Tabla de contenidos para January - February 2023 en Classic Pop

@ClassicPopMag LISTEN NOW Idon’t know about you but I have a long-running addiction to the grand tradition of the ‘Best of the Year’ list, whether it be eagerly dashing to the newsagents in my teenage years to grab the inkies for their annual countdowns or latterly putting together Classic Pop’s own round-up of musical highlights. If there’s anything that you’ve missed across the last 12 months, check out our latest verdicts safe in the knowledge there’s enough to get your teeth into before our next issue arrives. The phrase ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ seems to sum up 2022 rather nicely as surprises came thick and fast across the year, whether it be the return of Tears For Fears and a-ha, or Suede knocking out what is arguably the album of…

Who were your musical heroes growing up? I loved John Barry as I’m a big Bond fan. There was a 25th anniversary doublegatefold James Bond album and I adored that. I used to listen to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service over and over again. I loved a lot of composers, like Lalo Schifrin, Henry Mancini and Quincy Jones – he’s done a few soundtracks. Who were your favourite pop bands as a teenager? Probably my favourite band growing up was Earth, Wind & Fire, I just adore them. But also Level 42. I love their Live At Wembley album, but particularly enjoy their first stuff, too, like The Early Tapes. Here’s a funny story: Level 42 were guests on The Fast Show on the ‘Anyone fancy a pint?’ sketch, and…

Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have teamed up once more as Sunroof to release their second studio album following 2021’s Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1. Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 2 – released on 17 February on limited edition white vinyl and digitally – is a collection of experimental electronica from the veteran producers. Unlike that first record, this follow-up came together in a relatively short period of time, with no pre-planning or rehearsal. “It took 40 years to make the first album and just nine months to create this one!” Miller says. “We got on a roll and didn’t really stop recording once we had that momentum.” The record is made up of eight abstract electronic pieces from the duo who made their debut in the 90s with a remix…

We’re nearing the end of the year and Gaz Coombes is sat in his home studio clad in a sheepskin coat and beany hat. “There’s no central heating and the electric radiator I use broke the other day,” he shrugs. So he’s had to turn on his valve desk. “That gets really warm and eventually it does get quite toasty in here!” You might think this is a down-on-hisluck ex-pop star struggling with the cost of living crisis, but Coombes is doing very nicely thank you. Over the last decade he’s managed to develop a solo identity quite separate from the fondlyregarded Britpop band he fronted for nearly two decades. He’s pulled off one of the most difficult tricks in pop – maturing whilst not losing his fanbase and still…

It’s that time of the year when we look back over the past 12 months in music and see what, if anything, 2022 has taught us. If we’ve learned anything from this year, it’s to expect the unexpected. Who, for example, could have forecast that 2022’s biggest, record-breaking success story – at least until professional overachiever Taylor Swift showed up, anyway – would be Kate Bush, thanks to the use of a 37-year-old single being featured in a TV series? Because of this, we’re not making any wild assumptions for the year ahead, but we are looking forward to new material and tours from Depeche Mode, Kylie, OMD and The Killers plus the delightful surprise that Everything But The Girl have a new album ready for the spring. Speaking of…

Whendid you first become a superfan of Duran Duran and why do you like them? Itwas 1983 and I was nine years old, when I saw some Duran Duran posters on my cousin’s wall. We were occupied by the Soviet Union back then and it was very difficult to discover new music or read magazines that came from the other side of the Iron Curtain. It was more than a year later when I actually heard my first Duran Duran song on the radio – Hold Back The Rain. It was the best music that I’d ever heard! Whatdo you have in your personal collection? Forthe most part, I have vinyl, CDs, cassettes, posters, magazines, calendars and T-shirts. Howmuch money have you spent on it? It’shard to say as I’ve…

TAPETE ★★★ Even by Robert Forster’s standards, his eighth solo album is sparse. There are just nine songs, and the tambourine on the sleeve is one of the few additional instruments on a record where Forster’s acoustic guitar feels even more prevalent than usual. That’s not to deny the power in his playing. The opening She’s A Fighter completed recording, when the singer’s wife and co-producer, Karin Bäumler, was diagnosed with cancer. The song’s only lyric is: “She’s a fighter, fighting for good.” Forster jokes that “I’ve out-Ramoned the Ramones” in its simplicity, but there’s a Johnny Cash level of intensity to his delivery, joined by the couple’s children Loretta and Louis on bass and guitar. Less surefooted is the reflective closer, When I Was A Young Man. Remembering Forster…

