THE BEST OF 2023

CLASSIC POP WHO’S WHO

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WELCOME

A s you’ll see by the strength

GIRLS ALOUD REUNION TOUR WILL BE DEDICATED TO SARAH HARDING

Girls Aloud will reunite for a live

Rick Rubin helms Gossip’s Powerful comeback

Indie group Gossip are to unveil their first

Kylie’s Body Language gets 20th anniversary vinyl reissue

Kylie Minogue’s ninth studio album Body Language

BLONDIE’S CHRIS STEIN IS “DOUBTFUL” HE’LL PERFORM LIVE AGAIN

© Getty Blondie’s Chris Stein has revealed that

LET’S ROCK ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR FOUR FESTIVALS

Ali Campbell makes his Let’s Rock festival

80s incarnation of The Damned reunites for UK tour

The Damned’s 80s line-up is to perform together

KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE

FREIHEIT It’s no surprise, from the fairydust intro

My POP life

Paul McGann

Q+A D:REAM

THE 90s DANCE DUO WHOSE CLUB ANTHEM BECAME A POP HIT THAT SUMMED UP AN ENTIRE DECADE

BANANARAMA, MIDGE URE + MORE HEAD TO LEEDS FOR 80s CLASSICAL

Midge Ure and Deniece Pearson (inset) both

SHANE MACGOWAN DIES AGED 65

© Getty As Classic Pop went to press,

VERMIN IN ERMINE

MARC ALMOND For such a distinctive and beloved

Ian Peel’s A to Z of POP

HOW IS IT THAT SO MANY CLASSIC GREATEST HITS COMPILATIONS WERE RELEASED WITH TRACKS THAT WE’D NEVER ACTUALLY HEARD BEFORE?

This month in POP

JANUARY 1988

16

G eorge Michael scored a No.1

TOP 5 UK ALBUMS CHART

17 JANUARY 1988

CLASSIC POP TOP TEN

WEEK ENDING 8 JANUARY 1983

“Our music was about finding something other than what was expected of us”

IT’S BEEN 40 YEARS SINCE BANANARAMA’S DEBUT ALBUM, BUT KEREN WOODWARD AND SARA DALLIN’S FRIENDSHIP SINCE THEY WERE TEENAGERS IN BRISTOL GOES BACK EVEN FURTHER. AS NEW BEST OF COMPILATION GLORIOUS CELEBRATES DECADES OF IMPERIOUS POP, THE DUO TELL US HOW THEY HAVE OVERCOME EVERYTHING THE INDUSTRY COULD THROW AT THEM – AND WHY IT’S NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO TRY TO DRESS LIKE BANANARAMA AT AN 80s PARTY…

HOTTER THAN JULY

STEVIE WONDER

"TWO TRIBES WAS LIKE DRIVING A CAR OFF A CLIFF!"

HE'S THE MAN WHO DEFINED THE SOUND OF THE 80s. NOW TREVOR HORN IS BACK WITH AN AUDACIOUS SOLO ALBUM THAT REINVENTS A WHOLE HOST OF CLASSIC SONGS FEATURING AN ALL-STAR CAST OF COLLABORATORS INCLUDING SEAL, MARC ALMOND, RICK ASTLEY AND IGGY POP. WE MEET THE PRODUCER WHO TAKES US BEHIND ITS CREATION AS WELL AS HIS FORMER LIFE SHAPING THE SONIC LANDSCAPE OF THE CHARTS

PET SHOP BOYS

WITH NEIL TENNANT’S WITTY LYRICS AND CHRIS LOWE’S CULTURED SYNTHS AND BEATS, THE DUO’S CONSISTENTLY STRONG BACK CATALOGUE HELPED TO REDEFINE THE POP LANDSCAPE

2024 The year ahead

THINGS ARE SHAPING UP NICELY FOR 12 MONTHS OF MAJOR NEW ALBUMS AND TOURS FROM OUR FAVOURITE ARTISTS

grape expectations

SHAUN RYDER MADE THE ULTIMATE COMEBACK IN THE MID-90s WITH BLACK GRAPE. NOW 30 YEARS ON FROM THEIR FORMATION, SHAUN AND BANDMATE KERMIT RETURN WITH A NEW ALBUM THAT’S AS FIERY AND VITAL AS ANYTHING FROM THEIR FIRST PHASE...

