Behind...

A brand new Behind The Music episode: Toni Braxton.

Memory...

Pet Shop Boys have announced their next single.

"Memory of the future" will be released as the third single from Elysium and is expected to be serviced to radio in November. Full release details will be announced next month, including a remix by Stuart Price.

Superdream...

It seems to be a trend these days to release special, exclusive versions of new albums. Most of the time these are only available via the artists official website - and they tend to cost a fortune!

The latest example is this rather pretty item from Sarah Brightman - but the asking price of $135 is just way too much...

You can now pre-order the beautiful deluxe version of the new album Dreamchaser housed in a very special bespoke presentation package. The first 500 copies of the deluxe version of Dreamchaser will be signed by Sarah.

This exclusive Super Deluxe version contains:

- The much anticipated brand new album Dreamchaser housed within a Unique 140mm diameter Globe. The globe itself sits on its own etched Square Acrylic Stand.

- A Mini hardcover artbook (143x143mm) sits below the Globe on its own shelf and contains exclusive imagery and content along with a sequentially numbered Certificate of Authenticity (133x133mm) This is all contained within a Deluxe Suedel box that has Sarah’s SB logo foiled on top.

- Pre-Order the Dreamchaser Super Deluxe Package for delivery on day of release, 22nd January 2012 (US) and 21st January (UK and Europe).

http://www.sarahbrightman.com/

Corset Galore...

Madonna on the Ellen show yesterday!

Download the full interview here

More...

Some more unreleased Madonna photos!

Sex & Vanity...

Some unreleased photos of Madonna from the 1991 Vanity Fair cover shoot and the 1992 SEX book.

Two...

Two of ( the very few) albums I am excited about this season have just been released!

Kylie Minogue has just released her Abbey Road Sessions, which features several of her classic hits in brand new arrangements, along with "Flower", her latest single.

The album is available as standard and deluxe versions, as well as a limited LP/CD, limited HMV version with postcards.



Two international versions will feature bonus tracks: in Japan you get "In My Arms" while the Australian versions includes "Wow".





Another pop princess that made it big in the 80s has just released her latest album. Stay In Touch by Sandra sounds like a gift from heaven to fans of her 80s/Italo sound. The album includes her recent single "Maybe Tonight" and the brand new one: "Infinite Kiss".

The album has been made available as a standard and deluxe editions - the deluxe edition includes extended versions of every song on the album. I have always been a huge Sandra fan and I can not wait to receive my copy!!!

Sandra with producers Blank & Jones

These two will end up high on my list of the albums of 2012!

Chart Queen...

The Official Charts Company celebrates 60 years of the Uk's Official Singles Chart by revealing the Top 10 Biggest Selling Female Singles Artists Of All Time.

Less than a month before the chart's 60 anniversary, the company today crowned Madonna as the female artist with the most UK singles sales - a stunning total of 17.8 million.

The Queen Of Pop made her debut in the British chart in January 1984 with "Holiday", which peaked at # 6, but it too her another year to reach the Top of the chart with "Into the Groove,".

The 1985 hit from Desperately Seeking Susan was not only the first UK # 1 Madonna single, but it's also her biggest selling track to date among her 59 Top 10 hits as a lead artist.

Top 10 Biggest Selling Female Singles Artists Of All Time in the UK are:

01 Madonna 17.8m       

02 Rihanna 11.4m

03 Kylie Minogue 10.2m

04 Whitney Houston 8.5m

05 Lady Gaga 7.329m

06 Britney Spears 7.324m

07 Beyonce 6.9m

08 Celine Dion 6.7m

09 Mariah Carey 6.62m

10 Olivia Newton-John 6.61m

 Don't forget:

Counting The Hours...

Sandra will release "Infinite Kiss" as a digital-only single on November 2nd. It will feature an exclusive bonus track and several remixes. I am very sad to see this is not getting a proper CD release...

Here is the tracklist:

01. Infinite Kiss (Album Version) 02:51

02. Infinite Kiss (Hubert Kah Mix) 03:28

03. Infinite Kiss (80s Retro Mix) 04:55

04. Infinite Kiss (Ibiza Club Mix Edit) 03:55

05. Infinite Kiss (Extended Version) 05:15

06. Infinite Kiss (Ibiza Club Mix) 06:44

BONUS TRACK

07. Russian Eyes 3:43

And: the just released music video!

Sandra met with fans in Germany a few days ago for a signing session. Her new album Stay In Touch is released on Friday!

Sandra, who can look back at an over 30 year long musical career, with over 30 million records sold is one of Germany's biggest pop stars ever. Her new album Stay In Touch is produced by Blank & Jones who were also responsible for the A&R of this album which focuses on Sandra's musical roots in the mid 80s.

"We wanted to bring back the magic of hits like "Maria Magdalena" and "In The Heat Of The Night" Blank & Jones explain - "The first step was to bring Hubert Kah back to the team because Sandra and Hubert are simply unbeatable behind the microphone together".

