| CMU Daily - on the inside Tuesday 12th December |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Love has probation terminated, weeps
- Carey to sue Mary
- Wrestler expands Jay-Z hand gesture lawsuit
- Monkeys write songs
- Mozart available for free
- Album review: Sonic Youth - The Destroyed Room: B-Sides And Rarities
- Winehouse, Jay Sean, Sutherland, take part in Hugo Urban Rules
- Princes confirm Diana concert
- Muse add another Wembley date
- Keane secret gig that's not a secret
- The Irrepressibles secret gig - the venue's a secret
- Prince to play Super Bowl
- Bob Dylan tour
- Rakes return
- More Enter Shikari dates
- 'Kid A' to be played by orchestra
- Flaming Lips fans' chance to dance
- Cocker guests at Inspired By gig
- Alex Smoke to launch record label
- Up to 100 House Of Blues employees due to go post Live Nation takeover
- EMI reach video deal with Yahoo! Music
- BMI sign up to SpiralFrog
- Sky boss to jump to Iostar
- Album review: Airport Girl: Slow Light
- Emma Bunton's album flops
- Lots of Last Christmas covers
- Costello and Krall have twins
- Verve hit makes everyone cry, apparently
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IT'S THE END OF THE YEAR AS WE KNOW IT>>
With Christmas even closer than it was when I last said that Christmas was even closer, let's continue with our run through the ten albums which got the CMU team most excited in 2006, with album three of ten.
FAVOURITE ALBUM OF 2006 #3: Jeremy Warmsley - The Art Of Fiction (Warner/Transgressive)
Whenever I write about artists we love I always seem to find myself saying "this artist's music is very hard to classify" - which either means I'm pretty bad at classifying music, or that if you want to appear in a CMU favourite artists list you need to make music that doesn't fit into any pre-defined genre. Either way, Jeremy Warmsley is another artist whose music is hard to classify - certainly you couldn't say his songs are like those you would probably expect if the words 'singer' and 'songwriter' were used to prefix his name without any further clarification. On his MySpace Warmsley himself says "I write songs in my head and then make them come out of a computer", but when we chatted about his album he admitted even that isn't a particularly good description, because when you talk about computers you expect some kind of thumping electro music, which Warmsley definitely does not make. Of course that's why MySpace has become a very useful tool (well, when the player function works, which I find is less and less since they 'improved' it), because rather than me rambling in this inane fashion you can go and listen to Jeremy's music for yourself. To be honest, his quirky and eclectic songs probably won't be to everyone's taste, but we love them. And having enjoyed tracks from his early EP in 2005, and the subsequent singles, and having enjoyed even more a Borderline gig earlier this year, it was with a considerable degree of delight that we opened the jiffy bag containing a copy of his debut long player, 'The Art Of Fiction', back in September. Bringing together many of those tracks we had grown to love, and a few more too, it confirmed why we really rate Jeremy Warmsley. It's a truly innovative collection of songs, demonstrating a kind of lyrical and musical imagination and experimentation that makes Warmsley not only one of the UK's best contemporary singer songwriters, but also so much more than just a singer songwriter. Which is why we wanted to spend some quality chatting time with him. And why 'The Art Of Fiction' is CMU's next favourite album of 2006.
Read our interview with Jeremy Warmsley here:
http://www.thebeatsbar.co.uk/albumsoftheyear
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CLASSIFIEDS>>
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CMU RECOMMENDS>>
REMIX NIGHT DECEMBER
And so to the final Remix Night of the year, another special one, taking over Cargo in East London this Friday, 15 Dec, from 9pm to 3am. Live this time round are Matt and Aston of The Freestylers - who surely need no introduction. And you'll all surely know that, while these guys are behind one of the best breaks albums of the year, it is the live Freestylers show that is most exciting. Matt himself puts it this way: "the sound we get together can best be described as a 3D effect to our albums". Remix Night is your last chance to catch The Freestylers live before they head off for a World Tour, beginning in the sunny sunny Southern hemisphere. Supporting The Freestylers' live show will be top production duo Nightbreed on the decks, plus Richie and Matt from Infadels will also join Eddy TM in spinning top tunes through to 3am. Press info from Leyline.
