Category Archives: Pop music

2012 ➤ A stream of audio Gold on Absolute Radio’s Spandathon

Posted on 13 Aug 2012 | Leave a comment

David Tennant: gives Gold a Bardish lilt

❚ TUNE IN TODAY FROM 6am for Absolute Radio’s Spandathon: the Breakfast Show with Christian O’Connell will play Gold by Spandau Ballet 29 times, once for each gold medal won by Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games. That works out at an hour and half of Gold between 6 and 10am (BST), during which time we can expect to hear some unusual versions such as an operatic one by Joanne McGahon, a spoken reading by actor David Tennant in tribute to Andy Murray’s Olympic triumph, a karaoke version by athlete Kriss Akabusi and another version whistled. Medallists will be interviewed live between each play.

Vocalist Tony Hadley will be on the show singing the track live at 8am, and as a bonus songwriter Gary Kemp will be joining the team live on air from 9am. (Does this amount to a Spandau reunion?) Absolute Radio is also appealing for listeners to join in by recording and uploading their own versions online – details here.

➢ How to listen to the Absolute Spandathon across the globe on air, online and via satellite

➢ Catch up after Aug 13 with Absolute Radio’s podcast (though it may it an age to load!)

UPDATE: HEAR THREE BRILLIANT NEW VERSIONS OF GOLD

❏ Big Tone Hadley excels himself with his best-ever version, broadcast live today:

❏ Actor David Tennant renders Gold in Shakespearean mode during today’s live interview with Gary Kemp:

❏ Diva Joanne McGahon turns Gold into an operatic aria:

Joanne McGahon at Absolute Radio: giving a thrilling diva version of Gold this morning

➢ For anybody wanting to see a video of the Spandathon: Tony Hadley sings his first epic Olympian version of Gold on today’s Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show

SUNDAY NIGHT AT TEAM GB HOUSE, OUR MEDALLISTS SING ALONG WITH LAUGHING-BOY HADDERS

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➢ Gary Kemp “Chuffed to bits” about his unofficial anthem

➢ Come on, Tone! Only another 142 chart places until musical Gold!

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Posted in London, Media, Pop music

Tagged Absolute Radio, David Tennant, Gary Kemp, Gold, Interview, Joanne McGahon, Kriss Akabusi, London 2012, Olympics, Spandau Ballet, Tony Hadley

➤ Dylan’s journey from A Tribe Called Quest to the last word on Zappa

Posted on 11 Aug 2012 | Leave a comment

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➢ According to i-D online . . .
“ Former editor at i-D and now editor-in-chief of British GQ, Dylan Jones is an arbiter of taste, instigator of style and in possession of an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music. Uninspired by the lack of subjectivity many music biographies take, Dylan Jones began working on his own dictionary of popular music 30 years ago. Scribbling down scattered thoughts on paper, Dylan collated mountains of unorganised text which have since evolved to fill the 838 pages of his latest book, The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music… / continued at i-D online, plus video interview above

➢ The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music by Dylan Jones (download to iPhone, iPad or iPod, iTunes, £6.49)

➢ The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music (paperback 908 pages, £22.67)

WHAT REVIEWERS HAVE SAID

➢ Helen Brown at The Telegraph:

“ Amiably opinionated, funny and revealing, this is a knowingly subjective A-Z of the artists Jones fancies writing about from Abba (Mamma Mia transported him to “a pink fluffy place called Abbaville. I loved it”) to Frank Zappa (the early Mothers of Invention albums sound “like Tom Lehrer made them on acid”). He explores the emotional appeal of artists he loves and is bothered when others admired by his friends leave him cold. Some subjects get a line, others an essay. Jones’s tastes tend towards old-school cool jazz, easy listening and lounge music. No surprise to learn that the men’s magazine editor has been in thrall to the slickly suited, high-rolling rat pack since hearing them on his mum’s turntable as a kid. ”

➢ Amazon’s jsquared on the Kindle edition:

“ As someone quite new to many of these bands, I loved this. Dylan Jones’ writing is funny and pleasantly surprising, helped along by his personal recollections of interviews with a variety of band members and famous folk which brings the stories to light rather than feeling self-involved. It’s a perfect gift for a brother with more records than friends! If my boyfriend hadn’t lent me his Kindle, I wouldn’t have read it. I recommend the Blues Music section, that’s what got me hooked. ”

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Posted in London, Media, Pop music

Tagged Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music, Books, Dylan Jones, Kindle, publishing, Reviews

2012 ➤ Grace Jones celebrates the day she met the Queen, two months on

Posted on 4 Aug 2012 | Leave a comment

Grace Jones, HM Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Concert,

Meeting of two queens on June 4. At Facebook Ivan Antunovic adds this caption… The Queen: Tell me your secret, dear… Grace: Nightclubbing, your majesty, nightclubbing. (Photograph: PA)

❚ IT WAS A MEETING OF TWO QUEENS in their own realms… This isn’t a new photo but it was published yesterday on Grace Jones’s Official Facebook page as if the singer is suddenly chuffed to bits with the moment it captures. Just as chuffed seems to be the expression on the face of one’s monarch as HMQ greets Grace backstage following the star-studded Diamond Jubilee Concert on June 4. The official Facebook caption marks the two-month-old occasion: “It was an honour to play a part in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations with such an incredible band… two months ago this weekend.”

Between the regal pair, the photo captures the terminally unfunny comedian Rob Brydon giving his impersonation of the nation in shock. Other videos record how his gags died the death on the Jubilee stage, but Grace’s video continues to make compulsive viewing as she twirls a hula-hoop (Why?) while singing Slave To The Rhythm, her biggest hit and title track from her triumphant seventh studio album, produced by Trevor Horn in 1985. Priceless cutaway shots of the royal box as Grace performs might have come straight from the Mel Brooks movie satire, The Producers.

The Jamaican-American singer, supermodel and actress Grace made her home in Britain after settling down with music producer Ivor Guest, 4th Viscount Wimborne. Didn’t she do well?

Grace’s showstopper: This BBC video cutaway to the Royal Box during Grace Jones’s orgasmic act is a dead ringer for the gobsmacked audience watching Springtime for Hitler. How many astonished princesses, archbishops, ex-prime ministers and director-generals can you count?

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Grace’s finale: Another cutaway as Grace bids farewell to her audience and becomes confused about the occasion: “We love you! Happy birthday, our Queen.” How many humourless heirs to the throne and bemused princesses royal can you count?

➢ Shapersofthe80s records how this happy breed enjoyed the rainiest Diamond Jubilee Pageant of the year on June 3

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Posted in Culture, London, Media, Pop music, TV

Tagged Concert, Diamond Jubilee Concert, Grace Jones, HM Queen Elizabeth II, Mel Brooks, Slave To The Rhythm, Video

2012 ➤ Come on, Tone! Only another 142 chart places until musical Gold!

Posted on 3 Aug 2012 | Leave a comment

Metro, newspaper, Spandau Ballet, Gold, Absolute Radio

Aug 3, 2012: Today’s Metro, the free city newspaper

❚ THIS MORNING’S METRO NEWSPAPER in the UK reports Spandau Ballet’s 1983 chart hit Gold moving up the UK iTunes Top 200 Chart from 165 to 143, also trending on Twitter, while, thanks to Team GB, two Gold slots were filled on the Absolute Radio “Tonyliser”. Somebody manning the signal beacon back at Spandau Towers still has a knack for PR!

➢ Check progress on the Tonyliser in the Team GB Spandathon – For every gold medal Team GB win, Absolute Radio will play Spandau Ballet’s Gold that many times on the Breakfast Show of Monday August 13.

➢ July 6 update: Gold has shot up to No 6 in the iTunes UK Rock Chart

➢ One Direction should have closed the Olympic opening ceremony, according to Tony Hadley: “They’re our biggest export at the moment, pure pop.” However, The Sun’s Gordon Smart disagrees, Aug 3: “Macca is one of Britain’s biggest living legends. Everything about the ceremony was spot on.”

➢ Latest official news from Spandau Towers

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Posted in London, Pop music

Tagged Gold, London 2012, Olympics, Spandau Ballet, Tony Hadley