This album is also very special for Sandra: "I had the right gut feeling from the very first moment for this project. I am fascinated with how much passion Blank & Jones recreate this 80s atmosphere and whole attitude to life. When I listen to the new songs, I find myself on this fantastic trip through time which I am enjoying in full effect."

"My 10th studio album reminds me of the first and most successful one. The circle is closing, musically".

Splash!...

Madonna has taped a full episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which will be broadcasted on October 29th! Madonna did not perform but she gave a fabulous interview. Have a look at a clip:

Snippet...

Could this be the new Cher single??? A snippet of a track called "Woman's World" has leaked on-line.

Here is what Cher had to say about it:

I Really wasn’t That up set about the leak …I was pissed because it wasn’t THE FINAL MIX ! FINAL Mix So Much BETTER …Vocal IS Better 2

Timeless...

The new Mylene Farmer single is called "A L'ombre" and will be premiered next Monday.



Tickets for her Timeless Tour, which starts in September 2013 went on sale earlier this month. She sold close to 200.000 tickets on the first day! Business as usual  for the queen of France then!

UPDATE:

This Is Getting Ridiculous...

Russian activists have obtained Madonna’s home address in New York City and sent her a summons to show up at a Russian court, it was reported.

St. Petersburg's Moskovsky District Court will send Madonna the statements of claim from the concerned individuals seeking to recover about $10.8 million in moral damages after she expressed her support for the LGBT community during her performance in St. Petersburg on August 9, the plaintiffs' representative Darya Dedova told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

At the preliminary hearing it was announced that the case documents will be translated into English and sent to Luiza Ciccone's (Madonna's real name - erm, except it's NOT!) address indicated in the lawsuits, said Dedova. Another summons was issued to the address of Madonna’s gym Hard Candy in central Moscow. However, gym staff insist they have not received any letter from St. Petersburg.

In mid-August, several individuals filed a number of lawsuits against the singer and the concert organizers.

The preliminary hearing was held on October 11 and lasted for over two hours. The concert organizers, Music Industry and PMI-Media, attended the session as co-defendants.

The pro-Kremlin group Trade Union of Russian Citizens wants the Material Girl in court for blasphemy and for damaging the cultural foundations of St. Petersburg. Nine activists filed a suit against the pop star after her concert on August 9. They are seeking 333 million rubles (around US$10 million) from Madonna and from the company that organized her show.

Activists claim the pop star broke a law which bans so-called “propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism, and pedophilia to minors”.

Moreover, they say children as young as 12 were at the concert, prompting the question, why were they there?

The complaint also includes a video taken of the concert that depicts Madonna allegedly stomping on an Orthodox cross. “She insulted believers’ feelings, she promoted homosexuality when there were children at the concert and this is forbidden in St Petersburg. We, the residents of the cultural capital, suffered a colossal moral damage,” union spokesperson Darya Dedova was quoted as saying.

However, Madonna has not still responded to any of the complaints, nor did she appear in court.

The first hearing into the $10 million lawsuit took place on October 11, but it was postponed until October 25. Plaintiffs did not know Madonna’s address in the US and thus were unable to notify the pop star.

At the same time, there are some details which may weaken the activist’ position in court.

First, all tickets contained a recommendation saying that only over-18s should attend the concert. In such a case, parents of minors are responsible for allowing them to be there and seeing what they saw. 

Second, there is video evidence which, however, was shot without any official permission, itself a violation.

According to a recently-adopted St Petersburg law, if the defendant is found guilty she will have to pay an additional 50 per cent of the ordered compensation as a fine that will go to the city budget, Dedova said. The union promised to use the money to protect city residents from homosexuality and pedophilia.

This law, which is only in force in St. Petersburg, caused a string of protests from Russian and international gay rights organizations, with one Russian activist even suing its author over damage to his reputation.

Meanwhile, there is a rumor going around that Interscope will release a DVD next year of the MDNA Tour live from Paris, along with a documentary about the tour. It also seems that SKY TV will film and broadcast the show live from Rio. If this is all true, we get two official recordings of the tour (along with the mini-gig from Olympia in Paris) and a documentary! Stay tuned for some official news though - this might all be the work of a very bored person putting up false rumors....

All That Jazz...

Bryan Ferry will release his new album THE JAZZ AGE in the UK on 26th November 2012.

If there was ever a musical icon and a decade destined to come together it is Bryan Ferry and the Roaring Twenties. The artist as creative powerhouse with a dazzling career of endless surprise, delight and innovation, and the decade - a time of modernity, decadence and bright young things - all driven on by the thrill of it all.

So what better way to celebrate and mark the 40th year anniversary of Ferry's incredible career as a singer and songwriter, than by rearranging his own compositions and have them performed in a 1920's style by his very own Jazz Orchestra?

It began as an idea, fuelled by Ferry's fascination of that time between the wars known as "The Jazz Age". He decided the songs were to be all completely instrumental reinterpretations.

‘Most of the music I listen to nowadays is instrumental," he explains "and I wanted to let my songs have a different life, a life without words’.

