Tabla de contenidos para July-August 2020 en Classic Pop

WELCOME @ClassicPopMag So… it’s been a while. Thanks for bearing with us while we briefly pressed the pause button on the magazine to make it through the initial impact of the pandemic. We’ve kept Classic Pop ticking over online, of course, while our print version has been on hiatus. Thanks for your messages of support over the past few months – it means a lot to us so hopefully you’ll be as pleased as we are that this latest issue has emerged blinking into the sunlight. While things settle down, we’ll return to publishing as a bi-monthly but with your support we hope to get back once again to our usual monthly frequency at some point in the future. As you may have seen elsewhere in the news recently, it’s…

POP-UP © Getty Images Take That get Robbie back for online charity show Robbie Williams performed with Take That for the first time since the X Factor Final in 2018 as part of a special fund-raising show hosted by Compare The Meerkat on YouTube. After Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald opened the show with performances of The Greatest Day and Shine, Williams joined them to sing on Back For Good, The Flood, Pray and Never Forget. In between songs, the group discussed what new skills they’d acquired during lockdown, where Barlow revealed he had taken up the guitar again after 20 years away from the instrument. Proceeds raised by the performance on May 29 will go to music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins as well as Crew Nation, which…

Radio station strikes right Tone Tony Hadley had to step in to help a Singaporean man pick up a radio competition prize, after the station originally refused to pay out when they claimed the contestant mispronounced the singer’s name. Muhammad Shalehan was playing Celebrity Name Drop and identified a number of stars from audio clips with the competition carrying a prize of 10,000 Singaporean dollars (£5,757). Shalehan was confident that he had won and angered when a subsequent contestant gave the same answers and picked up the prize – with a different pronunciation of Hadley’s surname. A quick appeal to the singer led to Hadley recording a video for Instagram and agreeing that Shalehan had given the correct answer. The story made headlines around the world and the station relented,…

LOST & FOUND SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES TINDERBOX Siouxsie and the Banshees were post-punk’s greatest exponents. Tinderbox allowed them to maintain the energy of their heyday while prove conclusively that times had changed. Their seventh LP had been a while coming, thanks to side projects, line-up changes and touring. New guitarist John Valentine Carruthers had joined after Robert Smith’s loan from The Cure expired; there was a spring in their step and a clarity to their sound on tracks like The Sweetest Chill and launch single Cities In Dust, with its jingly intro, supreme key changes and Siouxsie’s voice soaring on the chorus. This Unrest’s understated rhythm provides soothing aftercare to the pain in Siouxsie’s disturbing poetry, and lyrical melancholia and wild chord sequences led by Steven Severin’s textbook bass…

Q+A BILLY BURNETTE THE FORMER FLEETWOOD MAC MAN AND SON OF ROCK’N’ROLL ROYALTY TALKS TO CLASSIC POP ABOUT HIS TIME WITH ONE OF THE BIGGEST BANDS ON THE PLANET DOUGLAS MCPHERSON Rolling Stone magazine called the addition of Billy Burnette and Rick Vito “the best thing that ever happened to Fleetwood Mac” and praised Behind The Mask, the 1990 album they sang and played on, as the band’s “most together” since Rumours. Burnette joined the group in 1987, replacing Lindsey Buckingham, and stayed until 1995. He came with a pure rock pedigree. His father Dorsey played bass with Billy’s uncle in the pioneering Johnny Burnette Rock’n’roll Trio in the 50s and Billy made his first record –_a duet with Rick Nelson – at the age of seven. He went on…

POP UP BLUEDOT HEADLINERS BACK ON BOARD FOR RESCHEDULED DATES This year’s Bluedot festival has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic but organisers have confirmed that its headliners will return for the rescheduled event next year. All three big names at the celebration of electronic music at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire – Bjork, Metronomy and Groove Armada – will be back when Bluedot returns on 22-25 July 2021, with more acts on the undercard set to follow suit. Tickets already purchased will be valid for next year’s festival or alternatively full refunds will be available. A statement from organisers said: “This decision [to postpone] has been a necessary but difficult one to make as it affects not only our wonderful Bluedot family of festival-goers and staff but also…

THIS MONTH IN POP JULY 1986 IN OUR ROUND-UP OF JULY 1986’S BIGGEST MOMENTS IN MUSIC, PRINCE MAKES A CHERRY-FLAVOURED TURKEY, MADONNA REIGNS SUPREME IN THE CHARTS AND THE POLICE CAN’T GET OUT OF THE STARTING BLOCKS STEVE HARNELL 02 The big screen follow-up to Purple Rain, Prince’s directorial debut Under The Cherry Moon opens in 941 cinemas across the United States. Also starring Brit thesps Steven Berkoff and Kristin Scott Thomas, the movie was a commercial and critical failure, scooping the ignominious honour of winning five Golden Raspberry Awards. 05 Janet Jackson reaches the summit of the US charts with her third studio album, Control. The beginning of a fruitful collaboration with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the LP would go on to sell more than 10 million copies…

SPARKS EXOTIC COLLECTIONS OF THE DEEP Little might be known about the Maels away from Sparks, but their unusual collections hint that their eccentricities aren’t just for show. Russell has collected Sonny Angel dolls since touring Japan in the 00s, now owning “around 100” of the cute 8cm-high figures. “Every time I go to Japan, I must have a new set,” he admits. “I’m a big sucker for exclusive editions of things, although I know I shouldn’t be the market for little kewpie-style dolls. Call me crazy, I guess! In my defence, my collection is modest as some people have got thousands of Sonny Angels.” Meanwhile, Ron believes his bedroom is a hazard thanks to an overhanging pile of “90 or so” unopened boxes of Air Jordan trainers. “Michael Jordan…

THE PLAYERS MICHAEL STIPE John Michael Stipe was the only member of R.E.M. to be born in Georgia and had recently turned 31 years old when Out Of Time was released in 1991. He’d quickly gained the reputation of being an enigmatic frontman to say the least. Over the years he’d experiment with extreme hairstyles (shaving his crown to look like a monk, dying it yellow with mustard, and a mohawk with a ponytail to name a few) and took the lead for the band’s visual presentation, being a keen photographer and former art student with a fascination for video. As lyricist and frontman, he was often the focus of interviewers’ attentions and was forthright on politics and the environment, which made the switch to relationships and love songs on…

Clasic Pop Quickfire round– John Foxx Q&A FAVOURITE ALBUM? “There isn’t one! But if I had to say one it would be nothing to do with rock ‘n’ roll, it would be The Pearl because you have three great talents together: Harold Budd, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. Lanois is the great landscape artist of music, Brian is a great ideas man and Budd invented a way of playing piano that is fantastic. I will love it until the day I die. It’s a great album.” FAVOURITE TRACK? “Very difficult, I really like Sweet Jane [The Velvet Underground], The Passenger [Iggy Pop], and Smokestack Lightning [Howlin’ Wolf and others] is still the big one, and John Lee Hooker’s Dimples. What I really like is something stripped down and primitive that…

“WE WERE ALL LIKE ONE” JOURNALIST AND WRITER JON RONSON WAS 23 AT THE TIME OF SPIKE ISLAND. HE TELLS CLASSIC POP ABOUT HIS MEMORIES OF THAT HISTORIC DAY… “The first time I ever heard The Stone Roses was when I was in Frank Sidebottom’s band. Somebody in the band had a pre-release copy of the first album, and we played it in the van and everyone was like, ‘Oh my god, wow, this is unbelievable!’ I just remember sitting there quietly thinking I have no idea whether this is good or not. It always takes me a number of listens to figure out whether it’s good or not but then I became a really big fan. “I wasn’t aware beforehand that Spike Island was a toxic waste dump, I…

