+ 3 - 4 | § ¶New Marilyn Interview
I last spoke to Marilyn in 1983. This week I brought myself up to date in a brand new interview. Read it on The 80s Empire.Meanwhile, here’s a nice vid of Marilyn singing Cry and Be Free...
+ 6 - 0 | § ¶77 Sulphate Strip - the inside story of punk
For some reason, when I did an interview with The Stranglers for Flexipop! magazine, the editor, Barry Cain, decided that it would be a wizard wheeze to get band to lie on the floor with red carnations scattered all over them. In order to do that we had to traipse down to a flower shop and buy all the carnations they had (Barry tried to convince the owner to ‘rent them out’ for half an hour but she was having none of it).So then we want to the PR person’s office and sat there, surrounded by flowers, throughout one long and tedious afternoon.... waiting for The Stranglers to arrive - which they eventually did, about three hours late. By that time the carnations were wilting and the photographer was desperate to go home, so the flowers and The Strangers were rapidly scattered over the floor, the pictures were taken - and then there was no time left for me to do the interview...
Ah, well, I’m glad to discover that Barry Cain is still on speaking terms with The Stranglers. So much so, in fact, that he has been speaking to their lead singer, Hugh Cornwell, recently and transcribing this and other interviews with the leading groups of the punk period of the late ‘70s for a new book called 77 Sulphate Strip (you probably have to be of a certain age to understand the pun).
According to the blurb....
If you were reading about punk in 1977 the chances are you read some of Barry Cain’s words. As a young writer on Record Mirror he was perfectly placed to take part in, and report on, the punk scene.
The book doesn’t end with the eyewitness account of 1977. Thirty years on, Cain re-interviewed John Lydon, Hugh Cornwell and Rat Scabies exclusively for the book. These extended interviews run for more than 100 pages and rise above being mere nostalgia. By asking Lydon, Cornwell and Scabies to comment on the original interviews Cain manages to coax unique insights from each of them.
I’d be glad to write a proper review but, in spite of being Barry’s top cub reporter for Flexipop! for more years than I can remember (mainly because I was drunk for most of them), Barry hasn’t even sent me a review copy! Ah well, I’m glad to know that time has done nothing to mellow the miserable penny-pinching git...
More on 77 Sulphate Strip here: http://www.budgetbooksdirect.co.uk/product/189/77-sulphate-strip
Just to undermine Barry’s punktastic credentials, I happen to know that the song that follows is one of his all-time personal favourites (I promise you this is absolutely true). So here is the very fabulous Boystown Gang with their 1982 hit, ‘Can’t take My Eyes Off You’...
+ 5 - 1 | § ¶12" / 80s Grooves - Released Today
A brand new collection of 12” versions of many classic ‘80s tunes on the funkier side of the tracks has just been released by Family Recordings. On three discs, these will get you shakin’ your groove thang (whatever that may be..?)This is what you get...
CD1
LUTHER VANDROSS – NEVER TOO MUCH (12”)
D TRAIN – YOU’RE THE ONE FOR ME (12” MIX)
CHAKA KHAN – I’M EVERY WOMAN (FULL LENGTH)
ALYSON WILLIAMS - SLEEP TALK (12”)
DE LA SOUL – ME MYSELF & I (12”)
ERIC B & RAKIM – I KNOW YOU GOT SOUL (U.S. 12”)
GRANDMASTER FLASH & FURIOUS FIVE - WHITE LINES (U.S. 12”)
YOUNG MC - KNOW HOW (12”)
KURTIS BLOW - IF I RULED THE WORLD (12”)
OLLIE & JERRY – AINT NO STOPPIN’ US (12”)
JACKSON SISTERS – I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES (12”)
MACEO & THE MACKS - CROSS THE TRACKS (12”)
CD2
CHANGE - CHANGE OF HEART (12”)
POINTER SISTERS - AUTOMATIC (LONG MIX)
SHANNON – LET THE MUSIC PLAY (12”)
BOBBY BROWN – MY PREROGATIVE (12”)
HEAVY D AND THE BOYZ – WE GOT OUR OWN THANG (12”)
TONE LOC – FUNKY COLD MEDINA (12”)
FULL FORCE – ALICE, I WANT YOU JUST FOR ME! (12”)
DAZZ BAND - LET IT ALL BLOW (FULL LENGTH)
JODY WATLEY - LOOKING FOR A NEW LOVE (Remix)
KOOL & THE GANG - FRESH (12” Mix)
WOMACK & WOMACK – TEARDROPS (12” VERSION)
CAMEO – WORD UP (REMIX)
CD3
JOCELYN BROWN – SOMEBODY ELSE’S GUY (12”)
MARY JANE GIRLS - ALL NIGHT LONG (12”)
FATBACK BAND - I FOUND LOVIN’ (12” Mix)
DENNIS EDWARDS – DON’T LOOK ANY FURTHER (12”)
GWEN GUTHRIE - AIN’T NOTHING GOING ON BUT THE RENT (12” MIX)
ORAN JUICE JONES - THE RAIN (12” Mix)
COMMODORES - NIGHT SHIFT (LONG VERSION)
WILL DOWNING - A LOVE SUPREME (EXTENDED)
THIRD WORLD – NOW THAT WE’VE FOUND LOVE (12”)
GREGORY ISAACS – NIGHT NURSE (12”)
GRACE JONES – MY JAMAICAN GUY (12”)
+ 1 - 5 | § ¶80s Meetup On MySpace
Since joining MySpace, I’ve met up (virtually) with many stars who I interviewed in the 80s but haven’t seen since. If you aren’t on MySpace, drop by the 80s Empire Site (http://www.myspace.com/80sempire) and scroll down to the ‘My friends’ area. Here you will find links to the MySpace sites of Heaven 17, The Beat, Limahl, Nik Kershaw, Shakatak, Marilyn, Nick Heyward, Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls and many more...Not forgetting All 80s Radio (http://www.myspace.com/all80sradio), the free online music channel which also happens to the official radio station of the 80s Empire!
