Tabla de contenidos para July - August 2022 en Classic Pop

Kraftwerk are more influential than The Beatles. There, we’ve said it. To some, it’s a sacrilegious claim but when you look at the big picture of music history across the last 50 years, this school of thought actually stacks up. Apart from Kraftwerk’s obvious impact on electronica, just what would modern pop, hip-hop and dance music sound like without those gamechanging albums by the iconic Düsseldorf foursome? This issue I’m delighted to report that Classic Pop has the first ever career-spanning British interview with key Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos who looks back with us on his tenure in this most remarkable of bands as well as his later work with the likes of Electronic and OMD. You’d think that Kraftwerk would want to distance themselves from old guard bands like…

Marc Almond announces rescheduled 2022 tour dates Marc Almond has announced a rescheduled tour for October 2022 adding extra dates in Liverpool, Buxton, York and Cambridge. The singer explains: “The fans have been so understanding and patient through the endless rescheduling due to the pandemic but now we’ve confirmed these dates I can’t wait to get back on stage.” The tour sees Almond performing tracks from his latest solo album, Chaos And A Dancing Star, released in March 2020, plus selections from across his extensive back catalogue. His last album was released to critical acclaim just before the pandemic and lockdown. The singer was able to perform a one-off concert in February 2020 at London’s Festival Hall with co-writer/producer Chris Braide, joined by guest Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. For…

Simple Minds merged recording sessions in Hamburg and London for their 18th studio album. Unable to come to the UK due to quarantine rules, the band’s Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill wrote and demoed Direction Of The Heart in their adopted home of Sicily before decamping to Hamburg’s Chameleon Studios to formally lay down the songs for the concise nine-track LP, set to be released on 21 October. Meanwhile, bassist Ged Grimes, drummer Cherisse Osei and vocalist Sarah Brown recorded their parts separately in London. Also appearing on the album will be Sparks’ Russell Mael. Lead single Vision Thing is Kerr’s tribute to his late father who passed away in 2019. Currently touring in Europe, Simple Minds will also headline Radio 2’s 30-000 capacity Live In Leeds show on 18…

AZTEC CAMERA KNIFE Such was the reverence that Aztec Camera’s showman Roddy Frame gained as a thoughtful, bashful folk-pop composer in his teenage years, there was always an element of risk to his standing when the gloss was applied plentifully on his second album. Recruiting none other than Mark Knopfler to take charge, Knife became an over-polished, super-professional piece of work that still featured elegant songwriting but gave the unfussy Frame follower much more to deal with – for which they proved less than ready. The only hit single, All I Need Is Everything, is a highlight, with a strong melody and chorus to justify the sheen, and the xylophone effect riff is rather lovely. Elsewhere, Frame’s underrated voice gets some essential breathing space on Just Like The USA, The…

25 Few bands have ever performed such an abrupt about-turn between their first and second albums as the Beastie Boys did in 1989. That first LP, 1986’s Licensed To Ill, was a brash and often puerile mash-up of hard rock and frat boy rap, not helped, of course, by their tendency to perform onstage alongside a 20-foot inflatable penis and girls dancing in cages. However, follow-up Paul’s Boutique looked to early 70s funk as its sonic inspiration. An early example of sampledelia, the Beasties’ sophomore effort – produced by the Dust Brothers – incorporated classic rock from acts such as Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Band, Jimi Hendrix and the Ramones alongside soulful influences including The Commodores, Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes and The Isley Brothers. Even the Incredible…

ANNIE LENNOX The erstwhile Eurythmic performs vocals and plays keyboards, as well as solely writing or co-writing all 10 of the original tracks. STEPHEN LIPSON Producer Lipson boasts an impressive resume, having worked with Grace Jones, Simple Minds, Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart among others. This record marked a trio of albums recorded with Lennox, including her next two studio LPs, Medusa (1995) and Bare (2003). MARIUS DE VRIES A Grammy, BAFTA and Ivor Novello Award-winning producer and composer, who worked on the soundtracks for La La Land, Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet, de Vries is on programming duties and keyboards for Diva. PETER-JOHN VETTESE Vettese played keys for Jethro Tull, going on to work with Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Simple Minds and the Bee Gees.…

MADNESS GARY BROWNJOHN HOLSWORTHY, DEVON Q When did you first become a Superfan of Madness and why do you like them? A It was 1980. I bought My Girl on 7", then the album One Step Beyond. After that, I just never looked back. Madness have never taken themselves too seriously, but they have made some iconic music – they still do – and videos. Q Tell us what you have in your collection A Various music media, promo items, adverts, articles, fan club magazines, posters, mugs, T-shirts and bootlegs. Basically, anything and everything Madness-related. Q How much have you spent on it? A I don’t have a figure, but it’s a lot. Just don’t tell my wife, Faye! Q What’s your favourite item of merchandise? A The Madness fruit…

1 BEASTIE BOYS CHECK YOUR HEAD The 30th anniversary of Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head is being marked with a limited-edition 4LP 180g deluxe version reissue, originally released in 2009 as an artist store exclusive. The long out-of-print and much soughtafter boxset which is housed in a fabricwrapped, stamped hardcover case features the 2009 remaster of the album, plus two extra LPs of bonus content including remixes, live versions and B-sides. First released in April 1992, Check Your Head featured Mike D on drums, Ad-Rock on guitar and MCA on bass and saw the Beasties return to the live instrumentation-led sound of the band’s early-80s hardcore punk recordings. 2 WHITESNAKE GREATEST HITS David Coverdale and his kings of the single entendre have remastered and remixed their biggest hits to accompany…

