Tabla de contenidos para November-December 2020 en Classic Pop

WELCOME It won’t escape your attention this issue that we’re positively overflowing with boxset-related goodies. Of course, that’s partly due to the fact that Christmas is coming – oh yes it is! – and record labels have finally caught up with a backlog of releases after the industry’s Covid-related hiatus. But it’s also testament to the number of 80s artists with a wealth of great unheard material that has remained hitherto untapped. This unreleased work can often provide an intriguing alternative narrative that changes the face of the accepted story behind the genesis of a classic album. I’ve only just made my way through Prince’s astonishing Sign O’ The Times box and already we have expanded versions of Tears For Fears’ The Seeds Of Love and New Order’s Power, Corruption…

HURTS COME BACK FIGHTING Following a rollercoaster decade, Hurts still believe in pop music. The synth-pop duo left a major label before releasing fifth LP Faith earlier this year. For vocalist Theo Hutchcraft it felt like a fresh start. “We love pop music, but we’ve always tried to make it on our own terms,” he explains. “It’s very important that there are people who make pop without being part of the ‘big pop machine’. These are the performers I’ve always appreciated the most. The album Faith refers to the fact that we first had to learn to believe in ourselves again. When we started working on the new album, we had to figure out which way to go. Faith also refers to the fact that there are people who have…

THE POD AQUAD No.4 DAN BULL & WILL WARREN TRACK BY TRACK CHECKING IN WITH OUR FAVOURITE CLASSIC POP-FRIENDLY PODCASTS What’s your podcast about? Each week we take a brilliant pop album and talk about it, yep, track by track. We discuss songwriting, production, collaborations, B-sides, videos, and our own memories of the act and the time that the album was released, as well as some recommended further listening. How did you get into podcasting? We loved Pet Shop Boys’ track-bytrack guides to their albums on Spotify. When there wasn’t one for Super we decided to record our own, and then did the same with some of our other favourite artists. So far, we’ve released more than 100 episodes, from ABBA to The Killers and Spice Girls to Depeche Mode.…

TEARS FOR FEARS The Mark of greatness Tears For Fears’ new management firm also represent Mark Ronson, Harry Styles and the Eagles. Any chance of Ronson helping to produce the new album? “Watch this space!” teases Roland. “Let’s get Harry Styles singing on a Tears For Fears song – that’s what we want.” The duo had initially delivered a new album three years ago, when two new songs were released on the Run The World compilation. “About half that album will see the light of day,” reckons Roland of sessions with songwriters including Bastille. “We were trying to get hit singles, writing with lots of young hit songwriters. It didn’t really sound like a Tears For Fears album – it sounded like a lot of other people, but not us.…

THE LA’S CLASSIC ALBUM THE PLAYERS LEE MAVERS Born in Liverpool in August 1962, Lee Mavers is the epitome of the enigmatic songwriter. A true perfectionist, whose quest to make the complete album has consumed his entire music career since he started out as bassist in Liverpool band Neuklon. Almost tragically, Mavers’ recorded output remains at one album – and he describes that as sounding “shit”. Dubbed by biographer Matthew Macefield as “The JD Salinger Of Pop”, little has been heard from the reclusive songwriter in recent years, and he’s now said to be living a quiet family life in a Liverpool suburb. The occasional live performance and interview over the past three decades have offered hope that more music will come from a writer Noel Gallagher once admitted to…

SHAKESPEARS SISTER History IN THE MAKING THEY ARE THE IDIOSYNCRATIC DUO THAT THREW GLAM ROCK, GOTH, B-MOVIE KITSCH, ELECTRO AND ART-POP INTO THE BLENDER TO FORM AN INTOXICATING STEW. NOW, AS SHAKESPEARS SISTER GET THE DELUXE BOXSET TREATMENT, SIOBHAN FAHEY AND MARCELLA DETROIT TALK CLASSIC POP THROUGH THEIR GENESIS STORY AND RECENT REUNION SHOWS. WILL SIMPSON “It feels great that we’re being curated like this. It’s wonderful,” considers Marcella Detroit, one half of Shakespears Sister. The duo – Detroit and Siobhan Fahey – are finally being given the boxset treatment in December when Our History is released. The heart of the package is the two albums they released between 1989 and 1992. But in addition to Sacred Heart and double platinum Hormonally Yours there’s a small mountain of remixes, a…

ANOTHER OTHER TWO? During New Order’s breaks in the 90s, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert released two albums as The Other Two. The Other Two & You, released in 1993, was followed six years later by Super Highways. “We were forced into our life as The Other Two,” laughs Gillian. “New Order weren’t going to continue when we started in ’91, so me and Stephen thought, ‘Well, we’d better do something!’” They initially approached Kim Wilde to be their singer. “We tried Kim singing on our first single Tasty Fish,” says Gillian. “We thought about getting more singers in for other songs, too. And then I thought, ‘Why don’t I try myself and see what happens?’ New Order’s producer Stephen Hague was brilliant in encouraging me to think like that. He…

TOP 5 Groundbreaking DANCE PERFOR MANCES MICHAEL JACKSON BILLIE JEAN (LIVE AT MOTOWN 25: YESTERDAY, TODAY, FOREVER) Despite being regarded as one of the greatest live performances of all time, perfectionist Michael Jackson later revealed he was annoyed with his performance, as he stopped his moonwalk a split second too early. His disappointment was appeased the following day when his dance hero Fred Astaire telephoned him to say how much he enjoyed the performance. youtube.com/watch?v=g3t9-kf7ZNA MADONNA VOGUE (LIVE FROM THE 1990 MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS) Madonna celebrated the end of her hugely successful Blond Ambition tour with a victory lap performance at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. Dressed in full Marie Antoinette drag (Madonna appeared in the dress worn by Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons), the performance encapsulated the…

POP ARAZZI READERS SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE PHOTOS AS THEY GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN PLANET POP Send your Poparazzi pics now to steve.harnell@anthem.co.uk CHARLIE BURCHILL WITH GEIR JONNY VIK ”Here I am with Charlie in a street in Bergen, Norway, on 13 June 2014. He was walking towards Bergenhus Fortress where Simple Minds were due to play that night. Charlie had just stepped out of a pub nearby after watching football. I’ve recently been lucky enough to have seen Simple Minds play live again in Oslo before gigs were postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus.” PHIL HARDING WITH JOHN MCFADDEN ”I’m pictured here with Stock Aitken Waterman producer Dr Phil Harding at an ‘In Conversation’ evening I hosted at the Sound Training…

