stalled 30 years ago. Their silence shouldn’t be seen as having nothing to say. It’s All In Black And White is one of the best pop memoirs in years, precisely because it lights up a story that its authors haven’t felt the need to tell time and again since they preferred their privacy. Each writing alternate chapters, it starts with the sadness of their fathers’ struggles and that impact on the Holliman and DeMacque households in Hertfordshire and West London respectively. But, as lovers of self-help books, Shirlie…

NERD MENTALITY 808 State played a major part in the launch of Björk as a solo star. Having already made the decision to leave The Sugarcubes in 1991, although the band owed their label another album and eventually split the following year, she contributed vocals to two tracks on 808 State’s ex:el album – Qmart and Ooops – the latter of which grazed the UK charts at No.42. Björk originally contacted 808 State as a fan. “She was already on the dancefloors and had paid attention to our records,” says Graham. “She rang us up and said, ‘I really like what you’re doing with beats and stuff.’ When we met something clicked, despite the fact that her demos were versions of Debut stuff, but all played on brass instruments.” It…

SUPER FAN DEVOTED FANS SHOW US THEIR COLLECTIONS AND POP MEMORABILIA BELINDA CARLISLE/THE GO-GO’S LIZZY SMITH TENTERDEN, KENT Q When did you first become a Superfan of Belinda Carlisle and The Go-Go’s and why do you like them? A I saw Belinda’s I Get Weak video on The Chart Show when I was 11 in 1988. I was completely spellbound and went out to Woolies to buy the 7" single. I then saw a picture of The Go-Go’s in Look-In magazine and tried to find their records, which wasn’t easy back when imports cost a fortune. Q What do you have in your personal collection? A All sorts – the usual LPs, CDs and DVDs but also some of Jane Wiedlin’s dresses and one of Belinda’s. There’s also a bucket…

DAMON ALBARN THE NEARER THE FOUNTAIN, MORE PURE THE STREAM FLOWS TRANSGRESSIVE Damon Albarn’s second solo album opens with a cloud of muffled synths and forlorn piano topped off by one of his most passionate yet intimate vocal performances to date. “It’s fruitless for me to mourn you,” the prolific tunesmith sings softly, “but who can help mourning?” This title song, inspired by John Clare’s poem Love And Memory, was written in Iceland in early 2020 as Albarn got away from it all to work on a commission for Lyons’ Fête des Lumières. The festival, though, was inevitably postponed and, as the world hid from the pandemic, it didn’t take long for the song’s sentiments to take on a different shade. If, in hindsight, this line could apply to the…

ROD STEWART THE TEARS OF HERCULES RHINO “It was great while it lasted,” Rod Stewart sings on One More Time, the Eurotrash hoe-down opening his 31st album as though bidding farewell to his fans. Certainly, it’s been some time since a new Rod record has seemed relevant, and on the evidence of its first four minutes, this one isn’t likely to change that much. Don’t give up on him yet, though: there are enough reminders afterwards of the rough and ready, playful but affecting Lothario of yore to make The Tears Of Hercules – which sounds like a pub Stewart himself might frequent – worth a visit. For starters, the title track’s a Celtic tearjerker recalling 1989’s Downtown Train had The Blue Nile, whom he’s previously covered, elected to back…

ROGER TAYLOR OUTSIDER VIRGIN Though Roger Taylor remains so tangled up with Queen that he and Brian May helped revive them with, first, Paul Rodgers, then Adam Lambert, his sixth solo album occasionally finds him sounding uncannily – and pleasingly – like David Bowie at his career’s end. This applies most to Taylor’s vocals, which on the admittedly slightly aimless I Know, I Know, I Know, the pandemic-inspired Isolation and We’re All Just Trying To Get By – where KT Tunstall adds superfluous harmonies to Taylor’s already layered vocals – combine an understated, thoughtful theatricality with a decidedly high-pitched range. The similarities are even more pronounced on the title track, suggesting Taylor’s auditioning for Stella Street, and on the aptly titled Journey’s End, which concludes Outsider as Tides began it:…

