I KNOW! I KNOW! I haven't been around here much. Been vare busy cooking up another project, more on which vare soon. Anyhoo. I overlooked Paul Young's No Parlez album when it first came out but the Come Back and Stay single was always a favourite.
Chicane have produced a meh dance version, Well, it's a bit lazy to be honest, but, THE VIDEO! Watch it. It's the most inventive, creative and engaging vid I've seen in YEARS.
How perfectly queer and AMAZING. The TV production company behind the seminal Queer As Folk, Red, are to begin shooting a 90 minute drama about Boy George! Called Worried About the Boy, it will begin with his leaving suburbia through to global pop stardom. And what's in between will be Malcom McLaren, Marilyn, Steve Strange, Philip Sallon, The Blitz and of course Culture Club. I think I've just fainted.
What's even more interesting is the casting. Burberry's poster boy, newcomer Douglas Booth, will portray George (which will please the Boy himself, no end), Gavin & Stacey's Mathew Horne will play drummer Jon Moss, Hustle's Marc Warren will play Steve Strange and - this is VARE interesting casting - League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss will be Malcolm McLaren. Like I said. Can't wait!
Read here at the Guardian for the full lowdown. The BBC press release can be found here.
Don't they look YOUNG! Well, it was 24 years ago. Here's a clipping from the Newcastle Evening Chronicle from January 1986 heralding the Pet Shop Boys first number one, West End Girls. Clicky piccy to make it biggy. The band thought the record had finished its climb up the charts: "We all thought it had peaked when it got to No.4 at Christmas, so this is wonderful news". The Geordie connection meant Neil would always feature in the Chronicle thereafter and because he went to the same school as Sting (and me!) his name would forever be connected with The Police front man.
Picture the scene: you're in the kitchen, horsing down a packet of Pringles, crumbs on your stained dressing gown, hair all over the shop and scratching your bum when, "Ding, dong". You go to the door of your Twickenham home and there outside, with cameras and entourage are the Pet Shop Boys. Fluff me!
Lucky Lorraine Sands got the boys in her sitting room reproducing a condensed version of the Pandemonium tour; a miniscule of sound, so to speak. She said: "I've been a massive Pet Shop Boys fan for over 20 years and to have them play a gig right in my front room, for just me and my closest friends, was too good to be true. It was the best day ever."
They played Suburbia, All Over the World, It's a Sin and West End Girls.
Now here's a turn up: something different. There's rapping in Japanese, the return of New Jack (sorta), the return of 90s rave (sorta) but more importantly, I loves it. The Dexpistols duo have broken through from the Japanese underground to the worldwide underground, performing DJ sets and supporting dance giants Daft Punk around the world. Watch the perfectly styled vid below and keep your ears peeled. Oh. And the 90s are officially back. Selfridges have deemed it so.
DEXPISTOLS / NEW JACK HOUSE feat. JON-E（RADIO EDIT) from TOTOTOKYO23 on Vimeo.
Alongside a load of burly Welsh miners, Neil and Chris performed their massive hit Go West at The Brits in 1994. And they could be winners again. Just clicky here to vote for their show-stopping appearance. Seriously, though, who would vote for The Who?
Personally, I always loved this Banarama performance of Love in the First Degree. Can't think why.
Now, Cicada... Have you not heard/bought their 2009 album Roulette yet? Oh, just do it now and be cheered by the fact a band can still produce a collection of beef and no filler. I was flipped like an Angus steak quarter-pounder hearing Roulette for the first time. And today, they release One Beat Away with the obligatory stack of remixes. The luxurious original is below...
ONE BEAT AWAY (Original Mix) by Cicada
A family get-together + a few sherries + a karaoke machine for Christmas + Boy George = this lovely video.
For a VARE SPECIAL collection of Christmas tracks head over to Kiss & Make Up . My fave has to be MAN 2 MAN's Cryin' On Christmas. And. Girls Aloud... Christmas Round At Ours! Amaze! We thought Pet Shop Boys were the sniffy ones at Christmas, but with a lyrics like: "Grandma's had the best of all the sweets. Picking toffee out her teeth. She says she should've been a beauty queen, And mother sighs as everybody shouts, We don't want no soggy sprouts, Another lazy boring Christmas morning round at ours", the girls win hands down. And just like PSB, they get their Xmas mojo back with: "But when the bells start ringing, I start grinning and lose my Christmas blues, I'll get my kiss under the mistletoe with you".
Happy Christmas everyone. x
I came across this in the YouTube vaults and HAD to share. Stars in Their Eyes was the show to have on in the background while getting ready to go out on a Saturday night. And occasionally, the catchphrase "Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be be..." would make you run back in the room and SCREAM. Like this one above, "...Marc Almond". You just know that Ian, above, doing Marc, is in fact Trixie on stage, usually in a tight frock and that she does her own belting version of Jackie every Saturday night in front of a load of gayers. And he sounds NOTHING like Marc Almond.
These two, below though, are uncanny. Well, ish.
"Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be be...Phil Oakey!"
"Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be be... Boy George!"
The Christmas EP is out today in half of Europe, with the rest to follow on Monday. And as if to kick-start a PSB Christmas, their card arrived today too. Hoorah! But for a very special PSB offering, go here to the luverly Chartriggrrrrr who has given us his top ten PSB output from the noughties.
And here's the consolidation of PSB as a live act. The obligatory live video for the third single, All Over the World from the Christmas EP. A very 80s phenomena, actually.
