ThePensmith

Pop Music Activism has confirmed there's more to come: @1852143136505762255

My Talk on Corners vinyl arrived the other day - looks stunning! Just lucky I had a gift card from my birthday leftover to use towards it otherwise full price might have been a bit much. I think I'll be waiting for Borrowed Heaven and White Light in New Year sales.

Nice couple of retrospective reels they've done for their Instagram recently, including some never before seen B-roll footage from the Beat Again video shoot! They're also doing an album signing at HMV Westfield London on 11th November - wristbands have already sold out for it!

Looks like Rachel's solo back catalogue is about to get a long overdue tidy up on Spotify! "So Good", her second single from her second album "Come & Get It" - and her fifth and last top 10 hit to date - is out in a new reissued EP on streaming tomorrow, with many of the promo only remixes making their digital debut!

Exactly. I've got my own personal one which I update or add to every year with the songs I love. No Mariah whatsoever on mine!

Late November for me as well, I tend to get my decorations up either third or last weekend of November!

The debut album is reissued on green vinyl on 22nd November: https://recordstore.co.uk/products/scissor-...-green-vinyl-lp Already seeing both Kylie Minogue and Olly Murs a couple of days after the O2 date of this tour but the thought of the debut being performed live in full is too good to resist, even without Ana Matronic not being there! And Alison Goldfrapp supporting as well :wub:

So cute that she's kept the dress after all these years! Bless her 😍 Not getting my hopes up by any means but really secretly hoping we're getting the vinyls in the near future(!)

_Nj9bu9Bc7s Not sure how familiar Buzzjack will be with this lady but I'll give a short precis for you... Alexis Strum was a singer-songwriter from Essex who recorded two albums in the early 00s for different record labels; the first, for Warner Records, was called Addicted, and had a lead single of the same name that was due for release in May 2003. A small misunderstanding from the team at Lorraine Kelly's show saw her performance on there cancelled at the last minute and her record deal thus ended before she even got music out (although two of the songs from that album, "Still Standing" and "Nothing Good About This Goodbye" both found homes on albums for Kylie Minogue and Rachel Stevens respectively). She then recorded another album, this time for Mercury Records, in 2005, called Cocoon, which had a couple of singles - "Bad Haircut" and "It Could Be You" - but again, her deal ended before the album ever saw the light of day. Fast forward to last year and, spearheaded by the brilliant Pop Music Activism account, both her unreleased albums finally got a digital - and in the case of Cocoon, a vinyl and CD - release, and she's had over half a million streams on Spotify. Today she released her first brand new single in 18 years, called "Karma". She's also playing a show at The Cavendish Arms in South London on 18th November, with an album to follow next year. It's such a good song this!

I was at this very show and it was a great night so I will definitely be pre-ordering!

Small diversion in discussion, but on Friday I went to see Aston Merrygold on his new solo tour at Shepherd's Bush Empire. I had VIP so was at the soundcheck and M&G in the afternoon. It was a lovely couple of hours before the show and also the show itself was brilliant, but the mood was definitely subdued amongst everyone - Aston dedicated a new song of his to Liam as well which I thought was a beautiful gesture. The topic of discussion that I could hear pretty much along the whole queue was about Liam. One girl and her mum I got talking to were also big 1D fans as well as JLS fans and it was just interesting but also sad seeing people process the shock of it all at losing their first huge idol as it were whilst also witnessing the kindness of sharing their collective memories and feelings. I definitely feel more winded by this than I anticipated to. On a human level, it's the fact he was struggling mentally and feeling unable to get the help he really needed, whilst also being what Cheryl and also Dawn O'Porter and Robbie Williams touched on in their respective tributes, that his son is at risk of being exposed to all of this as he grows up that is heart breaking. I just hope he is protected to the greatest degree possible going forward.

Scott Mills paid tribute on his Radio 2 show today as well:

Tickets were on presale for this today and already more dates have been added. I've decided not to go because I feel quite uncomfortable supporting a tour with two bands who were previously portrayed publicly as being best mates and joined at the hip to now be giving it "bad WWE wrestler" and bad blood every five seconds. It was especially tone deaf when Danny, Harry, Charlie and Matt were on This Morning today talking about the tour with the same "It's all out war" nonsense they've come out with in TV promo in the last week, right in the middle of the coverage about Liam Payne, the tragic circumstances of which shines a light on how much I personally think they've misread the room here.