ANDY SUMMERS HARMONICS OF THE NIGHT FLICKERING SHADOW Former Police man Andy Summers’ latest solo album begins with a meandering 11-minute instrumental, originally composed after he’d visited Montpellier’s Pavillon Populaire in advance of a retrospective of his photographic work (titled A Certain Strangeness) and realised that their choice of music was at odds with his own ideas. It’s a sparse, introspective improvisation for electric guitar which New Age fans will embrace – Summers’ early work was compiled by acoustic instrumental label Windham Hill Records in 1991, so this is no real surprise – and it provided the impetus, and indeed a template, for the rest of this collection, which accompanies his new London exhibition. The title track sticks closely to this pastoral mood, as does the similarly lengthy Strange Return,…

NEW RELEASES TORI AMOS OCEAN TO OCEAN DECCA Over the years, Kate Bush – like Björk – has become a go-to reference for anyone looking for comparisons with a certain type of (ahem) eccentric female artist. The analogy, though, is frequently lazy, and it would certainly be inappropriate to suggest Tori Amos’ 16th album, written in Cornwall after an apparently difficult, introspective lockdown, is nothing more than a pale imitation of the legendary recluse’s work. Nonetheless, she’s never going to shake off such associations as long as she begins records with songs like Addition Of Light Divided, whose opening piano lines, Babooshka-like bass and girlish vocal harmonies recall Aerial’s mature songwriting, nor by writing tunes like Spies, on which her melody suddenly swoops upwards before a chorus of elfin voices…

VANGELIS JUNO TO JUPITER DECCA Vangelis’ latest, which provides a cinematic accompaniment to NASA’s ongoing mission to explore the planet of Jupiter 365 million miles away, finds him returning to the grand, futuristic sounds that made his 1982 Blade Runner soundtrack so beloved. With its arpeggiated bleeps, horn-y synths, grand piano runs and kettle drums, Out In Space in fact sounds like it belongs on that record, while the kaleidoscopic Jupiter’s Intuition is full of wonder and the dramatic Zeus Almighty would surely catch Gustav Holst’s ear. Ideal for late nights spent stargazing. WW…

LATIN QUARTER RELEASING THE SHEEP WESTPARK Latin Quarter’s latest leans on both new songs and old material written years ago but never recorded. Their most noteworthy quality, nonetheless, is their unity of themes. Mandela’s Ghost borrows African styles, foregrounding Mary Carewe’s voice as Steve Skaith reminds us “we are led by fools and criminals”, while the Deacon Blue-like That’s Why I Turned My Badge In, inspired by Rodney King in the 90s, tragically still suits the Black Lives Matter era, which also helped provoke Equality Not Revenge’s attempts to explain white privilege. WW…

BUFFALO DAUGHTER WE ARE THE TIMES ANNIVERSARY Brought to western attention by the Beastie Boys almost three decades ago, this female trio have rarely thrived beyond the shores of their Japanese homeland, but this insane collection ought to change that, especially if you’re a sucker for their countrymate Cornelius. Don’t Punk Out rattles along like LCD Soundsystem attempting Chic after a heavy night, and Loop breathlessly staggers towards a sticky dancefloor, while Global Warming Kills Us All’s message is communicated in industrial strengths. WW…

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS BOOK IDLEWILD After a relatively long three-year gap, the prolific duo’s 23rd album delivers a twist: a 144-page book, made with TMBG sleeve designer Paul Sahre and Brooklyn street photographer Brian Karlsson. The book looks lovely, but isn’t strictly necessary for these typically quirky 15 songs. As ever, the Giants skip around genres, but the sound is sparser than usual, sometimes too lo-fi to do ideas justice. At least the infectious Brontosaurus and glam stomp I Can’t Remember The Dream live up to the project’s luxury aims. JE…

