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CLASSIC POP

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MAY 2018

SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR She´s back – with strings attached

KIM APPLEBY ˝We weren´t part of the Hit Factory˝

How Scritti Politti‘s creative genius fell back in love with pop

SOPHISTI-POP

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The 15 albums you need to hear now!

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KYLIE MINOGUE • GREEN GARTSIDE • PREFAB SPROUT • KIM APPLEBY • SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR • DAPHNE & CELESTE • THE BEAT STARRING DAVE WAKELING

GREEN GARTSIDE

V E R SA

From PWL to Golden – we celebrate the dancefloor goddess

Prefab Sprout The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling Morrissey Daphne & Celeste Chvrches Sting & Shaggy Alison Moyet Erasure Much more...

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WELCOME TO

CLASSIC SOME POP STARS ARRIVE ON THE SCENE AS THE FINISHED ARTICLE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX, WHILE OTHERS GRADUALLY GROW INTO THE ROLE. KYLIE MINOGUE IS DEFINITELY IN THE LATTER CATEGORY. 40 OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS, WE’VE SEEN SEVERAL REINVENTIONS t’s been fascinating to see Kylie’s AND THE ODD MISSTEP, evolution from the days of the BUT MOST INTRIGUINGLY Stock Aitken and Waterman production line and witness her OF ALL, THE GRADUAL artistic moment of clarity in the early REFINEMENT OF 90s when she started taking control A REMARKABLE of her musical output.

Even more heartening is that POP PERSONA.

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she achieved her biggest success in her 30s. PWLKylie, IndieKylie, DiscoKylie and now CountryKylie – although we now know the last one is somewhat of a red herring after we’ve fully taken in her terrific new album, Golden – there’s something for every pop fan.

Here in the UK, Kylie may be the most beloved pop artist of all time.

It seems almost ridiculous to say there’s something of the underdog about Kylie – anyone who can thrill arena- and stadium-sized audiences around the globe is no shrinking violet, but she’s never given off the bulletproof confidence of Madonna and Beyoncé – there’s an underlying fragility about her which we perhaps find particularly appealing on these shores.

Part of her enduring success may be explained by her down-toearth, girl-next-door appeal. It’s just now next door is a multi-millionpound mansion complete with a glitterball dancefloor.

And how bizarre to think that 30 years’ worth of albums, singles

and tours may never have occurred without Kylie being spotted by chance leading a Neighbours cast singalong at a charity dinner...

In addition to our healthy chunk of La Minogue, we hope you enjoy our generous portion of sophisti-pop in this month’s issue. Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside grants us a very rare audience to talk about his ups and downs as a reluctant chart star; we take an in-depth look at the glorious Prefab Sprout and kick off the debate about the Top 15 sophisti-pop albums of all time.

Does your favourite make our list?

Before I sign off, a quick heads-up about the latest incarnation of Classic Pop. In addition to our print version and web, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram online presence, we’ve now got a mobileresponsive app for those of you who want to read the mag on the go. Search for Classic Pop at Pocketmags, iTunes and Google Play. Enjoy the issue!

Steve Harnell, Editor

Follow me on Twitter: @AnthemEditor

S U B S C R I B E

@ClassicPopMag

With our unique mix of features, interviews and reviews, Classic Pop is unmissable.

Get yours delivered to your door – and save yourself some cash – by subscribing.

Turn to pages 102-103 for details.

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24 40 Follow us @ClassicPopMag

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F E A T U R E S KYLIE MINOGUE 24 From Ramsay Street to new album, Golden, Mark Lindores traces how the princess of pop has continually reinvented herself to stay on top of the charts for the past 30 years CLASSIC ALBUM 36 We take an in-depth look at Kylie Minogue’s eighth studio album, the mega-selling, Fever GREEN GARTSIDE 42 Jonathan Wright meets the genius behind Scritti Politti and discusses the highs and lows of the pop music industry TOP 15: SOPHISTI-POP 48 Featuring Curiosity Killed The Cat, Talk Talk, Deacon Blue, Kate Bush and ABC, Oliver

48 Hurley counts down his choice of the best 15 sophisti-pop albums LOWDOWN: PREFAB SPROUT Matt Phillips reflects on the career of the County Durham collective KIM APPLEBY Darren Scott looks back to a time when “anything was possible” for Kim Appleby POP ART: AREA Andrew Dineley reviews the portfolio of Area with founder Richard Smith DAPHNE & CELESTE The Ooh Stick You and U.G.L.Y. hitmakers are back to save the world SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR Ian Peel talks to the ever-evolving Sophie Ellis-Bextor about her new

50 50 54 60 66

orchestral retrospective of reworked tracks titled The Song Diaries THE PRODUCERS Andy Jones meets Phil Harding, the man behind hits for acts like East 17, 911 and Boyzone DAVE WAKELING The original singer of The Beat tells Douglas McPherson about his new album Here We Go Love!

COMPETITION Win a Braven Bluetooth speaker

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82

109

N E W S 72

POP-UP 08 Our news round-up featuring Culture Club, George Michael, Pet Shop Boys and more...

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ONE HIT WONDER 10 Black Slate’s No.9 hit Amigo BURIED TREASURES 12 Includes Erasure, Lloyd Cole and Kim Wilde LOST & FOUND 14 Hot Chocolate’s eighth studio album, Love Shot GODFATHERS OF POP 17 With Foreigner’s Mick Jones GODFATHERS OF POP 19 We meet Hue And Cry’s Pat Kane

Joy Division, Terence Trent D’Arby, Peter Gabriel, Dire Straits and more POPARAZZI 41 Our readers with some of the biggest names on planet pop TOP 10: 26 MAY 1984 70 Featuring Duran Duran, Wham!, Queen, Deniece Williams, The Pointer Sisters, Phil Collins, Kenny Loggins and more CLASSIC POP MOMENT 114 Paul Weller unveils The Style Council

R E G U L A R S

R E V I E W S

A TO Z OF POP 21 S is for... Slap & Pop THIS MONTH IN POP 22 News from May featuring Paul Hardcastle,

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SINGLES 88 Matthew Rudd on the latest releases from Kylie Minogue, James Bay, Kim Wilde, Craig David and more

NEW ALBUMS 89 Featuring Sting & Shaggy, Chvrches, Alison Moyet and many more REISSUES 94 Includes John Foxx, New York Dolls, Brian Eno and The Human League COMPILATIONS 99 Including Revamp: Reimagining The Songs Of Elton John & Bernie Taupin LONG LIVE VINYL 100 A Record Store Day vinyl swag bag BOOKS 104 Featuring Jake Shears’ Boys Keep Swinging: A Memoir LIVE 110 With Erasure, Morrissey, Lloyd Cole and Paul Weller

110 Subscribe

Subscribe to Classic Pop, save some cash (UK readers only) Pages 102-103

42 13/04/2018 10:11

CLASSIC WHO’S WHO

40

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE KYLIE MINOGUE SONG? EDITOR

Steve Harnell steve.harnell@anthem-publishing.com Confide In Me *1 ART EDITOR Alex Duce

Johnny Black

Right Here, Right Now Darren Scott

What Do I Have To Do

Andrew Dineley

GBI (German Bold Italic)

alex.duce@anthem-publishing.com Kids

Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

PRODUCTION EDITOR Dan Biggane

Where The Wild Roses Grow

Andy Jones

Jonathan Wright

dan.biggane@anthem-publishing.com Some Kind Of Bliss *2

Douglas McPherson

SENIOR ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Sam Willis sam.willis@anthem-publishing.com

White Diamond *5

Chocolate *4

Oliver Hurley Rudy Bolly

Cowboy Style

Put Yourself In My Place *6

FOUNDER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE Ian Peel

If You Don’t Love Me *7

Matt Phillips

ian.peel@anthem-publishing.com Put Yourself In My Place

Richard Purden

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jenny Cook jenny.cook@anthem-publishing.com Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

Wouldn’t Change A Thing

MARKETING MANAGER Gemma Bailey

Put Yourself In My Place *8

gemma.bailey@anthem-publishing.com Where The Wild Roses Grow CONTRIBUTORS Mark Lindores

Confide In Me

Wyndham Wallace

Can’t Get You Out Of My Head Ian Gittins

Confide In Me *3

O U R

Spinning Around

Matthew Rudd Ian Penman

Wow

SOUNDBITES *1 “A watershed moment in Kylie’s career

artistically. Includes drum samples of jazz legend Jimmy Smith covering Barry White.” *2 “She looks absolutely adorable in the accompanying video. Red suits you if you’re reading Kylie!” *3 “Strings and high drama – a great Bond theme that never was.” *4 “As smooth, sensual, sexy – and just a little bit naughty – as the confectionery of the title.” *5 “Written with the Scissor Sisters, this banger of a dancefloor stomp is something of a lost Kylie classic – find it on Showgirl Homecoming Live.” *6 “Kylie’s second Deconstruction single shamefully stalled at No.11, despite the Barbarella-inspired video with a zero gravity striptease.” *7 “Gorgeous acoustic rendering of the Paddy McAloon classic. I didn’t think she had it in her.” *8 “The tenderest of love songs and NOTHING to do with the zero-gravity video.” *9 “Kylie crashed back into our consciousness and established herself as an even bigger star for the new millennium.”

Tom Hocknell

CEO Jon Bickley jon.bickley@anthem-publishing.com

Spinning Around *9

All content copyright Anthem Publishing Ltd 2018, all rights reserved.

While we make every effort to ensure that the factual content of Classic Pop magazine is correct, we cannot take any responsibility nor be held accountable for any factual errors printed. Please make every effort to check quoted prices and product specifications with manufacturers prior to purchase. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or resold without prior consent of Anthem Publishing Ltd. Classic Pop magazine recognises all copyrights contained within the issue. Where possible, we acknowledge the copyright holder.

MANAGING DIRECTOR Simon Lewis simon.lewis@anthem-publishing.com

Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

C O N T R I B U T O R S

Ian Gittins is a music writer for the Guardian, formerly of Melody Maker and Q. He is the co-writer of the best-selling autobiographies of Nikki Sixx, David Essex and Shane Filan, among many more, and the author of A Perfect Dream, an illustrated history of the 40-year career of The Cure, to be published this autumn. Classic Pop welcomes Ian to the fold to oversee our reissues section.

Anthem Publishing Suite 6, Piccadilly House, London Road, Bath, BA1 6PL Tel +44 (0)1225 489984 www.classicpopmag.com

Mark Lindores grew up during the golden age of pop mags, devouring Smash Hits and Number One. He now writes about the artists he used to read about for Classic Pop, Total Film and Mixmag. As well as reviewing the best new books and DVDs, this month Mark serves up our expansive Kylie cover feature and looks at her classic album, Fever.

Darren Scott has a career based on variations of the words “a bit like Smash Hits“ and has now written for more magazines, newspapers and websites than he can shake a fright wig at. This issue, he tries to decipher a conversation with Daphne & Celeste, and is granted a rare audience with Kim Appleby.

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UP B

It’s A Miracle! Boy George & Culture Club announce tour

oy George has compared Culture Club’s on-off relationship as being like the one between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Talking on BBC’s The One Show, the flamboyant frontman said: “We’ve broken up so many times, we’re like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Roy [Hay] will say things like, ‘why don’t you sing it more soulfully like Mick Hucknall’... I do love Mick, but we know how to push each other’s buttons.”

The singer was on the show to promote the first leg of their Life Tour and revealed that the band, completed

by Mikey Craig and Jon Moss, were in the studio working on a new album. He said: “I’m very excited about this record. It’s definitely the best thing we’ve ever done and my voice is stronger now... it’s so exciting!”

After originally breaking up in 1986, the band has reformed and toured on numerous occasions. However, George is still looking forward to revisiting the classics.

“Those hits are a gift at a live show. Karma Chameleon is a song you do last so nobody leaves,” he laughed. “We’ve done this for a long time and kinda know how to play it.”

The tour, which kicks off on 9 November in Nottingham, will also feature Belinda Carlisle and Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey. “We have put together an amazing show that is going to be filled with fabulous memories,” says George.

“We know it will be hands down the best night out. To be here, 30 years on, to go out on tour, fill venues and have an audience is quite mind-blowing. It’s a lot of work, we’re doing the US, then the UK and, hopefully, the UK leg will be extended.”

Madonna’s flight of fancy

M

adonna is getting behind the camera again, to direct two new movies. The Material Girl has reportedly signed on to helm Taking Flight, the true story of Michaela DePrince, who grew up an orphan in war-torn Sierra Leone but rose to become a world-renowned ballerina.

After her parents died DePrince was adopted by an American family and went on to appear in videos with Beyoncé. Madonna is also in talks to direct the Andrew Sean Greer adaptation, The Impossible Lives Of Greta Wells. The films would be Madonna’s first directorial projects since 2011’s poorly received W.E., which was based on the romance between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Prior to that she directed 2008 comedy, Filth And Wisdom.

The singer has also been busy of late sharing pictures from the recording studio promising new music imminently, as well launching further cosmetics as part of her MDNA range.

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WE HAVE PUT TOGETHER AN AMAZING SHOW THAT IS GOING TO BE FILLED WITH FABULOUS MEMORIES B O Y

G E O R G E

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UP

No.40

AMIGO BLACK SLATE Black Slate established a huge reputation as a backing band for the most highly-rated reggae singers of the 70s, so there was ample goodwill when they went into the studio themselves.

A multi-national sextet formed in London, they provided the music for Ken Boothe when he toured the UK on the back of his success with Everything I Own, and later performed with Bob Marley’s favourite singer Dennis Brown at the end of the 70s after the youthful reggae star broke into the UK mainstream with Money In My Pocket. In between, they fitfully recorded their own material, reaching the specialist reggae and indie charts.

Amigo, a rallying call to Rastafarians and a catchy single, was the title track of their second album and peaked at No.9 in the UK in October 1980, just four weeks after release.

A follow-up, Boom Boom, missed the Top 40, stalling at No.51. They continued to gig and release music throughout the 80s and, though there have been long breaks and multiple line-up changes, Black Slate remain together as an entity. Chris Hanson (guitar) and Desmond Mahoney (drums) are the original members still involved.

They are on the bill to perform at the One Love Festival between 31 August and 2 September.

Matthew Rudd is the host of Forgotten 80s on Absolute 80s

LENNOX HANGS UP HER PEN Annie Lennox hasn’t written a pop song in 10 years and inspiration is unlikely to strike soon.

“Oh, years ago the muse left me,” she admits, perhaps an unfortunate by-product of finding happiness with her third husband Dr Mitch Besser. “I don’t know that I had to be unhappy to write, but I often was unhappy and the feelings were predominantly painful, sad and melancholic.

There is a beauty in that, without question.” Lennox recently took to the Sadler’s Wells stage for An Evening of Music and Conversation – her first solo show in London for many years.

For somebody so familiar and ingrained in popular culture she does her best to keep away from the public eye. Lennox told the Sunday Times magazine: “I tried to avoid red carpets and keep my head down. This whole world of celebrity they talk about now, it’s completely vacuous.

I can’t stand the star bullshit. I’ve realised over the years just how uncomfortable it makes me feel.” The star’s solo albums Diva and Medusa were recently reissued on vinyl.

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Ch-Ch-Changing names

A petition has been started by David Bowie fans to change the name of Aylesbury to “Aylesbowie” in honour of the late star. Legend has it that his Ziggy Stardust persona made his first appearance in the Buckinghamshire town, specifically at the Friars venue in the early 70s. David Stopps, who first came up with the idea, insists it isn’t as outlandish as it first sounds, saying: “Since records began there have been 57 variations of the town’s name.” Buckinghamshire County Council responded dryly: “It’s an interesting idea and perhaps on 25 March we could all think Aylesbowie – just for one day!”

The council were referring to a successful crowd-funding appeal, again by Stopps, to build a Bowie statue in the market square. The finished article – depicting Bowie in full Ziggy regalia amongst other famous looks – was vandalised less than 48 hours after it was unveiled.

The words “feed the homeless first” had been spray-painted on the ground in front of the statue, while “RIP DB” was painted on the wall behind the sculpture.

George’s secret project

G

eorge Michael was planning a secret project shortly before he died.

The star opened up to Desert Island Discs presenter Kirsty Young while they worked on his documentary Freedom in 2016. “He was optimistic and in the moment.” Young revealed at the TRIC Awards.

“He said to me that he felt the thing that he would do next would be his best thing ever.

When I spoke to George, the future was in front of him. There was something on the horizon.

He was talking about something new.”

However, the singer kept his cards close to his chest, right until the end. “George hinted about new projects, but refused to give details,” she added. “I think he was starting to write again.

I presumed it was an album, but he did not specify about that or talk about touring.”

George passed away at his home in Goringon-Thames on Christmas Day 2016, aged 53.

Recalling their meeting, Kirsty said: “When we had finished recording we went out to his garden and he was talking about his plans for replanting here and how he was going to do a bit there.

“He was chatting and we were having a glass of wine. I didn’t sense any loneliness. He had friends around the day I spoke to him. I was obviously not aware this was going to be the last interview. With hindsight, it would have been a different interview.”

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UP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

BURIED TREASURES

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Which single did Kylie co-write with James Dean Bradfield on her Impossible Princess album?

Name Mel & Kim’s only studio album Which indie band was fronted

by Sophie Ellis-Bextor?

The Word Girl appears on which Scritti Politti album?

Ryuichi Sakamoto teamed up with which musician for the song Forbidden Colours?

Sheena Easton sang the theme song to which Bond film?

Whose albums include Lovers Rock and Love Deluxe?

Name the lead singer of Johnny Hates Jazz

Hollywood film director Jonathan Demme was behind which New Order video?

What is Kid Creole’s real name?

Whose forthcoming solo album will be titled Call The Comet?

John Foxx is the former frontman of which band?

Which New Mexico city appears in Prefab Sprout’s The King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll?

Lorraine McIntosh is a member of which Scottish sophisti-pop group?

HOW DID YOU DO? 13-15 You´re the Best 10-12 Ain’t No Stoppin´ Us Now 6-9 Rip It Up 0-5 Beat It 12

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1 Some Kind Of Bliss; 2 The Grid; 3. F.L.M; 4 Theaudience; 5 Cupid & Psyche 85; 6 David Sylvian; 7 For Your Eyes Only; 8 Sade; 9 Clark Datchler; 10 The Perfect Kiss; 11 August Darnell; 12 Johnny Marr; 13 Ultravox; 14 Albuquerque; 15 Deacon Blue

Soft Cell’s Dave Ball formed which electronic group with Richard Norris?

ooting around those boxes of “junk” in your loft may turn up more than you bargained for. While many vinyl releases from the 70s, 80s and 90s are worth next to nothing (nostalgic value aside, of course), some could land you a small fortune – should you choose to part with them. Here, we take four rare artefacts to the experts at 991.com and ask them for a valuation. Browse their online store at www.991.com, or tweet them about your own buried treasure @991dotcom.

KYLIE MINOGUE KYLIE MINOGUE This 10-track Dutch pressing of her 1994 self-titled album (catalogue number 74321227491), includes the singles Confide In Me, Put Yourself In My Place and Where Is The Feeling? With its glossy picture sleeve and original picture/credits printed inner, a mint condition can fetch £75.

HEAVENLY ACTION ERASURE Issued by Mute Records in November 1985, this limited edition release was the synthpop duo’s second single and only reached No.100 on the UK charts. The two-track 12” single includes a unique picture sleeve and features the Yellow Brick Mix and Don’t Say No [Ruby Red Mix].

VALUE £75 *MINT

VALUE £60

DON’T GET WEIRD ON ME BABE LLOYD COLE Reaching No.21 on its release in 1991, this UK 12-track vinyl LP was recorded in two parts: one side follows the rock of his first solo album, while the other features a session orchestra. It includes illustrated credits on the inner sleeve.

YOU KEEP ME HANGIN´ ON KIM WILDE This rare, Japanese six-track CD single, features remixes and extended versions of Another Step (Closer to You), Rage To Love, Say You Really Want Me, The Second Time and The Touch. It comes with picture sleeve, fold-out Japanese insert and obi-strip.

VALUE £30

VALUE £50

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buying vinyl? explore or our selling buried treasure! since 1987, the 991.com team has been buying & selling vinyl. we always want mint condition LPs, EPs, 45s, CDs, posters, programmes, music memorabilia & more. from the Classic Pop to the obscure: 80’s, 70’s, 60’s pop & rock prog, psych, blues, folk & jazz.

Do They Know It’s a comedy?

Midge Ure and Bob Geldof became the unwitting stars of a new TV comedy recently. Neil Forsyth’s film titled Backstage At Live Aid aired in April as part of Sky Arts’ latest series of Urban Myth shorts, and focused on the tensions behind the scenes on that famous day at Wembley Stadium in July 1985.

“This was inspired by the multiple music industry urban myths about Live Aid I’ve heard and read over the years, and was a chance to bring them all together,” Forsyth told The Courier. “I also wanted to show how impressive Bob Geldof’s achievement was in putting on the show and the myriad issues he faced on the day, including Elton John being furious with Noel Edmonds for landing his helicopter in his garden and ruining his begonias.”

In The Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston landed the role of Midge Ure because of his uncanny resemblance to the Ultravox singer. Forsyth added, “When I was flicking through old pictures of Midge, I came across one that I actually thought was a picture of Martin Compston slipped in by mistake.

Martin’s an old pal, even though we had never worked with each other. I sent him the pic as he lives in Los Angeles now and he told me he’d love to play the role.” Freddie Mercury, Elton John and even Sade pop up in the Sky show, which is still available to view on Now TV. Meanwhile, the real Midge Ure is backing a new campaign to scrap VAT on safety products in the home. The singer is urging the UK government to ditch the 20 percent tax on a range of products and services including fire alarms, gas safety checks, carbon monoxide detectors, fire doors and fire extinguishers.

selling? bring your mint items to monthly Kent or London buying days or other times by appointment. free appraisals given - check the site for dates, venues & directions. buying and collecting? fill the gaps in your collection with 15% off at 991.com - use code CPSUMMER15 at the checkout.

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L OS T & F O U N D

No.40

LOVE SHOT HOT CHOCOLATE Hot Chocolate were a classic example of the music snob’s contempt for an act that was far from cool but massively popular.

Love Shot, the band’s eighth studio album, was as modestly received as the rest of their catalogue. However, with their slick melodies, adaptation of numerous musical fashions and an instantly recognisable lead singer, Hot Chocolate were fantastic.

That they had an entry in the UK singles chart every year from 1970 to 1984 says a lot, and this affable album brings that glorious run to its conclusion.

Love Shot followed the Hot Chocolate formula of exceptional lyrics on amiable melodies, all harnessed by Errol Brown’s charisma. Three singles came from it, including the jolly I Gave You My Heart (Didn’t I), which earnt them their last original Top 20 hit, and the more maudlin Tears On The Telephone.

Sentimentality works thanks to Brown’s charm on mid-tempo tracks Jeannie and Let’s Try Again, while Friend Of Mine hints at darker stuff related to a love triangle. The bouncy Touch The Night is a standout track – the soulful chorus befitting their disco-influenced 70s heyday.

Love Shot was released on the Rak label and was scorned or shunned by critics. The band disbanded afterwards and Brown went on alone as a solo artist.

Matthew Rudd

UP Music for Eno fans

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ew, rare and previously unreleased music will feature on a vast boxset

by Brian Eno. Due on 4 May, Music For Installations is a 6CD and 9LP set containing work Eno has produced for various events and audio-visual installations from 1986 right up to the current day. Eno worked with long-time collaborator Nick Robertson to create various formats including a limited edition numbered package containing a 64-page Plexiglas bound book with rare and unseen exhibition photos along with a typically enlightening new essay written by Eno himself.

Eno recently opened Bloom: Open Space in Amsterdam – an art and music installation using 3D technology. “I want to be able to be inside the music, to walk around and examine it from different places,” he told the New York Times. “I don’t feel this is a replacement for other musical experiences. I feel it’s an easy thing to add.” ● Music For Installations is reviewed on page 96.

Tennant sets the barre high In a parallel universe Neil Tennant is a ballet dancer. The Pet Shop Boys vocalist witnessed the Royal Ballet performing Giselle in Newcastle as a child with his brother and they were so enamoured he borrowed a Teach Yourself Ballet book from his local library. “We used the radiator as a barre,” Tennant told the New York Times. “I moved on and decided I wanted to be an actor. And then I thought I might have the potential for being a pop star.”

Tennant did, of course, eventually fulfil some ballet ambition with his production, The Most Incredible Thing, which earned rave reviews during its Sadler’s Wells Theatre run in London during 2011. The production was too expensive to tour but a scaled down version ran at the Knight Theater in North Carolina earlier this year. The cost and commitment hasn’t put the Pet Shop Boys off doing another ballet one day, but Neil Tennant admitted: “It’s not like three-act narrative ballets come along every day of the week.”

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N E W S

OMD IN THE PINK Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark might be enjoying a second wind in the United States, but it wasn’t until the mid-80s that the band hit their stride overseas thanks to John Hughes and his movie Pretty In Pink. “We met him, Molly Ringwald and Jon Cryer,” recalls Andy McCluskey.

“He needed a song for the final prom scene and we gave him one. He said that he loved it, but had changed the ending and asked if we could write another. We were about to start touring, but went into a Hollywood studio and had finished one by 4am. We had it delivered to him for 9am.”

The song OMD delivered was If You Leave and it became their biggest hit in the US, but they were never satisfied with the finished product. “It could have been better if we had more time. It’s a good track from a period when we were writing a lot of songs quickly out of necessity. ” Despite chart success OMD didn’t reap the riches many other British invasion acts enjoyed. “For all the millions of records we sold, we never made the money that Depeche [Mode] did, because we signed a terrible contract,” McCluskey tells the Chicago Tribune. “We sold 20 million singles and 12 million albums, but we owed Virgin £12 million, and not because we bought castles and yachts. We were on a schedule where we had six weeks to write a record, because we needed the money.”

CHECK OUT OUR WEBSHOP!

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TUSMØRKE

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out

04.05

out

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DOBBELTGJENGER

IN LIMBO

out now

Dobbeltgjenger is here to bring back the groove and fun in the serious and eclectic rock style. Let’s just call it futuristic retro rock. Consists of members from Major Parkinson and Ossicles.

PLENTY | IT COULD BE HOME Formed in 1986, Plenty was Tim Bowness’s immediate pre-no-man band. In 2016 and 2017, Bowness and fellow founder members Brian Hulse and David K Jones re-recorded Plenty’s catalogue of 1980s songs, which alternating between anthemic pop, poignant ballads and ambient experiments.

An album 30 years in the making!

Distributed by: www.plastichead.com

More psychedelic, progressive folk rock from Tusmørke. “Fjernsyn i farver” (“Colour Television”) is their 6th full length album, loosely based on two concepts of light, time and reality.

Featuring members of Wobbler, Jordsjø and Alwanzatar.

JORDSJØ | JORD

out now

For the first time, Jordsjø has one of their releases out on a good old compact disc! Symphonic prog from the flourishing Oslo scene, for fans of Änglagård, Wobbler, Sinkadus.

Featuring band members from Tusmørke and Black Magic.

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12/04/2018 17:01

UP Ladytron return to The Circus Electroclash kids Ladytron are back and they have a synth legend on their side. The quartet who enjoyed cult status at the start of the century released The Animals, their first song in seven years in March, backed by a remix from Erasure’s Vince Clarke. “We have always wanted to work with Vince in some way, he’s obviously a legend in our sphere,” says Ladytron’s Daniel Hunt.

Vocalist Helen Marnie, who has released two solo albums since the band’s hiatus, added: “The Animals was the first new song we had and we immediately went into the studio with Jim Abbiss.

He’s the producer who has really understood us the most.”

Ladytron will be on tour throughout the year.

Luxury Gap ‘still relevant’

Heaven 17 are hitting the road to toast an old classic. Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware celebrate the 35th anniversary of their 1983 masterpiece, The Luxury Gap, with a 10-date winter tour.

Ware promises “spectacular” performances of H17’s postmodern critique of society adding: “The themes of the songs are more relevant than ever before.”

It kicks off at Northampton’s Roadmender on 9 November and wraps up with a homecoming date at Sheffield O2 Academy on 8 December. Visit heaven17.com for more information.

A ‘psychedelic puzzle’ for Cure‘s Robert

R

obert Smith has unveiled the first round of names due to perform at his Meltdown Festival this summer. The Cure man has the honour of curating the 25th edition of the event at London’s Southbank Centre with highlights including sets by The Church, Kristin Hersh, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, Placebo, The Notwist, The Psychedelic Furs and Manic Street Preachers. Smith remarked: “Curating this 25th Meltdown festival is a dream come true, a fantastic experience... albeit getting 60 wonderful artists, including many of my all-time favourites, to come together for 10 days in June is not without its challenges – as one of my predecessors noted, it is akin to figuring out a giant psychedelic puzzle. But as each invitee confirms, as each shimmering piece falls into place, I pinch myself – this is really happening. And the complete picture will undoubtedly be out of this world!”

The concert series takes place across multiple venues between 15-24 June.

The Cure themselves follow the event with a huge gig at BST Hyde Park in London on 7 July.

PA L O M A’ S A C L A S S A C T Paloma Faith fears the working class is being forced out of pop music. The star believes that opportunities are drying up for those less well off or connected. “The greatest music in Britain has come from that [working class],” she said. “But creative industries are now geared towards making no money and if you come from no money you can’t do that. The Prince’s Trust helped me when I felt like I couldn’t live up to my full potential because of financial problems. They help young people do that, now it’s important the cycle continues.”

Paloma also got a leg up by telling a little white lie.

“I was lucky because I had management willing to invest in me,” she told the Daily Star. “I was supporting my sister and had to work, but they said we’ll match what you earn. So I lied and said I earned more than I did and got myself a pay rise from working in a knicker shop.”

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GODFATHERS of

B

ritish guitar-slinger Mick Jones cut his musical teeth in the band of Johnny Hallyday, the ‘French Elvis’, in the 60s. Returning to England, he joined Spooky Tooth before winding up in New York in the mid-70s, where he formed Foreigner with ex-King Crimson multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and US singer Lou Gramm.

The transatlantic rockers went on to sell 80 million records and scored No.1 hits with the ballads Waiting For A Girl Like You and I Want To Know What Love Is. You have a new album, Foreigner With The 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. How did that come about?

We were looking at the tour schedule for last year and I noticed we had a couple of extra days in Lucerne, Switzerland.

I was then told that they liked the idea of us going down to play a concert with the orchestra at their new concert hall.

We decided it may not be a bad idea and before I knew it, I was in New York preparing orchestrations with Dave Egger, who I chose to be the arranger. We packed ourselves off to Lucerne for a week to rehearse with the orchestra – it was quite an event.

Did you feel the pressure of making a live album and DVD with so many musicians?

Definitely. It was okay when we were rehearsing and everybody was relaxed, but when the curtain rises, it’s a different thing!

But it felt great. It was wonderful having passages where the orchestra is very powerful and strident and others where it’s very tender and emotional. Some of my favourite bits are the interludes between songs. The overture came off really well.

We were very happy with that.

Will you be playing the orchestral versions on tour?

We’re doing eight or nine concerts

J O N E S

© Babs Marks

M I C K

with a cut-down orchestra between our normal shows this summer. We haven’t got anything set for England yet, which surprised me, because we’re playing the Albert Hall on 16 May and I thought that would have been a good opportunity to do one. Someone asked me if we’re changing our direction and I said: “No, no, this isn’t going to be the new Foreigner.”

The recording was really part of our 40th anniversary year, when we wanted to do a few special things for the fans.

We’ve also been playing with members of the original line-up, including Lou Gramm. I wouldn’t have believed that if you’d told me last year, but we did a thing in New York where Lou and four of the original guys got up with us and tore the house down. So we’re going to do a few more of those during the summer, featuring Lou and our current singer, Kelly Hansen.

Having led the band through four decades and many line-up changes, what are the main things you’ve learned?

That it’s not for the faint-hearted! I guess it’s down to the vision that I developed in

the years leading up to starting the band.

I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to start from and aspirations as to where we’d end up.

It required me to be a bit of a taskmaster in certain areas at certain times. Sometimes I had to have confrontations but I had to accept that it was all part of keeping the integrity of the sound and direction.

I felt that I was the captain of the ship and had to get everybody to share my vision with me.

Looking back, do you have a favourite period of the band?

Just the year leading up to the first release, 1977’s Foreigner. Putting the songs and band together. Locked away in this little studio just off Broadway in New York, doing the auditions and the excitement.

It was a really important time in my life.

I figured I’d paid my dues in other people’s bands and this time it was something I was responsible for. There was just some magic about the way it came together.

I remember, at the end of it, laying down one night and listening to the whole album for the first time on headphones.

My eyes started dripping. I couldn’t believe it, because it was finally real and I thought: “Is this what we’ve been doing over the past year?. Wow”... It really moved me.

What’s next for Foreigner?

Lou and I have started listening to some old tapes that I hadn’t heard for 12 or 15 years, and there’s a good possibility that we might try to bring those to light.

There are a couple of cool songs that might be the nucleus of an EP perhaps.

So hopefully there may be a little ‘new-old’ Foreigner on the way.

Douglas McPherson ● Foreigner With The 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus is released via earMusic and is reviewed on page 92.

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10/04/2018 13:18

Video Tech THREE PROMO VIDEO NUGGETS FROM THE SOPHISTI-POP LOCKER

TALK TALK TALK TALK, 1982

The fantastic Talk Talk in full-on angsty mode. Perhaps sponsored

by Colgate, Mark Hollis and keyboardist Simon Brenner compete to see who can bare the most teeth while they’re trapped in a glass case of emotion. A UK chart placing of just No.52 hardly did the track justice. bit.ly/2Cnwbk1

JOHNNY HATES JAZZ TURN BACK THE CLOCK, 1987

Relocating the boys to a leafy autumnal location in the US, there’s a Spielbergian/Stranger Things vibe to the video for this wistful ode to the simplicities of childhood and the director makes the most of frontman Clark Datchler’s leading man looks. bit.ly/1b7UkwR

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT ORDINARY DAY, 1987

On a set that looks like it’s been equipped by The White Company, drummer Migi Drummond plays traffic cones and dustbin lids in the garage while guitarist Julian Brookhouse gets wheeled under a car with axe still attached. Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot is on good form with his loose-limbed wonky dancing. bit.ly/2EwDDLI

Take That hit the West End

T

ake That are bringing their hit musical The Band to London. The show, which has been touring the UK, will open at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 1 December for a six-week run. Accompanying the 50-show residency will be a new greatest hits package, which will feature re-imagined versions of their best-loved songs. Gary Barlow tells Classic Pop: “The timing is purely coincidental because we’ve been wanting to put the Greatest Hits together for a while. We are spending a bit of time finding the right arrangements and planning a tour as well.

