No Yet The Season, But...

It may be July - but I am already looking forward to a couple of christmas albums this year!

I have already posted about the upcoming christmas album from Kim Wilde (tracklist and artwork to be posted later), but this year also sees a christmas album from Erasure! The record will contain 6 brand new Erasure songs, along with covers of some classic tracks. They have previously released the excellent christmas song "She Won't Be Home", along with a couple of other ones, so this album just might be a treat.

In addition, it seems that both Andy Bell and Vince Clark are working on solo records. There might also be a release of classic Erasure tracks in new, electronic ambient style arrangements (including violins) coming soon. No dates for any of those have been made available but most likely they won't be out until next year.

HB...

Madonna is doing a new photoshoot with photographer Terry Richardson. The photos will be published in Harper's Bazaar in the near future, but in the meantime the queen has shared some behind the scenes shots.

Crucified Again...

Army Of Lovers have released a new version of their biggest hit, "Crucified".

The 2013 version is this years theme for the Copenhagen Pride - and the Army has released a "video" for it. Of course, nothing can top the original though...

Getting Closer...

The tracklist for the 25th anniversary edition of Kim Wilde's Close album has just been revealed! And it looks really good - nothing seems to be missing, included are all the B-sides, single versions and the main remixes. The lot includes 8 tracks that were never released on CD in the UK.

CD1

Hey Mister Heartache

You Came

Four Letter Word

Love In The Natural Way

Love’s A No

Never Trust A Stranger

You’ll Be The One Who’ll Lose

European Soul

Stone

Lucky Guy

Tell Me Where You Are

Wotcha Gonna Do

She Hasn’t Got Time For You ’88

Hey Mister Heartache (Single Version)

You Came (Single Version)

Never Trust A Stranger (Single Version)

Love In The Natural Way (Video Edit)

You Came (Shep Pettibone US Single Version)

CD2

Hey Mister Heartache (12″ Version)

Hey Mister Heartache (Kilo Watt Remix)

Hey Mister Heartache (Bonus Beats) *

Hey Mister Heartache (Acapella With Percussion) *

You Came (12″ Version)

You Came (Shep Pettibone 12″ Mix)

You Came (Dub Version #1)

You Came (Dub Version #2)

Never Trust A Stranger (12″ Version)

Never Trust A Stranger (Sanjazz Mix)

Four Letter Word (12″ Version)

Four Letter Word (Late Night Mix)

Love In The Natural Way (Extended Version)

*Previously unreleased



Close will be released on September 2nd. It is already doing very well on pre-orders in the UK and you can get your copy here

The Ultimate Survivor...

Why Madonna is the ultimate pop survivor!

by P.H.Davies, 22/05/2013

At the Billboard Music Awards on Monday, Madonna was given three awards for her mega successful MDNA Tour of 2012, including Top Touring Artist. The MDNA Tour – the ninth such concert tour by Madonna – played eighty-eight sold-out shows on four continents and grossed a whopping $300 million. The critically-acclaimed tour showcased Madonna’s most recent album, MDNA - itself a critical and commercial success - and a significant selection from her back catalogue in what was a truly spectacular experience and one I got to enjoy in Hyde Park last year. Madonna accepted her award with the grace she is known for, thanking her collaborators for helping her make such an exceptional live experience and genuinely thanking her fans for coming to see her play live. No one can doubt her sincerity. At 54 she is always going to be criticised for what she wears but no could deny that she looked youthful and with legs most people would kill for.

Seeing Madonna on a stage dominated by much younger artists like Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Selena Gomez has been a stark reminder that she is not only one of a kind but also a true pop survivor. Madonna’s career is in its thirtieth year and she is still hughely successful – a no.1 album (her twelfth) and top-selling world tour – is no mean feat. Do her albums sell as much as in her heyday? No, but when these record sales are put into context with what other artists are currently selling then MDNA is very much an international success. The fact that she can pull in $300 million on a tour is a credit to what a great performer is – after thirty years people still want to see her play live. Even as she approaches her mid-fifties she has the energy to perform exhausting two hours shows night after night when most people can’t even walk up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath and it’s a testament to her incredible fitness and hard work. She looks so amazing because she puts the hours in.

But the stark reminder of seeing Madonna on stage with younger artists is also underlined by the fact that almost all of her contemporaries have disappeared. The eighties and nineties were two decades when pop starts became the equivalent of Greek gods – they were ubiquitous, wealthy, and successful. They had a kind of fame few people truly have today and yet that fame seems to have blighted so many with death, suicide, drugs, and madness. Think about those who shared the stage with Madonna in those two decades and how many of them are still around: Michael Jackson died in 2009 after a decade of pill addiction and artistic inertia. Whitney Houston died last year after a long battle with drugs. George Michael has battled with drugs and become notorious for car crashes and ill-advised cruising. Boy George has also battled drugs and has been in and out of courtrooms and prison. Adam Ant completely lost his mind. Prince is still touring but hasn’t had a commercially successful album in a long time.

These are the high profile casualties of fame but there are so many other artists whose stars have waned over the last decade and whose commercial prospects have almost dried up; Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Guns’n’Roses, Sting, Annie Lennox, the list goes on and on. So many of these artists have seen a decline in album sales since the turn of the millennium and only a small number of have been able to sell concert tickets. The money they made in the eighties and nineties has kept some of them in nice houses and private jets but they have lost their cultural currency. The only other artist who has been able to maintain commercial success both in album sales and touring is Bruce Springsteen, another true survivor of the eighties. It’s no coincidence that Springsteen released a critically acclaimed no.1 album, Wrecking Ball, last year and embarked on a major world tour which also drew a Billboard Touring Award for ‘Top Draw’. Why have Madonna and Springsteen survived? Because of their incredible work ethic, because they engage with the contemporary, because they didn’t lose their heads over fame, and because they stayed away from nefarious influences.

People can say what they like about Madonna – she routinely gets a bashing in the press for being old, for dressing in skimpy outfits, for making bad movies – but what they cannot take from her is her success and her ability to remain visible and relevant, something she has done for more than thirty years.

Queens Of Disco...

Since we are on the subjects of documentaries and disco, here is a fun one: Queens Of Disco! The name alone...

Documentaries...

Here are a couple of documentaries that I enjoyed watching this weekend - one focuses on the disco movement, while the other one is about producer Nile Rodgers. Check them out: