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Archive 05
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101 - 125
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Here
you will gain exclusive access to my own personal record collection! I
try to bring you mp3s of rare tracks, deleted material, long forgotten
artists, total flops and down right obscure shit. Often, my choices were
only available on vinyl or were just plain unreleased, the aim being to
indulge an old fan or inspire a new one. I try not to post up
forthcoming releases or anything that's too readily available. Honest,
Gov!
There's a tenuous thread running through the tracks but
your requests are always welcome and I'll try and squeeze them in amongst my
own fancies... eventually.
Do read all the blurb, as there's often links to extra tracks lurking in
there... ; )
Tracks are only available for a 'limited
time' folks (sometimes months!), so get them while you can!
Now for the science bit! To access the music, please click on 'Download' and
you'll be whisked off to those nice people over at Sharebee.
Tracks are ripped at 192 kbps and wherever possible taken from the
highest quality source available. All of the music offered here has been
purchased by myself and is part of my own collection. Tracks are for
evaluation purposes only and wherever possible, purchasing is always
encouraged. If you own any of the material posted here or anywhere else
on this site and are very cross with me, please
email me with threats and such like...
She was
Frank Butcher's daughter, Diane, in 'Eastenders'. Remember? She ran away and lived on the streets for a bit and she met that lass,
Disa, who had a Geordie accent (she also released a record B.T.W. -
watch this space...). Anyway, when she left 'Eastenders', someone told her to make a record. It got to number 21 so I guess that's not half bad. It's a cover of the
Donna Summer hit. It's got lots of maracas on it. There was no
official follow up single (although there were promos of something called
'Secret' floating around at one point). I don't know what she does now, but
Diane Butcher lives in France with a kid apparently.... It's
Sophie Lawrence!
This
is Betty Everett. She was born November
23rd 1939, in Greenwood, Mississippi and sadly died August 19th 2001, aged
61. She was an African-American R & B singer and pianist. She is best known
for 'The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)', her biggest hit
single from 1964. 'You're No Good' was her debut single from
the same year. The track is on a delightful little box set I picked up the
other week called 'The Chapel Of Love & Other Girl Group Gems',
which I heartily recommend for any fans of the 60's girl group sound. It
features plenty of well-known favourites like The
Shangri-Las and The Dixie Cups,
and some lesser known stuff like The Pearlettes
and The Ladybirds. Pick it up
Menswe@r
were Johnny Dean (vocals),
Chris Gentry (guitar),
Stuart Black (bass),
Matt Everett (drums - Mmmm!) and Simon
White (guitar). They were the first band to appear on 'Top
Of The Pops' without ever having released a record! They were also
the darlings of the short-lived Brit Pop scene in the mid 1990s and were all
from Camden, in London. They got signed to indie label Laurel Records
after only five gigs, appearing on the cover of 'Melody Maker'
before they even entered a recording studio. They generated so much
publicity that even I was caught up in it all, buying a T-shirt and rushing
off to see them live the week before their debut single, 'I'll Manage
Somehow', which was a minor hit, reaching number 75. Their second
single, indie disco favourite 'Daydreamer', peaked at number
14 in the UK charts. The band released their debut album 'Nuisance'
in 1995 and played at the Glastonbury Festival the same year. Further
single releases, 'Stardust' and 'Sleeping In'
(nice video), were also chart hits. A fifth single, the slower 'Being
Brave', gave them their first and only top 10 hit. As Brit Pop
faded, so did the popularity of Menswe@r.
Their final single, 'We Love You', was released in 1996 and
charted at number 22. A second album, 'Hay Tiempo!' was
recorded and released in Japan in 1997 but it was to be their final release.
Guitarist Simon White went on to manage
the bands Bloc Party,
Engineers and
Fields, whilst drummer Matt Everett
joined the news team at London's Xfm radio station.