EMI ★★★ Tribute albums are a tricky beast, dependent on the willingness of artists to maintain a song’s original spirit while interpreting it in a manner justifying their interference, as well as on fans’ eagerness to hear something reminding them how great the object of their devotions is without copying, diminishing or eclipsing its inspiration. Let’s face it, too: it’s not often one picks a cover over an original, especially when the talent you’re celebrating is an icon like Neneh Cherry and her first three classic studio albums. The Versions’ biggest contributors underline these issues. It opens with Robyn’s slowed down Buffalo Stance, still instantly recognisable thanks to that playful keyboard riff with the crucial rap delivered by another lady with Swedish roots, Mapei. Robyn, of course, is buddies with…

WARNER MUSIC ★★★ It seems appropriate that Heather Small, the big-larynxed voice of none-more-90s act M People, should have launched her comeback at June’s Big Jubilee Street Party. Like the nation during the Queen’s Platinum year, Small’s first solo album since 2006 celebrates and burnishes former glories, and there will be some who argue it has little place in today’s world. Others, meanwhile, will embrace this hook-up with the London Metropolitan Orchestra, in which she slaps strings onto her Top 10 hits – as well as a cover of Paul Weller’s 1995 Top 10 song You Do Something To Me – like bunting hung from lamp posts. Biggest hit Moving On Up, like One Night In Heaven, sticks rather pointlessly to the original’s template, but as always in this busy…

BMG ★★★ Those who first encountered ZZ Top in the 80s might worry on hearing Brown Sugar, Raw’s opening track, that the band are about to reinterpret their back catalogue in the style of a solo swamp shack blues player. This, though, is how Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill (RIP) and Frank Beard (the name still raises a smile) began with 1971’s ZZ Top’s First Album (c’mon, that name also still raises a smile), and anyway, 90 seconds in there’s a rattle of cymbals, a burst of feedback, and then the band kicks in, that rough voice growling the song’s opening lines. It’s good to be reminded the trio started out ostensibly as ribald blues rockers, and this live album – recorded over one day in Texas’ oldest dance hall, Gruene…

INSIDEOUT MUSIC ★★★ It’s more than 30 years since Tim Bowness appeared as vocalist on No-Man’s debut, Lovesighs – An Entertainment, beside multi-instrumentalist (and Porcupine Tree mastermind) Steven Wilson, who is on mixing duties here. If recent albums have sometimes proved a little formulaic, however, his seventh pushes the boat out. For starters, though his enigmatic lyrics still lean a little heavily on simplistic rhymes and paradoxes – “Speaking less, drinking more/ Leaving mess on the floor,” he murmurs on the muted Dark Nevada Dream – his melodies are more ambitious. More importantly, he emerges from the twilit world dominating the likes of 2020’s Late Night Laments with a number of dramatic, prog-tinged tracks, among them opener Say Your Goodbyes Pt.1, whose hushed intro gets increasingly more urgent until it…

3CG RECORDS ★★★ After the extravagance of 2018’s orchestrated double album, String Theory, and last year’s bitesized Against The World, perhaps the Hanson brothers needed to flex their individual muscles. Their latest album sees them writing and producing their own tracks – Taylor (Red) gets six, Isaac (Green) and Zac (Blue) five each – and there’s little doubting their songwriting chops, whatever their approach. At their more boisterous, Taylor’s Child At Heart adopts Coldplay’s anthemic ambitions, adding a premature key change, and his Semi Hollow employs Hammond organ to build to a brassy groove; Zac pushes Pop Idol synth-pop on Bad and Pop Idol pop-soul on World Goes Around; while Isaac takes a stab at funky blue-eyed 90s soul on Cold As Ice. In addition, Zac delegates guitar heroics to…

FIRE RECORDS ★★★ “I’m for anything further/ Than where we were before,” sings Steve Wynn on his band’s eighth album. That’s not entirely true – Where I’ll Stand can’t shake off their Velvet Underground influence – but there’s a lot here for fans of nifty guitar work. Every Time You Come Around shimmers and Lesson Number One’s crunching guitars deliver tempered tension. My Lazy Mind, too, bows out in a tangle of shiny guitars, before Straight Lines ends things with a rowdy garage mess of organs and drums. WW…

SACRED BONES ★★★ Director John Carpenter’s recent resurrection to the world of soundtracks, alongside son Cody and godson Daniel Davies, has now led him to this remake of Stephen King’s Firestarter. Its tension is often subtle: I’ll Find You leaves plenty of time to hide, Police Arrive isn’t exactly the sound of the cavalry and Are You Scared Of Me? is even comforting. But Rainbird Fights Vicky features painful slams of synth and Charlie’s Rampage returns effectively to the unsettling territory of Halloween. WW…

TENOR VOSSA ★★★★ Though Dominic Appleton’s still best known for vital contributions to 4AD supergroup This Mortal Coil, his own band’s first new album in a decade invites a reassessment. With bassist Ari Neufeld providing minimal rhythms in drummer Tristram Latimer Sayer’s absence, it floats weightlessly on Looking For The Words and Let Me Down Gently, while Somewhere Out Of Reach chimes like Cocteau Twins. Appleton’s rarely sounded so sentimental, too, as he does on My Heart And I, nor as passionate as on I Watch You Sleep’s burgeoning drama. WW…

NOW ★★★★ / ★★★★ / ★★★★ After the imperious Yearbook compilations from pop’s finest vintage of 1981 and ’82, the NOW team faced a challenge in reflecting 1980, when the change from the remnants of punk to synth-pop’s bright new dawn hadn’t fully transformed. No need to worry. As with all its previous compilations, Now Yearbook ’80 is am absolute joy. It’s pretty much impossible to argue with the 85 hits here: CD1 runs from Geno to Super Trouper in four songs without being the least bit disconcerting, while cult classics from The Regents, Ramones and Siouxsie on CD3’s rock are both boldly executed and intriguing for what will end up on the Yearbook ’80 Extra of more outre choices. It must be 1985’s turn next, aka the year pop…