More info>> http://www.leylinepromotions.com/remixnight
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MYSPACE OF THE DAY: CONNAN AND THE MOCKASINS
I was alerted to the existence of Connan And The Mockasins by a review written by one of CMU's trusty writers. I can't claim to always agree with every word our reviewers write, because sometimes they dis bands I like, which can be upsetting, but it doesn't happen often. What happens more often, in fact, is that one of our writers will review something that has passed me by, and when they liked it, I will generally try and check it out. So I checked out this band's MySpace when our reviewer seemed to think they were okay, and decided that I liked them too. Not only that, but they're from New Zealand. And I've never tipped a band from New Zealand before in this way. I suspect their music is something of an acquired taste (although to be fair, it only took me a few minutes to acquire it), it being sort of slow and folky and bluesy and psychedelic. But I like it. And they've got a crazy name.
http://www.myspace.com/connanandthemockasins
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LOVE HAS PROBATION TERMINATED, WEEPS
Courtney Love's probation orders relating to previously reported assault and drugs charges have been terminated a year early by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rand Rubin. The singer wept as the decision was announced, and she thanked the judge before apologising for crying in court. Love's lawyer Howard Weitzman said yesterday "Courtney stepped up to the plate, turned her life around and is on the road to releasing her new record and hopefully getting hired to act in films".
As you will remember, Love pleaded no contest in 2005 to assaulting musician Kristin King, as well as possession of prescription painkillers, and one count of being under the influence of cocaine. She was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to complete anger management and drug rehab programmes, and was banned from coming within 100 yards of the aforementioned Kristin King.
King's lawyers argued against ending the probation in court on Monday. Attorney Gloria Allred recounted the story of how Love assaulted her client at the home of Love's ex-boyfriend Jim Barber back in Apr 2004, telling the court: "Ms Love came in and picked up a large glass whiskey bottle from the coffee table and poured all the contents of the bottle onto Ms King's body as she lay on the couch. The bottle then hit Ms King on the left cheekbone and temple. Ms Love also picked up a large lit candle from the coffee table and threw it at Ms King".
She added that Love's substance abuse problems could not "excuse or justify an unwarranted vicious attack on another human being. We are glad Ms. Love has received the help she needs, but we also felt the protective order should continue."
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CAREY TO SUE MARY
Mariah Carey has threatened to take legal action against porn actress Mary Carey to prevent her from trade-marking her similar stage name for audio and video recordings, in the belief that fans might get confused between the two performers if the adult star's trademark application is successful.
Mary Carey, real name Mary Cook, says she's not backing down, however. She told Reuters "I'm ready to battle Mariah over this because I've been Mary Carey for a long time. It's kind of funny because I'm a porn star and I've been being myself for a long time. I think she's being silly."
Mary's lawyer, David Beitchman, says he doesn't think Mariah will succeed if she does indeed take the case to court. He said: "My first thought was, does Mariah Carey realise what her lawyer is comparing her to and are they seriously concerned? Do they seriously think the fans are going to be confused?"
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WRESTLER EXPANDS JAY-Z HAND GESTURE LAWSUIT
Now, an update for those of you with very good memories when it comes to hip hop litigation. As previously reported, a US wrestler called Diamond Dallas Page is currently pursuing legal action against Jay-Z over that 'diamond hand gesture' the rapper uses. Page claims the gesture is a rip off of his 'diamond cutter' hand gesture, which he patented in the late nineties, and he is suing Jay for trademark and copyright infringement.
The update on the story is that a federal judge has just given Page permission to add various companies related to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Wear empire - ie Rocawear, Roc Apparel Group LLC, Urban Menswear LLC and Rocawear Licensing LLC - to the lawsuit, because the rapper recently used the disputed hand gesture to promote a Roc-A-Wear clothing line. Which possibly wasn't wise, given the lawsuit.
Jay's people are yet to comment on the expansion of the legal action.
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MONKEYS WRITE SONGS
We gave them a typewriter, and despite not producing the complete works of Shakespeare, Arctic Monkeys say they've written six songs for a new album, though whether they actually used the typewriter or not is unclear. The names of the tracks include: 'D is for Danger', 'Plastic Tramp', 'The Bakery Song', 'Balaclava' and 'This House Is A Circus.'