TRACK BY TRACK NEIL ARTHUR ON THE NEW BLANCMANGE STUDIO ALBUM MINDSET… MINDSET “The ‘rearranged information’ that we are bombarded with. I say ‘so much forgiving’, but it’s also a double meaning, as in ‘so much for giving and so much for taking’. We’re seeing that all around us now.” WARM RECEPTION “I love playing live. The gig itself is great and meeting people is fantastic, but the other 22 hours are weird, realising all the towns and hotels we are in look the same.” THIS IS BLISS? “I read a report about the Lost Wallet Experiment. The more money that’s in it, the more honest people are. With typical Neil Arthur ambiguity, I will leave it there!” ANTISOCIAL MEDIA “That people can say what they want with impunity to…

TOP TEN WEEK ENDING 2 JULY 1989 PET SHOP BOYS GET POLITICAL, QUEEN SOUND LIKE A RUNAWAY TRAIN AND GLADYS KNIGHT MAKES HER ENTRY INTO THE BOND FRANCHISE STEVE HARNELL 01 (1) BACK TO LIFE (HOWEVER DO YOU WANT ME) SOUL II SOUL (10) 5TH WEEK ON CHART BACK TO LIFE (HOWEVER DO YOU WANT ME) SOUL II SOUL (10) A landmark release in the history of UK soul, as well as hitting the top spot on home soil, Back To Life also made substantial waves in the States where it reached No.4 on the Billboard charts. Yet the version the vast majority know and love is a re-recorded take on the a capella original that features on the UK incarnation of Soul II Soul’s debut LP Club Classics Vol. One.…

CULT HERO: SAL SOLO THE FORMER SINGER FOR CLASSIX NOUVEAUX TALKS TO CLASSIC POP ABOUT HIS MEMORIES OF BEING A PIONEER IN THE NEW ROMANTIC MOVEMENT… DOUGLAS MCPHERSON Christopher Scott Stevens came to fame as Sal Solo, the charismatic, cape-wearing lead singer of Classix Nouveax. The group broke into the Top 50 with songs including Guilty and Inside Outside, before achieving their biggest hit with the No.11-placed Is It A Dream in 1982. After the demise of Classix, Sal scored a, um, solo hit with San Damiano (Heart And Soul), which reached No.15 in the UK charts in 1984. He later became involved in a youth ministry in the Catholic Church and moved to the United States. He’s currently director of a church choir in Florida, in which he also…

JENNY BERGGREN THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM In recent years, Ulf Ekberg has held out the prospect of an Ace Of Base reunion. However, Jenny thinks it’s unlikely. “It’s always been a dream that all four of us would do a new thing,” she says. “We tried with the three of us and it didn’t work. I don’t think that my sister will come back to the spotlight and I don’t think that my brother and Ulf will actually open the door to do a thing like that unless she was on it, so I don’t really see the point. “Actually, for the first time in my life I can decide for myself music-wise where to go and can just do the tours that I like. It’s much easier instead of all…

NEW RELEASES THE STREETS NO-ONE IS GETTING OUT OF THIS LIFE ALIVE ISLAND Nine years on from retiring The Streets’ name, Mike Skinner is hedging his bets on his comeback: despite running to 12 songs, No-One Is Getting Out Of This Life Alive is billed as a mixtape rather than a full album, which is instead promised for next year. These collaborations – including Tame Impala, Idles, and a host of underground UK talent – see Skinner back to having the fun which made him one of the biggest names of the 00s. His production skills have barely altered. If it wasn’t for the changing lyrical focus, many tunes could have been made in 2003, though closer Take Me As I Am’s ferocious intensity hints at fresh moves. Growing old…

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT UNFOLLOW THE RULES BMG Sometimes on Rufus Wainwright’s ninth studio album it feels like being swaddled in a heavy pile shag rug on Cloud 9, chandeliers hanging from the heavens. For starters, there’s the way his voice gently trembles, like it’s massaging your earlobes, and how it frequently drags a fraction of a second behind the beat – not entirely unlike Guy Garvey’s – as though he’s still drowsy from an early afternoon nap. On the sweeping title track, he could almost be Judy Garland – a comparison in which he’ll revel, given his 2007 tribute to the star – and the song itself does indeed seem to drift off over the rainbow, accompanied by velvet swathes of strings, before returning for a dramatic curtain call. Then there’s…

JOHN FOXX AND THE MATHS HOWL METAMATIC With a title like Howl, it’s clear John Foxx’s latest album with producer Benge won’t make for easy listening. Indeed, it’s shot through with a claustrophobic paranoia that’s evident from opener My Ghost onwards. “My ghost is standing between my walls and my dreams”, Foxx intones in a voice writhing in discomfort, the song’s preliminary bedroom guitar riff – provided by ex-Ultravox colleague Robin Simon – soon overwhelmed by the sirens of rudimentary synths, and there’s a similarly primitive appeal throughout the album, not unlike Blancmange’s recent work, something that’s perhaps unsurprising given that Benge also works with Neil Arthur. The Dance is built around a tinny drum machine rhythm, hissing synths and 80s goth guitar lines, not to mention subtle, treated violin…

NEW RELEASES THE LEVELLERS PEACE ON THE FIDDLE The Levellers are much like a vintage VW camper van: a bit scruffy, they’ve been knocked about a bit and aren’t to everybody’s taste, but no one can deny they’re solid, dependable survivors. Recalling a late 80s Waterboys – but with their eyes on the pub, not the heavens – they remain fired up with a righteous, justifiable indignation, and their Doc Marten rock is still festooned with folkish fiddle like it’s going out of fashion, which of course it probably is. But fashion’s unimportant when you’ve got a social conscience, and they whip us awake with Food, Roof, Family – “Doesn’t everybody want the same thing?” – while Generation Fear reminds us “it’s a fucked up world out there”, which is…

DIANA ROSS SUPERTONIC UMC Though topped with a feisty merger of I’m Coming Out and Upside Down, then tailed with a similarly dynamic Remember Me, it’s unclear what’s achieved by this collection of remixed hits, except to remind us the originals were sexier and more elegant. It’s My House’s airy spaces are overwhelmed, and 1979’s once streamlined The Boss is rendered formulaic. While No One Gets The Prize maintains its melodramatic introduction, irresistibly demanding a dancefloor, little’s actually gained by the exercise. WW…

JON HASSELL SEEING THROUGH SOUND (PENTIMENTO VOLUME TWO) NDEYA Now 83 years old, Jon Hassell continues to deliver atmospheric soundtracks embellished by his distinctive trumpet. His latest is bookended by two eight-minute tracks, the dubby Fearless and meditative Timeless. Unknown Wish echoes – as Hassell often does – David Sylvian’s Gone To Earth instrumentals, and if Reykjavik appears to find music in the sound of radiators rattling underwater, Lunar provides a relaxing ambience somewhere between sleep and consciousness. WW…