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN LETTER TO YOU COLUMBIA Which steroids are they putting in 71-year-old Bruce Springsteen’s water? Ten to 15 years ago, worthy though he was, his sell-by date seemed imminent. Last year’s Western Stars, however, was a stirring, sentimental reminder of his enduring dignity. Now, Letter To You, which reunites him with The E Street Band, finds him firing on all cylinders again, reminding us of a pre-Trump America whose greatness didn’t depend upon prejudice and in which celebrations of the ordinary working man were sincere. His style’s as familiar as blue denim, of course, and just as well worn. In fact, three tracks are freshly taped versions of almost 50-year-old songs. Janey Needs A Shooter is a swaggering new recording of a tune co-written with Warren Zevon (and recorded…

LESPECTRE A STRAY, A DREAM, FORGIVENESS DEAF ENDLING / BANDCAMP Bristol five-piece Lespectre have served up one of the best debuts of 2020 with this opening collection of finely-honed ethereal songcraft. Originally conceived back in 2018 as a songwriting project for guitarist/producer Tom Hackwell and drummer Max Perry, Lespectre soon reconfigured themselves as a full-band affair. It’s a move that pays off on an album that’s at times delicate and beatific, at others, bold and bristling. The somnambulant waltz of opener Sleep, While I rests on easy-going ticking beats and guitarist Gary Walker’s hazy, layered guitar FX. Obliquely Serenely is a gem, gliding along on retro synths and showcasing fine vocal interplay between Hackwell and keyboardist/violinist Becky Leach. And they repeat that dual singer dynamic on the equally fine If,…

QUEEN & ADAM LAMBERT LIVE AROUND THE WORLD EMI There’s little doubt that, in concert, Adam Lambert offers Queen fans value for money: he hollers these 20 tracks like a heavy metal poodle rocker whose life depends upon his vibrato. His howls on Under Pressure and salutatory wail in Fat Bottomed Girls – also featuring, the tracklist perhaps unnecessarily informs us, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders – confirm he’s willing to sacrifice for the cause, and you get a bang for your buck from Brian May, too: Tear It Up leads things off in a flurry of guitars, Don’t Stop Me Now’s like “a tiger defying the laws of gravity”, while Hammer To Fall is equally hard-hitting. Still, while the late, great Freddie Mercury loved entertainment and might therefore have understood…

REViEWS TRAVIS 10 SONGS BMG When trying to shake off the perception that your band is a little bland, calling your new album 10 Songs might not be your best bet. These days, though, Travis appear to revel in their refusal to pander to lowest common denominator marketing, so you can either be bothered or you can’t. Either way, they don’t seem fussed, trusting people – perhaps blindly, given current trends – to dig beneath the surface. Those who do will find them largely unchanged – and that’s no criticism – with their ninth album’s calmness exhibiting many of the charms that made them so beloved, not least Fran Healy’s kindly vocals, even when he sings, “I woke up feeling shit this morning” on closing lullaby No Love Lost. Furthermore,…

SENSIBLE GRAY CELLS GET BACK INTO THE WORLD DAMAGED GOODS Originally formed seven years ago by Captain Sensible and Paul Gray – now joined by Johnny Moped drummer Marty Love – SGCs sound far less like punk nostalgia than one might expect. Sure, A Little Prick echoes The Stranglers, Sell Her Spark is a laddish celebration of Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park, and Stupid Dictators is plainspoken, if more like The Godfathers than the Test Tube Babies. Jam Tomorrow, though, nods to 70s pysch-rock, the title track is Madness with added keyboards, and I Married A Monster delivers taut new wave. WW…

NEW RELEASES SUNBIRDS COOL TO BE KIND NECTAR Since co-founder Dave Hemingway followed The Beautiful South’s dissolution by forming first The New Beautiful South and then The South, it’s little surprise to learn his new band with songwriter Phil Barton sounds like – yep – The Beautiful South. That’s their right, though, and they do it well: their songwriting, which often leans on jangling guitars and gentle country influences, is appealingly understated, and though this debut’s lyrics aren’t quite as incisive as Paul Heaton’s – and, with, among other things, a reference to Björn Borg they sometimes feel less contemporary, too – there’s no shortage of witty details, as Longcuts, with its heavy drinking protagonist, highlights. The tradition of a female foil is also maintained: Mansfield busker Laura Wilcockson adds…

BON JOVI BON JOVI 2020 ISLAND Can you guess Bon Jovi’s Beautiful Drug? Yep: it’s love. This may be Bon Jovi 2020, but, though Phil X’s soloing is fiery, the New Jersey rock band’s 15th album’s opener seems stuck in the 80s. Still, if they can’t start a tune with a simple guitar riff and drum roll, who can? Elsewhere, a “hard rain is gonna fall” in Brothers In Arms, which switches Dire Straits for Bowie’s Rebel Rebel rejigged – though Knopfler’s original has instead influenced Blood In The Water – while Unbroken and Let It Rain position them as hair rock’s Springsteen. WW…

REViEWS FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS/THE RAW & THE COOKED LONDON Nearly 30 years later, it’s still not quite clear why Fine Young Cannibals split. In essence, it appears they simply couldn’t be bothered living up to the mega sales of The Raw & The Cooked. It’s hard to blame them, in some ways: because all three slipped away into the night quite quickly, it’s easy to forget just how huge Fine Young Cannibals’ second album was, both in Britain and the United States. At least it means that the band’s back catalogue hasn’t been tarnished. You’d hope Roland Gift, Andy Cox and David Steele eventually settle their differences so a proper reunion tour could give a new generation chance to become acquainted, but these expanded 2CD sets (alongside…

REISSUES SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK FLAUNT IT CHERRY RED One of the ultimate crash-and-burn hyped groups, the world’s most expensive cartoon sci-figlam-rock band tell their riotous story elsewhere this issue. Underneath the frightwigs, there should have been a better album to justify Parlophone’s spend. The fourth disc on this 4CD reissue of their 1986 debut is live from Abbey Road, and it’s more varied and hypnotic than the studio version. You can’t argue with the dayglo vision of Love Missile F1-11 nor, individually, any of the nine songs. But, as an album, it’s like being the mole in a whack-a-mole game, constantly being hit on the head with a giant sponge hammer. Maybe recording in LA rather than London was a mistake. Perhaps disco king Giorgio Moroder was the wrong producer…

HOWARD JONES CROSS THAT LINE CHERRY RED After the messy One To One ended Howard Jones’ Top 10 days three years earlier, 1989’s Cross That Line saw him figure out how to successfully merge synths into a more organic sound. Placing three of Tears For Fears’ co-producers – Chris Hughes, Ian Stanley and Ross Cullum – behind the mixing desk was a strange move, as Jones’ jazz-pop fusions had little in common with Songs From The Big Chair. But their talents were still varied enough for Jones to usher his synth-pop into clubland on the sparkling Powerhouse and borrowing from Graceland on the elegant title track. The ballads are generally less successful, falling victim to Jones’ later-era propensity for earnestness, but hearing him cut loose on The Prisoner is a…

