sugarhill gang

Ultimate Boogie Nights present a triple header Christmas show featuring some of the pioneers of hip hop, disco and funk at the Indigo2 on December 17th.

Topping the bill are The Sugar Hill Gang in their original formation, the trio are credited with being the band that bought rapping into the mainstream with their 1979 single Rappers Delight.

The band were instrumental in making hip hop music accessible to the masses and their reign continued with infectious jams such as Apache (Jump On It) – as made popular through a dance skit in actor Will Smith’s early 80’s comedy ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ – and the classic track‘8^th Wonder’ which rapper Busta Rhymes samples in ‘Woo Ha’.

Discovered as a sixteen year old in the washroom of the Philadelphia International Records HQ, Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King burst onto the disco scene with her gold certified single Shame, the single was most recently acknowledged by the singers induction into the official Dance Music Hall of Fame.

Back in the seventies she went on to record more disco hits including I Don’t Know If  It’s Right,  I’m In Love and Love Come Down.

The quintessential 80’s funkmeister Tom Browne came to prominence with the release of the single Funkin’ For Jamaica in 1980, featuring the vocals of Tonni Smith. The song was later re-worked by Mariah Carey for her Glitter album in 2001.

Tom’s other Funk smashes include the South African inspired Fungi Mama and smooth grooved Bye Gones, while boasting 10 albums under his belt spanning from 1979 with Browne Sugar in 1979 through to R ‘N’ Browne in 1999. As a live instrumentalist as well as singer, the great detail and finesse is Tom’s music is absolutely brought to life when heard live.

After the live entertainment the party will continue until 2am with DJs playing disco, funk and club classics to keep you in that old school spirit.

Ultimate Boogie Nights December 17th at the Indigo2 at the O2, tickets from SeeTickets.com

Nick Heyward - North Of A Miracle

His first solo album was released in 1983, North Of A Miracle contained three Top 20 UK singles – Whistle Down The Wind, Take That Situation and Blue Hat For A Blue Sunday.  The following year Warning Sign gave Heyward his only other UK Top 30 hit to date.  Though his commercial success had peaked Nick Heyward continued to release albums throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s including The Apple Bed released on Alan McGee’s Creation Records label.

This month Cherry Red Records re-issue two of Nick Heyward’s solo albums, North Of A Miracle & From Monday To Sunday.

Originally released 23 years ago, North Of A Miracle was a sultry album that offered a more serious songwriting side to Nick Heyward’s talent.  He wasn’t about to lose his teenage fan club but in some quarters he was taken more seriously for writing, what was deemed at the time to be deeper more sophisticated pop songs like Blue Hat For A Blue Day and Whistle Down The Wind.  But with Take That Situation he showed he wasn’t afraid to return to the happy pop content of early Haircut 100 days.

The Cherry Red re-issue comes complete with the original ten album tracks plus an extra CD including nine tracks including both solo and Haircut 100 songs from a previously unreleased concert recorded for Capital Radio on 7th November 1983 at London’s Dominion Theatre. CD2 also includes b-sides and different mixes from the original singles.

From Monday To Sunday was Nick Heyward’s fourth solo studio album, originally released in 1993, by which time he had matured both personally and musically.  By now he was more or less being completely ignored by the music press as they busied themselves with Brit Pop nonsense while waiting for lad culture and the arrival of Oasis. With little or no record label pressure, this allowed Nick Heyward to record his music without prejudice.

Nick Heyward - From Monday To Sunday

From Monday To Sunday includes 12 songs showcasing a full roster of his influences.  He Doesn’t Love You Like I Do and Into Your Life display a 1960’s pop sensibility which was  popular with other British artists in the early 1990’s, while songs like Caravan, January Man and How Do You Live Without Sunshine, I believe are among his best solo songs.

Maybe Nick Heyward was free to record the songs of his fancy with less pressure from chasing commercial success.  Either way, From Monday To Sunday is a great pop album.

The Cherry Red re-issue of From Monday To Sunday includes the original album plus 10 additional tracks including previously unreleased demo tracks from 1991 and 1992.

Nick Heyward continues to play live solo shows and in 2006 released The Mermaid & The Lighthouse Keeper with India Dupre.