Strum
was born and brought up in Chingford, Essex. Her parents are both
half-Polish, with Belgian blood from her father's side and Italian from her
mother's. As a child, she was quick to discover her love for music, picked
up a guitar and began performing Elastica
and L7 tracks, before experimenting with
computer-aided productions. She studied English at King's College
London and blagged her way into performance slots at local gigs. After a few
years performing in and around London, she contributed vocals to dance
tracks by Thrillseekers,
Lange and Ed
Case and signed her first record contract with WEA in
2002. There she co-wrote and recorded an electronic pop album, working with
producers such as Xenomania. A single
release, 'Addicted', was scheduled with a video added to T.V.
music channels and promos sent to radio, alongside an album sampler. The
single was cancelled due to lack of media support and
Alexis was released from her contract soon after. The album
sampler features the tracks 'Addicted', 'Coming On
Strong', 'Rock This Disco', 'Still Standing'
(here!) and 'Nothing Good about This Goodbye'. Two of the
tracks were later recorded by other artists; 'Still Standing'
features on Kylie Minogue's 2003 album,
'Body Language' (lazily, she just sings over the top of
Alexis' own version with
Strum's vocals still on the track!) and
'Nothing Good About This Goodbye' features on
Rachel Stevens' 2005 album, 'Come
And Get It'. Alexis' debut album
was also set to include tracks 'Still', 'Keep Up'
and 'Rodeo'. A CDR of works in progress/demos of these has
been seen on eBay and the tracks have all leaked online since.
Alexis is currently working on solo
material for a new label.
Voodoo
Queens were a North London-based girl band, of Asian/Indian
background, who were recognised as part of the Riot Grrrl movement. They
used their colourful brand of punky indie music to attack sexism and the
burgeoning super model culture, as well as to praise chocolate and handbags.
The line up was Anjali Bhatia ,
Ella Drauglis,
Stefania Lucchesini, Rajni Bhatia
and Anjula Bhasker.
Rebecca Lunn later stepped in to replace
Anjula who had to leave to visit family
in India. Anjali had previously been the
drummer in a similar indie outfit, Mambo Taxi.
After their first gig, Voodoo Queens
were offered a Peel Session by DJ John Peel,
which they recorded in January 1993, whilst Anjali
was still holding down a job at Virgin Megastore in Oxford
Street. Other radio and TV shows were quick to catch on, notably ITV's late
night music show 'The Beat' and Channel 4's 'Naked City',
hosted by Caitlin Moran and
Johnny Vaughan. Their debut single,
'Supermodel Superficial', in 1993 (issued with a free eating
disorder information fanzine) was followed by their tribute to
Keanu Reeves, 'Kenuewee Head',
both singles reaching the number one spot in the indie chart. A debut album,
'Chocolate Revenge', captured the fun spirit of their live
gigs (at many of which they threw chocolate bars out into the audience!),
and was released on Too Pure Records (Stereolab,
PJ Harvey). New material surfaced in
1994 with a double A-side release, 'F Is For Fame'/'I'm
Not Bitter (I Just Want To Kill You)', which contained a third
track, this dreamy, ballroom-esque cover version of 'You'll Lose A
Good Thing'. The track was originally by
Barbra Lynn and can be heard in the 1987
John Water's film, 'Hairspray'. A year passed
before another release, the 7"-only 'Eat The Germs', in 1995
and the band eventually broke up later the same year.
Anjali went on to release several limited 12" singles as a solo
artist for Wijjja Records, with a more dance orientated sound. She
has since issued three albums for the label and is currently working on a
4th, as well as composing music for T.V. ads and DJing around the world.
Here's her
'Whispering
Your Name' was Alison Moyet's
12th UK single release and charted at number 18 in 1994. This is the
extended version. It was lifted from her 4th album, 'Essex',
which was a difficult album for her to record and release. Her label Sony
insisted that many 'Essex' tracks be re-recorded, re-produced
and re-mixed to create a more 'commercial' package that would produce more
hits. The video for the single 'Whispering Your Name' featured
Dawn French (who had already appeared
along side Jennifer Saunders in earlier
video. 'Love Letters') miming and disrupting
Moyet's own performance.
Moyet's look around this time (peroxide
bob, designer tailored suits, vivid make-up - particularly in the video for
follow-up single 'Getting Into Something') was very glamorous
and would appear to have been influenced by painter
Tamara De Lempicka's artwork and the hair and fashions of the
1930s. For all the material released in this era was essentially produced by
Alison with a gun to her head, I do feel that the tracks on
'Essex' are some of her best recordings. I do hope she wont hate
me for thinking that... Trivia! Her former Yazoo
partner, Vince Clarke, contributed a
remix to this single package.
Time
for some sophisti-pop, courtesy of Swing Out Sister.
