Mr. Mondo

I think Demi Moore might be involved just to combat any suggestions of ageism with Hollywood producers, as that is a role that could have been played by any number of actors, of any colour, of any race and of any gender. It is good that she is in a film like this, but the fact that it is her is neither here or there.

‘Mr. Brooks’ Has anybody else seen the new serial killer thriller ‘Mr. Brooks’ at the cinema this week? I think it could be one of the contenders for the ‘Film of the Year’ as it is brilliant. It is good to see Kevin Costner back as the main star, ‘Mr. Brooks’, giving a great performance that switches between family man and disturbed creep. Also very good is William Hurt as his ‘voice in his head’ alter-ego Marshall, who we see on the screen trying to influence ‘Mr. Brooks’ opinion. All in all, it is a great film, with a number of brilliant twists at the end and a potential film of the year. This is why Mr. Mondo will give ‘Mr. Brooks’ top marks, a 5/5.

22. 'Dubstar' “The wind's whistling, my mind's twisting, I was making myself the usual cup of tea when the doorbell strangely rang… …Because I've been up here for a while I'm starting to feel the monotony of a tower block, I'm not so manic now” “It's alright I'm just a girl she said. Talk down to me and take me to bed, I don't think I don't feel and it don't really matter at all, kiss me in darkness turn and out the light, pretend you're with someone else tonight, you don't think you don't feel and I don't really understand why” “If you need somebody around you, well then I'll be the one who's there” “Is it asking too much to be given time, to know these songs and to sing them? Is it asking too much of my vacant smile and a laugh and lies that bring them” “I'm a person who speaks I'm a person who thinks but you hope I'll forget as you ply me with drinks and you cannot buy me and you cannot use me but I know that you'll want to try” “As the stars are going out, and this stage is full of nothing, and my friends have all but gone, for my life, my God, I'm singing. We'll take our hearts outside, and leave our lives behind and watch the stars go out” Nicely fitting in the period between the Kirsty MacColl ‘Titanic Days’ and ‘Tropical Brainstorm’ albums, ‘Dubstar’ are best described as a ‘jangly’ indie band whose rhythm section had been replaced by a lot of electronic programming. Fronted by the vocalist Sarah Blackwood, a lot of this band’s records were akin to Kirsty MacColl’s ‘Angel’ being re-recorded by Susan Anne Sulley, in the way that Sarah’s vocals remained deadpan throughout their adventurous melodies. Signed to EMI’s indie label ‘Food’ (David Balfe’s label that had originally put out records by ‘Brilliant’ and ‘Crazyhead’ in the old independent days), ‘Dubstar’ are probably best remembered for a version of an old obscure indie song called ‘Not So Manic Now’ and for having a very suggestive album cover. People thought the album cover was ‘disgraceful’, which was very well since this was also the debut album’s name. The album was quickly banned even though the cover only showed a pencil case and a balloon. A fluffy pink bunny ‘slipper’ replaced the image on the sleeve, and this is the version I have got, even though no extra tracks were added at the time. The album is one of the best albums that I own, a quality album, if measured only in the number of times album tracks such as ‘Just A Girl She Said’ and ‘Not Once, Not Ever’ are played more than the singles. Whilst everybody may know the cover of the song ‘Not So Manic Now’, with it’s very ‘wordy’ opening about the “monotony of a tower block” some people here might know of a song by the title of ‘St. Swithin's Day’. This is another great album track from ‘Disgraceful’ and it is another cover, though this time from the great ‘bard of Barking’, Billy Bragg. Now, as some of you may have already guessed, this is where another comparison with Kirsty MacColl will fit, in the way that one of Kirsty’s most famous songs is actually a Billy Bragg original. Whereas I love Kirsty MacColl records such as ‘Free World’, ‘Fifteen Minutes’ and ‘England 2 Columbia 0’, when it comes to ‘A New England’ I prefer the Billy Bragg original. In comparison to ‘Dubstar’, I think that their version of Billy Bragg’s song is as good, if not better than the original ‘Brewing Up with…’ version. Another great song from the ‘Disgraceful’ album was called ‘Elevator Song’ and back in the mid 1990s there was a great remix of this song on one of the in-store ‘EMI Playlist’ compilations that I used to pick up from a record store in Hyde. Unfortunately, ‘Dubstar’ could not build on the success of this wonderful album, with a second volume of their deadpan tales briefly hitting the charts just over ten years ago. Hopefully, one day EMI Records will get around to releasing a deluxe version of ‘Disgraceful’, an album I like to see filed next to ‘Pulp Intro’ or ‘Different Class’ in any critical list.