Meanwhile, I’ve just realised that we haven’t had a Flock of Seagulls vid on this blog. Time to rectify that. Here is I Ran...
+ 7 - 1 | § ¶Siouxsie Sioux Goes Solo
The BBC talks to Siouxsie today about her new solo album...Read more over on the BBC site."The time felt right to drop the bags, start again and leave the past truly behind," explains Sioux in her distinctive gravelly tones, adding that a live tour in 2004 was the long-burning inspiration for a new album. "It was totally different. The producers were also musicians so were hands-on. The way we worked was easy and direct.
“You know what's coming next when you're in a band, but this time some songs took complete turns and really surprised me. Everything was more intense and heightened," she adds. "I got into more fights when it was the band. I'm pretty much the boss lady, but we knew which way we were going this time which made things flow quickly."
The album, Mantaray, is out now in the UK and released in the US on 2 October. She will perform at the BBC Electric Proms in London on 24 October.
+ 1 - 4 | § ¶Adam Ant on T. Rex
As we sat chatting over lunch one beautiful sunny afternoon, long ago now, in Odette’s restaurant in Primrose Hill, North London, Adam Ant told me that if he wanted to listend to a happy record he would choose ‘any T. Rex single’.As I mentioned before, September 16th is the sad 30th anniversary of Bolan’s death. I’ve always thought that Adam Ant was, to ‘80s pop, was Bolan was to the ‘70s. They share a sense of pop-rocking theatrics, they both have that certain glinting sexuality and they both, in their heyday, had undoubted star quality that made them each, for all too short a time, the undisputed kings of the British pop scene.“I love Glam rock,” he said, “And I think that Mac Bolan and T. Rex were Glam at its best.”
See what you reckon. Bolan’s Telegram Sam:
And Adam Ant’s Goody Two Shoes:
+ 4 - 3 | § ¶Led Zeppelin Reunion - But Where's Rolf?
According to the BBC...“The surviving members of legendary rock group Led Zeppelin are to reform for a star-studded tribute concert in London.
Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will play at the show to remember the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun.
The one-off concert, the trio's first performance for 19 years, will take place at the O2 arena on 26 November. “
Save up your pennies. It may be memorable, but it won’t be cheap...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6990704.stm“Tickets will cost £125 and be allocated by ballot. Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and Paolo Nutini will also perform.”
Led Zeppelin’s last full concert was in July 1980 in Berlin. Page, Plant and Jones performed at Live Aid five years later, and also at a concert to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records in 1988. But, since then, nowt...
By way of celebration, here’s a performance of the Led Zep classic, Stairway To Heaven, by the inimitable Rolf Harris...
+ 4 - 3 | § ¶Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
It’s official! The title of the new Indiana Jones is "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". This is the fourth film in the series which started in 1981 and concluded (until now) in 1984. Harrison Ford, still depressingly fit at 65, once again takes the title role. The film will appear in cinemas on May 22nd, 2008.Visit the official Indiana Jones web site: http://www.indianajones.com
+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Haysi Fantayzee, Smut Movies and John Wayne
I’ve just been reading over an old Haysi Fantayzee (Jeremy and Kate) interview I did for Flexipop! some time in the dim and distant past. For some reason, I seem to remember that we did this on the top floor of a big old warehouse somewhere behind Tottenham Court Road. I think that was back in the days when the top floor of a warehouse was considered to be quite a fashionable pad
I also have vague memories of Marilyn being there too. Not sure why. Were Haysi and Marilyn on the same record label? Did they share a manager? Or, who knows, maybe they were just good friends.