Status Quo BBC CD Box cover

The assocaition between the BBC and Status Quo stretches back almost 45 years beginning with some recordings of The Spectres in 1966 before the band changed their name to Status Quo.

It was two years later when Status Quo peformed their psychedelic inspired Pictures Of Matchstick Men at the beeb in 1968 for The Dave Symonds Show, that the band tasted their first taste of success.

Status Quo Live At The BBC is a collection of live recordings made by the band between the years of 1966 and 2005, collated from all of the BBC owned recordings that still exist.

The BBC were famous for saving money by wiping and re-using tapes during the sixties and some of the recordings have been lost forever, but thanks to ‘home recordings’ by fans a couple of gems have been unearthed for this set.

Sessions for shows by DJs David Symonds, Dave Lee Travis, Steve Wright and Ken Bruce are all included and there is even some recordings from the John Peel sessions of the early seventies.

Status Quo Live At The BBC comes in a choice of packages, the 2CD ‘Best Of ‘Collection a DVD/4CD boxed set and the complete works as a limited edition 8 disc complete boxed set.

The double CD collection contains the basic highlights from the full boxed sets and kicks off with two recordings as The Spectres, performing covers of the hit songs Gloria and perversely I (Who Have Nothing) from 1966.

In the guise of Traffic Jam the band return in 1967 to play the song Almost But Not Quite There on the Saturday Club. Perhaps a prophecy as the next time the band arrive at the BBC in 1968 they have changed their name to Status Quo and they perform first Judy In Disguise for Saturday Club followed by Pictures of Matchstick Men for the David Symonds show.

Their follow up single Black Veils of Melancholy, an almost exact replica of Matchstick Men with different lyrics was also performed at this time, with Ice In The Sun being performed in 1969 on the same show.

Down the Dustpipe (1970) and Paper Plane (1972)  are the standout tracks on the first CD, while there are recordings from 2005 on the Ken Bruce Show of Caroline, Whatever You Want and Rockin’ All Over The World.

While catching the band in jocular mood jamming, the snippets taken from the Steve Wright Show in 1989, From A Jack To A King and Railroad hardly seem relevant and are a surprising addition on this set.

Disc Two is given over to Status Quo doing what they are best at, playing live in concert, with recordings from four such shows making up the entire content of the second disc.

The celebrated often boot legged BBC in Concert from Paris Theatre in 1973 catches the band at their best with five tracks that include fans favourite Juniors Wailing, In My Chair, Don’t Waste My Time, Paper Plane and Bye Bye Johnny.

There are further concert excerpts from Wembley Arena in 1988, Party In The Park 1992 and Brighton Centre 1996.

While older music fans like me will remember Status Quo looking uncomfortably dressed as mods on TOTP playing Pictures Of Matchstick Men in 1968 it was when they relaunched themselves in the early seventies as an out and out rock band that they were at their best.

Status Quo managed to create their own genre at this time uniting pop and rock fans with those of heavy metal tastes, creating a riotous following who would ensure their rise to fame throughout the decade.

I was  fortunate enough to see Status Quo in a small Victorian theatre in Southampton around 1976 when the band were at their peak of their power and the memory of the the huge noise from both band and fans causing the whole building to shake around me will last forever.

Their best work was produced during this time and although they would go on to sell out stadiums around the world, they would never manage to capture the magic of that decade again.

It is fair to say that most of the ‘hits’ are included on the double CD in one way or another, but I doubt that this is the package of choice for die-hard Quo fans and collectors. The double CD serves more as a taster of whats included on the other packages and isn’t fulfilling enough in my opinion, it will suffice but you will probably be wishing you had paid out a bit more and bought the full collection.

After all if you are that big a Quo fan you will want the whole package, seven audio CDs and video’s of the Quo performing on Top of the Pops and the like  in a limited edition boxed set.

Make a wish for Christmas.

Status Quo Live At The BBC is released today, October 25th in the following formats:

2CD ‘best of’ collection (Reviewed)

DVD/4CD box set

Limited Edition collectors 8 Disc Complete set

Barbra – The Ultimate Collection

Following powerful sales of Barbra Streisand’s most recent album, “Love Is The Answer” a number one hit in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom and with high rankings in virtually all other countries, Sony Records will release “Barbra – The Ultimate Collection” for international release 25th October.

