News  ::

+ 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”)

+ 7 - 1 | § ¶Siouxsie Sioux Goes Solo

The BBC talks to Siouxsie today about her new solo album...

"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."

Read more over on the BBC site.
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.

+ 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...

“Tickets will cost £125 and be allocated by ballot. Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and Paolo Nutini will also perform.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6990704.stm

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

+ 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 - 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:

“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.”

Now, where did I put my shoulder pads...?