Rumours

Rip It Up, Issue 94, 1 May 1985, Page 32

Rumours

UK & USA Prince has announced that he will not perform live again and will instead concentrate on film and recording work and, he told reporters, "looking for the ladder" ... singer Jimmy Somerville has quite Bronski Beat after he felt the group’s rush of success was beginning to compromise his socialist principles. The other two band members, Larry Stein-

bachet and Steve Bronski will continue with new singer(s) and Jimmy will team up with multiinstrumentalist Richard Coles in a venture called The Committee ... third R.E.M. album, Fables of the Reconstruction, near completion in London with producer Joe Boyd ... at long last, the new Clash have come up with a record. Having signed a (count ’em) eight album contract with CBS UK, Joe and the boys have a single, ‘This Is England’... meanwhile, former Clash drummer Topper Headon is working on an album in London and guitarist Mick Jones is doing the same in New York ... New Order have pulled something of a surprise by signing to Qwest, Quincy Jones label, for US distribution ... Oz Springsteen promoters achieved their aim, with the Boss’s Melbourne concerts reported in overseas papers as being an all-time

record for the E Street band at over 50,000 ... Chinese officials now having talks with the IFPI, the recording industry’s international body, over sharpening up copyright laws to prepare the way for a wide range of foreign records to be released to the potentially massive Chinese market. All comes in the wake of those well-known groundbreakers, Wham!, playing concerts and having a compilation of their two albums released there... and two of Wham’s Chinese concerts were filmed by Lindsay Anderson for a feature expected to be released around September... NZfilm Utu released on European market and has thus far received rave reviews in NME and Honey mags ... Iggy Pop makes his TV debut as (wait for it) a derelict drug dealer in US TV movie Inside Miami Vice. Wow ... bassist Derek Forbes has parted amicably with Simple Minds and will undertake a solo career Policeman Stewart Copeland has come up with a featurelength concept video called The Rhythmatistwitb first vinyl single, ’Koteja’ (based on an old African folk song). And the whole "Police to break up” rumour is apparently groundless and not unlikely to have been propagated by Copeland to win some publicity for his new project ... the next Cyndi Lauper video will be produced by Steven Spielberg David Bowie continues to stretch and challenge his acting skills with his new role; with a bunch of puppets in Jim ’Muppet’ Henson’s new movie, The Labyrinth ... Adam Ant has been working on a new LP with Tony Visconti for the last six months. He is also currently appearing on stage in the Joe Orton play Entertaining Mr Sloane ... Bob Geldof appears in his second movie, Number One,

as a snooker sharpie, alongside Mel Smith. Cast also includes Phil Daniels ... according to an interview smuggled out of a Nigerian jail and printed in the A/A^E - , incarceration hasn't been treating rebel musician Fela Kuti too badly."ln prison, everybody likes me, the warders and the prisoners," he said. His contact with the outside world remains minimal, however ... African music promoters Tsafrika have been organising big 'Cultural Action Against South Africa Now’ concerts in London, featuring the likes of Osibisa and Orchestre Jazira Tom Bailey collapsed on stage recently, forcing cancellation of all Thompson Twins dates in near future and delays in the release of new single 'Roll Over’ and completion of new album in Paris... his habit of sliding across the stage on his knees got Spandau chap Steve Norman into trouble when he sliced up a ligament in his right leg, putting himself on crutches for eight weeks and forcing the cancellation of already sold out dates in USA, Spain and Italy ... Captain Beefheart (aka Don Van Vliet) is to have his paintings shown for the first time at a one-man exhibition in Cologne ... Brit tabloids have been carrying silly stories claiming that Julian Lennon is to record with the three remaining Beatles. No truth in it, of course ... Elvis Costello played a secret warm-up gig for his solo tour down this way as 'The Pope of Pop'. He’s also to contribute songs to the forthcoming Ricky Skaggs LP and will play a couple of toons with Skaggs on the latter’s UK tour dates this year.. . Jeff Wayne has completed the three years of research for his follow-up record to War Of the Worlds (remember?). It’s the story of Spartacus,