They're best known for their 1987 worldwide hit, 'Breakout',
which managed to reach the US top 10. The group was formed by
Andy Connell (keyboards) and
Martin Jackson (drums), and were later
joined by ex-fashion designer Corinne Drewery
(vocals). Their debut album, 'It's Better To Travel',
a stylish mix of jazz and polished electro pop, with horns, synths, strings
and xylophones, was released in May 1987. It reached number one on the UK
album charts and featured the singles 'Blue Mood',
'Breakout', 'Surrender' and 'Fooled By A Smile'.
Jackson jumped ship during the recording
of the follow up and from here on in, Swing Out
Sister were a duo. 'You On My Mind' is taken from
their second album, 'Kaleidoscope World', from 1989, which
found the group taking inspiration from Easy Listening music, such as
Burt Bacharach,
John Barry and Jimmy Webb.
This single sort've sounds a bit like Sandie Shaw
and makes me want to take a balloon ride in the sunshine. I can't remember
if in fact there are air balloons in the video, maybe that's where I'm
getting that from. Anyway, it's great. 'Get In Touch With Yourself'
arrived in 1992, a further adventure into retro sounds, now with
strong dance rhythms and 70s funk on the menu, including a glorious cover of
the Dusty Springfield classic 'Am
I The Same Girl?' (a number 21 hit). Subsequent album releases ('The
Living Return', 'Shapes And Patterns', 'Filth
And Dreams', 'Somewhere Deep In The Night') would see
their popularity in the Western world decline but the pair are still
recording and releasing new material to great reception in foreign
territories.
I
used to go out with someone who had a shocking CD collection... one of the
few CDs he had was a crappy Marilyn Monroe
budget compilation which I would sometimes play out of sheer desperation
(there's only so many times you can listen to Annie
Lennox's 'Diva')... Anyway, 'Diamonds Are A
Girls Best Friend' reminds me of brushing my teeth at his place (?).
That's got absolutely nothing to do with this track, 'I'm Thru With
Love', which appeared on the B-side of 'I Wanna Be Loved By
You' when it was released posthumously in 1978. Far from the trained
vocalist, Monroe brings a whole lot of
breathless history to the speakers today so you don't mind a few bum notes
and clumsy timing. She was a star. And for the record, I think it she was
murdered!
FroSTed
were a US, West Coast punk band formed in the mid 1990's by ex-Go
Go Jane Wiedlin. The 'ST' is
a nod to her affection for Sci-Fi T.V. show, 'Star Treck'. As
a change from her own solo outings since she quit
The Go-Go's in 1984, FroSTed signed
a record deal with UK indie label Roadrunner Records and released the
single, 'Call Me Crazy' and the album, 'Cold'.
Not getting much support from the label, the band sank without trace despite
favourable reviews and Jane eventually
went back to recording on her own (see lacklustre 'Kissproof World'
from 2001). 'My Boyfriend' is a humorous little rock skit of a
track from the FroSTed album which is
worth the entrance fee alone ("My boyfriend was a teenage hustler!").
Jane did some voiceover work for T.V.
after her stint with FroSTed, notably
'King Of The Hill', 'Batman: The Animated Series' and
'Pinky And the Brain'.
X-Ray
Spex were a colourful and discordant punk band that existed
between 1976 to 1979. During this time, they released five cracking singles;
'Oh Bondage, Up Yours', 'Identity', 'The Day The
World Turned Day-Glo', 'Germ Free Adolescents',
'Highly Inflammable', and one classic album, 'Germ Free
Adolescents'. Surprisingly, the album was not released in the States
until 1992! The band featured singer Poly Styrene
(born Marian Joan Elliott) on vocals,
Jak Airport (Jack
Stafford) on guitars, Paul Dean
on bass, Paul 'B. P.' Hurding on drums
and Lora Logic (born
Susan Whitby) on saxophone. The sax and
Poly Styrene's distinctive nails-down-a-blackboard voice became
the group's signature sound. I would say that this is one of my favourite
albums, I particular favour 'Highly Inflamable' and
'Warrior In woolworths', not to mention the iconic sleeve art. I
finally discovered the album in the 90s via a Boy
George article in some music magazine, in which he raved about
the LP. He was right. Anyway, Poly Styrene
left the band in 1979 to release a solo album, 'Translucence'
(which I've not heard yet), before joining the Hare Krishna movement.
Logic left the band in 1977 to form a
new group called Essential Logic.