JOBOXERS ESSENTIAL BOXERBEAT COOKING VINYL An exciting surprise reunion, JoBoxers ended 35 years’ silence by returning for a tour that’s taking place as you read this. Initially delayed by the pandemic, their comeback after splitting trying to make a third album will hopefully be a welcome reminder of how the transatlantic band were briefly a unique fusion of Britfunk, glam, Northern Soul, pop and vintage R&B. Most of the seven songs taken from 1985’s second album Skin And Bone suggest they’d split at the right time. They’d smoothed out too much of their initial edge, veering closer to Johnny Hates Jazz than their initial groove’s intensity. Still, having previously swerved the nostalgia circuit, hopefully JoBoxers have remembered why they were once heavyweight contenders. Championed by Madness, JoBoxers were supporting on…

PRIMAL SCREAM DEMODELICA/SCREAMADELICA: THE 12" SINGLES SONY The 30th anniversary of Screamadelica is a complex time for Primal Scream. Certain quarters paint Bobby Gillespie as a cartoon – his (admittedly wayward) politics and daring to be outspokenly passionate about music make him an easy target. Even if Gillespie wasn’t more complex than the caricature, it’s daft how some go further and claim Screamadelica is only any good because of its producers’ input. Even if it were true, does that mean The Lexicon Of Love and Welcome To The Pleasuredome are bad albums? Or that generations of singers from Elvis Presley to Dua Lipa are disposable? Given the playground insults, it’s fascinating of the Primals to release Screamadelica’s demos now. Unlike their recent alternative versions album of the follow-up Give Out…

SPICE GIRLS SPICE UMC/EMI After the recent vinyl release of Spice Girls’ debut album, the expanded 2CD version for Spice’s 25th anniversary is regrettably dismal. The good news: the compilers have unearthed unreleased bop Feed Your Love, three demos and unheard skit Shall We Say Goodbye Then?. The bad news: those rarities are left to moulder on a risible 12-song extra CD. Missing tracks include the B-sides Bumper To Bumper and Sleigh Ride, the Spanish version of 2 Become 1 and any of the numerous fine remixes by Junior Vasquez, Linslee Campbell and David Morales. Nor is there the usual reissue extra of a DVD featuring Spice’s videos and TV performances. Both fans and the album itself – decent even beyond its singles – deserve better. It’s not as if…

JAKI GRAHAM 35TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION CHERRY RED While Demon issued a solid 28-song singles compilation in 2010, it’s pleasing that Brum funk marvel Jaki Graham is starting to see her albums overhauled with this 4CD set. The “collection” tag here refers to Graham’s first two albums, 1985’s Heaven Knows and the following year’s Breaking Away, which are both expanded with comprehensive extras. Mostly remembered for her David Grant duet Could It Be I’m Falling In Love making No.5 in 1985, Graham’s effervescent vocals and jazzy arrangements have aged better than many peers. Her other Top 10 hit Round And Round is a fantastic wall of noise. By 1986’s Breaking Away, Derek Bramble’s production was more plastic, but generally stayed on the right side of pop. There’s one too many overblown…

REViEWS ROBBIE WILLIAMS LIFE THRU A LENS/I’VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU UMC/ISLAND After Take That, Robbie Williams’ Oasis-like conduct proved something of a liability, with solo success far from assured. Two years later, Life…’s sales were slow, but Angels ensured it eventually took off, and his writing partnership with Guy Chambers proved full of similarly mischievous character. A year later, its follow-up was less thrilling, but the sweetly sung No Regrets and She’s The One hit the spot, while Millennium's cheeky Bond steal made Williams seem invincible. WW…

ULTRASOUND EVERYTHING PICTURE ONE LITTLE INDEPENDENT A wonderfully ambitious band merging glam, grandeur, goth, gorgeous balladry and – occasionally – wildly overblown prog, Ultrasound were the late 90s scary cousin of labelmates Suede. When they got it right, Stay Young and Kurt Russell were staggering anthems. It’s typical of their off-piste career that the latter track was only a B-side. Ultrasound need this 4LP/1CD set adding B-sides, live songs and sessions to begin to make sense of what they tried to achieve. The best cult of their era along with Lo-Fidelity Allstars are finally captured in all their glory. JE…