So now you know. Frontman Alex Turner has a good feeling about the last track there, 'This House Is A Circus', telling the Observer: There's something about it. Maybe it's just new, but it's just exciting. It's got some good rhymes in. 'This house is a circus... berserk as fuck.' I suppose it's a place you keep going back to - it could be an actual physical building, I suppose, or a headspace you go into."
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MOZART AVAILABLE FOR FREE
All of Mozart's musical scores have been made available free for the first time ever. A digital version of the 'New Mozart Edition', published by German publishing house Barenreiter, can now be downloaded from the website of the International Mozart Foundation, which is based in the composer's Austrian hometown of Salzburg. Barenreiter were paid $400,000 for the digital publication rights to the score. Programme director Ulrich Leisinger told Reuters that the website chalked up 45,000 hits in the first two hours after the scores became available.
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ALBUM REVIEW: Sonic Youth - The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities (Universal)
Sonic Youth have been pushing the boundaries of music for nearly 25 years now; always confounding expectations and never releasing anything that could be tagged 'commercial'. And so in keeping with this tradition, amongst the usual Christmas rush of 'best of' compilations and 'all-time greatest' albums, they've decided to put out an album that's guaranteed to completely avoid the general winter merriment. 'The Destroyed Room' is a cherry-picked collection of what they see as their finest rare and unreleased tracks - 12 of them in total. It follows the release of 'Rather Ripped' earlier in the year, arguably one of their more accessible works, and an album that appealed to more than just the melody-absent, feedback hungry stereotype of a Sonic Youth fan. The stereotypes are likely to be pleased by this release, though, with opening track 'Fire Engine Dream' being a 10 minute plus, magnum opus of mind-curdling experimentation. Following this, they unleash a blast of post-rock in 'Fauxhimians', a delicate (by Sonic Youth standards), nearly melodious piece in 'Kim's Chords' and the bizarrely named 'Three Part Sectional Love Seat' from the even more bizarrely named 'Noho Furniture Sessions'. So while it's only likely to appeal to a certain demographic of music fan - the Sonic Youth obsessive - this is a release that shows that they're a band that are still relevant, still in their prime and still as unique as ever. OS
Release date: 11 Dec
Press contact: Stone Immaculate [all]
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WINEHOUSE, JAY SEAN, SUTHERLAND, TAKE PART IN HUGO URBAN RULES
Amy Winehouse, Jay Sean and SJ Steve Sutherland are all set to take part in the second phase of nationwide urban music programme Hugo Urban Rules, which will head to Birmingham on 21 and 22 Feb next year. The programme, which aims to educate, develop and showcase new talent, will see the three stars performing an exclusive concert at Birmingham's Custard Factory on 22 Feb, hosted by Radio 1Xtra's Twin B, whilst Winehouse and Sutherland will take part in a Q&A session.
Various other masterclasses will take place over the course of the two day event, on subjects such as vocal coaching, choreography and the music business. To participate in the event, musicians need to upload music to http://www.hugofragrances.com or post in a demo by 6 Feb. An expert panel will then shortlist the most promising acts to attend the auditions and masterclasses in Birmingham.
Once there, one winner will be selected to support Amy Winehouse and Jay Sean at the aforementioned gig, record a track with a professional producer, and have one of their tracks included on a CD of urban music tracks to be given away with HUGO Fragrances in Spring 2007.
Music fans can also apply for tickets for the concert at http://www.hugofragrances.com.
Press info on all this from Spring PR.
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PRINCES CONFIRM DIANA CONCERT
So, we've had Prince William on the phone asking us to tell you that the previously reported concert in memory of the late Princess Diana will take place on 1 Jul next year and will feature favourite artists of his, his brother and his late mother. Now, I've only just started my book on the British Constitution so I'm not fully up to speed on this kind of thing, but on the off chance ignoring a royal press release is treason, I thought we ought to get it in here pretty quickly.
Already on the bill for the show, which will take place at Wembley Stadium, are Elton John, Duran Duran, Bryan Ferry, Pharrell Williams, The English National Ballet, Joss Stone and Andrew Lloyd Webber (I think Lloyd Webber will introduce a medley of songs from his West End shows, he won't be doing a tap dance routine or anything). Proceeds from the concert will go to various charities supported by Diana and the Princes.