Hurding and London
went on to form electro/new romantic group
Classix Nouveaux, while
Paul Dean didn't do anything.
Essex
sisters Shelly and
Karen Poole are the daughters of
The Tremeloes'
Brian Poole. They became Alisha's Attic
when Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)
discovered their home made demo tape. Impressed, Mercury Records
signed the girls and they began a successful stint in the singles chart with
'I Am, I Feel' in 1996, the first of nine singles to make the UK top
40. They released three albums, 'Alisha Rules The World'
(1996), 'Illumina' (1998) and 'The House We Built'
(2001), before calling it a day when Mercury failed to take up
the option of a fourth album. 'Still Life' is a cover of the
epic Suede number from their 'Dog
Man Star' album and was contributed to the Childline charity
album in 1996. Karen has since been busy
writing tracks for well-known artists, including
Will Young, Sugababes,
Amy Studt and
Kylie Minogue. Shelly is
working on solo material for future release.
Now
That's What I Call Romo! Dex Dexter were
an band formed in late 1994 via an ad in the pages of 'Melody Maker'.
The line-up was Xavior (vocals),
Even (keyboards),
Gjeih (guitar) and Gage
(bass). They were augmented by female drummer Elle
for live engagements. The band were named by singer
Xavior, after the character Dex Dexter, a lover of
Alexis Colby, from 80's U.S. soap opera
'Dynasty'. By 1995 they were up and gigging in the London
area. A two track demo tape containing the songs 'Chemistry Of Youth'
and 'V.D' was handed to Kevin Skinny,
promoter of the popular Club Skinny night, and the band were invited
to come and play at a future date. This gig, supporting Brighton-based
Plastic Fantastic (coming soon!), would
kick-start the Romo movement, as then-'Melody Maker'
journalist Simon Price (DJing that
night), decided to do a special front-cover Romo feature in November 1995.
Dex Dexter got themselves a management
team and readied themselves to ride on the growing media profile. The
'Romo On The March' tour in March 1996 resulted in substantial record company
interest and Dex Dexter decided to sign
with the new Trade 2 label, owned by Island Records. During
the summer of 1996 the band began recording and issued one single,
'Another Car, Another Car Crash', in early 1997 (fabulous artwork!).
However, due to hissyfits and friction surrounding songwriting decisions,
they split later the same year. Singer Xavior
was retained by Trade 2/Island as a solo artist but was
dropped in 1998, his finished solo album remaining unreleased. Around this
time, he also appeared in the Todd Haines
film 'Velvet Goldmine' as the character Pearl.
Plumstead
lasses Jacqui Blake and
Carrie Askew were teenage school mates
and partners in crime. They wrote a fanzine together, 'Last Exit',
all about their favourite band at the time, Manic
Street Preachers. They later turned up in their video for the
'Little Baby Nothing' single. Combining a poppy girlishness
and a love of all things kitsch, plastic and pink, with a punk
sensibility, Shampoo blagged their way
onto Bob and
Pete from Saint Etienne's new
indie label, Icerink. Their debut single, 'Blisters And Bruises'
(on pink vinyl, of course!) came in 1993 and a second single,
'Bouffant Headbutt' (my favourite) followed. Favourable reviews in
the music press got them signed to EMI's Food off shoot and a
more polished sound was revealed on hit singles 'Trouble',
'Viva La Megababes' and 'Delicious'. Their album,
'We Are Shampoo', continued their pop culture obsessed lyrical
themes and was a massive success in Japan. By the time a second set was
released, 'Girl Power' in 1996, the UK had lost interest and
Spice Girls were just around the corner.
