End of an Era

News comes today that Andrew Collins, that happy slap-stick reason to listen to BBC's digital radio 6Music is being shunted out of his wonderful drivetime slot.

His replacement, Steve Lamacq has been shunted from pillar to post since the demise of his Radio 1 evening program The Evening Sequence. Collins, whose profile is getting bigger than ever with a TV column in venerable magazine Word will be hosting a new show on Sundays from 2-5pm as well as taking over the 6Music Chart Show.

Both massive changes are set to happen in early April, so listen to the last month of Collins' afternoon show while you can, and hold back the tears - he not leaving us yet!

Link: Collins' 6Music Show

Crap filtered into charts

So, this week sees the American Billboard singles chart being infiltrated by downloads for the first time. The Hot 100, up until this point, was comprised of 80% airplay and 20% sales. Of course, hardly any of the Hot 100 was available commercially, so most of it was airplay.

For those who don't listen to the radio, the Hot 100 became less and less relevant to their everyday lives, myself included (having not lived near an American station in 10 years).

People who want low quality, DRM infected files for 99c a shot can now have their say in how the Hot 100 is comprised. Of course, the details haven't been made all that clear.

I'm just wondering, for instance, that if I buy 15,000 copies of "Wild Boys" by Duran Duran whether they can have it finally go to Number One or is there some sort of release stipulation about what can appear in the charts.

Btw, if it IS possible... let's do it!

Link: Hot 50

With the BBC reporting misleading claims, it would seem the CD single is even more doomed than ever. They're stating that "The last week of December 2004 saw download sales of 312,000 compared with 282,000 physical singles, according to the British Phonographic Industry."

Now when you consider that the average single has between 2 and 3 tracks, and a few have 4 or 5, those figured become a little less download-favourable, with download singles actually tallying around 156,000 2-trackers, or 104,000 3-trackers actually bought.

You can always find yourself lucky as well and buy a CD single that'll be worth a fortune in a few years time (just look for The Bravery's first single on Ebay. Wow! You won't find downloads going for $50 anytime soon).

Link: BBC News

Cure Reissues - The next round

For those of you who don't own the Cure catalogue on vinyl, cassette and CD already, Fiction are currently in the midst of trying to pry more money of out your hands by offering a 2CD remaster series of the entire collection.

Three Imaginary Boys came out in November, and the next three in the series have just been announced for release in April. They are:

Seventeen Seconds (1980)
Faith (1981)
Pornography (1982)

The track listings are as follows:

SEVENTEEN SECONDS: THE ORIGINAL ALBUM

01. A REFLECTION
02. PLAY FOR TODAY
03. SECRETS
04. IN YOUR HOUSE
05. THREE
06. THE FINAL SOUND
07. A FOREST
08. M
09. AT NIGHT
10. SEVENTEEN SECONDS

SEVENTEEN SECONDS: RARITIES 1979-1980

01. I'M A CULT HERO (vinyl single by CULT HERO)
02. I DIG YOU (vinyl single by CULT HERO)
03. ANOTHER JOURNEY BY TRAIN (home demo)
04. SECRETS (home demo)
05. SEVENTEEN SECONDS (live)
06. IN YOUR HOUSE (live)
07. THREE (alt studio mix)
08. I DIG YOU (CULT HERO live)
09. I'M A CULT HERO (CULT HERO live)
10. M (live)
11. THE FINAL SOUND (live)
12. A REFLECTION (live)
13. PLAY FOR TODAY (live)
14. AT NIGHT (live)
15. A FOREST (live)

FAITH: THE ORIGINAL ALBUM

01. THE HOLY HOUR
02. PRIMARY
03. OTHER VOICES
04. ALL CATS ARE GREY
05. THE FUNERAL PARTY
06. DOUBT
07. THE DROWNING MAN
08. FAITH

09. CARNAGE VISORS

FAITH: RARITIES 1980-1981

01. FAITH (RS home demo)
02. DOUBT (RS home demo)
03. DROWNING (group home demo)
04. THE HOLY HOUR (group home demo)
05. PRIMARY (studio out-take)
06. GOING HOME TIME (studio out-take)
07.THE VIOLIN SONG (studio out-take)
08. A NORMAL STORY (studio out-take)
09. ALL CATS ARE GREY (live)
10. THE FUNERAL PARTY (live)
11. OTHER VOICES (live)
12. THE DROWNING MAN (live)
13. FAITH (live)
14. FOREVER (live)
15. CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES (single)

PORNOGRAPHY: THE ORIGINAL ALBUM

01. ONE HUNDRED YEARS
02. A SHORT TERM EFFECT
03. THE HANGING GARDEN
04. SIAMESE TWINS
05. THE FIGUREHEAD
06. A STRANGE DAY
07. COLD
08. PORNOGRAPHY

PORNOGRAPHY: RARITIES 1981-1982

01. BREAK (group home demo)
02. DEMISE (studio demo)
03.TEMPTATION (studio demo)
04. THE FIGUREHEAD (studio demo)
05. THE HANGING GARDEN (studio demo)
06. ONE HUNDRED YEARS (studio demo)
07. AIRLOCK: THE SOUNDTRACK
08. COLD (live)
09. A STRANGE DAY (live)
10. PORNOGRAPHY (live)
11. ALL MINE (live)
12. A SHORT TERM EFFECT (live)
13. SIAMESE TWINS (live)
14. TEMPTATION TWO (aka lgtb) (RS studio demo)

Depeche Mode reissues ago-go!