TASMIN ARCHER SWEET LITTLE TRUTHS: THE EMI YEARS 1992-1996 CHERRY POP Compiled here along with some live tracks and 12" versions, Tasmin Archer’s debut album Great Expectations tried soul and acoustic singer-songwriter strums but was most powerful when Archer got aggressive on Somebody’s Daughter. More melancholy follow-up Bloom sounded exhausted rather than the chillout space Archer was aiming for. It flopped, and the songwriter took a decade out. Still, Sleeping Satellite is a beast and there are glimpses of a quixotic talent elsewhere. JE…

OUR CONTRIBUTORS Best known for editing Teletext’s music pages Planet Sound in the 2000s, John Earls has also written about pop for the Sunday People, News Of The World, Daily Star and NME. This month, John bosses our reissues section and also meets two iconic bands for in-depth interviews, Tears For Fears and New Order. Steve O’Brien is a music, film and TV journalist who has written for SFX, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Digital Spy and Empire. He’s interviewed, in his career, everyone from Angelina Jolie and Adam Yauch to Mike Read. In this issue of Classic Pop he talks to Tony James and Neal X from cartoon controversialists Sigue Sigue Sputnik about their time making headlines. Wyndham Wallace is formerly a publicist, label representative and artist manager who…

POP UP 1-HIT WONDER HI-GLOSS YOU’LL NEVER KNOW One of the more enigmatic acts to make a singular fleeting appearance on the UK singles chart, Hi-Gloss followed a growing hit-making recipe which consisted of putting a name to a team of writers and musicians for whom anonymity was the point. Almost 40 years have passed since You’ll Never Know, a jazz-flecked soul number so shiny you could apply make-up in it, threatened the UK Top 10, peaking just outside after a steady, impressive eight-week climb up the charts. Beloved ever since of mellow compilations and radio stations aimed at the horizontal, it nevertheless remains contentedly saddled with mystery. It was co-written by Phil Hurtt and Giuliano Salerni, who gathered a team of session players to produce something mid-tempo enough to…

BARLOW’S HUMAN INTEREST ALBUM Don’t go expecting synths or drum machines on Gary Barlow’s new solo LP. The Take That man releases Music Played By Humans on 27 November and it does exactly what it says on the tin. “My ambition when we started this album,” said Gary, “was to create something really bright, a celebration of music and the wonderful musicians that we have in the UK and around the world. Some of it is recorded with an orchestra, some with quartets, a Latin band, and some of the tracks have jazz and big band sections – it really is music played by people, hence the title of the album.” First single Elita features Michael Bublé and Colombian star Sebastián Yatra, plus there are further collaborations with Barry Manilow,…

KIWANUKA EYES A LIFE IN THE MOVIES Following his triumph as this year’s Hyundai Mercury Prize winner, Michael Kiwanuka is eyeing up a James Bond theme song. The Londoner, who has been enjoying rave reviews for his third LP Kiwanuka, said: “I would love to do a Bond theme, I haven’t had the privilege yet, maybe in a few albums time.” Michael is a big fan of Billie Eilish’s recent Bond offering, No Time To Die: “Billie is so subtle in what she does. The last couple of Bond tunes have been amazing but it’s nice to have something that’s a little different, less brash, more understated. I’m all into that.” The Londoner, who hopes to use some of his Mercury prize money to build a studio for children, is…

IAN PEEL‘S A TO Z POP of L IS FOR… LOCATIONS POTTING HAVING SPENT THE SUMMER INDOORS, I’VE HAD PLENTY OF TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHERE I’D RATHER BE. AND I’D RATHER BE IN A RECORD COVER… BUT WHICH ONE, AND HOW DO YOU GET THERE? It all started with a recent Tim’s Twitter Listening Party about Oasis’s (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, the front cover photo of which is of Berwick Street in Soho. I’d never realised that producer Owen Morris can be seen in that iconic, perspective-driven picture, hiding his face behind a copy of the album’s master tape. But it was when photographer Brian Cannon joined the tweet-along and posted an alternate, unused location photo – of Charlotte Road in Shoreditch – that I got to thinking about…

THE LA’S CLASSIC ALBUM THE SONGS 1 SON OF A GUN A simple opening salvo, which centres on only three chords and falls just shy of the two-minute mark. It evidences Mavers’ adroit and evocative storytelling, his acoustic guitar playing typically crisp and confident. Whether or not it’s autobiographical we don’t know, but it’s a tremendous piece of writing regardless and feels a prescient description of Mavers’ unfulfilled talents: “If you want, I’ll sell you a life story/ About a man who’s at loggerheads with his past all the time/ He’s alive and living in purgatory/All he’s doing is rooming up in hotels and scooping up lots of wine”. The version from Liz Kershaw’s show on the 2016 BBC In Session compilation eclipses the album take. 2 I CAN’T SLEEP…

Boxing clever “Luckily, I never throw anything away,” laughs Laurence Stevens, the original sleeve designer for Sacred Heart, Hormonally Yours and, indeed, the new boxset. “I’ve still got job bag notes on every sleeve I’ve done so I know everything, right down to the typesetting.” For this project his diligence paid off as he was able to dip into his archive for the 44-page photo book and art prints. “There were loads of contact sheets that were never used or even seen before. It could have easily stretched to 88 pages.” He’s keen to point out the care and attention that’s been lavished on the package. “This isn’t like some labels where they do an anniversary boxset and it’s always a scan of the original 12" because the label don’t…

SADE ALBUM BY ALBUM LIVE ALBUMS Just listen to the audience reaction here at this show recorded in Anaheim, California, before Sade Adu even utters a word. The level of reverence is quite extraordinary; unfettered joy that the singer and her band are there in person. The musicianship on Lovers Live is exemplary and Adu’s vocals are absolutely pristine. While they don’t deviate too much from the previous studio arrangements, this is a fine memento of a live show that cherrypicks from across Sade’s back catalogue. The 13-track CD incarnation is rather shy of Diamond Life cuts but the DVD is twice the size and a better representation of all eras. Matthewman’s sax solos are stunning and backing vocalists Leroy Osbourne and Tony Momrelle both shine. Drummer Pete Lewinson also…