HIPSWAY HIPSWAY PAST NIGHT FROM GLASGOW The band featuring ex-Altered Images bassist Johnny McElhone before he formed Texas, Hipsway’s The Honeythief was one of the best smooth supperclub jazz hits redolent of 1986. Some songs are closer to Climie Fisher’s pomposity than the Roxy Music grandeur McElhone and velvet voiced singer Grahame Skinner aimed for. But there are other poised luxuries, with Set This Day Apart sharing ABC’s class. McElhone and drummer Harry Travers left, leaving behind this album of possibilities, reissued on well-packaged vinyl. JE…

BOOK REVIEWS MAJOR LABELS: A HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC IN SEVEN GENRES KELEFA SANNEH CANONGATE With its ambitious title and page count just shy of the 500 mark, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Kelefa Sanneh’s book would be a daunting undertaking to delve into, yet the former New York Times music critic has the reader instantly in his grasp with his exquisitely written trajectory of modern popular music. Divided into seven genres, Sanneh’s history rounds up the past six decades of music into rock, R&B, country, punk, hip-hop, dance and pop and examines both the tribal aspects of each and how they define themselves and their listeners. Despite its scope, Major Labels does a terrific job in zooming in on aspects of each genre, offering in many cases a…

CRIES AND WHISPERS 1983-1991 ANTHONY REYNOLDS BURNING SHED Now out in hardback, the follow-up to definitive Japan biography A Foreign Place finds Classic Pop contributor Anthony Reynolds continuing the new wavers’ story after their initial implosion in 1982 to explore the various band members’ solo careers and collaborations as well as the ill-fated Rain Tree Crow reunion album. Reynolds’ exhaustively researched and incisive prose takes centre stage but further contributions from the likes of Johnny Marr, Paul Morley, Thomas Dolby and Bill Bruford provide additional insight. The twists and turns of David Sylvian’s unpredictable solo career prove particularly fertile ground and naturally take precedence throughout. Yet his fellow band members are also given their due including the Mick Karn projects with Midge Ure and Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy that both…

SUBSCRIBE THIS CHRISTMAS AND GET A FREE CALENDAR OUR SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGE • Free delivery straight to your door • The entire Classic Pop digital issue archive • Six issues of Classic Pop per year • Subscriber-exclusive savings • Subscriber-only covers of each new issue • The weekly Classic Pop e-newsletter SAVE 35% 3 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE classicpopmag.com/X21CLPP 01371 853 609 QUOTE CODE X21CLPP Please complete the Freepost order form opposite (UK ONLY) 2022 CALENDAR EXCLUSIVE MONTH-TO-VIEW CALENDAR FEATURING 12 CLASSIC POP MOMENTS…

LOST& FOUND KIM WILDE CATCH AS CATCH CAN Love Blonde is a great Kim Wilde single, a rockabilly throwback with a casual vocal and attitude-driven guitar part that had father Marty’s fingerprints all over it, yet this minor hit was the only success from an experimental studio album that nobody quite knew how to process. The song made No.23 in 1983, but follow-up Dancing In The Dark reverted to an energetic new wave sound that characterised Kim’s brilliant self-titled debut release, yet it stalled at No.67. The album generally flitted from one new direction to another, trying to be all things to all people. As such, we got synth-pop in opener House Of Salome, a more industrial, clubby sound in Sparks and balladeering in Can You Feel It?, which Wilde…

THE POD SQUAD CHECKING IN WITH OUR FAVOURITE CLASSIC POP-FRIENDLY PODCASTS EDWARD RUSSELL INSIDE THE GROOVE What’s your podcast about? A forensic breakdown of Madonna’s music. Each episode focuses on the writing and production of a particular song, referencing demos, outtakes and quotes from Madonna and her collaborators to tell the story of its creation and legacy How did you get into podcasting? I’ve worked in TV, music and education for many years, so podcasting feels like a way to bring all those skills together. I started it at the beginning of lockdown as a way of passing the time and it’s become really popular. Who’s your dream guest and what would you ask them if you had the chance? Of course, it would be Madonna herself, but I think…