COOKING VINYL ★★★★ News that Blur’s drummer is belatedly showing he has a promising solo career in him aged 58 has, of course, been overshadowed by his day-job resuming for a summer stadium tour. But Blur’s latest comeback is no more cause for celebration than Dave Rowntree offering a warm and embracing electronica album from seemingly nowhere. In reality, Rowntree has been honing his melodic crackling electronic riffs while soundtracking TV dramas for a few years now – specialising in scoring technological thrillers including The Capture and The One and, more unexpectedly, the incidental music on Bros documentary After The Screaming Stops. Given their decades in Blur, it shouldn’t be a shock that Dave’s quietly hopeful vocals share a vulnerability with Graham Coxon. It suits both the melancholic ballad 1000…

MILAN/SONY ★★★ No stranger to experimentation, Ryuichi Sakamoto is probably best known for his monumental score to 1983’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – starring David Bowie as a prisoner-of-war in a Japanese camp run by Sakamoto himself – and its theme, Forbidden Colors, sung by David Sylvian. Sylvian is pretty reclusive, so it’s to his contribution many fans will rush on this 70th birthday tribute to the YMO founder. Sylvian’s remodelling of Grains, originally made with Alva Noto, is sombre, though some will welcome how his velvety voice ornaments the minimalist hush, and it’s hardly the most challenging track here anyway. So others may struggle with avant-garde composer Otomo Yoshihide, who eclipses his piano with piercing electronic whistling on With Snow And Moonlight – Snow, Silence, Partially Sunny, while Gabrial…

FIRE ★★★★ Previously a human rights lawyer, Dutch singer-songwriter Annelotte De Graaf had doubts about music after previous album, the sumptuous European Heartbreak, vanished in 2018. Thankfully persevering, she switches things up for her alias’ third LP. In place of past opulence, the singer – with co-producer Ben Greenberg – crafts acoustic dreamscapes. It holds together thanks to De Graaf’s wistful voice, pulling the melodies to the fore. A fascinating heartbreak album that manages to echo Dusty Springfield among the sinister atmospherics. JE…

ATLANTIC ★★★★ The Albanian-American popster behind No.1 single Sweet But Psycho and its No.2 parent album, Heaven & Hell, Ava Max doesn’t mess about on her follow-up. There’s neither a ballad nor guest in sight, as she delivers an excellent set of empowerment pop. There are big dumb choruses, no-frills breakbeats and more hooks than Tyson Fury. She’ll probably be convinced that murky electronica is the way forward by her fourth album but, for now, celebrate a massive pop star relishing massive pop music. JE…

CHERRY RED ★★★/★★★ Rather than concentrate on one definitive concert album, Cherry Red’s 10CD set of Marc Almond live from 1992-2008 is an oddly overwhelming collection of six shows. An intimate London Wilton’s Music Hall gig from 2008 is the pick for hardcore fans, while a more singlesfocused 1992 Royal Albert Hall concert is the best celebration. Although the boxset comes with a dramatic live poster, there are no sleevenotes and little sense of what Almond’s concert journey is. He’s good at talking about his chameleonic approach to his work, but A Live Treasury Of Song doesn’t quite reach its potential in showing his diverse nature. Also out is the latest studio reissue. In truth, 1999’s Open All Night is probably Marc’s dullest work. Fantastic artist as he is, he’s…

UMC/ISLAND ★★★★ Having marked his quarter century away from Take That with orchestral reworkings album XXV, Robbie Williams offers his first deluxe edition with a 4CD package of his phenomenal debut. In retrospect, it looks bananas that Angels was only the fourth single from the album, especially following one of Life Thru A Lens’ few mundane moments in South Of The Border. However it happened, Williams was the best solo star from a pop band since George Michael, hinted at by Robbie’s admittedly so-so cover of Freedom that preceded the LP, included here on CD2’s round-up of B-sides. That disc has more successful covers – Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye, I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing – though even featuring 19 B-sides means all bar two of the…

CHERRY RED ★★★ Unlikely C86 veterans – the brusque Happy Head gave their debut its name – Wolverhampton’s Mighty Lemon Drops released the three albums on this 5CD set via Geoff Travis’ Blue Guitar label in the 80s’ second half. The first, not least Like An Angel, found a Byrdsian common ground between The Teardrop Explodes and Echo And The Bunnymen, while World Without End’s refined sound hit the UK Top 40, with the sparkling, Smiths-esque Crystal Clear a highlight. 1989’s Laughter targeted the US, but two discs of bonus material compensate. WW…

