Ten years after he parted company with WEA, Howard Jones continues to release
new material via his own label d-tox. Set up in 1996, d-tox has not only
issued music by Jones himself but also contemporary electropop duo dba and
most notably Martin Grech, who is licensed by d-tox to Island Records and
enjoyed much critical acclaim with his debut album Open Heart Zoo last year.
Following a triumphant return to his synthesizer roots with The Peaceful Tour
and its subsequent CD companion in 2001, Jones returned to the studio. The
results were two albums of piano instrumentals, planned as separate releases
during 2003, along with another, more conventional, set of new songs with
full-scale arrangements and vocals. Such a burst of creative energy (Howard
Jones' last new studio album was 1998's People) is unbound by major label
dictates, and the first of the Piano Solos CDs was made available on his
official website on April 28th.
Clocking in at 37 minutes, the 9 pieces of free-form tinkling are bravely
apposite to current trends. As far back as 1989, Jones displayed his talent
for piano-only compositions with Out Of Thin Air, the opener to Side 2 of his
fourth album Cross That Line. Subtitled "For Friends And Loved Ones", Piano
Solos sees Jones literally following his muse, letting the music flow through
him. With excellent, heartfelt sleevenotes from the man, it's a refreshing
alternative to the mindless onslaught of so much current chart music.
For more information, and details of a special 20th Anniversary concert to be
held in September, check out www.howardjones.com
POPO'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG
The bizarrely-named Grand Popo Football Club specialise in exuberant
dance-pop from overseas, with brightly-coloured sleeves and goodtime sounds.
Their debut single, Men Are Not Nice Guys, originally dates from 2001, but
only recently got a UK release and new music TV channel The Amp (Sky 469)
currently has the memorably kitsch video on rotation.
Funky basslines embellished by tres moderne electro touches, as if Miss Kittin
were fronting Modjo, are the order of the day on the single. Shampoo Victims,
the Grand Popo album, came out here last week. Head and shoulders above the
rest? Possibly.
GET OFF SCOTT-LEE
Endemic of the short-sighted and artistically bereft UK music industry is the
debut solo effort from former Steps girl Lisa Scott-Lee. Pointless doesn't
even begin to describe this most dispiriting of ventures. Lately, Scott-Lee's
first single released this week, is the kind of Kylie-wannabe disco pap
dished out over and over again since the Hotpanted one reclaimed her throne
with Spinning Around some three years ago.
Boasting no imagination, guile or indeed any discernable melody, Lately showcases
the very worst of today's inspid chart music.
FUTURE SOUNDS
The best music on the horizon:
DAVE GAHAN - PAPER MONSTERS:
Hot on the heels of bandmate Martin L. Gore's Counterfeit 2 comes the
first-ever solo set from the Depeche Mode vocalist.
Paper Monsters (out on June 2nd), is preceded by a single Dirty
Sticky Floors on May 26th.
ANNIE LENNOX - BARE:
Long-awaited return from the wilderness for onetime Eurythmics star Lennox is
already attracting media attention through its typically striking sleeve.
Song titles such as The Hurting Time, Bitter Pill, Loneliness, The Saddest
Song and Oh God suggest the edge has returned to Lennox's muse after
the bland debacle that was Eurythmics' 1999 comeback album Peace.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
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