Actually, ‘Propaganda’ were an Anglo-German band singed to Richard Branson’s ‘Virgin Records’ and included about half of ‘Simple Minds’ at this point in time (the half that was not Jim Kerr or Charlie Burchill). In addition to this, the big hit single of the time, ‘Heaven Give Me Words’, was co-written by Howard Jones whilst the album also featured Simon Toulson-Clarke from ‘Red Box’. Even though these are some of my favourite acts, I would think this definition would class this version of the band as being ‘uncool’ in the eyes of ‘Select Magazine’ or ‘Raw’, though ‘Heaven Give Me Words’ and ‘Only One Word’ are amazing records.

There is video footage of me dancing to ‘Madness’ when I was about 6, though this is not available on ‘Youtube’.

Great News It will be soon time for the ‘Here and Now 2008’ tour and what a great line up of acts are playing this time. I think it could be the best line up of acts that they have ever had. The headliner will be the great soulful pop voice of Rick Astley, who will be singing all his amazing ‘PWL’ hits, whilst also on the bill are ‘Bananarama’, Paul Young, Martin Fry, Ben VP from ‘Curiosity’, ‘Johnny Hates Jazz’ and Nick van Ede from the ‘Cutting Crew’. I do not know what everybody’s local arena venue will be and when they will be playing, but if you live in the Manchester region, the tour will be coming to the M.E.N. Arena on Tuesday May 13th.

The Great Storm of 1987 It is the 20th anniversary of the great storm of 1987, so I was wondering if anybody was affected by the hurricane that ripped through the British Isles and did anyone see the infamous broadcast, the one that Michael Fish says did not actually happen.

01. Nomad ft MC Mikee Freedom - (I Wanna Give You) Devotion – 20 points 02. Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman 03. DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince - Summertime 04. Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy 05. Shamen - Move Any Mountain 06. Julian Lennon - Saltwater 07. KLF - 3am Eternal 08. Zoe - Sunshine On A Rainy Day 09. Moby - Go 10. K-Klass - Rhythm Is A Mystery 11. Electronic - Get The Message 12. P M Dawn - Set Adrift On Memory Bliss 13. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy 14. Wonder Stuff - The Size Of The Cow 15. Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis 16. Cathy Dennis - Touch Me (All Night Long) 17. C & C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat 18. Chesney Hawkes - The One & Only 19. U2 - The Fly 20. Divinyls - I Touch Myself These below are great bands but have missed out on a placing for the simple reason that I prefer their other recordings more than these. Blur – There’s No Other Way James – Sit Down Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit Prince - Cream Prodigy - Charly REM - Losing My Religion Roxette - Joyride Seal - Crazy Simply Red - Stars These below are two great records that are missing: Sabrina Johnston - Peace Erasure - Love To Hate You I would have liked to have put ‘the World of Twist’ and ‘Jellyfish’ on as well but I was unsure whether the records would have been 1991 or actually 1992.

For a pop singer he was good, but I think he really wanted to be D’angelo or ‘Jojo’. Maybe he could be seen as Walthamstow’s answer to Bobby Brown, that might be a more agreeable comparison for him and in some respects, nearer to the truth.

Sorry, I did not watch that programme. On the other hand, I did like watching ‘Game On’ and I also liked the theme tune very much ( ‘Where I Find My Heaven’ by ‘the Gigolo Aunts’ ) .

I have never seen it, but I have heard it is supposed to be very good. Is this a ‘Channel 4’ television show by any chance and if so, will it be shown on ‘More4’ as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations.

Yes, either that record or ‘It’s Alright’, though both records are of a similar sound, especially in comparison to the ‘E-17’ R&B pop hits.