NEW ORDER TALKING PICTURES Stephen Morris’ new memoir Fast Forward about his New Order life follows his Joy Division book Record Play Pause. After Peter Hook’s books Unknown Pleasures and Substance, and Bernard Sumner’s autobiography Chapter And Verse, Gillian Gilbert is the only member of New Order not to write a book about the band. “I’ve never really been into the idea of writing a book,” she reveals. “I’m not into books about bands. The only one I’ve really liked was Just Kids by Patti Smith. Someone gave me that and my first thought was, ‘I don’t want to read about another person in a band.’ I’m living that life myself, and I don’t want to read about how someone made such-and-such a song. Patti’s book – and Stephen’s – are more…

I TAUGHT MICHAEL JACKSON HOW TO MOON WALK Michael Jackson may have taken the world by storm with his Motown 25 performance of Billie Jean in 1983, but for many viewers, the intricate move looked familiar, as many had been puzzling over how it was achieved ever since Shalamar’s Jeffrey Daniel caused a sensation with his performance of A Night To Remember on Top Of The Pops the previous June (see Top 5 Groundbreaking Dance Performances). Touring Europe solo to promote the single, Jeffrey was astounded by the reaction to his dancing, as he had been performing in a similar st yle on the legendary American music TV show Soul Train since 1978 – in fact, it was his signature ‘bodypopping’ that landed him a place in the lineup of…

TOP 2O GIRLBAND SINGLES OF THE 1880'S PINBALLING BETWEEN SPIKY NEW WAVE, PURE POP, R&B, HIP-HOP AND INDIE, GIRLBANDS HAVE GIVEN US SOME OF THE GREATEST SINGLES OF OUR FAVOURITE DECADE… JON O‘BRIEN The sheer volume of all-singing, all-dancing, all-female acts that emerged in the wake of Spice Mania would suggest that the late 1990s was the golden age of the girlband. Yet you could argue that the previous decade was where the concept truly flourished. From sassy MCs and slick vocal harmony outfits to post-disco party starters and punk-pop hellraisers, there was always more to the girlband scene of the 1980s than just Smash Hits pin-ups (although even these were ultimately much cooler). Here’s a look at 20 singles – with only one entry per act allowed – that…

REViEWS ANE BRUN AFTER THE GREAT STORM / HOW BEAUTY HOLDS THE HAND OF SORROW BALLOON RANGER Five years after Ane Brun released her last original material, Scandinavia’s best-kept secret returns with two exquisite albums in quick succession. ATGS is the more up-tempo collection, and it underlines a youthful love of trip-hop, which colours the steadfast title track, gracefully groovy opener Honey, and the reassuring Don’t Run And Hide, on which her voice is definitely honeyed. The Waiting’s winding keyboard line also hints at Massive Attack, while Take Hold Of Me’s swirling beats suit a woman who’s enjoyed dance chart success via collaborations with Andrew Bayer and Dr Kucho!. Nonetheless, her renowned sensitivity remains evident, most conspicuously on the delicate, stringadorned Fingerprints and We Need A Mother, where it camouflages…

BOY PABLO WACHITO RICO 777 MUSIC Remember how you were once young, happy and optimistic, if prone to anguished ennui? Nicolas Muñoz – for whom, at 21, such feelings are fresh – will take you back there effortlessly. Better still, this time you can be more certain of a happy ending: here’s the bedroom artist – “Glad I forgot to tie my shoes/ Falling isn’t really that bad/ If it’s for you” – on Honey, shivering beneath cloudy skies but thawed by cheap synths as he dreams of his sweetheart. Wachito Rico overflows with such naïve, heart-on-the-sleeve moments, both lyrical and musical, their straightforwardness beguiling. On Rest Up, like a sleepy, bum-fluffed Beck, he bemoans his undying, insomniac urge to phone his beloved, while the title track’s excitement is so…

CABARET VOLTAIRE SHADOW OF FEAR MUTE With Richard H Kirk resurrecting the brand for an avant-garde Berlin festival in 2014, it was always feasible that new Cabaret Voltaire recordings would follow, despite the last being in 1994. Kirk eventually determined “Normal rules don’t apply,” though of course they rarely did, which means this remains distinctly Cabs-like: full of malignant vocal samples, harsh rhythms and threatening detonations whose origins and rules are known only to their architects. That said, opening track Be Free sounds oddly like another pioneering electronic act, Yello’s eccentric La Habanera from the One Second LP. Still, Kirk swiftly shakes off the association with The Power (Of Their Knowledge), whose beats seem to come from the other side of thick concrete, while Night Of The Jackal appears to have…

ANNIE DARK HEARTS ANNIE MELODY Anne Strand’s frequently fetishised the 80s: her debut, 2004’s Anniemal, earned her a “hipster Kylie” rep, and 2009’s Don’t Stop provoked Pat Benatar comparisons. Dark Hearts maintains such habits, but on its 13 tracks – encouraged by producer Stefan Storm – her magpie instincts now allow her to draw upon a far broader range of influences. This time, the Norwegian, now in her 40s and a mother of two, seems less enamoured with the dancefloor and more with the hours which precede and pursue a party. Importantly – because they aren’t always fashionable choices – few of her inspirations are excessively exploited. Still, they’re enough to trigger bursts of nostalgia. The Streets Where I Belong recalls the muffled strums of Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark…

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE COUNTRY DARKNESS FRETSORE Well timed to coincide with Elvis Costello’s latest, this finds the husband and wife duo covering neglected jewels from the bespectacled bard’s back catalogue with assistance from Attraction Steve Nieve – hear him revel on The Crooked Line – and some of Richard Hawley’s band. Edges are repeatedly smoothed: I Lost You sounds oddly like The Beautiful South and Indoor Fireworks lacks the original’s bitterness, but Heart Shaped Bruise suits their country stylings, and I’ll Wear It Proudly’s hooks are sharp enough to ensnare. WW…

FAITHLESS ALL BLESSED NATE’S STUNES/BMG Having split in 2011, recent DJ appearances have led to Faithless’ first album in a decade, albeit without singer Maxi Jazz. Known mainly as a singles band, it’s easy to forget 2004’s No Roots reached No.1 and second album Sunday 8PM was Mercurynominated. All Blessed is too mellow to make similar accolades likely, and Jazz would have been better than anonymous singer Nathan Ball on otherwise pounding comeback single Synthesizer, yet there’s enough renewed vigour to remind everyone what we’ve missed out on. Among the high-profile guests is a mix of newcomers, though poets Suli Breaks and Caleb Femi are given the album’s most anodyne ambient tunes to battle with. Synthesizer ushers in a second half of bangers, with the feature-free What Shall I Do?…