DURAN DURAN CINEMATIC MASH-UPS As part of his unwillingness to relax, Nick Rhodes is in the middle of releasing four albums with artist Wendy Bevan. Before the pandemic, Rhodes produced an album for Wendy, delayed until next year so that the California-based singer/violinist could plan its tour. Nick recalls: “When Wendy’s album got delayed, I said we should carry on making new music. “I thought we’d make half-a-dozen instrumental pieces. We’d both created strange cinematic ambient pieces on our own, and I said, ‘Why don’t we mash these together?’” That quickly led to 10 tracks, prompting the idea of how to theme their music. “The idea of the universe has, of course, been used endlessly,” chuckles Nick. “But there’s nothing bigger to focus on. We used the universe, then a little…

CLASSIC ALBUM DURAN DURAN AKA ‘THE WEDDING ALBUM’ THE FACES OF 80S EXCESS AND GLOSSY HEDONISM, DURAN DURAN’S COMEDOWN THE FOLLOWING DECADE WAS SOUNDTRACKED BY ‘THE WEDDING ALBUM’ – A MARRIAGE OF INTROSPECTION AND MATURITY THAT SET THE STAGE FOR THEIR REMARKABLE SECOND ACT MARK LINDORES DURAN DURAN Given the popularity today of retro music festivals and the success of deluxe edition reissues, it’s easy to forget just how difficult the early 90s were for the titans of 80s pop. From the moment the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve 1989, that decade’s idols were seemingly stripped of relevance and forced to try on the musical trends of the day for size, be it dance music (U2, Madonna), New Jack Swing (Michael Jackson) or hip-hop (Prince). Boy George even swapped…

CLASSIC ALBUM DURAN DURAN AKA ‘THE WEDDING ALBUM’ THE VIDEOS ORDINARY WORLD Director: Nick Egan A continuation of the aesthetic that Nick Egan created for this single’s artwork and the LP cover. Egan had been the band’s first choice to be the creative force of the project and Duran were able to realise it when John Taylor was introduced to the photographer/director by their mutual friend, actor Billy Zane. A basic performance of the boys against a plain white background as video footage and lighting effects are projected onto them is the main set-up of the promo, with the film manipulated with various effects to resemble a photobooth strip. The performance is interspersed with a wedding scenario that sees a bride strolling through beautiful gardens, and the band in tuxes.…

DAVID BOWIE DANCING INTO THE FUTURE © Getty The easy and obvious option for the ageing rocker at the turn of the 90s would have been to jump on the Britpop bandwagon. But ‘easy and obvious’ wasn’t on the menu, and instead Bowie defied the guitar anthem retroism for a more forward-looking and dance-oriented route. “He liked Goldie [pictured above], I was more in the Tricky camp,” laughs Reeves Gabrels. “We’d argue about those things all the time, like who was better, The Beatles or the Stones, like it was life and death!” Reeves had turned Bowie onto Nine Inch Nails, while Bowie, in turn, was sending Reeves cassettes of the BBC’s Sunday night drum and bass show. Between them, they were immersing themselves in electronica, Photek, The Prodigy, Roni…

PEPSI & SHIRLIE FRIENDS: THE REUNION AS THE BACKING VOCALISTS IN WHAM!, PEPSI & SHIRLIE WEREN’T SO MUCH 20 FEET FROM STARDOM AS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF GEORGE MICHAEL AND ANDREW RIDGELEY’S SUCCESS. THE FOUR WERE A TIGHT GANG FOR LIFE. ON THEIR OWN, THEY WERE A FORWARD-THINKING DUO, THE FIRST POPSTERS TO HAVE THEIR OWN CLOTHING RANGE. LIVING HAPPILY PRIVATE LIVES SINCE, THEY TELL CLASSIC POP THEIR REMARKABLE TALE AS THEY FINALLY BREAK COVER AFTER 30 YEARS. JOHN EARLS Since Pepsi & Shirlie’s second album Change was released in 1991, the duo have retreated from stardom. Shirlie Kemp started George Michael’s online fan club and tentatively took on the spotlight again in 2019, when she and Spandau husband Martin served up their lounge album In The Swing Of…

