LEVEL 42

WELCOME

The influence of Giorgio Moroder crops up again and

POP UP

Gwen Stefani is citing the influence of Madness on

MORCHEEBA REVEAL THE FRUITS OF THEIR LOCKDOWN LABOURS

Trip-hop veterans Morcheeba have put last year’s lockdown

GARY KEMP COMPLETES SECOND SOLO LP

Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp has revealed that he’s finally

VOYAGE VOYAGE

Seldom does a track sung entirely in another language

PET SHOP BOYS RELIVE ROCKING RIO GIG

A significant moment in Pet Shop Boys’ history is being

VINYL AND CASSETTES GROWTH HOLDS STEADY

2020 saw another surge in vinyl and cassette sales.

LOST & FOUND

LIQUIDIZER

BOWIE KEYS MAN SET FOR DURAN DURAN’S LATEST

Another major idol of Duran Duran’s graces their forthcoming

TEN CITY REFORM

AFTER 25 YEARS FOR CELEBRATORY NEW SINGLE

BOY MEETS GIRL

THE WHITNEY HOUSTON HITMAKERS ENJOYED A WORLDWIDE SMASH IN 1988 WITH WAITING FOR A STAR TO FALL. NOW THEY’RE BACK.

THE POD SOUAD

CHECKING IN WITH OUR FAVOURITE CLASSIC POP-FRIENDLY PODCASTS

ASTLEY PUTS NEW ALBUM ON ICE

Rick Astley has put plans for a new studio album on

SYNTH-POP PROJECT FOR DEXTER STAR

Dexter’s Michael C Hall has become a fully-fledged

IAN PEEL’S A TO Z POP OF

TAYLOR SWIFT HAS ONE. THE THOMPSON TWINS FOOLED EVERYONE WITH THEIRS. AND PAUL MCCARTNEY HAS MORE OF THEM THAN YOU COULD SHAKE A STICK AT. WHO DOESN’T LOVE A PSEUDONYM?

POP MARCH 1985

IN OUR ROUND-UP OF MARCH 1985’S MOST NEWSWORTHY POP MOMENTS, WHAM! MAKE IT BIG IN THE STATES, STOCK AITKEN WATERMAN ARRIVE WITH A BANG, BILLY JOEL MARRIES A SUPERMODEL AND PAUL SIMON EMBRACES WORLD MUSIC

SUPER FAN

DEVOTED FANS SHOW US THEIR COLLECTIONS AND POP MEMORABILIA

TOP TEN

DIANA ROSS TEAMS UP WITH THE BEE-GEES, THE BANGLES HOOK UP WITH PRINCE AND OL’ BLUE EYES RE-ENTERS THE POP CHARTS AT THE AGE OF 70…

MOMENTS

HOWARD JONE S’ DEBUT ALBUM, HUMAN’S LIB, IS RELEASED IN THE UK

A LIFE LESS ORDINARY

JAPAN BIOGRAPHER AND MUSICIAN ANTHONY REYNOLDS LOOKS AT THE ORIGINS OF THE FIVE - PIECE’S SEMINAL THIRD ALBUM QUIET LIFE AND THE LATEST 2021 DELUXE REISSUE WITH REFLECTIONS FROM BAND MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES

THE ORCHESTRAL TREATMENT

By the time Martyn Ford had come to conduct Ann O’Dell’s

STEVE JANSEN: WIRED FOR SOUND

“Quiet Life was the first time we began using drum

TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY…

“I liked all of the tracks on Quiet Life and, of course

SPELLBOUND

LOCKED DOWN IN HIS HOME STUDIO, FORMER JAPAN MEMBER RICHARD BARBIERI’S FOURTH SOLO ALBUM WASN’T AT ALL THE RECORD HE INTENDED TO MAKE…

BARBIERI’S PERSONAL BEST

With a career that spans back to 1975, a year after

I’ve got “ hours and Hours of unreleaseed unreleased music”

ONE OF POP’S MOST ELUSIVE COLLECTIVES, SCRITTI POLITTI DIDN’T PLAY LIVE FOR 26 YEARS AND HAVE RELEASED JUST FIVE ALBUMS SINCE FORMING IN 1977. IN A RARE INTERVIEW, FRONTMAN GREEN GARTSIDE TELLS CLASSIC POP ABOUT DISMISSING NOSTALGIA, HIS NEWFOUND LOVE OF PLAYING LIVE AND THE PROSPECT OF A SIXTH ALBUM.

ALBUM LIKE A VIRGIN MADONNA

MADONNA BEGAN 1984 PROCLAIMING SHE WANTED TO RULE THE POP WORLD. AFTER ENLISTING NILE RODGERS TO HELP ELEVATE HER FROM THE CLUBS OF NEW YORK, BY THE YEAR’S END SHE WAS GRANTED HER WISH.

