Classic Pop September-October 2020

CLASSIC POP WELCOME I’m endlessly fascinated by the creative process behind our favourite music and the various ways that artists approach their work. No two seem entirely the same. Songwriters often talk poetically about tuning into an imaginary radio antennae and pulling ideas out of thin air. They’re thankful for the inspiration and not entirely sure how they do it. For Prince, music-making was an essential part of his being–never a day went by without him writing, recording or performing (often all three). This issue, we meet Prince Estate insiders and go behind the scenes of the Sign O’ The Times boxset to hear how songs poured out of him “like a faucet” at a time of great emotional turmoil. Vince Clarke, from our cover stars Erasure, while not operating…

SOUNDBITES *1 “An absolute banger that even finds time to drop in a nod to Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive in the chorus melody.” *2 “The quintessential Erasure song, and one of two of their tracks to feature in an episode of Only Fools & Horses (‘A Royal Flush’, if you’re looking)” *3 “Attempting the high bits in the shower sounds like you’re being murdered.” *4 “On another day, it could be Victim Of Love, Elevation, Drama, A Little Respect, Yahoo!, Sometimes…” *5 “The pair at their bittersweet best.” *6 “Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to go to the orange side of the desert sometime in the early hours?” *7“After the perky, early Depeche Mode-like pop of their first two singles, Vince and Andy find their true voice.” *8…

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 Erasure, producers Langer & Winstanley and helms our reissues reviews section. Having clogged up the nation’s homes with Sleeper and Wannadies records in the 90s, Ben Wardle left A&R to write for The Guardian and Radio 4 as well as author bestselling book The Art Of The LP and his blog A&Rmchair. This month, he meets Prince insiders Susan Rogers and Duane Tudahl to dig deep into the Sign O’ The Times vault for the late star’s extraordinary boxset reissue. Wyndham Wallace is formerly a publicist, label representative and artist…

POP UP © Getty Images Stars pay heartfelt tribute to Denise Johnson One of the defining voices of British dance and indie music, Denise Johnson, sadly passed away aged 56 in July. The former member of Primal Scream featured on their seminal 1991 album, Screamadelica, and its follow-up Give Out But Don’t Give Up. Her most recent long-term collaboration was with A Certain Ratio. Tributes from across the pop world flooded in from numerous acts Denise had worked with across a 30-year career including Ian Brown, Pet Shop Boys and Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr who collaborated with Johnson on two Electronic albums. Marr said: “You felt it was a privilege, her being on your song. She kind of gold-plated them–you knew that the track was going to acquire a…

KYLIE’S PURE ESCAPISM ON FORTHCOMING DISCO ALBUM Kylie Minogue’s new album is built for the dancefloor–even if most clubs are closed. The Aussie pop icon releases Disco on 6 November and says of the music: “It’s pretty much a party. At this rate it might be a kitchen or lounge disco, but disco is within. The theme for the album was disco, which took a while to find my interpretation of what that is. There’s a balance of fun and pure escapism, that emotional element.” And the “quest for eternal love” is the theme of the LP’s first single, Say Something, which boasts an other-worldly video directed by Sophie Muller. “It’s like this gigantic song yet it’s very heartfelt at the same time,” Kylie explained. “The video is like a…

MADONNA LEVITATES WITH DUA LIPA Madonna has collaborated with Dua Lipa on a brand new remix. The duo, along with Missy Elliott and The Blessed Madonna (formerly known as The Black Madonna) have reworked Dua’s songLevitating featuring all-new verses. It was a “dream come true” for Dua who has aspired to be like Madonna since her teenage years, and previously admitted much of her current Future Nostalgia album–including its artwork–was inspired by the Material Girl. The Londoner said: “Madonna’s been such an influential artist for so many generations. It’s always very exciting to see how adventurous she has been on stage–what her persona is, with all the dances and the outfit changes. The Jean Paul Gaultier bustier, that’s my favourite. It didn’t matter what anyone said as long as she…