GOLDFRAPP SUPERNATURE MUTE/BMG “Soon be nothing of this world,” sings Alison Goldfrapp on Koko from Goldfrapp’s third album. The duo predicted many music trends, but that frankly seems a little too prescient right now. Just two songs later, Time Out From The World still resonates as a self-isolation anthem. Just what did Goldfrapp and Will Gregory know back in 2005? Joking aside, the reissue of Supernature is some small consolation for the postponement of Goldfrapp’s March tour, which marked the 20th anniversary of debut album Felt Mountain. With Supernature’s predecessor Black Cherry launching the campaign, the second in Goldfrapp’s vinyl reissue series is similarly tasteful: a gatefold sleeve, a free textless art print of the album cover and coloured vinyl (green, compared to the inevitably cherry-coloured Black Cherry.) Where Black…

VARIOUS ARTISTS ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS: THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK UMC/VIRGIN EMI Julien Temple’s 1986 race riot drama Absolute Beginners is a well-intentioned mess, his attempts at going mainstream so muddled that it’s hidden the brilliance of its soundtrack for more than 30 years. While Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley deserve their reputation as the golden production duo of the 80s – Madness, Dexys, Julian Cope et al – it’s still hard not to feel sorry for them. They oversaw possibly the best British soundtrack of the decade, only to have it overlooked thanks to Temple failing to hold up his side of the deal. Working better without the accompanying film, you’ll know already David Bowie’s title track is one of his best, an eight-minute languorous sway at odds with the…

SLEEPER SMART GORSKY After last year’s terrific comeback album The Modern Age propelled Sleeper back into the Top 20, here’s a reminder of how good they were all along in among the singles, as debut album Smart gets an expanded reissue on its 25th birthday. Louise Wener is caustically funny now about the failings of Sleeper’s then-record label Indolent, but it’s bizarre the peerless Inbetweener only reached No.16, and how the equally fizzy singles Swallow and Delicious both stalled outside the Top 70. Sleeper were spoilt for choice for potential singles – Lady Love Your Countryside and Bedhead exemplify the era’s determination for guitar acts to go mainstream, while Amuse is a superb grunge ballad. The dismissal of Wener’s bandmates as “Sleeperblokes“ overshadowed what an underrated guitarist Jon Stewart is, rivalling…

THE BLUE NILE HIGH CONFETTI If 1996’s Peace At Last differed to their first two albums by contemplating life in unexpectedly sentimental style, High – though loyal to The Blue Nile’s template – signals changes with its opening line, “She lives in a house in London”. Instead of the twilit portraits of Glasgow which first helped define their hushed synth pop, their 2004 swansong broadened their horizons, most obviously with She Saw The World’s gentle grooves and acoustic ballad Because Of Toledo, in which a former addict recalls his debauchery but awakens to life’s virtues. Musically, however, High bridged the gap between their early records’ despondent soul and Peace At Last’s maudlin tenderness. Consequently, on I Would Never, Paul Buchanan’s middle-aged declaration of enduring love was never cloying, while Everybody…

ADEVA ADEVA! CHERRY POP Although missing its 30th anniversary by a year, at least the new 4CD edition of Adeva’s debut album coincides with a mini revival thanks to her vintage Top Of The Pops appearances being shown on BBC4. Adeva! went platinum, yet she’s been on the margins since second album Love Or Lust flopped, despite bridging a new generation by featuring on Eric Prydz’s early single In And Out. Those TOTP repeats highlighted what a star Adeva was, but the album and the accompanying 43(!) remixes here show the New Jersey belter was just as ill-served by 80s production methods as anyone who fell victim to using too much Linn drum machine. Adeva’s voice on Warning! is phenomenal, but has to do battle against a deep house backdrop…

CLASSIC POP MOMENTS SLEDGEHAMMER STRIKES IN THE UNITED STATES 26 JULY 1986 Peter Gabriel’s journey from prog rock trailblazer to art rock pioneer and world music champion also includes a period as a bona fide pop star. The lead single from his fifth studio album So made it to No.1 in the US Billboard charts this month in 1986, helped in no small measure by its game-changing music promo. Sledgehammer won a record nine MTV Video Music Awards and remains one of the most influential promos of all time. Buoyed by a distinctive brass track supplied by The Memphis Horns, Sledgehammer was Gabriel’s double entendre-laden tribute to his soul music heroes on the Stax and Atlantic labels, particularly Otis Redding. With no little irony, the song replaced Invisible Touch by…

OUR CONTRIBUTORS Best known for editing Teletext’s music pages Planet Sound in the 2000s, John Earls has also written about pop for the Sunday People, News Of The World, Daily Star and NME. This month, John meets our cover stars Sparks, rave innovator Adamski, The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell and helms our reissues reviews section. Steve O’Brien has, over the course of a 25-year career in magazines, interviewed everyone from Tomb Raider’s Angelina Jolie to Saturday Superstore’s Mike Read. In this latest issue he looks back three decades to an historic Stone Roses concert he’s still gutted to have missed – the legendary Spike Island – and counts down Classic Pop’s favourite 20 reunion albums. Wyndham Wallace is formerly a publicist, label representative and artist manager who has written for Uncut…

NEWS NEW DURAN ALBUM IS “NAKED AND RAW” © Getty Images “THE NEW ALBUM’S GRASS IS SLIGHTLY SHARP AND TWINKLY RATHER THAN SMOOTH. IT’S GROOVY, OBVIOUSLY, WITH PRODUCER EROL ALKAN’S DANCEFLOOR BACKGROUND.”SIMON LEBON Duran Duran’s new album may surprise and satisfy fans in equal doses. Last year we revealed the band were working with DJ Erol Alkan alongside Blur guitarist Graham Coxon on their highly anticipated follow-up to Paper Gods. A few months on and Simon Le Bon has given Classic Pop an update from their London studio. “It’s going very well indeed, we are very excited,” he explained. “It’s quite naked, raw, the grass is slightly sharp and twinkly rather than smooth. “I don’t like to put us in a pigeonhole but people will anyway. It’s groovy, obviously, with…

CUTTING CREW’S ORCHESTRAL LIVE PLANS Cutting Crew plan to tour their new orchestral album next year. The band released Ransomed Healed Restored Forgiven in April featuring a whole host of their favourite songs given a symphonic makeover. When the world comes out of isolation, Nick Van Eede is taking it on the road with a rather famous band. “We are touring next February with the orchestra in the UK,” said Van Eede, teasing a secret support slot with a major act. “I’ve been told by their manager that I can’t tell you the name of the band, but it’s a big 80s band and us with the orchestra. I think there’s six gigs in the tour so far, so that’s really exciting. God willing, we’ll all still be alive and…

JoBoxers reveal comeback gigs A full 35 years after they split, JoBoxers are reuniting for a couple of UK shows. The New Wavers play gigs at the 100 Club in London on 5 October followed by Manchester’s Club Academy two days later. Boxerbeat was the band’s Top 10 debut back in 1982 but it was follow-up, Just Got Lucky, which propelled them to brief international stardom. After the band went their separate ways, Rob Marche formed Earl Brutus, Chris Bostock became an in-demand bassist and pianist Dave Collard joined The The.…

POP UP ARTISTS FLOCK TO CHARLATAN STAR’S TWITTER PARTY SESSIONS Classic pop artists have been lining up to take part in one of the stay-at-home success stories of recent months. Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess has been running listening parties on his Twitter page where fans are asked to press play on a classic album in sync with the musicians behind the recordings, who tweet a commentary in real time about their memories of the record in question. Starting in April, Burgess has welcomed several artists and bands each day to the parties, as they reminisce about their own finest LPs. Simon Le Bon thrilled fans by tweeting along to a playback of Duran Duran’s Rio, while ABC’s Martin Fry top trended on Twitter as he looked back on The Lexicon…