Shampoo were still doing well in Asia
and made it into 1995's 'Richest Women In Britain' list. A third and final
album, 'Absolute Shampoo', was released via the internet in
2000 and the duo disbanded shortly afterwards. This track was the B-side to
the single 'Delicious'. Trivia! The name 'Shampoo'
is said to have derived from the pair's schoolyard nickname, 'the shampoo
girls', due to their repeated retort that they were 'washing their hair'
whenever the boys would ask them out. : )
"Ladies
& Gentlemen... Miss Grace Jones"... Here we have a proper star. A
singer, an actress, a model, a style icon and a fierce lady whose reputation
precedes her, and then some! Her striking looks carried her into a
successful modelling career in the 1970s which then evolved into a recording
career as she build up a fan base performing disco numbers in the nightclubs
of New York city, in particular Studio 54. The 1980's were her decade
as she conquered the charts, the press, the catwalks and the cinema screen
(she landed the role of deadly May Day in the 1985 James Bond
movie 'A View To A Kill'). She also did that fabulous T.V. ad
for Honda, I think, where her head was a garage or something
and her mouth opened wide to let a car drive into it. Remember that? : )
She was the champion of the pillbox-hat style hair do, too, let's not
forget. Her records were as distinctive as her looks, ranging from OTT disco
numbers, to tribal-reggae-pop and icy new wave. Her voice alternated between
two extremes; A monotonous talking/singing ('Private Life',
'Walking In The Rain', 'The Apple Stretching'); and
a soaring soprano ('La Vie En Rose', 'Slave To The
Rhythm'). One of her best known hits, 'Pull Up To The Bumper',
is about, er, well, a big black cock, isn't it? Lets call a spade a spade.
This is the long, groovy, practically instrumental 'Garage Mix'. Trivia! In
1981, Grace Jones slapped chat show host
Russell Harty right across the face live
on air, after he turned to interview other guests. She didn't like being
ignored... "Here's Grace!".
Eurythmics'
Annie Lennox and
Dave Stewart released their 7th critically
acclaimed album, 'Savage', in 1987. The release saw a fairly
radical change within the group's sound and image.
Lennox has said that the previous effort, 'Revenge',
was a 'Stewart album' in sound, whilst 'Savage' was
more of a 'Lennox one'. The songs on 'Savage' are
structured around drum loops and synths, while all guitar parts remain
buried in the mix. Lyrically the songs are darker, revealing a more
obsessive side to Lennox's writing. The
record was accompanied by a video album, directed entirely by
Sophie Muller (Stewart's
wife Siobhan Fahey's best friend), with
a promo clip for each song. These vary in quality and follow the story of
Lennox's character of a frustrated housewife-turned-vamp, as
established in the amazing video for 'Beethoven (I Love To Listen To)'.
This is my favourite Eurythmics
single/video by far. Lennox
portrays a dowdy, middle-class housewife in her 1970s apartment. She is
carrying out her domestic role (cleaning, cooking, knitting) but is
undermined by two personalities; a naughty little girl and a big bloke in
drag. Unable to cope, she breaks down and undergoes a transformation into a
raunchy vamp character in heavy make-up and a sexy sequined gown, effectively
merging the three personas of the little girl, the drag artist and the
housewife. She then sets about trashing the apartment and struts out onto
the streets below, laughing maniacally.... Much less commercial than the
previous albums, 'Savage' was mostly ignored in the U.S.,
while sales in the UK were slow but moderate. The album also features the
brazen, sexually charged, campy rocker 'I Need A Man', and the
big hit single of the piece, the delicate 'You Have Placed A Chill In
My Heart'. This is the 'Dance Mix' of
'Beethoven', from the CD single. Trivia! The 'Beethoven'
video made number 98 in a 'Rolling Stone' magazine chart
of the Top 100 Videos Of All Time, published in the 1990s.
Clit-Rock!
Skunk Anansie (Anansie
from the famous Indian folk tales, Skunk
to make them sound 'nastier') were formed in 1994 by
Skin (Deborah Dyer
- Deborah?! Noooo... she doesn't look like a
Deborah!), Cass (Richard
Lewis), Ace (Martin
Kent) and Mark Richardson.
They got two of their tracks featured in the 1995 science fiction film,
'Strange Days'; 'Feed' and debut single
'Selling Jesus', which they perform in the film towards the end.
They signed with One Little Indian Records and developed a reputation
for being quite politically outspoken and anti-religion. But stop! In
amongst all the heavy rock and angry noize, there were genuine moments of
softness and tenderness... beautiful acoustic moments like this...