GRONLAND ★★★★ By 2003’s Blemish, David Sylvian had left behind much of the pop of his art-pop for the avant-garde. In the shadows, however, he paired up with other artists, sometimes testing boundaries, at other times exploring earlier solo records’ accessible autumnal moods. Released in 2010, but now remastered and re-sequenced with a rejigged tracklisting – and also on vinyl at last – this compilation offers 17 of Sylvian’s 21st century collaborative pieces. Some, like the acoustic Exit/ Delete from Japanese artist Masakatsu Takagi’s 2004 album Coieda and World Citizen from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Chasm the same year are inviting, as is Do You Know Me Now’s quiet drama, recorded for a 2013 installation by artist Phil Collins (not that one). Others, like the compilation’s brittle 2007 title track with Martin Brandlmayr,…

SONY ★★★★ After the triple album indulgence displayed in Sandinista! some 18 months earlier, in 1982 The Clash kept themselves tight for what would prove to be the final LP from the classic line-up. Artistically, The Clash were back on track. Rock The Casbah and the Levi’s-enhanced future chart-topping single Should I Stay Or Should I Go? are probably their best pop songs, experience honing their earlier assaults into trimming any spare fat away, a feat also managed on less familiar material such as Car Jamming and Atom Tan. It meant that The Clash’s experimental moments are part of the adventurous cohesion, rather than becoming as messy and unfocused as on Sandinista! Overpowered By Funk fits in with the early experiments in hip-hop, while beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s recital on…

EMI Less comprehensive than their Surrender boxset, the extra five tracks on this 25th anniversary reissue of the ultimate Chemical Brothers album include the sumptuously mellow Cylinders and a pounding mix of It Doesn’t Matter. Good as those are, the main album remains unbeatable. When the singles chart is now so homogenous, it’s stunning that tracks as big and dark as Setting Sun were hits, while Where Do I Begin is their finest Beth Orton moment. And will The Private Psychedelic Reel ever be topped by anyone as a gig closer? JE…

BMG ★★★★ Following the release of The Madness and Wonderful, Madness’ chronologically scattergun vinyl reissues steps back to the final album of the classic line-up (minus Mike Barson). Their keyboardist is surprisingly not missed: great player and co-writer as Barson is, Mad Not Mad is still a defiant, up-for-it set. The lyrics are often melancholy, with biggest hit Yesterday’s Men typical of encroaching maturity. But the infectious nature of the accompanying melodies remain. A superb semi-farewell. JE…

7 MAY It’s the final night of their aptly titled Against The Odds Tour and Blondie have made it: “It’s been a long time coming,” declares Debbie Harry later. Joining NYC’s enduring pop art punks for the ride is Johnny Marr. Arriving to the twang of 007’s No Time To Die – asoundtrack he contributed to – the Mancunian serves up a support set that’s split 50/50 between his past and present. Standalone single Armatopia gives the audience a chance to settle before The Smiths’ Panic and the heavy synth beat of chiming Fever Dreams’ album opener Spirit Power And Soul reaches the rafters. This Charming Man and Electronic’s Getting Away With It (“a disco song from Manchester”) really get the crowd on their feet, although the biggest cheer is…

CLASSIC MOMENTS 27 JULY 1981 Stevie Nicks was six years into her tenure with Fleetwood Mac when she released her debut solo album, Bella Donna, in 1981. Beginning work on the record in 1979, in between sessions for Fleetwood Mac’s 12th LP (though third for her) Tusk, Bella Donna saw Nicks perform alongside backing vocalists Sharon Celani and Lori Perry with an idea that they would sound like “the girl version of Crosby, Stills & Nash”. Writing on Instagram for the album’s 40th anniversary, Nicks explained she wanted the record to “[not] sound anything like Fleetwood Mac.” That, she went on, “would have defeated the dream.” Working with session players Waddy Wachtel, E-Street Band pianist Roy Bittan and Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn of Booker T & The MGs, the album also…

John Earls has been to Adam Ant’s house, had a selfie with Neil Tennant taken by Chris Lowe and been serenaded to Last Christmas by Shirlie Kemp. This issue, John serves up an exclusive first British interview with Karl Bartos, meets Bananarama to talk about their new album Masquerade and oversees our reissues reviews section. Felix Rowe has toured the US, performed with a Chili Pepper, barbequed with a Blues Brother and shared a Mars bar with George Martin. He has written for Clash, Vintage Rock, Long Live Vinyl, Louder and DIY. In this issue of Classic Pop, he revisits Annie Lennox’s classic solo debut LP, Diva, and chats with Wendy & Lisa about Prince’s legendary Purple Rain Tour and new live album. Will Simpson has catholic tastes and is probably…

Robbie Williams is celebrating 25 years as a solo artist with a new album featuring orchestrated versions of his greatest hits. XXV will be released on 9 September via Columbia Records and was recorded with the Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest. Boasting new orchestrations by Jules Buckley, Guy Chambers and Steve Sidwell, the album comes in two incarnations – a19-track standard version as well as a deluxe edition with a further 10 songs. Both the standard and deluxe albums will feature brand new track Lost while the deluxe LP includes three more original cuts, Disco Symphony, More Than This and The World And Her Mother. XXV includes an array of Robbie’s most successful hits including Angels, Millennium, Let Me Entertain You, Rock DJ and Kids.…

