Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2026 i Classic Pop

Ahead of their new studio album due later this year, U2 have released an EP titled Days Of Ash. A self-contained collection of five songs and a poem, the EP is an immediate response to current world events. In a statement issued to coincide with the surprise release on 18 February, frontman Bono said: “It’s been a thrill having the four of us back together in the studio over the last year… the songs on Days Of Ash are very different in mood and theme to the ones we’re going to put on our album later in the year. These EP tracks couldn’t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. “Songs of celebration will follow, we’re working…

The Blow Monkeys will hit the road for an extensive UK tour this autumn. The band, fronted by Dr Robert, with Neville Henry on sax, Mick Anker on bass and drummer Crispin Taylor, delighted fans on a recent co-headline run with The Christians and open this latest jaunt at Southampton’s The Brook on 11 September. They then take in Dublin, Belfast and Glasgow with further dates in Gateshead, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester and Worcester, before heading on to Exeter, Christchurch, London and concluding on 17 October at St George’s in Brighton. Expect favourites like Digging Your Scene, It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way, their cover of Lesley Gore’s You Don’t Own Me from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and Dr Robert’s Top 10 hit with Kym Mazelle, Wait!, alongside choice cuts from their…

Souvenir Events has announced details of a new music festival being held at Taunton’s Vivary Park this summer. Featuring a line-up of 80s synth-pop legends and contemporary electronic acts, the inaugural Electric Summer takes place on 30 August. Headlined by Howard Jones (pictured), with special guests Heaven 17 and Blancmange, the one-day event will also feature new acts Mesh, Neon Fields, Agency, Black Nail Cabaret and DJ sets from Paul Dakeyne. Jez Damsell, director of Souvenir Events and curator of the festival, says: “I’m a massive fan of 80s music, especially the synth-pop/electronic rock genre. It’s a dream come true to create an event which not only celebrates that era but also introduces some brilliant newer artists who loved the legends themselves and have gone on to create their own…

As a performer approaches a certain point in their career, the temptation is to go on the road marking 30 years since this and 40 years since that, but not T’Pau… not yet, anyway. Despite 2026 marking their 40th year together, there are no Ruby Anniversary flashes on the poster of the band’s latest 14-date jaunt. Instead, it’s the Be Wonderful UK Tour 2026, the name of which comes from their upcoming sixth album, the group’s first long-player in 11 years. “It’s so nice to be premiering new songs on this tour,” Carol Decker tells us from her self-described “worst office in the world” (she insists it’s untidy – we disagree) in Henley-on-Thames. “Though it’s terrifying, because they might get no applause whatsoever,” she laughs. “Let’s hope they don’t fuck off…

If Cameron Crowe’s seminal music-obsessed, coming-of-age drama Almost Famous had taken place in the north of England instead of the US, chances are its story wouldn’t have been too dissimilar to that of the formation of ABC except in their case, the journalist went from being with the band to fronting it. That is pretty much how ABC came to be. Martin Fry, a Lancashire-born student living in Sheffield and documenting its vibrant music scene for a fanzine called Modern Drugs, was on assignment to interview electro duo Vice Versa, which consisted of Stephen Singleton and Mark White. Realising they shared similar tastes, Fry was first recruited as a keyboard player and then singer. A number of line-up changes occurred before drummer David Palmer completed the group. With Fry’s powerhouse vocal…

As its name suggests, new SFA early years compilation Precreation Percolation (pictured left) collects out-of-print rarities alongside the band’s first two EPs, 1995’s Llanfair… (In Space) and Moog Droog (a play on mwg drwg – Welsh for a “naughty smoke”). Originally released on Welsh indie label Ankst, the EPs are returning to vinyl for the first time in three decades (CD and digital versions will also be available). Bonus material, meanwhile, includes four tracks – three of them, Pocket Sam, AK Serenade and Choking On Your Lust, previously unheard – recorded in 1993 with original vocalistturned-Hollywood actor Rhys Ifans. Was it weird for the rest of the band, watching their former singer go on to be a mutant lizard who fights Spider-Man? “No, we always knew Rhys was an amazing…

1 LANA DEL REY WHITE FEATHER HAWK TAIL DEER HUNTER Lana Del Rey returns in characteristically hushed mode with sultry new single White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter. Produced by Del Rey with long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff and strings courtesy of Drew Erickson, it’s the third release from the singer-songwriter’s upcoming new album, Stove. 2 N-TRANCE HIGHER Grab your glowsticks for N-Trance’s first new music in 20 years. Higher is a proper old-school banger from the Set You Free Oldham ravers and, for added retro vibes, the promo video sees the group hitting the road in a DeLorean. 3 HADDAWAY THE SUN Also back in the game after an extended lay-off comes Haddaway. His new album The Sun draws on familiar pop and Eurodance sounds, but its press blurb also promises tracks…