Rumours are abounding that Mute Records are going to go back to the well again for their favourite sons and major cash cow Depeche Mode.

According to online zine Side Line, there are plans afoot to reissue the band's entire back catalogue. Chances are quite good the collection will be remastered and issued on SACD.

The label recently reissued a load of Can albums on hybrid SACD/CD and Depeche Mode's "101" live album was re-issued last year on multi-channel hybrid SACD/CD.

As everyone knows Martin Gore isn't the most prolific songwriter, so the chance of a 2CD set for any of the albums is quite slim, especially as Mute have recently issued boxsets for the singles, a remix collection and download for some of the more obscure remixes that featured on white label promos and the like. To continue an analogy, this repeated trip to the well is drying it up somewhat.

Chances are the reissues could co-incide with the release of the band's new album, which they're currently in the studio working on with producer Ben Hillier.

Not to be greedy, but if this trend continues, I've got my fingers crossed for some Recoil SACD reissues...

Link: Amazon.co.uk

Tsunami Gig

As I guessed, the Tsunami Relief Concert in Cardiff came and went and people are hard pressed to say who played, when they played and what they played. A far cry from the Live Aid 2005 it was billed as.

Suffice it to say, about the only thing I am sure of is the Manic Street Preachers DID play and they DIDN'T play their late 90s single Tsunami, which I guess is a good thing. Of course, the Manics of the Generation Terrorists era would have chomped at the bit to play it and be subversive, in the same way they released a song called Another Invented Disease during the AIDS epidemic.

As a footnote, the b-side to the Manics single is called Buildings for Dead People, which given what has happened, is quite eerie.

Still, word is out that Scotland are going to try their hand at the whole Live Aid 2005 thing... sorry, the Tsunami relief concert. According the NME, the lineup looks rather Scot-band heavy, as one would expect. Bands like Franz Ferdinand, Deacon Blue and Trashcan Sinatras are poised to make a forgettable appearance all in the name of charity and re-building a career. (There's only so many slots available on Celebrity Big Brother).

Link: NME's article
Link: Give to the Tsunami Relief

A much better Idol?

After more than 10 years away from the music scene, Billy Idol is set for a return this coming March with an album of new material out on Sanctuary, the label that gives has-beens another chance.

Anyone who's a fan of classic Idol should be quite happy at the news that Billy's buried the hatchet with long-time contributor and all around guitar God Steve Stevens. The last studio album by Idol featured a scab guitarist and really felt like a let down compared to the earlier Stevens driven work.

Also on board is long-time producer Keith Forsey, who sat behind the desk for most of Idol's initial releases, including the "Rebel Yell" album.

The new album, to be released 22 March, is called "Devil's Playground" and the new single, called Scream, already starting to cause a buzz, having been released to radio and digital download stores from yesterday. It can also be heard on the splash page of the official site.

The track is a return to form of sorts for the bottle-blond punk king. The driving bassline, the screaming guitar, and the sneering menacing Idol vocals are all present and accounted for. There's also some lyrics about "lemon trees" which is quite odd.

Whether the man can capture the success he once held in the early 80s (as encapsulated in the film "The Wedding Singer") will be interesting to see, but as other bands of the era like Duran Duran and U2 are still going concerns, anything is possible.

Also, you've gotta admit, given the choice of Idols, you'd take Billy over Pop any day!

Link: Amazon.co.uk

Is it Friday? Then it must be Factory

Everyone remembers Factory Records. The seminal indie label from the 80s that brought us not only Joy Division and New Order, but also the backbone events of the Madchester era - the Hacienda and the Happy Mondays.

Anyone remember Factory Two? Or whatever the third incarnation was called?

Fast forward to 2005 and Factory founder Tony Wilson is prepping a new label called Factory Four or F4 Records. The label should start trading on 31 January 2005 and the first release, "Realize and Witness" from hip-hop outfit Raw will hit UK record shops in March.

Rumour has it that another previous label stalward of Wilson's, namely Durutti Column, will be among the initial signings for F4.

Which previous Factory imprint this label will emulate is hard to judge, but suffice to say the last two kicks at the can haven't worked out too well.

It'll be interesting to see if the soundtrack for the forthcoming Joy Division movie comes out on F4. I might actually buy that release.

Link: Official Site