DEMON ★★★★ Featuring The Undertones’ O’Neill brothers and US singer Steve Mack, TPE launched with 1986’s Manic Pop Thrill, then raised the stakes with Babble, its single, Big Decision, narrowly missing the charts. Similarly, indie-dance crossover Groove Check, from End Of The Millennium Psychosis Blues, deserved more, but Chemicrazy lacked their early fire and Fireproof saw it almost entirely extinguished. Still, alongside remixes, this box offers ample evidence of their incandescent live shows. Wyndham Wallace…

The music world lost one of its most important and influential songwriters on 30 November when Christine McVie, long-time member of Fleetwood Mac, passed away at the age of 79. McVie, who was born Christine Perfect in the Lake District in 1943, officially joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970 as a fully-fledged member after previously contributing – sometimes uncredited – to the band’s three-album run of Mr. Wonderful, Then Play On and Kiln House. In 1970, Christine also unveiled her eponymous debut solo LP, a record that would be re-released in 1976 to capitalise on her success in Fleetwood Mac, with the new title The Legendary Christine Perfect Album. In 1968, while a member of blues band Chicken Shack, she married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie. Later, in Fleetwood Mac, she…

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS SECRET AFFAIR My World was a brilliant single. Secret Affair’s best known hit, it dominated a slick, strings ’n’ sax power pop album resplendent with grown-up melodies that kicked their mod roots into touch. Behind Closed Doors didn’t make much of an impact – four weeks on the album chart, No.48 peak in the UK – as the new wave turned more to snazzy synths and snazzier hairdos, but it was an accomplished, occasionally ecstatic record. The other single, Sound Of Confusion, has a delightful premonition of late decade jangle pop and along with the touching Life’s A Movie Too and Streetlife Parade, yields Ian Page’s finest vocal, while album opener What Did You Expect waits 90 seconds before the frontman sings due principally to a majestic…

Seal is a huge presence. The first time I met him, he had Cuban heel boots on, when he’s 6ft 5ins anyway.” So says Trevor Horn of his initial encounter with Sealhenry Samuel at the producer’s famed London recording studio, Sarm West. That Seal sought to make himself even bigger than he was already is appropriate for a singer whose music has always been more grandiose and replete with memorable moments than such a classy vocalist needed to get by. Where lesser talents seek to show off with vocal gymnastics, Seal knows that the song is the star. Still, Seal’s longtime producer is right: Seal is a huge presence. Over Zoom from his home studio in L.A., the singer is relaxed for someone who rarely talks to the British press.…

LIVEHERENOW ★★★★ London’s Royal Albert Hall has witnessed its fair share of orchestral manoeuvres over the years, but the only symphonic sounds on display when OMD took to the stage for two nights in March were of the strictly pre-programmed variety. Marking 40 (Covid-adjusted) years since Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys’ eponymous Lake debut album, the shows were divided into two sets, with a selection of atmospheric deep cuts culled mostly from their early experimental phase, followed by a crowd-pleasing hits party. Four decades on, the austere futurism of Stanlow (written about a Liverpool oil refinery) and Messages retain much of their icy chill – while, through some act of quantum trickery, also invoking a pang of synth-pop nostalgia (Nostalgic futurism, anyone?). Meanwhile, Electricity, with its monomorphic synth line, is…

DEKO ★★★★ Some albums really should be sent out to reviewers with the aural equivalent of a blindfold taste test. Put on the first song, Hey Baby? Hmm: thumping drums, squalling guitar solo... is it Avril Lavigne? I Like The Rain follows, built around a neat riff and an air-punching chorus. Is Joan Jett making another comeback? Have The Go-Gos reformed again? No, it’s Tiffany. Yes, I Think We’re Alone Now Tiffany. So, leave your prejudices at the door. The denim-clad mall queen left this building decades back. Tiffany Darwish is 51 now and has a considerable body of work behind her. She’s made a disco album (2005’s Dust Off And Dance), a country one (Rose Tattoo from 2011), but here Tiffany sounds at home, returning to the rock music…