“I feel we’re worth more than just a run-of-the-mill compilation of old songs.

It’s an interesting process reworking them and we are thoroughly enjoying it. We got all the old multi-track tapes and digitised them.

There’s a few that we’ve re-imagined from scratch.”

Mark Owen adds: “The songs mean a lot to us so we want to do things without losing them completely.”

As for The Band, that must go on as well. Mark reveals: “We are talking about taking it to Germany, Canada and Australia, it deserves to be seen... Broadway would be amazing, too.”

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GODFATHERS of

P A T

K A N E

P

adolescent state of mind where everything was extreme. We had our disputes, but they were mostly hormonal rather than anything that really mattered, and now we’re literally the best of friends.

at Kane formed the jazz-infused Hue And Cry with his brother Greg in the mid-80s. Hailing from Coatbridge, near Glasgow, the duo scored their biggest hit in 1987 when Labour Of Love reached No.6 in the UK charts.

Further success followed with the singles Looking For Linda, Ordinary Angel and the Violently EP. By the end of the 90s the pair decided to concentrate on their solo projects, before reconvening in 2005 for the ITV1 show Hit Me Baby One More Time. They released their latest album, Pocketful Of Stones, at the end of last year and are about to embark on a tour with The Christians.

In 2015, you released an album of Frank Sinatra material called September Songs. Was Ol’ Blue Eyes a big influence on you?

Inescapably... almost neurologically. What I mean by that is my father used to sing me to sleep as a baby by crooning Sinatra songs straight into my temple. It was the only thing that would quieten me down.

That’s how deep me and Frank go!

Was it obvious growing up that you and Greg would form a musical partnership?

Gregory was heavily involved in the punk and post-punk scene. He was always forming or joining bands, playing saxophone and keyboards. One day we all started to play in our mum’s front room.

I think the song was Start!, by The Jam, and it sounded like my voice would work in a group context. Eventually we decided that we should form a band that was just a partnership. That was 1985 or ‘86, and it all went crazy from there.

Did you think Labour Of Love would be your big breakthrough when you wrote it?

I argued that it shouldn’t come out as a single. I said: “This is too complex for the mainstream.” It’s an industrial metaphor –

withdraw my labour of love – and I thought nobody would get the hook. I thought the beat was too complicated and that nobody would be able to dance to it. I thought it would be a terrible mistake. As a result, nobody has ever listened to me since, when it comes to what singles should be released off a record – and who could blame them?

I’m incredibly proud of the song, though, and that’s the thing about our relationship with our back catalogue. We were listening to our idols like Steely Dan, Scritti Politti and Elvis Costello and we tried to reach those heights. It’s in the ear of the beholder whether we did so or not, but we can go back to our songs from 30 years ago and still be delighted to sing them because they were the best that we could make them.

A lot of sibling acts have fallen out badly. How have you and Greg managed to stay together?

We’ve kept it together because we admire each other’s musical talents and instincts.

There’s nothing more exciting than when a bit of telepathy happens between two brothers making music. We did some growing up in public and we were in that

Why did you decide to reform the duo on the TV show Hit Me Baby One More Time in 2005?

One factor is that I’m the Liza Minnelli of the partnership and Greg is the Kurt Cobain. I’m always up for a bit of showbiz and he’s up for living in the studio and making records. So, I wanted to do it because I thought it would be a lot of fun, which it was. Secondly, around that time, YouTube was kicking off and we discovered that there had been 100,000 views of old videos of us on Top Of The Pops. I said to Gregory that this could be a great way to reconnect with the community of fans that were evidently still out there and then, using all this new digital technology and social media, maybe find a way of putting albums out in our own way without being beholden to any corporate entity. It’s been a very interesting ride this past 10 or 11 years.

Your most recent album, Pocketful Of Stones, includes a duet with your daughter on Let Her Go – a song about her leaving home to start drama school. Are you happy to see her following you into the entertainment business?

I am. I have a theory that in the next 20 to 30 years most routine jobs are going to be done by algorithms or robots, so the roles they can’t do will be the things that you should push your children into.

There’s a line in the song about triple threat performers – they dance, act and sing – and that’s what Eleanor is. She’s just scored a lead part in the Young Vic’s new musical, Fun Home. So, she’s on her way.

Douglas McPherson ● Hue And Cry are about to tour the UK with The Christians. Visit hueandcry.co.uk for details.

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© Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

UP Tiffany laments magical malls

Tiffany famously made her name performing at US shopping malls in the 80s, so it’s no surprise she’s concerned that so many of those shops are closing down. There’s been a huge decline in retail sales thanks to internet shopping. The star says: “I think it’s a shame.

Malls were destinations and there was something magical about them. Yes, online shopping is really convenient, and I’m all for small business. But we’re missing out on some of those activities that were just fun and connected people.”

During the 80s, the I Think We’re Alone Now singer was often pitted against chart nemesis Debbie Gibson. However, talking to Tampabay.com, Tiffany said: “I love her [Gibson], she’s one of my dearest friends.

“The rivalry thing was never really from us, but we’ve had fun with it over the years. We’ve learned to really respect each other’s working form. And as friends, we talk as girls. We don’t have a problem.”

Tune in again

Freak Power, the 90s funkateers, are back minus their most familiar face, Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook. The band recently issued a brand new EP titled, United State marking their first music since 1999. Now they are hitting the road again much to vocalist and trombonist Ashley Slater’s delight: “I’m terrifically excited to be writing and releasing new material, and a little depressed that my socio-politically slanted lyrics are still as relevant today as they ever were.”

Freak Power enjoyed a huge hit with Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out at the second time of asking in 1995, thanks to its use in a jeans commercial. Cook left shortly afterwards to create Fatboy Slim and redefine the term DJ.

Reinvigorated Ryuichi’s creative revival

A

mbient master Ryuichi Sakamoto has been making up for lost time following health problems. The Academy Award-winning Japanese musician is enjoying a creative revival after recovering from throat cancer with numerous projects. Async Remodels, a set of remixes based on his 2017 album Async, has reinvigorated the star and encouraged further work with young up-and-coming producers involved like Arca and Oneohtrix Point Never.

Async was Sakamoto’s first solo album in seven years and perhaps reflects his status as an elder statesman of electronica. “I was aware of that theme of mortality in my music since around 2009,” he told The Guardian. “The decaying and the disappearance of the piano sound is very much symbolic of life and mortality. It’s not sad. I just meditate about it. I have a longing for violin or organ. Is it too simple to say those sustaining sounds symbolise immortality?”

Among Sakamoto’s other arts events is the Ultima Festival, installations for museums in Paris and Kyoto combining art and science, and work on of two new soundtracks for Korean films.

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12/04/2018 17:02

IAN PEEL’S A TO Z of S

IS

FOR...

SLAP

&

POP

DOES SLAP BASS HAVE A PLACE IN POP, OR IS IT A RARE ASTEROID HITTING OUR UNIVERSE FROM PLANET FUNK? I WOULD ARGUE ITS IMPORTANCE, AS THE BEATING HEART OF EVERYTHING FROM POST-PUNK TO SYNTH-POP.

1

984 was as epochal in the eyes of pop fans as it was in those of George Orwell, we all know that.

And one of the iconic moments of the year was Chaka Khan’s breakthrough, Prince-penned No.1 single. While most people remember the two main lines of the chorus – “I feel for you, I think I love you” – it’s the third, a descending slap & pop bassline, that did it for me.

Does such playing have a place in pop, or is it a rare asteroid hitting our universe from planet funk? I’d argue that, more than having a place, slap & pop can be found at pivotal moments in every chapter of the classic pop story: disco, new wave, post-punk, sophisti-pop and even synth-pop...

What is slap & pop exactly? It’s the ultra-funky style of bass playing, whose chief exponent is Level 42’s Mark King. Some people call it thumb bass (Mark even released a record as Thunderthumbs). Some call it slap bass or just slap. But the “pop” is just as important to the sound, in which players slap the lower strings with their thumb and pop out the higher strings with their first and middle fingers.

It’s the popping in particular that you can hear all over disco tracks.

Like Cher’s Take Me Home or ABBA’s Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), the pops jumping off those spiralling, Madonna-inspiring strings.

While Mark King is the figurehead of slap & pop, an unsung hero is John Taylor of Duran Duran. Notorious wouldn’t have been the same without his bassline, and he’s still slapping and popping, most recently on Pressure Off featuring Janelle Monáe.

Another unsung hero is Nick Beggs of

“Slap & pop can be found at pivotal moments in every chapter of the classic pop story: disco, new wave, post-punk, sophisti-pop and even synth-pop” Kajagoogoo who put slap & pop centre stage on all the band’s early tracks – Too Shy, Big Apple – and more experimental pieces like Islands/The Pump Rooms of Bath.

It’s a style of playing – giving the music an indiscernible, absorbing feel – that connects the most unlikely artists.

From Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes to Katy Perry’s California Gurls. From Nena’s 99 Red Balloons to Lionel Richie’s Dancing On The Ceiling.

Or from Heaven 17’s Play To Win to Murray Head’s One Night in Bangkok.

Slap & pop’s the only thing any of these records could possibly have in common!

It’s in The Blue Nile’s Tinseltown In The Rain, too, adding a level of sophistication that you can hear across the unholy trinity of S is for Sophisti-pop: Sade, The Style Council and Simply Red. No real surprises there, but you might raise an eyebrow at some of the other songs in which I’ve noticed it appear, down in the rocky end of the spectrum.

Have you noticed it on Billy Idol’s Flesh for Fantasy, Dire Straits’ One World from Brothers in Arms and The Cure’s Let’s Go To Bed? My own personal favourite slap & pop tracks, the complete works of Level 42 notwithstanding? Top of the list would be pretty much anything by Shriekback who – on albums like Oil & Gold and Big Night Music – placed the style in a dark, intense post-punk context.

Likewise A Certain Ratio, across all their back catalogue. Just start with Lucinda from 1983’s Sextet on Factory Records and take it from there.

I also loved it when Jean-Michel Jarre used slap & pop to add an organic layer to his synthesized worlds on Zoolook and Zoolookologie.

And I always recommend perhaps the most unsung slap & pop hero of all, Haircut One Hundred’s Les Nemes who seemed to become a master of the style overnight on their second album, the Balearic masterpiece that is Paint And Paint.

Thumbs up, I say. Even on singles that are so massive you needn’t mention the artist name: PYT (Pretty Young Thing), Club Tropicana, Fame… Slap & pop is the beating heart of them all.

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09/04/2018 16:33

T H I S

M O N T H

I N...

1985

P

aul Hardcastle, previously best-known as keyboardist for the jazz-funk combo Direct Drive, began experiencing solo success when his track Rain Forest knocked Madonna off the top of the US dance chart. “I got signed to Chrysalis Records on the strength of doing so well in America,” he has recalled. “When I told Chrysalis that my next idea was to do a song about the Vietnam War, they all thought I was mad.”

Nevertheless, the single was released. “We had an immense stroke of luck in that 19 came out on the 10th anniversary of the [end of the] Vietnam War,” explained Paul. “So when News At Ten was reporting on that, they tagged a bit on the end saying that a young record producer had just released a single about the war, and they played it on the TV. I was surprised, but he was totally gobsmacked.”

Two weeks later, 19 went to No.4, then jumped to No.1. “Something nobody knew at the time,” reveals Hardcastle, “was that, when Rory Bremner did that send-up version, N-N-Nineteen Not Out, that was me doing the music, once more against my record company’s wishes.”

MaY

PAUL HARDCASTLE’S COMMENTARY ON THE AGE OF U.S. SERVICEMEN IN THE VIETNAM WAR TOPS THE CHARTS AND JOY DIVISION’S IAN CURTIS COMMITS SUICIDE, DURING MAY’S PIVOTAL MOMENTS IN POP HISTORY J O H N N Y

B L A C K

1980

The first edition of style mag The Face is published, featuring Jerry Dammers of The Specials on its cover.

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 1980 Dexys Midnight Runners reach No.1 in the UK singles chart with Geno, their homage to 60s soul star Geno Washington.

1982

Duran Duran release a new single, Hungry Like The Wolf, in the UK. 1988 Wishing Well by Terence Trent D’Arby reaches No.1 in the Billboard Top 40 singles chart in the United States.

1981

Sheena Easton reaches No.1 in the Billboard singles chart in the United States with Morning Train (9 To 5).

1980

O

n the eve of his band’s departure for a tour of the United States, Ian Curtis, singer and songwriter with Joy Division, was found hanged at his home in Macclesfield. Press reports at the time depicted him as ‘depressed’ but that single word gave no hint of the complexity of the factors that drove him to take his own life.

Although he hid a great deal of his misery from his bandmates, it soon became clear the breakdown of his marriage, compounded by his fear that the worsening of his epilepsy could kill him, and anxiety about the upcoming US trip were all factors, not made any more bearable by his dependence on barbiturates.

Guitarist Bernard Sumner said: “It was the breakdown of his relationship, accentuated by the amount of barbiturates he was taking to subdue his epilepsy. Barbiturates make you so you’re laughing one minute, crying the next. He’d had a physical breakdown, a relationship breakdown, which caused an emotional breakdown.”

The band’s bassist, Peter Hook, and their manager Rob Gretton, have both recalled Curtis being in good spirits in the days before his death. According to Gretton: “There was no great depression, no hint at all. The week before, we went and bought all these new clothes.

He was really happy. A lot of his problems were personal. We could advise him, but we couldn’t do anything about it.”

His wife, Deborah Curtis, believed that: “He didn’t commit suicide because he had marital problems. He had marital problems because he wanted to commit suicide.”

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TOP FIVE INDIE ALBUMS

1981

Prince plays his first ever concert in Europe, at The Paradiso, Amsterdam.

SOUNDS 25 MAY 1985 1 NATIVE SONS THE LONG RYDERS

1986 Propelled by a ground-breaking animated video, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer enters the Billboard Top 40 singles chart in the United States on its way to No.1.

1984

2 BAD INFLUENCE THE ROBERT CRAY BAND

© Martyn Goddard/REX/Shutterstock

Wham! release a new single, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, on Epic Records in the UK.

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 •

© Avalon/Photoshot

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

3

•

1990 For the first time ever, the Top 5 positions on the US singles chart were held by female artists: Madonna was at No.1 with Vogue, followed by Heart, Sinead O’Connor, Wilson Phillips and Janet Jackson.

1982

Madness score their first UK No.1 when House Of Fun knocks Eurovision Song Contest winner Nicole off the top spot.

MEAT IS MURDER THE SMITHS

4 VENGEANCE NEW MODEL ARMY

1985

The Dire Straits album Brothers In Arms debuts at No.1 in the UK, and will become the UK’s biggest-selling LP of the decade.

1988 As Milli Vanilli begin a European promotional trek, it is claimed that uncredited vocalist Charles Shaw was the main singer on their hit single, Girl You Know It’s True.

5

“HATFUL OF HOLLOW” THE SMITHS

All data supplied by www.MusicDayz.com 23

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09/04/2018 17:19

NI

RY

THE P

A

N

E SS O F

P PO

NC I R

V E R SA

SINGLES 0 1 P O T , S DIO ALBUM U T S 4 1 R E RLDWIDE T O AF W H IT W ND APLENTY A RE THAN O M F O S E L ST KEEPS RECORD SA U J E U G O , KYLIE MIN N IO L IL M 0 M RAMSAY 8 O R F .

R E T T E GB SICS AND S A ON GETTIN L C B U L PWL TO C D N A T NOUR THE E E O R H T S E W S JOIN US A , E L IL V H S A N CEFLOOR...

N A D E H T DOYEN MOAF R K L I N D O R E S t’s hard to believe that it has been 30 years since Kylie Minogue first entered our consciousness... Maybe we don’t want to believe it. For those of us that bunked off school to watch Scott and Charlene’s wedding on Neighbours and have grown up with Kylie – going through our own dance, sex, indie and pop phases, but not in the glare of the media and had each prefixed to our names in order to define us as she has – it is a

shocking reminder of the passing of time.

We were all set to add Country Kylie to that ever-expanding list when the star revealed that she was recording her Golden album in Nashville last year, but it appears we may have jumped the gun and Miss Minogue is not vacating the disco and strapping on her banjo for nights at the Grand Ole Opry any time soon.

“I was recording synth-pop dance songs that were more like what people would expect from me, I suppose,” Kylie recently told Entertainment Weekly. “Then I went to Nashville in July, and it all started to

make sense. We managed to find this country inspiration but bring it back into my world. It was super fun. It felt like it took an eternity to get there. You go through so much experimentation to get to a point where you go: ‘Okay, this is the foundation, we’re going to build on this’. Once we had those foundations after my two weeks in Nashville, everything I did when I got back to London was coloured by that. But it’s still a ‘Kylie’ album, whatever that is...”

Whatever indeed. Like much of the UK, Stock, Aitken nor Waterman had heard of Kylie Minogue when they

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Kylie Minogue – refining the art of pop reinvention since 1987

“We managed to find this country inspiration but bring it back into my world... After my two weeks in Nashville, everything I did was coloured by that. But it’s still a ‘Kylie’ album, whatever that is...”

K Y L I E

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© Photoshot

In the UK Kylie was the best-selling album by a female artist in the 80s

© Photoshot

The UK’s love affair with Kylie started in 1986 when she first appeared on our screens as tomboy mechanic Charlene Robinson in Neighbours

received a call from Gary Ashley, head of Australia’s Mushroom Records in the summer of 1987. Her debut single, a cover of Little Eva’s The Loco-Motion (she led the Neighbours cast in an impromptu singalong at a charity dinner) released under the title Locomotion, had spent seven weeks at No.1 there and he was desperate for her to record a follow-up. Agreeing to write something for her, Pete booked the singer in for a recording session before promptly forgetting all about her. With no song for Kylie when she turned up at the studio, I Should Be So Lucky was written on the spot and she had recorded her vocals within an hour.

“We treated Kylie so badly that first time we met her,” recalls Mike Stock. “Not deliberately, but to the extent that I had to fly to Melbourne and apologise. Nobody had told me she was in London and we were booked in to work with her. As usual, Matt and I were in the studio working on half a dozen acts all screaming for songs – the last thing we needed was another.”

Just as Kylie hadn’t been regarded as a priority to SAW when approached to write a song for her, she wasn’t seen as a viable prospect to record labels when they were looking for a label to release her single.

THE HIT FACTORY “Every single label we went to passed on Kylie,” adds Pete Waterman. “No one ever said anything bad about her or the song, it was the fact that she was a TV star.

Everybody said you couldn’t turn a TV star into a pop star, they flat-out refused. We offered …Lucky to Simon Cowell for £500 and he turned us down! That’s why we had to start our PWL label – to put the records out.”

Released by PWL on 4 July 1988, Kylie featured four Top 5 hits including the No.1 smash I Should Be So Lucky

Both the intensity and the magnitude of I Should Be So Lucky’s success took everyone by surprise, its ascent up the chart was so rapid that the video wasn’t even finished. For many, their introduction to Kylie as a pop star was a hastily-shot clip for Top Of The Pops featuring Kylie being driven around Sydney in an open-top BMW miming to the track. By February 1988, Kylie had scored her first British No.1 hit. Spotting a talent and star quality in their latest protégé, SAW realised they had some making up to do to keep Kylie. Accepting Mike’s apology and offer of a deal with PWL, she spent an afternoon away from Neighbours recording Got To Be Certain and Turn It Into Love before flying back to London the following month to record her album. It was to be the way Kylie’s relationship with SAW would function. As Australia’s biggest TV star, free time was scarce and SAW’s production-line set-up was perfect.

“That way of recording worked for both of us at that time,” Kylie says. “I’d get off the plane from Australia and go straight to the studio. It was like I imagine it must have been like at Motown or a Hollywood set-up. You just had to be very adaptable. I’d get to the studio, they’d say: ‘OK, this is what we’re working on today and this is what it goes like’, then play me the song a couple of times, then I’d go into the studio and record it. That was the beginning and the end of my involvement in those songs.”

Kylie’s debut album was released in July 1988 and, having already spawned three huge hits, topped the UK album chart for four weeks (it returned to No.1 later in the year). Going on to sell over five million copies worldwide (two million of those in the UK – a first for a female artist), it beat the likes of Madonna, Whitney and Cyndi to become the UK’s best-selling album of the decade by a female artist.

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Throug h career, out her Kylie h as been k reinven nown for ting he rself and is fashion a bona fide icon, w riting two bo oks La La L and Ky lie Fash a ion

SCREEN QUEEN Before pop stardom beckoned, Kylie’s career looked certain to be in acting. One of Australia’s most popular child actresses, she appeared in series such as Skyways, The Henderson Kids and The Sullivans before landing the role that would change her life – as Charlene Robinson in Neighbours.

Despite scoring a string of hits and a megaselling album, she was unsure her success would be long-term and fully intended to fall back on her acting career. At the peak of her SAW success in 1989, she made her big-screen debut in the charming teen-romance The Delinquents, which revealed her to be a great actress and, due to Kylie’s legions of fans, a box office smash.

In 1994 we were introduced to Kickass Kylie as she became an unlikely action star opposite Jean Claude Van Damme in Street Fighter. Subsequent roles included Hollywood flops such as Bio-Dome and San Andreas (her blink-and-you’ll-miss-her appearance opposite Dwayne Johnson) and indie flicks such as Sample People, Cut and Holy Motors. Kylie herself has admitted being embarrassed at some of the movies on her CV, but is immensely proud of her cameo as The Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge! and new film Swinging Safari, a 70s-set comedy which sees her reunited with former Neighbours co-star Guy Pearce.

Much more successful has been her return to the small screen, where she has guested in Dr Who, The Vicar Of Dibley and, best of all, cult Aussie comedy Kath & Kim, in which she got married in a wedding not too dissimilar to that one…

K Y L I E

As the hits kept coming, the pull between Neighbours and her pop career began to take its toll and she quit the soap to pursue a life in music.

“People forget how big she was at that time,” says Waterman. “You have all these girls now, the likes of Rihanna and Taylor Swift and she was bigger than them all. The music industry was vastly different to what it is today. People heard the songs on the radio, saw her on Top Of The Pops or the Saturday morning TV shows and had to physically go to a record shop and buy the singles. There was no streaming or social media – those shows were like the Twitter of their day.”

As the 90s dawned, the musical landscape had shifted immeasurably with the advent of club culture and Kylie herself was growing up. She had shot her first film, a 50s-set teen romance called The Delinquents, and set out to silence her critics by hitting the road for the first time on the Disco In Dreams Tour of the Far East, before headlining SAW’s Hitman Roadshow in the UK. It was whilst in the Far East that Kylie began a relationship with Michael Hutchence, a man whom would prove to make a significant impact on her.

THE SEX FACTOR “I met him at a point in my life when I was ready to look at the world and it was like he just took my blinkers off,” she told Michael Parkinson in 2002. “I was at an impressionable age and was happy to be guided by him – in a nurturing way. He never said: ‘This is how I think you should perform’ or ‘these are the decisions you should be making’, he just had absolute belief in me at a time when it really wasn’t de rigueur to do so and that gave me confidence in myself.”

Kylie’s relationship with the INXS star coincided with a radical image overhaul. Her transformation from 27

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K Y L I E

© Photoshot

girl-next-door to sex kitten was pounced upon by the press who, spurred on by comments Hutchence playfully made in an interview claiming his hobby was “corrupting Kylie”, christened her ‘Sex Kylie’.

Taking a page from Madonna’s book (to whom she was often unfavourably compared to at the time), Kylie amped up the sex factor. Positively tame by today’s standards, her “raunchy” videos became headline news for a number of reasons including a topless clinch with a dancer (Better The Devil You Know), speculation as to whether she had undergone a boob job (Give Me Just A Little More Time) and seemingly playing the role of a prostitute (Word Is Out). Kylie later explained her image change had been a result of her frustration at the lack of control she had over her music. Though that, too, had taken on a trendier, more adult feel, it had nothing to do with Kylie’s personal life, contrary to popular belief.

“The story that Better The Devil You Know was a direct result of Kylie’s awakened sexuality with Michael Hutchence was complete nonsense!” says Mike Stock.

“Matt Aitken and I had it planned all along – we knew we had to grow her up and we didn’t even know about her relationship with Hutchence. We had discussed how we could subtly change the emphasis both musically and lyrically. We went from I Should Be So Lucky to Shocked and Better The Devil You Know in about 18 months.”

TAKING THE STEERING WHEEL Having taken control of her image, Kylie also began to take a more active role in her music. On 1990’s Rhythm Of Love, she went to the US to record a handful of tracks without SAW for the first time, and the following year’s Let’s Get To It saw her writing with Mike Stock and Pete Waterman. Feeling more in control of her career, Kylie ended her association with SAW in 1992 with the release of a greatest hits album.

Featuring 19 Top 20 hits, it marked the end of a hugely successful chapter in her career. The girl once dubbed “The Singing Budgie” by her critics now felt compelled to flee the gilded cage of the PWL Hit Factory for cooler climes.

Though her signing with achingly hip dance label Deconstruction Records promised the ‘re-engineering of Kylie’, it’s questionable in hindsight whether her time there lived up to that promise, or whether it was a case of style over substance. Having won a bidding war to sign Kylie, it soon became clear that Deconstruction had no idea what to do with her.

Released in September 1994, Kylie’s self-titled album, was a collection of house and swingbeat tracks written and produced by Brothers In Rhythm, Heller and Farley, Jimmy Harry and M People.

Though her time at Deconstruction got off to a great start with two of her finest singles, Confide In Me and Put Yourself In My Place, the rest of the album failed to live up to their epic grandeur.

Kylie Minogue was a moderate commercial success and established Minogue in the circles she wanted to be in at that time. Instead of touring, she played PA’s in clubs and at festivals for the first time. She was also celebrated in style bibles such as The Face, i-D, Dazed & Confused and Sky, in which

she gave interviews that were uncharacteristically prickly, defensive and dismissive of her previous work – she later explained her attitude at the time as “childish rebellion”.

Given that the album was being heralded as an artistic breakthrough following her emancipation from the SAW stable, one major disappointment was how little her own input was – a sole writing credit on one track. After following the album with Where The Wild Roses Grow, an unexpected duet with Nick Cave, Kylie once again found herself in limbo, her only certainty being that her next musical statement would come entirely from her.

The result was Kylie’s most misunderstood and divisive album, Impossible Princess (1997). Dubbed ‘Indie Kylie’ by the press, the record was perceived as a trend-chasing attempt to jump on the Britpop bandwagon, when in fact the core of Impossible Princess is a set of electronic-backed introspection that was way ahead of its time (leading the album with the rocky Some Kind Of Bliss, a co-write with Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield, proved to be a major misstep and a misrepresentation of the album). Having co-written every track on the album herself, it also revealed Kylie to be an incredible lyricist.

STYLE As someone often held up as an example of bad 80s fashion thanks to her bubble perm and ra-ra skirts, Kylie has more than redeemed herself in the style stakes since, emerging as a bona fide fashion icon, having exhibited her costumes at London’s prestigious V&A Museum to prove it.

From the 60s-inspired looks of her ‘Sex Kylie’ years (immortalised in one of her greatest videos, What Do I Have To Do?), to the sci-fi siren of Fever, not to mention the Bardot-esque aesthetic of Body Language, celestial goddess of Aphrodite and edgy ingénue of Impossible Princess, it is little wonder that the world’s top fashion houses vie to get their designs on her.

After the Spinning Around video elevated her bottom to national treasure status, she capitalised on it by riding a velvet bucking bronco in a sexy ad for Agent Provocateur underwear before launching her own range – Love Kylie.

Following the hugely successful V&A exhibition (the first of its kind), Kylie’s outfits were donated to the Melbourne Arts Centre where they are displayed when not touring the world.

Like Madonna, reinvention has been key to Kylie’s longevity, a fact she embraces, and while she says she would never want to write an autobiography, she has published La La La and Kylie Fashion, books which detail the creative process that goes into her tours, videos and photoshoots.

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From girl-next-door to sex kitten, Mike Stock says that Kylie ”went from I Should Be So Lucky to Shocked and Better The Devil You Know in about 18 months”

“The story that Better The Devil You Know was as a direct result of Kylie’s awakened sexuality with Michael Hutchence was complete nonsense!

Matt Aitken and I knew we had to grow her up” K Y L I E

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Preserved for posterior-ity!

Directed by Dawn Shadforth, the Spinning Around video is famed for Kylie’s bottom and those 50p gold lamé hotpants

“I fee ls a sen uch s achie e of v havin ement g going a song to these No.1 becau days s what e I know a stru g it is” gle

THE COLLABORATIONS

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS

PET SHOP BOYS

JASON DONOVAN

HURTS

TOWA TEI

IN DENIAL

ESPECIALLY FOR YOU

DEVOTION

WHERE THE WILD ROSES GROW

An epic melodrama from Pet Shop Boys’ 1999 album Nightlife.

It’s a sensitive dialogue between a homosexual, middle-aged, man and his daughter – played here by Minogue. Kylie went on to perform the song on her Showgirl Tour in 2004.

Blurring the lines between reality and fiction, Kylie and her onscreen Neighbours husband teamed up for the endearingly saccharine classic. Much maligned at the time, it has sold over a million copies and topped the UK charts.

Kylie added her vocals to this track on Hurts’ synth-pop debut in 2010 because she loved the song when it was sent to her. Describing his “life-long illicit love” for her, singer Theo Hutchcraft described her contribution as the “saviour of the album”.

G.B.I. (GERMAN BOLD ITALIC)

Superb duet from Nick’s 1995 album Murder Ballads. Kylie is perfect as the captivating Eliza Day who meets a grisly end. Stalling at No.11 in the UK chart, the NME listed it in the 100 Best Songs Of The 90s.

G.B.I. is Kylie at her experimental best on Deee-Lite’s Towa Tei’s sparse house track.

Featuring a memorable video in which Kylie is a geisha girl, she included this 1997 song as an interlude on her KylieFever2002 Tour.

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K Y L I E

However, after a postponed European release following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and a string of negative reviews, sales were disappointing, leaving her feeling creatively unfulfilled. “I was really unlucky with that album,” she said. “There are lots of reasons why it wasn’t a commercial success but I think the main reason it didn’t work was that it wasn’t a cohesive album – it was a bit all over the place, and that was because I made it over a two-year period, with four different producers. There are still parts of it that I really like and I value the experience, even though at the time I was frustrated and really felt like there was no one there to help me.”

The failure of the album in the UK signalled the end of her time with Deconstruction but left Kylie with a feeling of liberation. She returned to Australia, where the album had been a success, for her Intimate & Live Tour of small venues. Though the setlist showcased Impossible Princess, she thanked her loyal fanbase by including a handful of old hits as well as two covers, The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go? and Abba’s Dancing Queen. It was the performance of the latter, during which she donned an embellished corset and feather headdress, that proved to be an epiphany for Kylie. The highlight of the show on every stop of the tour, she realised where her strengths lay as a performer and cultivated her showgirl stage persona. As she performed Dancing Queen during the final night of the tour at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in July 1998, no-one could have predicted that two years later she’d be performing it for a global audience of four billion people at the Sydney Olympics.

If ever a lyric captured the point at which an artist was at in their career, it was Kylie’s comeback single Spinning Around in 2000: “Traded in my sorrow for

some joy that I borrowed from back in the day” and “Did I forget to mention that I found a new direction and it leads back to me?” perfectly encapsulated her signing to Parlophone on the basis that she return to pop music.

With labelmates Robbie Williams and Pet Shop Boys indicative of the kind of music she wanted to make, Kylie went into the studio with both as well as pop maestros Guy Chambers, Biffco and Steve Anderson.

Working with keywords ‘sunshine, beach, glamour, disco, cocktails and fun’, the result was Light Years, a glittering, modern take on disco, Europop and, having finally embraced her pure pop past, even the occasional nod to her SAW days. Fuelled by a video that would achieve infamy due to Kylie’s 50p gold hotpants (and trigger a national obsession with her pert posterior), Spinning Around gave Kylie her first No.1 single in a decade. After the rocky road she’d been down with Deconstruction, the success meant more to her than ever.

“I feel such a sense of achievement having a song going to No.1 these days because I know what a struggle it is,” she said. “In the early days, when every single reached No.1 or No.2, I just thought that’s the way it was, but now, having realised how difficult it is to get a song in the charts at all, I’m always panicking once a song is released to see where it’s going to go.”

With a platinum-selling album, four hit singles, a soldout tour, cameo appearance in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! and a performance at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the success of the Light Years was affirmation that her return to pop had been the right decision. After the frustration of her “wilderness years”, Kylie was keen to get back into the studio as soon as possible to work on the follow-up.

GIORGIO MORODER

ROBBIE WILLIAMS

DANNII MINOGUE

COLDPLAY

KIDS

100 DEGREES

LHUNA

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

One of the first songs written for Kylie’s Light Years album, Kids was one of the biggest hits of 2000, selling over 200,000 copies in the UK. An altered version, which featured a rap by Williams, was included on his Sing When You're Winning album.

Christmas is a time for family and Kylie teamed up with sister Dannii for 100 Degrees, a fun disco song for her Kylie Christmas album in 2015. An alternate version was released in April 2016, entitled 100 Degrees (Still Disco To Me).

Originally recorded during sessions for Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends album, frontman Chris Martin described it as “too sexy” and it never made the final cut.

It was later released as a charity single to mark World Aids Day.

Kylie teamed up with the Godfather of disco for his Déjà Vu album in 2014. After performing the song with Giorgio on her Kiss Me Once Tour, Kylie realised a lifelong dream by covering Donna Summer’s I Feel Love with him.

KEITH WASHINGTON IF YOU WERE WITH ME NOW

Lifted from her Let's Get To It album, the duet with US R&B singer Washington is one of Kylie’s most overlooked singles. Reaching No.4 in 1991, it is Minogue’s first hit to feature her as a co-writer.

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With its futuristic stylings, Kylie’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head video saw the singer strike various poses in bright crimson lipstick and a revealing hooded white jumpsuit

If Light Years had been the public’s reintroduction to Kylie, Fever was the rekindling of a teenage romance.

The pristine pop sheen of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was cool enough to lure back the fans that had grown up to a soundtrack of hits such as Hand On Your Heart and Better The Devil You Know, and garner her an entire new audience. The runaway success of the single set the stage for Kylie’s most successful album to date.

A progression of the dance-pop sound, Fever toned down the overt disco influence of Light Years in favour of a streamlined, electro influence and struck the perfect balance between cutting-edge and commercial.