'100 Ways To Be A Good Girl (Anti Matter Mix)' is taken from CD2 of
the 'Weak' single package, which features stripped down
versions of 4 tracks from their debut album, 'Paranoid & Sunburnt',
including 'Rise Up', the triumphant and euphoric closing
track. It comes highly recommended - hear samples and grab a copy
Taken
from Kim Wilde's only album not to be
released on CD in the UK, 'Catch As Catch Can', this is
'Sparks'. My favourite two Kim
albums are this one, and 'Teases & Dares'
from 1985. She was looking very new wave and had big dirty hair with dark
roots and was far from a polished pop star in the mid-80s... a bit like
Bananarama were before the
Stock, Aitken & Waterman years. Anyway,
'Catch As Catch Can' was only issued on CD in Japan until the
late 1990s when a three disc box set of her first three albums,
'Originals', was issued in Germany briefly. It's a nice set with
card replica sleeves, too! The ten tracks on the album are widely available
actually on various compilations, so it's possible to still 'have' the album
in one form or another. 'Sparks' was not one of the singles
from this album (mistake!) and bares a passing resemblance to
Michael Sembello's 'Maniac',
which is from the 'Flashdance' soundtrack. 'Catch As
Catch Can' was Kim's last for
the RAK label and she moved to MCA in 1985. Great
Kim Wilde resource
Amazulu
were great! They were a mostly female ska-pop band featuring
Anne-Marie Ruddock (vocals),
Margo Sagov (guitar),
Clare Kenny (bass),
Sharon Bailey (percussion),
Lesley Beach (saxophone) and
Nardo Bailey (the only male member of
the group - drums). Their first UK single, 'Cairo', charted at
the lower end of the Top 40 but greater success was forthcoming in July 1985
with 'Excitable', which reached the UK Top 20. Other hits
followed, including 'Don't You Just Know It', 'Too Good
To Be Forgotten' (their biggest hit, reaching number 5) and
'Montego Bay'. Their self-titled debut album was released on
Island Records in 1986 and the CD format has become quite collectable.
There was also a video album released at the same time probably due to their
distinctive, colourful visual appeal (dreadlocks, hair accessories, bright
baggy fashions). They were regulars on T.V., especially 'Top Of The
Pops', 'The Wide Awake Club' and even 'The Young
Ones'. After a surprise acrimonious 'break-up',
Anne-Marie, Sharon
and Lesley briefly carried on as a trio,
releasing a cover of 'Mony Mony' in 1987 as
Amazulu II.
Claire Kenny subsequently became a session player and part of
touring bands for Shakespear's Sister
and Sinead O'Connor in the 1990s.
Powder
were a snarling Brit Pop band who existed between 1994 and 1997 and released
three singles on Parkway Records. Signed in late 1994 by well known
music PR agents John Best and Phill Savidge, they were the
first band on the label that would go on to host four-piece indie-femmes
Fluffy. Powder
were fronted by Pearl Lowe,
with songwriters Mark Thomas on guitar
and Tim McTighe on bass. Their first
single, '20th Century Gods', a 'Select' magazine
'Single Of The Month', sold out of its limited pressing of 1,500 within two
days. This was eventually followed by the release of 'Afrodisiac'
in June 1995 and an appearance on prime-time BBC music special,
'Britpop Now'. Parkway's offices were situated in the middle
of Camden, a location which was becoming a comical breeding ground for
so-called 'Scenester' bands. Powder were
subjected to a fair amount of criticism from the music press as a result,
although in fact, none of the band actually lived there. A support slot
touring with Menswe@r, who were at that
time under heavy criticism from 'NME' and 'Melody Maker',
followed. Power's third and final
single, 'Deep Fried' (backed with this cover of
Mick Jagger's track from the film
'Performance'), was issued in November 1995 and the band were forced
to stop touring due to Pearl's pregnancy
(her second). By the time she was ready to tour again, the band had broken
up. Powder officially announced their
split in 1997 and issued a retrospective compilation album, 'MCMXCV',
featuring all 8 tracks from their three single releases. A 9th track,
'Has Been (Demo)', originally featured in issue 14 of indie
CD/Magazine hybrid, 'Volume', was not included...
Pearl went on to front
Lodger, a super group of sorts with her
husband, Danny from
Supergrass and both
Neil Carlill and
Will Foster from Delicatessen.
Pearl has also recently been working on
a solo album. P.S. B.T.W., nice sleeve...
'Beauty
And The Beat' is the debut album from the Californian all-female
band The Go-Go's, whose line up included
Belinda Carlisle and
Jane Wiedlin. Originally released in 1981, the album was preceded
by the single 'We Got the Beat', which became a massive hit in
Europe and the United States. When the album was finally released, it
exceeded all expectations when it steadily climbed the Billboard chart,
eventually reaching number one and staying there for six weeks.