JIVE TALKIN’ BOOGIE BOX HIGH The denials continued for weeks but it was very obviously George Michael singing a funked-up 80s version of the Bee Gees classic, barging its way out of nowhere into the Top 10 in the summer of 1987. The faceless studio project was headed by the star’s cousin, Andros Georgiou, a producer who’d fallen on hard times. It also included his best friend, songwriter David Austin, as well as Wham! bassist Deon Estus. At no point during the track’s lifespan on the chart did George’s involvement receive confirmation, but at the same time, little effort was made to disguise his voice. The ‘chicka-chicka’ rhythm which the Gibbs first used after a particularly bumpy car journey to an airport was faithfully reproduced, complete with ringing guitar and…

Karl Bartos admits he doesn’t keep up with new music. “I blame Spotify,” he says. “When I taught at the university in Berlin for five years, I was interested in the music my students made. Now, Spotify has turned the meaning of music around. I don’t want to hear music first released by Blue Note on Spotify, or The Beatles. It doesn’t feel right to me, so I’ll carry on playing Sgt Pepper on my record player.” Karl admits he might be in the wrong to dismiss streaming, smiling: “Maybe I’m an old-fashioned idiot. I’m just not into streaming, where the music is just transported across the internet. Music means so much to all of us, but it’s become absorbed by a capitalist system that’s also digitalised. Some of the new…

1 WHY Opening with that immediately recognisable soulful vocal refrain, it’s a curiously understated start to the album, finding Annie soul-searching. “Why is a deep dialogue with myself in a funny way,” Annie told the BBC. “A song about communication, or lack of communication.” As it builds into a rapturous crescendo, the mood shifts from questioning and personal doubts to a fierce and emotional call to arms, what Lennox calls, “a denouncement of things that have been applied to me that I feel are not me.” She is righting the wrongs, challenging the preconceptions of her character, by affirming what she isn’t rather than declaring what she is: only she knows the real Annie. Stereogum aptly referred to Why as the five stages of grief set to music. The single…

Apivotal moment in Whitney’s career, not just because it soundtracked her first foray onto the big screen in The Bodyguard, but also because it saw her assume the role of a leading lady behind the scenes, too. When the press picked up on the fact Houston was billed as co-executive producer of the album as well as receiving a writing credit for Queen Of The Night and for the vocal arrangement of I Will Always Love You, she was keen to dispel the myth that she’d always been a puppet to the Svengali-like Clive Davis, with him making all the decisions in her career and stipulated that they very much worked as a team. Recorded concurrently with the shooting of the movie, the recording studio served as a sanctuary for…

H elloSyracuse and the world. My name is Prince and I have come to play with you.” Note the choice of phrase: not play for you, but with you. The audience are his personal playthings, mere pawns in his wicked game. Over the course of the next two hours, Prince plays the 40,000-strong crowd like an instrument, demonstrating – as always – amasterly control. This was Prince in full splendour at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse, in New York State on 30 March 1985, during his mammoth Purple Rain US tour – and we can now revisit that legendary show once more on the newly-released triple vinyl or 2CD/Blu-ray set Prince And The Revolution: Live. Between November 1984 and April 1985, Prince And The Revolution performed just under 100 shows –…

"This is all quite novel for me again,” smiles Clare Grogan as she sips mineral water in a Soho bar. “It’s really exciting. I have to say I feel a bit nervous about it. You know I’ve made a record – we’ve made this!” If Clare sounds slightly taken aback by this simple fact, then it’s not surprising. It’s been four whole decades – nearly 40 years and several pop lifetimes – since she last released a new album. That was Bite, Altered Images’ third studio long-player. Released into the headwind of a huge (and very personal) backlash against the band in 1983, it was a critical and commercial flop and at the end of that campaign Altered Images quietly split. After that came Grogan’s 1987 solo album which was…

As the high sales of compilation albums would attest, people love a good singles collection or greatest hits. Whether it’s a contractual obligation, a stopgap release before the next studio offering or just a simple celebration of an act’s back catalogue, fans and casual buyers alike have been lapping up compilations since the dawn of rock’n’roll. The biggest pop artists of the 80s have been pretty well served by ‘best of‘ collections with some of the finest examples becoming classics in their own right and finding their way into tens of millions of homes. 20 ABC LOOK OF LOVE: THE VERY BEST OF ABC (2001) Whilst 1982’s classic The Lexicon Of Love remains the pinnacle of ABC’s achievements, there are plenty of other gems in the Sheffield group’s back catalogue;…

COOKING VINYL ★★★★ Despite Clare Grogan rebooting the Altered Images brand over the past two decades for live shows, it’s been almost 40 years since the Glaswegian outfit’s last studio album. With lockdown as the creative impetus, that’s been remedied with Mascara Streakz, a life-affirming collection that majors on floorfillers. Grogan’s husband and Altered Images drummer Stephen Lironi is back on board, of course, as well as their Crouch End neighbour Bernard Butler for a record that eschews the spiky post-punk of the band’s earliest work in favour of a return to the dance rock approach that featured on 1983’s underrated Bliss – think Bring Me Closer and Don’t Talk To Me About Love as the sonic touchstones here. Whomping Chic-esque disco basslines are sprinkled liberally throughout the album, from…

IDAHO RECORDS ★★★ Nerina Pallot’s seventh album begins with promising strums of a harp-like fish flitting in a pond, but once Cold Places is underway, the hint of overfamiliar auto-tune in her vocals, plus the arrival of an ostentatious orchestra to guide the track towards its climax, suggest her time working with TV talent show winners may have got the better of her. This, though, is mere misdirection: the rest of the album displays her consummate songwriting craft across a variety of allied, more adult styles. On Born she turns to contemporary neo-soul, and The Way We Are pursues that soul angle with 80s synths and a suitably upbeat “keep on keeping on” message, while Mama suggests a passing fondness for yacht rock. There are shades of this, too, in…