BETTER PERSON SOMETHING TO LOSE ARBUTUS Adam Byczkowski’s sensitive voice, chiming synths and delicious sense of melancholy – not least on Hearts On Fire, which owes a rewarding debt to Wham!’s Last Christmas – feel like a guilty pleasure. Close To You boasts blue-eyed soul, Glendale Evening’s like a Big Blue outtake, and yes: that’s a saxophone among True Love’s twinkles. Nonetheless, these 80s-soaked night-time gems, like Hall & Oates on a monumental downer, are a pleasure indeed. MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser thinks so, too: he helped produce this debut in Los Angeles. WW…

REISSUES SOFT CELL CRUELTY WITHOUT BEAUTY BIG FROCK If you want to make Marc Almond and Dave Ball sigh with exasperation, mention the release of their comeback album Cruelty Without Beauty. Released in 2002, 18 years after they’d split, it was broken from the start – three of the best songs from the sessions were thrown away on the latest Soft Cell singles compilation and a Some Bizzare label sampler, never to be heard of again. Until now. The 2020 edition of Cruelty Without Beauty is what the album deserved all along. God-Shaped Hole – think a well-preserved Sex Dwarf – and the pop noir of Divided Soul and Somebody, Somewhere, Sometime are finally on the album. It turns a respectable reunion record into a mighty comeback. The original 12 songs…

REISSUES SHAKESPEARS SISTER OUR HISTORY LONDON Billed as “the complete London Records collection”, Our History thus omits the unfairly neglected albums #3 and Songs From The Red Room released elsewhere, but otherwise nearly gets it right: only Catz ‘N Dogs and Brothers In Rhythm’s remixes of You’re History seem to be missing among the extensive 3CD sets of the duo’s first two albums. The boxset also includes two DVDs, of a joyful Brighton gig from last year’s reunion, their videos and the mini-documentary filmed in Russia. It also houses excellent comeback EP Ride Again and a new 10" featuring Horse Meat Disco’s recent pounding remix of You Made Me Come To This. That Our History has still been heavily criticised by fans is down to mixing CDs with vinyl in…

CYNDI LAUPER SHE’S SO UNUSUAL/TRUE COLORS SONY/MUSIC ON VINYL With Cyndi Lauper’s first album released on extras-free coloured vinyl for National Album Day, these exemplify how it’s time for a full-on reissue campaign, to remind the world what a fabulous pop star she was. While the huge hits Lauper arrived with are still celebrated, nowhere near enough people are aware she was a great albums artist, too. There isn’t a duffmoment on She’s So Unusual from 1983. Stomping across synth-pop, rock and power ballads, Lauper dares these tunes not to submit to her will, exuberance and vocal control to the max at all times. Three years later, unusually subdued covers of What’s Going On with Chuck D and Iko Iko suggested severe writers’ block. Yet the remaining songs on True…

VARIOUS ARTISTS FROM BRUSSELS WITH LOVE LES DISQUES DU CREPESCULE Belgium’s Les Disques Du Crepuscule was born out of a Brussels arts space, Planet K. One of its scouts, Annik Honoré, helped lure rising British bands to Planet K, including Joy Division, whose Ian Curtis Honoré befriended. In 1980, the label’s first release was a 21-track compilation cassette, which encapsulated Les Disques Du Crepescule’s arty intentions and growing relationship with Factory, whose bands provided a number of tracks and continued to grace Planet K’s stage. Durutti Column’s Sleep Will Come commemorated Curtis and featured A Certain Ratio’s Jeremy Kerr on vocals, while on Haystack Kevin Hewick “auditioned” for New Order’s surviving members just weeks after Curtis’ death. ACR’s funk on Felch, recorded live in New York, was as uncomfortable as…

REVIEWS VARIOUS ARTISTS MAKE MORE NOISE!: WOMEN IN INDEPENDENT MUSIC 1977-1987 CHERRY RED On a roll with their 80s compilations since last year’s Electrical Language, Cherry Red’s latest 4CD set is their nowtraditional excellent overview of (mostly) 80s music. In focusing on female vocalists, Make More Noise! does a great job in not only highlighting a defiant thread of empowerment but musically covering so much of the era’s emergent trends, from the uncompromising punk of X-Ray Spex to The Darling Buds’ fizzy power-pop, via synth-pop, ska, metal, avant-garde, goth and far more. As ever, aside from the big hitters, it’s the shouldhave-beenmassive elusive artists where it thrives. JE…

THE WANNADIES BEFORE & AFTER STARTRACKS Finishing off last year’s vinyl reissue series, the Swedes were out of fashion by 2002, but they hadn’t lost any of their pop sensibilities. Split into a first side of up-tempo headrush guitars and a dreamy melancholy awash with wooziness in the second half, there’s no hint they were running out of steam, sounding effortless whether bursting with enthusiasm on Nothing Wrong or mopping a fevered brow with Come With Me. Early copies feature two similarly joyous/soothing bonus tracks and there’s even better news: the new song on the bonus 7" has been followed by the announcement of a comeback tour. JE…

TOM TOM CLUB TOM TOM CLUB REAL GONE Following Chris Frantz’s recent autobiography, his and Tina Weymouth’s first album as Tom Tom Club gets a straight vinyl reissue. Sounding as wild and free now as it did in 1982, it’s hard to think of many better side-project albums. It’s alive with possibilities, while Talking Heads’ ability to fit songs into their deepest experiments pays off, as Wordy Rappinghood and As Above, So Below distil all the partying into mighty tracks. You can easily spot its influence resonating today – elsewhere in New York, the young Beastie Boys were surely taking notes. JE…

SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR SONGS FROM THE KITCHEN DISCO COOKING VINYL Sophie E-B’s overdue first hits compilation is a solid overview of a singer who’s got on with making robustly discotastic pop for over 20 years now. Other than replacing Groovejet with a soundalike 2020 mix and not including any songs by her old band Theaudience, both for copyright reasons, it’s impossible to argue with a chronologically compiled set which shows it’s only fashion rather than any drop in quality which has caused the big tunes to slow up. That’s exemplified by sparkling new tune Crying At The Discoteque. JE…

FAST FORWARD STEPHEN MORRIS CONSTABLE A swift sequel to last year’s Record Play Pause, in which Morris delivered the best account of Joy Division to date, Fast Forward picks up the story to recount the New Order years in the same personable style which made that book so enjoyable. Rejoining the saga in New York with a shellshocked band that had lost its heart, its direction and, by the end of that American tour, all of its equipment, Fast Forward is told with the same scintillating blend of heart and humour which renders Stephen Morris such a compelling storyteller. Although it’s meticulous in the minutiae of every single, album, video, record sleeve and gig, detailing the technique and technology behind the releases, the book is never tedious thanks to its…