I do not know this chart hit, but when you say the ‘Vision On’ music, do you mean the ‘Take Hart’ gallery theme as well?

I think most of the series are out on DVD, you should be able to get them easily.

I bought a couple of the indie compilations but never got round to buying them all. A few years later you would see them in the shops but they would be slightly damaged with either the pages ‘thumbed’ or the CD hanging out around the rack. I think it is either ‘Volume 3’ or ‘Volume 6’ that is a good compilation, I cannot remember which one exactly but it has a great track called ‘Fake ‘88’ on it by Stephen Duffy and Saint Etienne, which is a great track for feeling nostalgic for the 1980s. Sorry but I do not understand this last comment.

25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007 21. ‘East Seventeen’ “Outside it’s raining, but inside it’s wet” Within every generation of music, there is a rivalry and pop battle between two popular bands of the time. Whether it is between ‘The Beatles’ and ‘The Stones’, ‘Duran’ and ‘Spandau’ or ‘Blur’ and ‘Oasis’, time and time again two opposing sides are put together by the media, and in the early 1990s this was between ‘Take That’ and ‘East 17’ Now, whereas I love records by Robbie Williams as much as everybody else does and ‘Take That’ have recently released some brilliant records, back in the early 1990s I preferred the records released by their Southern rivals ‘East 17’. I think that the band released some great ‘techno-pop’ and ‘Swingbeat R&B’ records in their time, including ‘It’s Alright’, ‘Deep’ and ‘House Of Love’. In fact, I would go as far to suggest that ‘House Of Love’ includes one of the greatest musical introductions to a pop record that I have ever heard, in the way that the synths build up until the moment the band shouts out “Everybody, Everybody in the house of love”. In those days you might remember that the group was a five piece band, though not exactly standing shoulder to should with ‘Take That’ seeing that the band was comprised of Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Coldwell, John Hendy and ‘Levy’ the dog. The dog became the band’s mascot and the band became linked with a number of illustrated dog head logos that were developed in a way similar to the ‘2wo Third3’ ‘Biff’ head. Actually this comparison is not that surprising seeing as both bands were managed by Tom Watkins and both had a number of the same personal working behind the scenes, though ‘2wo Third3’ were more 1980s ‘electro-pop’ sounding, whilst ‘East 17’sounded like the pop ‘Shamen’ at the time. You might also remember that John Hendy acted as the synth player in those early days, playing his keyboard upon an ironing board at the back of the stage, whilst later on it would be Tony Mortimer who would be shown to possess the musical talent. Brian Harvey on the other hand had a good pop-soul singer’s voice and most of the time sung like he wanted to be in either ‘Jodeci’ or ‘Shai’. I doubt that I need to bring up all the following problems and frictions that have happened post ‘E-17’ in the last ten years, as they will have been documented in depth elsewhere, though this has taken some of the shine off their amazing pop success from the early 1990s.

Did you like Kirsty MacColl’s ‘Walking Down Madison’ as well as that record was very similar in style to ‘This Is Your Life’.

I think at one point in the early 1990s, Colin was actually referred to as ‘Black’ in his interviews but this soon stopped and after about three more albums he started releasing albums under his birth name. On the other hand, I think Mick Hucknall named his band ‘Simply Red’ because he was actually called ‘Red’ by his friends and wanted a longer name, whilst the band ‘Blue’ also had a member called ‘Red’ alongside Dean Collinson. I think he is back to being ‘Black’ now

A great artist. She was one of Britain’s best vocalists and songwriters. It was a pity that ‘Tropical Brainstorm’ took about five years to complete and then once it was released, she did not get the chance to develop that ‘Tropical’ Cuban sound. “In these shoes?” was a brilliant record that should have reached the ‘Top Ten’, whilst the album had many other great tracks just waiting to be discovered by the greater public. Her death was very sad, and was even more shocking to me as her record had just been played on a pub jukebox loop in Cheadle, when my friend said ‘You know she died today…?’ “In these shoes? I don’t think so”

‘East 17’ and ‘911’ are to play the Manchester Opera House on Monday October 22nd with special guests ‘Friday Hill’. Does anyone know if this is a full tour, and if so, what will be the other venues that the bands will be playing in, around the country? I was thinking that Opera House was an odd choice for this kind of performance to take place, not only because of the juxtaposition between ‘high art’ and ‘low culture’, but because it seems a very civilised place in contrast to the ‘Brannigans’ type of pubs and clubs where you would normally see ‘East 17’ booked to perform.

