| CMU Daily - on the inside 17 Dec 2002 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Goodier to front EMAP’s new chart show,
• McCartney dvd has exclusive website access,
• Yoko may go legal of name debate,
• Cook plans third beach party,
• Zeta Jones may get a hit at last,
• Review: Various – Adventures In Aural Pleasure Jlep4,
• Moby thanks fans but moves hotel,
• Digital interest low,
• Popstar rivals – race gets closer,
• Comedian Kay supports Starsailor,
• Plaid video online,
• The science of good music
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Cryptic Christmas songs - which festive number is this clue referring too?
‘Male offspring of the Virgin (Rasputin’s not involved this time)’
Answer tomorrow
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GOODIER TO FRONT EMAP'S NEW CHART SHOW
EMAP have released information about the new chart show it will broadcast on its commercial radio stations in place of the Pepsi Chart. And the big news is that it will be fronted by Mark Goodier – who left Radio 1’s chart show last month as part of the BBC’s attempts to give the Top 40 show a more youthful edge.
EMAP first announced its attention to drop the Pepsi Chart Show last October when the other major radio groups renewed their contract with independent production company Unique who make the show. The Pepsi Chart, formerly known as the Network Chart, has traditionally been broadcast by all commercial stations in competition with Radio 1’s flagship chart show. Although it is actually compiled by the same company as the main BBC chart, it takes in radio airplay data as well as record sales meaning it tends to be slightly ahead of the BBC’s exclusively retail based Top 40.
Capital, Chrysalis, GWR and Scottish Radio Holdings all renewed their contracts with the Pepsi chart, but EMAP decided to move their own Smash Hits Chart, currently aired by most EMAP stations on a Saturday, into the prestigious Sunday tea time slot. Compiled by research company MRIB the Smash Hits Chart will include viewer/listener voting alongside retail and airplay data – principally based on which videos are most requested on the company’s Smash Hits and The Box jukebox TV channels, but also on listener votes made via the Smash Hits website or via mobile phones. The revamped Smash Hits chart show will be broadcast on all of EMAP’s local stations, plus on its national digital Smash Hits station. It will be fronted by Mark Goodier, Radio 1’s chart host for years, who will present the pop chart show as well as a classical countdown show for Classic FM.
The show will be launched at the start of January, a month ahead of Radio 1’s relaunched chart show which, as reported yesterday, will be fronted by the relatively unknown former Galaxy DJ Wes Butters.
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MCCARTNEY DVD HAS EXCLUSIVE WEBSITE ACCESS
EMI is the latest label to create an exclusive website that can only be accessed when a DVD is put into the computer. The feature is being used as an added extra on the DVD release of Paul McCartney's live video – ‘Back in the US’. The site will include thirty additional minutes of performance footage plus a number of backstage outtakes.
"The album, DVD, and this ‘secret website’ are a constant memory of the tour with a built-in ticket to the future," McCartney told reporters. "We couldn't get everything into the DVD feature and the ABC television special, so the idea to be able to give both PC and Apple users a 'secret' concert and more of the backstage footage is just fantastic to me."
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YOKO MAY GO LEGAL OF NAME DEBATE
Elsewhere in the world of McCartney, Yoko Ono is reportedly threatening to go legal over her feud with Macca. She claims McCartney broke an existing agreement when he credited Beatles songs on his latest album to ‘Paul McCartney & John Lennon’ rather than the conventional ‘Lennon/McCartney’. As reported last week, McCartney denies any such agreement exists, except on Beatles compilation releases. Yoko’s lawyer Peter Shuka told The Sun: "The change is ridiculous, absurd and petty. This was done against her wishes. Paul and John made an agreement 40 years ago that they would share credit in this way. To change it now - well, John's not here to argue." Remains to be seen if and how soon the dispute goes into the court room.
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COOK PLANS THIRD BEACH PARTY
Despite the logistical problems this year, Fatboy Slim is planning another Big Beach Boutique party in Brighton next summer – though only if local residents agree.
Although there was no real trouble at the 2002 event, the sheer volume of party-goers crippled Brighton’s infrastructure. Meanwhile the event was slightly tarnished by the death of Australian Karen Manders, who fell from railings just hours after the concert finished. At the time Norman Cook said he wouldn’t stage another event, but he has begun planning a third party after Karen's parents gave him their blessing.
But he is looking for the blessing of the locals too. Cook told The Sun: "We're having a referendum in the local paper and if the people of Brighton want this we'll go ahead."
Norman the entrepreneur is also looking into taking the Big Beach Boutique concept around the world next year, with Rio's Copacabana, Miami's South Beach and Bondi Beach in Sydney all on the list of possible sites to hold the event.
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ZETA JONES MAY GET A HIT AT LAST
Some critics reckon Catherine Zeta Jones’ latest attempt at chart glory might actually get her a hit. Jones, who has won critical acclaim for her role in the film version of West End musical ‘Chicago’, has recorded a duet of ‘I Move On’ from the film with co-star Renee Zellweger. Word is the single might just get a release, and some reckon with the popularity of the show, the film and the two stars it might just get into the charts.
It would be Catherine’s fourth attempt at a hit. In 1992 she released ‘For All Time’ which reached number 36 in the charts. A duet with David Essex released in 1994 reached 38. While her 1995 release of ‘In The Arms of Love’ only made it to 72!