THE SONGS

Despite becoming one of her signature songs and its

THE VIDEOS

Reteaming with Mary Lambert, who had also directed

” THE GREATEST PERIOD IN HIP HOP WAS THE TIME BEFORE RECORDED RAP”

RUN-DMC TOOK HIP-HOP TO THE MAINSTREAM VIA CROSSOVER CLASSICS WALK THIS WAY AND IT’S TRICKY, BUT HAVE BEEN QUIET SINCE THE TRAGIC DEATH OF JAM MASTER JAY 19 YEARS AGO. NOW BACK WITH A NEW COMPILATION THAT CHARTS THEIR FORMATIVE INFLUENCES, RAPPER DMC DELVES INTO THE GROUP’S OWN EVOLUTION – AND REVEALS ALL ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE ADIDAS-CLAD GIANTS WITHOUT THEIR DJ.

ADAM ANT

FROM PUNK TO MATURE ACOUSTIC MOODS VIA FUNK AND VISIONARY POP, THE NINE OFFICIAL (AND ONE UNRELEASED) ADAM ANT ALBUMS HAVE BEEN A WONDERFUL RIDE…

2021 The ahead year ahead

AFTER THE UNCERTAINTIES OF 2020, WE TAKE A TENTATIVE LOOK AT WHAT’S ON THE MUSICAL HORIZON FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS

Fatal Attraction

DEL AMITRI ARE BACK WITH FATAL MISTAKES – THEIR FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 19 YEARS – AND ANY FANS WORRIED THIS MOST MISUNDERSTOOD OF BANDS MIGHT HAVE BEEN TEMPTED TO CHANGE THEIR GAME CAN REST EASY: “IF ANYONE CAN MAKE A GREAT DEL AMITRI RECORD, IT SHOULD BE US,” JUSTIN CURRIE AND IAIN HARVIE TELL CLASSIC POP.

Culture Club - From Luxury To Heartache

AN ALBUM THAT WAS INTENDED TO RESTORE CULTURE CLUB AS A CHART FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH, THE BAND’S FOURTH LP ENDED UP QUICKENING THEIR DEMISE INSTEAD. NOW 35 YEARS ON FROM ITS RELEASE, JON O’BRIEN TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE RECORD THAT EVEN BOY GEORGE APPEARS

TYLER

BONNIE TYLER TELLS CLASSIC POP HOW SHE SPENT 2020, THE KEY TO KEEPING HER VOICE IN CHECK AND HER EAGERNESS TO GET BACK ON THE ROAD TO SHARE HER WONDERFULLY ESCAPIST NEW ALBUM

SHOWER BALLADS

Awards, record sales, gold discs – all useful barometers

TOP 2O INSTRUMENTALS OF THE 80S

SOMETIMES IT WAS NECESSARY TO SEND THE SINGER DOWN THE PUB, AS IT DIDN’T ALWAYS NEED POUTS OR SHOUTS FROM THE FRONT TO HAVE A HIT…

THE HOT LIST

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT ON CLASSIC POP ZOOM CATCH-UPS

STEVEN WILSON

THE FUTURE BITES

SANANDA MAITREYA

PANDORA’S PLAYHOUSE

EDIE BRICKELL & NEW BOHEMIANS

HUNTER & THE DOG STAR

GABRIELLE

DO IT AGAIN

BONNIE TYLER

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

RICHARD BARBIERI

UNDER A SPELL

NOGA EREZ

KIDS

GENESIS OWUSU

SMILING WITH NO TEETH

ANOTHER NEW THING

XYZZY

THE THE

MUSCLE OST

SIA

MUSIC – SONGS FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE MOTION PICTURE

THE ANCHORESS

THE ART OF LOSING

TOM GRENNAN

EVERING ROAD

ECCENTRONIC RESEARCH COUNCIL

THE DREAMCATCHER TAPES VOLUMES 1&2

STEVE LUKATHER I FOUND THE SUN AGAIN

JOSEPH WILLIAMS DENIZEN TENANT

LOST HORIZONS

IN QUIET MOMENTS

LEAGUE OF LIGHTS

DREAMERS DON’T COME DOWN

TINY MAGNETIC PETS

BLUE WAVE

BRADFORD

BRIGHT HOURS

THE PAPER KITES

ROSES

BIRDPEN

ALL FUNCTION ONE

JAPAN

QUIET LIFE

LLOYD COLE

ANTIDEPRESSANT

THE SELECTER

TOO MUCH PRESSURE

CLASSIX NOUVEAUX

THE LIBERTY RECORDINGS (1981-1983)

STING

DUETS

FASHION

FABRIQUE

DIRE STRAITS BROTHERS IN ARMS

MARK KNOPFLER LOCAL HERO

GEORGE BENSON

BREEZIN’

MENTAL AS ANYTHING

SURF & MULL & SEX & FUN

GLORIA ESTEFAN

INTO THE LIGHT

MODERN TALKING

THE 1ST ALBUM / LET’S TALK ABOUT LOVE / READY FOR ROMANCE / IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE / ROMANTIC WARRIORS

VARIOUS ARTISTS

STARING AT THE RUDE BOYS: THE BRITISH SKA REVIVAL 1979-1989

THE CARS

SHAKE IT UP

TALKING HEADS

THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS TALKING HEADS / SPEAKING IN TONGUES

SHEILA E

THE GLAMOROUS LIFE

DIR: FRANK MARSHALL

THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART

STEVIE NICKS

LIVE IN CONCERT: THE 24 KARAT GOLD TOUR

THE SECRET DJ

THE SECRET DJ: BOOK TWO