The new CD will comprise 18 of the artist’s greatest recordings. The selections are drawn from hits that over half  a century have become classics transcending all borders.

Barbra Streisand’s career has been marked by bold creative achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts. An unparalleled talent, Streisand is the only artist ever to receive Oscar®, Tony®, Emmy®, GRAMMY, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe®, National Medal of Arts, and Peabody awards, as well as France’s Legion d’Honneur and the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the first female film director to receive the Kennedy Center Honors and next February will be honoured with the MusiCares Person Of The Year award.

Streisand is the only performer to have a No. 1 album in five consecutive decades.   She earned 51 gold, 30 platinum and 18 multi-platinum albums, each of which exceeds all other female singers, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA also notes that her 71.5 million album sales top the RIAA list of album sales by a female singer. With the debut of Love Is The Answer at No. 1 in 2009, the time span between her first and most recent No. 1 albums is 46 years — exceeding that of any other performer.

Barbra – The Ultimate Collection Tracklisting:

1. Woman In Love
2. Evergreen
3. The Way We Were
4. You Don’t Bring Me Flowers
5. Guilty
6. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)
7. Don’t Rain On My Parade
8. Memory
9. Papa, Can you Hear Me?
10. As If We Never Said Goodbye
11. Tell Him
12. Stranger In A Strange Land
13. I’ve Dreamed Of You
14. Send In The Clowns
15. People
16. Smile
17. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
18. Somewhere

In the 1950s Cliff Richard was promoted as Britain’s answer to Elvis Presley, and his first single Move It in 1958 was according to John Lennon ‘the first British rock ‘n’ roll record’.  An appearance on Jack Goode’s Oh Boy TV show propelled Cliff Richard to overnight stardom; and between 1958 and 1963 Cliff dominated the music charts as well as the box office.

Cliff’s early success included number 1 hits Living Doll (1959), The Young Ones (1962), Bachelor Boy (1962), Summer Holiday (1963) and The Minute You’re Gone (1965).  But with the changing face of pop music, and the arrival of The Beatles, Cliff’s popularity dropped off, and his only other number 1 in the 1960s was his Eurovision Song Contest winning song, Congratulations.

Like Elvis, Cliff Richard’s chart success carried over into musical films that were written specifically for him.  The films helped to spawn hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In the 1970s, Cliff Richard continued to release records; and though his popularity had waned like other pop stars of his generations, he still managed two UK Top 10 hits with Power To All Our Friends (1973) and Devil Woman (1976).  And in 1979 he had another number 1 hit single with We Don’t Talk Anymore.

Further number 1 hits include Mistletoe & Wine (1988), Saviour’s Day (1990), and The Millennium Prayer (1999); and in 1986 a remake of Living Doll with members of the TV show, The Young Ones, for Comic Relief.

In all, Cliff Richard has made over 100 singles and sold 150 million worldwide in a career that, so far, has spanned 52 years.

Cliff Richard & The Shadows will play six concerts in London.

Monday 11th October
Royal Albert Hall

Tuesday 12th October
Royal Albert Hall

Wednesday 13th October
Royal Albert Hall

Friday 15th October
Royal Albert Hall

Saturday 16th October
Royal Albert Hall

Sunday 17th October
Royal Albert Hall

Cliff Richard Tickets
viagogo is an online ticket exchange where every transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure. As well as making it easy to or sell Cliff Richard tickets, they will ensure their safe and prompt delivery with online tracking.

viagogo is an online ticket exchange for concert tickets, sports tickets and theatre tickets.

Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney headline the Main Stage on Friday 25th, Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th June respectively. While the more intimate Pepsi Max Stage has headline performances from The Hives, Melissa Etheridge and Joshua Radin.

Even with so many summer music festivals in the UK it is still difficult to get concert tickets, especially when artists are only playing a select few shows.