While her mid-90s quest for credibility had at times seemed forced, by finally accepting herself and being comfortable in her own skin, on Fever she exuded an effortless cool. With six million copies sold worldwide and yielding mammoth hits in Love At First Sight and In Your Eyes, Fever was an unstoppable, hit-packed colossus unlike anything she had experienced before, and elevated her to a level of fame that she wasn’t comfortable with.

Following a hectic two-year whirlwind of live appearances, promo duties and her biggest tour to date, Kylie was exhausted and overwhelmed by the level of fame she had achieved. Retreating home to Australia,

she went into hiding, as the pressure of her career led to what she described as “a mini breakdown”.

The experience caused her to rethink her work strategy and she vowed to take more breaks.

Her next album, 2003’s Body Language was a concerted effort to distance herself from the parade of identikit Kylie clones that were inhabiting CD:UK every Saturday morning as the likes of Rachel Stevens, Holly Valance and Sarah Whatmore all performed songs she had refused the offer of recording (she had also turned down Toxic before it went to Britney Spears).

Drawing its influences from early 80s pop that a teenage Kylie had adored, such as Prince, Scritti Politti and Jam & Lewis and blending them with the current sounds of R&B and electroclash, Body Language was a much more diverse album than its predecessors and a riskier one, at points harking back to her mid-90s experimentalism. Fearing burnout from touring again so soon, Kylie had taken a much more relaxed approach to promoting the album, a decision which led to disappointing sales.

A career-spanning retrospective, Ultimate Kylie was released, bringing together her PWL, Deconstruction and Parlophone material for the first time and while promoting it on her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour in 2005, Kylie received the devastating diagnosis that she was suffering from breast cancer.

Arriving in Australia, she was given the

ON STAGE Despite suffering a serious knock to her confidence at the beginning of her career when she was dubbed “The Singing Budgie” and mocked for her voice, Kylie’s journey from performing over backing tracks on the Hitman Roadshow to her enduring reputation as one of pop’s most entertaining live acts, has been nothing short of spectacular.

From her first full-scale tours, Enjoy Yourself (1990) and Let’s Get To It (1991), both of which were accomplished pop shows for the time (even though the latter was slated in the press for Kylie’s risqué outfits), to 1998’s Intimate And

Live Tour she had already shown amazing growth as a live performer, but it was in the 2000s, on the back of her career rejuvenation with Light Years, that she really came into her own.

The On A Night Like This Tour in 2001 was a romp through her career, camp and kitsch, much like the album itself. In 2002, blessed with a big budget, the sci-fi spectacle that was KylieFever2002 was a huge turning point, transforming her from idol to icon, and signalling a series of ground-breaking pop shows ranging from the innovative KylieX2008 to the theatrical Showgirl extravaganzas – Vegas-on-the-road grandeur of Aphrodite: Les Folies to stripped-backagain Kiss Me Once Tour.

However, as Kylie proved with her Anti Tour in 2012 – which featured the singer playing rare B-sides and album tracks – even when stripped of elaborate sets, dancers and costumes, her remarkable stage presence and charisma was more than enough to make the show a spectacular success.

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K Y L I E

“In the early days, when every single reached No.1 or No.2, I just thought that’s the way it was... having realised how difficult it is to get a song in the charts, I’m always panicking once a song is released.”

K Y L I E

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2012’s The Abbey Road Sessions features 16 tracks, all radically reworked, with a full orchestra

news and was forced to postpone the Australian dates while she received treatment. While spending the next year recuperating in Paris, supported by family, friends and boyfriend Olivier Martinez, Kylie’s focus was making a full recovery and completing her tour.

Arriving on stage in Sydney in November 2006 to a rapturous welcome, Kylie jokingly apologised for being “fashionably late”.

GOLDEN YEARS With a career now spanning three decades, Kylie is the first to credit her incredibly loyal fanbase for sticking by her through the good and bad times and, more so than many other artists, not only listens to their opinions, but actually takes them into account.

When fans voiced their disappointment that X, her first album after recovering from cancer made barely a single reference to what she had been through, she explained that though she had written tracks about her experience, they didn’t fit into her record company’s vision for her album. She compensated by performing some of the unreleased songs on her KylieX2008 Tour.

“It would have been great to have songs that I’d written about that dark period in my life on the album,” she later said in an interview with Popjustice. “Maybe I wasn’t strong enough to fight for them at the time, but I went with what I thought was the better judgement of others. I fully understand that a fan or someone who sent out positive vibes to me throughout that period would have wanted to hear something about that time and not just ‘hey I saw you across the dancefloor’.”

Which is not to be dismissive of those songs intended solely for the dancefloor – over the past 30 years Kylie has delivered more than her fair share. From I Should Be So Lucky to I Believe In You, On A Night Like This to All The Lovers, this is a woman whose unofficial anthem is a song called Your Disco Needs You (she recently told Radio 2 that it was the song she most wishes had been a single and anyone who has seen her perform it live will understand why), though she is far more than a dance diva and many of those songs have deeper meaning, often going unnoticed.

Kylie enjoyed stripping back some of her poppier tracks and revealing a different side to them (and to herself) with The Abbey Road Sessions in 2012. Featuring orchestral reworkings of some of her biggest hits. PWL tracks such as ...Lucky and Never Too Late were revelatory as heart-wrenching odes to love lost or unrequited, while Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’s tortured angst comes through in the Abbey Road arrangement.

“It still amazes me that how you translate a song makes such a difference,” she says. “Pop just seduces you in such a way that you bounce along singing these lyrics being fooled that you are having a great time.”

Which brings us to Golden. While many songs on the album appear instantly upbeat and joyous, closer inspection reveals a deep melancholy (first single Dancing for example deals with the subject of mortality). Described as Kylie’s most personal album to date, she co-wrote every song on the record, a process she described as “cathartic” as she recovered from a nervous breakdown and devastation over the end of her engagement to actor Joshua Sasse, a period she has revealed was one of the most difficult of her life.

It was also a time of great uncertainty after she dealt with another separation – that from her record label Parlophone. Having enjoyed great success with them in the early 2000s, their relationship had become stagnant and, after her last two studio albums, Aphrodite and Kiss Me Once, underperformed due to mismanagement and circumstances beyond Kylie’s control – most notably the bizarre choices of singles (Better Than Today and I Was Gonna Cancel respectively are bottom tier on both albums), she left Parlophone for pastures new.

Now signed to BMG, she is overjoyed at the reception to the first two singles Dancing and Stop Me From Falling, and the album itself, and is looking forward to taking the LP on the road in September for the Golden Tour, which, if last month’s intimate shows (which included a cover of her current inspiration Dolly Parton’s Islands In The Stream)) are anything to go by, promises to be as grand a spectacle as we’ve come to expect from pop’s ultimate showgirl. “The Golden Tour’s the next truly exciting step,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to getting into rehearsals with my band and giving a different life to these songs. I’m curious to see how many of the songs have a big production, how many are going to be stripped back – I can’t wait!”

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K Y L I E

“It still amazes me that how you translate a song makes such a difference...

Pop just seduces you in such a way that you bounce along singing these lyrics being fooled that you are having a great time.”

K Y L I E

Golden, Kylie’s 14th studio album, was described by the singer as being “Dolly Parton standing on a dancefloor”

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C L A S S I C

ALBUM

FEVER

K Y L I E

M I N O G U E

HAVING MADE HER TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO POP WITH 2000’S SHIMMERING DISCO OPUS LIGHT YEARS, KYLIE CAPPED HER COMEBACK THE FOLLOWING YEAR WITH A STREAMLINED NEW SOUND AND A COOL NEW IMAGE, WHICH SAW HER POPULARITY REACH FEVER PITCH M A R K

L I N D O R E S

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F E V E R

A L B U M

© Charles Sykes/Rex/Shutterstock

I

t’s hard to imagine now, but when Kylie Minogue, mid-way through a concert at Manchester’s Apollo Theatre in March 2001, introduced the song that would be her next single, it was met with sheer ambivalence by the crowd – trips to the bar or toilet and polite nods – none of us there that night had the foresight to imagine the effect Can’t Get You Out Of My Head would have when it was unleashed onto an unsuspecting public a few months later.

At the time riding the wave of success that was her comeback album Light Years, her first UK No.1 single since 1989’s Tears On My Pillow, Spinning Around, a No.2 duet with pop’s golden boy Robbie Williams and a show-stopping performance at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Kylie capped her remarkable comeback with the On A Night Like This Tour.

Having experienced pitfalls and frustration towards the end of her time on Deconstruction Records, the singer’s career rejuvenation tasted that much sweeter and she was desperate to maintain momentum, already laying down the groundwork for her next album before touring her current one.

The genesis of the Fever album came towards the end of 2000 while Kylie and her label Parlophone were at loggerheads deciding what to release as a fifth single from Light Years (it had boundless possibilities). The Goddess of Pop wanted to release Your Disco Needs You, a rallying call to arms inspired by the Village People’s Go West as a thank you to her gay audience for supporting her during her career lull, the label felt that the campy disco track would push Kylie further into niche act territory rather than broaden her audience.

To indicate the kind of direction they envisaged for her, they played her a demo of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. “From the very first time it was played to me I absolutely loved it,” Kylie said. “It was exactly what I was looking for – cool, edgy, simple. Then I started panicking: ‘Are you sure we’ve got it? No-one else

C L A S S I C

THE PLAYERS KYLIE MINOGUE

Kylie signed to record label PWL in 1987 while still starring as Charlene in Aussie soap opera Neighbours. Her first UK single, I Should Be So Lucky, topped the UK charts as did her debut album a year later. The hits kept coming and every single she released in the 80s went Top 10. Her unprecedented chart success continued throughout the 90s and 2000s. In April 2018, 30 years on from Kylie, the singer released her 14th studio album, Golden.

BIFFCO

Having co-written and produced some of the Spice Girls and Five’s biggest hits, the Biffco team of Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher and Ash Howes were the perfect choice to work with Kylie on her return to pop music on 2000’s Light Years. For Fever, they co-wrote two of its biggest hits, Love At First Sight and In Your Eyes.

STEVE ANDERSON

Having remixed Finer Feelings for Kylie in 1992, Steve has continued working with her for over 25 years. As well as writing and producing, he has been Kylie’s musical director on all of her tours since 1998.

ROB DAVIS

Guitarist with 70s glam rockers Mud turned pop songwriter, Rob wrote Spiller’s monster hit Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) before joining Cathy Dennis at the suggestion of Simon Fuller to pen hits for some of pop’s biggest names. As well as Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and Come Into My World with Cathy for Fever, he also wrote and produced Fragile.

In the UK, Fever entered the album chart at No.1 and would go on to be certified five-times platinum with shipments of 1.5 million units

is going to record it?’ I just wanted to get in the studio and record it as soon as possible, I was so excited.”

Written by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis, the song had already been rejected by S Club 7 and Sophie EllisBextor before Kylie’s A&R man Jamie Nelson heard it and said it was the perfect song for the progression Minogue was looking to make musically.

“Even though Kylie wasn’t the first artist to be offered the song, I don’t believe it was meant to go to anyone other than her, and I don’t believe anyone else would have done the incredible job she did with it,” Cathy Dennis told M Magazine. “It was a very natural and fluid process, the whole thing was written in about three-and-a-half hours.

“We had the ‘can’t get you out of my head’ bit and we had the bridge, but it needed another hook. We knew it didn’t need another lyric, so I just went ‘la, la, la…’”

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C L A S S I C

A L B U M

Featuring as a sample of New Order’s Blue Monday, Kylie performs a show-stopping Can’t Get You Out Of My Head at The BRITs 2002

F E V E R

THE SONGS 1

MORE MORE MORE

Fun, frothy and flirty, More More More sets the agenda for the rest of the album. Spiritual brethren of the dirty disco of Andrea True Connection’s risqué track of the same name, the house-inflected opener, written and produced by Tommy D, sees Kylie at her most alluring. Very much capturing the carefree abandon of disco in its lyrics, the production gives it a modern twist.

2

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

Co-written by Kylie, Love At First Sight is a standout on the album, one of her personal favourites and a regular highlight of live shows. A breezy ode to the feeling of being in a new relationship, the song is elevated by its state-of-the-art dance production which evoked recent hits from Daft Punk, Modjo and Stardust’s Music Sounds Better With You. Released as the third single from Fever, Love At First Sight reached No.2 and became her third ever US hit.

3 CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD

Thirteen years into her pop career and Kylie scored her biggest hit.

The track saw Minogue embraced by the dance world, not only for the song in its minimal electro form, but in various remixes – the most popular of which was Erol Alkan’s mash-up of the vocal over the backing track of New Order’s Blue Monday, which was a staple of his sets at celebrated club night Trash. Kylie took the mix mainstream when she performed it at the BRITs in 2002. Stuart Crichton created an official remix of the track for the B-side of Love At First Sight.

4

FEVER

Written by Greg Fitzgerald and Tom Nichols, Fever’s title track is a departure from the dancepop sound that dominates much of the album, instead being an updated electro track inspired by the New Romantic sound of the early 80s. Lyrically, the song’s tongue-in-cheek flirtation between a ‘lovesick’ Kylie and her doctor gives it an air of ‘Carry On Kylie’, a narrative brought to life on ITV’s An Audience With Kylie, in which she performed it in a campy doctors and nurses scenario before an audience of bemused-looking celebs.

© Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock

5

GIVE IT TO ME

Fever’s weakest song, Give It To Me’s hard electro-funk sounds out of place on the album and could have been replaced with some of the strong tracks relegated to B-side/bonus track status such as Tightrope (a hidden gem of her discography), Good Like That or Boy. Heavily treated with chopped-up vocals and an annoying recurrent telephone ringing, the song is an experiment that didn’t quite hit the mark.

6

FRAGILE

After the sonic chaos of Give It To Me, the soothing Fragile is a beautiful mid-tempo track with a dreamy vocal from Kylie perfectly capturing the essence of the song which details the feeling of vulnerability in a relationship, singing: “’Cause I’m fragile when I hear your name/ Fragile when you call/ This could be the nearest thing to love/ And I’m fragile when I hear you speak/ Fragile feeling small/ This could be the closest thing to love,” over a hypnotic soundscape.

7 COME INTO MY WORLD

A last-minute addition to Fever and another triumph from Rob Davis and Cathy Dennis, Come Into My World treads a similar sonic path to Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. The fourth and final single from the album, it was re-recorded for the album’s deluxe edition and single release (apparently as Cathy Dennis’ backing vocal was too prominent on the original) though Kylie’s breathy vocal sounds flimsy in contrast to the stronger original.

In 2004, Kylie won her first Grammy for this song for Best Dance Recording. Come Into My World was also the basis for one of Kylie’s best ever remixes when it was given an electroclash reworking by Fischerspooner.

8

IN YOUR EYES

A dance anthem, In Your Eyes is a sultry ode to lust across a crowded nightclub with an aggressive beat and infectious chorus and the perfect followup to Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. However, despite its release being pushed back by a month due to the endurance of its predecessor, In Your Eyes was still somewhat overshadowed. It was

also notable for self-referencing, with Kylie imploring: “Is the world still Spinning Around?” The album’s second single, it reached No.3 in the UK and No.1 in Australia where it was also released as her first DVD single.

9

DANCEFLOOR

Written by Cathy Dennis and long-time Kylie collaborator Steve Anderson, Dancefloor is the song that sounds most like a continuation of the classic disco sound of Light Years. A breakup track on which Kylie berates an ex for not treating her as well as she deserved and getting over him by hitting the dancefloor, the song’s message is fairly universal.

10

LOVE AFFAIR

If Fever had produced a fifth single, Love Affair would almost certainly have been the main contender for release. A perfectly crafted slice of dance-pop with Kylie at her seductive best, Love Affair is a continuation of the narrative from In Your Eyes with a similar clubby style with trancelike inflections. An undeniable album highlight.

11

YOUR LOVE

Winding down the album, Your Love is another stunning mid-tempo number. Similar to Fragile, a lilting guitar lends the song a blissed-out Balearic feel.

The sole track on the LP from Pascal Gabriel and Paul Statham, Your Love is from the same sonic palette as some of the other tracks on the album which, had they been recorded by other artists with a lesser identity than Kylie, risked sounded same-y rather than succeeding as a cohesive body of work.

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BURNING UP

An anomaly to close the album, Burning Up was again penned

by Greg Fitzgerald and Tom Nichols who with this, along with the title track, provided two of the record’s best moments.

Burning Up’s unusual teaming of an acoustic verse with an upbeat, dance-y chorus has been revived recently by Kylie who has deployed a similar structure to her recent hit Dancing. With its gentle, hazy chorus bursting into a bassline and chorus reminiscent of Nile Rodgers’ best work, Burning Up was a standout performance of her Fever Tour.

The song informed the direction of Kylie’s next album and, feeling inspired, she headed into the studio to begin work on the album, collating writers, producers and ideas before she went on tour. As well as asking Cathy and Rob to submit more songs, she teamed up with writers that she’d worked with on Light Years, Steve Anderson and Biffco [Richard Stannard], Ash Howes and Julian Gallagher as well as several new writers/producers who had submitted tracks.

Work on the album resumed after Kylie completed her On A Night Like This Tour in May in Australia. She flew straight to the US to work with Mark Picchiotti in Chicago before returning to the UK to finish the album at London’s Olympic Studios and Biffco’s studios in Dublin.

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Throughout the summer, she recorded around 25 tracks, including a pair of Greg Fitzgerald/Tom Nichols cuts (one of which became the title track) and two more tracks from Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis. After repeated playbacks to what she had recorded, Kylie and her label began formulating a cohesive direction for the album.

“What we set out to do with Fever was to make it a culmination of everything I’ve learned and everything I’ve done,” said Kylie. “Everything I’ve done well, and also everything that I’ve done terribly in the past! I just feel like the album has the best of both worlds – Light Years and Impossible Princess, it’s a summation of the two. I feel like I’m starting to develop a style that’s my own and though it’s very challenging, I’m enjoying it immensely.”

Having decided on a more stripped-back version of dancepop than the OTT opulence of Light Years, Fever’s foundation was in electro rather than disco and that also informed the aesthetic of the album.

While Light Years had conjured up images of Studio 54 and poolside parties, Fever’s points of reference were sci-fi and minimalist modernity.

Fashion photographer Vincent Peters, who had shot Kylie for her Light Years cover as well as an editorial in Vogue magazine, shot the singer against a plain white background wearing a white t-shirt, knickers and heels holding a microphone for the album cover – it is a new take on Jean-Paul Goude’s iconic photograph of Grace Jones from the Island Life cover.

When it came to shooting the video for Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Jones’ influence remained prevalent.

Fashion designer and DJ Fee Doran, a friend of Kylie’s

stylist William Baker, was asked if she had ideas, as she had similar points of reference to what William and Kylie were looking for. When the singer visited Fee’s studio, she spotted a hooded jumpsuit and asked to try it on.

“Kylie’s half my size, a fragile little bird and I’m this big clumsy oaf,” says the sixfeet-tall Fee. “It was laughable because it drowned her but she knew what she wanted. We pinned it up and even then, we could see it was going to look amazing. Her grandmother was a seamstress so we discussed how we were going to tweak it”

“What we set out to do with Fever was to make it a culmination of everything I’ve learned and everything I’ve done... I feel like I’m starting to develop a style that’s my own” K Y L I E

M I N O G U E

With the video wrapped, album finished and artwork completed, Fever was set for release on 1 October 2001, with Can’t Get You Out Of My Head proceeding on 8 September. As the record company began arranging Kylie’s promo schedule, they were dealt a blow when it was revealed that the release of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head embroiled her in a chart battle with Victoria Beckham’s debut solo single Not Such An Innocent Girl.

“I did ring my manager as soon as I heard and asked whether we should change it,” Kylie said. “In the end, the cards had been dealt and I just had to play the game.

If it hadn’t been Victoria I would have just been in competition with someone else.”

The extra publicity generated from the ‘chart battle’ helped both records and, when it was revealed in the midweek charts that Minogue’s single had sold 125,000 copies in its first three days, the face-off was already won. Nevertheless, Kylie was overwhelmed when she found out the final chart position.

“It was one of those movie moments,” she said.

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A L B U M

F E V E R © Alstiar Grant/AP/Rex/Shutterstock

C L A S S I C

THE BIG PICTURE T H E

V I D E O S

CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD Filmed in July 2001, Dawn Shadforth’s iconic video featured Kylie in a series of slick sci-fi scenarios, the most striking of which was the dance sequence featuring Minogue, swathed in a slashed-to-flash hooded jumpsuit, surrounded by a troupe of dancers dressed in Kraftwerk’s Man Machine uniforms of red shirts and black ties. Later in the clip, hi-fi meets sci-fi as she performs in front of a Metropolis-style backdrop, with the lights of the buildings taking on the effect of an old graphic equalizer. youtu.be/YPwtJ89jes4w

IN YOUR EYES Set in a bank of LED lights and neon lasers, In Your Eyes is a straightforward performance-led promo from Shadforth. Stylist William Baker described Kylie’s style in the video as “hip-hop chic meets sci-fi lunacy” with Kylie teaming her multi-coloured ribbon dress (the work of designer Fee Doran) with items of jewellery from her collaboration with Johnny Rocket.

The range was inspired by the Fever album artwork – and incorporated key artefacts from it – a microphone, headphones, a stiletto shoe and the ‘K’-star logo, and was available to fans on Kylie’s website. youtu.be/OjETibEMbJY

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT A continuation of the sci-fi theme, Love At First Sight (directed by Johan Renck) sees Minogue in a futuristic maze with backup dancers, all shot in single take motions – the dancers would later join her onstage for the ‘Silvanemesis’ section of the Fever Tour. While the set and Kylie’s outfit are all neutral colours, shots of neon are accentuated by her shoes, jewellery and make-up giving her a cohesion with the dancers. The performance of the video is overlapped as diagrams, graphics and set pieces are drawn around her. youtu.be/wf421JsG004

COME INTO MY WORLD One of Kylie’s most ambitious videos and also one of her most technically demanding, Come Into My World featured a cast of 50 extras. Kylie walked through the streets of Paris in a loop, and every time she reached her starting point, the number of Kylies multiplied giving the finished video the stunning effect of multiple identical Kylies walking through Paris.

Director Michel Gondry had experimented with the concept of duplicity earlier in his career with his video for Neneh Cherry’s Feel It in 1997. youtu.be/63vqob-MljQ

Kylie took home two of the most coveted British music awards in 2002 when she won Best International Female Solo Artist and Best International Album at The BRITs

“The voice on the phone said: ‘Kylie is No.1 with sales of 306,000 copies’. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I just thought, ‘that can’t be right’.””

K Y L I E

M I N O G U E

gives the week’s chart result.

The voice on the phone said: ‘Kylie is No.1 with sales of 306,000 copies’. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I just thought, ‘that can’t be right’.”

The single spent four weeks at No.1 and she did the double when Fever entered the album chart at No.1. Internationally, both the single and the album fared just as well. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head topped the charts in 40 countries while Fever went on to sell six million, the most successful album of Kylie’s career.

The critics universally praised Kylie’s mature take on danceinfused pop and an arena tour was announced, beginning the following April. Underestimating the demand, KylieFever2002 sold out within minutes and the initial number of dates doubled.

The success continued into the new year. Plans for In Your Eyes, Fever’s second single, had to be postponed by a month

due to the enduring success of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (the label were at one point considering deleting the single in order to continue Fever’s release strategy).

When Kylie performed it as a mash-up with New Order’s Blue Monday at The BRITs the following February, it was still in the charts. As well as delivering an iconic performance, she picked up awards for International Female Solo Artist and International Album.

Living up to those international plaudits, Kylie was forced to sacrifice 10 days of her tour rehearsals to fly to the US where Can’t Get You Out Of My Head topped the dance chart and landed the singer with her first Top 10 hit since The Loco-Motion. With Fever following it into the US Top 10, she had conquered the final market where success had so far eluded her. Kylie-mania had reached its zenith.

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P P

(

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-publishing.com

MIDGE URE W I T H C R A I G S TA R K ”This is Midge and I at his acoustic set in Perth, Australia, in April 2015.

I reminded Midge that I first met him in 1985 in Edinburgh on his solo tour for The Gift where he had more hair and I was a skinny teenager – it made him laugh!”

C A P TA I N S E N S I B L E WITH LUCIA AND MARTIN GÄRTNER ”I had my photo taken with the Captain in Bratislava in 2013. The Damned were supported by our friend’s goth band The Last Days Of Jesus at their first gig in Slovakia. What an excellent show and afterparty! Captain was very friendly and complimented me on my ‘lovely hair’. The smaller photo of Martin was taken in Prague in 2004 at the PunkAid Festival.”

SUGGS WITH AD RIAN KE EBLE “Here is a picture of m yself with M frontman, S adness uggs, after his I’m A K one-man sh ing Cnut ow in Basin gstoke this He was a tr year. ue gent with all those w waited for ho had him. He sig ned memora allowed ph bilia and otos and en sured that e had someth veryone ing before he left. Wh celebrities y can’t all be this nice ? The show hilarious. C itself was atch it if yo u can.”

JONA LEWIE WITH MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN ”Here I am with Jona Lewie after the Let’s Rock Xmas show at the O2 in London last December.

After arriving at the aftershow party, he chatted and signed autographs for everyone who was there. An absolute legend.”

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Th e

l a t n e acc id

p o P St a r GREEN GARTSIDE, THE CREATIVE FORCE BEHIND SCRITTI POLITTI, DISCUSSES THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND REVEALS HOW HE OVERCAME CRIPPLING ANXIETY TO FALL BACK IN LOVE WITH POP J O N A T H A N

W R I G H T

n the great pantheon of unlikely pop stars during the 80s, of which let’s face it there were many, Green Gartside stood out. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the good looks or musical chops, he most certainly did, but it was more that his songs were so fiercely, unapologetically clever. Here was a musician whose Scritti Politti project was originally run as a kind of collective and played improvised live shows. A lapsed Marxist whose band name was mangled Italian for “political writing” and who named a song Jacques Derrida after the French philosopher.

Yet for a while, following the release of their second album Cupid & Psyche 85 in 1985, Scritti Politti were bona fide mainstream pop stars around the world. “It’s a period I remember with absolute dread and fondness,” he says, before bursting out with laughter.

In truth, as becomes clear during Classic Pop’s two-hour conversation, Gartside is a man subject to bouts of self-doubt and anxiety. It is not unreasonable to suggest that he really wasn’t cut out to be a pop star, a status he found to be a kind of “exquisite agony”. But, as Gartside himself acknowledges, it was a fame he courted, albeit indirectly.

“It was not the success that I was going for, it was an attempt to make a certain kind of music that interested me,” he says.

“I liked the idea of pop music.

Along with that came an obvious

recognition that there would be a kind of ‘playing the pop person’ as well.”

To understand why Gartside might have made such a decision, it helps to go back to 1980 and a Scritti gig supporting Gang Of Four. Gartside hadn’t been looking after himself physically – “I was never very good at that and I’m still absolutely rubbish,” he says – and he collapsed after the show.

He returned to his childhood home in Wales to convalesce and began to rethink his approach to music. Out was the idea of “getting away as far as possible from song structure, melody and all the rest of it”. In was the idea that Michael Jackson could be considered to be as radical as, say, Captain Beefheart, a rebellion against the idea of “pop music being thought of as secondary, derivative, inauthentic, inexpressive, commodified, inessential – all that stuff.”

TO BE WITH POP Scritti’s debut, Songs To Remember (1982), reflected both this shift and a wider shift in the UK’s musical culture. The post-punk angularities of Scritti’s early output was replaced by the “feeble little graspings” at funk and dub, which anticipated the band’s new pop phase. Released by Rough Trade, it made a creditable No.12 in the UK album charts and the song that most endures is, arguably, The “Sweetest Girl”.

While Gartside describes the album today as “an utter mess”, it had set Scritti’s future direction. By 1983, he was ready to move on. “There’s the Gilbert and George quote: ‘To be with art is all we ask’,”

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© Tom Sheehan

Playing the pop person: Green Gartside, the enigmatic frontman of Scritti Politti, tells Classic Pop why making pop music “didn’t mean selling out principles or dumbing down”

“IT WAS N OT THE SU CCESS THAT I WA S GOING FOR, IT WAS AN ATTEMPT T O MAKE A CERTAIN KIND OF M USIC THAT INTER ESTED ME” G r e en Ga r ts id e 43

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© LFI/Photoshot

G R E E N

G A R T S I D E

e g d a r u T

h Ro The

re-releases

THE THREE ALBUMS SCRITTI POLITTI MADE FOR VIRGIN RECORDS ARE SOON TO BE RE-RELEASED BY ROUGH TRADE ON VINYL, INCLUDING ANOMIE & BONHOMIE FOR THE FIRST TIME. EXPANDED VERSIONS OF THE ALBUMS WILL FOLLOW. SO, WHICH SHOULD YOU INVEST IN? CUPID & PSYCHE 85 (1985) Despite the myriad dramas that surrounded its recording, this is the album where Gartside and cohorts got – in the end – just about everything right. An album that consciously used pop music itself to deconstruct pop music but did it so slyly that the surface sheen of the records sounded perfect on the radio.

PROVISION (1988) More of the same, except more is less here and there’s the sense of a band caught in a trap of their own making. In the year that Public Enemy unleashed It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Happy Mondays were Bummed and Pixies ripped at the heart of fey indie with Surfer Rosa, Scritti mostly sounded stuck in the past.

ANOMIE & BONHOMIE (1999) An album that’s ripe for reassessment. While it tries to cover too many bases there are still some terrific songs here. True, some of the rapping sounds weirdly like an afterthought (especially given Gartside’s self-professed love of hip-hop), but it is a pleasure to hear a man rediscovering his own muse.

“You’d go out to the clubs of New York and do whatever... but during the whole time there was a huge sense of inadequacy” – Green Gartside on recording Cupid & Psyche 85 in the US

he says by way of explaining the change of approach he made. “There was part of me that did feel: ‘To be with pop is all I ask’.

You can only sing with the language that makes itself available to you – the language that made itself available to me was the one of pop songs and French theorists.”

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK To play the music that was beginning to rattle around his head and that would form Cupid & Psyche 85, Gartside needed new cohorts.

He found them in New York where he hooked up with keyboardist/programmer David Gamson and drummer Fred Maher. In Gartside’s words: “They were very smart, sophisticated New Yorkers who were passionate about music.”

A third key figure was Arif Mardin, the renowned TurkishAmerican producer associated with Atlantic Records who had worked with Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Average White Band and the Bee Gees.

Left to his own devices, Gartside would never have approached such a figure, but Green was now

managed by Bob Last of Fast Product fame, the man who released the first singles by The Human League and Gang Of Four.

“Bob Last was just one of those kinds of individuals who says: ‘Well why not? Give me a phone’,” says Gartside. “Sometimes you just meet people who can do that, they’re confident and I had never really met anybody quite like that before. So, as a consequence of his bravado and the musical nous of Gamson and Maher, I was soon in these New York studios, with some of the best R&B and funk players around, making a record – which is where some of the terror and dread starts.”

At this point Gartside laughs again, but his anxiety and depression was real.

“Week after week I sang these songs exactly the same way, 80 times or more,” he says. He was indulged, he suspects, partly because his fellow musicians wanted to please Mardin. “Arif was a great gentleman and treated all the musicians with the utmost respect.

“We used to go to his palatial Central Park apartment at the end of recording in these enormously expensive New York studios and he would make us these Martinis, or ‘Mardinis’ as he called them.

It was fascinating and thrilling. You’d go out to the clubs of New York and do

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“ALTHOUG H I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO H AVE BEEN WORKING WITH RAPP ERS MUCH MORE AT THE TIM E, WE DIDN ’T, SO WE JUST B ASICALLY P LOUGHED ON DOING THE SAME THING THAT WE’D DONE WIT H CUPID & PSYCHE 85.”

G r e en Ga r ts id e

whatever... but during the whole time there was a huge sense of inadequacy.”

When recording the vocals on a song such as Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin), he reveals how doubt would set in and, at huge expense, Gartside insisted on leaving New York to work on his own in London.

“But it did work,” Green admits. “There is something about the mix of sensibilities, principally between David Gamson and I, that made it work.”

As the results of these sessions made their way into the world, Green finally became a pop star. Both Wood Beez... and The Word Girl made the UK Top 10 and Gartside, never shy with a quote, became even more of a fixture in the music papers.

In the US, Perfect Way climbed to No.11 in the charts. So, having worked so hard to be a pop star, was it what Gartside wanted when he got there?

“It wasn’t, no,” he replies immediately.

Not confident enough to play the songs live, Scritti found themselves going around the world doing, “shit interviews with morons and terrible lip-synching things.”

It was so dispiriting for Gartside who started to believe that Scritti would not record a follow-up. However, the trio reconvened to make Provision (1988).

“I don’t think enough recovery time or planning went into Provision,” he says.

“I think it shows and you can hear it. It’s a strangely empty record. It’s like the bones of a record, I don’t know what it is. I can remember vividly making it. It was difficult.”

Early Scritti featuring Green Gartside with manager/ keyboardist Matthew Kay and drummer Tom Morley

When Classic Pop suggests that maybe this was because Gartside didn’t, as at previous key moments in the Scritti story, go away and write a manifesto for what might come next, he doesn’t entirely disagree.

“We didn’t stop to reconsider the brief so it was still: ‘Let’s make pop music’,” he says. Yet pop music was no longer as important to the band, who had become much more interested in hip-hop. Yet this isn’t reflected in the album. Were the band worried about accusations of cultural appropriation?

“That was the argument and, although I would have liked to have been working with rappers much more at the time, we didn’t, so we just basically ploughed on doing the same thing that we’d done with Cupid & Psyche 85.”

BURN OUT If Gartside sometimes sounds like he’s being precious, that’s not how he comes across in

person. These are words being spoken by a humorous, bearded, bear of a man dressed down in denim and a sweatshirt... not the 80s pop star Gartside. Now in his early 60s, he looks a little like Rupert Everett, but built from a Tom Jones blueprint.

“Perhaps I’ve stressed too much the difficulty,” he says of his life during the 80s. “I mean there’s nothing worse than a musician whanging on about how difficult making records is. I was incredibly fortunate and I was living well. I had money and whatever else.” Besides, he adds, Provision enabled him to work with, among others, Roger Troutman, a “genius” funk multi-instrumentalist.

Nonetheless, a breakdown lay ahead.