CHERRY RED ★★★★ Lawrence fans won’t be surprised to learn his latest project, like Denim and Go-Kart Mozart before it, sounds little like his cult 80s act, Felt. Admittedly he’s still a neglected artist “living on a tenner a day” on Relative Poverty – Chas & Dave doing synth-pop with a Grease fetish – and admiring “fifty-grand cars” on Four White Men In A Black Car, but it’s the 70s obsessions of later incarnations which define Pop-Up! Kerching! best, not to mention his eccentric critique of capitalism and a subversive tone which rarely lets up. To outsiders this may seem bemusing: And Now The Darkest Times Are Here – in Lawrence’s world, at least – is a wonky Eurovision winner and the meta Record Store Day’s glam is budget, while…

TRANSGRESSIVE ★★★★ Fellow restless spirits, Graham Coxon began jamming with Rose Elinor Dougall on his return to London from L.A. just before lockdown. Dougall is best known as former singer with The Pipettes and for her three solo albums, but she’s also co-written for Mark Ronson and proves an able foil for Blur’s guitarist, bringing out his most adventurous side on a wild and wonderful debut that focuses on sax and drama. Many tracks last over six minutes and often delve into krautrock, usually a sign that an ageing pop musician has forgotten how to write coherent songs. Here, however, the duo stomp across the carnal garage rock of Someone Up There, Marianne Faithfull spook-pop (Drowning) and Banshees savagery (Kill Me Again). Dougall’s voice dominates, by turns fierce and calm…

LAST NIGHT FROM GLASGOW ★★★★ Former guitarist in theaudience and long-time underground pop maverick, Billy Reeves’ debut solo album cements his status as a human jukebox. Specialising in pastoral melancholia like Ivor Cutler fronting Saint Etienne, he also incorporates the anti-nostalgia stomp of Golden Days, Syd Barrett’s playfulness and Jarvis Cocker’s drama. It’s all done with a panache and wide-eyed love of both pop and humanity. Forget the past, Reeves helps make the present that bit brighter, aided by guests including Justin Hawkins, Hard-Fi’s Richard Archer and Sadie Momo. JE…

BELIEVE ★★★ Inspired by an epiphany at an OMD gig, and co-produced by their old drummer Mal Holmes, Communication is the decades-inthe-making debut LP from engineer Andrew Evans. Interspersing samples of sirens and obsolete messages with themes of societal oppression (Wall Of Fire) and tech paranoia (Miss 4Chan), Birmingham Electric largely echo the electro-pop pioneers at their most fatalistic. But Moving Target – less Architecture & Morality, more theme to The NeverEnding Story – and the uplifting Television Hill add some light to the early-80s shade. Jon O’Brien…

PMR/EMI ★★★ A producer for Dua Lipa, Dave and Jessie Ware, London pop expert SG Lewis has an established career for his own to-the-point bops. His second album is equally divided into straight-up pop gems and lighter ambient grooves. That second half sometimes outstays its welcome, but Lifetime suggests Lewis would have been incredible producing George Michael. The AudioLust tunes at the start mostly hit home, with Missing You and Tove Lo collab Call On Me getting 2023’s pop off to a flyer. JE…

SONY LEGACY ★★★★★ Four decades on, it might be harder than ever to untangle Thriller from its troubled creator’s storied life, but there’s no denying the most successful album of all time still sounds totally fresh, urgent and vital. Across its nine tracks – no fewer than seven of them hit singles – Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones took a match to the pop playbook, with a heady fusion of R&B, disco and rock, from the kinetic funk of Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ to the skittish paranoia of Beat It and Billie Jean, in which the drama of the singer’s life was starting to come out in both the words and a tougher, flintier edge to the music. In sheer performance terms, Thriller also remains an astonishing achievement, Jackson…

UMC/MERCURY ★★★★ After a solid job of getting Yello’s five albums from 1991-2003 out on vinyl in 2021, UMC turns its attention to the duo’s first six LPs, from 1980-88. Unlike their later records, many of which were being released for the first time on vinyl, those early Yello albums are mostly fairly easy to track down second-hand. To make them worthwhile for both newcomers and collectors, all six now come with a bonus 12”. Four of those, including The Race and Goldrush, are regular 12” singles with their original extended mixes. The real gems are the previously rare standalone 1979 debut single, I.T. Splash, packaged with One Second, and Live At The Roxy, 1983’s New York live EP of the reclusive duo’s rare concert outing – added here to…