However can you remember the follow up to ‘Turtle Power?

20. Simon Harris and Einstein / ‘Hip-House’ records / ‘Ambassadors Of Funk’ 25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007 “Bass! How low can you go?” One of the first house acts from the United Kingdom to break through to the pop charts, Simon Harris is best known for his brilliant hit single ‘Bass! How low can you go’ as well as the hip-house smash ‘Another Monsterjam’ and that slightly annoying remix of the ‘Super Mario Brothers’ theme tune that was released under the name the’ Ambassadors Of Funk’ on his own ‘Living Beat’ recording company. Joining Simon on the last two singles was the British MC ‘Einstein’, a rapper not too dissimilar to ‘Derek B’, ‘Merlin’ or, in his hip-house ‘Technotronic’ phase, MC Eric ‘Me One’ Martin. In fact it is not surprising, knowing the nature of house music producers and these hired emcees, that ‘Einstein’ actually ended up replacing ‘MC Eric’ as the featured performer with ‘Technotronic’, of whom he released the bass bumper ‘Turn It Up’ with. 25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007

Another great list though I would have gone for ‘Flashback Jack’ (‘I bring the freshness back’)

19. ‘Banderas’ and ‘Cactus Rain’ (Marc Almond – ‘Communards’) 25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007 I would expect that everybody in this section knows legends such as Marc Almond, ‘Soft Cell’, Sinead O’Connor, ‘Bronski Beat’ and ‘the Communards’, but is there anybody else who remembers ‘Banderas’ or ‘Cactus Rain’. I do not know if there are a lot of big fans of Marc Almond or Jimmy Somerville on the site, or whether people just like them for the popular cover versions that they have both released. However, if there are people here who either are obsessed by these two acts or have a great knowledge of early 1990s pop then no doubt you will have heard of ‘Banderas’ and ‘Cactus Rain’ as both were ‘off-shoots’ of each performer’s backing bands. ‘Banderas’ were a duo made up of ex-‘Communard’ associate Caroline Herbert along with singer Caroline Buckley. As with Sinead O’Connor, Caroline Buckley was a shaven headed singer with a striking look. In fact her striking look was very similar to the Irish singer’s 1990 non-hair phase, but because of the ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ video, ‘the pope controversy’ and the fact that she managed to hit the charts a few years before Caroline, it is Sinead that everybody remembers. This is a shame because ‘Banderas’ released a number of great singles in the early 1990s, as well as a brilliant album called ‘Ripe’ on the ‘London Records’ label, before disappearing from view as quickly as they came. Fans of Manchester music gods ‘The Smiths’, might also remember that Johnny Marr played guitar on their big single and also contributed a number of other guest guitar parts across the album. My pick of the album is the third single ‘May This Be Your Last Sorrow’ which is very haunting. Whereas ‘Banderas’, were an offshoot of Jimmy Somerville and Richard Cole’s ‘Communards’ backing band, ‘Cactus Rain’ were a early 1990s dance band featuring Annie Hogan from Marc Almond’s ‘Willing Sinners’ and ‘Mambas’ backing bands. ‘Cactus Rain’ are best described as a ‘chill out electronica’ act, though this was before these terms became in vogue, with the act’s sound being more pop like ‘Olive’ rather than more ambient like ‘The Orb’. Signed to the dance off-shoot of ‘Virgin Records’ A.V.L. operation ‘Ten’, they released a brilliant record called ‘Till The Morning Comes’, which even though it was not a hit, people might know from Channel 4’s ‘Dance Daze’ show at the Brixton Academy.

As someone over-30 I would find ‘Emu’ annoying now if I had to watch it, but as a child I used to watch it.