23 JANUARY It’s been an age since we saw just Bruce Foxton’s name on the billboards. Aside from his post-Jam solo album, 1984’s Touch Sensitive, and a string of LPs with Russell Hastings, the bassist has seemed largely content with band member/sideman status, spending notable stints with Stiff Little Fingers, Casbah Club and, for nearly 20 years, From The Jam (FTJ). But now, at 70, he’s quashing rumours of retirement and back performing live under his own moniker, with tonight his first gig since officially parting ways with FTJ last August. Initially billed as his All-Star Band but subsequently revised to The Bruce Foxton Band, aiding the main-man in his new solo adventure are a quartet with long CVs: Big Country/Casbah Club drummer Mark Brzezicki; guitarist/vocalist Craig Joiner, from still…

Since the 2000s, the idea of the UK sucking at Eurovision has become something of a national joke. Back in the day, though, we weren’t quite so bad at it. Following Sandie Shaw’s win in 1967, Lulu’s in 1969 and Brotherhood Of Man’s in 1976, Bucks Fizz would walk away with the top prize on 4 April 1981 with their banger Making Your Mind Up. Few Eurovision Song Contest performances are as clippable as the one Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan, Jay Aston and Bobby Gee carried out that night when, one minute and 28 seconds into the act, the two male singers whipped the female members’ outer skirts off to reveal mini-skirts beneath (“…if you want to see some more” indeed). The song, written by John Danter (music) and Andy…

Soft Cell will release a limitededition 12", Danceteria (Remixes) featuring a special Mark Moore mix exclusively for Record Store Day 2026 on 18 April. The white vinyl 12" boasts three new versions of Danceteria – the title track of Marc Almond and Dave Ball’s final studio album. This will be the lead material aired from the duo’s forthcoming sixth LP and their first new music to be released since the premature death of Ball last October. Almond said: “It is always exciting being part of Record Store Day. Perhaps it is because I am of that certain age where vinyl holds such special memories, and because it is the title track of our new album Danceteria, which Dave Ball worked on so extensively and completed just prior to his passing.…

In the early 90s, Bernard Butler was oft-proclaimed the greatest guitarist of his generation, though even before the word “Britpop” started to be bandied about he had already turned his back on pop stardom. Since then, he has added a string of lauded collaborations to an impressive and ever growing résumé, working variously with David McAlmont, Bert Jansch, Jessie Buckley and even The Yummy Fur’s Jackie McKeown for 2013’s Krautrock-influenced Trans. Moreover, he has produced artists as diverse as The Libertines and Tricky, and in 2009, won the BRIT Award for best producer for Duffy’s debut album Rockferry. More recently, the tireless musician and producer has teamed up with Scottish songwriters Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub and James Grant of Love And Money to realise a true folk rock supergroup…

Today, Eg White is best known for being one of pop’s most in-demand songwriters, having penned tracks for artists such as Céline Dion, Will Young (winning an Ivor Novello for the No.1-charting Leave Right Now), Paloma Faith and Duffy. But in another life he was a member of 80s boyband Brother Beyond and in 1991, as part of Eg And Alice, released one of pop’s best-kept secrets, the album 24 Years Of Hunger, which is being reissued as an expanded deluxe edition by SDE Records. You formed Eg And Alice shortly after leaving Brother Beyond. What did you want to achieve with 24 Years Of Hunger? I think quite possibly the biggest change in motivation was that with Brother Beyond, we really did want to have a successful career, whereas…

Last year saw Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s classic 1984 debut album Welcome To The Pleasuredome belatedly celebrate its 40th anniversary with an impeccable and exhaustive 7CD boxset. It won Classic Pop’s reissue of the year and was a document of Frankie going massive that its frontman welcomed, saying: “It’s the definitive story for that album. An awful lot of work went into it, and I appreciated that the band were properly consulted on everything.” But 2025 also saw a significant personal milestone for the singer. It was 50 years since a shy 15-year-old William Johnson became Holly Johnson. He was already a fan of Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side, saying: “The line: ‘Holly came from Miami, FLA, hitch-hiked her way across the USA’ was a huge inspiration for…

Asked if there’s anything he’d change about Welcome To The Pleasuredome, Holly Johnson has an immediate response: “Yes. I’d definitely get rid of all those Spitting Image voiceovers, because I think they slightly date the record. That lampooning of those characters has become old-fashioned, although there were quite a few luminaries who did the voices.” For their album, future Red Dwarf star Chris Barrie impersonated both Ronald Reagan and Prince Charles. “Spitting Image got in touch soon after, to ask if I’d sing ‘Remix, reuse it!’ for their Frankie Goes To Hollywood sketch,” remembers Johnson. “I told them: ‘No, I’m not doing a pastiche of my own song, they can get someone else in.’ But I did like the show and their creators, Fluck & Law. I’ve got a Reagan teapot…