CHERRY RED ★★★ The tricky transition from teen star to adult has seen some careers go askew. Fans wanting more of the same from the cheery popstrel who won their hearts can get a little offended when they dare to grow up, which was certainly the case with Body Mind Soul and Debbie Gibson, which fell flat chartwise at the start of 1993. Having spent the two years since Anything Is Possible busily promoting that LP, as well as embarking on a Broadway run of Les Misérables and generally branching out into other avenues, Debbie was ready to step up. Songs such as Shock Your Mama, When I Say No and Tear Down These Walls were about consent, equality, sex and – as was pop law in the early 90s…

DEMON ★★★★★/★★ Finally out on vinyl, Silver Sun’s 1997 debut is comfortably the best British power-pop LP of the 90s. The late James Broad was simply perfect at harmonising and taut riffs, the mid-point between The Beach Boys and Ramones. Golden Skin and Lava remain essential singalongs, capturing the Londoners’ ability to fit as many choruses as possible into less than three minutes. Second album Neo Wave sounded rushed, the melodies failing to gel. A vinyl release of 2005’s wildly entertaining and eccentric Disappear Here would be welcome, too. JE…

BECAUSE ★★★★ If you’re wondering where Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter found his funk and disco cred, look no further than his dad, Daniel Bangalter. Under the alias Daniel Vangarde, he issued his music and collaborations via his label, Zagora. Going by this overview of rarities, his taste was impeccable: disco rock (Amii Stewart’s Rocky Woman), spacey synth (The Electronic System’s Moog Jealousy), sizzling Afrobeat (Black Blood’s A.I.E. (A Mwana)), and high-kicking disco (Who’s Who’s Palace Palace (12”)). AZ…

SONY ★★★★ The long-overdue arrival of this 20-track comp on vinyl makes a watertight case for The Cat In The Hat’s band being one of the most consistent singles acts of the 90s and beyond. Morphing from socially conscious Acid Jazzers (When You Gonna Learn?, Too Young To Die) through to Daft Punk-influencing disco revivalists (Cosmic Girl, Alright) the strike-rate here is impeccable. And all these years on, the subterranean bass of Deeper Underground and Feels Just Like It Should still sound chest-rattlingly vibrant. Steve Harnell…

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Divine inspiration strikes as Dexys return with new LP Dexys have inked a record deal to release their first studio album of all-new material for more than 10 years. Kevin Rowland has revealed that the new LP, The Feminine Divine, will be released in 2023 via 100% Records and played in its entirety on tour in a similar manner to its predecessor, 2012’s One Day I’m Going To Soar. Highlights from the recent Too-Rye-Ay As It Should Have Sounded album will also feature in their setlists. The Feminine Divine sees Rowland co-write with trombonist Jim Paterson and keyboardist Mike Timothy on three songs apiece with multi-instrumentalist Sean Read weighing in with the frontman on a further two tracks. Irene Cara dies aged 63 Irene Cara, best known for the hit…

Children be-haaave”. That’s what often first comes to mind when we hear the name Tiffany. That and shopping mall concerts and blue denim. In 2022, Tiffany Darwish is a twicedivorced mum who’s lived. She’s released no less than 11 albums, had a side-career acting in movies including Mega Piranha and Mega Python vs Gatoroid, posed nude for Playboy and done her fair share of reality TV. But music has always been her first love and, as she tells Classic Pop, her latest LP Shadows is inspired by both the turmoil of middle age and early-80s power pop. Some Classic Pop readers will be astonished to discover you’re now on your 11th studio album. Do you feel surprised you’re still making music after 35 years? I guess so. Music is all…

I’D RATHER JACK REYNOLDS GIRLS It always felt a bit harsh on Fleetwood Mac, whose latest album Tango In The Night had been one of the finest pop albums of the late 80s. Still, naked ageism was fair game in 1989 when a sisterly teenage duo infamously took to the charts for the first and only time. Like their contemporaries Big Fun, the project seemed to be little more than a dare for Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who were taking flak for hogging the charts and airwaves so, via Linda and Aisling Reynolds, they retorted with a song stating that older rock stars had no business dominating the radio station playlists. Despite an excitable acid house-inspired intro, the melody was arguably not one of the Hit Factory’s stronger efforts, and…

Ihad the pleasure of meeting Kym Mazelle for the first time this summer. With Robert Howard she was responsible for one of my favourite singles of the late 80s, Wait!. But the record on my mind when we met wasn’t one of hers, it was Hello by The Beloved. Not only because she gets a namecheck but because it’s one of the most epic – but by no means only – list song in the classic pop canon. A list song was the perfect way for The Beloved to break into the mainstream in 1990. Reeling off the people who had inspired them, that they wanted to say hello to, was the perfect manifesto. It was the ideal way to position your influences and your ambitions, with Kym appearing in…