TOP TEN A EURO-FLAVOURED CHART, WITH ONE SPANISH-LANGUAGE SINGLE AND TWO GALLICINFLUENCED SONGS FROM SQUEEZE AND OMD STEVE O’ BRIEN WEEK BEGINNING 08 NOVEMBER 1981 1(3) EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC THE POLICE (A&M) EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC THE POLICE (A&M) The second single off Sting and co.’s fourth long-player Ghost In The Machine was the band’s third No.1, topping the LP’s lead platter, Invisible Sun. Though recorded in 1981, the song’s origins went back five years to the formation of The Police. In fact, Sting even laid down a demo in 1976, a version which finally saw daylight on the 1997 album Strontium 90: Police Academy. A second demo was recorded in early ’81, but Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers believed the song was “too…

TOP 2O COVER VERSIONS OF THE 80S BREATHING FRESH LIFE INTO OLD CLASSICS OR RADICALLY REINVENTING THEM, WE CELEBRATE 20 OF THE FINEST REBOOTS JON O’ BRIEN The hit cover version is something of a rarity in today’s increasingly irrelevant charts. Why bother settling for a copy when the original is only ever a mouse click away? Back in the 80s, however, pop acts could help breathe new life into a song that wasn’t always readily available elsewhere, and in some cases, even get away with passing them off as their own. Ignoring any carbon copies (hence no Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ straightforward take on Arrows’ I Love Rock And Roll, for example) and sticking entirely to UK Top 20 hits, here’s a look at the decade’s very best. 20…

NEW RELEASES DAVE GAHAN & SOULSAVERS IMPOSTER SONY MUSIC For their third collaborative LP Dave Gahan and Rich Machin opt for a covers record, sometimes considered the last refuge of the scoundrel but here – hopefully – more a picnic stop on the way to their next Angels & Ghosts Valhalla. Their choices are intriguing, if not always for the right reasons. Is, for example, a new version of Neil Young’s lyrically dubious A Man Needs A Maid required in 2021, even if this doomy interpretation suggests Gahan’s too weary to do the cleaning himself? You Were Always On My Mind, too, has already been recorded over 300 times, and simply stripping it back to a piano ballad feels unimaginative from a gifted singer like Gahan or talented producer like…

SEA FEVER FOLDING LINES KARTEL Monaco, The Other Two, Revenge, Bad Lieutenant, now Sea Fever… Though New Order sound little like Joy Division, from which they spun off, there’s an unwritten rule demanding that any record featuring their members sound at least a little like the parent group. This time, however, only their most recent recruits, Tom Chapman and Phil Cunningham, are present, and, furthermore, Sea Fever was co-founded by Iwan Gronow. This, then, perhaps accounts for them most resembling a specific side project, Electronic: Gronow plays bass for Johnny Marr, star of that collaboration alongside Bernard Sumner. Admittedly, these similarities are often technological, and anyway, it’s not true of everything: co-vocalist Beth Cassidy (of post-punk outfit Section 25) lends Folding Lines a welcome femininity and Afterthought is more like Gary…

ELTON JOHN THE LOCKDOWN SESSIONS EMI In April 2020, Elton John stepped into his backyard and, as part of the One World: Together At Home benefit, performed a garbled version of his 1983 hit I’m Still Standing that suggested he really ought to lie down. But, with his farewell tour on hold, he instead embarked on collaborations with a panoply of stars. Confusingly, one of these stars was already in heaven (so that’s some serious social distancing!): John’s miraculously resurrected Glen Campbell, who died in 2017, apparently piggybacking on his final recording, I’m Not Gonna Miss You, by ousting the country legend for a verse of a once poignant ballad. Fortunately, everyone else here’s alive, though veterans are oddly buried beside Campbell at the album’s end: Stevie Wonder on the…