He put together his very own jazz orchestra comprised of many of the great British jazz players from his past tribute to the 1930’s’, the album As Time Goes By - including his long-term musical director Colin Good, with whom Ferry worked closely on these new arrangements.

“I loved the way the great soloists would pick up a tune and shake it up - go somewhere completely different - and then return gracefully back to the melody, as if nothing had happened. This seemed to me to reach a sublime peak with the music of Charlie Parker, and later Ornette Coleman. More recently, I have been drawn back to the roots, to the weird and wonderful music of the 1920s – the decade that became known as The Jazz Age.

After forty years of making records, both in and out of Roxy Music, I thought now might be an interesting moment to revisit some of these songs, and approach them as instrumentals in the style of that magical period - bringing a new and different life to these songs – a life without words.”

The 13 songs have been chosen from 11 albums, from his very first release Roxy Music (1972) to his recent solo record Olympia (2010).

Tracklist:

1. Do The Strand

2. Love Is The Drug

3. Don't Stop The Dance

4. Just Like You

5. Avalon

6. The Bogus Man

7. Slave To Love

 8. This Is Tomorrow

9. The Only Face

10. I Thought

11. Reason Or Rhyme

12. Virginia Plain

13. This Island Earth

Produced by Bryan Ferry and Rhett Davies, The Jazz Age will be released on Monday, 26th November 2012 on Vinyl, CD and Digital editions.

The Ultimate Christmas Party...

Live Nation are thrilled to announce the Hit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker. Set to be the ultimate Christmas party this once in a lifetime concert will take place at London’s O2 arena on December 21.

Pete Waterman said: “Hit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker will be the biggest and best celebration of SAW and PWL ever. This will be the perfect party to commemorate our 25th anniversary. We were devastated when Hyde Park's Hit Factory Live had to be cancelled but now the party is back on with an epic line-up of our classic artists!". 

Set to perform at this unique event are the classic artists from the PWL Hit Factory who will be performing on the same bill for the very first time. Steps, the multi-million selling group responsible for hits including ‘One For Sorrow’, ‘Tragedy’, ’Deeper Shade of Blue’ and ‘Stomp’, have had an incredible 12 months. They reformed last year and have since played a sold out a twenty-date UK arena tour and had their very own TV documentary. 

Rick Astley’s international success secures his place in the Hit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker line-up. Rick holds the record as the first British male artist to have his first eight solo singles reach the UK Top 10 – including the global No. 1 ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, ‘Whenever You Need Somebody’ and ‘Together Forever’.

Entertainment megastar Jason Donovan takes his place on the bill following massive success with SAW in the late 80s. His hits include the No. 1s ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’, ‘Sealed with A Kiss’ and the bestselling SAW single ever with UK sales of over a million – ‘Especially For You’, an unforgettable duet with Neighbours co-star Kylie Minogue.

With such classic hits such as ‘Venus’, ‘Love In the First Degree’ and ‘I Want You Back’, the UK’s most-charted girl group Bananarama are an essential addition to the Hit Factory Christmas Cracker bill. Dead Or Alive, fronted by the inimitable Pete Burns, also join the line-up, their timeless single ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’ was the first No. 1 for SAW in 1985.

Also appearing are Pepsi & Shirlie, Princess, Sinitta, Hazell Dean, Sonia, 2 Unlimited,Lonnie Gordon and Brother Beyond. With such signature smash hits between them as ‘Heartache’, ‘Say I’m Your Number One’, ‘Toy Boy’, ‘Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)’, ‘You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You’, ‘No Limit’, ‘Happenin’ All Over Again’ and ‘The Harder I Try’. TheHit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker is set to be a truly unmissable spectacular.

Tickets go on sale this Friday (October 19) at 9am from www.livenation.co.uk and www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

Tracks...

I am sorry about the lack of updates recently, I have been (and continue to be) quite busy these days.

There has been pretty long time since I uploaded a batch of new tracks that I like. And there is a simple reason: there just haven't been that many! 2012 is going down as one of the most uninspired music years ever. But, there are still some treats to be found and here is a collection of some of my favorite tracks over the past few months:



(Thankfully, in the almost complete absence of good, upbeat pop music I have been having a great time over the last few months with a musical discovery that I will post about soon)

Hand In Hand We'll Conquer Space...

Today Sarah Brightman announced that she will be traveling to the International Space Station! Watch her full announcement:

She must be going after her starship trooper, all these years later...



 Here is her latest - the first single from her forthcoming Dreamchaser album, out in January:

 

Gaga In Iceland...

Lady Gaga is in Iceland at the moment. She flew in yesterday on her private plane to accept the LennonOno piece prize. She stayed at Hotel Borg and accepted her award at Harpa today during a closed ceremony.



Below are some photos, links and videos from her stay here in Iceland. Hopefully she will return for a concert sometime in the future.




Article v/arrival video - Visir
Arrival article - Mbl
Article w/video - DV
Article w/video and pictures - Visir
Gaga's acceptance speech - Visir
Article w/video - Mbl
Article w/video - Mbl
Gaga's acceptance speech - RUV

Gallery