Natalie Merchant has announced the release of her ninth solo LP, Keep Your Courage. Merchant’s first album of new material since 2017’s Butterfly, the singer describes the record as being “about the human heart”. “The word ‘courage’ has its root in the Latin word for heart, cor, and we see it over and over in many languages, le coeur, il cuore, o coração, el corazón,” she says. “This is a song cycle that maps the journey of a courageous heart.” The album features two duets with vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis (Resistance Revival Chorus) and also includes contributions from the Celtic folk group Lúnasa and Syrian virtuoso clarinettist Kinan Azmeh. Merchant has penned nine of the songs on the album, alongside a cover of the track Hunting The Wren by Irish band…

Send your Poparazzi pics now to steve.harnell@anthem.co.uk BETTY BOO WITH ADRIAN KEEBLE This photo with Betty Boo was taken at the end of her show at Lafayette in London on 5 October. She was such a lovely person and after the gig was giving away a signed poster to everyone. The show was amazing – full of classic hits and fantastic tunes from her new album, Boomerang. It’s great that she’s back making music again. BILLY IDOL WITH PETE HAMERTON Here’s the legendary Billy Idol pictured with me, my sons Luke and Nathan, and wife Jane. We got to see Billy at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on 17 October, it was a brilliant gig. Billy came across as such a nice bloke, we were so pleased we got to see him.…

Although Inspiral Carpets were chart staples throughout the first half of the 90s, they were a band stood to the side of the scenes around them. Their first line-up, on debut album Life, represented a spikier garage rock offering than the baggy groove of their fellow Manchester bands. By the time the Inspirals split after 1994’s fourth album Devil Hopping, they had too much of an edge for the triumphant mood of Britpop. “We were outsiders,” acknowledges Clint Boon, the cheery keyboard player who made a 60s Farfisa organ the centrepiece of the Inspirals’ headrush sound. “When we started doing gigs supporting Happy Mondays, James and The Stone Roses, I was aware that we were completely different: a psychedelic throwback, with an electric organ as our main instrument. But I…

LADYTRON MUSIC ★★ “Time’s arrow glides through your heart,” sing Ladytron at the end of their seventh album. It’s an appropriate sentiment for a quartet who, to their surprise, have become stars on TikTok via their 2002 single Seventeen going viral 20 years after it stalled at No.68. That song’s chorus – “They only want you when you’re 17/ When you’re 21, you’re no fun” – has become the basis of videos for more than 200,000 TikTok users. Ladytron were prescient in calling out predatory men in 2002, but their second LP since an eight-year hiatus – ended with 2019’s Gravity The Seducer – highlights how the band have become slowly pickled in aspic. Long residing in different countries since forming in Liverpool in the late 90s – London, North…

HOT FRUIT ★★★ Soon after Gaz Coombes’ third solo album World’s Strongest Man was released in 2018, news emerged that Supergrass were to reform. One of the most high-profile victims of the pandemic, what should have been a year-long victory lap and perhaps farewell instead became a protracted tour that only officially ended at the Taylor Hawkins memorial concert at Wembley Stadium in September. That Supergrass were able to continue for three years on and off without any apparent intra-band rancour suggested they’d overcome any tension at their original slowly diminishing ending. But their initial reluctance in 2019 to commit to making any new music on their return has been borne out by both drummer Danny Goffey’s quixotic solo album Bryan Moone’s Discopunk and the appearance of a fourth Coombes…

COOKING VINYL ★★ One of the few genuine aspects of lockdown to relish, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s kitchen disco livestreams were lovely, as any of her five children upstaged mum while she brought joy to the nation like the Vera Lynn of Covid. As the world recovered, it was natural that she got to celebrate what she’d achieved with everyone in person, hence a show mixing her own songs with an avalanche of covers. It was doubtless a fabulous night for anyone there, but as a live album it doesn’t quite last the distance. Ellis-Bextor is a brilliant pop star, but she’s too often dragged away from making actual pop music. It’s been six years since her last album – you wish she’d make more music as uplifting as recent singles Crying…