Anyway, this being a Flexipop! interview, it is no surprise that it quickly took a turn toward the smutty. I think Jeremy and Kate enjoyed it, as a matter of fact. Probably made a change from all those Jackie and My Guy interviews in which they were asked to talk about school dinners and first loves (I know this for a fact – I did a whole load of Jackie and My Guy interviews myself...)
Anyway, here’s a snippet of the interview...
“The dirtiest film I ever saw was on a video in someone’s living room,” said Kate. “Nobody was watching it at first because they were all chatting away to one another, but then, all of a sudden, this woman came on — with a horse! And everybody in the room went silent and started watching the video. It was really dirty. I felt like I didn’t really want to watch it because I was embarrassed, and yet I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Actually, it was quite boring. I mean, you could see that the horse desperately didn’t want to do it. I don’t blame him either, because the woman was so ugly!”
Having established that this sort of film is not to her tastes, I wondered what sort were? Well I like ‘Eraserhead’,” she said, “And we’ve also got ‘A Clockwork Orange’ on video, which is a very good film.”
“Yeah,” Jeremy added, “But Stanley Kubrick, the director, made sure that it’s practically impossible to get hold of a copy of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and we only managed to get a copy of a copy of a copy. Kubrick owns the distribution rights, you see, and he now thinks that he said something in that film which he doesn’t like ten years on. And that’s why it’s impossible to see it.”
“It was thought to be a fairly violent film at the time it was made,” said Kate, “but it’s tame by today’s standards. These days you can actually get some video nasties in which people are killed - really killed. I’m not sure how they make those films. I mean, do people know they’re going to be killed, and do they give lots of money to their parents or something?”
“No,” said Jeremy, who appears to have considerable knowledge on the subject, “What they do is, they kidnap them, take them off into the hills, drug them and then kill them. That is what I call really sick. Those films are for very sick people. I must admit I find it intensely interesting that people make them.”
OK, enough of all that sleaze. Here’s some good, clean family fun. Haysi Fantayzee singing the very wonderful ‘John Wayne Is Big Leggy’...
+ 3 - 4 | § ¶Shakin' Stevens sings Marc Bolan
I had no idea that Shakey had recorded this! It's actually a lot better than I was expecting. This is the song that Shakey will be singing at the Bolan tribute concert on Saturday. Nice one!+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Marc Bolan New York City
...and while in a T Rex mood (well, c'mon, 30 years after Marc's death - we can't let the anniversary go by unremembered), here's one of his less well known songs from 1975...If you've only heard the rocking numbers such as 20th Century Boy and Metal Guru, that one may come as a surprise. In fact, Marc's music covered quite a range of styles - everything from the 'Tolkien rock' of his early days with Tyrannosaurus Rex to some pretty weird heavily orchestrated stuff such 'Whatever Happened To The Teenage Dream?'
One thing's for sure - the '80s music and fashion scene in Britain would have been very different but for Marc...
+ 3 - 4 | § ¶Marc Bolan, Marc Almond and Shakin' Stevens
It’s 30 years since the death of the great glam rock star, Marc Bolan who, with his group T. Rex, had a string of hits in the early ‘70s. Marc died in a car crash on the 16th of September 1977. On the 15th of September this year stars ranging from Marc Almond to Shakin’ Stevens will perform Bolan songs at a special concert in the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London.Here’s a clip (above) from a recent BBC Breakfast show, in which Shakin’ Stevens talks about the concert. Bolan influenced a generation of performers including many of the greatest ‘80s stars such as Toyah and Adam Ant. And, to an extent the New Romantic movement was the ‘80s version of Glam .
And here’s an interesting (but all to brief) clip of Bolan performing with Bowie in one of Marc’s TV shows from 1977...
Details of the Bolan memorial concert from: http://www.shepherds-bush-empire.co.uk/
+ 3 - 5 | § ¶Retrofest 2008 (already)
Retrofest 2007, the great ‘80s music binge that took place over the weekend, has only just finished and already they are planning next year’s! Promoter, Brad Snelling, has confirmed that there will be a Retrofest 2008:Now, where did I put my shoulder pads...?“I'm delighted to say we'll be doing it all again next year. That's all I want to say at the moment, but Retrofest will be back and - just like the shoulder pads in each successive season of Dynasty - bigger and better than this year.”
+ 5 - 1 | § ¶Pet Shop Boys Top Radio Times 80s List
The Radio Times web site has a feature on ‘80s videos today. Skirting quick over the title of the piece (‘The Decade That Taste Forgot?’ – damned cheek!), this isn’t a bad stab at a ‘Top 10’ guide to ‘80s pop videos. I’d half expected that the Radio Times (the UK’s long established television guide) might have managed to turn up a few rare videos from the vaults of the BBC. Alas, such is not the case. They’ve just posted links to ten videos on YouTube. Well, two can play at that gameSo, here, for your viewing pleasure is the Radio Times’s top pick: The Pet Shop Boys’ West End Girls.