While he’s reluctant to go into details, in the wake of Provision, which reached the UK Top 10 and spawned a hit in Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy), Gartside retreated to South Wales for much of the 90s. “I lost the plot completely and, after a spell in hospital, I left everybody and everything. I went to live on my own in Wales,” he says. “At that point my management were quite keen to part company with me. I think they thought: ‘Christ he’s lost it’, and I was just happy to run away.”

Having been on an “extraordinary” journey with Scritti, Gartside was burnt out.

“I didn’t want anything to do with music,” he says. “I had all my musical equipment in a room and the door was firmly shut. If you opened it, there was that smell that musical equipment has, the smell of guitar cases and synths, and it would fill me with dread – again.”

Gradually, he came back to making music.

Even in the darkest times, he remained fascinated by hip-hop.

“That sustained me along with the Welsh pubs and countryside,” he says. “I was particularly in love with the production of DJ Premier [half of the duo Gang Starr], and I wanted to know what it was like to sample stuff 45

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G R E E N

G A R T S I D E

Blu e In G r een...

HANGING WITH JAZZ LEGEND MILES DAVIS The iconic Miles Davis covered Scritti Politti’s Perfect Way in 1986. So began an unlikely friendship that saw Gartside asking Davis to play trumpet on Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy). “He came to the studio for a day, and it was just David [Gamson], Miles and I there. Miles didn’t bring anyone else with him, which I thought he would. I filmed a lot of that day, and nobody has seen it, but it’s interesting.

Miles was quite nervous almost in a way, cautious, he spent quite a lot of time going over the changes at the piano, and then going back to the trumpet and back to the piano, figuring things out.”

Subsequently, Gartside used to visit Davis in his New York apartment. “People would say he was kind of bonkers, but he wasn’t, and it was a privilege to go to his apartment. He had a wall of tapes of him playing live shows and would go through them, and say: ‘Listen to this,’ and pull out Munich in 1970-whatever to listen to. And then he showed me all of his paintings.”

A picture of the duo exists, showing them touching hands. Gartside says: “I’m wearing sunglasses in the picture because I have a hangover, which was not uncommon during those very hedonistic times...”

Trade, got in touch with Gartside to invite him back to the label and he relocated permanently to the capital.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN In 2006, he made a Scritti album for Rough Trade, White Bread Black Beer, that garnered a Mercury nomination, allowed in bubblegum pop influences and was as clever as anything he’s ever recorded, but somehow much more relaxed about its cleverness.

“It was just me being happy at home, and finally finding a home to be happy in,” he says. “I loved moving to Dalston. I found the possibility of me playing live [to be] real again, in my local pub, making friends and having a sense of community.”

While Gartside has yet to complete a follow-up – and when we meet he’s worried that thanks to a computer software issue, he can’t access the material he’s amassed in the years since then and which might eventually make “a very good record, maybe the best” – he’s been consistently as busy as you’d imagine he needs to be.

Despite recurring problems with stage fright, he’s toured semi-regularly, both as Scritti Politti and on one-off projects that have piqued his curiosity, such as dates in tribute to the late Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention in 2012, the intersection with the folk world further confirmation that he’s over pop.

Or perhaps not entirely over it. Late last year, Gartside went out on the road with Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and played Scritti hits as part of the show.

“I never thought those Scritti songs from the 80s would be played live.

I never thought I could sing them.

But you can and they’re great fun to play... it’s an incredible pleasure after all those years to actually make that music.”

Nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize, White Bread Black Beer would see Gartside return to the stage and perform his first gigs in almost 25 years

© Tom Sheehan

and make beats. So that’s what I started doing in Wales. I was just playing around and that was the first foray back into putting any sort of music together.”

He moved back to London when his sister asked him to rent her house. “That’s when I felt revived and alive again to make music,” he says. He got back in touch with Gamson and took demos to Virgin. “I made Anomie & Bonhomie in New York and Los Angeles. That was a record that began to admit some of the hip-hop influences, but also some guitar-y stuff.”

Unlike the Scritti albums of the 80s, which were assembled “part by part, piece by piece” as exercises in “sonic engineering,” Gartside put together “a tight little band.” The band that recorded on Anomie & Bonhomie included Prince guitarist Wendy Melvoin and Abe Laboriel Jr, who now drums with Paul McCartney.

“Everybody knew what the songs were and how they went – it was unbelievable!” says Gartside. “It was a bit more traditional in that respect and I had just the best time making it. I was happy and I had nice places to stay in New York and LA. I was friends with David again, which mattered hugely to me. I was very upset that we’d not seen each other after the break-up... breakdown thing.

“People say it was a very strange record, an odd record that only a mother could love or whatever.”

As Gartside hints, the album wasn’t a hit and received mixed reviews. Despite jumping all over the place stylistically, from rock to jangly pop to hip-hop and even a hint of show tune on Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder, it has aged surprisingly well, helped by the abiding strength of Gartside’s melodies.

More to the point, Gartside was back in the world of music and musicians in earnest. Geoff Travis, founder of Rough 46

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“I NEVER T HOUGHT T HOSE SCRITTI SO NGS FROM THE 80s WOUL D BE PLAYE D LIVE. I NEVER TH OUGHT I C OULD SING THEM . BUT YOU CAN AND THEY ’RE GREAT FUN TO PLAY... IT ’S AN INC REDIBLE PLEASURE A FTER ALL THOSE YEA RS TO ACT UALLY MAKE THA T MUSIC” G r e en Ga r ts id e

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15

Top

p o p i t s i h Sop al b u m s

BY MIXING ELEMENTS

OF JAZZ, R&B AND SOUL, A NEW WAVE OF ARTIST EMERGED DURING THE MID-80S, BRINGING WITH THEM A CERTAIN CULTURED ELEGANCE TO THE CHARTS. HERE IS OUR PICK OF THE SOPHISTI-POPS O L I V E R

H U R L E Y

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14

13

The opening one-two combo of the singles Misfit (which would reach No.7) and Down To Earth (No.3), immediately takes you back to Curiosity’s 1986-87 heyday. For a brief moment, their accessible blend of pop, soul and funk, and boy band looks, made them very much in vogue: on its release in April 1987, Keep Your Distance spent two weeks at No.1. It remains an intriguing time capsule.

Thanks to its emphatic synth riff and simple chorus, it’s impossible not to be swept along by opening track Talk Talk. The rest of the group’s debut similarly hurtles along, bringing together classic synth-pop with considered lyrics. Indeed, Mark Hollis’ captivating vocals are a high point of the record, and every track – whether it’s Today, with its chant-along chorus, or the rhythmic new wave of Hate – is packed with hooks.

Despite a name that suggests they’d do a convincing turn as post-punk noisemongers, Scritti’s second long-player is a forward-looking collection of Quincy Jonesinfluenced synth-pop. While the reggae-tinged The Word Girl was the album’s most successful single reaching No.6 in the UK charts, far stronger are songs such as the Prince-esque Small Talk, and ultra-slick Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin).

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT KEEP YOUR DISTANCE (1987)

TALK TALK THE PARTY’S OVER (1982)

SCRITTI POLITTI CUPID & PSYCHE 85 (1985)

“AZTEC CAMERA’S LOVE IS SO POLISHED YOU COULD SEE YOUR REFLECTION IN IT”

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O7

O6

O5

Aztec Camera’s third album is so polished you could see your reflection in it. In a conscious move away from his indie roots, Roddy Frame employed more than 20 session musicians to make the record. The hugely catchy Somewhere In My Heart reached No.3 in June 1988 but is actually atypical of the rest of the album, and the best songs here, such as How Men Are, are prime examples of moody yet oh-so-glossy soul-pop.

If sophisti-pop is all super-slick production, introspective lyrics and rich instrumentation (not to mention dapper suits), then Johnny Hates Jazz’s debut album is surely one of the genre’s classics. The three-piece were clearly on to something: four singles went Top 20 and the album itself debuted at No.1. Even 30 years on, lead single Shattered Dreams is as much of an earworm as ever.

There’s a real easy-listening vibe to the Hull duo’s fourth album. You can’t help but be captivated, though, by Tracey Thorn’s beautiful voice. Their cover of I Don’t Want To Talk About It (originally recorded

by Crazy Horse) reached No.3 and is a heartbreaking piece of acoustic pop, while songs such as Blue Moon Rose and Love Is Here Where I Live create an unmistakable sense of yearning.

Swing Out Sister’s debut is, at its heart, a radio-friendly electronic album – albeit one that takes its cue from 60s pop, jazz and early house. The songs are given added layers of warmth and depth thanks to Corinne Drewery’s distinctive vocals and the shrewd use of a horn section and real strings. The upbeat single Breakout remains their most recognisable moment but there’s an almost cinematic feel to many of the numbers here.

AZTEC CAMERA LOVE (1987)

JOHNNY HATES JAZZ TURN BACK THE CLOCK (1988)

EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL IDLEWILD (1988)

SWING OUT SISTER IT’S BETTER TO TRAVEL (1987)

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T O P

1 5

S O P H I S T I - P O P

A L B U M S

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11

1O

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This was the first album to be released by the Scottish duo. For the most part, this is a relentlessly jaunty collection driven by a rich array of funk bass, jazz guitars and horns – of which the infectious Labour Of Love is a prime example. The orchestral album closer Truth, all strings and piano, gives vocalist Pat Kane the chance to unleash his full Sinatra-esque croon and is a pleasant change of pace.

This is adventurous pop music of substance – there’s more to the album than the group’s best-known hit Digging Your Scene. Take, for instance, the title track, with its sweeping strings, blasts of sax and tempo changes, or the R&B of Wicked Ways, which isn’t that far from what The Rolling Stones were doing at the time. Burn The Rich even has a country twang to it. Despite its eclectic influences, Animal Magic is both coherent and compelling.

After he disbanded The Jam at the end of 1982, Paul Weller formed The Style Council with keyboardist Mick Talbot to explore his interest in soul, jazz, R&B and more. The 13 tracks here cover everything from a boogie-woogie instrumental (Mick’s Blessings) to ill-advised rapping (A Gospel). But, in between such curios, this record is full of poignant moments, including the No.5 single My Ever Changing Moods.

On its release in April 1989, When The World Knows Your Name entered the charts at No.1 and cemented the Scottish band’s status as consummate purveyors of insistent melodies and captivating harmonies. In contrast to the melancholic sound of their debut, 1987’s Raintown, songs such as Fergus Sings The Blues and Real Gone Kid have an energetic immediacy while also embracing blue-eyed soul and Celtic music.

HUE AND CRY SEDUCED AND ABANDONED (1987)

THE BLOW MONKEYS ANIMAL MAGIC (1986)

THE STYLE COUNCIL CAFÉ BLEU (1984)

DEACON BLUE WHEN THE WORLD KNOWS YOUR NAME (1989)

“THE LEXICON OF LOVE IS ONE OF THE DEFINITIVE ALBUMS OF THE 80S...”

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O3

O2

O1

If ever an opening track was there to wrongfoot the listener, the rockabilly-infused Faron Young is surely it. But the rest of Steve McQueen (Two Wheels Good in the US) is an enduring example of this County Durham quartet’s stylish jazz-pop. Thomas Dolby’s understated production gives it a less saccharine flavour than some other records on this list.

With its complex arrangements and poetic lyrics, this is an album that rewards repeated listens.

With their monstrously successful debut, Sade created a timeless amalgamation of smooth jazz and R&B. Across the nine confident and unrushed tracks (the majority are around the five-minute mark), Sade Adu’s soulful yet understated voice is impeccably complemented by an unshowy backing of saxes, pianos, keyboards and wah-wah guitars.

Sure, the whole thing screams 80s dinner party soundtrack... but what a soundtrack it is.

When a record’s opening triumvirate is Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), Hounds Of Love and The Big Sky, you know it’s something special.

But then, after the more accessible tracks of its first half, side two of Kate Bush’s self-produced fifth album comprises a conceptual song cycle. With its extensive use of the revolutionary Fairlight CMI synthesizer/sampler, this is packed with sonic flourishes and remains her masterpiece.

This is one of the definitive albums of the 80s and among the finest British debuts ever. Sure, it’s over-the-top – Martin Fry’s vocals wouldn’t be out of place in musical theatre – but you can’t argue with the likes of The Look Of Love and Poison Arrow, while Date Stamp invents Frankie Goes To Hollywood. But the highlight is All Of My Heart, a perfect realisation of what sophisticated pop can achieve.

PREFAB SPROUT STEVE MCQUEEN (1985)

SADE DIAMOND LIFE (1984)

KATE BUSH HOUNDS OF LOVE (1985)

ABC THE LEXICON OF LOVE (1982)

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© LFI/Photoshot

T H E

L O W

DOWN

P R E FA B S P R O U T FROM THEIR QUIRKY ROOTS TO COMMERCIAL BREAKTHROUGH, THE COUNTY DURHAM COLLECTIVE FORMED

BY THE BROTHERS MCALOON HAVE COMBINED CLASSIC SONGWRITING WITH A MASTERY OF MELODY TO CREATE ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE BODIES OF WORK IN BRITISH POP. M A T T

P H I L L I P S

T

he Prefab Sprout story is one of family, faith, bereavement, serious illness and partial pop stardom.

Emerging from County Durham in the early 80s, brothers Paddy (vocals, guitar and keyboards) and Martin McAloon (bass), were joined by Paddy’s one-time girlfriend Wendy Smith (vocals) and Neil Conti (drums), before signing to local independent label Kitchenware. The group quickly built a reputation for smart lyrics and elaborate musicianship, echoing their peers Lloyd Cole, Green Gartside, Edwyn Collins and Roddy Frame.

Their debut album Swoon was a wonderful mix of the band’s eclectic early influences, which included Television, Stravinsky, Simon & Garfunkel and T. Rex. Released in 1984, it was an immediate cult hit, reaching No.22 in the UK album charts. It ushered in a golden period for the band where their output was virtually flawless. The classic, Thomas Dolbyproduced Steve McQueen was released a month before Live Aid in June 1985 and

Protest Songs, recorded in 1985 but not issued until 1989, saw the band explore their Northern roots and cover topics such as unemployment, mortality, childhood and Princess Diana...

Sandwiched between these two releases was 1988’s smash album From Langley Park To Memphis, which features notable appearances from Stevie Wonder and Pete Townshend. The landmark album, established Prefab Sprout as one of Europe’s biggest draws.

Jordan: The Comeback was a remarkable follow-up and another artistic triumph. A successful greatest hits collection titled A Life Of Surprises came two years later and marked Prefab’s commercial zenith, but then there was five years of silence during which both Conti and Smith moved on to other projects. Paddy returned in 1997 with Andromeda Heights, the long-awaited and well-received studio comeback. Since then, Paddy has continued to produce arresting and deeply personal music, including three Prefab Sprout albums and one official solo release.

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P R E F A B

S P R O U T

T H E

L O W D O W N

T H E M U S T- H AV E A L B U M S

STEVE MCQUEEN

FROM LANGLEY PARK TO MEMPHIS

PROTEST SONGS

1985

1989

JORDAN: THE COMEBACK

Sophomore special

1988

Why the wait?

1990

Speedily recorded and mixed at Lynx Studios in Newcastle, Protest Songs was intended to be the quick follow-up to Steve McQueen. Showcasing the band’s live sound, it was a lo-fi affair. However, it was held back until 1989, a year after the release of From Langley Park To Memphis. But the album was worth the wait – it is a moving, razor-sharp suite of songs dealing with life and death in the North East and the social mores of the Thatcher years, with detours via Dublin and Princess Diana.

Protest Songs featured arguably Paddy’s strongest and most impassioned lyrics to date – the only thing tongue-in-cheek about the album was its title. These were not protests against nuclear power or war, but rather against ordinary life in the mid-80s.

It peaked at No.18 on the UK album chart.

The pressure was on Paddy after the band’s pop breakthrough with From Langley Park To Memphis and he didn’t disappoint on album number five. Featuring 19 spookily-assured and spiritually-uplifting new compositions, Paul Lester in the Melody Maker described the album as: “Walt Disney themes produced by Trevor Horn.”

The band had truly found their George Martin in Thomas Dolby who once again impressed with a variety of textures and grooves, while McAloon’s colourful lyrics dealt with Elvis, Jesse James, Agnetha Fältskog, God and Lucifer. There was even room for a Jenny Agutter cameo on the sublime Wild Horses.

Jordan: The Comeback was another strong-selling record and was nominated for the best album award at the BRITs.

Thomas Dolby was, of course, a bona fide – if somewhat reluctant – pop star himself when he got the train up to County Durham in 1984 to hear 40 of Paddy’s new songs. With a view to producing the Sprouts, Dolby quickly selected his favourites for the LP that was to become their calling card. Steve McQueen – renamed Two Wheels Good in the US – reached No.21 in the UK and No.4 in NME’s albums of the year poll in 1985.

The album spawned four singles including Faron Young, Appetite, Goodbye Lucille #1 (or Johnny Johnny as it was renamed) and lead single When Love Breaks Down, which would be reissued in 1985. There was a remarkable consistency of tone throughout, from the affecting, J.D. Salingeresque Moving The River to the musically ambitious Horsin’ Around.

Prefab’s pure pop album When Thomas Dolby couldn’t commit to the whole project, Paddy briefly contemplated using a different producer for each song. In the end, he plumped for three. Dolby helmed the band’s biggest hit The King Of Rock’n’Roll and three other tracks.

Paddy would co-produce the rest with Deacon Blue/Kate Bush man Jon Kelly and ZTT protégé Andy Richards.

While the singles Hey Manhattan!, The Golden Calf, Cars And Girls and Nightingales all missed the Top 40, the quality threshold was exceptionally high. Even ‘filler’ tracks Knock On Wood, Nancy (Let Your Hair Down For Me) and The Venus Of The Soup Kitchen were easy on the ear and impressively ambitious. From Langley Park To Memphis reached No.5 in the UK and is their best-selling album.

Comeback kings

AND THE REST...

SWOON 1984 Recorded in super-quick time at Edinburgh’s Palladium Studios, Prefab Sprout’s debut was co-produced with David Brewis from Kitchenware labelmates The Kane Gang.

According to Martin McAloon: “We recorded all the backing tracks in one day. Bass, drums, guitar, some keyboards, guide vocals, the lot.”

The album was an immediate cult hit, reaching No.22 in the UK, and Paddy was unrepentant about its quirkiness: “There’s lots of odd chords and angles and strange things going on. Really, it was our first time in a studio, and I was into being as intensely yourself as you could be.

“We thought that for all the intricate twists and turns of the music, even a record like Swoon would be as big as Thriller .”

ANDROMEDA HEIGHTS 1997 The departure of drummer Neil Conti gave Paddy the opportunity to write and produce what was for all intents and purposes a solo album, though he was joined by his brother Martin on bass and Wendy Smith on occasional vocals.

Engineered by Blue Nile collaborator Calum Malcolm and named after Paddy’s new home studio, Andromeda Heights is probably McAloon’s most tuneful album. The singles, Electric Guitars and A Prisoner Of The Past, were musically light and lyrically pithy, while Life’s A Miracle, Anne Marie and Swans were mini-masterpieces of melody.

Andromeda Heights matched Jordan: The Comeback’s very healthy No.7 placing in the UK chart.

THE GUNMAN AND OTHER STORIES 2001 Paddy’s one and only album for EMI saw him teaming up with producer Tony Visconti, as well as a host of well-respected session players such as Carlos Alomar, Jeff Pevar and Jordan Rudess.

By now, Paddy’s country and Americana influences were coming through loud and clear, particularly on The Streets Of Laredo, Cornfield Ablaze, Cowboy Dreams and the epic The Gunman, a song first recorded by pop diva Cher on her 1995 album It’s A Man’s World.

Beautifully recorded and performed, The Gunman And Other Stories is typically likeable but lacks the edge of Paddy’s best work.

It reached a disappointing No.60 in the UK album chart.

CRIMSON/RED 2013 The most recent Prefab Sprout release, Crimson/Red was originally borne out of a contractual obligation, when Paddy realised that he owed music investment company Icebreaker an album... and soon. “The springboard was panic that I would be sued.

So, I did it all in a hurry.”

Playing all the instruments and recording at home, Paddy worked fast, an approach that sometimes rankled with him: “I wish I was more hi-tech. Sometimes I do ache to make a beautiful-sounding Steely Dan-style record like in the old days. But it’s not everything. So, I then cut my cloth accordingly.”

Despite its lo-fi credentials, Crimson/Red was chock-a-block with memorable songs such as Adolescence and Billy.

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T H E

L O W D O W N

P R E F A B

S P R O U T

THE ESSENTIAL SINGLES

WHEN LOVE BREAKS DOWN

CARS AND GIRLS

HEY MANHATTAN!

1988

1988

THE KING OF ROCK’N’ROLL

1984 + 1985 (REISSUE)

Berating The Boss

Taking a bite out of The Big Apple

1988

Co-produced by Paddy and Jon Kelly, McAloon claims that he came up with the opening Springsteen-referencing line “Brucie dreams life’s a highway” completely spontaneously. The song became a deconstruction of rock’s clichés: “It’s part homage, part spoof – a completely Prefab Sprout thing to do,” as Paddy put it.

The first single lifted from From Langley Park To Memphis, Thomas Dolby was originally slated to produce but was nonplussed by the demo.

Cars And Girls reached No.44 in the UK singles chart in February 1988 and spent five weeks on the chart.

Hey Manhattan! was an ironic statement on celebrity tourism and the cult of the Big Apple. Paddy was apparently ill with flu on the day his brother Martin asked The Who guitarist Pete Townshend to play on the song. He said: “Our Martin walked past this room and Pete had this Ovation acoustic and he was shaking it over his head violently. Martin thought: ‘God, he even does it in private!’

But then it turned out he’d lost his plectrum inside it, like a mere mortal. He was trying to shake it out... It’s just a straightforward, but beautiful, rhythm guitar with strange chords going on.”

Hey Manhattan! would reach No.72 in the UK.

“It’s a simple pop song about an old pop singer,” said Paddy.

“I always try to find some opposite point of view from the last thing I did, just because I think it would be fun. So after Steve McQueen I did King Of Rock‘n’Roll. Paul McCartney was apparently a fan of the song, telling the songwriter: “You got the young ‘uns and the oldies with that!” It reached a very sprightly No.7 in the UK, but not everyone enjoyed the band’s new pop status: “We actually get letters from people that say: ‘We like you hovering around the 40 mark...’” Paddy said at the time.

First Top 40 entry Produced by future Johnny Hates Jazz member and Torn songwriter Phil Thornalley, the band’s trademark single was written by Paddy on 16 June 1984: “I remember wanting to write something simple. Sometimes it takes time to create melodies and songs, but this came in the blink of an eye. It’s about passionate love but wasn’t written from my own experience alone.”

When Love Breaks Down limped to No.25 in the UK singles chart on its re-release in early 1985, but provided the band with its first US singles chart entry.

The big hitter!

ONLY FOR THE BRAVE I TRAWL THE MEGAHERTZ 2003 A very personal response to Paddy’s period of illhealth during which he temporarily lost much of his sight. The almost hour-long piece is beautifully realised but remains a challenge.

THE SOUND OF CRYING 1992

A PRISONER OF THE PAST

Sign of the times

1997

The band hooked up with producer Stephen Lipson for a track that mused on the possibility of an interventionist god amid world disasters.

It’s a heartfelt lyric but all the more ironic for featuring the band’s funkiest music to date.

The song was actually intended for a completely different album that Paddy was writing about Michael Jackson.

But he added new lyrics in April 1991 as a response to the Gulf War. Sadly, as relevant today as it was in 1992, The Sound Of Crying reached No.23.

Echoes of Mozzer The Phil Spector-style lead single from Andromeda Heights, A Prisoner... reached No.30 in the UK chart.

Paddy said: “I intended it to sound like Spector when I was writing it, with the sort of volume and richness of The Righteous Brothers or Scott Walker. I wanted to make my own River Deep – Mountain High.”

Lyrically, it’s a somewhat dark tale of unrequited love and an interesting companion piece to Morrissey’s The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get.

S H H H

LET’S CHANGE THE WORLD WITH MUSIC 2009 The album was intended for the full four-piece line-up but ended up being a solo project for Paddy.

Unfortunately, it sounds sorely in need of some band input.

NEED TO KNOW

● Why has the band got such a silly name? It is a question that has always haunted the McAloon brothers. Paddy claims it’s a gentle dig at the progressive bands of the early 70s that the ‘cool kids’ liked at school.

weren’t pumping gas or tinkering under bonnets, they were jamming and writing songs. “We are literally a garage band,” said Paddy...

● Paddy’s songs have been covered by a range of artists ● The McAloon brothers learnt including Cher, The Zombies, their musical trade between Lisa Stansfield, Jimmy Nail, 1978 and 1981 while Snow Patrol and even Kylie. working at their dad’s petrol He also contributed the theme station in Witton Gilbert, song for the ITV series Where County Durham. When they The Heart Is.

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T H E M U S T- WAT C H V I D E O S APPETITE During a 1988 interview, Paddy named Appetite as one of his two all-time favourite Prefab Sprout videos (alongside Cars And Girls). It’s essentially a band performance of the song shot on a ship with its bow doors open to the elements.

According to Paddy: “You can see the sky change from daylight to night with absolutely no regard for continuity, and I like that!”

The video is notable for featuring tour keyboard player Michael Graves, who never recorded with the band but performed live with them throughout 1985.

There’s some fairly elaborate facial hair from Paddy and the video begins with some home movie-style clowning on the ship’s deck. There’s also an interlude featuring the band riding the same motorbike that adorned the cover of Steve McQueen – a TR6C Triumph Trophy. youtu.be/NS0hpiN_z3g

THE KING OF ROCK’N’ROLL Prefab embraced their newfound pop status and had some fun with it. Acclaimed director Andy Morahan (Pet Shop Boys, Wham!, Tina Turner) had by now become their go-to guy, and he ramps up the glamour to produce the band’s most distinctive video.

Paddy portrays a louche, goldsuited lounge lizard sitting around the proverbial pool with the band, all served drinks by a dancing frog butler. Neil Conti is decked out in garish Gingham cap and shorts in a curious prefiguring of ‘chav’ couture. A Brylcreemed, tanned, 50s-style teen idol cavorts around, too, possibly a homage to a similar scene in the Elvis movie Blue Hawaii.

Then there are the famous dancing hot dogs...

The video wasn’t subtle but it did the trick, helping the band to their biggest hit single to date. youtu.be/4T6e3GJCjow

“Pete Townshend had this Ovation acoustic and he was shaking it over his head violently. Martin thought: ‘God, he even does it in private!’... it turned out he’d lost his plectrum inside it” P A D D Y

M C A L O O N

WHAT’S NEXT?

Despite the success of and YouTube channels of 2013’s Crimson/Red, Keith Armstrong, his manager there’s little chance of the and former label boss. classic line-up Released with no reforming. Wendy accompanying Smith is now a publicity, it respected music became the ON 3 MARCH therapist; Neil subject 2017, PADDY POSTED Conti owns of much A VIDEO OF HIMSELF SINGING discussion on a recording studio in social media.

A NEW SONG ENTITLED France; and In December AMERICA Martin is a 2017, it was music teacher. announced On 3 March that Paddy had 2017, Paddy posted provided some music a video of himself singing a for the TV series based on new song entitled America. It Spike Lee’s 1986 film She’s appeared on the Instagram Gotta Have It.

THE GOLDEN CALF

ELECTRIC GUITARS

The Golden Calf was From Langley Park To Memphis’ oldest song but the fifth and final single to be released from the album.

On 17 March 1988, Prefab Sprout did a signing session at the HMV megastore in Oxford Street. Fans attending were then invited along to the video shoot that evening at Fulham Studios on Farm Lane, West London, where they were duly transformed into a frantic crowd gathering to see the band play at a nightclub.

The video is essentially a band performance of the song, mainly notable for featuring Wendy Smith brandishing a Fender Telecaster; Paddy has halfseriously claimed that she does play guitar on some Prefab Sprout records. However, a decent video didn’t do much for the single – released in February 1989, The Golden Calf only reached a disappointing No.82. youtu.be/0SvzhKltoAU

The second single from Andromeda Heights was given a gently satirical video to suit the somewhat ironic lyrics. While Paddy’s recitation of the song is fairly standard and sober, during the choruses there are regular intrusions from actor Phil Cornwell as a succession of rock icons: Slash, Pete Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, Slade’s Dave Hill.

A record player, plate of beans on toast and paperback copy of Look Back In Anger get blown to smithereens, the latter possibly a nod to Paddy’s newfound romantic ‘realism’, or maybe just an acknowledgement that he’s not an angry young man any more.

Footage of classic Beatlemania fan mayhem is intercut, too, and then there’s the final shot of an exploding analogue radio – quite probably the songwriter’s comment on the state of pop music at the tail end of the 90s. youtu.be/z-KIHpU2Ly8

LISTEN UP!

Paddy has a habit of surfacing when we least expect him, so it’s possible that his recent collaboration with Spike Lee will spark a new Prefab Sprout album in 2018. Until then, here are 20 tracks of prime Paddy to delight your eardrums.

1 When Love Breaks Down A song of love, loss and longing.

2 One Of The Broken God speaks to us through Paddy!

Don’t Sing Where it all began.

3

Hey Manhattan!

Sumptuous slice of ironic pop.

4

The World Awake Does what it says on the tin.

5

The Sound Of Crying Heartfelt and affecting lyrics over their funkiest groove.

6

We Let The Stars Go Gorgeous, lilting nostalgia-pop.

7

8 Goodbye Lucille #1 Oooh Johnny, Johnny, Johnny...

9 The King Of Rock’n’Roll Pop hooks aplenty in their biggest UK hit.

10 Cruel Bacharach-inspired bossa-nova.

11 A Prisoner Of The Past A majestic melody meets pithy lyrics.

12 Adolescence “Adolescence – what’s it like? It’s a psychedelic motorbike...”

13 Moving The River A great novel condensed into four minutes.

14 Nightingales Stephen Sondheim meets ZTT. 15 Cars And Girls A gentle nudge in the ribs for Brucie.

16 If You Don’t Love Me Kylie covered this mid-career corker.

17 Diana There’s nothing else in pop quite like this Princess Di ‘tribute’.

18 Talking Scarlet A perfect marriage of words and music.

19 Faron Young Many people’s rockin’-good introduction to Prefab.

20 Wild Horses Another classic ballad.

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SISTER K I M

AS ONE HALF OF THE TRULY ICONIC 80s DUO MEL & KIM, KIM APPLEBY IS A PART OF POP ROYALTY. NOW SHE’S BACK, HEADING UP A BBC FOUR SERIES CALLED THE 80s POP ROAD MAP WITH CO-PRESENTER MIDGE URE. THE PWL LEGEND TALKS US THROUGH A LIFE IN MUSIC. D A R R E N

S C O T T

A P P L E B Y

AK CT im Appleby has been out of the spotlight for a while. In fact, it’s been so long, that she doesn’t really remember how long. She chuckles when she counts back and figures it out for herself.

“I’m quite a private person and I don’t really crave the limelight,” she explains. “So it’s not important for me to keep the profile out there, I guess.” But there’s another reason she’s turned down numerous interviews, television shows and reality programmes.

“Sometimes I feel that I’ve said enough about the Mel & Kim story, and what went on there. I just feel that sometimes it becomes quite repetitive.”

However, it is a tale that bears repeating, because the Mel & Kim story is pop gold: sisters, from Hackney in London, record a demo in 1985 which lands them a deal with Supreme Records. They are then

introduced to the talented up-and-coming producers Stock Aitken and Waterman, who go on to write material specially for them and their personalities...

“What was great was that Mel and I had Mike, Matt and Pete all to ourselves, because they were so unknown,” she recalls.

“They’d done the Divine thing, remixed Dead Or Alive, and Pete had something to do with Musical Youth’s Pass The Dutchie. It wasn’t known as The Hit Factory then either – just PWL. Mel and I were very lucky because all the songs were personalised to us. It was a great time.”

She elaborates further on how their first recording session with SAW could’ve gone quite differently...

“We recorded a track called System, which ended up on the album, and then they took us down the pub. We were streetwise Hackney girls with strong accents and laughs. They were asking us tons of questions about 55

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K I M

A P P L E B Y

“I JUST DON’T FEEL THAT MEL AND I WERE PART OF THAT HIT FACTORY. THAT’S THE GOD’S HONEST TRUTH.” where we lived and what we did. We were there with them for a good hour-and-a-half and the story goes that Pete went back to the studio and said: ‘scrap that track, we need something tough for these girls’ and that’s where Showing Out (Get Fresh At The Weekend) came in. The rest all followed like that... songs like F.L.M. – which I think you know doesn’t really stand for Fun, Love and Money. That’s what I mean when I say that we were very lucky, we had their undivided attention and those songs were written around us.”

SPECIAL MEMORIES Sadly, their time was cruelly cut short when, in January 1990, Mel passed away aged 23 from cancer. But, as Kim goes on to suggest, they wouldn’t have continued working with the hitmakers. “I think we were probably going to do our own thing at that point,” she says.

“We’d discovered that we could do this and that we were pretty good, too. We enjoyed the process so much. By that time we would have gone on to find other producers because the boys seemed so preoccupied. I mean, they really were churning stuff out. They were just dominating the charts and there wasn’t a week when they didn’t have at least one

Y T R E P O R P R U O Y NOT

. with F.L.M ing new th ,” e rs m e so rn a to do om W are plans ey’ve talogue fr h re a T e c . th w im r, o K e n v Howe e Mel & erything th v e t h ly hich g u te w o , lu s just b abso dition ersion “They’ve Red have another e panded v y o x e d rr e r to h o / C g , “ d ls. t least e goin luxe an she revea n e being a , so they’r urs of de xe editio e masters for the tim the rumo rs to e t , th a st t re a h th a g m s s u 010 delu e m o m 2 .” u b th ir ic lb n e st a e It see w th k ta o li lo n s l m so l] stil looks l be fa y plan fer fro ppleby’s cord labe n will dif s? – but it re are an I think wil of Kim A . “[The re enies the t, perhap ew versio m d . n se a y e x is a re o sh w th d b a s e s k w a Ho ys, Brea ase. single just a pip ,” Kim sa uess – a a CD rele masters to Kim says. lo album e getting nyone’s g own the I find the b a I ’t y remixes,” h is n ll g a y a u c n n my firt so o a y fi h h t m lt h A ‘w “ so ig g . m o ver all a in d o se s h y c e a ele ns sa ack to used to master, rare mix for a re-r gs from fa e day you own the e same tr I in th e th There s th f th se it t. o u h w a in s a e it fe e c k tr e a “Bac that’s b ur remix re, once in for a e fo d e I’ve seen th n , b t e a u to re ’, o I th g m and ave goin y train ay albu “You’d h t of day.” nice idea guys are a runawa Breakaw w the ligh think you e a really ce it to kles. “It’s I sa b n c e r u c ld so e h li v u c s, e o e ld n a w u t are e I co ha!” sh re tha uess that to think at. Mayb uff on the at’s it. I g mething kaging th will be st c so a ’s p internet th It re . t re u e out th ught abo uld put it have tho d they co n a d e R Cherr y the line.” her down about furt

I’M

Aside from the dancefloor hits, Mel & Kim were celebrated for their style which combined urban street wear with high fashion

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y, t-t-t-tay-ta tay, tay, e the Tay, tay, av le or take tay, tay – was an pectable Mel video, Res which took 87 t hi le ib 19 ch irresist ar M No.1 in and Kim to

She still has a lot of memorabilia hidden away, including “gold, platinum and triple platinum discs”, gloves, hats, jackets and magazine covers. “People ask ‘why the discs aren’t hanging on the walls?’” Kim says.