COVER TO COVER SIMON HALFON NEMPEROR Simon Halfon’s name may not be immediately familiar but for anyone with an interest in music over the past 40 years, his work is instantly recognisable, having been responsible for designing some of the most iconic record covers of the era. Having worked his way from the post room at Stiff Records to becoming one of the world’s most renowned designers, Simon’s anecdotes which accompany the images, discussing what inspired them, locations and mishaps from behind the scenes transform Cover To Cover from catalogue to book. As well as his professional work, the book includes many candid, off-guard moments, exemplifying Simon’s closeness with his subjects. Kim Wilde, Madness, Bananarama, The Who and the Gallaghers all make an appearance, while the book’s images of George…

SMITH’S WEIRD YEAR BEARS FRUIT While we continue to wait for those new albums from The Cure, Robert Smith has been recording a solo LP. The frontman revealed his plans while updating fans on The Cure’s pandemic year. “I feel really sorry for the people who had plans this year, it’s been a disaster,” he said. “From my own perspective, it’s great that we got so much done last year. This year has just been – just not a year – it’s just been completely weird. “Our whole idea for 2020 was really finishing off the album we started last year, me completing the solo album and also, digitising decades of stuff in order to make a film with Tim Pope about the history of the band. So it’s actually…

POP UP LOST & FOUND HOLLY KNIGHT HOLLY KNIGHT In the slick, driven production of US hit single Heart Don’t Fail Me Now, it’s easy to see why ex-Kiss keyboard player Holly Knight became one of the most celebrated pop songwriters of the modern era. The New Yorker stamped her name all over big songs by Tina Turner, Animotion, Pat Benatar and Heart, among others, with such unqualified success delaying her own journey into the studio until 1988. Given her long list of credits on other people’s material, her only solo album feels like a labour of love, a jolly-up, rather than a professional attempt to build on her composer’s reputation, and its generous, colourful sheen is aided by a brilliant voice. Second track Every Man’s Fear, also a single, is…

GREEN SHOOTS OF LIVE MUSIC RECOVERY Covid-19 can’t stop all milestone events in pop music happening. The mighty Go West will toast – fingers crossed – their 35th anniversary next year with a celebratory tour featuring a full orchestra with support from Cutting Crew. Peter Cox and Richard Drummie kick off four dates at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on 1 May followed by shows in London, Southend and Manchester. Go West also hope to add to the shows with a September tour alongside Paul Young. Meanwhile, Squeeze are to play the first live music event at The O2 Arena, London, in more than eight months. The band will perform at the venue on 5 December with strict social distancing measures in place reducing the capacity from 20,000 to 4,700.…

THIS MONTH IN POP NOVEMBER 1987 IN OUR ROUND-UP OF NOVEMBER 1987’S BIGGEST MOMENTS IN MUSIC, GEORGE MICHAEL HITS THE TOP SPOT, BONO GETS IN TROUBLE WITH THE LAW, SONNY & CHER REUNITE AND BOWIE TAKES HIS GLASS SPIDER TOUR DOWN UNDER STEVE O’BRIEN O4 Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton grace the cover of this week’s Smash Hits. Also featured inside are interviews with Wet Wet Wet, Sting, T’Pau and Black, while The Smiths’ I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish is reviewed in the Singles section. Oh, and if you wanted a poster of Morten Harket for your wall, this was your lucky week. 11 Three weeks on from the stock market crash of 1987, U2 play a free ‘Save the Yuppie’ concert at the Justin…

CLASSIC ALBUM THE LA’S THE LA’S A TIMELESS CLASSIC THAT INSPIRED A THOUSAND IMITATORS BUT LEFT ITS CREATOR CLAIMING IT SOUNDS LIKE “A SNAKE WITH A BROKEN BACK”, THE LA’S IS A MUCH-MYTHOLOGISED DEBUT ALBUM. WE TELL THE STORY OF A MAN AT LOGGERHEADS WITH HIS PAST ALL THE TIME… GARY WALKER “The closer you get to perfection the closer you get to imperfection, simple as.” That was an unusually succinct Lee Mavers in 2005 – 15 years after the release of the first and so far only album by The La’s, neatly encapsulating the story behind one of the most mythologised debuts of all time. The numbers are as astonishing as the quality of the songwriting on this riddle wrapped in an enigma of a record. Mavers claims that the…

CLASSIC ALBUM THE LA’S THE VIDEOS WAY OUT While it was released some three years before The La’s, this is, to all intents and purposes, the first single from the album. Shot on a Super 8 camera and reportedly costing just £50, the video cuts between footage of the band playing the song in a tiny white room with their name plastered on the wall in Gaffa tape to busking in the subway underneath Liverpool Lime Street railway station and performing beneath swirling fairground rides that at times appear to come dangerously close to Mavers’ head. Guitarist Paul Hemmings picks away at his Gretsch Tennessean, while Mavers petulantly aims a boot at John Timson’s hi-hat. youtu.be/966GxzNRxaQ THERE SHE GOES As the band released two versions of their biggest single, so…

COMPILATIONS Released in 1994, The Best Of Sade is a neat summation of the band’s first four albums but also notable for the inclusion of non-singles Jezebel, Like A Tattoo and Pearls. Also featured was Please Send Me Someone To Love, Sade’s offering for the Oscar-winning drama Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks. For efficiency’s sake on the tracklisting, the singles culled from debut Diamond Life are included in their shortened 7" form, the same goes for Stronger Than Pride’s Paradise and Nothing Can Come Between Us. Sade remixed Cherish The Day and Never As Good As The First Time especially for this 16-track compilation. As we await a rumoured new studio album, apart from Sony’s new This Far vinyl boxset that we review on page 92 in this issue, this is…

THINKING IN AND OUT OF THE BOX The Power, Corruption & Lies era was a fruitful period for New Order. Their four standalone 12" singles made around the time have also just been reissued. The boxset also feature two gigs’ worth of live footage on the bonus DVDs, although Gillian admits: “I shouldn’t say this, but I haven’t bothered watching the boxset gigs. When I watched the Channel 4 documentary Play At Home that’s in the box, I just worried about how fat I looked. I was only watching it to see how I looked back then, rather than if I played well. But I was able to appreciate how good the band were – I’d been really nervous before watching Play At Home, but I ended up thinking, ‘That was…