Talking about her co-star’s singing abilities Zellweger told BBC: "It's not just singing and dancing, she belts it out. Well, I walk in on my first day and she's in a lift singing ‘All That Jazz’ and I was just dumbfounded. My jaw dropped to the floor. I didn't speak for 30 minutes. Just sat in the corner in awe and watched. I'm like a little field mouse compared to her. Squeak, squeak, squeak".
The movie gets a general release here on 17 Jan, no word yet on any single releases.
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REVIEW: Various – Adventures in Aural Pleasure JLEP4 (Jacques Laverne Records)
Although this label keeps a fairly low profile they do knock out some of the best beat music. And this EP is no exception. With a funky downbeat track from Ben Horn, an eighties groove inspired funky loop and dirty bassline cut from the Lancastrian scratch wizard Beatphreak, an uptempo breakbeat house track with progressive tendencies, from Groover, and finally a lazy oriental-inspired hiphop cut with sweet soul vocals from Monochrome. Four varied but solid cuts from JLR. JG
Release date: 13 Jan
Press contact: Zzonked [all]
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MOBY THANKS FANS BUT MOVES HOTEL
Moby has thanked fans for their support following his injuries after being attacked in Boston last week. Writing on his website he told fans: "My face is kind of puffy and cut up and my lip is a bit swollen, but I'm actually ok, thanks. After 'Jackass' I believe that the slightly beaten-up scurvy pirate look is quite fashionable. So in some ways I should thank the courageous thugs in Boston (three guys with mace against me, a little in-bred muppet, very courageous) for helping me to achieve that tough-guy look that's hitherto been so hard for me to accomplish. But in all seriousness, thanks everyone very much for your concern. I'm still left quite confused as to why these guys wanted to attack me, but I guess they had their reasons."
Meanwhile the techno star has been forced to change hotels in LA after he discovered Eminem was hosting a party in the hotel he was staying in. Moby explained: "In the interest of personal security and what not I've moved hotels, just to be on the safe side. I really don't want to encounter 20 drunk Eminem friends / well-wishers at 2am in the morning as I'm heading out for a stroll around the neighbourhood. Call me paranoid, call me a woosie, but I'd rather err on the side of non-confrontationalism."
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DIGITAL INTEREST LOW
The new terrestrial digital TV service Freeview had a set back yesterday when a new survey found that 7 in 10 of households who do not currently have digital TV said they weren’t interested in buying a £100 box to access free to air digital channels. Only 1 in 10 said they were likely to buy the service, 2 in 10 said they were quite likely to, the rest showed no interest. The figures will come as a setback for the partners behind Freeview – which include the BBC – and also for the government, which is hoping to have a sufficient number of viewers upgraded to digital by 2006 so it can phase out of the analogue TV signal.
"The results of this survey show that those involved in digital TV still have a lot to do to persuade consumers of all its benefits" Gary Austin of the British Market Research Bureau, who conducted the survey, told reporters. "Freeview faces a difficult task in persuading consumers that digital terrestrial TV is an attractive option while the other platforms may have to overcome worries over security if they are to increase revenues from transactions through digital TV”.
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POPSTAR RIVALS – RACE GETS CLOSER
Latest on the Christmas number one race - One True Voice and Girls Aloud are neck and neck. So much so Girls Aloud, always second favourite for the Christmas number one, are now favourites among the bookie community.
A spokesman for HMV told reporters there has been huge interest in both acts at its stores around the UK. "If anything the girls had started off at a slight disadvantage because everyone expected the boys to win, but that doesn't seem to have been reflected in the sales, and they may well be getting a head of steam".
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COMEDIAN KAY SUPPORTS STARSAILOR
Comedian Peter Kay, who took several awards at the British Comedy Awards this weekend, joined Starsailor onstage during the band's NME 5.0 show in home town Warrington last Friday. According to the NME the cult comedian, he of the award winning 'Phoenix Nights', climbed onstage at the Parr Hall in Warrington, told a few jokes, then played percussion for a brief spell during the encore. The band debuted a number of new songs at the gig – they have just completed the follow up to debut album ‘Love Is Here’.
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PLAID VIDEO ONLINE
Warp Records have announced that the forthcoming fifth album from Plaid will be accompanied by a full length DVD mixed in 5.1 surround sound featuring visual pieces by artist Bob. As a taste of what to expect visually Warp have put the video for ‘Double Figure’ album track ‘New Family’ – which was created by Bob for Plaid’s 2001 US tour – online at www.warprecords.co.uk
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THE SCIENCE OF GOOD MUSIC
Some musical science. Research from Dartmouth College in the US reckons that whether or not a tune is ‘catchy’ may depend on which part of the brain the notes activate. Professor Peter Janata played a group of volunteers a series of keys and watched the way the brain responded. He told the BBC: "One chunk of the brain was responding when the melody was in G major or E minor and another part of the circuit was responding when it was in E major.”
He explained his work was attempting to find the science behind the art of making music that people enjoy. "I think composers are masters at manipulating music. I think music is a marvellous mystery and the brain is also a marvellous mystery, so ultimately we are just trying to explain two wonders of nature and how they react."
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Answer to Monday's cryptic Christmas song:
Cryptic Christmas songs - which festive number is this clue referring too?
‘Seasons greetings (but wishful thinking?)’
‘Happy Christmas (War Is Over)’ by John Lennon and Yoko Ono