“It’s just not me, to be honest with you. For me, it’s my little secret. It’s Mel and I’s little thing... and I’d like to keep it as Mel and I’s little thing... my memories of what we did. I want to keep it close to her and I.”

onour: In her h Kim’s Much of but solo e d 0 9 9 1 atured album fe ritten -w co s g son el M h it w

track in the Top 10. I think Mel and I also felt that it had become very samey and we didn’t want that. We would never have wanted that for our music because, as I said, it was a very personalised sound.

“It had all become very formulaic, so I’m pretty sure that Mel and I would have wanted to have gone on to work with other producers, or at least experimented with another sound.

“I don’t feel like Mel and I were really part of the Hit Factory. That all came about a year or so later.

I don’t associate Mel and I with it and that’s the God’s honest truth.”

A BREAK AWAY Solo albums, Kim Appleby and Breakaway followed in 1990 and 1993 respectively, and then Kim was rarely to be seen. Until now... “It’s a long time, isn’t it?” she considers. “I mean, even for me, I can’t believe that I’ve been gone for such a long time. And it was by choice. After Mel passed away, I made the first solo album in her honour. I put so much energy into it and wanted to showcase some of the songs we’d been writing during her illness. By the time of Breakaway I wasn’t enjoying it anymore or happy with the way the music was going. I wanted to take a rest and collect my thoughts.

I was on a personal quest to show the world the legacy she had left behind and didn’t really take any time out to grieve. I found it quite lonely. Especially on the road travelling without Melanie. I missed my homelife and decided that I didn’t want to be in the limelight.”

It’s the creative process, writing in particular, that Kim says she enjoys most and continues to do so. Being free of a major label meant she could make her own decisions, “release the odd little dance track here and there” and write for other artists.

How then, did she get involved with the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers And Authors?

“In 1991, I was nominated for an Ivor [Novello] in the best contemporary song category for Don’t Worry.

I lost to Adamski’s Killer, and rightly so because it’s just an amazing track. Because BASCA do the Ivor Novello’s I started to get involved and that’s what I did for a number of years, about 15 years, in fact.”

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Stints in soap operas such as Doctors and The Dream Team followed, along with her own internet radio (“one of the first actually”) and travelling abroad. “So I kind of did everything that kept me away from being a pop star basically,” she laughs.

“Then, 10 years ago, my mum was diagnosed with an illness and I took time out to care for her. I dedicated a lot of time to looking after my mum, but she sadly passed away in October last year. So, it has all been a bit of a journey, to be honest with you.”

RESPECTING THE PAST Last year she returned to the stage, performing at the Rewind Festival, something she repeatedly refers to as “huge”. “It was a really big deal, because I’d never performed Mel & Kim songs solo,” she says thoughtfully. I’d been asked many, many times to do that. I’ve been offered silly money but always turned them down. I performed Respectable for the first time in 25 years... I think it might even be longer, but I really

E H T S ’ T THA IS WAY IT

ing part inally be & Kim knew g ri o h g u altho , Mel tion that, it Factory udio was isconcep as The H m n e st n w th o o n m re k e m e th Rick It’s a co e were r becom w te n la L. “I think e h ld W u w P o t , a is w t g th a s. Pete in u h rn tr w rd u of cts. “The of their time reco et Pete B er him a m e e th w f y o says many Obviousl ound. I rememb had mpty,” Kim s of tea! usually e d to make us cup ed You Spin Me R t my face, and I a ix se t g u u m in ] o k re y ing ab [Astle y had was loo when the e was talk t my nose , and he h k re t o e u to o th it d s e a s e w job turn to g w many about. It ad taken e asking ho t he was talking y jobs it h over, because sh n a m a w h o h w ie and n e a r, la e m le e id g d M d o in n was ask r calling a wild to e e e b k H e m li . e sh se io m o d d e stu my n !’ An did. I re around th e had a nose job ” She e way it g th in k n o n lo ru v .’

I’ to and nose thinks buzzing cent my mum’s inks! He was just lovely ac she’s got hat he th t , a w h th a ss n e in , u ’ h saying: ‘g im and says: ‘na e was like ‘eff off dh to h n’t goes up round an they were em He turned er – and th th e o se e n ’d o laughs. “ .” ut we recall ad a there, b lie, Jason and can only m im ra K that he h a , n ts a c n y eK er a w Ba As for oth dio... “I never sa t studio. By the tim cancer, and we ith stu uie w q e d th ry se e in o v n n , where did eve en diag y a very e ll b a g: ‘wow, d re in a k s h a l in e th M e m re o e out. It w h th t else was e were a everyone ctators to it all. W e sp e becam om?’” t come fr all this lo

ry I were ve “Mel and all the Stock ause an lucky bec nd Waterm d Aitken a se personali e er w s song Appleby im K – s” to u

don’t want to say it’s longer because I’ll feel old!

It reminded me how much I loved performing and I didn’t realise how much I missed it.”

The bug must have bitten her, because she’s making more festivals appearances this year, performing a full set of Mel & Kim numbers.

There’s even new music. Sort of... Fans will no doubt be well aware that a ‘new’ Mel & Kim song has recently surfaced. Where Is Love is available to download via the usual outlets, with physical editions from PledgeMusic.

“It was a track that Mel and I did before we were famous,” Kim explains. “I think it was the demo that got us the deal with Supreme Records, and we recorded it in a kitchen. It was such a long time ago!”

In fact, it was so long ago that when the people behind the Mel & Kim website [Krisztian and Iain] sent her the track, she couldn’t believe it was them.

“I didn’t recognise it at all. But when they came back with the full story, I remembered recording the vocals and feeling terrified. Melanie was always a lot more confident than me. We recorded it and then Steve Rowland, who was the American producer who kind of discovered us, said that he was going to take it to this label that had the artist Princess and who’d recently had a huge hit with Say I’m Your Number One... the rest is history.”

FRESH START For the vocals on Where Is Love to be extracted properly, technology had to catch up. It now comes with a host of contemporary mixes, as well as ones that boast the iconic original Mel & Kim sound.

Does this mean there are more unearthed gems out there somewhere?

“No, I think that would be it,” Kim says matterof-factly. “I think that there’s nothing else out there featuring the two of us together.”

It’s a whole other story for solo material...

In 2016 the single, What’s Not To Love, was due to kickstart things once again. “I wrote

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“I’M GOING TO SOUND OLD NOW, BUT I THINK THE 80S WAS AN INCREDIBLE TIME FOR CREATIVITY ACROSS THE BOARD – FROM MUSIC TO FASHION...”

16 tracks with Dominic King in the Pyrenees, and then I had a few remixes done of it, because I wanted to make it sound more contemporary. But then my mum was ill and I put everything on hold and I haven’t gone back to it – it’s still sitting there and I’m looking for a producer.

“From a songwriting point of view there are some really great tracks. But I guess I’m still a little bit of a reluctant pop star as well.”

Why, you may ask, has a reluctant pop star agreed to front a new show on BBC Four? “Because it’s music and it’s about the 80s,” she replies without hesitation. “I think the subject matter is just incredible. I’m going to sound old now, but I think the 80s was an incredible time for creativity right across the board – from music to fashion.

“You’d go out and you’d customise your clothes to try to be different. It was a time when everyone tried to be different and image was everything. It was certainly very close to my heart when I was young.”

The show, The 80s Pop Road Map, sees Kim and Midge Ure travelling across Britain to interview other pop stars about why certain sounds came from different parts of the country.

“We visit every area of the country to chart the change in the British music scene and discover musical influences. You had electro coming out of Sheffield, the ska movement in the Midlands, this hybrid country sound coming out of Scotland, dance culture in London and psychedelia coming out of Liverpool.

“It was the days before streaming services and the ability to hold your entire music library in your pocket.

A time when UK artists were releasing records and having hits on both sides of the Atlantic. Today Adele, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay, they’re the hardcore ones flying the flag for Britain. Back then, there really was a

Where Is Love is available to download via the usual outlets, with physical editions from PledgeMusic

British invasion and it was an incredible time. You just felt that it was all there for the taking. Anything was possible if you had the talent and you were creative.

It was all there and a really great time.”

She says she’s enjoyed the experience of working with BBC Four so much that she’d love to do more.

“I love music and I know my music. My father came here in the 50s on the Windrush and brought his music with him. I kind of grew up with original ska. So, by the time it got to The Beat and The Selecter, it wasn’t a new sound to me. What was new to me was the set-up. It was racially diverse and that is what was new to me.

Then my mum loved Al Green and there was John Holt and Helen Reddy. I’m very eclectic with my music taste!”

So a less reluctant television presenter then?

“Yeah, well, I love talking about music!” she chuckles. “I still love music, I’ve always loved music. It’s part of my DNA. I never want that to change. You got me with the reluctant pop star, haven’t you? It’s what Tony Swain, from Swain & Jolley, used to call me. At the time I didn’t really understand what he meant by being reluctant. But obviously he saw something in me that I didn’t – years later I understand what he means.”

It seems she’s not as opposed to the idea of embracing a dancing nation once more.

“I’m sure I will release music, but I want it to be right,” she says. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and I’m quite hard on myself so I don’t want to send just anything out there.”

But as well as the fans, there’s someone else she wants to get things right for. “I want to do something that I think Melanie would be proud of, too,” she explains.

“Because Melanie’s always at the forefront for me. I really want to get it right for her at these shows this year.

I’m giving back to my sister. She has probably been saying for the last 30 years: ‘why haven’t you gone out there and celebrated us?’”

So, contrary to what Kim might believe, there’s still plenty of life, love and tales to be told in the Mel & Kim story yet. ● The 80s Pop Road Map is set to be broadcast on BBC Four in early July. Visit www.melandkim.com for further information.

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A R E A

RICHARD SMITH’S CREATIVE OUTPUT INCLUDES A DIVERSE RANGE OF CLIENTS AND STELLAR COLLABORATIONS. AS HALF OF THE DESIGN DUO, AREA, THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER’S IMPRESSIVE POP PORTFOLIO WAS HUGELY INFLUENTIAL IN THE 90s.

A N D R E W

H

D I N E L E Y

ow did you get involved with design and was it always your intention to work in the field of sleeve art?

When I was finishing my last year of school in Guildford I spent much of my free time at the local record store or working on a fanzine called Catcrap with a friend. This became the gateway to the rest of my career.

I was on the verge of leaving school and looking to go to college, but had no clue what I wanted to do. Fortuitously, my school career guidance counsellor said: “If you like fanzines why don’t you do this graphic design course at Guildford Technical College?” Within a few months, I enrolled on a City & Guilds course in Design For Print. I was infatuated by the work of Peter Saville and his work married my obsession with Joy Division and New Order with my emerging design sensibilities. At the end of the course, I signed up to do a HND at the London College of Printing. Then, once I had graduated, I had to start looking for a job.

A friend of my older brother worked at Pentagram and I started a brief internship there. My brother’s friend gave me a list of agencies that Pentagram worked with to help me search for a job. One of those agencies was Peter Saville Associates (PSA). When I called them, Peter answered the phone and, within a few minutes, I had

arranged a meeting. On the day of my interview I waited several hours for him to arrive (I later realised this was ‘normal’ for him) and at the end of our very interesting conversation, I was offered a job.

What was the first sleeve design commission for you after the formation of your own design studio, Area, at the end of the 80s?

It was Personal Jesus, the first single from Depeche Mode’s 1990 album, Violator. For Personal Jesus, Anton Corbijn created the entire cover sleeve as a square painting, which we photographed. This approach became challenging when the record company asked for a cassette version or a rectangular in-store poster... anything that wasn’t square.

For the follow-up single Enjoy The Silence, I asked Anton to break it down into components that I could move around, colourise, edit and so on. Most of the ideas came from Anton, but, the more I worked with him, the more we discussed ideas.

At the beginning of every new album he usually had a very clear idea about what he wanted to do.

However, as I gained his trust, he leaned on me increasingly to do more of the design.

s uild & G For y n it a C Desig rd o er Aft rse in uildf e, g G d cou t at Colle igne s n Pri nical mith at h Tec ard S a HND lege h l Ric to do n Co then o up Lond g, he ith tes n the rinti job w ssocia P of ded a ille A v lan er Sa Pet

, uth f Tr the O d icy se ight’ Pol tili l For ard u inted had h e Ric e ‘pa ect h n f sam to ef Anto hey ue h pho d wit hen t talog a use bijn w n a c igner s Cor ked o n de r o wo fashi no u for i Tats j Ko

For Depeche singles Policy Of Truth and World In My Eyes, you moved away from the naturalistic forms and dominant darkness, to

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A R E A

P O P

A R T

re mo e th ut, t the r idea b , ijn lea he .A orb ideas er y c trust, C v n s nto ussed ad a ed hi A h isc ain ..” ly om e fr we d usual as I g esign. m s ca more um he ever, the d a e w lb of id the he him, ew a o. Ho more t f n o d ost d with ever y ed to to do M “ e of ant gly ork I w inning t he w reasin c a beg ut wh me in o ab ed on n lea

e cam e ds ing th nd n a a b ow tor, de any oll a “M rea f f Viol e Mo n h A r to ess o epec to tu c D suc ause able from bec been away t” g s had rner p’ pa orkin o a c ir ‘po on w ode M the chard eche i – R h Dep wit

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e rst ter h f s fi rd’ on, a as lator a h i Ric miss rea, w s Vio ’ com ed A Mode ding m l for eche inclu sona r Dep paign s Pe e e cam singl joy Th rld the us, En d Wo n Jes nce a s e Sile y Ey M In

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For cam the 1 the paign 997 U A G singl , incl ltra u e and un, H s Ba ding r o Ric It’s me, rel O N U h f and ard i o Go seles o n s a r expe corp d, o a sou nge rimen rated rce of d t ma iffe ed wi ter t r ials ent h

“Fo r wh the c ate o ver ver o tha f t.

I fad .. Ant want Barre ed l es on aw wit Of A wa me h a n sb eca y in t tione his p Gun, d An ho use he i of w mag somet tos an ton a llo d hat e an hing dh abo I fully wed m wa o sg oin w sym ut how capita e to d go n w bolic Dave lised o o i ith n Ga t was Gaha han – n per I think son ally that .”

“Fo cov r the wa er, th Ultra e s ste mad lett album e n on cil ch e by p ring pap to ph aract rojec o e tin g int er. It togra rs e The resti was a phic n r aes e is g tec real l a the thetic n od hniqu y d e. sin f gle or m ost s” of

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A R E A

For the Ultra campaign in 1997, you incorporated a range of source material into the designs – from drawings and photographs to iconography…

For the cover of Barrel Of A Gun, Anton allowed me to do whatever I wanted with his photos and I fully capitalised on that. I was really into this fake handmade aesthetic at the time, using the computer to create a low-fi, scrappy design style, where I composed scans of my handwriting and drawings. Anton mentioned something about how Dave Gahan fades away in the image and how symbolic it was – I think that was because of what was going on with Gahan personally. There was a lot of uncertainty about the future of the band at that time and the music also had an aggressive edge. I think the sleeve design reflected that. Mute boss, Daniel Miller, told me that he thought it was the best sleeve Area had designed.

For the Ultra album cover, the lettering was made by projecting stencil characters on to photographic paper. It was a really interesting technique. There is an odd aesthetic for most Aft of the singles (Home, er Are suc Useless and It’s wit a we cess w n Bad h Nick t on ith D No Good) t M Dre Seed Cave o wo , r from that art am), s (He & Th k n i e i (As st Ni ndus ry’s campaign. t t (Ab Is EP zer E rial b ) They seem to go Con racad and b que abr ABC from the intense a rs All , Love and to the bizarre to the Say It) juvenile. For each single, Anton gave us all the pieces and we put the cover designs together from those.

embrace more vivid colours and portraiture.

Before Policy Of Truth I’d worked with Anton on a catalogue for a fashion designer called Koji Tatsuno. He’d just started shooting colour photography after years of black and white. The imagery in that fashion catalogue utilised the same ‘painted light’ photo style as Policy Of Truth. The process exaggerated the film colour, so you ended up with supersaturated or bright images. World In My Eyes happened quickly. I think Anton shot some photos of the band around New York and that became the imagery for the sleeve.

As well as Depeche Mode, Mute Records commissioned you to work with Nick Cave and Nitzer Ebb. I did a couple of different projects for Nick Cave.

I think the Henry’s Dream material came first, which was another Anton collaboration.

He came up with the idea of using a billboard and I created the supporting graphics. It was this Pulp Fiction reference. As Is for Nitzer Ebb was a one-off. They were really into skateboarding, and liked the

P O P

A R T

idea of riffing off corporate graphic language. They really liked that industrial aesthetic so I think that’s where it started.

In 1991, you worked with ABC on the sleeve of their album Abracadabra and its singles, Love Conquers All and Say It. The album cover shared some visual themes with Enjoy The Silence – an organic element against a Yves Klein-esque blue background.

There was no conscious decision on my part to do something similar.

Many bands came to Area following the success of Violator, and because Depeche Mode had been able to turn a corner away from their ‘pop’ past. We had a few different ideas for ABC, but landed on the idea of using Lewis Mulatero’s photographs of seashells, seahorses and starfish.

I think the overarching narrative was based on the fact the band had a new style, so there were definitely aspects of the past they wanted us to help lose. At the time, Peter Saville and Trevor Key had been doing all this cool dichromat imagery for New Order, and Nick Knight had been experimenting with colour processing. I think their developing styles got picked up across the musical landscape.

In 1991, you went on to work with Trevor Key, creating several sleeve designs for OMD. What was that like?

I’d always dreamed of working with my favourite bands and musicians.

I managed to do that with OMD and it really was an honour. With OMD, we had sent our book to Virgin Records and the art department arranged a meeting for us with Andy McCluskey. We were able to trade ‘war stories’ about working with Peter Saville and we bonded over our memories. The image for Sugar Tax was based on an invitation we created for a London art gallery show. The artist used oil in his work to create striking images and Andy loved it. There was no one else I knew who could shoot the image other than Trevor and that final shot used dish detergent on plexi-glass.

The sleeves you worked on for OMD varied in style, particularly the glamorous follow-up album, Liberator.

It was all about an expression of the song or what the song was 63

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A R T

A R E A

about. I think that was the reason why all the sleeves were all so different. Usually the first single, album, and maybe the second single, all had a similar feel. The story behind the sleeve for Liberator is a little more interesting than some of the others we did. The original sleeve was banned by Woolworths because it was too raunchy. Andy McCluskey really liked an image we found by Stéphane Sednaoui, which was originally created for The Face magazine. Andy wanted his own version, so we commissioned Stéphane to shoot a similar series of images. Our model was wearing a Jean-Paul Gaultier body suit – with fake nipples and hair – so she looked nude. It was more provocative than the original, but it made its way through the entire process and it was only when Woolworths complained that we had to come up with an alternative. So, we reverted to Stéphane’s original shoot for The Face. They were less provocative, but still worked. Andy was still thrilled that he’d had something banned by Woolworths.

For OMD’s 1996 album, Universal, Peter Saville had shown Andy something similar to the final cover image. Peter may have even created something that we repurposed or redrew. But we didn’t actually work with him on the sleeve design beyond that. I think he just got a credit because it was his original idea and we liked the association. The images were created in a 3D modelling programme and we developed variations for different purposes: posters, inner sleeves, the Walking On The Milky Way single etc.

Your work for Tears For Fears was predominantly photographic. Was this a conscious decision with the band now being a solo vehicle for Roland Orzabal?

We had been working with an artist called David Austen on a gallery project and showed Roland some of his work.

It was a lot like Matisse’s work, simple collage cut-outs, and I think, because of the earthy spiritual quality of David’s work and the title of the album, Elemental, there was a vague connection there. Roland was definitely on a spiritual journey, so I think much of that came through in the cover design.

In the mid-90s you worked with two 80s icons, Kim Wilde and Adam Ant. Was there any pressure for the design work to reference their commercially successful past?

I forget how Kim Wilde came about. I remember we were on vacation and somehow, I managed to orchestrate a shoot. I remember she came across as being very self-conscious about her looks at the actual shoot. But there was no request to relive the past.

Adam was another person Corbijn put us in contact with. Adam didn’t get involved in the design and we only met him a few times – we mostly worked with Marco Pirroni.

Are there any sleeve designs you’ve worked on that you remain particularly proud of?

Barrel Of A Gun, but I also really like the Songs Of Faith And Devotion

d ure ono on h as MD d w h O tor, har k wit ibera g c i R r L kin x, wo to ar Ta l, Wal ay, Sug versa ilky W s For e h r i Un The M s Tea al), T g) n t On ell a men mera Of w s e as rs (El (Boo (Song ive) s L Fea ature gain tion Cre DM a Devo d and h An t Fai

Live sleeve. Because of its pure typography and atmospheric photography, I’d say another favourite is Boomerang by The Creatures.

I’ve always felt really lucky throughout my career and I’m proud that, despite having no clue what I wanted to do with my life, I’ve somehow stumbled into something I love!

More recently, I’ve held the position of creative director at Sullivan brand engagement agency in New York City.

The work I do now is a far cry from those early days, but I still apply the same principles and I’m still driven by the same subversive attitude.

Record cover design is relatively easy. There’s something about what I do today that feels more satisfying, more challenging, if not as important culturally.

“I’ve always felt really lucky throughout my career and I’m proud that, despite having no clue what I wanted to do with my life, I’ve somehow stumbled into something I love!”

P O P

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SPRING SALE

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10/04/2018 09:44

t s S l u J r i G a D A P H N E & C E L E S T E

nn e ! a v n a u w H F

The last time we saw Daphne & Celeste they were performing under a hail of bottles, food and goodness knows what else at Reading Festival 2000... now the bubbly pop duo are back to save the world!

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!

HAD H AV E Y A M THEY HART VED C I L T R CAN SHO AMERI T U B SS, STE SUCCE & CELE E N H P A MARK DUO D LEFT A Y L N P. I OF PO C E R TA D L R O RK, E W OF MA ON TH D N I K AT K LY W H H STIC O O E EXACT K ITS LI FOR Y. , I S .

WITH H L .

G .

UT ND U IDE. B C E YOU A D R TO K, STENE K, BAC C A B THE LI ‘ E E THEY’R URPRIS S NOW A H ’ WIT F THE BACK! ONE O R O F NDER LBUMS POP A CONTE O R T LEC ...

BEST E E YEAR T OF TH C O T R E N D A R

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aphne and Ce leste are save th back to e world , bu that be achieve t how can d? Fun, is the a it nswer.

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They’ve e, and , self-de it sho p jokes a re infec recating humo ws. Their joyo tious. u ur and As we c deadpa s hat, the n copies p air are of their in Ne new alb The Wo um, Da w York, signin rld. “I’m g phne & signing Daphne Cele three w reveals ith my re ste Save . “So, y Karen, ou if ge al name it will p t on rob ,” Roadsh ow in 2 ably be worth e that says 035... m o re Celeste on Anti or may de ques “We sta adpans: “I think be 2045.” yed ver it ’l l be a lo says, as y close,” ng time the conv Daphne .” ersation turns to their 67

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D A P H N E

&

C E L E S T E

latest comeback. “Celeste is like a little sister to me. We’ve been in each other’s lives ever since we met. But I don’t think we necessarily ever thought we were going to do this again.”

Before we get to ‘this’, we need to go back to the beginning...

POWERPUFF GIRLS “We were kid actors,” Daphne explains. “So that’s how we got the audition. We got a deal with Universal who already had two songs written – Ooh Stick You and U.G.L.Y. – I’m convinced that the only reason we got it is because we looked like Anime characters.”

Celeste elaborates: “They were just going to use cartoons. That was very popular at the time – to not have an artist and just have a cartoon do it. Do you remember Gorillaz? So, something like that.”

What they thought was just going to be a free trip to London soon turned into a job that they discovered people took quite seriously.

“Once we got to the UK, we realised pop was very serious. Which was hilarious to us,” Celeste says. There’s a very long pause when asking if they took it seriously.

“Ummm, no,” Daphne eventually responds before bursting out laughing. “We definitely didn’t take it seriously. How could we? It was all so hilarious.”

“They pitched our voices up, we sounded like chipmunks!” Celeste chimes in. “We were basically actors. Even the audition itself was a weird audition to get. My agent was like: ‘OK, so they need two girls for a pop group’. You don’t really process what that means when you’re a young performer... you think you work really hard, find a producer, record an album.

You don’t think you meet these two guys and they’re like: ‘here are your songs’,” she howls with laughter.

Joining in with the hysterics, Daphne adds: “Also, we didn’t realise it at the time, but at that audition we danced to what would become Ooh Stick You. So, we were bopping around and afterwards we were like ‘what is that song?’ We were super judgemental about it!”

Celeste agrees: “We were such bitches, it’s so funny.

Then we met the woman who wrote our songs and she was amazing. She intended for the songs to be hardcore drum and bass.” The pair scream laughing. “So when she heard them, that made everything even more hilarious for us.”

Celeste explains that the name change came about from the recording session for Ooh Stick You, where they played about with different names. “I think at the time, somebody wanted to do a Scooby-Doo thing, like ‘Daphne and Velma’. We thought it was just for the song and didn’t think it was going to stick to this degree.”

Celeste starts laughing and the pair are off again...

UNDER ATTACK No interview with Daphne & Celeste would be complete without discussing Reading Festival 2000. It’s written in pop history – the duo lied their way into getting a slot, all because Celeste wanted to meet Eminem (who later dropped out of performing). They were on a line-up with Rage Against The Machine and Slipknot and the stage was bombarded with, well, anything the crowd could lay their hands on.

“I have a notebook of everything that was thrown at us,” Daphne says. “I wrote it right after we got off stage.”

Items included a mirror (pocket version – thankfully – which they kept), ‘lots of food’ (“food made it far”), packs

of raw meat and a wheelchair. “It really makes sense to throw tomatoes,” Celeste considers.

“It’s very easy to throw them really far...

Wheelchairs don’t really go that far.”

Daphne gasps: “Here is something that I hadn’t thought about until now, the tomatoes... they didn’t splatter. Thanks for getting us to look back at this!

“I think the bigger thing is that wheelchair... did someone give up their mobility because they hated us so much? That’s interesting to think about. That’s real hate... It’s like: ‘I’ll sacrifice.

I won’t see any of the bands I came here to see because I hate them so much’.”

Celeste thinks for a second and says: “Unless they have a spare or they’re on crutches now.”

“I’m thinking that they had another getaway wheelchair waiting,” Daphne suggests.

Now they’ve saved themselves from identified flying objects, they’re back to save the world with a brand new record. It’s been a fairly organic process, as you might expect from a duo that haven’t released an album in 18 years.

Producer, Max Tundra, originally got in touch with Celeste via Twitter in 2011. The recording of You And I Alone followed – either that year or the following, they can’t quite recall – and then it sat on the shelf until eventually being released in 2015. “We were kind of just experimenting,” Daphne explains.

Aided by producer Max Tundra, Save The World sees Daphne & Celeste return with a delightful album of modernist electro-pop, which features a biting takedown of Ed Sheeran et al on the single BB

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The only way is up for Daphne & Celeste as they return with a Max Tundraproduced sophomore album

Ro&my e l e h c Mi oF The

POP

“I think that at some point, we weren’t even going to release it,” Celeste ventures.

“I thought it would be really funny to just release that one song,” Daphne explains.

“Again, I think there’s something about our origin as a manufactured pop band – the more ridiculous the better. So we were just into releasing it and seeing what happened. We had such a good time working with Max that we just felt like we should record an album.”

“It just feels so right for us that our follow-up album took nearly 20 years,” Celeste smiles. “I think there’s something deeply satisfying in that for me.”

The positive response to You And I Alone took the girls by surprise. “It was the first time that we had not been on a worst list,” Daphne laughs. “Not being one of the most annoying tracks of the week was huge!”

Celeste tries to put her finger on why album Daphne & Celeste Save The World works. “What I really like about the album is it’s an updated mash-up of who we were when we first came out. It’s a very eclectic album. I like all the shout-outs to who we were then, they’re peppered throughout. Max’s music mixed with Daphne & Celeste doesn’t really go together, but somehow it does.”

Daphne agrees: “You can’t really predict where a song is going to go next, and that for me is what is really awesome about Max and his work. The longer we kept working together, the more we realised how absurd and weird we could push it.”

Daphne & Celeste Save The World feels nostalgic, but also very ‘now’. Out of place, yet ahead of its time. In many ways, a grown up version of their debut offering...

“I think the thing that’s funny about We Didn’t Say That!, our debut album – it took me a long time to realise – it’s got a little bit of everything too,” says Celeste.

MuSi c

aphne and Celeste weren’t exactly embraced by the rock community, as seen by their Reading Festival performance. It seems they managed to ruffle a few other feathers along the way – Daphne famously mocked Placebo’s Brian Molko in an NME interview. “I wrote him an apology.” Celeste shrugs.

“We reached out, so I feel like that’s OK.” Daphne nods: “We tried to make amends.”

Celeste bursts out laughing. “He didn’t answer the door!”

Daphne considers. “But I feel like we were kinda outsiders in all communities. We didn’t really find our group. It’s like when you’re in high school and you just don’t know what table to sit at.” Celeste agrees: “We were just never invited to anyone’s table, ever.”

Does this make them the Romy and Michele of pop music?

Daphne beams: “That’s actually a brilliant way to put it, I think we were the Romy and Michele of pop.

“We made some cool friends, but we also were like kinda desperate for friends I think at that point, too... I think we said a lot of things that people didn’t take kindly to – I said that a guy, he was in Five, looked like a muppet.

I thought I was being sweet! But he was really mad and he actually confronted us one day...”

Celeste laughs. “Because apparently muppet means something else in the UK. It means idiot.”

“It definitely isn’t like anything else that was on the pop scene at that point,” Daphne agrees.

“And I would venture to say that this new album is kind of the same... it’s hard to compare it to something else that’s out right now and we don’t have to worry about anyone else sounding like us.”

What’s next then, if this new process has been so enjoyable? “I think it’s about 18 years until we have to think about it again,” Celeste replies, and Daphne screams with laughter. “Even popstars are taking themselves too seriously now,” Daphne considers.

“It’s like, where do we go? I’m going to Max Tundra’s world for a while. That suits me.”

Celeste is, as ever, in agreement: “The magical world of Max Tundra!”

● Daphne & Celeste Save The World is out now on all formats.

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WHAM! (EPIC) You probably know the origin story of Wham!’s first UK and US No.1 hit, but for the slow ones at the back here it is again.

The title comes from a note that Andrew Ridgeley scribbled to his parents. Meant to say ‘wake me up before you go’, he accidentally wrote ‘up’ twice and added a second ‘go’ on purpose. That’s thinking on your feet, that is. George took the concept and ran with it, conjuring up a 50s and 60s pop homage bursting with the usual Wham! teenage chutzpah. The video, which sees the band rocking it in Katharine Hamnettdesigned T-shirts (George’s CHOOSE LIFE tee has become iconic) was once listed in the NME’s 50 Worst Music Videos countdown. What do they know? Whatever happened to the NME, by the way?

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

DURAN DURAN (EMI) So what’s the real story behind Duran Duran’s most successful single? Simon Le Bon has covered his tracks on occasion by stating the lyrics are nonsense and merely the product of recording after a couple of bottles of vino destructo, but we think there’s more to it than that. Fan theories posit that it’s a paean to masturbation, an oblique celebration of drug-taking, an exploration into gaining selfconfidence, or even rather more prosaically a song about keyboard player Nick Rhodes.

After thorough research, it seems the idea that this is an ode on onanism errr stands up best.

My internet search history now looks shocking after trying to write this entry. Maybe this will remain Duran’s most unknowable song. After all: “Every little thing the reflex does, leaves you answered with a question mark.”

The Reflex

1 2

The Reflex

H A R N E L L

Automatic 8TH WEEK ON CHART

THE POINTER SISTERS (PLANET)

(2)

5TH WEEK ON CHART

DURAN DURAN (EMI)

(1)

S T E V E

OSCAR-NOMINATED SONGS DOMINATE A CHART THAT INCLUDES CLASSICS FROM BOB MARLEY, WHAM! AND A LYRICALLY OBLIQUE DURAN DURAN

WEEK ENDING 26 MAY 1984

a

12/04/2018 13:15

DENIECE WILLIAMS (CBS) One of two entries into this Top 10 rundown from the movie Footloose. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, Williams eventually lost out to former boss Stevie Wonder and I Just Called To Say I Love You from Woman In Red – in the 70s, Williams was part of Stevie’s backing band Wonderlove. In a previous incarnation as Deniece Chandler she recorded the Northern Soul favourite I’m Walking Away. Let’s Hear It For The Boy peaked at No.2 in the UK’s singles chart and features backing vocals from George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who would go on to form the duo Boy Meets Girl – best known for their hit Waiting For A Star To Fall and for writing two classics for Whitney Houston, How Will I Know and I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).

Let’s Hear It For The Boy

THE POINTER SISTERS (PLANET) The biggest hit The Pointer Sisters ever had in the UK. It was the second song released from their 10th studio album, 1983’s Break Out with Ruth Pointer taking the husky lead vocal. Manning the recording console were heavyweight pop producers Glenn Ballard and Richard Perry. Look out, too, for an extended mix of this track by Madonna collaborator John “Jellybean” Benitez. Also included on Break Out was the storming Neutron Dance track that featured on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack (remember Eddie Murphy hanging on in the back of that open truck?) and Jump (For My Love). I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Sisters for the freak funk Pinball Number Count song from Sesame Street. It’s how I learned to count to 12 without resorting to taking my shoes and socks off.