PLASTIQUE ★★★★ Formerly the singer with The Soup Dragons and The High Fidelity, Sean Dickson re-emerged as Hifi Sean a decade ago, his new DJ career transforming into 2016’s Ft., a collaborative album by turns joyous and poignant with guest vocalists including Fred Schneider, Alan Vega, Yoko Ono and Crystal Waters. One of the standout turns on Ft., it’s no surprise that David McAlmont proves to be the singer Dickson has made a full album with. Recorded in an East London tower block and mixed at a Camber Sands beach hut, Happy Ending sounds as luxurious as anything from Compass Point. McAlmont is such a stellar vocalist, he can sing anything, but he’s rarely sounded more at home than over Dickson’s grooves. Much of the LP is loosely Balearic, but…

HEAVENLY ★★★★ The latest instalment of Heavenly wonders comes as a double CD or two 2LP sets, continuing the good work. Highlights on Vol 5 include Bruise’s mix of Confidence Man’s Holiday and Daniel Avery’s scorching reswizzle of David Holmes’ Hope Is The Last Thing To Die. Meanwhile, Vol 6 collects The Chemical Brothers’ imperious Chekhov Warp mix of Saint Etienne’s Like A Motorway, Working Men’s Club’s Ploys retooled by Erol Alkan and Weatherall’s Weekender by Flowered Up. Another excellent pair of volumes in this ongoing archive exploration. Ian Wade…

COLUMBIA ★★★ “Hey, Sam, I wanna hear some Aretha...” Springsteen hollers on Soul Days, and this isn’t merely rhetorical: the Sam adding his voice to this Dobie Gray tune, and William Bell’s I Forgot To Be Your Lover, is Sam & Dave’s Sam Moore. Springsteen’s enthusiasm is unmistakable on these 15 covers, whether reciting the opening to Jerry Butler’s title track with Springsteen On Broadway’s solemnity, or softening the 80s production of The Commodores’ Nightshift, but more of his own identity might have improved this wish-fulfilment collection. WW…

BMG ★★★★ Recorded during last year’s global livestream show marking half a century in the business, Live At Asylum Chapel captures the then-70-year-old Joan Armatrading rattling through her songbook with the fire and vim of a woman half her age, her rich contralto as powerful as ever. It’s not just an exercise in nostalgia, either: cuts from her most recent album, Consequences, sound every bit as vital as pioneering early classics like Drop The Pilot and Me Myself I. A lyric book, The Weakness In Me, is also out from Faber. PK…

NOW ★★★★★/ ★★★★★ /★★★★ / ★★★★ /★★★★ You can’t stop NOW at the moment and, quite honestly, why would you want to, with this sheer wealth of quality products coming thick and fast? Now Yearbook 80-84: The Final Chapter hoovers up any leftovers from the superlative first tranche of Yearbooks, across 81 tracks on 4CDs or 43 on 3LPs. The range of genres here proves what a genuinely superb era it was, with Eurythmics, Bananarama, Human League, Culture Club, The Jam and Iron Maiden among the gaiety, plus space for Renée & Renato, Robert Wyatt, Starsound and Laurie Anderson, too. Now Yearbook Extra 1985 is arguably even better than its parent edition – if that’s possible – with a 60-track 3CD set starring gems such as Wham!’s I’m Your Man,…

DEMON/EDSEL ★★★ Initially released in 2008, this is the second reissue of Toyah’s 15th album, whose slightly proggy title can be explained by the fact the singer is, of course, married to King Crimson leader Robert Fripp. 2019’s full remix reissue offered up five new songs and a fresh tracklisting, while this release, marketed as the Rhythm Deluxe Edition, adds Toyah’s cover of Grace Jones’ Slave To The Rhythm plus updated versions of Sensational, Heal Ourselves and the fabulously filthy Latex Messiah, all given more sonic oomph, courtesy of producer Simon Darlow. All of this begs the question, is this album still In The Court Of The Crimson Queen anymore? With three different versions out there, this latest incarnation is like a Trigger’s broom of an LP, as there’s very…

CHERRY RED ★★★★ During an era where artists commanded attention cultivating outlandish looks and cutting-edge sounds, Mari Wilson stood out by being a throwback. Sporting an impeccably sculpted beehive and glamorous vintage dresses, Mari and her 12-piece band, The Wilsations, specialised in sparkling 60s pop, as heard on the New Wave-kissed ’82 hit Just What I've Always Wanted and 1983’s jazzy Cry Me A River. Covering 1980-1985, this 3CD set brings together the Londoner’s debut LP, 1983’s Showpeople, as well as singles, B-sides, extended mixes, rarities and soundtrack work including the breezy Would You Dance With A Stranger, the theme of 1985’s Mike Newell biopic of Ruth Ellis. As a whole, the compilation shows off Wilson’s depth, as she touches on Motown (If That’s What You Want), R&B/soul (Woe, Woe,…