THE POD SQUAD CHECKING IN WITH OUR FAVOURITE CLASSIC POP-FRIENDLY PODCASTS No.2 JON LAMOREAUX AND JAN MLOTKIEWICZ THE HUSTLE What’s your podcast about? Think of it as “this is your life” mixed with “where are they now.” I seek out some of the most beloved artists of the last few decades – many of whom no one else is talking to – and we go in depth about the ups and downs of their careers, their best stories, what they’re up to now, and how they pay their bills when the limelight fades. How did you get into podcasting? I’m an avid podcast listener and lifelong music junkie and wasn’t hearing the information I really wanted to know about the musicians I love, so I decided to create it myself.…

Ross returns with dancefloor bangers Her hotly-anticipated Legends slot at Glastonbury may have to wait for another year, but fans of Diana Ross now have a new release to get them through the summer. Overseen by the star herself, Supertonic will feature nine classic tracks given the remix treatment by Eric Kupper. All remixes are created from the original multi-tracks of the masters taken from the Motown vaults. The collection features some of Ross’ biggest solo tracks including Touch Me In The Morning, Love Hangover and a mash-up of I’m Coming Out and Upside Down. The album has also been released as instrumental mixes. Read our review of Supertonic on page 89…

LOCKDOWNFEST SUCCESS AS LET’S ROCK IS POSTPONED A virtual festival that took the place of the postponed Let’s Rock summer series of shows raised more than £130,000 for charity. LockdownFest, an online event featuring ‘live at home’ performances from an array of 80s stars including Tony Hadley, Wet Wet Wet, ABC, Jools Holland, Howard Jones, Midge Ure and Jason Donovan raised the cash for Child Bereavement UK. The event was livestreamed on YouTube and drew an estimated audience of two million viewers. In a statement, Let’s Rock organisers UK Live said: “We put together LockdownFest because we aren’t able to raise funds for the charity at our events this year, and because we felt we all needed a bit of a pick-me-up. There were so many great performances on the…

SPARKS SHUT UP, MORRISSEY One of Sparks’ earliest British fans was Morrissey, who claimed he was so obsessed by the Maels that he once snuck into a hotel they were staying at on tour in Manchester to steal their half-eaten toast. Sparks played at the Meltdown Festival Morrissey curated in 2004, which coincided with his comeback album You Are The Quarry as well as Sparks’ acclaimed LP Lil’ Beethoven. In 2008, Sparks’ album Exotic Creatures Of The Deep featured Lighten Up, Morrissey, an affectionate tribute from the viewpoint of a fan whose life would be perfect if only the former Smith would cheer up a bit – the singer said he loved the single. But the duo now distance themselves from Morrissey, following his recent political statements. Russell says: “I…

OUT OF TIME CLASSIC ALBUM THE SONGS 1 RADIO SONG The first voice you hear on Out Of Time isn’t Michael Stipe, in fact it isn’t a member of R.E.M. at all. Instead it’s rapper KRS-One, asking the listener to change stations because he “can’t find nothin’ on the radio”. Michael Stipe then takes over above the funky keyboard-driven track, clearly not happy with the songs on the radio and opining that the “DJ sucks” while KRS-One adds brief backing parts here and there. As the track builds with soaring strings, it switches back to the funky keyboard and KRS-One closes the song. All in all, apart from Michel Stipe’s distinctive voice you’d have been forgiven for not knowing this was an R.E.M. song. 2 LOSING MY RELIGION Track two…

JOHN FOXX A callback to Ultravox Mk.1 Robin Simon first worked with John on Ultravox Mk1’s final album Systems Of Romance and inevitably, the two collaborating together on Howl will draw comparisons with that Ultravox sound… “Yes I guess so,” says Foxx, “and I wrote all those [Ultravox] songs, the melodies and the chord structures so it’s my stuff and Rob’s stuff as well. The great thing about Rob coming into the band on that [Systems of Romance] was that he was the youngest guy and everyone was thinking ‘oh he’s just a guitarist’ but he’s very good at listening to things and he galvanised everybody because everyone suddenly had to get up to his mark. It was all very unconscious and nobody realised it. It’s interesting watching the effect…

CLASSIC POP QUICK FIRE ROUND NEIL ARTHUR ANSWERS THE QUESTIONS THAT REALLY MATTER… Favourite album? “Roxy Music’s eponymous debut album Favourite track? “Someone Great by LCD Soundsystem.” Favourite artist? “Fats Waller.” Favourite own track? “Sad Day off the Some Bizarre album.” Favourite album that you were involved in? “Near Future, Ideal Home.” Who has been the most enjoyable artist you’ve worked with? (Laughs) Who would you still like to work with? “I’m working with them. I’m very, very lucky.” Best moment of your career? “That moment with my son, at the end of the set. Standing with your son on stage, a whole set, completely live. I just went, ‘Blimey, thank you for holding my hand, son!’” Most innovative artist of the last 40 years? “It’s really difficult but I’ve got…

ADAMSKI “I LICKED BOY GEORGE’S MOPED AS WE WENT SCRAMBLING IN THE RAIN.” ADAMSKI WAS THE CHILD PUNK PRODIGY WHO BECAME ONE OF RAVE’S FIRST SUPERSTARS. HE ENDED UP HATING HIS MEGAHIT KILLER – BUT NOW HE’S FALLEN SO HARD FOR IT AGAIN THAT HE’S CREATED AN ALBUM OF NEW VERSIONS. HE TELLS CLASSIC POP OF TABLOID INFAMY, OFFENDING SEAL, LSD-FUELLED BIKING WITH CULTURE CLUB’S FRONTMAN AND DAVID CAMERON’S UNLIKELY CAMEO IN CREATING A SMASH… JOHN EARLS © Nana Tinley My whole life has been very weird,” notes Adamski. He’s not wrong. Just the tale of creating Killer is so bizarre that it involves lurid rumours about a future Prime Minister. There’s Adamski’s days as an 11-year-old punk, gatecrashing the first ever Indie Chart; the time his mum thought he’d…

REUNION ALBUMS TOP 20 TOP 20 REUNION ALBUMS REKINDLING THE CREATIVE CHEMISTRY OF OLD ISN’T EASY, BUT HERE ARE 20 EXAMPLES OF WHEN IT DID WORK. DO CALL IT A COMEBACK… STEVE O’BRIEN Reunion albums can, by their nature, be hit and miss. It really all depends on the reasons for the band getting back together. If you’re doing it for the £s and the $s, then kiss goodbye to any critical respect or the paying public falling back in love with you. But reunite for the joy of the music or of each other and, hey, who knows if lightning will strike again? Here then are our Top 20 albums where the reunion did work out… 20 MAGAZINE NO THYSELF Less sugared than his previous band Buzzcocks, Howard Devoto’s…

Q+A ROGER O’DONNELL THE CURE KEYBOARDIST’S SOLO ALBUM 2 RAVENS IS A DARKLY MESMERISING WORK. HE TALKS US THROUGH ITS CREATION AND TELLS US ABOUT AN EPIC 12 MONTHS FOR ROBERT SMITH AND CO… JOHN EARLS The Cure’s keyboardist since 1987, Roger O’Donnell is also a respected classical and electronica composer. Roger’s fifth solo album, 2 Ravens features vocals for the first time. Touring comedowns in Devon, life with the Thompson Twins and hints of The Cure’s new LP… Roger’s life is certainly entertaining. What was the starting point for 2 Ravens? There were three. Firstly, my director friend Mark Gill had acquired the rights to the story of a Japanese photographer’s amazing life. He took photos of his wife every day, until she said: “If you don’t stop, I’m…