Here's what William himself has to say: "We want it [the anniversary of Diana's death] to represent exactly what our mother would have wanted. So therefore a church service alone isn't enough. We wanted to have this big concert full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness, which I know she would have wanted. And on her birthday as well, it's got to be the best birthday present she ever had."
A more formal memorial service will take place on 31 Aug, ten years on from Diana's death.
More info on the concert, for which tickets go on sale tomorrow, is at http://www.concertfordiana.com. Press info from LD Communications.
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MUSE ADD ANOTHER WEMBLEY DATE
Talking of Wembley gigs, the probably-the-biggest-band-in-Britain-just-now-you-know Muse have announced a second date at the all new stadium after all 70,000 tickets for their first concert there sold out in under an hour. The band, who may or may not be the first band to play the new stadium (I'm still not clear on that) will now play there on 17 Jun, in addition to their 16 Jun date.
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KEANE SECRET GIG THAT'S NOT A SECRET
Keane have announced details of a secret London gig. It will take place at the London Apple Store on Regent Street tonight, 12 Dec, at 8.30pm. I'm not clear as to what the secret is here - but that's how other people seem to referring to it. Perhaps it was a secret, and now the secret is out. I don't know. Anyway, it's competition winners only, though I hear some more tickets will be given out outside the store this evening. The event will be filmed and screened simultaneously at other Apple Stores around the country, with a video of the event also available via iTunes next month.
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THE IRREPRESSIBLES SECRET GIG - THE VENUE'S A SECRET
The Irrepressibles, a ten piece outfit that describe themselves on their MySpace as sounding like "your mother and father wrestling with a small orchestra", whatever that means, are teaming up with some leading sound artists to stage an interesting sounding audio visual project that will "make an industrial-era warehouse resonate in performance until it 'sings'". It takes place in London this Sunday, 17 Dec. I'm not entirely sure how it will work, but if you like this kind of thing then keep an eye on http://www.theyonigroup.com where details of the venue that will be transformed will be posted later this week. For ticket details contact [email protected], you'll get press info from Motion Group.
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PRINCE TO PLAY SUPER BOWL
Prince is to perform at the halftime show at the Super Bowl at the Dolphin Stadium in Miami in February. Let's hope he doesn't get his tits out.
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BOB DYLAN TOUR
Bob Dylan has recently announced that he'll play five UK dates next spring. As follows, tickets on sale now:
11 Apr: SECC Glasgow
12 Apr: Metro Radio Arena Newcastle
14 Apr: Hallam FM Arena Sheffield
15 Apr: Wembley Arena London
17 Apr: NEC Birmingham
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RAKES RETURN
The Rakes have announced a series of UK live dates set to coincide with the release of their as yet unnamed second album, due out in March next year. Tickets on sale Friday, dates as follows:
19 Mar: Nottingham Rock City
21 Mar: Glasgow Barrowlands
22 Mar: Sheffield Octagon
23 Mar: Norwich UEA
25 Mar: Manchester Ritz
26 Mar: Newcastle Academy
28 Mar: Birmingham Academy
29 Mar: Bristol Academy
30 Mar: Southampton Guildhall
31 Mar: London Brixton Academy
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MORE ENTER SHIKARI DATES
Enter Shikari have announced a series of January and March tour dates following the sell out success of their autumn dates. The second set of dates will coincide with the self-release of their second single, 'Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour', out 5 Mar, and their as yet untitled debut album, out 19 Mar. Here are the dates, press info from Division Promotions.
18 Jan: Northampton Soundhaus
19 Jan: Middlesborough Sumo
20 Jan: Preston 53 Degrees East
25 Jan: Gloucester Guildhall
26 Jan: Barrow In Furness Canteen
27 Jan: Peterborough Radius
1 Mar: Cardiff Solus
3 Mar: Wolverhampton Wulfrun
4 Mar: Southampton University
6 Mar: Sheffield Leadmill
7 Mar: Glasgow Qmu
8 Mar: Newcastle University
9 Mar: Manchester Academy 2
10 Mar: London Hammersmith Palais
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'KID A' TO BE PLAYED BY ORCHESTRA
Radiohead's 'Kid A' is to be given a classical reinterpretation when it is played by the Charity Symphony Orchestra in London on Sunday, alongside a performance of Prokofiev's 'Peter And The Wolf'.