LADYHAWKE TIME FLIES BMG Arriving in 2008, New Zealand maverick Pip Brown’s incarnation as Ladyhawke felt just out of step – too late for electroclash, too soon for post-indie championing of female pop visionaries. Ladyhawke’s debut album didn’t fly as it deserved, and Brown has been on the periphery since. However, while recovering from skin cancer and post-natal depression, the tenth anniversary of that debut saw Brown celebrate with a reissue and tour which has given Ladyhawke fresh impetus. Five years after her third album, Ladyhawke’s belief in the power of pop is renewed and Time Flies’ towering tunes need a full life’s experience to sound so accomplished. While many of the songs’ future nostalgia are of a piece with Dua Lipa, full of shiny synths and pumped-up disco bass,…

DAVE PEN ABRAN WISH AND THE LIGHT PARTY JAR RECORDS A key member of Archive and BirdPen, Dave Pen’s waited some time to record a solo debut, and COVID-19 predictably offered an opportunity. Less predictably, it’s a concept album, opening with the appropriately celestial Awakening, while Abran & Adele, robed in chants and hypnotic repetition, offers the narrative’s background. There’s an air of malevolence to much of this, however. It Won’t Be Like The Movies and Unseen Unheard Unknown are particularly agitated, while Death Of Adele’s genuinely unsettling. WW…

CAMPBELL/MALLINDER/BENGE CLINKER LES DISQUES DU CRÉPUSCULE Julie Campbell must be psyched. Clinker finds the post-punk influencer known as LoneLady teaming up with Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder and prolific synth fetishist Benge, a serial collaborator known for Fader and part of John Foxx And The Maths. This mini-album’s no great departure for any of them: Camouflage and Influx offer enough spiky guitars, spluttering, stuttering synths and spooky vocals to make anyone paranoid, and Condition Collapsing is even edgier. WW…

GLOK PATTERN RECOGNITION BYTES On his debut as GLOK, Ride guitarist Andy Bell swaps gazing at his shoes for dancing in them, plugging in his synths for these 10 adventures. Opener Dirty Hugs is most effective, patiently building over 20 minutes to a fierce climax decorated with fuzzed-out guitars, and the final Invocation is similarly boldly extended over 15 minutes, if to less dramatic effect. Some tracks are calmer still: Process features Shamon Cassette’s anodyne spoken word accompaniment, and Kintsugi offers a moody but dreamy instrumental world of ringing guitars. WW…

REViEWS DEBBIE GIBSON OUT OF THE BLUE/ELECTRIC YOUTH CHERRY POP Overdue a good reissue campaign, Debbie Gibson’s first two albums get the 3CD/1DVD treatment. Mostly working with Fred Zarr, a survivor of Madonna’s self-titled debut album, Debbie and Fred’s production is generally woefully tinny. On the 1987 debut, Fallen Angel should have been a showstopper but instead is so wet it doesn’t even make Debbie’s live show, the original of which (previously a VHS) is on the DVD, featuring a cheery cover of Elton John’s Crocodile Rock and all. There are no B-sides, instead rounding up 24 remixes, plus a medley as sophisticated as Jive Bunny. Of those remixes, the Drumapella take of Out Of The Blue is the best floorfiller. It’s all about joyous smash Shake Your Love really, of…

SIMPLY RED REMIXED VOLUME 1 (1985-2000) RHINO Previously averse to rarities and expanded reissues, it’s pleasing to see Mick Hucknall start to dig into the vaults. Going for a 2CD set of remixes first is fair, as Simply Red’s singles showcased Hucknall’s knowledge of club culture. The Blood And Fire Sound System mix of Ghetto Girl and Jah Wobble’s take on Night Nurse highlight a love of dub, while Perfecto’s dizzying Freedom and Phats & Small’s surprisingly graceful Ain’t That A Lot Of Love demonstrate equal enthusiasm for rave. Arthur Baker brings his impishness to I Won’t Feel Bad. Briefly hyped jazz/soul hybrid Rae & Christian add even more poise to the already lush Love Has Said Goodbye Again. And so it goes on. Seven of the 22 mixes here are…

VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW YEARBOOK ‘84 NOW Launched in June with the exceptional 1983 edition, the Now That’s What I Call Music team naturally move on to 1984 – the first full Now calendar year. Virtually a Best Of from Now 2-4, the sole big artist missing from those compilations is Cyndi Lauper. Otherwise, it’s another fantastic 4CD 80-song set, also available as a 42-song 3LP version. The detail extends to the discs’ theming: huge hits on the first and fourth CDs, indie from Scritti Politti, New Order, The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen on CD2 and a third disc showcasing developments in funk and hip-hop before going Hi-NRG near the end with Miami Sound Machine, Hazell Dean, Divine and The Weather Girls. The only rarity this time is the…

MANTRONIX MUSIC MADNESS DEMON After their 1985 debut The Album offered fruitful future samples for Beastie Boys and Beck, Kurtis Mantronik and MC Tee’s second album furthered their electro pioneering. If Mantronik’s production has naturally dated 35 years on, the joyous jazz collage Big Band B-Boy is mischief worthy of prime Fatboy Slim, while MC Tee’s unfussy vocal style means the title track and Who Is It? pre-date Pump Up The Volume with just as much bite. Mantronix were important, influential and, decades later, this vinyl reissue still carries party potential. JE…

PAUL WELLER DAYS OF SPEED/ILLUMINATION CRAFT Acoustic live album Days Of Speed from 2001 ends Paul Weller’s earnest phase, a worthy showcasing of fine songs but somewhat po-faced compared to his excellent recent music. The transformation began with the following year’s Illumination. It’s not quite a classic, but he was striving to push past his Stanley Road/Heavy Soul comfort zone. It’s Written In The Stars is a brilliant mellow moment, yet Weller is mostly on the front foot, out to attack, aided by Carleen Anderson and Jocelyn Brown’s powerful backing vocals. JE…

PRETENDERS PRETENDERS/PRETENDERS II RHINO Curated by Chrissie Hynde, new 3CD expanded editions of the first two Pretenders albums add B-sides, alternate mixes and demos, with the third discs each comprising live tracks. New coloured LPs of the standard albums coincide. It’ll hopefully restore these rallying call albums from their current status as charity shop staples. A year in the planning, Pretenders bristled with punk’s attitude but was equipped with a cool and sophistication to set them miles apart. That carried on into the follow-up, featuring fewer hits but just as ready with Hynde’s wit and spiky playing. JE…

LIVE & EVENTS SCRITTI POLITTI TOWN HALL, BIRMINGHAM 22 SEPTEMBER Nowadays, artists performing their albums in full is par for the course, more interesting than newsworthy. But Green Gartside running through his career-establishing Cupid & Psyche 85 album is something special – chiefly because by the time the record was released, Scritti Politti were no longer a live entity. No wonder Green is, by his own admission, “terrified” at debuting some of these tunes. Getting the night off to a good start is Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor. In swirly tie-dye-looking day-glo and baseball cap, there’s something of the Elvis Costello about him, if the latter had come up through New Rave rather than New Wave. Launching into a guitar/voice take on Willie Nelson’s On The Road Again is clearly a…

I FEEL LOVE: DONNA SUMMER, GIORGIO MORODER AND HOW THEY REINVENTED MUSIC DAVE THOMPSON BACKBEAT BOOKS September 2021 and Strictly Come Dancing has officially heralded the beginning of autumn. The first note of music heard in the new series was the unmistakably familiar opening to pulsating dance track I Feel Love, proving that its impact and influence remains as potent today as it was when first released 44 years ago. Dave Thompson’s new tome delves deep into Giorgio Moroder’s collaboration with Boston-born chanteuse Donna Summer and examines how their musical magic shaped the future. As well as offering up an exhaustive history of that track and its creation, I Feel Love serves up the backstory of both Moroder and Summer detailing how they came together to create a groundbreaking moment…