Friday is certainly going to be the loudest ‘hard rock’ of the three days as Pearl Jam return to the UK for what promises to be a special show.  Hailing from Seattle and part of grunge movement of the early 1990’s along with bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. Last year they released their ninth studio album, Backspacer.  They will be supported by the likes of Wolfmother, Gaslight Anthem and Ben Harper.

Supporting Stevie Wonder for a much more of a soulful line up will be the original space cowboy Jamiroquai, James Morrison and Corrie Bailey Rae.

Following an appearance at the Isle Of Wight Festival, Paul McCartney will no doubt be playing a selection of festival crowd pleasers including songs from The Beatles, Wings and his solo career; and will be ably supported by Elvis Costello, Crosby Stills & Nash, and Crowded House.

Hard Rock Calling @ Hyde Park Tickets

At viagogo, every Hard Rock Calling transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure. As well as making it easy and simple to buy Hard Rock Calling or sell Hard Rock Calling, viagogo ensure their safe and prompt delivery with online tracking. Every Hard Rock Calling ticket transaction is supported by our customer service team which can be contacted by phone and e-mail.

The Christians

The Christians had a string of soul-inspired pop hits in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s including Forgotten Town, Born Again,When the Fingers Point, Ideal World, Father, Perfect Moment, What’s in a Word and cover versions of Harvest for the World and The Bottle.

Next month, The Christians release their brand new single Where Do the Children Play.

The name ‘Christians’ refers to the brother’s surname (the original line up included Roger, Russell and Garry Christian as well as Henry Priestman). During their rise to fame the Liverpool based band developed a reputation for being ’socially aware’ and unsurprisingly comparisons were drawn to The Temptations due to the depth and range of the brother’s magical vocal harmonies.

Fast forward a few years and The Christians have a new line up which includes Stewart Boyle, Joey Ankrah, Lionel Duke and Cliff Watson.  The vibe is relaxed … unplugged and acoustic but the voice is still incredible as is the sultry smile behind the Raybans!

The band are to release a new single in February via Island records to celebrate almost a quarter of a century of making music and can be seen live at the following dates later this month:

The Christians UK Tour Dates:

Jan 21 – Huntingdon Hall, Worcester
Jan 22 – The Bush Hall, London
Jan 29 – Whelans, Dublin
Jan 30 – Spring & Airbrake, Belfast
Jan 31 – Portrush Playhouse

For more information visit www.thechristianslive.co.uk

Paw Paw - Wired OK

Paw Paw release electro pop single, Wired OK on Albino Recordings as limited edition 12” vinyl and digital download.

This sugar-coated electro/synth pop song from Paw Paw is a  sweet catchy pop song with echoes of the 1980’s electro pop of Heaven 17 with a hint of the wonderful Little Boots.

Wired OK’s original release was scuppered by record company distribution woes, so the paws have been flexing their musical muscles dj-ing and remixing. But growing underground support and the 2009 vogue for 1980’s synths, sweet harmonies and dirty electro beats have meant the clamour for a re-release couldn’t be ignored any longer.

Having contributed to records by Boy George, TY, Emma Bunton, So Solid and Sarah Nixey, the trio (Eve, James and Zoe) finally struck out on their own a couple of years ago.

The single is accompanied by a stop-motion promo video, shot in his shed by Mackenzie Crook, star of ‘The Office’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and keen gardener and animator.

Wired OK comes backed by two versions of sci-fi lullaby Strange Reaction, the Day-Glo generation’s very own Lady In Red, including a brutally seductive ‘5AM Dread Mix’ for hardcore insomniacs.

For more information visit www.myspace.com/pawpawmusic

Paw Paw release Wired OK on Monday 26th October thorugh Albino Recordings

Katsen - It Hertz!

Katsen are the electronic synth pop duo of Chris Blackburn & Donna Grimaldi.

Their love of electronic pop music is analogue sounds, synthetic sounding drum machines.

The sound is distinctly 1980s synth pop while Donna’s look is more 1950s chic.

Donna and Chris became friends in 2001 while selling clothes at a craft market in Brighton. Donna’s brilliant mixtapes, with their bold collage covers, caught Chris’ attention and fired his imagination.

For for the first time, after playing two-fingered synth in various bands, he’d met someone with the tastes and talents to compliment his own.