Automatic

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KENNY LOGGINS (CBS) Essentially an updated old school rock’n’roller with a sprinkling of arena rock synths, Loggins turns in a punch-the-air anthem that perfectly encapsulates the situation of the movie’s central character, Ren McCormack, played by the twinkle-toed Kevin Bacon in the days before he was flogging mobile phone contracts. Like the aforementioned Deniece Williams, Footloose was also nominated for the Best Original Song at the Oscars of 1985. This year, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in the US as being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant.” To fully cement his 80s movie tie-in credentials, Loggins went on to provide Danger Zone for the Top Gun OST.

Footloose

QUEEN (EMI) A highlight from the band’s return-to-form album The Works, I Want To Break Free was another gem written by their quiet man bassist, John Deacon. That memorable solo isn’t a heavily treated Brian May special by the way, it’s actually played by session man Fred Mandel on a Roland Jupiter-8 synth.

Equally noteworthy was the promo, which included a Coronation Street parody featuring the quartet dressed in drag. Incredibly, this piece of knockabout fun was deemed too controversial for audiences in the US and was banned by MTV. The song was soon taken on as an anthem in the fight against political oppression in territories such as South Africa and South America. When Freddie Mercury performed the song in drag in Rio in 1985 before a 325,000-strong crowd, fans pelted him with stones believing he was belittling its importance.

I Want To Break Free Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

I Want To Break Free One Love / People Get Ready Footloose Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) Break Dance Party

Break Dance Party

2ND WEEK ON CHART

ULTRAVOX (CHRYSALIS) The band’s second biggest hit after Vienna was influenced

by Midge Ure’s love of the apocalyptic atmosphere of Bowie’s Five Years from Ziggy Stardust... and the novel On The Beach by Nevil Shute. Ure poses the question, if you had just four minutes to live in the face of impending nuclear destruction, what would you do? Answer: don’t put Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven on the stereo, you won’t make it past the guitar solo.

Dancing With Tears In My Eyes

ULTRAVOX (CHRYSALIS)

(29) Dancing With Tears In My Eyes

3RD WEEK ON CHART

BREAK MACHINE (RECORD SHACK)

(16)

8TH WEEK ON CHART

PHIL COLLINS (VIRGIN)

(3)

6TH WEEK ON CHART

KENNY LOGGINS (CBS)

(6)

6TH WEEK ON CHART

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS (ISLAND)

(5)

7TH WEEK ON CHART

QUEEN (EMI)

(4)

1ST WEEK ON CHART

WHAM! (EPIC)

(-)

5TH WEEK ON CHART

DENIECE WILLIAMS (CBS)

Let’s Hear It For The Boy

BREAK MACHINE (RECORD SHACK) Fronted by musician and radio DJ Keith Rodgers, Break Machine were the brainchild of producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, the team behind The Village People. The whistling solo in Break Dance Party is a callback to their other hit, Street Dance, which made it to No.3 in the UK singles chart in March 1984. The video is best forgotten, though, and looks like the kind of low-rent production that The Two Ronnies would have turned out for a hip-hop parody sketch.

10

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (8)

PHIL COLLINS (VIRGIN) I can spot a theme emerging in this Top 10.

Here’s ‘The Collins’ with a further Hollywood movie tie-in and yet another Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. These nominations are like buses, aren’t they? Wait for ages, then three come along at once. Against All Odds... was the first of seven US solo No.1s for the Genesis frontman and was originally called the rather more sedentary How Can You Just Sit There? (come on, Phil, up your game – that’s not sexy enough for Hollywood). The movie itself was directed by Mr Helen Mirren, Taylor Hackford, and starred premier league 80s saucepot Rachel Ward and Iron Man’s eventual nemesis Jeff Bridges.

Subsequently, Against All Odds was also taken to the top of the UK singles chart by Mariah Carey and Westlife in 2000 and X Factor winner Steve Brookstein in 2005.

Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS (ISLAND) There’s a convoluted back story to one of Bob Marley’s greatest anthems of unity. Marley originally recorded the song in a ska style in 1965, incorporating snatches of The Impressions’ People Get Ready written by Curtis Mayfield. As copyright law was not enforced in Jamaica at the time, Mayfield went uncredited on the track. Marley revisited it on the 1970 reggae medley All In One but the most famous version turned up on his Exodus album of 1977. This was later re-released as a single to accompany the equally important Legend LP – still one of the greatest single artist compilations of all time. The 1984 video for the song featured archive footage of Bob plus Paul McCartney, Suggs and Chas Smith, Keren and Sara from Bananarama and many more.

One Love / People Get Ready

S O P H I E

W I T H

E L L I S - B E X T O R

S T R I N G S

ATTACHED IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO THIS SUMMER THAT SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR APPEARED ON THE FRONT OF MELODY MAKER UNDER THE BANNER “DESPERATELY SEEKING SOPHIE!” AND A HEADLINE THAT DESCRIBED HER FIRST GROUP AS “THE BEST NEW BAND IN BRITAIN.” IN THE TWO DECADES THAT HAVE FOLLOWED SHE HAS EMBRACED EURO, DISCO, BAROQUE AND SYNTH-POP. NOW IT’S TIME TO LOOK BACK…

I

I A N

didn’t just say: ‘OK, which are the songs that charted the highest?’

I think it’s got to be more about a shorthand way of saying: ‘these are the songs that tell my story so far’...” Sophie Ellis-Bextor is explaining the thinking behind which tracks she’s chosen for a new greatest hits collection. More of an

P E E L

audio memoir than a straight Best Of, The Song Diaries places her voice and songwriting front and centre stage, set against a lush backdrop of new orchestral arrangements.

But where did the philharmonic idea come from? Not classical music, as you might first think, or even the 80s’ lexicon of pop string arrangements.

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As Sophie Ellis-Bextor gets set to release The Song Diaries, 16 orchestral reworkings of some of her favourite songs, she tells Classic Pop why these are the tracks that tell the story of her life... so far

© Laura Lewis

IN DISCO, THE ORCHESTRA WOULD BE FULL-ON...

UNABASHED EMOTION S O P H I E E L L I S - B E X T O R

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S O P H I E

E L L I S - B E X T O R

“I think the disco vibe is probably where it came from for me,” Sophie explains.

“In disco, the orchestra would be full-on bells and whistles, all emotion. Like a sweep of everything coming at you all at once. Unabashed emotion.

“Pleasure and pain of the heartbreak, all of that. I love it! In fact, it’s kind of what started the beginning of my solo career. When I was choosing songs for Read My Lips, I was gigging around doing solo club PAs for Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love), and my tour manager at the time used to play Larry Levan’s Live At The Paradise Garage remix album. One track was a seven-minute version of Cher’s Take Me Home. So, I said to the label: ‘I think I’d like to do a cover of this’.

When I did the single version, it was a lot more pop and synthy. But when I’ve been playing it live more recently I’ve actually got the Larry Levan string arrangement. So, for The Song Diaries I’ve created a hybrid of my single and the Larry Levan version. It has some orchestral flourishes and movements that are absolutely beautiful.”

DON’T KILL THE GROOVE Whether it’s the trance of Not Giving Up On Love, the Italo-flavoured Groovejet or the dystopian synths of Starlight, disco has been at the heart of Sophie’s work, at least for the ‘first chapter’, her quartet of major label albums from 2001 to 2011. It’s in her roots. “I think people overlook 70s disco quite a lot because so much was over-familiar, with so many big songs. But every once in a while, I’ll be in the back of a taxi and a track will come on and you’ll suddenly listen to it as if you were in the mixing room, hearing it for the first time. In terms of musicianship, I consider all musicians that can play disco to be pretty highbrow. Their musicality is watertight.

“When I was touring the last record, Familia, my husband Richard (Jones, of The Feeling), was playing bass.

On Come With Us, which is a very disco-based track, he was cautious and thinking that he didn’t know if he was able to really play that style. But then, when he nailed it, it really made him feel good to know that he could.”

This more recent diversification of Sophie’s songwriting and sound has seen her live work become quite a spectacle.

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acoustic-based affairs that would set things up for a disco finale. She would still encore with a stripped-back guitar and vocal set, which usually took place off-stage, with the singer popping up in the middle of the crowd, on a balcony, or wherever that night’s venue allowed.

“It is fun,” she confesses, “and I like an element of the unexpected. Especially because the last two records both had a slightly different sound, particularly Wanderlust.

That was much more folky and left-field. So, in a concert, to do lots of Wanderlust at the beginning of the set, and then go to all the classics – Take Me Home, Murder On The Dancefloor and all that stuff – and then to bring it back to something from Wanderlust at the end was quite nice. I want to do that again with the next tour.”

In the Wanderlust show we reviewed in Classic Pop, that encore was a bit of a pin-drop moment.

“They’re not normally that quiet! Over in Manchester, they could be a bit noisy.

Dear Diary What was that ‘turning point moment’ for Sophie, when she knew she’d broken through to the mainstream? Perhaps reaching No.1 with Spiller or her first solo hit?

“I think, for me, the one that really stands out is much more basic,” she explains. “It’s the first time I ever heard anything I’d sung played on the radio. It was I Got The Wherewithal (her debut single as lead singer of Theaudience, which reached No.170, no less, in 1997).

I liked a lot of the earlier stuff, but I think that song really encapsulates the spirit of the band. I heard it on Xfm and it was just a moment of: ‘Oh my goodness, that’s me’. And the next moment, that took it up another level? “After that, probably when Theaudience was on the cover of Melody Maker, because I used to buy that all the time. Those were the two first ‘hits’ that really made me feel excited.”

The Song Diaries is coming out via Sophie’s PledgeMusic page in a variety of formats with a number of extra offers

© Ben Weller

10/04/2018 09:41

Piece of cake! “Normally, when you walk into a studio with an orchestra it’s quite intimidating... but this time I knew probably three quarters of them when we started”

They just take a while to shut up, really!

I loved it at the Union Chapel in London.

The venue is perfect, because you’ve got all these pews, so everything’s very neat.

Then you have a balcony for an encore.

You’ve got the acoustics of a church, too.

So when you’re singing it’s not as hard to project because you’re literally in the church, whereas some other places it’s like I have this little tiny voice that I’m trying to project.”

TO TAKE AN ORCHESTRA ON THE ROAD WOULD BE AMAZING S O P H I E E L L I S - B E X T O R

ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES All of which paves the way for a new tour, developing these ideas, with the arrival of the new orchestral album.

“Ideally, it would be a tour with the whole orchestra, but that’s not going to happen!,” she says. “To take an orchestra on the road would be amazing, but I think I’ll take eight strings and maybe a multi-instrumentalist, maybe two, because each song has its own feel.

“There might be timpani on one song, flute on another, or woodwind, brass or harp. There’s only a couple that have got all the bells and whistles.”

Recording orchestral, even with a greatest hits, is still a case of an artist placing themselves in a new context, working with a ‘new band’, and unfamiliar faces. It’s certainly a brave departure.

“The recording has been quite intense,” Sophie agrees. “But I think that’s quite normal for orchestral stuff.

All the sheet music gets done, then it’s just a matter of getting the orchestra in and they’ll play it through.

“They might be different to pop or rock musicians, but we had a nice hybrid for this album.

“Amy Langley, who’s done all the arrangements, plays cello, her sister Gita plays violin, her other sister Rosie plays viola. So I already knew three 75

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F R O M D A R L I N G O F T H E I N D I E P R E S S T O D A N C E F L O O R D I VA T O F U L L - O N O R C H E S T R A L R E - W O R K I N G S O F H E R G R E AT E S T HITS, WE CHART THE CAREER OF SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR

TIMELINE sophie’s choice cuts

GROOVEJET (IF THIS AIN’T LOVE)

THEAUDIENCE

The one and only album by Theaudience (although demos from a follow-up later surfaced online) was released in the summer of 1998 and went to No. 22. Two of its four singles – A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed and I Know Enough (I Don’t Get Enough) – cracked the Top 40.

girls as really close friends, and then there’s loads of other girls on there as well who’ve been on tour with me.

“Normally, when you walk into a studio with an orchestra it’s quite intimidating. It’s just loads of people you don’t know. But this time I knew probably three quarters of them when we started.

“So, even though it’s different from working with a normal band, it’s also been like working with mates.”

It’s the aforementioned cellist Amy who was the main instigator of this new project. “The whole album came about because of her. Probably about four years ago – just before Wanderlust had come out, but after producer Ed Harcourt and I had written Young Blood – Amy was doing a charity event with an orchestra at the Union Chapel. She asked if I would like to perform a couple of songs. She had done a string version of Groovejet, and we also played Young Blood. The song was still new at that time, so I wrote the lyrics down on a bit of paper and stuffed it into the top of my dress because I was worried I wouldn’t remember them.

“I really liked what she’d done with Groovejet – she took it quite left-field,

No.1 in both the UK and Australia – and No.3 on the Billboard Dance Chart – and having now sold more than two million copies, this was the soundtrack of summer 2000. It was also, fact fans, the first song ever to have been played on an iPod when Apple tested their new device with an AAC of the track a year later.

READ MY LIPS

Three years after Theaudience, in the summer of 2001 – and riding off the success of Groovejet – Sophie released her debut solo album. It reached No.2, spawning four singles: Take Me Home, Murder On The Dancefloor, Music Gets The Best Of Me and Get Over You/Move This Mountain which was a double-Aside at the singer’s insistence.

TRANCE GOES ORCHESTRAL. WHY NOT? S O P H I E E L L I S - B E X T O R

it was quite driven. It just felt a bit more brooding, dark and mysterious.

“So that sowed the seed. But at that time, I wasn’t quite ready to just do something orchestral. I wanted to do Familia, which ended up being a lot more upbeat. We were approaching the 21st anniversary of signing my first deal and I thought it would be quite nice to mark it.

TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

SHOOT FROM THE HIP

That ‘difficult second album’ was a rather more intense affair, save for a cover of Olivia NewtonJohn’s Physical which appeared as a hidden track.

Released in October 2003, only two singles were released: Mixed Up World and I Won’t Change You, which features, by Sophie’s own admission, her least favourite lyrics.

Me And My Imagination and a sixth Top 10 single, Catch You, were the precursors to solo album three, released in May 2007, though its more memorable singles followed after release: Today The Sun’s On Us and the iTunes-only If I Can’t Dance. Sadly a duet with the B-52’s Fred Schneider on Hype, which sampled Kraftwerk’s The Model, remains in the vaults.

“On the first day of recording we did Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer), Murder On The Dancefloor, Groovejet and Catch You. It was like the beginning of an episode of Grand Designs, when they’ve started building and they say: ‘OK, these are our initial plans’. They start demolishing but then they realise: ‘Well, if we’re going do half of the house to this standard then, really, we’ve got to do the whole house to this standard. So the budget is going to come up double!’

“It did feel like that for a moment.

Or like that scene in Jaws: ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat!’”

POP PRINCESS DIARIES How does an artist – or anyone – define ‘Greatest Hits’? In terms of chart positions? Or in terms of sales, or even the personal meaning they might have for the artist or audience?

When Classic Pop met up with Sophie, the tracklist for The Song Diaries had yet to be revealed, so we finished our chat by running past her the five songs that would be at the top of ours.

It turns out, we were pretty much on the same page…

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S O P H I E

NOT GIVING UP ON LOVE

With Sophie’s chart positions at somewhat of an impasse, a collaboration with Armin van Buuren (and the Nervo songwriting duo) resulted in this massive Euro hit-come-anthem.

Released in the summer of 2010, it appeared on both van Buuren’s fourth album, Mirage, and was still hot enough to be included on Sophie’s fourth LP, Make A Scene a year later.

● A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed “Yes, I’ve included that, because that’s where it all begins for me, with Theaudience. I wanted to choose my favourite track from Theaudience era, or the one I thought would be the most tender to me.

“During the last couple of tours, I’ve sometimes done it live. And there was quite a sweet serendipity: the first time I ever set foot in a professional recording studio was at RAK – the same place where I’ve recorded this new album – that was with Theaudience back when I was 18.

“As soon as I walked in I was like: ‘Oh, I remember, I’ve recorded in there before... 20 years ago!’”

Sophie will be joining the likes of Tears For Fears and Alison Moyet at the Recreation Ground in Bath on 26 May for the Bath Festival

FAMILIA

MAKE A SCENE

Sophie originally planned a Greatest Hits after Trip The Light Fantastic but sessions for accompanying singles were so productive that a fresh album resulted. Alongside Not Giving Up On Love, it featured single collabs with Freemasons (Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)) and Junior Caldera (Can’t Fight This Feeling) alongside two immense slices of modern synthpop: Starlight and Synchronised.

E L L I S - B E X T O R

WANDERLUST

Make A Scene was so all-out dance that it clearly signalled a finale for Chapter One of Sophie’s discography. Three years later she returned – on her own record label – with elements of indie, folk, baroque and orchestral and, most importantly, some of the most delicate and moving songs of her career in Young Blood and When The Storm Has Blown Over.

TRUE FAITH

A cover of the New Order single for BBC Radio 2’s Sounds Of The 80s compilation confirms Sophie’s impeccable taste in 70s and 80s pop, having previously released covers of Propaganda’s Duel, Baccara’s Yes Sir, I Can Boogie and Electronic’s Getting Away With It.

● Music Gets The Best Of Me Released in 2002, Sophie already had three Top 5 hits, but this was a turning point – the moment where she showed she could sustain as a pop artist...

“Yes, I always liked that one. I’m still fond of that, I still sing it, from time to time. I think it’s sweet, and I’ve got happy memories of writing it.” ● Starlight Synth-pop from 2011, that still sounds like it’s from the future. But could it really work in an orchestral context?

“Ah, I haven’t got Starlight on the album! But I love it!

I think that song would have sounded beautiful in an orchestral setting.

But I felt like I had a similar colour with things like Today The Sun’s On Us, Not Giving Up On Love and Move This Mountain.

I’ve got a few songs that have got that big landscape feel, and I think that Starlight

Produced, like Wanderlust, by Ed Harcourt. Musically, Familia attempted to combine various elements of Sophie’s discography-to-date into a cohesive whole. Conceptually, it was a colourful companion piece to its predecessor.

“Familia is the bolshier, more extrovert little sister to Wanderlust,” explained Sophie. “It sees the Wanderlust girl move away from Eastern Europe to the warmer, sunnier climate of Latin America where she’s swapped vodka for tequila.”

THE SONG DIARIES

The tracklist is unconfirmed as we go to press (though we did a good job of guessing in our main feature), Sophie’s orchestral take on her greatest hits is available as a series of special editions from PledgeMusic, including boxset and deluxe double vinyl.

might have made a little too much of that. But it would’ve sounded pretty, and I do like that song. So many songs were on my initial list until I realised something had to give. I just couldn’t do 20 songs.” ● Not Giving Up On Love The collaboration with Dutch DJ and record producer Armin van Buuren is perhaps the ultimate trance pop track, which always had a cinematic feel to it...

“Yeah, I’ve done that one, too! Trance goes orchestral. Why not? I felt the song had such pretty chords, it really lent itself to an orchestra.” ● Me And My Imagination Our last guess brings us full circle, back to the disco style and influence.

But how has it felt hearing tracks like this with a new orchestral vibe? “Oh, I can’t even tell you... It’s been delightful.

Some of it’s been quite funny, too.

Like when you hear orchestral parts in isolation. Or when someone comes in to record their flute part. When I was recording Me And My Imagination, Ed Harcourt was in my headphones going: ‘It sounds like Watership Down doesn’t it? Like little bunnies hopping around on the landscape!’”

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B E H I N D

T H E

M U S I C

THE PRODUCERS

PHIL HARDING FROM BEING STOCK AITKEN AND WATERMAN’S ENGINEER AT THE HIT FACTORY IN THE 80s, PHIL HARDING THEN PRODUCED EAST 17, 911 AND BOYZONE IN THE 90s. CLASSIC POP CATCHES UP WITH A MAN WITH A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE ON TWO DECADES OF HUGE CHART ACTION A N D Y

P

hil Harding has turned the experiences of two tumultuous decades of his life into both a book and a PhD. The book, PWL From The Factory Floor, details his tenure as Stock Aitken and Waterman’s engineer, while the PhD focusses more on his time in the 90s when he and studio partner Ian Curnow stepped up to produce some of the biggest records of

J O N E S

the day including East 17’s Stay Another Day and Boyzone’s Words.

“My dominant memories are the fantastically fast rise of it all,” Phil recalls of his time at PWL/SAW. “I don’t think many will agree with me, but I think 1987 was PWL at its peak. It was pre-Kylie and we still had the dance community on our side, where it all started with the hi-NRG

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From left: Pete Waterman, Ian Curnow, actress and singer Connie Stevens with her daughter Tricia Leigh Fisher (who was recording a self-titled 1990 album with the team), label owner David Gresham and Phil Harding

EAST 17 STAY ANOTHER DAY scene. But then, and love him as I do, Tilly Rutherford [general manager at PWL Records] announced at a dance conference that ‘with the success of Kylie, we don’t need the dance community any more’. When you discard a community of supporters, well, that was the start of the fall. Waterman spent the next few years trying to win them back, hence all the Kylie dance mixes. We got to the point where we were doing 12-inch mixes where there was no sign of it being Kylie for the first two minutes to fool the DJs! So yeah, around 1988 or ’89 we sold out although not too many of the others would agree with that.”

Yet perhaps Phil’s assessment is the truest. He has, after all, taken an academic approach to looking back at that time studying for a PhD in boybands and pop at Leeds Beckett University, which has made him reevaluate his time at PWL. “I think Waterman’s role was vital,” he says. “The others still belittle his role and position but without his leadership and entrepreneurial spirit, PWL wouldn’t have been successful. He was the team leader.”

BECOMING THE A-TEAM Harding left SAW in 1992 teaming up with fellow PWL producer and musician Ian Curnow. “We’d made good money in the 80s with PWL and Waterman did

Tubular bells make for a festive classic, but Brian Harvey’s not happy...

“It was an original song that Tony Mortimer brought in as a demo.

That had huge Phil Collins drums on it and he wanted Ian to go over the top with the orchestration. Ian doesn’t need any encouragement to do ‘OTT’ and the result is there to hear! The Christmas thing came out of that as Ian just thought adding Christmas tubular bells, stuff going around and around and orchestral cymbals, would be suitably OTT! “The vocal process was the same as Words, all laid out. We had a fight on our hands to get that vocal out of Brian, though. His head was full of 90s R&B and it took two days to record. Tony told me later after Brian had finally got the vocal done, he threw his headphones off in disgust and said to Tony ‘don’t ever ask me to sing a shit song like that ever again’!”

treat us well. We had produced four tracks on the first Rick Astley album and that was good payback. So we went into the 90s with quite a good reputation but, put simply, we wanted to be an A-Team instead of the SAW B-Team that we were at PWL.” Phil knew, though, that he would need another ‘team leader’ like Waterman...

“Ian and I jumped out of the frying pan of working with Waterman and into the fire of working with Tom Watkins!”

Phil laughs at the subsequent choice of manager. “He is not a dissimilar character, possibly an even more extreme version.

“Tom gave us the East 17 project, though, a remix of House Of Love, which became the main version of the song.

Then it got to being a situation where he knew he needed us and we knew we needed him, so we made a similar commitment to him as Mike and Matt made to Waterman, like: ‘you lead us and we’ll come up with the music, the production and hopefully the success.’”

With Tom, both Ian and Phil got songwriting as well as production credits and, for a while, they were both living the dream of being the 90s’ version of SAW. “We were with Tom for three years and it was fantastic at the beginning,” says Phil. “The peak was East 17’s Stay Another Day being a Christmas No.1 in

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P H I L

H A R D I N G

T H E

P R O D U C E R S

BOYZONE - WORDS

Drastic Bee Gees overhaul hits the top of the charts “Before Ronan Keating came in we’d already laid out the production and the arrangement with a backing vocalist, that way we knew what we needed to capture from Ronan.

Then we said to the management ‘we’ve done the backing track so we might as well get the rest of the band in for half a day and we’ll pick a harmony for each of them to sing’. They’d each then sing along with the backing vocal harmony part to record it.

“It’s worth comparing it to the Bee Gees Words and noting the drastic arrangement change. You don’t get to the chorus until two minutes in with theirs, but we brought the chorus in much earlier.

“I thought we’d hear from the Bee Gees after getting it to No.1 for them, if only to say they liked our arrangement! When it got to No.1, Louis called me with the boys in the room with him, ecstatic. I thought that was nice as he realised how much we’d done. They were all just thrilled.”

Phil has moved away from twiddling knobs on a mixing desk into the world of academia

1994. But the more pressure there was to grow East 17, the more pressure there was between us and Tom and it got to the point where we weren’t working well together.

“Tony Mortimer had written many of the hits, not shared the writing part, and the other three weren’t happy, so there was a band agreement on the third album to write three tracks each.

“That wasn’t too bad for Brian [Harvey] who’d started writing but Terry [Coldwell] and John [Hendry] had never written anything in their lives – they didn’t even play any instruments.

“When boybands start making those kinds of demands, it usually starts falling apart and we saw them falling apart on that album.”

Phil and Ian still managed to complete the album but it marked a split with

Watkins. However, the duo had already become the target of a famous Irish manager…

AS ONE DOOR CLOSES...

“As soon as we split with Tom, Louis Walsh was on the phone asking us to work with Boyzone,” says Phil and details the first of the tracks they worked on, Boyzone’s reworking of the Bee Gees song Words (see boxout). It became Phil and Ian’s second No.1 as producers. Phil recalls one incident where both his 80s and 90s worlds collided… in a toilet.

“We’d left PWL on good terms and I’d often go back and mix in my old room there. We were mixing there in ‘96 when Boyzone were No.1 with Words. I was in the toilet there and Waterman walks in and asks me how it’s going and

I said ‘yeah alright Pete, we’re No.1 with Boyzone!’ By that point he hadn’t had any hits for a while so it certainly felt like I’d turned things around!”

For the next couple of years, Phil and Ian worked with Walsh on several projects. “He’s good fun and a lovely guy but he’s full of mad ideas and things that don’t work. In ’97 we tried to write a song for Ronan Keating and no amount of work got it right and we moved on after that.

“We didn’t have a No.1 after Words, although we got close with 911. After that it started to get tougher for us without a ‘Tom’ or ‘Pete’ managing us.

We’d become pigeonholed as boyband writers and producers and the offers we were getting were yet more boybands, but from around Europe. I just felt that after two decades we had nowhere else to go and I needed to hang up the headphones, so I started getting involved in education, doing academic writing and lectures.”

One of Phil’s proudest moments, though, must be his rather restrained mix of Stay Another Day that ended up being the final version of the Christmas classic.

“I was mixing it and it got to 2am and I couldn’t get it all to work. So I laid down a version without the drums and sent that mix out to everyone before I went on holiday. When I got back I said to Tom Watkins, ‘I’ll finish the mix off now and add the drums’ and he said ‘Phil, do not go in that studio, do not touch a thing. Just leave it as it is!’” ● Phil Harding’s book, PWL From The Factory Floor, is out on Cherry Red Books while his next book, Pop Music Production, will be published by Routledge in early 2019 81

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D A V E

W A K E L I N G

E S O G ON

D O U G L A S

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Get set for skamaggeddon!

The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling release a new album, Here We Go Love!, 40 years after the band first came bouncing out of Birmingham in 1978

WITH THEIR MESSAGE OF INCLUSION AND UNITY, THE BEAT WERE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE UK 2-TONE BOOM. NOW THE BEAT STARRING DAVE WAKELING ARE SET TO RELEASE A HOTLY-ANTICIPATED NEW ALBUM. THE BAND’S FOUNDING MEMBER TALKS WATCHING BLACK SABBATH PLAY FOOTIE AND THEIR REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO ANDY WILLIAMS AND SMOKEY ROBINSON COVERS. usting out of Birmingham in 1978 The Beat, along with a clutch of other like-minded disconnected youths from working class West Midland backgrounds, mixed politics and pop to provide music with a message.

For an all too brief moment in time the UK ska revival, which centred around the independent record label 2-Tone and its bands on the frontline such as The Specials and The Selecter, looked like it could change attitudes around the world – breaking down barriers of racism, sexism and inequality.

Recalling how The Beat and 2-Tone evolved, the frontman of The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling, explains: “We would have these parties with two DJs, one playing punk singles and the other playing what we called ‘slates’ – instrumental versions of popular reggae tunes on very thick 12” vinyl.

“We learnt that if you played all punk singles, the dancefloor would be absolutely packed for about 40 minutes and then everybody would sod off. But if you played all slates, you’d have people leaning on the wall nodding their heads slowly – which we called ‘dancing on the inside’. If you mixed it up a bit, with one of this and then one of that, the dancefloor stayed packed until next door threatened to call the police!

“After one particularly enjoyable party, Andy [Cox and future guitarist with The Beat] said: ‘What if you could get the best elements of both DJs into the same pop song… what would you have then?’

And that was the lightbulb moment and the origins of the band.”

HERE WE GO! The recipe paid off with party-flavoured ska covers of Tears Of A Clown and Can’t Get Used To Losing You that, alongside spiky originals such as Mirror In The Bathroom and Too Nice To Talk To, made the band darlings of the 2-Tone boom.

The seeds of The Beat were sown while Wakeling and Cox were at college together studying for their A-levels. Wakeling adds: “We started writing songs – fledgling versions of some of those that ended up on our first record.”

But before that, the singer’s musical upbringing was rather more conservative.

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D A V E

W A K E L I N G

team, “Like a good football of we had that balance ” youth and experience – Dave Wakeling

“My dad liked Frank Sinatra and he thought everything else was rubbish,” Dave says. “My mum liked singing folk songs to me and she thought that’s how I learnt to sing.”

“As a young lad, I was a handy descant singer, which is really high up there, and I liked singing a lot. I nearly sang for my local cathedral choir but, when I looked at the schedule and saw it was a full-time thing that would take up most weeknights as well as Saturdays and Sundays, I decided not to do it. Then, as luck would have it, Led Zeppelin came out and I could sing along to them. I would practice my descant singing and was able to perfect a terrific Robert Plant impression.”

It was especially inspiring to the young Wakeling that the Zeppelin boys were local, as were heavy metal titans Black Sabbath. “We used to go and watch Sabbath play football in the street,” he recalls. “We always hoped they’d pass the ball to us... but they never did!”

As well as hard rock, the other big influence on Wakeling was Jamaican ska and reggae. “We could hear it booming out of houses late at night,” he says. “Then they started playing it on the football terraces at West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa to calm the skinheads.”

GOING NUCLEAR Dave and Andy moved away from the Midlands to work on the Isle of Wight for 18 months. “Maybe a third of the songs that ended up on the first record

were swimming around by then,” Wakeling recalls.

“We also met our bassist David Steele on the Isle of Wight. He turned out to be the Mozart of our band.

“Before we formed The Beat, Andy and I were nervous about performing our songs. Everything we listened to on the John Peel show sounded so much better. So, Andy had the idea that we would force each other to join a group.

“There were numerous ‘musician wanted’ ads in the Birmingham Mail, so he had me join a 50s rock’n’roll revival band where I had to wear leather trousers and sing Chantilly Lace. To get him back, I made him join a cabaret quartet where he had to buy a tuxedo. In the end, those two gigs became so intolerable to us that we were just dying to do our own songs.”

With Everett Morton on drums, The Beat played their debut at the Matador pub in Birmingham on 31 March 1979. It was the same weekend as the Three Mile Island nuclear incident and they were introduced as: ‘The hottest thing since the Pennsylvania meltdown!’

JUST CAN’T STOP The debutantes impressed ‘Ranking’ Roger Charlery, the 16-year-old drummer of headline act the Dum Dum Boys who subsequently joined The Beat as second vocalist.

At the other end of The Beat’s Early double A-sides Tears Of A Clown/ Ranking Full Stop and Hands Off... She’s Mine/Twist And Crawl reached No.6 and No.9 respectively

Music for troubled times... Wakeling formed The Beat against a backdrop of political unrest, he’s now bringing his band back to shake things up again

age scale was veteran saxophonist Lionel Augustus Martin, better known as Saxa, who had previously performed with the likes of Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker.

“He was playing covers in the Crompton Arms pub in Handsworth and we would go there just to watch him,” Wakeling says fondly. “Like a good football team, we had that balance of youth and experience. If us younger ones were concerned about something, the older ones would compare it to something they’d seen in the past and things didn’t seem quite so bad! It worked very well for us.”

The launch pad for The Beat was a Tuesday night residency at the Mercat Cross venue. “The pub did terrific business in the daytime but was a bit quiet at night.

The landlord would try anything, so why not a live music night?” Wakeling explains.

By the end of their 12-week stint, the place was packed, with attendees including Jerry Dammers of The Specials, who had scored their first Top 10 hit with Gangsters that summer. “ Jerry said: ‘There’s this group called The Selecter and they’re playing Blackpool on Thursday, would you like to be the opening band?’ Obviously we did the gig and then they offered us a supporting slot in London. We got to meet Madness there and everyone thought we were the bee’s knees or, as we’d say in Birmingham, the dog’s bollocks.

“After the London show, Jerry told us about his record label called 2-Tone and asked if we would like to do a single. Of course, we said we’d love to and our single came out in October 1979.

“The Specials and Madness had both topped the charts by then and 2-Tone was the big thing. It was such good timing for us.”

For their first release, The Beat chose an inspired ska arrangement of Smokey Robinson’s Tears Of

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“I THINK PEOPLE WOULD HAVE LIKED FOR US TO HAVE HAD A FALLING OUT... BUT I WENT AROUND TO RANKING ROGER’S HOUSE THE LAST COUPLE OF TIMES THAT I’VE BEEN IN ENGLAND AND IT WENT DOWN FANTASTICALLY” A Clown. The song had been a staple of the band’s rehearsals. “When we were trying to find our groove, Everett would say: ‘Why don’t we do a song that we all know and then play one of your weird ones.

So, we’d play Tears Of A Clown, then something like Mirror In The Bathroom, then Tears Of A Clown again, and so on.

“So, we knew it quite well and thought it was more appropriate for a Christmas single than Mirror..., which was all about having a nervous breakdown.”

The tactic worked, with Tears... hitting No.6 on the chart followed by the double A-side Hands Off... She’s Mine/ Twist And Crawl (No.9) and Mirror In The Bathroom, which made No.4.

The latter releases were also hits in the US and led to extensive Stateside touring.

After three albums and several charting singles, including Save It For Later and Jeanette, The Beat enjoyed their biggest UK hit with a cover of the Andy Williams favourite The Beat’s best-charting singles in the UK were 1980’s Mirror In The Bathroom (No.4) and 1983’s Can’t Get Used To Losing You (No.3)

I N

Can’t Get Used To Losing You, which reached No.3 in 1983.