the rebel gladiator. Recording has just commenced and is expected to take a year. Spin-offs anticipated are a stage production and possibly a film. Albums: Eurythmics Be Yourself Tonight, Peter Gabriel Birdy (film soundtrack), Stevie Wonder In Square Circle, Robert Plant Shaken 'n' Stirred, Graham Parker and the Shot Steady Nerves, the Colour Field Virgins and Philistines, Bryan Ferry Boys and Girls, Eric Clapton Behind the Sun, Supertramp Brother, Where You Bound, Exploited Horror Epics, Jeffrey Lee Pierce Wildweed, Virgin Prunes Over the Rainbow, David Knopfler Behind the Lines, Blasters Hard Line, Everything But the Girl Love Not Money, Saints Live In A Mud Hut, Jonzun Crew Down To Earth, Mikey Dread Pave the Way, David Cassidy (yep!) Romance. ■ Singles: Propaganda 'We Should All Entertain One Another’, Scritti Politti ‘The Word Girl’, Style Council ‘Walls Come Tumbling Down' (LP Our Favourite Shop soon), Depeche Mode ‘Shake the Disease’, Triffids Field Of Glass (EP). North Upcoming slabs of fun from Flying Nun include records by the Expendables, the Fold, Able Tasmans (featuring 'Nelson the Catl), Tall Dwarfs (all sortsa things, including the gross-out version of ‘Nothing’s Gonna Happen), Crystal Zoom, Bats, Vibraslaps ... the Verlaines will be locked away in Mascot Studios recording their debut album this month. They plan to include lots of "extracurricular” instruments on the songs. Dunedin’s Mornington sth Grade soccer team is expected to sorely miss the superb striking talents of Graeme Downes for the

duration ... the charming Birds Nest Roys recorded five tracks for release on F Nun at Progressive recently. Producing was Dance Exponent Chris Sheehan, who will also be producing an upcoming Goblin Mix single at the same place. The "Roys" and the "Goblins” plan to team up for a tour south later this year, so looooook out...

Soul boys about Auckland, Mark Phillips and Peter Urlich have made their answer to the nightclub backlash They have taken over the Stringfellows premises, redcorated it and made it the Six Month Club, opening it Thurs-Sat every week. Opening night is May 16, Bryan Staff's birthday, with Soul On Ice ... the opening of the top lounge of the Rising Sun Tavern in K Rd should do something to ease the paucity of live venues in Auckland. The idea is to provide a low-overheads venue for fledgling bands. Grey Parade hold their single (’Call to the Trees’) release party there June 6 ... Ja Ja Jackal are to reform "to bridge the gap between North and South," whatever that means. They plan a single in July. New Mockers single is ‘One Black Friday’, recorded during their recent jaunt to Sydney. It will be available in a limited edition on pink vinyl. The band returns to Australia in June to record the new studio album ... South American combo Kantuta recorded recently for a cassette release ... Wayne Gillespie spent a month in Australia recently, playing pubs and clubs and doing interviews, as well as securing an indie release for his Wayward Son album. He will contribute two tracks to the Auckland Acoustics compilation album before recording a second LP, planned for September release ... the estimable Say

Yes To Apes are now fully gathered in Christchurch and have just released their mammoth double album, The Decline and Fall of Say Yes To Apes, on TV Eye Records, thru F Nun. Next Teev release (soon) will be a Hyphenears album. Frontier Recording Studios open this month in Ghuznee St, Wellington (ph 325-975). A husband and wife team with engineering experience in Sydney have opened the 8-track studio to fill what owner Brent Murphy described as a "real need.” The facility costs $25 per hour and is designed to handle demos, singles and albums. ANZART, the biennial transTasman exchange of Australian and NZ artists, with an emphasis on experimental and innovative work, happens at various Auckland venues from May 13 to 26. Part of the festival will be Artists On Air, which will run on BFM, Monday through Friday at 6pm and on two Sunday 9-llpm shows. Russell Brown Dunedin Look Blue Go Purples EP, Bewitched will be out at the end of the month. The tracks are ‘Safety In Crosswords’, 'Circumspect Penelope’, 'As Does the Son’ and ’Vain Hopes’. The band will be maintaining a low profile for the next six months as Norma O’Malley is going to Wellington, although the band will play the Windsor in July. The Idles have re-appeared complete with a two-record contract with Upright Records, which is distributed in Britain by Rough Trade. Their 'Great White Snakes’ is to be released as a single and Agroculture plus other stuff will, be remixed for an album release. They are already receiving airplay on the BBC. The band expect to resume live performances in August ... meanwhile Jim Taylor will be part of an 18-piece big band special planned as a one-off for Sammy’s cabaret on Queen’s Birthday. Shayne Carter is also expected to appear. Working With Walt have reappeared with a new line-up. New bands include Y Front and the Moas, featuring ex-Chant Damian Woodhouse ... Stuffed Husbands, who supported Hunters and Collectors in Christchurch, are to have a live cut on the forthcoming Jayrem compilation ... Luke Hurley has his third tape available. It contains the band version of 'Japanese Overdrive’... underage venue Sounds Cafe has unfortunately been forced to close because of a lack of revenue. GK