'Beauty and the Beat' is now widely considered one of the
cornerstone albums of 80's new wave music. It was the first album entirely
written and performed by an all-female band to top the charts - pretty
amazing stuff! 'Lust To Love' is my own favourite track off
the album, with 'Automatic' coming a close second. Another
single lifted from the album was 80's playlist staple, 'Our Lips Are
Sealed', co-written by Wieldin
and Terry Hall (then of
Fun Boy Three fame). The album is still
in print and can be picked up
Britain's
answer to Marilyn Monroe,
Diana Dors (real name
Diana Mary Fluck - "They asked me to
change my name. I suppose they were afraid that if my real name, Diana Fluck,
was in lights, and one of the lights blew...") was a saucy blonde
bombshell of the cheesecake variety. She was born in Swindon and became a
big-ish star in the 1950's, bringing a bit of cheeky glamour to Hollywood,
although she was never fully appreciated at the time. None the less, her
success was such that at the age of 20, she was the youngest registered
owner of a Rolls Royce in the UK! How glamorous! Her best on-screen
performance and one of her best known films is 'Yield To The Night'
from 1956. Dors plays a murderess
sentenced to be hung who spends her last days in confined to a cell in a
British women's prison. Diana made an
album of jazzy cocktail numbers in 1960 called 'Swingin' Dors'.
The original LP came on sexy red vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with 'doors' (geddit?).
It's a bit rare nowadays and there's been no CD pressing. This track is my
favourite off it. Trivia! Dors image
turns up in the world of pop music several times, including appearing on
The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band' album cover (the blonde in the front row on the
right in the gold dress and white gloves), the sleeve of
The Smiths' 'Singles' album
and in the Adam & The Ants video for
'Prince Charming' as the Fairy Godmother.
She
was her off of The Beautiful South!
Briana Corrigan was the first female
singer for the band, before the one with the short dark hair (Jacqui),
from 1988 to 1994. You'll know her from their hits 'A Little Time'
(the group's only number 1), 'You Keep It All In' and
'Bell-Bottomed Tear'. She left the band when she disapproved of
many of the lyrics, in particular '36D' from 1992's
'0890', and the proposed songs for their fourth album, 'Miaow'.
After she left the band, she recorded her own solo album, 'When My
Arms Wrap You Round', in 1996 for EastWest Reocrds. The lead
single, 'Love Me Now', was promoted with a lovely nautical
themed video which was shown as a 'Hot Shot' on 'The Chart Show'.
It failed to make the top 40. The album also failed to chart. It's a
pleasant enough effort but a bit weak in places I have to admit. 'Some
Big, Big Truth' is one of the better compositions on there. A second
single, 'Fool', was prepared and pressed but ultimately
cancelled, yet copies are out there (I have one). It's of note because it
features two B-sides which are both very good and otherwise unreleased, plus
a nice photo on the front to boot. She now lives with her partner in Dublin,
Ireland and isn't a popstar anymore.
A blue print for
Steps, Deuce
were a day-glow 90's pop act assembled by Tom
Watkins when his PA Kelly O'Keefe
expressed an interest in becoming a pop star. She brought in her best
friend, Lisa Armstrong and auditions for
the 2 boys yielded Paul Holmes and
Craig Young. Popular with the gays,
Deuce released 4 singles and one album
thru 1995-96 before calling it a day. Their second single, 'I Need
You', was entered into the selection show for the Eurovision Song
Contest in 1995 but finished in third place (Love
City Groove winning) yet it charted at number 10 in April that
year and remains their best single. After the album 'On The Loose',
Kelly quit and the band replaced her
with visually similar Amanda Perkins
and
moved to Mike Stock's Love This
label for one final release, 'No Surrender', which wasn't
successful and that's where the story ends. Trivia!
Lisa Armstrong, now a make up artist, is the long time
girlfriend of Ant McPartlin of
Ant and Dec fame.
This little rarity
originally turned up on
the B-side of Lush's 'Ladykillers'
7" and is a cover version of The Rubinoos
song (who?). It's also included on a compilation CD called 'Tupolino'
(pictured) which came out in Canada and Japan and
collects together the 'Lovelife'-era B-sides. Much like
earlier compilation, the Japan-only 'Cookie', which did the
same with the 'Split'-era leftovers. Lush sadly called it a day after 8 successful years with
4AD
Records when drummer Chris Acland
committed suicide. These days, Emma Anderson
is one half of