BMG ★★★ German Eurodance sensations Snap!, with the help of an ever-revolving door of collaborators, were massive at the beginning of the 90s, with nine Top 10s including two No.1 hits. Celebrating 30 years of their second album, The Madman’s Return is back on vinyl with an extra disc of remixes. Interestingly, Rhythm Is A Dancer wasn’t initially included, as Turbo B wasn’t keen. (To think we might have been spared the “serious as cancer” farrago). But that No.1 is the key track here, among toe-taps such as Exterminate! and Do You See The Light. IW…

BMG ★★★ Following Roxy Music’s majestic reunion tour, Bryan Ferry’s 1993 covers album is back out on vinyl. It sounded out of step with grunge in 1993 and still exists happily in Ferry’s own orbit, as versions of Will You Love Me Tomorrow and The Velvet Underground & Nico’s All Tomorrow’s Parties are given equal panache. More esoteric choices would be welcome – even Ferry adds nothing new to Amazing Grace – but it’s as classy as you’d expect and sole new song Because You’re Mine is an atmospheric vista of Bryan suddenly going Depeche. JE…

LONDON ★★★★ The correct answer to “What’s the best comeback single ever?”, the anthemic Nothing Lasts Forever was rivalled – on the Bunnymen’s first LP with Ian McCulloch in a decade – by Just A Touch Away, while Don’t Let It Get You Down proved that they could still offer louche rock on demand. Finally out on vinyl after 25 years, the CD version adds B-sides and 14 live songs, including a commanding Buffalo Bill from an intense show at Kilburn National. For once, every bit as good as McCulloch says they are. JE…

NINE EIGHT BOOKS ★★★★ Of all the pop-cultural happenings to take place in 2022, one of the stranger things to happen was the unexpected resurgence of Kate Bush with Running Up That Hill, which topped the charts 37 years after its original release thanks to its inclusion in that Netflix series. Due to the show’s young demographic, many of those fans of the song will have heard it, and indeed Kate, for the first time, making this book perfectly timed. Tom Doyle’s superb study of Kate is a must-read for both long-established admirers and newbies, delving deep into her life and work to formulate a nuanced and enlightening portrait of the elusive singer that manages to be part biography and part exploration of her artistry. The book is structured as…

NINE EIGHT BOOKS ★★★★ Writing an autobiography can be a double-edged sword. It’s only natural when one has had a glittering career and a hand in some of the greatest, most progressive pop music of all time that you would want to celebrate such a milestone. However, to tell a complete story, one must endure the pain and lows as well as the highs. Which is why, as Trevor Horn reveals at the start of this book, that he’s chosen to end this in 2004. The timeframe allows the producer to celebrate his extraordinary achievements but spares him the personal tragedies that occurred later – the deaths of his parents and wife Jill Sinclair. As Jill and Trevor were also such a strong professional partnership, this book is as much…

OMNIBUS PRESS ★★★★ Four decades on from synth-pop’s absolute zenith, the genre is finally getting some long overdue credit thanks to authors such as Richard Evans. Listening To The Music The Machines Make, a lyric from Ultravox’s Just For A Moment and tongue-in-cheek reference to the dismissive criticism levelled at electronic music for decades, finally elevates it to be held in a similar reverence to its acoustic counterparts. Why is a musician playing a guitar held in higher regard than one with a synth? This book attempts to find out. Focusing on the five-year period of 1978-83 in which electronic music grew to dominate the charts, while Evans’ book includes new interviews with the likes of Vince Clarke, Daniel Miller and Martyn Ware as well as John Foxx, Dave Ball,…

GENESIS PUBLICATIONS ★★★★★ Not to be confused with the film of the same name released earlier this year, Moonage Daydream is a stunning collection of photos, notes and sketches of Bowie’s most famous incarnation, Ziggy Stardust, to celebrate the character’s 50th birthday. First published in 2002 as a collaboration between Bowie and iconic lensman Mick Rock, sadly no longer with us, this lovingly compiled treasure trove of images and artefacts is the ultimate portrait of Ziggy and provides a unique window into his creation and evolution. Featuring over 600 images, some instantly recognisable due their ubiquitous use in the extensive articles that have been written about this period of Bowie’s career, the book’s strength lies in the inclusion of rare and previously unpublished pics with anecdotes and explanations. There are…