Marvin Humes paid tribute to Liam on his KISS FM show today. Very beautiful words:

Had to double check this wasn't a hoax cause I'd woken from a nap and thought I was imagining it. 31 is absolutely no age. Just sincerely hope it wasn't a sad set of circumstances that led to this. Poor Cheryl and Bear and his family 😔

Newly released data from Billboard has revealed that, in the States at least, sales of vinyl are 33.3% down year-on-year (the actual breakdown: 34.9 million units in 2023 to just 23.3 million in 2024, this article here explores it in more depth). Whilst this is US sales data, true, it's worth - unfortunately - the discussion because I imagine the same is going to be true of the UK when the time comes for the BPI to do its annual reporting in a matter of months time at the end of the year. I shall preface what I'm about to say next by saying that I love physical formats, always have done, and still invest in them. My proper investment into vinyl started nearly 10 years ago (I did set up the original Vinyl Thread on here, after all). As an old school music lover I care deeply about the artistry and sanctity of hearing my favourite bands and albums on wax and listening to them is an experience I really treasure. That said, and whilst I am not wishing to call schadenfreude on this situation, am I surprised at this? The honest answer is no. About two years ago, I saw this coming after that one Christmas in 2021, when there was that "bottleneck" situation with Adele, Ed Sheeran and ABBA all releasing their new albums and pressing plants having delays of months after other albums had been out in digital or CD but were awaiting a vinyl release. I was beginning to find myself fatigued with the endless reissues of certain albums (I love Fleetwood Mac but "Rumours", fabulous album though it is, definitely does not need another pressing now. Ditto "Spice" by Spice Girls), and sheer number of coloured formats, especially by some more current artists in particular who had only just released a new album months or in some case weeks before it suddenly appeared in another new variant (watch where my eyes rest, Taylor Swift, and also now Charli Xcx). I have now inside the last two years made a point of only investing in albums or artists I actually genuinely love and want to own on vinyl, and actually jettisoned some of my earlier collection along the way. In many ways, I am finding the spark of true enjoyment of vinyl again, because if it's not I can't justify paying every part of £28+ for it. But then you've got the various events - Record Store Day, HMV Vinyl Week and National Album Day - which increasingly seem to be hit and miss with release lists and seem to be more and more of an exercise in monopolising by the major labels, who have made what was the genuine revival of five, maybe six or seven years ago, into the situation we have on our hands now. Record Store Day this year, for instance, was the first one in years where I didn't get up silly o'clock early, got there for when my local one in Chelmsford opened at 8am and still got both the releases I wanted (Nerina Pallot and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, just FYI). In almost all cases, some of these releases for these events are still lingering around weeks and months afterwards, undermining their exclusivity, and I am starting to find myself waiting for certain releases which are retailing at upwards of £34.99 to £50.99 until they hit the sale racks. You add a cost of living crisis on top of that and it's a no brainer as to why the sales are down overall. Of course, consistent periods of growth don't go on forever, and I would like to be hopeful that the long term picture is more one of levelling itself out rather than a downright plunge back to the sales levels they were at in say, the 90s and 00s. What I do hope doesn't happen is that the price of vinyl is now so drastically undercut so as to leave it selling at a loss because that's equally not ideal.

I was at the Thursday show of the 21st birthday gigs McFly did this week - it was indeed an awesome show! It was also filmed for ITV and will be airing over the Christmas period. That said, I love Busted too and saw them on their tour at The O2 last year. And I don't wanna be a David from Bracknell downer, but truly, I'm not sure I'm here for them talking trash at one another over a whole show as they indeed are somewhat cringeily in the promo interviews they've done for this tour so far. Particularly when they did all of this with McBusted 10 years ago, and it kind of goes against the grain of the perception most people have that they always got on and supported each other, even if this "fight to the death" nonsense they're coming out with is supposedly "for the bants". If you wanna tour again together, fair enough, just drop the bad WWE wrestler beef talk and behaviour thank you and please. #endof

Summer shows for next year also announced today and on sale next Friday:

J15: Anniversary Edition set for release on 8th November: The new Paul Woolford remix of Beat Again is out at midnight.

One extra date at Wembley Arena on 18th May went on sale this morning. He's also doing the Isle of Wight Festival next summer!

Managed to get a ticket for 26th May at the O2 this morning. I'm still in shock! Kylie has literally been on my gig bucket list for years and I really didn't expect to get a ticket. Can't wait! I'll actually be doing The O2 the day before as well cause I'm seeing Olly Murs on the closing date of his tour. Never done two gigs back to back at the same venue before so that'll be interesting from a stamina stand point 🤣

In a bizarre turn of events he's playing literally 5 minutes down the road from me at Chelmsford Racecourse next summer! Debating, with Kylie's tour on sale this week, how badly I want this 🤔

It looks as if they're gearing up to announce something to do with the 15th anniversary of their debut album on Friday - I just got this little teaser image over email: Kind of hoping it's a reissue TBH - ideally on vinyl as well!

I was about to say Chris and also Pete Wicks were hilarious with Claudia 🤣 Likewise, Sarah was - unsurprisingly - a hoot. She really is Stevie in real life. I can't at her manifesting Vito as her partner by sniffing his shoe backstage! Fabulous pairing all the same. Likewise JB with Amy and Shayne with Nancy, on which note lovely to see Amy back again.

I've pre-ordered Talk On Corners (I had a gift card to use so put it towards it) but will be asking for the others for Christmas or waiting until they're on sale. Ridiculous pricing!