The concert takes place at Bancroft's Great Hall, and all proceeds go to Diabetes UK.
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FLAMING LIPS FANS' CHANCE TO DANCE
The Flaming Lips are to give fans an opportunity to appear on stage when they perform their New Year show at the University of Southern California Galen Center in Los Angeles this month. As you may already be aware, local fans are frequently invited to dance on stage in costume when the band are touring, but on this occasion fans from anywhere can apply to appear. The band have invited interested parties to upload a three-minute dance audition video featuring any Flaming Lips song to YouTube, as well as filling in a entry form at http://www.flaminglips.com.
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COCKER GUESTS AT INSPIRED BY GIG
The 'mystery guest' at that previously reported Rizla Inspired By event that took place in London this weekend was Jarvis Cocker. CSS has been asked who inspired them most, and they chose the Pulp frontman, who then agreed to guest at the show. It was a brief appearance, but seemed to please both CSS and their audience. The band's Lovefoxx said before the gig: "When Rizla first approached us about who has inspired us and would like to play with, we never really thought it would happen as this person is such a legend and we're so new to the UK music scene. We now can't wait".
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ALEX SMOKE TO LAUNCH RECORD LABEL
The rather talented Alex Smoke has said he will be launching his own record label in the Spring. Beat Factor quote Smoke, whose own music comes out on Glasgow's Soma Recordings of course, as saying: "I'm taking the commercially suicidal route of starting up my own label in the New Year so I'm putting together plans for that. The direction of the label will not be minimal house - I'm more interested in individual takes on dance floor genres - ie good interesting dance music regardless of genre, with a nod to weirdness".
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UP TO 100 HOUSE OF BLUES EMPLOYEES DUE TO GO POST LIVE NATION TAKEOVER
Reports suggest up to 79 people may be made redundant from US live music company House Of Blues following its previously reported recent acquisition by Live Nation. If those reports are true it will mean the workforce has decreased by over a hundred since the takeover, because some HOB employees quit when the Live Nation deal was announced back in July, while some further execs resigned last week.
According to HitsDailyDouble, among those leaving the company are CEO Greg Trojan, COO Dolf Berle and 'talent buyers' Dave Hart, Chris Moore, and Paolo Palazzo. That said, hardest hit by the job cuts were the House Of Blues marketing and development departments, with much of that work due to be taken over by Live Nation's existing marketing and development functions as part of the post-merger restructure.
Live Nation announced it was acquiring the House Of Blues mini-empire of clubs and arenas back in July as part of a $350 million takeover deal.
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EMI REACH VIDEO DEAL WITH YAHOO! MUSIC
EMI Music yesterday confirmed it has signed a pan-European deal with Yahoo! Music which will see the internet company make the major's pop promo videos available to their European audience via its free-to-access ad funded video on demand service.
Confirming the deal, EMI Music Continental Europe CEO Jean-Francois Cecillon told reporters: "As the digital music market grows, we must continue to look for new ways to offer consumers the opportunity to enjoy our artists' content. Thanks to services such as Yahoo! Music, video-on-demand is becoming a valuable new channel that enables us to connect fans with the music they love."
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BMI SIGN UP TO SPIRALFROG
US publishing royalties society BMI yesterday announced it had completed a licensing agreement with SpiralFrog, the much reported new download platform that plans to make digital music available to the consumer for free, funded by advertising sales. The deal means that SpiralFrog can make available songs from BMI's catalogue of 6.5 million works - providing, of course, that they have the permission of whoever owns the rights to the recordings of those songs. The specifics of the deal are not known, but BMI and the songwriters and publishers they represent will presumably receive a share of ad revenues earned by their music.
Confirming the deal, BMI President Del Bryant told CMU: "Songwriters create the musical excitement that attracts the public to digital entertainment. SpiralFrog's fresh approach to offering music in an advertising-driven model opens an exciting new opportunity for the public to discover our music. We are pleased to be working with SpiralFrog as a BMI licensee to expand the opportunity for legitimate music distribution in the digital domain".