PAUL WELLER ON SUNSET POLYDOR It’s significant that Paul Weller’s 15th solo album finds him on the label which released The Style Council. Back in the 80s, his blue-eyed soul bewildered Jam fans, but it’s been latent, at least, in nearly everything he’s done since. No wonder: as he puts it on opener Mirror Ball, “The sound of soul/Spins through the air/Lifting up our hearts/Our eyes and our ears”. That former colleague, keyboardist Mick Talbot, turns up on two tunes is no surprise. On Sunset is the sound of a man who’s found contentment in later years. “Time will become you,” he sings on Old Father Tyme. Weller’s learned pleasure may evolve but can still be unashamedly savoured. “Old Father Tyme,” he continues delightedly, “You know that he don’t care!”…

THE PRETENDERS HATE FOR SALE BMG It begins with a false start, but then The Pretenders’ 11th album explodes, all adrenalized guitar riffs and muscular drumming. There’s doubtless a metaphor here, but either way, it’s almost the only false start they make. One could imagine Transvision Vamp recording this title track, but it’s undeniably thrilling, with Chrissie Hynde nasal, nonchalant, and full of contempt for privileged wankers. Quite literally, in fact: the guy she’s imagining has “Money in the bank and coke in his pocket/Porn all day, wanks like a rocket”. He’s not her type, it’s fair to say. Worse still, he eats meat. This opener’s one of a number of storming tracks on the follow-up to 2016’s Alone, whose spirited nature owed much to producer Dan Auerbach. This time,…

NORAH JONES PICK ME UP OFF THE FLOOR VIRGIN EMI/BLUE NOTE Perhaps, thanks to its 27 million sales, you’ve forgotten how scenesters derided Come Away With Me, yet here’s Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, alongside his son, Spencer, collaborating with her on two songs. She doesn’t really need their endorsement: “I sing my songs,” she points out on I’m Alive, adding “I hope someone sings along”, and surely they would, whether or not Tweedy Snr added guitar to it or doleful closer Heaven Above. That said, the Tweedys bring an air of Americana to proceedings, and Jones is also in especially fine voice on her eighth album, putting a brave face on How I Weep, skipping gently over Hurts To Be Alone’s melody – to a delightful accompaniment of double bass, warm…

PETER GABRIEL RATED PG REAL WORLD Released as a picture disc on Record Store Day 2019, its widespread availability postponed to allow for last year’s Flotsam & Jetsam rarities compilation, these 10 songs, recorded by Gabriel for films, are another reminder his voice adds poignancy to almost everything: kid’s movies, political thrillers, even Oliver Stone’s mass murder sprees. A string-adorned cover of Stephen Merritt’s The Book Of Love, from 2004 rom-com Shall We Dance, is especially moving, and – though it remains unmistakably a Randy Newman tune – Babe’s That’ll Do, with its warm brass and Gabriel’s instantly recognisable vocals, would melt the hardest of hearts. This Is Party Man, written with Tori Amos for 1995’s Virtuosity – with Gabriel’s vocals noticeably upfront – is similarly effective, if subtler, while…

SNOWGOOSE THE MAKING OF YOU GLASS MODERN Formed by singer Anna Sheard and ex-Soup Dragon guitarist Jim McCulloch, Snowgoose command heavyweight attention. Belle and Sebastian’s Chris Geddes, The Bluebells’ David McCluskey and Pearlfishers’ David Scott guest on their second LP. They’re best showcasing Sheard’s voice at its purest, whether hovering between 70s West Coast folk rock – Counting Time recalls Joni Mitchell and Leonard the more resigned Dory Previn – or Britain’s Fairport Convention, with Sheard’s Scottish lilt on The Optimist reminding us of their roots. WW…

JIM BOB POP UP JIM BOB CHERRY RED It’s hard to believe that, armed only with a guitar and drum machine, Carter USM topped British charts in the early 90s. Almost three decades later, frontman Jim Bob’s lost little of his wit, accent or anger, and he’s gained a band, The Hoodrats, who add grit and romance to Jo’s Got Papercuts and If It Ain’t Broke’s gobby punk. #ThoughtsAndPrayers, in which boys are still stuck cleaning chimneys, is especially acidic, but the mournful You’re Cancelled & We’re Done and Truce’s spoken word ramble offer elegies for the UK. WW…

GIZMO VARILLAS OUT OF THE DARKNESS MUISICA RECORDS On his third LP, London-based Spaniard Varillas fleshes out his winning multicultural sound, which has earned comparisons with Paul Simon and Manu Chao. The late Tony Allen contributes to Saving Grace’s rough and tumble, while synths lift Born Again, a chirpy pop tune combining reggae and funk, and Burning Bridges, a protest song camouflages its frustration with tropical cheer. Strings, too, decorate the sweet Writing’s On The Wall, but optimism remains Varillas’ defining characteristic, whether on Keep On Shining or warm confessional Cold. WW…

THE BELOVED HAPPINESS: SPECIAL EDITION NEW STATE Engaging with his past after a decade of seemingly not very much, Jon Marsh’s recent overhaul of The Beloved’s pre-fame 1987 debut Where It Is was wonderfully thorough. Commendably, he’s taken the same approach to his and Steve Waddington’s commercial breakthrough Happiness for its 30th anniversary. Slimmed down to a duo, there had been signs towards the end of The Beloved’s original four-piece incarnation that they’d progressed from their unremarkable jangly beginnings to discovering dance music. But nobody could have foreseen the pristine and immaculate state Happiness would arrive in. Its place in chillout culture has been neglected over the years, doubtless because Marsh and Waddington stood off to the side of the scene’s hedonism, much as they sang about being the soundtrack…

REISSUES BRITNEY SPEARS OOPS!… I DID IT AGAIN JIVE/LEGACY A year after …Baby One More Time made Britney Spears a star, she wasn’t going to let success be transitory. Reissued for its 20th anniversary, Oops!… I Did It Again was a knowing title for an album that was going to keep Britney in the firmament. Its title track is an absolute juggernaut, only marginally diluted here by being lazily rehashed virtually identically on What U See (Is What U Get) and Can’t Make You Love Me. There are occasional problems elsewhere, especially a cover of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction which was the first sign of Britney trying way too hard on Rodney Jerkins’ unusually heavy-handed production. Mostly, though, Max Martin was determined to give Spears and her team plenty…

VARIOUS ARTISTS MUSIK, MUSIC, MUSIQUE – 1980: THE DAWN OF SYNTH POP CHERRY RED After last year’s Electrical Language compilation of synth-pop on indie labels, Cherry Red’s compilers do a similarly exemplary job of highlighting everything happening in the genre in 1980. Even using relatively obscure album tracks, it’s easy to see why OMD, The Human League and Spandau Ballet thrived, able to perfectly marry the new dawn of technology with traditional pop structures. Kim Wilde’s wonderful Tuning In Tuning On fits the mould, too, highlighting a parallel world where she embraced synths more fully than New Wave. Acts like Suicide, Fad Gadget and Yello settle in for cult status, with the 58 songs also highlighting the cutting-edge European acts Rusty Egan was playing at Billy’s – Gina X Performance,…