CLASSIC POP TOP TEN WEEK ENDING 6 NOVEMBER 1988 IRISH SONGSTRESS ENYA TOPS THE CHARTS, WHILE KYLIE GOES FRENCH, TOM JONES LEANS IN FOR A KISS AND MILLI VANILLI FOOL US ALL… STEVE O’BRIEN 01 (1) ORINOCO FLOW ENYA (WEA) 5TH WEEK ON CHART ORINOCO FLOW ENYA (WEA) A single so stratospherically successful it launched a thousand mood compilations (it was apparently mandatory that every chillout CD from the era had to include this as well as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Sun Rising and Theme From Harry’s Game), Orinoco Flow was a tranquilising waft of Celtic dream-pop that would, inexplicably, make Enya (real name: Eithne Ní Bhraonáin) one of the best-selling artists of all time. Characterised by what would become Enya’s signature sound – a thickly layered chorus of…

Flaunting It The movies and artists that helped mould Sigue Sigue Sputnik A CLOCKWORK ORANGE Stanley Kubrick’s visceral adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel about youth gangs in the nearfuture remains one of the most influential movies of all time, pop culture-wise. Sidenote: It’s where Heaven 17 and Sparks got their names from. MAD MAX Another dystopian classic, George Miller’s savage road movie has spawned three sequels so far. The cartoon punk look of the characters in Mad Max certainly fed into the hyperbolic fashions of Sputnik. THE TERMINATOR Terminator 2 may win the popular vote, but James Cameron’s first movie in the six-film-strong sci-fifranchise is grittier and sleazier – it’s not hard to see its dark influence on Tony James and co. PINK FLAMINGOS Almost the dictionary definition of…

NEW RELEASES ELVIS COSTELLO HEY CLOCKFACE CONCORD If you thought 2018’s Look Now signalled the end of Costello’s frequently angry, extended brutal youth, think again. He lured classicist songwriters Burt Bacharach and Carole King to collaborate on that meticulously crafted, highly literate collection, but with the first two teasers for his 31st album he offered fair warning that he remains familiar with rage. Admittedly, Hey Clockface, much of it recorded in a two-day Paris session, softens these blows by opening with Revolution #49’s mysterious Eastern promise and poetry. But No Flag, the first of those tasters, soon takes the roof off. Rowdy and seemingly spontaneous, it’s full of distorted vocals and guitars, the previous track’s declaration that “Love is the one thing we can save” fiercely contradicted by his confession…

STATS POWYS 1999 MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES Stats’ debut, Other People’s Lives, was a 2019 Classic Pop Album Of The Year, and this may well pursue it into this year’s hallowed rankings, though Ed Seed’s two key reference points remain pronounced. LCD Soundsystem remain audible in euphoric opener Come With Me and the pounding Kiss Me Like It’s Over, while the far slower Old Flames has some of the poignancy of their New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down. Pet Shop Boys’ shadow, meanwhile, hangs over the adrenalised Out Of Body as well as the disco-flavoured The Truth Is Naked, as much thanks to a shared ear for programming as Seed’s high-pitched voice and droll delivery, which sometimes echo Neil Tennant’s vulnerability. But, though Bowie influences the closing If…

NEW RELEASES MELANIE C MELANIE C RED GIRL MEDIA Following last year’s Spice Girls reunion, Melanie C’s eighth solo album reunites her with Spice producer Biff Stannard on escapist disco marvel In And Out Of Love and includes a hook-up with Croydon rapper Nadia Rose for Fearless’ low-riding funk. The consistent thread is empowering advice that seems common sense now, but, when she first ventured away from Sporty simplicity, was viewed as considerably more leftfield. If the earnestness overpowers the music on occasion – Nowhere To Run is functional trip-hop beamed from Radio 1’s B-list 20 years ago – when Melanie finds tunes as strong as her message it’s a delight. The opening Who I Am, another Stannard co-write, blasts away the cobwebs while Overload is almost as good a…

STEPS WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS BMG Listening to Steps’ second album since reforming in 2017, it’s clear what the future needs to hold for everyone’s favourite fromage barge: enough big tunes to slip among the hits for next year’s arena tour without making everyone look at their watch waiting for One For Sorrow. On that basis, What The Future Holds is a triumph: co-written by Greg Kurstin and Sia, the title track has more of a Lady Gaga air of drama than usual while keeping Steps’ big grins firmly in place and Brian Higgins and MNEK create Xenomania’s most surgically precise production in ages on To The Beat Of My Heart’s euphoric rush. As for the ballads, the second half’s opening salvo of One Touch and Under My Skin has…

KATIE MELUA ALBUM NO.8 BMG It’s easy to dismiss sweet-voiced troubadours as insipid – especially those associated with Mike Batt – but to do so for Album No.8 would be lazy. Melua’s voice on Joy is as elegant as a velvet cushion, and strings are tastefully draped over English Manner like expensive throws, but there’s something about Maybe I Dreamt It’s reminders of Nick Drake and A Love Like That’s mix of Air and Rotary Connection that’s undeniably seductive. Airtime, meanwhile, sports an appealing, early 70s Neil Young limp. File next to Norah Jones’ latest. WW…

GEORGE BENSON WEEKEND IN LONDON PROVOGUE Forty-five years after his first Ronnie Scotts show, George Benson returns to its cosy stage, his MC’s introduction – “You don’t get stars that big in rooms this small very often” – right on the nail. The scat singing begins moments later, so those with an allergy to 80s soul jazz will want to steer clear, but he’s in fine voice and his band’s technical finesse is indisputable, whether on breakthrough hit Give Me The Night, sentimental classic In Your Eyes or a convincing, impassioned take on Donny Hathaway’s evergreen The Ghetto. WW…

EELS EARTH TO DORA PIAS As if there weren’t bummers enough already, Mark Everett is back with Eels’ 13th album. Even when cheerful – as on the singalong title track, or the jolly but still sceptical fairground ride that’s Are We Alright Again – his air of resignation is palpable. Few make bummers this beautiful, though, as the blunt Are You Fucking Your Ex? reminds us, and when melancholy’s as pretty as Anything For Boo, a distant relative of The Velvet Underground’s Sunday Morning, or the New York-era Lou Reed of the gentle OK, we’re happy. WW…

BABEHEAVEN HOME FOR NOW AWAL London’s Nancy Andersen and Jaime Travis were friends long before founding Babeheaven and their chemistry shows. Travis’s lush production provides a perfect backdrop for Andersen’s soft, soulful vocals, which at times recall Dido’s, not least on Human Nature’s late 90s downtempo. Morcheeba might also appreciate Jalisco, but something about Craziest Things recalls early Saint Etienne, while Friday Skies turns to Cocteau Twins guitars for added sparkle, and Through The Night masterfully combines Massive Attack and Radiohead. WW…