SpiralFrog chairman Joe Mohen added: "SpiralFrog is enthusiastic about this license. It is only with support of industry leaders like BMI that we can help create market-driven solutions to internet piracy so that young people can get the music they want from legitimate sources. BMI has been a leader in licensing all genres of music since it was created in 1939, and now, just as it was then, it is taking the lead in granting new licenses on commercially reasonable terms. Their business solutions allow legitimate internet companies like ours to compete with pirate sites".
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SKY BOSS TO JUMP TO IOSTAR
As speculated in the media press last week, BSkyB MD Dawn Airey has announced she will leave the satellite broadcaster next year to take up a newly created CEO role at multi-media company Iostar Limited. She will take up the new role in the Spring. Confirming her departure, Sky CEO James Murdoch told reporters: "Dawn has made a significant contribution to Sky's appeal to millions of customers. She has been a valued colleague and a trusted friend. When the time comes, we will wish her well for the future."
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ALBUM REVIEW: Airport Girl: Slow Light (Fortuna Pop)
'There's A Crisis In Your Past' is not exactly the most enticing opening number for Airport Girl's second full-length. It is a slow, whiney track with no sense of introduction and makes the listener wonder whether the tracklisting had been thought out at all. The band have left fans waiting five years for a follow up to 'Honey, I'm an Artist', and I'm not sure their new sound will be what was expected. That said, after a slow start, 'Don't Let Me Down Again' picks the pace up a bit, with a faster beat, a rockier feel and a charmingly British sounding trumpet that warms up the instrumental breaks, but then 'Ode To The City' and 'I've Seen Mexico' slow it right down again, to drunken sounding slurs of a band meandering and mumbling their way around. And 'The Weather Song', unfortunately, emphasises singer Rob Price's slack and poor vocal chords as he wavers his way through another whiner. Although they do create a lovely sound with the additional instruments they employ to the usual band set up, most of the album is a bit miserable and at times verges on having an unprofessional sound. AW
Release Date: 8 Jan
Press Contact: Fortuna Pop IH [all]
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EMMA BUNTON'S ALBUM FLOPS
Emma Bunton's latest album 'Life In Mono' has proved a bit of a flop - despite her current popularity on Strictly Come Dancing, the new LP reached only 65 in the charts and sold only 12,000 copies. A source told The Sun "It's a very poor performance for Emma's record. She was popular on Strictly Come Dancing because people like her but they don't want to buy her record. Her management spent a fortune on ads and she did interviews to promote the album - but it flopped."
Which is weird, because I don't remember any ads. Where were they?
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LOTS OF LAST CHRISTMAS COVERS
Here's a question for you, is there anyone out there who hasn't recorded a version of Last Christmas? OK, there are only three new versions that I'm aware of, but they're doing a download re-release of Wham's original, so that makes four versions doing the rounds. Which is quite a lot.
As previously reported, that Crazy Frog has covered the Wham classic for his Christmas single which is released this week. The Ordinary Boys are making a actually rather good version available for free from their website (http://www.theordinaryboys.com). And up coming singer songwriter Nuala has also released a version this week, which George Michael apparently says is his favourite.
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COSTELLO AND KRALL HAVE TWINS
Elvis Costello's wife, jazz singer Diana Krall, gave birth to twin boys on Wednesday, the third anniversary of the couple's marriage. The babies have been named Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James. The couple said in a statement "We are ecstatic. Mother and sons are doing splendidly".
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VERVE HIT MAKES EVERYONE CRY, APPARENTLY
The Verve's 'The Drugs Don't Work', is the song most likely to make one cry, according to an 'expert' (in what, I'm not quite sure) called Dr Harry Witchel. Witchel claims, having carried a variety of tests, including the measuring of heart rate, breathing and skin temperature whilst subjects listened to a variety of 'sad songs', that the 1997 hit is more capable of making people blub than anything else. And that includes the likes Robbie Williams' 'Angels' and Elton John's 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word'. Wow.
Can't say it makes me cry, to be honest, but then, I am notoriously cold hearted. Although, to be fair, Westlife can make me cry. With boredom, obviously.