VIRGINS AND PHILISTINESS THE COLOURFIELD

WHEN TERRY HALL DIED LAST DECEMBER, HIS MID-80s BAND, THE COLOURFIELD, WERE LARGELY OVERLOOKED BY OBITUARIES. NONETHELESS, THEIR DEBUT ALBUM, VIRGINS AND PHILISTINES, REMAINS A HIGHLIGHT IN THE BACK CATALOGUE OF THE MAN THAT DAMON ALBARN CALLED “THE COOLEST HUMAN BEING ON EARTH”

TOP 20 ReMiX ALBuMs

WHILE THE MOTIVES OF RECORD LABELS WERE OFTEN CALLED INTO QUESTION, REMIX ALBUMS WERE CERTAINLY AFFORDABLE AND OFFERED SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR THE MUSIC CONSUMER, AS OUR LATEST COUNTDOWN REVEALS

WAH! GAMES

ONE OF THE GREAT MAVERICKS OF ALTERNATIVE POP,

COMPILATIONS

OUR FAVOURITE VARIOUS ARTIST COLLECTIONS OF 2023 

REISSUES

SOFT CELL’S CLASSIC DEBUT EXPANDED, PET SHOP BOYS’ SINGLES COLLECTED AND A GEM OF A PRINCE BOXSET

BOOKS

2023’S MUST-READS IN AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, BIOGRAPHIES AND NON-FICTION

EDITOR’S CHOICE

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED, TEARJERKING RETURNS AND DEEP DIVE BOXSETS – CLASSIC POP EDITOR STEVE HARNELL PICKS OUT HIS PERSONAL SONIC HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAST YEAR

REVIEW

Peter Gabriel’s long-awaited 10th studio album i/o leads

THE HOT LIST

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT AT CLASSIC POP TOWERS THIS MONTH

PETER GABRIEL

i/o 

TREVOR HORN

ECHOES: ANCIENT & MODERN

EMF

THE BEAUTY AND THE CHAOS 

UB40

UB45 

THE KILLERS

REBEL DIAMONDS 

JOE JACKSON

PRESENTS MAX CHAMPION IN ‘WHAT A RACKET!’ 

BLACK GRAPE

ORANGE HEAD

KULA SHAKER

NATURAL MAGICK

SLEATER-KINNEY

LITTLE ROPE

GRANDADDY

BLU WAV

CAST

LOVE IS THE CALL

REBECCA FERGUSON

HEAVEN PART II

SHED SEVEN

A MATTER OF TIME

LOVE FAME TRAGEDY

LIFE IS A KILLER

GRUFF RHYS

SADNESS SETS ME FREE

THE VACCINES

PICK-UP FULL OF PINK CARNATIONS

JAMIE WEBSTER

10 FOR THE PEOPLE

SIGMA

LONDON SOUND

DYLAN JOHN THOMAS

DYLAN JOHN THOMAS

THE REYTONS

BALLAD OF A BYSTANDER

BILL RYDER-JONES

IECHYD DA

PORTISHEAD

ROSELAND NYC LIVE 

TINA TURNER

QUEEN OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

MILLI VANILLI

THE BEST OF

VARIOUS

NOW PRESENTS CLASSIC DISCO 

NO-MAN

HOUSEKEEPING: THE OLI YEARS 1990-1994/SWAGGER

GO WEST

DANCING ON THE COUCH

SIOBHAN DONAGHY

REVOLUTION IN ME 

DEPECHE MODE

STRANGE/STRANGE TOO 

D:REAM

THE BEST THING

KLARK KENT

KLARK KENT

CARTER THE UNSTOPPABLE SEX MACHINE

1992: THE LOVE ALBUM

VIOLENT FEMMES

VIOLENT FEMMES

BELINDA CARLISLE

DECADES VOLUME 2

SEAN ROWLEY PRESENTS

GUILTY PLEASURES: BEST BEFORE 1979

VARIOUS

NOW YEARBOOK 88 EXTRA /NOW 12” 80S: 1982 (PART 1) /NOW EIGHTIES DANCEFLOOR: DISCO & ELECTRO

TIM FINN & PHIL MANZANERA

VINYL BOXSET

ALESHA DIXON

THE ALESHA SHOW

COCTEAU TWINS

MILK AND KISSES

BLACK BOX RECORDER

ENGLAND MADE ME

WIZZARD

THE SINGLES COLLECTION 

PLASTIKMAN

SHEET ONE

SPIRITUALIZED

AMAZING GRACE

VARIOUS ARTISTS

CONTROL I’M HERE: ADVENTURES ON THE INDUSTRIAL DANCEFLOOR

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS

UTILITA AREA, BIRMINGHAM

HOLLY JOHNSON

SYMPHONY HALL, BIRMINGHAM 

KARMA

BOY GEORGE

CUREPEDIA: AN A-Z OF THE CURE

SIMON PRICE

NEW ROMANTICS: FROM BILLY’S TO THE PEOPLE’S PALACE

SHEILA ROCK

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN

LYNN GOLDSMITH

ALL SAINTS SCORE THEIR FIRST UK NO.1 WITH NEVER EVER

11 JANUARY 1998

NOW YEARBOOK THE STORY SO FAR

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THE HUMAN LEAGUE

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THE THE - ENSOULED WORLD TOUR 2024

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SIMON & OSCAR

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