BOOKS BARRY PAGE A-HA: DOWN TO THE TRACKS THIS DAY IN MUSIC BOOKS Having recently achieved one billion views of their landmark Take On Me video and celebrated the 35th anniversary of their breakthrough with that track and the Hunting High And Low album, 2020 is proving to be an important year for the Norwegian three-piece. Marking that anniversary is Barry Page, with his comprehensive journey through their career and beyond in A-ha: Down To The Tracks. Adopting a structure of chronologically cataloguing every A-ha track, each entry goes into great detail about the inspiration, writing and recording process and commercial performance. Expanding beyond that, Down To The Tracks includes reviews and commentary from the original period, all of which formulates a complete picture of A-ha as a band and…

SUBSCRIBE TODAY SUBSCRIPTION OFFER TRY 3 ISSUES FOR £5 WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO CLASSIC POP MAGAZINE DON‘T MISS OUT! Try 3 Issues for just £5 Continue on subscription and pay just £13.50 every 6 months by Direct Debit* (Saving 25%) Free UK delivery direct to your door INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIBERS CAN SAVE TOO! Save 25% after your trial has ended • Europe First 3 issues/6 months for €10 • USA/Canada First 3 issues/6 months for $10 • Australia First 3 issues/6 months for A$20 • International First 3 issues/6 months for £10 3 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE classicpopmag.com/SS20 01371 853 609 OFFER CODE SS20 Please complete the Freepost order form opposite [UK ONLY]…

1-HIT WONDER ANEKA JAPANESE BOY Japanese Boy was a hit pretty much everywhere except, oddly enough, Japan. According to singer Mary Sandeman, it was because the melody sounded too Chinese. No matter, as elsewhere, this throbbing electronic track about a woman pining for a scarpered lover was massive. The chap’s ethnicity is only revealed in the chorus, so an obvious gimmick to raise the song to a higher status was needed. It meant that Sandeman, a 33-year-old folk singer from Edinburgh, needed a new name and image, especially when producer Neil Ross put the Oriental riff on the intro. And so she transformed into Aneka – a name she found in the phone book – and acquired a kimono to become a geisha girl for the sleeve and the TV.…

Q+A DEON ESTUS BASSIST DEON ESTUS HAS PERFORMED WITH SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN POP, BUT HE’LL ALWAYS BE BEST KNOWN FOR HIS DECADELONG COLLABORATIONS WITH WHAM! AND GEORGE MICHAEL DUNCAN SEAMAN “I USED ELTON JOHN FOR A LOT OF EXAMPLES FOR GEORGE LATER ON IN LIFE. ELTON HAS 400 PEOPLE WORKING FOR HIM, YET HE KNOWS EVERY SINGLE ONE. HE UNDERSTANDS THE MEANING OF TEAMWORK.” As bass player first with Wham! and then on George Michael’s solo albums Faith and Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, Detroit-born Deon Estus witnessed at close quarters the singer’s ascent from shy, prodigious teenager to mature artist warring with his record label for creative freedom. Seven years older than George, Estus already had experience of the music industry as a member of the…

ROACHFORD MOVES ALBUM AND TOUR Andrew Roachford has rescheduled his Spring tour and new album release for September. The singer-songwriter, who was recently awarded the MBE for services to music, was due to unveil his 11th solo album Twice In A Lifetime on 3 April but moved the release date to 11 September and the attendant tour to the same month after the impact of the coronavirus. Roachford explained: “I was so looking forward to playing these shows. However, circumstances beyond anyone’s control have made this impossible. The most important thing right now is that we look after each other in these difficult times. Ride the storm, ‘cos this show will go on.” Twice In A Lifetime is produced by Jimmy Hogarth – who has previously worked with Paolo Nutini,…

Wonder planned collaboration with soul star Withers Stevie Wonder was planning a collaboration with the late Bill Withers shortly before he died. Withers sadly passed away in April from heart complications aged 81 and his friend Wonder revealed: “We’d been texting each other. He texted me in January telling me how much he appreciated me being there for him. In February, he texted me again talking about playing together.” Wonder, who helped induct Withers into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2015, has urged musicians to keep Bill’s legacy alive. “I think every artist, at some point, should record one of his songs on their projects. That’s how you keep it going. He deserves it.”…

IAN PEEL‘S A TO Z POP Of B IS FOR… BOXSET THEY ALWAYS WERE THE PINNACLE OF POP MUSIC PRODUCT AND, IN RECENT YEARS, THEY’VE GONE FROM DELUXE TO SUPER-DELUXE TO ULTRA-DELUXE. LET’S SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME WITH A BOXSET… The original and best boxset, I would say, was musically far out in the leftfield of pop. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 Wedding Album was dreamt up as a boxset first, and an LP second, with Abbey Road and Let It Be designer John Kosh marrying the duo’s abstract soundscapes to photos, drawings, and reproductions of their wedding cake and marriage certificate. Since then, the world is the boxset’s oyster because – quite simply – it’s amazing what you can fit inside a box that won’t fit in a sleeve.…

Q+A THE WRIGHT IDEA HE’S HELMED VIDEOS FOR THE BLUETONES AND MINT ROYALE, NOW EDGAR WRIGHT IS RETURNING TO THE MUSIC WORLD WITH SPARKS’ DOCUMENTARY. THE ACCLAIMED FILM DIRECTOR TELLS CLASSIC POP HOW HE FELL FOR THE DUO AND WHY HE’S BEEN BEMUSING AND ANNOYING HIS HEROES. © Getty Images Sparks are a band always looking forward. How were you able to persuade them to tell their story? Having been aware of Sparks since I was five years old, and with a growing obsession with them over the following 40 years, I started to feel like they were an amazing band who didn’t have the overview that they deserved. Ron and Russell don’t always like to look back, but I put it to them that this film would be making the…

OUT OF TIME CLASSIC ALBUM CLASSIC ALBUM OUT OF TIME R.E.M. FORTY YEARS AFTER THEY PLAYED THEIR FIRST GIG, WE CELEBRATE THE ALBUM THAT TRANSFORMED R.E.M. FROM ARGUABLY THE WORLD’S BIGGEST CULT BAND INTO BONA FIDE CROSSOVER SUPERSTARS ROB JOVANOVIC In 1991, the chart landscape was changing. Many bands were starting to feel the growing influence of Seattle’s grunge scene but as most guitar music grew louder, R.E.M., not for the first time, were heading in the opposite direction. Despite forming in the southern college town of Athens, Georgia, in 1980, R.E.M. could never be characterised as a typical “southern” band. They took their musical cues from punk and post-punk, mixing it with a love of The Velvet Underground and with their own enigmatic singer. Touring extensively between 1981 and…

CLASSIC ALBUM OUT OF TIME THE VIDEOS With no concert dates planned, the band really pushed the use of music videos with no less than eight tracks from the album getting a promo. Lesser-known films amongst these were Belong which was basically the live footage previously released as part of Tourfilm, and Country Feedback, a collection of trains and night-time scenes – neither of which was released as a single. LOSING MY RELIGION The video that changed the global perception of the band. Directed by Tarsem Dhandwar who managed to get Michael Stipe to lip-synch for the first time, the film is full of semireligious symbolism and a number of classic images that stay with the viewer. From the ‘spilt milk’ that opens the clip, to Michael Stipe posing with…

JOHN FOXX Howl – track by track John attempts to describe each track on the new Maths album with just one sentence… MY GHOST “A lot of people have been falling off their perch recently and it makes you realise that you’re being chased yourself.” HOWL “These times we’re living in, that’s all you can do!” EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME “Same thing: everything is happening at the same time. Put the news on and it’s like J.G. Ballard did the script. You think: ‘I read that in Ballard 25 years ago and thought it wasn’t possible’. And here it comes, it’s here.” TARZAN AND JANE REGAINED “That’s really about not giving a toss about being politically correct and getting on with it. It’s about sexual relationships but having fun.”…