PIAS ★★ One of the most frustrating singers of her generation, Sweden’s Li Lykke has yet to create the defining statement the sumptuous melodrama of her first studio albums Youth Novels and Wounded Rhymes suggested she was capable of. By now, Li could have outstripped Lana Del Rey, whose world of old-school glamour Li also inhabits. Instead, her subsequent two albums – INever Learn and So Sad So Sexy – retreated into a murky indie gloom in which Eyeye continues to occupy. Although Eyeye is wryly described as “a break-up from break-up albums”, it’s largely stuck in the same atmospherics-over-tunes monochrome vista Li seems content to explore. Whereas there were once hooks to leaven the melancholia, the 34 minutes here largely drift by in one continuous grey miasma. It probably…

BFD ★★★ “Do I deserve a second chance today?” asks Cy Curnin as The Fixx’s 11th album gets underway, and though it seems a little late for that, he’s going to make sure he gives it his best shot. The English band haven’t enjoyed a Top 40 hit in either the UK or the US (where they were always a lot bigger) since the early 90s, but this first studio album for a decade is full of the kind of chest-thumping ardour that’s worked well for Bono, so maybe a revival’s not out of the question, if not perhaps at a U2 level. Certainly, though their line-up’s barely changed, there’s little new wave about them these days, though they’re also less distinctive now. That first song, A Life Survived, instead…

COLOR STUDY ★★★★ Though she reinterpreted The Bends in its entirety for her outstanding 2021 album, Rosie Carney’s not shaken off her Radiohead fixation. The brittle Break The Ground and gauzy Chihiro are drenched in their breakthrough album’s fragile yearning and Sugar’s full of murmured tension. Despite its title, though, Carney’s voice is crystal clear and optimistic, whether multitracked on the lo-fi Bus or at her most hushed, making her tribute to Dad as uplifting and dreamy a dirge as one could wish for and Send Me Home as warm as a hug. WW…

UMC/WALT DISNEY ★★★ / ★★★★ / ★★ Marking the 40th anniversary of the video game disaster movie that thrilled the first generation of home computer addicts, its soundtrack and Daft Punk’s two 21st century sequel scores are reissued on heavyweight vinyl. Wendy Carlos’ original 1982 score was the avant-garde composer’s first work with her partner Annemarie Franklin and, together with The London Philharmonic Orchestra, they created a pounding, dramatic piece of work. At a decade’s remove, Daft Punk’s 31-track soundtrack has so far aged better. Their only score, the duo manage to both keep in the spirit of classic film soundtracks and throw in the occasional banger like End Of Line’s monstrous beats. You can only assume one or both of Daft Punk were huge Tron fans to toss…

CHERRY POP ★★★ Following the expanded reissue of 1983’s debut The Politics Of Dancing, here’s a 2CD compilation of rarities from throughout the Birmingham funksters’ career. It showcases why their insistent party jams were a clarion call for film soundtracks, with the wild Cut It from Break Dance and two more louche songs from Superman IV. It’s inevitably less cohesive than that debut album but, of six unreleased songs, the title track’s steely groove stands out. It was also the final comeback track made with drummer Roland Kerridge, who died soon after. JE…

XL Strangely forgotten these days, throughout the 00s Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe were at the forefront of condensing smart, catchy and often Latinoinfluenced dance into perfect pop singles. These vinyl reissues of their first two albums deserve to get people remembering their headrush joy. Beyond wondrous singles Red Alert and Jump N’ Shout, 1999’s Remedy is a little patchy as the duo formulate their sound into shape. Two years later, Rooty was a colourful, irresistible wave of ideas typified by transforming Gary Numan on Where’s Your Head At. JE…

UMC/EMI ★★★ Sparing us 1991’s On Every Street, this 1988 compilation (back out on vinyl) draws on Dire Straits’ first five albums, showcasing their appeal without deep cuts underlining valid Springsteen comparisons. Some tracks are surplus – see Twisting By The Pool – but Romeo And Juliet repays patience and Private Investigations thrills like a gumshoe detective novel. A live Telegraph Road highlights their slick professionalism while Money For Nothing’s bombast contrasts with the understated, heartfelt Brothers In Arms. WW…

George Michael’s music is being enhanced, with virtually all of his albums being released as spatial audio editions on streaming services in July. The move, coinciding with the documentary Freedom Uncut, sees all of George’s LPs except MTV Unplugged get new “surround sound” versions. David Austin, George’s lifelong friend and manager of the singer’s estate since his death in 2016, emphasised the mixes are true to the original records. They have been overseen with the engineers and co-producers of each album, including Jon Douglas, James Jackman, Chris Porter and Niall Flynn. In a rare interview, Austin explained the reasons behind the move to Classic Pop in a stunning preview of Older’s spatial audio mix at AIR Studios in north London, where the singer regularly recorded. David told us: “Spatial audio…

A “Magnificent Seven” of soul stars are joining forces for a month-long 19-date autumn UK tour. The Giants Of Soul Tour boasts artists spanning from across the last half-century and features US stars Gwen Dickey, Grammy Award winner Deniece Williams, Alexander O’Neal plus homegrown artists Janet Kay, Tunde Baiyewu from The Lighthouse Family and Jaki Graham. Bringing the tour bang up-to-date is Candace Woodson who topped the UK Soul Chart in 2021. Running from 4 September to 4 October, tour dates include Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Sheffield and London. In addition to the shows, premium front row seat ticket holders will get a unique behind-thescenes ‘An Audience With’ experience with some of the stars of the gig where they will be able to check out a 30-minute soundcheck and take part…

MODERN FILMS ★★★★ Despite an impressive career spanning almost 40 years, a-ha are still viewed as one-hit wonders in some countries, a myth that writer and director Thomas Robsahm is keen to dispel in this frank and engaging new documentary. For long-standing fans, a-ha’s story will be familiar, but casual observers will be compelled by how success came at both an emotional and physical cost to the band’s members, particularly Morten Harket, who still struggles with being their main focal point. Once bonded by their lofty ambitions and love of music, these days the somewhat dysfunctional trio are more comfortable on a live stage than the recording studio, with internal conflicts threatening to tear them apart at any moment. Much of the simmering tension is built around Magne Furuholmen’s claim…