Chris: “We’d get together to listen to records and, after exhausting Donna’s extensive and very cool collection, we’d get out my synths and toy keyboards and create our own sound long into the happy night.”

Interrupted only by Donna running away one summer to join the circus, and Chris teaching acting to ballet dancers, Katsen songs began to form, taking cues from 50s chic, 70s krautrock and the sharper edges of 80s pop.

Following on from cameo appearances in compilations such as Bot POP on Happy Robots records and Electronically Yours Vol.1 via Undo/ EMI, It Hertz! is the full-length offspring of Katsen’s eight-year partnership; the love of the square wave and all things Casio.

It Hertz is their 12 track debut album and includes the cover version I’m In Love With a German Film Star; a UK hit single for The Passion in 1981.

Pre-ordering the album

It Hertz! is available now to pre-order on CD in a gatefold digifile with immediate digital download from www.katsen.com

and the opening track on the album, Lets Build A City is available now as a free-download from Thee SPC website.

For more information and to currently hear cover versions German Film Star and the Cure cover version Play For Today visit the Katsen MySpace page.

Rock En Seine Festival

So there we were sitting in the Buzzin Media office, wondering whether to spend the August Bank holiday stuck in a coast bound traffic jam or sitting in a crowded Carnival bound tube, when we were contacted by the very nice We Are Social girls Sarah, Camille and Sandrine and invited to the Rock En Seine festival in Paris.

Promoting the Little Break Big Difference Eurostar campaign they whisked myself and 10 other music bloggers off to the Rock En Seine festival, via first class Eurostar travel to Paris Gard du Nord – how civilised!  From there it is a short metro ride to the town of Boulogne where the festival is held in a very pretty national reserve park – Domain National de Saint-Cloud – on the banks of the Seine.

If like me you are mature (in body but not mind), still love music, partying, festivals etc but can’t really carry off the unwashed hair and panda eyed look anymore, then I highly recommend this festival as its bizarre location smack, bang in the middle of town, facilitates staying in a very comfortable hotel with clean toilets and comfy beds, while still being in walking distance of the venue.  Of course if you are so lashed you could sleep on a pile of rocks, they also have camping facilities on site.

The venue is compact enough to easily move between the 3 stages and not miss any of the acts, which was great as Friday night’s line up was rammed with my favourite pop acts. Passion Pit, Madness, Bloc Party, Vampire Weekend, Oasis….ahem! And although by no stretch of the imagination could it be called pop, jumping around to the techno thud of Vitalic was a great way to end the first night – along with copious amounts of champagne! But that’s another story…

Passion Pit performed on the Scène De L’Industrie, which was the smallest stage, making  it easy to just stretch out in the sun and listen to their  melodic, electro-pop tracks, although Sleepy Head almost tempted me to my feet!

Vampire Weekend playing on the Grande Scène, attracted a large audience but I still managed to easily get down the front and sing along with the quirky, ambiguous lyrics. Lead singer Ezra Koenig linked each song by conversing with the crowd in such perfect French that I could have sworn it was his native tongue and they finished with my favourite track, Oxford Coma.

Lee Thompson Of Madness Performing Baggy Trousers

My favourite act of the day had to be Madness.   I almost wished I had worn one of my old Rude Girl outfits to join in with the nutty dancing as I spotted several groups of die-hard fan in the crowd sporting Pork Pie hats.

I would defy anyone not to have a huge smile on their face while watching Madness perform, as Suggs’s wide boy charm and the general air of fun pervading from the group is very contagious.

The crowd (British and French) seemed to know all the lyrics to their old ska and pop songs like Our House, Baggy Trousers and Madness and loudly sang along with only a few minor lulls when the hits were interspersed with a few new tracks like NW5.

Oasis were fantastic…..no…wait…it was Madness performing a cracking second set  after being asked to stand in when the arrogant Manc twats had some kind of sibling altercation over who has the biggest monobrow and cancelled their performance 10 minutes before they were due on stage!

And so Oasis have split up….until their egos need re-stroking anyway!  – oh boo hoo!

So that was Friday over as we stumbled euphorically back to our comfy hotel for a few hours rest!