BIG SCREEN TREATMENT In 2012, a feature film about that legendary gig was released. Titled Spike Island, the movie follows five teenage Stone Roses fans determined to attend the much-hyped concert, in part to deliver a demo tape to their favourite group. Mat Whitecross’ movie works as a nostalgic love letter not just to the Roses themselves but to that sense of ecstasy-fuelled optimism of the 1980s and early 90s when it was thought the band and Madchester would conquer the world. Released in the same year as Shane Meadows’ Roses reunion documentary, Made Of Stone, Spike Island crashed at the box office and suffered some truly bruising reviews, with The Independent noting that “Chris Coghill’s dismal screenplay hobbles it from the off, whether in beg-for-tears stuff about errant brothers…

BLANCMANGE LIGHT FROM THE DARK NEIL ARTHUR IS NOT ONLY RELEASING MORE MUSIC THAN EVER BEFORE AS BLANCMANGE, HE ALSO HAS A STRING OF OTHER PROJECTS ON THE GO WITH A WHOLE HOST OF DIFFERENT COLLABORATORS. ANDY JONES CATCHES UP WITH A MAN WHO IS MORE ENERGETIC THAN EVER, WITH WORLD EVENTS DRIVING HIM EVEN HARDER. BUT IS IT ALL IN THE MIND? With Blancmange, Neil Arthur produced a trio of classic 80s albums – Happy Families, Mange Tout and Believe You Me – but then spent most of the next two decades out of the world of pop, writing music for film and TV. Since resurrecting Blancmange in 2008, he’s made up for lost time, pretty much trebling the group’s output and working with a string of collaborators on…

FORGET ME NOTS We Are The World – The Album WE ARE THE WORLD HIT NO.1 ACROSS THE GLOBE, SOLD 10 MILLION COPIES AND PICKED UP FOUR GRAMMY AWARDS. YET THE ALBUM OF THE SAME NAME APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ERASED FROM EXISTENCE. 35 YEARS ON FROM ITS RELEASE, JON O’BRIEN TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE MOST FORGOTTEN U.S. CHART-TOPPING LP OF THE 80s. Bob Dylan singing about world hunger with about as much passion as the talking clock. Bruce Springsteen straining so hard that you can practically hear his neck veins bulging. Cyndi Lauper’s caterwauling attempt to ‘do a Bono.’ It may be for mostly the wrong reasons, but it’s pretty hard to forget America’s less-than-subtle attempt to replicate the success of Band Aid. Indeed, even us Brits –…

LISTEN HERE, SONNY Before Free To Kill Again, Adamski fulfilled a long-held ambition to make an album inspired by his idols The Cramps. Adopting the name Sonny Eriksson, 2017 LP The Sound Of Sonny Eriksson is a ferocious blast of psychobilly, very much in the spirit of Adamski’s childhood punk background. “I love Suicide, The Cramps and Sigue Sigue Sputnik,” Adamski explains. “I moved to London when I was 17, and caught a couple of Sputnik shows before the hype kicked in. The more successful they got, the more my friends hated them, but I loved what they were talking about: technology and making music sexy. “Most music then was really bland, but they wore big wigs with pink stilettos. It was wildly exciting! A friend who saw me play…

JENNY BERGGREN THE ACE FACE AT THEIR 1990s PEAK, SWEDEN’S ACE OF BASE ARE REPUTED TO HAVE RAKED MORE MONEY INTO THEIR HOMELAND THAN VOLVO. AS A LAVISH NEW BOXSET CELEBRATES THEIR LEGACY, SINGER JENNY BERGGREN LOOKS BACK ON HER TIME IN THE BAND. DUNCAN SEAMAN Jenny Berggren has a refreshingly straightforward take on the legacy of her former band Ace Of Base. It’s now a decade since the singer walked away from Sweden’s third most successful group – after ABBA and Roxette – but rather than feeling burdened by her past, she finds herself celebrating it at shows around the world. On the recent We Love The 90s package tour of UK arenas, she performed their songs, and when Classic Pop mentions Ace Of Base’s influence on Lady Gaga,…

BLANCMANGE MINDSET / WAITING ROOM (VOLUME 1) BLANC CHECK Neil Arthur has been so prolific since Blancmange reunited in 2011 that Mindset is the 10th album since their return, including two instrumental LPs, a reworking of the classic Happy Families and the accompanying demos compilation here, Waiting Room (Volume 1). With Stephen Luscombe now too ill to be in the band, Arthur has been joined since 2017 by veteran synth maverick Benge, part of John Foxx And The Maths. It’s a winning combination, with Arthur’s vocals having taken on a statesmanlike authority since Blancmange’s early, excitable albums. If Arthur’s voice is more resonant and authoritative than ever, the music still fizzes, ticklish motifs and bouncing ideas strewn throughout each song. The opening title track and Clean Your House are as…

LIAM GALLAGHER MTV UNPLUGGED WARNER RECORDS If you entertained any fanciful notions that Liam Gallagher’s debut for the MTV Unplugged format would be a rootsy, fireside reinvention of his swaggering brand of unreconstituted rock’n’roll, then think again. Not for him the laid-back cosiness of Eric Clapton or 10,000 Maniacs. It’s a world away, too, from Oasis’ entry in the canon; the night in 1996 at the Royal Festival Hall where Noel filled in on lead vocals at the last minute when Liam pulled out due to a ‘sore throat’ only for Gallagher Jnr to heckle the band from the balcony, beer in hand. Taped at Hull City Hall in front of a raucous crowd, this is business as usual from Liam. Although electric guitars are excised, there are no radical…

LIANNE LA HAVAS LIANNE LA HAVAS WARNER RECORDS Though it may appear otherwise, to say the finest track on Lianne La Havas’ third album is a cover is not a backhanded compliment. She’s chosen Radiohead’s Weird Fishes, the highlight of 2007’s In Rainbows and yet she’s managed to pour honey over it without stifling any of its emotional clout. That’s not just down to her glorious voice: its arrangement remains close to the original, yet always explores its own corners, whether in the subdued opening half, its a cappella bridge, or noisy climax. The track’s buried in the album’s middle, though, so as not to distract from the likes of opener Bittersweet, which recalls Roberta Flack’s dewy-eyed optimism, or Havas’ vocal acrobatics amid Can’t Fight’s neo-soul, not to mention quiet…

ELLIE GOULDING BRIGHTEST BLUE POLYDOR Five years since the massive Delirium, Ellie Goulding returns with a fourth album cast as “two-sided”, and not just because, at 18 tracks and an hour long, an interval’s a sensible idea. ‘First side’ Brightest Blue addresses her relationship struggles, and the second, EG.0, her newfound confidence, but it’s easy to lose track: two songs in, Power, a wobbly yet pounding anthem that boldly rejects Madonna’s 80s values – “I’m not a material girl” – is in fact predictably empowering. Still, Woman is a tender piano ballad on which Goulding’s tremulous delivery sounds like a girlish Dolly Parton, and Flux adds strings to soften her cheerleading confusion: “I’m still in love with the idea of loving you… / It’s not enough”. The title track, meanwhile, is…