It’s possible the Thompson Twins could win the award for best logo hands down before we’re even off the starting blocks. They’d played with the idea in their indie, squat-dwelling era with a suitably anarchic triangle with two Ts in the middle, one upside down, the other upright. It was designed by Tom Bailey – along with their label’s logo Dirty Discs – aprocess he looked back on very fondly when I interviewed him for Classic Pop in 2018. But when the Twins went into their ultra-pop phase, designer Andie Airfix took a photo of their three heads and haircuts from the front cover of Quick Step & Side Kick, placed them in silhouette and glued them together. And with that, he’d created an iconic logo that was to be…

In The Sound Of The Machine Karl Bartos reveals that Elton John asked to work with Kraftwerk around the time of Computer World. An even bigger and perhaps more unlikely fan was Michael Jackson. “Ralf told me that Michael wanted to work with Kraftwerk,” says Bartos. “He also said Michael wanted to purchase the master tapes of The Man-Machine.” What for? “You can say anything you want about that fact,” smiles Karl. “I can’t possibly comment!” Although they tried working with outside producers on Techno Pop, Kraftwerk didn’t collaborate with any musicians during Karl’s time with the band, or indeed since. “The empathetic interaction with other artists was not characteristic of my previous partners,” he notes dryly. Having successfully worked with Electronic and OMD since leaving Kraftwerk, Karl is open…

WHY A sombre, reflective Annie gazes into her dressing room mirror, getting in costume to become ‘the Diva’ for a photoshoot. The song’s words play out like emotions in her head, knowingly only lip-syncing the single line ‘keep your big mouth shut’. At first exposed, gradually she becomes glammed up and besequinned before smouldering in poses as the camera flashes away. Only when she has her armour on, does she finally bare all emotionally. Simple but powerful storytelling, as the larger-than-life character shields her from the insecurities within. PRECIOUS Largely shot in stark black and white, a close-cropped performance of Annie singing is intercut variably with fast-paced scenes of the singer walking the streets of the big city, either in a trouser suit, or as a fallen angel (battered wings…

Although Whitney’s obvious talent was never in question, one of the major criticisms that dogged her throughout her career – particularly her early years – was that her recordings were too pristine and failed to capture the grit and spontaneity of her live performances which drew from her gospel upbringing. Having once said that she never sang a song the same way twice, her talent for changing arrangements or adding vocal runs and riffs make Whitney Houston Live an integral addition to her back catalogue. From her very first TV performance of Home, the posthumous LP takes in such memorable performances as One Moment In Time from the 1989 Grammys, The Star-Spangled Banner from the 1991 Super Bowl (still regarded as the definitive version), her cover of Leon Russell’s A…

THE HOT LIST 76 Beastie Boys, Whitesnake, Chris Bangs & Mick Talbot, Steve Cradock, David Bowie, Marc Andrews NEW RELEASES 77 Dave Stewart, Neneh Cherry, Hot Chip, Bananarama, Sun’s Signature, Heather Small, Altered Images, JB Dunckel, ZZ Top, Nerina Pallot, JCRS, Tim Bowness, The Fixx, Hanson, Lykke Li, Orbital, Tallies, The Dream Syndicate, Yann Tiersen, Stephen Mallinder, John Carpenter/Cody Carpenter/Daniel Davies, Rosie Carney, Sound Of Ceres, Breathless REISSUES 84 Madonna, Roxy Music, Prince And The Revolution, George Michael, Depeche Mode, Grandmaster Flash/Melle Mel & The Furious Five, Swing Out Sister, Kool & The Gang, NOW compilations, ABBA, Spear Of Destiny, David Sylvian, Wendy Carlos/Daft Punk, Bow Wow Wow, The Clash, The House Of Love, Dire Straits, Madness, DAF, Re-Flex, The Chemical Brothers, Vinyl Modern Pop, Basement Jaxx LIVE 92 ABBA,…

DOMINO ★★★★ With their own new studio in East London to explore, for the first time Hot Chip began an album with all five members working together. To some, the band are still essentially frontmen Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, but – especially since collaborating with the likes of LCD Soundsystem – instrumentalists Al Doyle, Felix Martin and Owen Clarke are also integral. That’s especially the case on Hot Chip’s eighth album, which aims to capture the energy of their live show: a relatively standard mission statement for a rock band, less so for a collective at the forefront of live dance music for so long. Thankfully, Freakout/Release fulfils its mission statement without tipping over into rockist flatulence. The gang mentality is most present in Eleanor and Guilty, typically euphoric…

PARTISAN ★★★★ “The opening of a window onto rapture,” Elizabeth Fraser trills as Underwater, the first song on Sun’s Signature’s five-track debut, begins, “Find the world shining in me”. That, of course, is what one’s always hoped to find when she sings, whether with Cocteau Twins or guesting on Massive Attack tunes like Teardrop. Today’s headline is that, on this project with percussionist/partner Damon Reece, she provides similar raptures the moment she opens her mouth. That first track moves at a deliciously lugubrious pace, while on Golden Air – its arrangement drawing upon Reece’s roots as one-time drummer in Spiritualized and, for two decades, Massive Attack – her voice dances like butterflies “through,” as she puts it, “the lulled and golden air”, before its second half is bathed in sunshine and…