T’Pau are keeping it as stylistically varied as ever on Be Wonderful, their first new album in 11 years. Featuring co-writes with Ronnie Rogers alongside bandmates Luke Burnett-Smith, James Ashby and Dave Hattee, Carol Decker explains: “It’s the usual eclectic mix of songs Ronnie and I write, which I’ve said in the past sometimes could have been responsible for us not being as successful as I‘d have hoped at points, but I guess the people who like us enjoy that diversity! “We’ve released a few download singles [in recent years] because at one point we didn’t know whether it was worth doing an album. Then we had a change of heart as we had another four or five songs. If you’re a creative, it’s not something that you can just stop.…

Q When did you first become a Superfan of Robbie Williams? A I managed to get an advance copy of Sing When You’re Winning in 2000. Hearing Better Man, and then the rest of the album, turned me from a casual fan to Superfan. Q What do you have in your collection? A Over 600 CDs, vinyl, cassettes, DVDs, videos and books. I’ve got lots of sales awards, music video and album props, magazines, tour programmes and more. I like to collect unique and rare items – I even have a demo version of Rock DJ that probably hasn’t been heard by Rob in more than 25 years. Q How much have you spent on it? A I dread to think! The most that I’ve spent on one item was £1,800 for…

TRY CLASSIC POP TODAY Get your first 3 issues of Classic Pop for a fraction of the price when you join us today WHY SUBSCRIBE TO CLASSIC POP? + Your first 3 issues for only £5+ The magazine delivered straight to your door every single month+ Unlimited access to our digital archive of past issues+ Exclusive subscriber covers to add to your collection+ Discounts on anything in the Classic Pop online shop+ Simple and risk-free – cancel anytime Scan this QR code to find out more “A REAL TREAT WHEN IT ARRIVES – I READ IT COVER TO COVER!”CLASSIC POP SUBSCRIBER Subscribe in just a few clicks at classicpopmag.com/subscribe or scan the QR code opposite TERMS AND CONDITIONS 3 for £5 offer is only available for UK subscribers paying by recurring payment.…

COLUMBIA On the sad banger The Waiting Game which finishes the first half of his immaculately punctuated new album, Harry Styles sings of “Messing with your own design.” Although Styles’ vocals glide over one of Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally’s mellower moods, aligned with Barry Can’t Swim and Styles’ friend Fred Again, it’s a line that summarises his approach on a record living up to his vow, after seeing LCD Soundsystem in concert, of wanting to make music in the headspace of James Murphy. As the first single and opening track Aperture proved, being more aligned to North American Scum than the a-ha and Pet Shop Boys-influenced synth-pop of Harry’s House isn’t a completely alien move. Although Aperture works as a bridge between the two albums, it’s one of…

NOW For their next deep dive into a genre and pop moment, NOW’s Era series goes back to the futurists with Now That’s What I Call An Era: (Feels Like) Heaven: 1978-1985 – Essential Synth-Pop. Across this glorious 80-track 4CD are such monuments of Modernity, and pop in general, as Tainted Love, Blue Monday, Being Boiled, Cars, Ghosts, Vienna, Living On The Ceiling, Sweet Dreams, Fade To Grey and Enola Gay. But it also pulls the rug back to locate lesser-heard and rarely compiled magic including Fad Gadget’s Back To Nature, Telex’s wheezer Moskow Diskow and Yello’s frantic frenzy Bostich. Now those joys are assembled here, alongside the more obvious classics, any home doing without such wonders is a home to avoid. (Feels Like) Heaven is end to end amazingness,…

A WALK IN THE PARK NICK STRAKER BAND A happy side effect of the disco backlash was a worldwide birth of dance music with a more electronic groove, exemplified in the UK by Nick Straker’s sublime Top 20 hit. Disco may have sucked, according to sanctimonious influencers infiltrating radio stations across the Atlantic, but post-disco leapt into its place, bringing along some ecstatic records. Jazz enthusiast and consummate pianist Straker, backed by three members of synth-pop pathfinders New Musik, recorded this tremendous single at the behest of a label boss who’d liked a demo he’d heard by mistake. Joyous, bouncy, enchanting, with one of the great choruses of the era, it maintained pop credibility while equally being able to fill the dancefloor. The lively piano intro, decorated with handclaps and…

A new feature-length documentary chronicling Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles life in the 70s and early 80s is available on Amazon Prime. Man On The Run, directed by the Oscar-winning Morgan Neville picks up McCartney’s story from the split of The Beatles and traces the arc of his solo career and life in Wings – the band the bassist formed with his wife Linda. In addition to interviews with Paul, Linda, Mary McCartney and sister Stella, the film features the insights of various members of Wings and producer Chris Thomas plus contributions from the likes of Sean Ono Lennon, Mick Jagger and Chrissie Hynde. The documentary, which boasts previously unreleased footage and music, coincides with the recent publication of Paul’s book Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run and a…

