101ELTON JOHN − SONGS
FROM THE WEST COAST
Like David Bowie, Elton John suffers
from “best since” syndrome. Every
Bowie release was greeted by critics as “his
best since...” − usually Scary Monsters or
Lodger. Same goes for Elton. Like most of
his long-players, this 2001 album was met
with accolades of the “best since Captain
Fantastic/ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
variety – a return to his core piano-ballad
values and virtues. It is now being made
available in 2LP vinyl form. It was produced
by Patrick Leonard. The fi rst single, I Want
Love, was accompanied by a video starring
Robert Downey Jnr and directed by Sam
Taylor-Wood, which undoubtedly helped the
song reach the Top 10 in the UK and Canada,
while the album itself got to No.2 in the
UK and No.15 in the US. While not quite
peak-Elton positions, it was not bad for the
then-54-year-old.LONG LIVE VINYLNEW ORDER – NOMC15
This is a new live album from the
electronic pop pioneers recorded at
Brixton Academy in 2015, in the wake of the
release of their most recent studio LP Music
Complete. It features tracks from that
album, as well as numbers from the vaults
alongside Joy Division classics. The release
coincides with the reworking of their
catalogue on 29 June at the Manchester
International Festival with a 12-member
synthesizer ensemble. There, they will be
“deconstructing, rethinking and rebuilding a
wealth of material from throughout their
career”. NOMC15 affi rms their commitment
to future-facing music, with the likes of
Ceremony, Bizarre Love Triangle, The Perfect
Kiss, True Faith, Temptation and Blue
Monday, as well as single B-sides (Lonesome
Tonight), album tracks old (Your Silent Face)
and new (Plastic), and JD beauties
(Atmosphere, Love Will Tear Us Apart).VARIOUS ARTISTS −
T2 TRAINSPOTTING
The soundtrack to Danny Boyle’s
1996 adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s
novel Trainspotting was not only one of the
very best of the 90s, it apparently remains
one of the best-selling soundtracks on vinyl
in HMV stores to this day. And now here is the
soundtrack to the follow-up on vinyl, all the
better to enjoy the retro likes of Blondie
(Dreaming), Queen (Radio Ga Ga), The Clash
([White Man] In Hammersmith Palais, their
fi nest moment) and Frankie Goes To
Hollywood (Relax), alongside newer
contributions from Young Fathers, High
Contrast, Wolf Alice and Fat White Family,
among many others. There is, in addition, the
inevitable reappearance of Underworld’s
Born Slippy, in a slightly different guise, and
a Prodigy remix of Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life.
In all, the soundtrack for T2 Trainspotting is
every bit as essential as its predecessor.RADIOHEAD −
OK COMPUTER
Interesting that the two biggest, most
signifi cant rock albums from 1997
were at the opposite extremes of the indie/
alternative spectrum, with the one − Oasis’
Be Here Now – being mired in rock’n’roll’s
past, the other – Radiohead’s OK Computer- being a signpost to the future. Two decades
later, the band have reopened the vaults for
this remastered and expanded version. It is
a 3LP vinyl edition in a gatefold sleeve
containing three 180g black 12” vinyl
records containing the original 12-track
album, three unreleased tracks (Lift, Man
Of War and I Promise, all of which were
recorded during the OK Computer sessions
but appear here for the fi rst time) and eight
B-sides. All are newly remastered from the
original analogue tapes. The sleeve includes a
download card for a 320k MP3 or 16-bit WAV
download of the 23-track album.
VARIOUS ARTISTS −
DISCO ANTHEMS
This is available exclusively in
gatefold, 180g heavyweight triple LP
form only, and features 18 classic disco tracks- part of Demon Music’s Anthems series –
each of them the original extended 12”
mixes. Some of the greatest songs in history
are disco singles, and many of them appear
here. Disc 1 starts with The Jacksons’ Shake
Your Body (Down To The Ground), and
proceeds with McFadden & Whitehead’s
glorious Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now, Earth,
Wind & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland and
Heatwave’s Boogie Nights. Disc 2 opens with
a forgotten 12”, one dismissed as overly
poppy at the time but sounds today like a
lost classic: Patrick Juvet’s I Love America.
Elsewhere, there’s Frantique’s Strut Your
Funky Stuff and Cheryl Lynn’s Got To Be Real
while Disc 3 is all Cerrone, Andrea True
Connection and Vicki Sue Robinson.
SAINT ETIENNE −
HOME COUNTIES
Just when Saint Etienne thought their
month couldn’t get any better,
appearing over six pages in this very issue
of Classic Pop, now here they are being
featured on the coveted Long Live Vinyl
spread. Home Counties is their ninth
long-player since their inception 27 years
ago, and is every bit as good – that is to say,
shinily electronic and prettily tuneful, with
nods both to the past and to what journalist
Simon Reynolds once termed “the beatgeist”- as the eight previous ones. Home Counties
is almost like a prequel to 1991 debut album
Foxbase Alpha – where that album captured
a band in love with the capital, this one fi nds
them mooning around the suburbs. Over
19 tracks, they lionise an area that pop
groups have historically dreamed of leaving.
But, as Stanley says, “Suburbia’s anonymity
is exactly why it’s a source of inspiration”.
DAVID BOWIE −
HUNKY DORY AND
ZIGGY STARDUST
Doubtless many Classic Pop readers
already own versions of Hunky Dory
and The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
And The Spiders From Mars (the latter
celebrated its 45th birthday in June). But
on gold vinyl? Exactly. Just as well, then,
that Parlophone are issuing them in said
shade, although only very strictly limited
edition, mind, so be warned and available
only in ‘bricks and mortar’ stores and not
from yucky horrible online-only retailers.
These two new editions are the latest legacy
Bowie discs to appear, with releases for
Labyrinth, No Plan, Cracked Actor and more
already in the works this year. There is also
a special 40th anniversary 7” picture disc
of Bowie’s Be My Wife (the second and fi nal
single from 1977’s Low) currently doing
the rounds.FLEETWOOD MAC −
REMASTERS
The 2017 remaster of Fleetwood
Mac’s Tango In The Night and last
year’s Mirage remaster have just been issued
as standalone vinyl pressings. That’s their two
albums of the 80s in one fell swoop. They’re
arguably their two most underrated records,
too, unless you count 2003’s Say You Will,
which we at Classic Pop believe you should- count it, that is, because it’s a fl ipping
overlooked beauty. Anyway, Mirage is often
dismissed because it came after Tusk and
critics had lost interest by then, but it was a
bit of a stealth success, inveigling its way into
homes via singles Hold Me, Gypsy and Oh
Diane. Tango In The Night didn’t need to
inveigle – it was a blockbuster, impacting
immediately, hitting hard via the singles Big
Love, Little Lies, Seven Wonders, Everywhere,
Family Man, Tango In The Night and Isn’t It
Midnight. The MOR Thriller, anyone?
CP30.LLV.indd.indd 101 07/06/2017 17:46