PROTOTYP RECORDING ★★★ Jean-Benoît Dunckel’s third solo album, after 2015’s The Man Of Sorrow and 2018’s H+, was trailed by a tune called Corporate Sunset, and there’s something inadvertently revealing about that title. It’s a breezy five minutes of krautrockinfluenced instrumental synth-pop that’s perfectly pleasant, but one could easily imagine it used as backing music by a multinational tech firm as they launch their latest ‘gamechanger’ against a background of blue skies and smiling Gen Z faces. In other words, it’s eager to please, pretty and inoffensive. Of course, the same could be said of Dunckel’s band, Air, and they were often delightful, but occasionally Carbon feels contrived and effortless in the wrong ways, like Dunckel’s treading water instead of floating on Cloud 9. Certainly, Dare’s combination of computerised voices…

AUGUST DAY RECORDS ★★★ There’s something familiar about JCRS. One might even mistake them for young hipsters lovingly reviving the spirit of the early 80s. Instead, they’re Berlin’s John Crawford and Ultravox’s one-time guitarist Robin Simon, and the latter’s presence contributes most to this. His mastery of effects pedals helped shape his old band’s early sound before his and John Foxx’s departure, and Firedogs puts him front and centre, surrounded by percolating synths on a song like a forgotten collaboration between Duran Duran and The Psychedelic Furs, especially since Crawford sounds like Richard Butler. There’s Only You maintains this mood, with verses embellished by chiming guitars and synths like the “stars (which) explode” during its chorus, but there’s a more ominous quality to Like Crimson, whose Middle Eastern guitar squiggles…

LONDON ★★★★ Originally intended to celebrate Orbital’s 30th anniversary, pandemic delays meant both a new compilation title and a return to the Hartnoll brothers’ original label, London. That return is fitting for new versions of rave classics including Satan and Impact, updated to reflect how they’re now played live. They still sound familiar, and anyone who objects to debut single Chime not using the same tech Orbital that contended with when skint in 1990 is rather missing the point. The fresh versions mean that CD1 (or the first two of four LPs) flows with the skill of Orbital’s legendary live sets. 30 Something’s second half, from outside remixers, is almost as surefooted: with four versions of Belfast and two of Chime, it would be nice to hear some deeper cuts…

BELLA UNION ★★★★ As soon as Sarah Cogan’s girlish tones ring out among Dylan Frankland’s pealing guitars on No Dreams Of Fayres, there’s no doubting this Toronto quintet’s second album’s debts. For many, though, they’ll be welcome debts: to The Smiths as well as, even more, The Sundays, and thus – especially on Special – early Cranberries. That said, Wound Up Tight, as the name suggests, adds unexpected fury and Memento subtle layers of fuzz, but Hearts Underground’s summery jangles and Am I The Man’s lilting vocals prevail. WW…

DAIS ★★★ Cabaret Voltaire’s co-founder returns with regular collaborator Benge on nine tracks dominated by pulsing synths, methodical rhythms and murmured vocals that may promote queasiness and paranoia. That said, while much of TTT’s hypnotically repetitive – like opener Contact – it’s often surprisingly cheerful, particularly when he tosses in a little funk into the bassline on Galaxy, Guernica Gallery and The Trial. Not that he’s sold out or anything: Wasteland is quietly malicious, not unlike some of Benge’s Fader work with Neil Arthur. WW…

JOYFUL NOISE ★★★ Drawn by their “galactic” sound, artist Abramovic plays ‘The Universe’ on this New York band’s absurdly cosmic, conceptual third album. Her spoken words ensure opener The Tower is almost as dramatic as – if shorter than – Propaganda’s A Dream Within A Dream, while Karen Hover’s harmonies suggest The Beach Boys relocated to the moon’s Sea Of Tranquillity. It’s the endless grandeur of this orchestrated spectacular, however – whether Enchanter’s harps and flutes or 2nd Star Shroud’s booming kettle drums – that make this so heavenly. WW…

UMC/VIRGIN ★★★★ The publication of Bryan Ferry’s Lyrics collection and the reunion of Roxy Music have been a wonderful surprise. Playing together for the first time in over a decade should be a more worthwhile reunion than many bands of their vintage. For all the exuberance in their songs, though, Roxy were never specifically about youth. They existed outside of their peers and their era, a band who would still sound fabulously alien if they arrived now. Coinciding with the reunion, all eight studio albums get vinyl re-releases that boast the luscious luxury worthy of Roxy’s haute couture aesthetic. They’re remastered at half-speed, with a choice of printed or plain protective inner sleeves. It means the unfortunate “remastered from the CD” quality of the self-titled debut’s previous vinyl edition has…

SOUL MUSIC ★★★ You’ll know how influential The Message and White Lines are. Coinciding with the new 40th anniversary boxset is a 2LP singles set which is just fine for the casual fan’s need. But here, too, is a 9CD set housing both the collective’s full albums, unavailable on streaming and with 1984’s topically titled Work Party making its CD debut as disc two. In truth, nine CDs is too much: there are seven remix discs, featuring 75 reworkings of just 21 songs. Most additional versions are of edits and instrumentals, with the only big name remixer – 80s staple Ben Liebrand – offering his codoperatic take of White Lines from 1989 among the Work Party bonus tracks on CD2. It’s dated far worse than the original from six years…

CHERRY POP With a big-band record to follow 2017’s Almost Persuaded nearly complete, Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell celebrate their 35th anniversary with an 8CD boxset based around their first three albums. The extra discs comprise a B-sides round-up, an intimate live LP recorded in 1993 at London’s Jazz Café and three CDs of remixes. With informative sleevenotes, too, this is a thorough boxset for a duo who sometimes have an air of missed opportunities to them. Debut album It’s Better To Travel, featuring original drummer Martin Jackson, is a brilliant, light and precociously wistful record that slotted into the era’s flirtation with jazz while avoiding the smug clichés of some of their peers. As classic as Breakout is, it’s rivalled for melancholic magic by Surrender and the elegant Fooled…