Rick Astley celebrated his 60th birthday on 6 February with the release of a new single Waiting On You. Inspired by 60s soul, the strings-filled song was written and recorded at Astley’s studio, The Spud Farm, with a particularly inspiring guitar. Rick said: “The beauty of having a guitar older than I am is that it makes me play, write and feel everything differently. This track has a feeling of a decade long ago, lyrically and style-wise. It’s been great to jump into new music but with an old heart at the centre of it.” Currently working on more new music, the single kickstarts a busy year for Rick. April will see him embark upon the 12-date UK and Ireland Reflection arena tour, culminating at the 20,000-capacity O2 in London,…

Even some of the world’s most enduring pop stars took a while to warm up. Take one David Bowie, whose immortality could surely never have been predicted from The Laughing Gnome; or The Human League, who – though already a UK cult concern – found form and global success on their third album. But every once in a while, a new pop star arrives, seemingly out of nowhere, authentic and fully-formed from the off. At the turn of the 90s, Seal was one such phenomenon, crashing in at No.1 with a rave comedown anthem – a breath of fresh air, sweeping away any stale hangovers from the previous decade. Straight out of the blocks, Seal was the full package: the voice (obviously); the look (a kind of futuristic, urban-gothic Messiah,…

CRAZY Seal performs against a white backdrop in various poses. The most effective segment depicts multiple iterations of Seal, simultaneously sat around a circular seat, as the shot pans out. The visuals clearly set out to instil Seal as an icon of Messianic proportions, notably apparent in the closing scene, as snow falls, holding a dove – one of several symbols associated with salvation and purity. Directed by Big TV! (Andy Delaney and Monty Whitebloom), who also created promos for the Spice Girls and Dido. THE BEGINNING A real ‘New Age meets rave’ video, featuring Seal in a wide-open bucolic landscape (the English moors or Scottish Highlands perhaps) waving his arms around dramatically, intercut with shots adorning a red leather jacket, wielding a flaming torch. Timelapse sections of clouds and…

Be Wonderful’s cover artwork has a very personal link to Carol Decker’s past – it’s an old family snap that was taken when she was a child. “I used to stay with my auntie and uncle a lot in Stevenage when it was a new town in the 60s,” Decker explains. “It was one of those purposebuilt towns like Milton Keynes. The idea was that you lived in the same place, you worked in the same place, you shopped in the same place. It was a big experiment where councils tried to build an instant community. I’d stay there a lot with my five cousins, all crammed in one little house. “I’m about 10 when the photograph was taken. I’ve obviously been asked to pose for it. I’ve got my…

“In my more musical complex areas, what I do still feels to me like popular music.” If you’ve been keeping up with the adventures of Bruce Hornsby, you’ll know that, ever since officially going solo with 1993’s jazzy Harbor Lights, the former Berklee College Of Music scholar has confounded notions of anyone expecting the gentler, more traditional pop that was associated with the singer-songwriter and his former backing band, The Range. Possibly due to his formal training, Hornsby is a great enthusiast for all areas of music, dropping terms such as “chromaticism” and “dodecaphony” into explaining how he writes. Thankfully, he does so without any superiority, instead wanting everyone to share his excitement for the possibilities of pop – though Hornsby appreciates this might not be suitable for anyone who’d…

“If you think of the avant-garde as the bottom of the ladder and pop as the top,” David Sylvian told The Face on the eve of his haunting Gone To Earth, “then I tend to work somewhere around the middle.” This might seem precious, a familiar accusation for Japan’s former frontman, but nothing better encapsulated this tussle than his weighty yet accessible second album. This observation was instead self-aware, because the tension between these opposing forces lay at the centre of his solo artistry’s heart. Sylvian was both, as the NME summarised, “boychild for the poster popsheets, soulful guru for tenderfoot philosophers,” or, as Japan’s manager, Simon Napier-Bell, described him to Mojo in 1999, “Half Marilyn Monroe, half Mick Jagger”. Offering seven solemn songs of considerable heft alongside 10 sublime,…

Send your Poparazzi pics now to steve.harnell@anthem.co.uk RICK ASTLEY WITH GEORGINA DYER “I’ve been a Rick Astley fan since 1987, when I was 12. And that love for his music has stayed with me ever since. Here’s when I met Rick in October 2023 before his show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. I’d met him before and have met him again since, but this moment felt especially meaningful. It was one of those experiences that stays with you.“ BJÖRN ULVAEUS WITH LEE GALE “This picture of me with Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA was taken at the opening night of the musical Kristina från Duvemåla in 2015 at Stockholm’s Cirkus. I’ve met Björn quite a few times over the years and he is always so generous with his time. I’m…