DEPECHE MODE SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION: THE 12" SINGLES SONY Three months after the Violator boxset comes the 12" compendium for Depeche Mode’s eighth album. As ever, it’s a nearly-but-not-quite set: every box has missed out a mix or two, and here completists will sigh at the missing edited remix by François Kevorkian and Goh Hotoda of In Your Room. A minor quibble? Not at £125, no. At least the 22 remixes, two B-sides and 10 live songs which are featured show Depeche at their most adventurous. While Violator kept the remixes largely among the band’s de facto in-house mix team of Kervorkian, Flood, Mark ‘Spike’ Stent and Daniel Miller, the four SOFAD singles opened them up to a host of exciting talents. It’s not Depeche’s fault that some…

ABBA/AGNETHA FALTSKOG SUPER TROUPER/VOL 2/TIO ÅR MED AGNETHA POLAR MUSIC/UNIVERSAL / MUSIC ON VINYL ABBA have always provoked division, and those who survived their era have only dug their heels in since, as though it’s a measure of character. Super Trouper – reissued as a 40th anniversary 2LP half-speed master – reminds us ABBA were neither miracle nor monstrosity. Instead, their highs nestle beside cloud nine, while their lows gesture to the Mariana Trench. Super Trouper features two of their finest moments. Lay All Your Love On Me, with its Wagnerian synth riff and staccato disco rhythm, boasts a melody as delicious as licking icing off a spoon. In the right situation, The Winner Takes It All – its poignancy famously emphasised by Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog’s divorce a year…

SADE THIS FAR SONY/EPIC Bona fide soul music icons in the States thanks to their popularity on ‘quiet storm’ radio station formats, there’s a glacial development to Sade’s output across their first 26 years. In keeping with their understated sophistication, this six-album boxset on 180g heavyweight vinyl is a showcase for a career of evolution rather than revolution. Debut Diamond Life was bracing in its adoption of jazz legends at odds with the pop scene of the early 80s – few artists noted Billie Holliday as a touchstone at the time – yet its hooks, Stuart Matthewman’s slinky sax and Sade Adu’s smouldering voice are undeniable. Follow-up Promise stretches out elegantly, a confidence oozing out of its lengthy cuts and 1988’s Stronger Than Pride would place an emphasis on the…

THE STYLE COUNCIL LONG HOT SUMMERS: THE STORY OF THE STYLE COUNCIL UMC/POLYDOR By Classic Pop’s reckoning, there have been 13 previous Best Of compilations from The Style Council, most recently in 2013. Presumably in a bid to make the others obsolete, Paul Weller helped compile this 37-song selection, coinciding with a Sky Arts documentary. It’s a decent selection from the big-hitting early years, but mostly overlooks their later work. You can understand Weller’s decision to ignore any album tracks from the shaky Confessions Of A Pop Group, but it’s disappointing not to have anything at all from the neglected house music finale Modernism: A New Decade. Of the two previously-unreleased tracks, a demo of My Ever-Changing Moods shows the band were right to ditch the strings. All the singles…

THE SPECIALS MORE SPECIALS CHRYSALIS Jerry Dammers’ expanded musical remit on More Specials may have provoked multiple band member departures within months but that discord is barely hinted at on much of the exuberant material here. Man At C&A offers deep dub, Hey, Little Rich Girl’s ska adds sax by Madness’ Lee Thompson and Sock It To ‘Em JB’s Northern Soul celebrates the James Bond franchise. Spaghetti westerns flavour Stereotypes, while exotica gives International Jet Set a queasy twist before The Go-Go’s help provide Enjoy Yourself (Reprise)’s sardonic finale. WW…

DONNA SUMMER THE WANDERER DRIVEN BY THE MUSIC/DEMON After the recent gargantuan Encore boxset, Summer’s 1980 album gets a standalone release, expanded by seven disposable brand new remixes. Feeling exploited by her label Casablanca over her sexualised image, Summer became the first signing to Geffen. At the height of the “Disco sucks” idiocy, The Wanderer is a mishmash, uncertain of where to go next. Giorgio Moroder producing a gospel song, I Believe In Jesus, is as fascinating as you’d hope. Cold Love is powerful, Summer’s voice as imperious as ever. But it’s a record in transition, an example of a label wanting quick results from its star without really knowing what to do with them. JE…

BIG COUNTRY OUT BEYOND THE RIVER: THE COMPULSION YEARS ANTHOLOGY CHERRY RED The last great Big Country album, 1993’s The Buffalo Skinners, saw them defiant after being dropped by Mercury, rallying into renewing their earliest energy and featuring some of Bruce Watson’s finest guitar work. That’s even more the case on the compilation’s other main album, the homecoming live set Without A Safety Net from Glasgow. Stuart Adamson is at his most passionate, while remaining understated and letting the songs do the work. JE…

BOOK REVIEWS REALLY SAYING SOMETHING SARA DALLIN & KEREN WOODWARD HUTCHINSON After rewriting the rulebook of what it meant to be in a girlgroup in the early 80s, Bananarama have finally succumbed to fans’ long-time desire for an autobiography and put pen to paper to mark their impending 40th anniversary. Though a tell-all tome from a group regarded as ‘the wild girls of pop’ is a thoroughly exciting prospect, Really Saying Something suggests that reputation was based more on gender than their antics, much like the recent Go-Go’s documentary. Sure, there are tales of boozy nights aplenty but nothing comes close to what their male counterparts were getting up to at the time if their autobiographies are to be believed. Instead we get a timeline of Bananarama’s career which offers…

(R)EVOLUTION GARY NUMAN CONSTABLE One of the pioneering figures of the synth-pop explosion, it’s easy to forget just how successful Gary Numan’s career was in the late 70s and early 80s. Producing a string of seminal albums and two genre-defining singles in Cars and Are ‘Friends’ Electric?, his groundbreaking artwork, videos and live performances were so innovative that even a certain Mr Bowie felt threatened enough to have Numan ejected from watching his performance on Kenny Everett’s TV show. That’s just one of the great stories gleamed from this enthralling memoir, which is told in a refreshingly honest manner. With each chapter devoted to a year of his life, it pivots between the exceptional highs and crashing lows – both professionally and personally. Numan speaks with candour about his struggles…

CLASSIC POP MOMENTS FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD HIT NO.1 WITH THEIR DEBUT LP 10 NOV EMB E R 198 4 Arriving off the back of two of the greatest 7"s of all time, the anticipation for Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s debut album was off the scale, with advance orders of more than one million. ZTT, never a label shy of making an impact, decided to give fans an epic, 16-track double LP, including not just Relax and Two Tribes and future singles The Power Of Love and Welcome To The Pleasuredome, but three surprising covers – Bacharach and David’s Do You Know The Way To San Jose? (titled San Jose (The Way) on the album), Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run and Gerry & The Pacemakers’ Ferry Cross The Mersey. Krisco…