THOMAS AZIER LOVE, DISORDERLY HYLAS RECORDS On his fourth album, ever-soserious Dutchman Azier applies his remarkable, Morten Harket croon – listen to If There’s A God’s early stages – to eight songs that, at times, display the eccentric, arty intensity of late Scott Walker. The title track’s dark squall of howling synths delivers us perilously to Hold On Tight’s chugging strings, Azier’s intonation appealingly European and cabaret-esque, while Entertainment offers early Depeche Mode’s sinister charms and Freed From Desire revives Suicide’s sinister garage primitivism. WW…

SHAGGY HOT SHOT 2020 EMI Twenty years on from Hot Shot’s release – and 18 since Hot Shot Ultramix – Shaggy reworks some of its songs, plus other hits, emphasising rogue’s anthem It Wasn’t Me’s sunnier aspects, swapping Oh Carolina’s vintage production for a more bassy, lumbering feel, and giving Boombastic a more aggressive rhythmic thrust. You’ll also find new material, including two versions of Eddy Grant’s Electric Avenue, with Dave Audé’s remix one of the LP’s best efforts, and a crowd-pleasing if less graceful cover of Peter Tosh’s Buk-In-Hamm Palace. WW…

EGO ELLA MAY HONEY FOR WOUNDS UPPERROOM RECORDS London’s Ego Ella May definitely knows a good title: her debut ‘proper’ is exactly as she describes it, a sweet balm for troubled times. Those times are the subject of How Long Till We’re Home, a graceful depiction of hopelessness and defiance in the face of contemporary idiocy, and Girls Don’t Always Sing About Boys is a cymbal-splashed slice of conscious neo-soul: “Would anybody listen at all/If I don’t parade in a bra?” Table 4 One, meanwhile, brings jazz-fusion to Erykah Badu’s grooves WW…

REISSUES PET SHOP BOYS IT COULDN’T HAPPEN HERE BFI As one of pop’s great theorisers, Neil Tennant’s most well-known notion is the ’imperial phase’, where everything a group does goes stratospheric. More obscure is the example Tennant cites of what ended Pet Shop Boys’ own imperial phase: It Couldn’t Happen Here. Initially conceived as a replacement for playing live when ideas for an Actually tour proved impractical, Pet Shop Boys’ film arrived in 1988, when bands had stopped making full-length movies, MTV and videos having made the idea superfluous. It Couldn’t Happen Here doesn’t do much to suggest that pop films deserved a comeback. Tennant and Chris Lowe were happy to let director Jack Bond do what he wanted. Best known for working with Melvyn Bragg on The South Bank…

REISSUES JIMMY SOMERVILLE SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER CHERRY RED Something of a lost gem in Jimmy Somerville’s career, his covers album Suddenly Last Summer gets a welcome reissue, arriving on vinyl for the first time. When it was released in 2009, it was clear Somerville hoped to see the acoustic collection as a palette cleanser. His first album since Home Again five years earlier, it was made in just six days, recorded too quickly to give the singer chance to second-guess himself. “It was a whirlwind experience,” according to Somerville. “It’s definitely up there with my first trip to New York to record Age Of Consent.” If Suddenly Last Summer isn’t as groundbreaking as Bronski Beat’s debut album, it’s still a gorgeous set, perhaps the clearest showcase for that beautiful voice.…

DEAD OR ALIVE NUKLEOPATRA DEMON It’s a tragedy that one of Pete Burns’ best albums was released at the height of Britpop. A transgender pioneer couldn’t have been more out of step with the scene’s laddishness, so his return to PWL Studios in 1995 to be as ultra-pop as possible disappeared. Worse, its tracklisting was butchered and it was only in Japan – who had the right idea about Pete Burns being a total star, thank you very much – where Nukleopatra was released as the singer intended. The album was finally released correctly here in 2016, as part of the Dead Or Alive boxset Sophisticated Boom Box MMXVI compiled shortly before Pete’s death. Four years on, it arrives as a standalone physical release, on heavyweight blue vinyl. For anyone who’s…

NICK KAMEN THE COMPLETE COLLECTION CHERRY POP Given he only had four Top 40 hits, you’d think a Nick Kamen collection comprising six CDs would indeed be complete. Yet Cherry Pop’s compilation drops three mixes by big names – Arthur Baker, Jellybean Benitez and Shep Pettibone – which featured on their 2015 reissue of Kamen’s self-titled debut album. Officially, these mixes have vanished because Nick Kamen is still available and Cherry Pop instead wanted to include more previously-unreleased mixes instead. Fans thus have to fork out at least twice to gather Nick’s entire oeuvre. If we can be sure of one thing, it’s that The Complete Collection is incomplete. That farce aside, Kamen needed all the help he could get. Famed for his lovely pants down the laundrette in a 1985…

MINTY OPEN WIDE CANDY/THE STATE 51 CONSPIRACY Hailed as an influence by Lady Gaga and Marilyn Manson, performance artist Leigh Bowery was also the inspiration for Boy George’s musical Taboo and a muse for Lucien Freud. Bowery died in 1994 aged 33, just as his band Minty were gaining notoriety for their scatological performances – Bjork and Alexander McQueen attended a Soho residency that was closed down by Westminster City Council for breaking decency laws. Completed after Bowery’s death by his surviving three bandmates, Open Wide is an extraordinary legacy, the missing link between Genesis P Orridge and Scissor Sisters. On Open Wide’s completion, Pulp promptly invited Minty to be the support band on their Different Class tour. Here’s why. Useless Man is LCD Soundsystem in fetish wear, Hold On…

DAVE BALL ELECTRONIC BOY: MY LIFE IN AND OUT OF SOFT CELL OMNIBUS PRESS In terms of wrapping up the story of Soft Cell, fans of the synth-pop duo have been well rewarded over the course of the past year or so – with a farewell gig at London’s O2, a documentary and a career-encompassing boxset. On the literary side, Marc Almond presented his role in the story aeons ago in his autobiography Tainted Life, therefore leaving the final testimony to come from Dave Ball’s own book, Electronic Boy: My Life In And Out Of Soft Cell. From his formative years in Blackpool, his escape for the bright lights of, erm, Leeds to attend university, the story of Soft Cell begins with the meeting of Dave and musical other half…

MICK ROCK THE RISE OF DAVID BOWIE 1972-1973 TASCHEN Previously available as a sumptuous deluxe tome with a hefty price tag to match, Taschen’s reissue of Mick Rock’s superb tribute to the rock legend is a welcome addition to the admittedly overcrowded library of Bowie photo books published since his death. Of course, The Rise Of David Bowie 1972-1973 benefits from being the product of a photographer regarded as one of the greatest lensmen of all time with his camera trained on the star during his Ziggy Stardust epoch. Featuring iconic portraits, album artwork, video stills, electrifying live shots and candid backstage moments compiled with the blessing of Bowie in 2015 shortly before his death, Taschen describe the book as “the musical, theatrical, and sexual revolution of the groundbreaking record,”…

RICHARD BOWES SOME MIGHT SAY: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF OASIS THIS DAY IN MUSIC BOOKS As demand continues to increase for an Oasis reunion – admittedly most of it is currently coming from Liam, Richard Bowes’ book is a timely reminder of the Gallaghers and co’s dominance of the 90s and how their influence helped shape a generation with their era-defining anthems, northern swagger and rock star arrogance. Tracing the band’s roots from working class Burnage to meet Stone Roses wannabe (Liam) and Inspiral Carpets roadie (Noel), the book follows Oasis through their various line-ups, the climb to eventual success, wave of infamy, and crashing downfall, all of which were peppered with the rows – both internal and external, which eventually led to the band’s inevitable implosion – all documented…