WHA’PPEN NEXT? However, by that point, the band was on the verge of breaking up and would eventually split. Wakeling admits he had a “green-eyed moment” when Cox and Steele formed Fine Young Cannibals with singer Roland Gift and would achieve massive success with their album The Raw & The Cooked and songs like the US chart-topper She Drives Me Crazy.

Wakeling and Ranking Roger enjoyed a less conspicuous career with their new band General Public – although their second single, Tenderness, did appear in several big Hollywood films such as Sixteen Candles and Weird Science.

The appeal of The Beat has endured and during the 90s, Morton and Saxa would form the International Beat and release The Hitting Line album in 1990.

R Y M O M E O F

away dly passed sax man, sa the band’s new n ra te ve Beat’s lay on Saxa, The d couldn’t p his spirit can be ged 87, an a er, y, ev a w M o But, H st la ve! the songs. e We Go Lo m some of hi s bent under d a album, Her w ye la er p says: “I s little fing ve hi a e D er . h rd ve w ea xo h sa phone. jury hich we ha a tendon in n’t play the flat on his s for me, w He liked the lo so because of d o ul tw co ow. mmed gers, he orked By N m but he hu his other fin uld Have W f an Irish flavour to it. ating for hi o tr W us fr It ry ed ve rk o It was ing Wo ds a bit e is on If Kill think that the solo ad I copied. On d Call It Ska.” art band, Wakeling n a em g D n so the ch n the track o m hi emotion in f in a young ng for o g it n e been waiti of hits’. joyed bei s a little b I’v up ro g e Then there’ the older musician en t th lo is a s hi ve a ‘T h : and will t met him Asked how e pace was hen we firs f the charts o w Th p l. id to ve sa e a tr th xa says: “Sa g straight to then he got too sick to was adamant: We’re goin he nd all my life. ree years a years when th ed about three or four y convinced of it.” e er w e H e m an a g er rl r him. But th He was utte too much fo as going to be a hit!’ w it u ‘I told yo

Turn to page 91 to find out what Classic Pop’s Wyndham Wallace thinks of the new album

After a brief stint in Mick Jones’ postClash band Big Audio Dynamite, Roger teamed up with some of The Specials to create Special Beat.

Since the early 2000s there have been two versions of the band: The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling and The Beat Featuring Ranking Roger. Wakeling, who now resides in California, denies the two ever fell out. “I think people would have liked for us to have had a falling out. Certainly, there were times when we got bored or pissed off with each other. But I went around to his house the last couple of times that I’ve been in England and it went down fantastically.”

However, he does admit to being a bit miffed when Roger released 2016’s Bounce album as The Beat Featuring Ranking Roger.

“I had told him of my plans and invited him to be on my new record Here We Go Love! Roger said: ‘Oh, I’m not sure, let me think about it’,” Wakeling relates with a wry chuckle. “That went on for a few months, then I started making the record and wanted to know what he thought. But he was on tour and said he would get back to me.

Clearly something was going on, then Roger was like: ‘Whoa, I’m bringing out the first Beat album in 30 years!’ It was a little awkward...”

It’s still possible that a reunion of The Beat’s frontmen could take place, though. “Next year is the 40th anniversary of the 2-Tone thing and a lot of the groups are saying let’s do something together,” Wakeling concludes.

“So, Roger’s saying that we will sing together. It just won’t be this year – I’ve got my new album to concentrate on.” ● The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling are touring the UK in May and June.

Here We Go Love! is released on 11 May. 85

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HAVE ORDER YOU MISSED AN ISSUE? BACK ISSUES ONLINE TODAY!

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C L A S S I C

P O P

M A G A Z I N E

R E V I E W S

NEW RELEASES

p89

Our round-up of new singles plus new albums from Sting & Shaggy, Chvrches, Gaz Coombes, Gizmo Varillas, Alison Moyet, Plan B, The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling, Twin Shadow, Jennifer Warnes, Foreigner, James Bay, Belly, The Magic Numbers, Beach House, Anne-Marie, Mamas Gun, Boys, Steve Ellis, Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders

© Danny Clinch

REISSUES

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Chvrches return with their third studio album, Love Is Dead. Turn to page 90 for our review

p94

John Foxx, New York Dolls, Brian Eno, The Human League, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Matt Bianco, Cockney Rebel, Hollywood Beyond, Gomez, Oleta Adams, Chicago, Marlena Shaw, Hazel O’Connor, Bram Tchaikovsky

COMPILATIONS Various Artists – Revamp and Burning Britain

p99

LONG LIVE VINYL

p100

DVDS & BOOKS

p104

LIVE & EVENTS

p110

The Undertones, The Cure, Erasure, Duran Duran, Madness, P!nk, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Eurythmics, The Streets and U2 Jake Shears, Pamela Des Barres, David Buckley on Elton John, Margo Jefferson on Michael Jackson Erasure, Morrissey, Paul Weller and Lloyd Cole R A T I N G S

EXCELLENT VERY GOOD AVERAGE PATCHY POOR

12/04/2018 15:45

S I N G L E S

KYLIE MINOGUE

STOP ME FROM FALLING

This new, stripped back, quirky Kylie has been received very warmly. Again she eschews the pop princess shtick and we have a tremendous, tambourine-heavy, super-catchy ditty that does pick up a dancefloor beat but remains drizzled with musicianship. Her kooky vocal is excellent.

REEF FEATURING SHERYL CROW MY SWEET LOVE

Bumpkin rockers from the joyful 90s recruit the ever-impeccable Sheryl Crow on a sugarsweet bit of folky fluff, with the game further upped by a brilliantly bluesy solo in the middle. Their album Revelation defines ‘long-awaited’ – it’s their first for 18 years.

MATTHEW RUDD

SNOW PATROL

JAMES BAY

THE HOST OF FORGOTTEN 80S ON ABSOLUTE 80S RADIO CHECKS OUT SOME RETURNS TO THE POP FRAY FROM THE LIKES OF KYLIE MINOGUE, KIM WILDE, CRAIG DAVID AND A SURPRISINGLY SWEARY SNOW PATROL

Few do mournfully earnest quite like Snow Patrol, and they are precisely that within a thoughtful piece of acoustic pop. A few choice expletives are included which, as usual in these instances, feel utterly unnecessary, but it’s a sturdy work that fans will lap up.

The former Critic’s Choice at the BRITs is at the top of his game on this new single. A vocal that menaces in the verse and rages in the chorus, a brooding, powerful rhythm section and even some gospelly backing vocals. Lovable, amiable, immaculate stuff.

ALEXIS TAYLOR

KIM WILDE

CRAIG DAVID

Hot Chip’s head honcho with an offbeat electronic love song, as conventional and enjoyably sappy in its lyric and tone as it is eccentric in its quizzical, bleepy instrumentation which has a Buggles-esque feel, although that might just be because of the spectacles.

The rejuvenation of an 80s pop princess as a self-deprecating rock goddess rings so true, helped by her modesty when discussing it. This follows a welltrodden formula but rises way above rock-by-numbers, thanks to the voice and personality at the front – and a great melody.

A chap of such talent, but after almost 20 years his songs have never really taken him anywhere beyond a fuzzy, slightly twee, sentimental corner of snappy pop rescued from blandness only by a genuinely great voice. He should expand, free himself up, explore more.

OH BABY

KANDY KRUSH

DON’T GIVE IN

MAGIC

PINK LEMONADE

UB40 FEATURING ALI, ASTRO + MICKEY HOW COULD I LEAVE

The importance the original UB40 possessed in the early 1980s feels like several worlds ago now, especially with the present long-standing deadlock between original members. This song is pleasant but nothing they couldn’t have done in happier times.

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M A Y

R E L E A S E S

2 0 1 8

CLASSIC

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Getty Images

BEST NEW RELEASE

STING & SHAGGY 44/876 POLYDOR RECORDS

STARFISH AND COFFEE, MAPLE SYRUP AND JAM. NOW YOU CAN ADD STING & SHAGGY TO THE LIST OF IMPLAUSIBLE COMBINATIONS THAT MAY NEVER BE FORGOTTEN…

T

he world is teeming,” John Cage once said.

“Anything can happen.”

The minimalist composer might be an unlikely person to turn to when faced by a Sting and Shaggy collaboration – though his legendary, silent 4’33” might

seem preferable – but to do so is no more unlikely than the idea that such a collaboration might work. And Cage is right: anything can happen, has happened, and no doubt will continue to happen. All we can hope is that what happens is as entertaining as this seemingly absurd partnership has turned out to be. Because, against the odds, there’s endless fun to be found here.

The title track sets the tone from the start, Shaggy toasting about how the duo first hooked up. “Mi get a call from the English man,” he recalls, “say him waan come hold a vibes”, before Sting himself explains his motivation: “I’m trying to free my mind, and live a life stress free/ But the politics of this

country are getting to me.”

Not only is the exchange likeably humble, but Sting’s voice is particularly well-suited to the setting.

Furthermore, 44/876 – named for their respective dialling codes – could indeed be helpful for those looking to unwind, unless your cynicism is so ingrained that you can’t see past the concept.

Partly, this is because it isn’t so great a leap from Sting’s early work with The Police. That’s especially true of Dreaming In The USA, a delightful celebration of immigrants’ roles in American life that’s only a fraction too upbeat and glossy to have slotted onto Outlandos d’Amour, and Waiting For

The Break Of Day, in which, against tasteful piano and organ licks – and in the face of politicians’ lies – comfort is found in romance.

The charmingly tasteful 22nd Street dials down the reggae for something slicker and sparser, while Sad Trombone heads in the other direction, turning its laughable title into something genuinely poignant.

In truth, the first fruit of their association – the laidback, soulful Gotta Get Back My Baby – is perfectly indicative of what’s to be found here, so take a shortcut if you must. But, rest assured, some things have to be tried to be believed. Anything can happen, and 44/876 defies expectations.

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CHVRCHES LOVE IS DEAD

“I’ve been waiting for my whole life to grow old,” sings Lauren Mayberry on Graffiti, the first track off Chvrches’ third album, “and now we never will.” It’s a brave, regal claim to immortality, but fair comment: Love Is Dead sounds like the work of a band stuck in permanent adolescence.

Difficult questions are asked, simplistic answers proffered, and the mood is broadly exuberant (except for inevitable, unpredictable outbursts).

In the three years since Every Open Eye, they don’t sound like they’ve matured even slightly.

By now, you’ll know how the Glaswegians operate. Two Top 10 albums, a bundle of awards, and a host of TV and video game placements have seen to that.

Admittedly, they’ve sought to tweak their formula, bringing in producer du jour Greg Kurstin (Sia, Adele, Liam Gallagher) for nine tracks, and another hitmaker, Steve Mac, to add his sparkle to Miracle. In the end, though, it still sounds like Chvrches – massive, richly textured synths meshed with intermittently tinny or booming programmed beats – but now with added steroids to boost chart performances.

That, and added input in the form of The National’s Matt Berninger, who adds affectedly nonchalant vocals to the moody and restrained, My Enemy, on

GAZ COOMBES WORLD’S STRONGEST MAN HOT FRUIT / CAROLINE INTERNATIONAL

Listening to Gaz Coombes’ third solo album, it’ll come as little surprise that he’s managed by the same team as Radiohead.

The former Supergrass frontman’s songwriting has become increasingly refined, given to intriguing production details and quirky – but never ostentatious – twists: the spiky guitar riff that provides the foundation for Walk The Walk and the malfunctioning keyboard that tops off In Waves. Furthermore, though the latter boasts a guitar sequence

worthy of Blur’s Song 2, its bassline’s inventiveness recalls Colin Greenwood’s, and its atmospheric intro is worthy of A Moon Shaped Pool...

Coombes and Radiohead have more in common than Oxford.

Nonetheless, Coombes occupies his own world. His last album, 2015’s Mercurynominated Matador, confirmed how far he’s come and World’s Strongest Man continues that journey. The record’s title track appropriates a lazy hip-hopflavoured beat for a falsettofuelled anthem, and Shit (I’ve Done It Again)’s regret-laden melancholy is worthy of an adult Disney movie.

There’s also the fierce Deep Pockets, whose krautrock rhythm propels it towards a thrilling finale, the unhinged paranoia of Vanishing Act and the stately decorum of the lovely Slow Motion Life.

This rooster’s definitely mansize now. WW

© Danny Clinch

VIRGIN RECORDS

which Mayberry sounds like an infatuated schoolgirl trying to impress a teacher.

Despite few signs of development, Chvrches do this well, offering monstrous choruses and owning the sound like they invented it.

But there’s another shortcoming in how little they challenge themselves or their audience, most notably in lyrics peppered with immature banalities like on Forever’s “I told you I would hate you

till forever”. That’s not to mention a little clumsy on Heaven/Hell: “Am I real if I’m a broken record/ Selling you what you don’t need?”

Even Deliverance’s promisingly provocative: “Careful when you’re swimming in the holy water/ Drowning in your own beliefs” provokes only the observation: “You better hold on to what you love… You better give up on giving up.”

It’s really time for Chvrches to grow up. WW

GIZMO VARILLAS DREAMING OF BETTER DAYS MUISCA RECORDS

It’s true the title of London-based Spaniard Gizmo Varillas’ second album is perhaps a little positive for these cynical times. This is Varillas’ methodology, though – to offer some sort of peaceful, harmonious reassurance with quietly uplifting songs that recall Paul Simon as much as José González.

Not that he’s so optimistically idealistic, he’s just unfamiliar with melancholy.

Like its predecessor El Dorado – one of Classic Pop’s

Albums of the Year in 2017 – Dreaming Of Better Days is sometimes seeped in a lazy Southern European wistfulness, rarely more than on the title track.

Here he exhorts his audience to “let the light in your heart,” his voice almost cracking over an understated pitter-patter of a beat as though dependent upon others to help make this plan work.

It’s hard, however, not to feel the consoling positivity in Lonely Heart’s lilting sway and its wilfully innocent lyrics: “Think of all the times we spent/ Side by side like ninjas in disguise.”

There’s also exotic pleasure in his switch to Spanish on Camino Al Amor, and when the tropical African sound of Through The Hourglass kicks in, you’ll think all your holidays have come at once.

So do as this unassuming gentleman advises: let the light in your heart... WW

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R E L E A S E S

ALISON MOYET THE OTHER LIVE COLLECTION

“Are you sure about this?”

Alison Moyet recalls her manager asking as they examined the dates assembled to promote last year’s tremendous Other album.

At 59 shows, the tour would be her longest, and – given she told Classic Pop last spring how: “I make records with no expectations” – it doubtless felt ambitious. Moyet, though, was certain. “I wanted a marathon,” she wrote, looking back at 2017 in a New Year’s Eve

blog. “Sing while I know I can, and well.”

The gigs underlined how ready she was. Other was one hell of a comeback, earning Solo Artist Of the Year status from readers of this publication and runner-up in the Album Of The Year category. That it finally secured Moyet’s place as a ‘national treasure’ can be heard in the response with which this document ends.

As Whispering Your Name rattles towards a close, the crowd, who’ve clapped along heartily since it began, erupt into affectionate roars of approval, Moyet herself bowing out with unmistakable gratitude.

This climax is the culmination of a transformation signalled

by I Germinate, which opens both Other and this collection.

As bold as a Shirley Bassey James Bond theme tune, its chorus – with its dramatic declaration of intent: “I’m

PLAN B H EAVEN BEFORE ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE ATLANTIC RECORDS

Since his 2006 debut Who Needs Actions When You’ve Got Words, Ben Drew’s earned a reputation for being outspoken, and his fourth album’s opening track maintains that policy. “What the hell have I got to be grateful for?” he demands, weighing up earthly and spiritual prizes on the moody Grateful, which he decorates with gospel flourishes, while recent single Guess Again takes articulate aim at political hypocrisy:

“We don’t bow down to no terrorists/ So why we gonna kneel for the politicians/ When we see ’em go on so treacherous?”

But being outspoken doesn’t have to mean shouting and for too much of Heaven… Drew insists on bellowing like he’s a male Florence Welch.

There are moments on Pursuit Of Happiness where he sounds like he’s being repeatedly goosed while impersonating Jamiroquai, and Stranger could be Mick Hucknall squeezing out a heavy meal. Given just how soulful his voice can be – Queue Jumping provides a reminder – this is a shame, as is the realisation Heartbeat sounds like a late-90s Moby track fronted by a talent show runnerup. Still, the acid nostalgia of Mercy is refreshing and It’s A War exploits its breakbeat in an effective fashion. It’s not all over, bar the shouting. WW

© Steve Gullick

COOKING VINYL

here!” – will tear any room’s roof off, and Moyet underlines her determination, hanging on to that last syllable.

Such intensity is maintained throughout, though it’s rarely dependent on volume: Beautiful Gun may sound vigorously malevolent, but a gorgeous version of The English U, her touching paean to both her mother and English grammar, sounds as good as anything off Björk’s Vespertine, while a brave, bare version of

Other itself, a song described as: “The essence of what I am,” is especially poignant.

She turns to her back catalogue, too, with Ski, from 2002’s Hometime, showcasing her jazzy tones, and Only You a welcome reminder of how this all started (even if, like All Cried Out, it feels slightly out of place here). The tour may have been a marathon, but so has her career been, and one senses that she’s about to emerge a winner. WW

THE BEAT STARRING DAVE WAKELING HERE WE GO LOVE! ABSOLUTE

This, it’s been announced, is the first new studio album from The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling since 1982. What about Bounce, you ask, The Beat’s album that was reviewed in these very pages two years ago? Well, glad you were paying attention, that was The Beat Featuring Ranking Roger. So who is this? Well, that depends on whether...

Ah, forget it – go back and read the interview on page 82.

Let’s focus...

Dave Wakeling’s return to the recording studio is cause for celebration. Here We Go Love! finds him in typically acerbic form, calling for the establishment’s fall on the brilliantly titled If Killing Worked It Would Have Worked

By Now, deriding a “stupid little arrogant fucker” on The One And Only, and, on the energetic title track, digging even deeper into Viz’s Roger’s Profanisaurus.

Musically, however, the tone is more in keeping with The Love You Give Lasts Forever’s sentiments: rough ska-punk edges are smoothed, something underlined by You Really Oughta Know By Now’s Madness-like buoyancy.

Still, those looking for the sound of 70s peak Beat can turn to Dem Call It Ska and the joyous, accordion-fuelled, How Can You Stand There.

What’s in a name anyway? WW

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TWIN SHADOW CAER WARNER BROS. RECORDS

Having complained his work had become too elitist by 2015 – a smart strategy for sidestepping sell-out accusations after switching from 4AD to a major label – George Lewis Jr. announced he was going to pursue a more contemporary sound for his third album.

Things being how they are, that meant the sound of the 80s, of course, and such influences permeate much of his latest, too. These are integrated into the crisp sound

of today’s charts, while Lewis also displays a familiarity with underground styles.

So opener Bombs Away takes James Blake’s intimacy to the masses, adds guitars one imagines being worn over high-waisted, pastel trousers, while hinting at the lo-fi magic of London O’Connor’s O∆.

Saturdays adds Haim to the mix, its nod to Born In The USAera Springsteen so transparent he even sings of a “dance in the dark”, and Obvious People’s disconcerting groove somehow successfully welds TV On The Radio to Pet Shop Boys.

At times – as on the chartbound Too Many Colors, which lacks its own hue, and Runaway, whose spoken word meets soul leads to a slow-burning but ultimately unfulfilling climax – it’s frustrating. But the haunting, Little Woman alone confirms his imaginative powers... WW

MAMAS GUN GOLDEN DAYS

STEVE ELLIS BOOM! BANG! TWANG!

CANDLELION

SONY

If your life lacks the polished sound of 80s soul, London’s Mamas Gun have the answer.

Kicking off with You Make My Life A Better Place, whose sentiment and sound suggest an impressive familiarity with Marvin Gaye’s later work, their fourth album features an array of backroom types who’ve worked with the likes of Joss Stone and Incognito, including former Wall Of Sound act Shawn Lee on mixing duties. It’s immaculately performed, if more of an homage to their inspirations than a work in its own right, and, at its best, as on London Girls, sounds like Jamiroquai taking on Curtis Mayfield instead of Stevie Wonder. WW

Some 50 years after Steve Ellis topped the charts with Love Affair’s stone-cold classic Everlasting Love, Paul Weller provides him with two new songs and co-produces this welcome return to the studio.

Lonely No More sounds like classic Style Council and Cry Me A River finds him hollering over a dirty, organ-dominated blues, while there’s also a faithful, if pedestrian, rendition of William Bell’s I Forgot To Be Your Lover. He sometimes sounds like Rod Stewart on a cold day, as on the reggae-tinged cover of Jimmy Cliff’s Sitting In Limbo, but this only improves the final lament, Oh Death, while Glory Bound could pass for Steve Winwood. WW

JENNIFER WARNES ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE BMG

Poor Jennifer Warnes: the world recalls her 80s peaks – as Joe Cocker’s partner on the chest-heaving Up Where We Belong and Bill Medley’s (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life – and yet it forgets she was a serial collaborator with Leonard Cohen, whose songs she covered for 1986’s Famous Blue Raincoat, while her 1972 album Jennifer was produced

by John Cale.

Perhaps Another Time, Another Place, and its return

FOREIGNER WITH THE 21ST CENTURY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHORUS

to earlier habits – even Roscoe Beck, Leonard Cohen’s bassist and musical director, is present – will help remind folk of those achievements. Almost entirely shorn of the polish of 1992’s The Hunter and her last album, 2001’s The Well, as well as of blockbuster histrionics – apart, perhaps, from Freedom, and here she still closes proceedings like a nightingale – it finds her singing with Alison Krauss’ grace and tenderness.

This is most notable on Just Breathe, an unpretentious, pastoral Pearl Jam cover, and Why Worry, whose guitar lines quietly recall Mark Knopfler.

So Sad’s mellow pedal steel sound is similarly appealing, while the low-key, Norah Jones cabaret of Tomorrow Night and the dreamy I Can See Your Face Before Me provide a revelatory reminder of how seductive Warnes’ voice is when she reins things in. WW

BEACH HOUSE 7 BELLA UNION

EARMUSIC

As Ane Brun’s recent, revelatory cover of I Want To Know What Love Is proves, Foreigner know how to write tunes. But adding 118 singers and musicians was never going to curb their tendency for bombast, so the appeal of this document of two 2017 Swiss shows depends on your tolerance of that. Sceptics will struggle with Overture, but Waiting For A Girl Like You will always be a classic, however much Lou Gramm’s replacement, Kelly Hansen, insists on emoting. Sadly, though, shortlived choral introductions to songs like When It Comes To Love are the most appealing elements here. WW

Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally’s intentions for their latest may have been “rebirth and rejuvenation”, but these apparently crystallised in lengthier recording habits rather than the songs’ atmospheres. Still, the duo’s sonic modifications are always subtle, and this is no bad thing: 7 remains full of dreamy indie pop, as first imagined by Mazzy Star, to which Beach House lend their misty haze. Dive sounds like Spaceman 3 (whose Peter Kember helped out) reinventing The Carpenters, and Black Car builds a hypnotically drone-y universe around what might be the world’s gentlest ringtone. Dark Spring sparkles like dew-mottled flowers by night. Lucky 7. WW

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JAMES BAY ELECTRIC LIGHT

BELLY DOVE

VIRGIN EMI

As if fearful of further association with Ed Sheeran, Hitchin’s James Bay – no doubt encouraged by producer Paul Epworth and regular co-writer Jon Green – has tossed his acoustic guitar to one side almost entirely on his second album, the follow-up to the massive Chaos And The Calm.

It’s a wise decision: muscular tracks like the riff-heavy Wasted On Each Other and recent, rockin’ single Pink Lemonade reveal him to be far more

THE MAGIC NUMBERS OUTSIDERS ROLE PLAY RECORDS

R E L E A S E S

PLEDGE MUSIC

than another 21st century troubadour. Vocally, too, he sounds less over-earnest, as though he’s realised how much fun being one of the country’s biggest pop stars can be.

Electric Light consequently boasts a smattering of gospel flavours, employed most successfully on the playful In My Head and understated future funk of I Found You, if less enjoyably on Us – an overblown ballad where he mistakes hamming it up for a convincing display of soul.

More persuasive is the final trio of tracks: the slinky groove of Fade Out, the confessional, closing piano ballad Slide, and Stand Up, which slowly burgeons from little more than the auto-tuned voice effects favoured recently by Bon Iver to an immense orchestral finale. For those willing to look beyond the hat and hair, there’s irrefutable talent... WW

JACK LADDER & THE DREAMLANDERS BLUE POLES

Mirroring her former band The Breeders, Tanya Donelly has taken the reformation of Belly up a notch by marshalling the troops into the recording studio.

Although they reconvened in 2016 for a smattering of live dates, Dove is their first album of new material in 23 years.

Less spiky than The Breeders’ visceral attack, Belly take up where they last left off with tuneful 90s indie rock. Three standout tracks in particular wholly justify the reunion, Shiny

One, with its killer earworm chorus, the incisive Suffer The Fools, which picks away at the sore of a failing relationship, and the surprisingly countrytinged pedal steel lilt of Artifact.

The acoustic Heartstrings offers a nice change of pace, too.

The chugging, crunchy guitars of Mine may point towards a band that have no intention of moving the stylistic goalposts for their comeback, but another precision-tooled chorus at least suggests their songwriting chops remain intact. Human Child is the epitome of buildit-up and break-it-down 90s alt-rock, and recalls the vocal mannerisms of The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan in places.

The odd anonymous track fails to catch alight – we’re looking at you, the overly polite Girl, generic Stars Align and lightweight Quicksand – but mostly this Belly collection is well rounded. Steve Harnell

BOYS REST IN PEACE

ANNE-MARIE SPEAK YOUR MIND

PNKSLM

MAJOR TOMS/ASYLUM

Never judge a book by its cover, so don’t judge Boys by their label, Punk Slime, nor the fact that they’re actually one woman, Nora Karlsson. Her half-hour debut is, in fact, an adorably puppy-ish journey through the 22-year-old Swede’s late teens. The sweet intimacy of its melodies and production is offset by occasional cacophonic outbursts: soothing Omnichord arpeggios interrupted by distorted keyboards in It Is Silly, explosive guitars disturbing the innocent, C86 peace of Love Isn’t On My Mind. Rabbits, meanwhile, sounds like early Saint Etienne on a limited budget, and My Baby could be a tipsy Julee Cruise at the Twin Peaks Bang Bang Bar. WW

It’s the overwhelming feeling of familiarity that’s Speak Your Mind’s undoing. It’s not the comforting familiarity an old hit brings, nor the emotional tug vague recognition offers, just the sense this has all been done, countless times, and better before... compare, as an extreme example, Noga Erez’ Dance While You Shoot to Anne-Marie’s Trigger. Ciao Adios’ melody is certainly gravity-defying, but when an album’s most intimate revelation is: “Sometimes I wake up late and don’t even brush my teeth” – from the auto-tuned Perfect – perhaps it’s unfair to expect innovation, especially when Ed Sheeran’s involved, as he is with 2002’s gibberish. WW

SELF PORTRAIT / TERRIBLE RECORDS

The Magic Numbers’ fifth takes its title not only from the band’s own status but that of their songs’ subjects: doomed romantics in The Beach Boys harmony-drenched Dreamer, biker women in Ride Against The Wind – which starts like The Stone Roses’ I Wanna Be Adored beat, then transforms into a brassy Eagles jam – and the “damaged goods” of Runaways, in which Michele Stodart’s harmonies steal the spotlight from brother Romeo’s lead vocals, perhaps explaining his closing Crazy Horse-style guitar solo. There’s more Neil Young flavours on the rowdy Sweet Divide, while The Keeper nods to T. Rex. Come back inside, folks... WW

Australia’s having a moment: from The Chats’ punk to Cut Copy’s electronica and Tame Impala’s psychedelia, it’s the country’s turn in the spotlight. Jack Ladder’s already made friends with international stars like Father John Misty, so perhaps his fifth album, and its enviable influences, will bring his baritone croon – somewhere between David Byrne and Tindersticks’ Stuart Staples – to a wider audience. Expect hints of Eno’s Before And After Science in I.N.M. and Dates, of Talking Heads in Can’t Stay, of Bowie in Tell It Like It Is, of Scott Walker in Merciful Reply, and Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man in Susan. WW

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M A Y

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CLASSIC

BEST REISSUE JOHN FOXX M E TA M AT I C METAMATIC RECORDS

38 YEARS AFTER ITS ORIGINAL RELEASE, THE FUTURE FINALLY CATCHES UP WITH JOHN FOXX’S DARK MASTERPIECE WITH THIS 49-TRACK, 3CD DELUXE EDITION

P

eople said I was copying David Bowie,” Gary Numan recently told Classic Pop, remembering his musical early years.

“I kept saying, ‘No, I’m trying to copy John Foxx!’”

He wasn’t the only one. Foxx, the visionary who

was born Dennis Leigh in Chorley, 70 years ago, has always been a pop pioneer.

It seems fitting that Metamatic, his debut solo album after quitting Ultravox, was released in January 1980: a salvo from the dawn of the decade that changed everything.

Fascinated by the anonymity of cities, the automation of industry and the bleak dystopias of J.G. Ballard, Foxx was intent on inventing the future. His twitchy mission informed every bleep of his tinny synths, spindly and insecure while also urgent and needy: his disembodied, robotic vocal style sold a thousand black trench coats.

Brittle yet beguiling, a brooding symphony of ARP Odyssey synths and Roland

drum machines, Metamatic sounded ultra-modern even as it retreated into its own distracted, futurist mind-bubble.

Skeletal tunes blinked and twitched into half-life; electronic beats faded in and out of view like shadows under Foxx’s austere auteur’s gaze.

He took his inspiration for the album’s title from metamechanics, a school of kinetic art founded by Dadaist Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely, and his own aims were equally ambitious and deconstructionist.

The album’s opener, Plaza, found him seeking romance amidst Ballardian horror: “I remember your face/ From some shattered windscreen...”

At times, his dream-tunes were so slight that they were hardly there: Metal Beat drifted

by in a heartbeat, a mere techno-murmur. Yet Foxx knew how to craft a killer chartfriendly chorus: the ebullient No-One Driving, was one of the album’s surprise hits.

An album out of, and ahead of, its time, Metamatic went Top 20 and signposted a musical future in which Foxx, contrarily, played very little part. Yet this 3CD deluxe edition is a delight for devoted Foxx-hunters.

Assiduously compiled from original studio tapes, it comes meticulously packaged in Foxx’s handwritten lyrics and illustrations. Close to 40 years on, this masterclass in sheer proto-electropop is a salutary reminder of just how thrilling Foxx’s vision of the future was.

Ian Gittins

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R E I S S U E S

NEW YORK DOLLS PERSONALITY CRISIS: LIVE RECORDINGS & STUDIO DEMOS 1972-75 CHERRY RED

PLAGUED BY UNSYMPATHETIC PRODUCTION, THE DOLLS’ STUDIO ALBUMS LACKED THE POWER OF THEIR LIVE SHOWS – THIS 5CD BOXSET LOOKS TO REDRESS THE BALANCE

T

he New York Dolls were a Roman candle of a band who never found their spark in the studio. The sleeve of their eponymous 1973 debut album, showing the group as an androgynous riot of lipstick, ripped stockings and stack heels, had

promised aural fireworks but Todd Rundgren’s conservative production rendered it a damp squib. The following year’s Too Much Too Soon was little better.

Kindred spirit and fellow wild child Shadow Morton was a more natural fit as producer but the band themselves came up short, too wasted to produce much original material and forced to resort to ropey covers.

No, live was where the New York Dolls truly made sense.

Their glittering stardust frontman David Johansen took Mick Jagger’s simian strut on to a whole new dimension of camp while the fabulously gone guitarist, Johnny Thunders, machine-gunned out scabrous, filthy riffs. It may be a cliché to call the Dolls, managed by a pre-Pistols Malcolm McLaren,

the first punk band but, like most clichés, it’s true.

On stage was where the Dolls – the roughest of rock diamonds – shone, which is why this 5CD boxset should be a fantastic idea.

The first two discs gather together studio demos and outtakes. They show the problems that Rundgren and Morton faced. Narcissistic showmen, the Dolls’ attention spans were always way too short for the tedium of the studio – boredom and ennui seep through cursory runthroughs of the likes of Jet Boy and Human Being.

The other three cherry-pick the best moments of 197374 Dolls gigs in locations as various as Paris, Detroit, Denver and NYC. Anybody

lucky enough to have seen the Dolls live, even in their sober 21st century reincarnation, knows they were a showy, splashy glam-bam blast of a band, yet it’s hard to bottle such alchemy. With their sound man apparently sharing their rough ‘n’ ragged ethos, Paris-gig tracks like Bad Girl appear to have been recorded through a wet sock.

Inevitably, with such an in-your-face group, there are moments of brilliance here: the Detroit Michigan Palace rampage through Personality Crisis is truly incendiary.

Ultimately, this homage captures only tantalising glimpses of one of glam-punk’s greatest ever live bands. With the New York Dolls, it seems, you just had to be there. IG 95

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BRIAN ENO M U S I C F O R I N S TA L L AT I O N S UMC

STRIKING NEW SET COLLECTS MUSIC FROM VARIOUS ENO AUDIO-VISUAL INSTALLATIONS AROUND THE GLOBE FROM 1986 UP TO THE PRESENT DAY

I

f you think of music as a moving, changing form, and painting as a still form, what I’m trying to do is make very still music, and paintings that move,” says Brian Eno. “I’m trying to find in both of those forms, the space in between the traditional concept of music and the

traditional concept of painting” – let’s rock!

Given his meticulous eye for form and detail, a Brian Eno boxset was never going to be a casual, offhand entity, and Music For Installations is one audacious artefact indeed.

In a standard 6CD boxset, 6CD super deluxe limitededition boxset and 9LP super deluxe edition vinyl, it collects music from various Eno audiovisual installations around the globe from 1986 up to the present day. Much of the music is previously unreleased or has been available only on a very limited basis.

So far, so Eno, but it’s worth wading through – or, indeed, embracing – the packaging and the pretention to get to the music showcased within.

Originally premiered at an exhibition in Tokyo in 2006, 77 Million Paintings finds aquatic samples ebbing and flowing beneath gentle electrotones in a beatific glow.

In its very conception, Eno’s music has always been immersive, long before that became the critical buzzword de jour. His I Dormienti piece, first heard at a 1999 London installation by an Italian sculptor, is all tentative ghosttones and abstracted gasps, a distant reverie.