DEMON ★★★ History’s never been kind to Spear Of Destiny, but nor was the present. Rising from the ashes of Theatre Of Hate, they endured multiple line-up changes and flirted with the charts without a serious relationship, before head honcho Kirk Brandon’s health stalled them at the peak of their success. Nothing since, in any guise, has recaptured those glory days, but Liberators! – covering their major label years – provides a reminder of just how good they could be. Like 1983’s debut album Grapes Of Wrath – which stuck to Theatre Of Hate’s template – this opens with The Wheel and its circular riff, while on the title track Brandon would sound operatic were he not routinely erratic. By 1984’s powerful One Eyed Jacks they occupied “Big Music” territory,…

MUSIC ON VINYL ★★★ Long overshadowed by the furore around the inappropriate cover art featuring nude 14-year-old singer Annabella Lwin, Bow Wow Wow’s 1981 debut album has been hampered in being reassessed by its unavailability on streaming. Following 2010’s expanded CD edition, this green vinyl reissue at least gets the wordily titled cult favourite back out physically. It reveals that See Jungle… remains very much of its time. The magnificent Go Wild In The Country is a pop outlier on an album equal parts Lwin’s excited and excitable yelps over an often indulgent stew of slap bass, freeform percussion and Matthew Ashman’s minimalist guitars. There are occasional hints of the tribal music both the instrumentalists’ former bandleader Adam Ant had perfected the previous year on Kings Of The Wild Frontier…

UMC/SONY ★★★★ An excellent money-saving idea for vinyl lovers, this 2LP compilation rounds up 31 tracks by the biggest recent pop names, plus a smattering of tuneful indie turns including Sam Fender and Tom Grennan. For anyone who enjoyed The Weeknd’s Save Your Tears or Olivia Rodrigo’s Drivers Licence but probably don’t need a whole album, step this way. It also lets older pop fans unaware of the brilliance of Griff, Mabel and Tate McRae to get on board. There are a couple of disposable moments (hi, KSI), but ‘twas ever thus on vintage Now, too. JE…

MUSIC ON VINYL ★★★ Although working with Krautrock legend Conny Plank, DAF were techno pioneers until splitting in 1982. Sensing the dawn of rave, they reunited in 1986 for their only English language album. Ditching their regulation black for a vests and shirtless look, DAF were convincing ravers. If some beats have inevitably dated, Brothers is remarkable not just for its proto-house pulse but for possibly the first use of “brothers from a different mother.” This vinyl reissue of an album unavailable on streaming shows the pair remained mightily prescient. JE…

CHERRY RED ★★★★ Guy Chadwick’s band enjoyed moderate success with their first three LPs, but never quite fulfilled their debut’s promise: the biggest hit is a tidy reworking of Shine On. Nor did they overcome the loss of guitarist Terry Bickers before 1992’s Babe Rainbow. This 8CD set is nonetheless a great reminder of strength in depth, offering three rarities discs – including respectful Leonard Cohen cover Who By Fire – and two live shows. The 1990 gig will satisfy those longing for the fiery promise of early songs like Destroy The Heart. WW…

OMNIBUS PRESS ★★★★★ The follow-up to his superb study of the gay 60s Svengalis, The Velvet Mafia, Darryl W Bullock returns with an exhaustive history on LGBT issues and activism and their link with the music and theatre industries over the course of the past 50-plus years. After an epic introduction which takes in queer issues and controversies dating back to the 1700s, Pride, Pop And Politics begins in earnest at the infamous Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, undoubtedly the impetus for LGBTQIA+ activism as we know it today. Taking in topics such as the politicisation of the disco era, the AIDS epidemic and Clause 28, Bullock cleverly takes political and social issues and presents them in a palatable manner – through the work of not only high-profile…

NINE EIGHT BOOKS ★★★★ Part travelogue, part biography, Nige Tassell’s Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids? is a fantastic detour to a time when, with the exception of a session on John Peel’s radio show, the only platform for anything remotely indie was coverage in the inkies – particularly the NME and Melody Maker. Inspired by the discovery of the NME’s C86 tape in his loft during a lockdown clearout, Tassell’s book uses its tracklisting as a basis for a trip, not only across the UK, but through the heartland of 80s indie itself. Setting out to discover what happened to C86’s featured artists, which includes Primal Scream, The Soup Dragons, The Wedding Present as well as a host of lesser-remembered bands whose star shone most brightly on the tape, Tassell…

TASCHEN ★★★ One of numerous books published to mark McCartney’s 80th birthday, Paul is a collection of photographs – many rare or unpublished – from one of his most trusted lensmen. Originally published as a deluxe item with a hefty price tag to match, this edition dispenses with some of the more lavish presentational aspects of that version but contains all the content to meet a more pocketfriendly price. Esteemed photographer Harry Benson, renowned for his contributions to magazines such as Vanity Fair, Life and People, developed a rapport with McCartney when he first photographed The Beatles during the making of A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 and maintained a working relationship with him for the next three decades. Benson was granted unprecedented access which allowed him to visit the McCartneys…

ABRAMS PRESS ★★★★ The fact that had George Michael lived, he would still only be turning 59 this June is a tragic reminder of how prematurely the world was robbed of his impeccable talent. It’s a grim milestone marked not only by the extended-cut release of his long-awaited documentary George Michael Freedom Uncut, but also by this hefty biography which serves as a perfect companion piece to the film. At more than 500 pages, George Michael: A Life takes a deep dive into not only the singersongwriter’s creative output but also his troubled private life and the personal demons which he battled right up to his untimely demise on Christmas Day 2016. As is the case with fellow musical casualties of that year, Prince and David Bowie, there has been…