The music seems to be working towards a serene stillness. Kites I, first heard in Helsinki in 1999, is all febrile textures. Lightness, premiered at a State Russian Museum installation, is best described as a whiteness in freefall.

The Making Space CD showcases music such as Delightful Universe (Seen From Above) that was previously only available at Eno installations and via lumenlondon.com.

The final disc, Music For Future Installations, contains previously unheard pieces such as the narcoleptic Surbahar Sleeping Music.

Your levels of tolerance for Eno are likely to shape what you are willing to pay: the super deluxe CD edition, including a 64-page Plexiglasbound book of rare photos and a new Eno essay, is retailing for upwards of £300 on Amazon.

But it’s not every day you get to inhabit the space between the traditional concept of music and the traditional concept of painting. IG

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R E I S S U E S

THE HUMAN LEAGUE SECRETS EDSEL

Well, they undoubtedly produced some of the most sheer, glistening musical miracles in the history of electropop, but that doesn’t mean that even the divine Human League couldn’t misfire and give us the occasional relative dud.

Released in 2001 after a six-year hiatus, Secrets was The League’s eighth studio album, but seldom scaled the heights reached by its mighty predecessors. Indeed, listening to it, it was difficult to avoid the uneasy feeling that comes when

you hear a truly great band straining for inspiration.

It started relatively promisingly. Opening track and lead-off single All I Ever Wanted reverberated like vintage-era, Dare-standard League, with Phil Oakey sounding reliably magisterial and stentorian over a lewdly throbbing motorik pulse. As ever, Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley’s honeyed, girl-group backing vocals provided him with an immaculate counterpoint.

Yet the single stiffed, falling just short of the Top 40, and little else on the album neared its seductive charm.

Love Me Madly? was an edgy curio, with Oakey barking non-sequiturs about “cocktail set Atillas” and threatening that he was “heading for a crack-up”.

Their trademark ideas were all in place but rarely coalesced. Unusually for The League, Secrets sounded thin

and short of ideas: seven of its 16 tracks were filler instrumentals, of which the nadir was the high-tempo techno-doodle 122.3BPM. Secrets was an album that needed all the help it could get, then, but instead it was jinxed from the outset.

Given lukewarm reviews by usually adoring critics, it received little help or promotion from a financially-strapped Papillon Records: when the Chrysalis offshoot went bust

shortly after the record’s release, its goose was cooked.

Edsel make a decent fist of repackaging this little-visited corner of the League’s oeuvre in this 2CD deluxe edition, adding an original, non-albumtrack B-side in Tranquility, and gamely compiling a CD of 14 remixes (seven of which, admittedly, are of All I Ever Wanted). Yet even for the most diehard Human League aficionados, this one is strictly for completists only. IG

KID CREOLE AND THE COCONUTS P R I VAT E WAT E R S I N T H E G R E AT D I V I D E / YOU SHOULDA TOLD ME YOU WERE…

In his early 80s pomp, Kid Creole was pretty much the acme of fun, characterdriven cartoon-pop, regularly sprinkling pop gold dust over the upper reaches of the chart via salsa-disco divinations such as I’m A Wonderful Thing, Baby, Stool Pigeon and Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy.

The Kid’s creator and alter ego, August Darnell, was a sharp and astute songwriter and musical comedian but primarily he was a top-quality showman, turning Coconuts tours into all-singing, alldancing Hollywood revues. Yet by the time of these two early 90s albums, his fortunes were in steep decline.

Darnell had divorced his wife and chief Coconut, Adriana Kaegi, split and reformed the band, appeared in movies and written an off-Broadway play by the time of 1990’s Private Waters In The Great Divide.

However, on its release it was clear that his creative waters were running dry.

Where Kid Creole’s vivacious pop had always been larger-

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CHERRY RED

than-life, with hooks to hang a Panama hat on, now they were reduced to flimsy, generic salsa-funk.

The trick up the album’s sleeve was The Sex Of It, a song written for Darnell by Prince. It was a minor hit, but really the Purple One was phoning it in, and the Kid’s paucity of ideas was such that a superfluous cover of Lambada made it on to the album.

The following year’s You Shoulda Told Me You Were…, included in this 2CD package,

yielded no hit singles and was a commercial flop, even if (She’s A) Party Girl saw Kid working his bug-eyed, mockshocked innuendo-laden shtick as hammily as ever. He was still big: it was just the tunes that had grown small.

The 67-year-old Kid still spasmodically tours with his latest bunch of Coconuts, like the old-school showbiz trouper he is – but if you want to luxuriate in their full glory head straight for their halcyon days. IG

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MATT BIANCO INDIGO CHERRY RED

“Hello, Simon Roberts, you’re through to Matt Bianco.”

“Hello, Matt Bianco. You’re a bunch of wankers!”

It’s undoubtedly harsh on Matt Bianco that many pop fans’ strongest memory of them is a rogue TV viewer’s call to a live Saturday Superstore phone-in one weekend morning in 1984. However, maybe they are partly culpable in that little of their music was memorable.

Formed from the ashes of Blue Rondo A La Turk, Matt

COCKNEY REBEL THE HUMAN MENAGERIE/ THE PSYCHOMODO

Bianco were a lightweight but jaunty presence on the pop landscape throughout the 80s, regularly infiltrating their Latin-tinged jazz-pop into the middle reaches of the singles chart. At best, they were a pleasant diversion: at worst, a nagging irritant.

Named after a fictional James Bond-style spy hero, it was their fate to be too chartslick to impress Latin music fans and too resolutely inoffensive to gather a devoted UK following: they reeked of white trousers, and Peter Powell. Nevertheless, in 1988, Warner Brothers deemed them ready to break The States.

The label certainly pulled out all of the stops, hiring Emilio Estefan, husband of Gloria and founder of Miami Sound Machine, to produce some of the group’s third album, Indigo.

His sonic fingerprints were all over the album’s lead-off single,

HOLLYWOOD BEYOND IF CHERRY RED

CHRYSALIS

Don’t Blame It On That Girl, which even broke into the US dance chart.

That success was largely down to the track being a double A-side with a seven-minute Estefan-special production, the house-musictinged dancefloor-filler WapBam-Boogie, but as this 3CD deluxe reissue of Indigo reaffirms, there was little else there to shake up the US. Funk-driven cuts like Nervous were slight and anonymous; the

anaemic Hanging On verged on lift muzak.

America remained resolutely unbroken, awkwardly-titled follow-up album Samba In Your Casa flopped and saw them exit Warners, and Matt Bianco resigned themselves to being big in Japan only. Their Achilles’ heel is evident here: despite their warm embrace of Latin and party rhythms, Matt Bianco never had much soul. Maybe Simon Roberts had a point after all. IG

BRAM TCHAIKOVSKY STRANGE MEN, CHANGED MEN: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS 1978-81

GOMEZ BRING IT ON – 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION UMC

CHERRY RED

Beholden to Bowie and yet a true British pop one-off, Steve Harley was an art-pop visionary. Fiercely ambitious, he crammed prog rock, glam and songs about Marc Bolan into Cockney Rebel’s 1973 debut, The Human Menagerie, working with a 50-piece orchestra while remembering that the trick was to hit the listener with killer pop choruses. His follow-up, 1974’s The Psychomodo, found him mangling vowels, using lead violin over guitar and unleashing the hallucinogenic Mr. Soft, quite the most berserk pop-psychedelia nugget of the day. He still sounds glorious – but what a shame this 2CD set doesn’t add Judy Teen. IG

The vehicle for an ambitious young Birmingham tyro named Mark Rogers, Hollywood Beyond enjoyed a Top 10 single in 1986 with the jolting, vaguely exotic What’s The Colour Of Money?

The lippy Rogers talked a good fight, declaring this his music was “pop but not pap, artistic without being intellectual, vibrant without being blasé, unique without being original”, but the band’s mildly soulful, mildly funky debut album, rereleased now as a 2CD set, failed to live up to his rhetoric. Despite Rogers’s siren vocal, subsequent singles sank without trace and Hollywood Beyond dissolved, destined to be archetypal one-hit wonders. IG

Better known to his mum as Peter Bramall, singer and guitarist Bram Tchaikovsky cut his musical teeth with pub rockers The Motors, who scored a No.4 hit in 1978 with the ELO-like Airport. Three of his solo albums – Strange Man, Changed Man (1979), The Russians Are Coming (1980) and Funland (1981) – are now collected here in a 3CD boxset and confirm that Tchaikovsky’s forte was, well, pub rock. At best, as on Sarah Smiles and this set’s title track, his rudimentary riffs could evoke the art-rock menace of The Who. Mostly, though, he sounded like Status Quo. IG

It seemed a strange choice when Gomez scooped the Mercury Music Prize with their debut album 20 years ago, pipping Massive Attack, Pulp and The Verve, and two decades on it doesn’t appear any more explicable. They looked like busking Rag Week students attempting to play Delta blues, but that hasn’t stopped the band marking the 20th anniversary of Bring It On’s unlikely triumph with an all-singing, all-dancing 4CD boxset of remastered tracks, B-sides, demos and a live set from Glastonbury. Nowadays they make a decent living in America, where people are far keener on this sort of thing. IG

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R E I S S U E S

VARIOUS ARTISTS R E VA M P : R E I M A G I N I N G T H E S O N G S O F E LT O N J O H N & B E R N I E TA U P I N VIRGIN EMI

Twenty-seven years after Mercury Records gathered artists such as Tina Turner, The Who and Kate Bush to cover Elton John and Bernie Taupin songs on Two Rooms, Revamp repeats the trick.

As ever with such projects, it’s a curate’s egg. Some contributors opt for safety-first: Alessia Cara’s turbo-charged warble of I Guess That’s Why

OLETA ADAMS CIRCLE OF ONE CAROLINE INTERNATIONAL

Oleta Adams was famously discovered by Tears For Fears’ Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith performing in a hotel bar in Kansas City. She went on to sing on their humongous The Seeds Of Love album and was awarded a solo deal by their record label, Fontana. Her debut, 1990’s Circle Of One, went to No.1 in the UK, powered by her cover of Brenda Russell’s Get Here. Hearing it again, it’s evident that Adams was an old-school soul singer who grabbed her escape route from the cabaret circuit with both hands. It’s a 2CD set: the second disc, featuring eight remixes of the Orzabal-penned Rhythm Of Life, is less than essential. IG

C O M P I L A T I O N S

VARIOUS ARTISTS B U R N I N G B R I TA I N : A STORY OF INDEPENDENT UK PUNK 1980-83 CHERRY RED

They Call It The Blues, Sam Smith’s clenched croon through Daniel and Lady Gaga’s earnest mugging of Your Song add nothing to the originals.

Coldplay gently mope through We All Fall In Love Sometimes, while Ed Sheeran adds a quirky charm to the ever-mawkish Candle In The Wind. Florence Welch goes full foghorn on Tiny Dancer and The Killers fall oddly flat on Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters.

Most successful contributions come when the artists take the greatest liberties. Elton, P!nk and Logic team up to turn Bennie And The Jets into stuttering pop-rap, Q-Tip and Demi Lovato ooze through Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, and Mary J Blige’s distorted R&B take on Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word is a revelation. IG

The term post-punk misleadingly assumes that all bands inspired by the late 70s punk explosion went on to craft radical, boundaries-testing music...

Well, they didn’t. A lot of groups simply slavishly copied the original punks.

Burning Britain is a 4CD boxset of the heads-down, safety-pinned and Mohicantoting second-wave punks. In

CHICAGO VI DECADES LIVE (THIS IS WHAT WE DO)

MARLENA SHAW GO AWAY LITTLE BOY: THE COLUMBIA ANTHOLOGY

RHINO

SOULMUSIC RECORDS

Chicago were the kind of bloated US soft-rock behemoth that the 80s synth-pop explosion correctly defined itself against, yet they were originally jazz- and classicaltinged experimentalists before switching to becoming peddlers of chart-bothering sickly sentimental dreck such as If You Leave Me Now and Hard To Say I’m Sorry.

Their journey from jazzy noodling at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival to churning out conveyor-belt AOR abominations at Caesar’s Palace is well-represented by this 5CD live boxset – assuming, that is, that the thought of a Chicago 5CD live boxset doesn’t bring you out in hives. IG

One of the great under-celebrated jazz-soul singers, Marlena Shaw enjoyed a creative and commercial purple patch when signed to Columbia from 1977 to 1980. This 2CD set cherry-picks the best and most luscious moments from her three albums for them. Highlights include the velvet-voiced soul and sassy comedy of the no-good-mandissing Yu-Ma/Go Away Little Boy, the Blaxploitation funk-hued theme from 1977 movie Looking For Mr Goodbar, and a jivetalking hi-energy disco version of Diana Ross’s Touch Me In The Morning that works even though it really, really shouldn’t. A rare talent indeed. IG

truth, you’d need a pretty iron constitution to get through the 114 tracks all in one sitting.

These raw, rudimentary 1-2-3-4! thrash-essays are wearingly samey – who, except for Gary Bushell, could tell where the Cockney Rejects, 4 Skins, G.B.H. or Chaos U.K ended, and Chron Gen, Infa-Riot, Septic Psychos or Drongos For Europe began?

Oi! punk, or UK82 as its insiders knew it, was a music that applauded its own lack of subtlety, but its lowest-commondenominator ethos could slip into self-parody. Were there really tracks called Banned From The Pubs by Peter And The Test Tube Babies and Have You Got 10p? by The Ejected?

“Punk’s not dead!” they used to claim – but it sounds horribly embalmed here. IG

HAZEL O’CONNOR SONS AND LOVERS CHERRY RED

Hazel O’Connor’s music career fell off a rather precipitous cliff after her 1980 debut album and movie soundtrack, Breaking Glass, which was a shame as this follow-up, released the same year, was a minor masterpiece of commercial new-wave pop. O’Connor’s spiky, defiant singing rode the jagged post-punk rhythms adroitly and the record did at least spawn a Top 10 single in the heroically twitchy D-Days. Additional tracks on this deluxe CD reissue include a roustabout 1980 London live duet of Bowie’s Suffragette City between O’Connor and some bloke called Simon Le Bon, singer with her then-unknown tour support band...

Duran Duran. IG

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R E I S S U E S A N D B E Y O N D

A NUMBER OF 80S FAVOURITES EMBRACED THIS YEAR’S RECORD STORE DAY WITH THE LIKES OF THE CURE, ERASURE, MADNESS, DURAN DURAN, EURYTHMICS AND FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD ALL RELEASING LIMITED EDITION COLLECTIONS ON VINYL I A N

G I T T I N S

ERASURE – THE TWO RING CIRCUS

DURAN DURAN – BUDOKAN

After a disappointing reaction to the previous year’s debut, Wonderland, 1987’s The Circus proved to be Erasure’s breakthrough album.

Spawning four hit singles, the record instilled in the Great British public a love for Vince Clarke and Andy Bell’s high-energy disco synth-pop that has seen the duo maintain a 30-year career that shows no sign of stalling. It came at the dawn of the era of the remix album, and so that same year Mute released The Two Ring Circus, a double 12” record featuring remixes of six tracks, including a Flood mix of its big hit, Sometimes, and orchestral takes on three others. It is reissued on fetching yellow vinyl.

Eighties stars sure came out in force for this year’s Record Store Day. Duran Duran chipped in with this previously unreleased live album from the Nippon Budokan. Recorded last September, as the Duranies ended their two-year world tour in support of the so-so Paper Gods record, it comes in bespoke, highly collectable artwork by noted Japanese graphic designer and artist Tadanori Yokoo. The six-track setlist of highlights may at first glance look a little stingy but it’s still a decent running time as (Reach Up For The) Sunrise segues into a lengthy New Moon On Monday and The Universe Alone builds into a joyous Save A Prayer. They have only printed 2,700 copies, so get your skates on.

THE UNDERTONES – SINGLES

THE CURE – MIXED UP/TORN DOWN

Record Store Day brought a plethora of riches this year, not least this functionally-titled boxset of 7” versions of all 13 singles released by The Undertones from 1978 until their split in 1983.

There’s not a dud here: it’s staggering to reflect that for their first six singles, the Derry teen-punks were able to come up with Teenage Kicks, Get Over You, Jimmy Jimmy, Here Comes The Summer, You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It?) and My Perfect Cousin.

In addition to the original sleeve artwork, you also get the Teenage Kicks poster single, photos and notes by the band, and a track-by-track commentary from Undertones bassist Michael Bradley.

It would all have been a John Peel wet dream, frankly.

Record Store day also saw a re-release of The Cure’s Mixed Up remix album from 1990 that found the band attempting to engage with dance and club culture and being largely – and slightly unfairly – mocked for their pains. Undeterred by this, they have returned to the scene of the crime 28 years later to give us Torn Down, a double album of 16 new mixes by Robert Smith.

Given the nature of Cure fandom, it’s likely a lot of people will consider these valiant Smith reworkings of tracks including Three Imaginary Boys, Shake Dog Shake, Plainsong and Never Enough to be an essential purchase, especially as the whole pouting package is a 7,750 copies limited-edition picture disc.

MADNESS – I DO LIKE TO BE B-SIDE THE A-SIDE

P!NK – I’M NOT DEAD/ FUNHOUSE/THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE

Recycling an old song title

by The Style Council for its moniker (and let’s face it, it suits them far more), Madness now release the B-sides to their first 11 singles as a RSD vinyl album.

Their catalogue runs so deep and rich that their B-sides would make A-sides for most bands, so this is a great chance to discover hidden Nutty Boy gems such as Mistakes, the B-side to One Step Beyond, Stepping Into Line, the flip of My Girl, and The Business, the Mike Barson-composed backing track to Baggy Trousers. It’s a joyous set, wrapped in a monochrome sleeve of the suspiciously bufflooking band members larking around on a diving board at a 50s-style holiday camp.

P!nk can be an acquired taste, but when the shouty US arena-filling pop star sheds her earnestness and goes into full-on glam cartoon-pop mode, she is big fun. Here, she is doling out coloured-vinyl reissues of three mid-career albums, 2006’s I’m Not Dead, 2008’s Funhouse and 2012’s The Truth About Love, which have between them sold more than 20 million copies. I’m Not Dead yielded the powerhouse, Max Martin co-written lovelorn single Who Knew, while Funhouse produced the irresistible, chanting thug-pop of So What (also a Martin co-write), but The Truth About Love, with its guest appearances from Eminem and Lily Allen, is probably the strongest album of the trio.

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L O N G

L I V E

V I N Y L

U2 – POP/ALL THAT YOU CAN’T LEAVE BEHIND/WIDE AWAKE IN AMERICA There is a slew of U2 material remastered and reissued on vinyl this month, although none of it represents the band’s finest work. Pop was released in 1997 and looked to continue the process of ironic reinvention they had begun with Achtung Baby and Zooropa, but it always felt a little undercooked. All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000) was the first instance of U2’s regrettable 21st century habit of delivering underwhelming albums wrapped in cumbersome titles. Probably the pick of this batch is Wide Awake In America, the EP first released in 1985 during the Unforgettable Fire Tour and featuring live versions of Bad and A Sort Of Homecoming.

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – THE FIRST 48 INCHES OF FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

It’s good to see that Frankie’s talent for innuendo has not deserted them, as the title of this limited-edition RSD boxset suggests.

Featuring the first four 12” singles from their chart-annexing 1984 album, Welcome To The Pleasuredome, the set still sounds sharp, sexy and visceral. This collection includes the recordbreaking run of three consecutive start-of-career No.1s – the throbbing Relax, archly provocative Two Tribes and the knowingly soppy The Power Of Love – and the album’s title track, which stopped short at No.2, mainly because by then everybody in Britain had already bought the LP.

EURYTHMICS – 1984 (FOR THE LOVE OF BIG BROTHER) In the wake of Annie Lennox recently reissuing Diva and Medusa on vinyl, Eurythmics also get in on the act with a RSD release of their soundtrack album, 1984 (For The Love Of Big Brother).

When the record came out to accompany the John Hurt/Richard Burton movie take on George Orwell’s dystopian classic, Dave Stewart, never a man to be shy of a fanciful notion, claimed it was: “Kraftwerk meets African tribal meets Booker T & The M.G.’s”.

That was pushing it... what it sounded like was the Eurythmics.

This comes pressed on heavyweight red vinyl, and the super-sibilant Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four) remains one of electro-pop’s most addictive guilty pleasures.

THE STREETS – ORIGINAL PIRATE MATERIAL/ A GRAND DON’T COME FOR FREE When Mike Skinner first called a halt to The Streets in 2011, the time was right, but it’s easy to forget how vital these first two albums were. Bookended by the stirring strings and gritty urban majesty of Turn The Page and Stay Positive, Original Pirate Material sounds immense on 180g vinyl, the bass on Has It Come To This? and Let’s Push Things Forward pleasingly hefty. A Grand Don’t Come For Free was a less consistent album, but it heralded No.1 single Dry Your Eyes and the entrancing MDMA swirl of Blinded By The Lights. These records remain an essential part of the fabric of modern British music. Gary Walker 101

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JAKE SHEARS BOYS KEEP SWINGING: A MEMOIR OMNIBUS PRESS

After a wealth of boring, run-ofthe-mill music memoirs, the genre really is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to Brett Anderson’s Coal Black Mornings and now Jake Shears’ offering. As you’d expect from the erstwhile frontman of the Scissor Sisters, one of the most flamboyant acts in recent years, Boys Keep Swinging... is a no-holds-barred romp (and there is a lot of romping) through Jake’s colourful life so far.

From his sheltered childhood in Arizona, Jake’s story is the classic tale of a small town misfit and his quest to find a place to call home with like-minded peers.

The detailing of his early life and struggles is particularly moving – the poignancy with which he handles his coming out to his parents will no doubt be invaluable to some members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The book straddles the duality of grafting and good times as he sets off on his quest for stardom.

The book brilliantly captures the vibrancy of the music scenes in Seattle and the drug-fuelled debauchery of pre-millennial New York City, and how the Scissor Sisters went from underground club freaks to international superstars.

Funny, sad and deliciously indiscreet, Shears’ memoir is a classic in the making.

Mark Lindores

DAVID BUCKLEY E LT O N J O H N ANDRE DEUTSCH

With Elton John’s mammoth farewell tour due to kick off in September, a new tribute album and a film of his life in pre-production, the timing couldn’t be better for the release of this new biography.

Author David Buckley, whose Strange Fascination is still one of the definitive books on David Bowie, is intent on ensuring that another essential musical icon gets the biographical treatment that has so far been denied him.

After conducting hundreds of interviews with friends,

colleagues, collaborators, journalists and music historians, Buckley has covered enough ground to formulate a refreshingly unbiased portrait.

From Reg Dwight’s transformation into Elton John in 1967, when he was paid by a music publisher to pen 18 songs a year and struck a professional partnership with Bernie Taupin, the book details the highs and lows of an often turbulent life, detailing the excesses that plagued the star behind the scenes of his gargantuan success in the 70s and 80s.

We also learn much about his relationship with Taupin, his complicated love life, tireless charity work, role as mentor to younger musicians and his settled family life.

Even though Elton has announced his plans to tell his own explosive story in 2019, Buckley’s biography is a pageturningly entertaining portrait of the man behind the glitz. ML

PAMELA DES BARRES I’M WITH THE BAND ( U P D AT E D E D I T I O N ) OMNIBUS PRESS

Thirty years after I’m With The Band: Confessions Of A Groupie was first published, Pamela Des Barres’ groundbreaking account of life as a groupie has seen its place in popular culture change irrevocably. Dismissed initially as a trashy kiss-and-tell, it has since gone on to be heralded as something of a work of profound feminism and will no doubt be viewed differently again in the politicised light of the Me Too and Time’s Up movements.

However you choose to view it, this updated version is an undisputed joy, perfectly evoking rock’s glory days of the late 60s and early 70s.

Detailing her dalliances with the likes of Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Jim Morrison, Keith Moon and many others, Pamela reveals the other side of the groupie in a book which is self-deprecating and brutally honest.

It is also, surprisingly given its subject matter, almost romantic in a tragic way, as the likeable heroine stumbles from heartbreak to heartbreak, you can’t help but be on her side.

The prototype for countless books of this ilk, I’m With The Band is still an original voice in a much-emulated market. It offers an intimate view into the rock world, California during the free-love era, and (briefly) inside the personalities of those now considered icons. ML

MARGO JEFFERSON ON MICHAEL JACKSON GRANTA BOOKS

In the nine years since Michael Jackson died, it seems that everyone who knew, worked with, was related to, or just happened to pass him on the street seemed to have a story to tell – and they did (even the doctor that went to prison for prescribing the medication that killed him wrote an autobiography). The sheer volume of books written about him leads us to question what there is left to say that hasn’t already been said.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and cultural critic Margo

Jefferson’s new definitive and dazzling dissection is more a cultural study of the man and performer rather than a meaningless biography.

Delving into Jackson’s lyrics and music videos, she talks not only about Michael but uses him as a symbol to commentate on what he represents to different echelons of society – race, gender, idol worship, child stardom and freakshows.

As well as his music, she examines his changing appearance and explores his tragic downfall in the early 90s. She exposes the “trial by television” media circus that surrounded him following the allegations of child abuse made against him and how they tainted his career and legacy in a way that never left the star.

Deep and thought-provoking, this new study of Jackson offers a fresh perspective of The King Of Pop and his status as a cultural phenomenon. ML

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12/04/2018 14:33

© Naomi Dryden-Smith Getty Images

ERASURE EVENTIM APOLLO, LONDON 23 FEBRUARY

OVER 30 YEARS INTO THEIR CAREER AND THE PIONEERING SYNTH-POP DUO DELIVER THEIR A-GAME WITH A CAREER-SPANNING SET – LET’S GIVE THEM A LITTLE RESPECT

W

ho’d have thought that an advert requesting a singer, placed by the creatively restless Vince Clarke in a 1985 Melody Maker, would result in such an enduring and much-loved pop legacy.

Andy Bell, the singer whose flamboyant style and beautiful vocals proved the perfect foil for Clarke’s electronic vision, remains one of pop’s most enigmatic performers.

From the off, and the splendid riff of Oh L’amour, from 1986’s debut album Wonderland, Erasure set about demonstrating their vitality with a comprehensive 24-song set.

Clarke has now relocated to New York and put some distance between them and this seems reflected in the stage setup: Vince’s keyboards are positioned on a balcony high above Bell. We can only presume that any similarity to Alan Partridge’s Knowing Me, Knowing You set is unintentional… but you do half-expect Bell to press his nose and point to his Glen Ponder for a cymbal crash – ba dum tish!

An undeniable synchronicity remains between the pair.

While his partner does the heavy lifting, a besuited Clarke twiddles with computers.

There are shades of Pet Shop Boys’ Fundamental-era neon strips, as a stripped-back

Ship Of Fools makes an early appearance alongside an elegant Breathe.

Sadly, Mad As We Are, from 2000’s rather forgettable Loveboat, fails to compete with the crowd’s phone-fiddling.

However, the call and response of Just A Little Love holds its own and echoes the electro-gospel of tonight’s highlight Phantom Bride.

There’s admirable representation of all their albums. Bell’s confusion over which record In My Arms belongs is laughed off as the front row correct him – Cowboy! they scream.

I Love Saturday hits the Friday night crowd like the EDM gym anthem it always threatened to be, but even

Clarke’s disco tambourine fails to distract from it being a bit of a filler track. We also get a rather perfunctory cover of Blondie’s Atomic.

Yet the cold riff of Who Needs Love (Like That) sounds as immediate today as it ever did, as does the effortless perfection of Stop!

Bell is in fine voice and wears an all-in-one tattoo suit for a dreamy Always, before a rousing Here I Go Impossible Again and Sometimes set things up neatly for the crowd-pleasing encore of A Little Respect.

It might be called the World Be Gone Tour, but on tonight’s showing we’re grateful that Erasure look like they’re here to stay.

Tom Hocknell

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BEST LIVE SHOW

MORRISSEY A L E X A N D R A PA L A C E , L O N D O N 9 MARCH

ALWAYS LACONIC AND SOMETIMES IRONIC, THE ANTI-MONARCHY MORRISSEY RULES ALEXANDRA PALACE AS HE LETS THE MUSIC DO THE TALKING FOR ONCE

I

t’s hard to know if Morrissey courts controversy or whether it courts him, but thankfully last year’s resurgent Low In High School album effectively erases memories of his ill-advised novel List Of The Lost. If tonight’s skinheads, suedeheads and mods are an indicator, Morrissey continues to provoke the sort of loyalty more associated with football teams than a man who once made National Health glasses cool.

The mariachi-laced opening cover of Elvis’ You’ll Be Gone sets his stall out, as he croons ever closer to one of his idols.

In open shirt and terribly cut jeans, he’s half pugilist, half harried father.

For an art associated with rebellion, rock has become somewhat formalist and Morrissey’s been criticised recently for breaking the conformity of music’s opinion on politics, but, as with his vegetarianism, you don’t have to agree with him. He remains the boy who never shied away.

His band contains more people than he claims to have as friends, and shrugs off previous muddy pedestrianism in favour of a clipped lightness reminiscent of The Smiths, who get an early look in with I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish. Highlights of the new album stand bold, with a shimmering I Wish You Lonely, and the heartbreaking Who Will Protect Us From

The Police?... “I’m sorry, I just cannot believe you,”a reminder of his willingness to confess what others fear to.

Then it’s: ‘I am the son and the heir...’ of a mighty How Soon Is Now?. While it might be Johnny Marr’s finest moment, he’s always seemed to struggle when playing it live and he’ll be bemused by the irony that Morrissey has nailed it. It’s a tremblingly taut epic, closing with edgy synths refusing to die – a song that never outstays its welcome.

The Bullfighter Dies feels forced, unlike the salvo of the effortless lopes of Spent The Day In Bed and When You Open Your Legs.

His voice is more impressive than ever, majestic even. You

hang upon every word. If you lose him it’s because you stopped listening.

Jack The Ripper peppers the crowd with such searing guitar licks that it’s hard to imagine Marr taking things so gloriously carelessly.

Everyday Is Like Sunday romps past, while the recent single Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up On The Stage is even better live – its closing chant of “everybody’s heading to the exit” is as uplifting as it is unsettling.

He’s mastered the art of ambiguity that most pop stars never achieve, and he’s beginning to merge with the icons he always admired. Just not as a novelist.

Tom Hocknell 111

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PAUL WELLER SSE HYDRO, GLASGOW Jam veterans, Brit-poppers and mods of all stripes shake off the cold as Paul Weller arrives on stage. He looks ready to do business armed with his trusty Telecaster before firing into I’m Where I Should Be. One fan is given short shrift for being unaware of the opening few numbers.

“I can’t help ya if you don’t buy the facking records,” is his no-nonsense retort. No such problems with a clutch of songs from The Style Council, after declaring that the 80s were “facking rubbish” he disproves the point with Have You Ever Had It Blue, featuring some beautiful guitar tones from Steve Cradock, and My Ever Changing Moods.

Lead vocals are shared with Weller’s long-serving sideman during Man In The Corner Shop, the once teenage Jam fan looks in his element as the crowd sing along during the spine-tingling chorus. Elsewhere there’s a nod to 1997’s Heavy

© Richard Purden

25 FEBRUARY

Soul with Up In Suzes’ Room, a beautifully crafted gem that has aged well. Friday Street is greeted like an old pal, while Peacock Suit is dedicated to Glasgow’s blue-eyed soul hero Frankie Miller. Weller’s timbre tonight summons something of Miller’s bluesy vocal on the likes of Whirlpool’s End – a set highlight which never fails to bump up the atmosphere.

The band’s chemistry, which has developed over the past

10 years, gives a collective feel to a stripped-down acoustic section of the show.

Weller suggests he might get “run out of town” for playing English Rose, before The Ballad Of Jimmy McCabe, from last year’s Jawbone score, which proves to be another recent track that deserves to sit among his best. Unfortunately audience chatter during these more intimate numbers is a point of frustration. Steve Pilgrim’s hefty

vocal on Wild Wood is further bolstered by the crowd. It’s another much-loved song in this city, which led Weller to comment on feeling deeply moved.

During a final encore of Town Called Malice they are joined

by Cradock’s son Cassius on guitar who represents that eternal teenage Jam fan, which many here of a certain vintage will forever relate to.

Richard Purden

his strong and melodic vocal remains undiminished by more than 30 years of performing.

The subject matter of his songs may be fiction or drawn from Cole’s own experiences, but the audience happily buy into Lloyd’s world regardless.

Before Jennifer She Said, he asks the audience to join in: “You can help me out, or you can watch me suffer,” and the crowd respond by cheerfully “la-la-ing” along – nobody was in danger of suffering tonight.

Ian Ravendale

LLOYD COLE P L AY H O U S E , W H I T L E Y B AY Lloyd Cole has a downbeat stage persona with a crafty line in self-effacing humour that wins over tonight’s full house: “I messed up the lyrics on that one,” he says at one point. “If you ever witness a flawless performance of my material you’ll know it was a tribute act.”

Following on from a nine-date American tour, this jaunt across the UK sees the singer gigging mid-range venues. Drawing from his 1983 to 1996 output with The Commotions and solo, The Retrospective Tour sees him playing totally solo.

As he is his “own support act”, Lloyd gets to pace the gig well and selects well-known songs throughout both halves of the evening. The audience takes a little time to warm up,

but by the end of the two-hour show people are shouting out requests and swapping quips with their laconic host.

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions were a guitarbased band and that rock’n’roll edge was a notable absence here. However, what we got instead was much more intimate and direct.

Cole is a thoughtful, artful, lyricist and without a band there’s nothing to get in the way of the words. Perfect Skin motors along nicely, Rattlesnakes is a great piece of reflective observation, and Lost Weekend, his biggest hit from 1985, has a killer melody which rounds off the main set wonderfully.

Cole is a confident, but in no way showy, performer –

© Photoshot

23 FEBRUARY

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© Photoshot/Mike Prior

CLASSIC MOMENTS

No.40

W E L L E R C O N V E N E S T H E S T Y L E C O U N C I L 7 M A Y 1 9 8 3 After disbanding The Jam at the peak of their popularity in 1982, Paul Weller unveiled his new soul, pop and funk-influenced group, The Style Council, at the Festival For Peace CND in Brockwell Park, London. It initially included just Weller and keyboardist Mick Talbot – he shared The Modfather’s “hatred of the rock myth and rock culture”, apparently. The permanent line-up grew to feature drummer Steve White and Weller’s then-girlfriend Dee C. Lee. The band went on to score seven UK Top 10 singles and three Top 10 albums. More overtly political than The Jam, Weller’s new outfit regularly included lyrical attacks on Middle England and the incumbent Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Steve Harnell 114

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