HUMAN VALUE DEBUT ALBUM, SINGLE & TOUR

Hailed as one of the hottest new bands from America's West Coast, the Los Angeles 3-piece indie rock band, The Human Value, kick off their UK tour on Monday September 4th at the Enterprise in Camden, London. The Viper Room hails THV as one of LA's the most exciting new rock bands.

The Human Value's first single release "Give Me" has been mixed by Grammy award-winner Neal Pogue who's work includes hit punk band The Tranpants, Pink and Outkast's multi Grammy Award winning Album of the Year. The single will be released in the UK on Monday 18th September.

Their self titled eponymous debut album "The Human Value" will be released in the UK by "Big Deal Records" (with distribution through "Proper Distribution") on Monday 2nd October. The album is helmed by Grammy award-winning Producer Bruce Bouillet.

The Human Value play the following UK venues in September:

Mon 4 / Business & Pleasure, Enterprise (London)

Thur 7 / Venue: Blue Cat Café (Stockport)

Sat 9 / Cherry Bomb Disco,Carter's Old. No 7, (Barnsley)

Wed 13 / The Loft, The Graduate (Cambridge)

Wed 20 / Korova (Liverpool)

Thur 21 / Live at the Witch Trials, Venue (Dumfries)

Fri 22 Sept / Misery of Sound, West Coast Rock Café (Blackpool)

Thur 28 / Go Ape, Moles Club (Bath)

Fri 29 / Redi Nights, Central Station (Wrexham)

Album review

GET THE MESSAGE - THE BEST OF ELECTRONIC is released on 18th September 2006

Formed by New Order frontman Bernard Sumner on vocals, guitar and keyboards, and ex Smiths guitar player Johnny Marr on guitar, bass and keyboards in 1987, Electronic released their first single Getting Away It in 1989. Subsequently working with other artists including Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk), they went on to release three albums over the next ten years.

This is the first Best Of collection, and is the first time the videos have been available to purchase.

Album review

ROXETTE NEW BEST OF AND SINGLE

Roxette first came to prominence back in April 1989 when their first single 'The Look' hit the UK top 10.

It is one of many great pop/rock songs written by Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, and the first of their 19 top UK hits. Songs such as 'Dressed for Success' and 'Joyride' and 'Listen To Your Heart' have become longstanding pop classics, and who can forget 'It Must Have Been Love' which reached number 3 in the chart after being included in the blockbuster film 'Pretty Woman'. In 2005, Per Gessle was honoured by the American music publishing organisation BMI with an award for four million airplays of 'It Must Have Been Love'. Four million spins, on US radio alone, equals 36 years of nonstop airplay! 'Listen To Your Heart' is now following in these prestigious footsteps with a BMI award for more than 3 million airplays this autumn…

To celebrate their 20th Anniversary, 'A Collection Of Roxette Hits: Their 20 Greatest Songs' is released on 16 October and will come in two formats: one CD disc, and a second format that includes a DVD of videos to all the songs on the CD except for the two new songs 'One Wish' and 'Reveal'.

A single 'One Wish' is released 9 October 2006

ELTON JOHN CD RELEASE UPDATES 'CAPTAIN FANTASTIC'

'The Captain and the Kid' is Elton John and Bernie Taupin's all-new, autobiographical update of the classic 1975 album that documented their experiences to that point, 'Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy'.

The original 'Captain Fantastic' was the first album ever to debut on the Billboard chart at No.1, during the staggering creative hot streak that represented Elton's first wave of global success. The 'Captain and the Kid' will be released on 18 September 2006 through Mercury Records.

Album review

SPARKS ALBUM REISSUES IN OCTOBER

4 Sparks albums will be released by Universal on October 2 complete with bonus tracks.

Kimono My House (originally released in 1974), Propaganda (originally released in 1974), Indiscreet (originally released in 1975), Big Beat (originally released in 1976)

The accompanying booklets includes extensive sleevenotes and memorabilia.

The double A side single 'Dick Around / Waterproof' from 'Hello Young Lovers' is released on September 18th on Gut Records

Sparks are on tour in Britain from September 28th and will be performing on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on September 22nd.

The 1977 album 'Introducing Sparks' will be released on CD in 2007 on the band's own label Lil' Beethoven Records (this will be the first time that this album is available on CD)

For further info Website

GLYDER UK TOUR OCT 2006

3 October The Purple Turtle, Camden, London
4 October, The Cartoon, Croydon
5 October The Woolpack, Doncaster
6 October The Tivoli, Buckley, North Wales
7 October The Glass Barrel, Atherton, Manchester
8 October "Oxjam", Siberia Club, Bury, Manchester

Manchester Band Fury UK will be opening on all dates.

For further info Website

Album review

PENDRAGON PLAY FESTIVAL - AND NEW DVD DUE SOON

Pendragon will play headline at this year's Summers' End Festival at The Robin in Bilston [nr Wolverhampton] on Saturday 30th September.

Details at Website

Tickets are available from the Robin 2 box office and from SonicBond, the on-line CD shop. Links to both are on the website.

The new Pendragon DVD 'And Now Everybody To The Stage' is due for release in August/Spetember.

Recorded and filmed at Theatr Wyspinaskiego Katowice in Poland, the new DVD will feature the show from the recent performance on the Believe tour. Full track listing and details available as soon as we get them. We can tell you that it will be called "And Now Everybody To The Stage" after the famously controversial line in Believe!

The band are planning their 21st Anniversary of The Jewel release celebration concert at the same place above, Theatr Wyspinaskiego Katowice in Poland .

This will be a pretty unique occasion as old band members , John Barnfield, Rik Carter and hopefully a few others are joining the band for a full performance of The Jewel plus some other old material.

Date of this show is 31 October.

Tickets for this show will be available from www.metalopolis.pl plus all usual shops in Poland

The Magic Numbers return for a major UK tour this autumn which will be their biggest tour to date.

Following sell-out shows at Eden and stellar performances at Oxegen, T In The Park, and V Festival where they showcased some of their new songs for the first time, The Magic Numbers will be heading on tour in the autumn. The Magic Numbers have earned themselves the reputation as being one of the greatest most exciting live bands in the world. The band will be performing many favourites from their double platinum selling debut album, 'The Magic Numbers' as well as songs from their forthcoming second album.

Currently, the band are about embark on a US Tour where they will be playing with The Flaming Lips, Ween and Sonic Youth.

The Magic Numbers new single and album are released this autumn.

November

10 Fri Liverpool University (0151 256 5555) - 11 Sat Manchester Apollo (0870 401 8000) - 12 Sun Derby Assembly Rooms (01332 255 800)- 14 Tues Portsmouth Guildhall (023 9282 4355) - 15 Wed Bristol Academy (0870 771 2000)- 16 Thurs Cardiff University (029 2078 1458)- 18 Sat London Hammersmith Apollo (0870 606 3400)- 28 Tues Brighton Dome (01273 709 709) - 29 Wed Leeds University (01132 444 600) - 30 Thurs Birmingham Academy (0870 771 2000) -

December

1 Fri Newcastle Northumbria Uni (0191 233 0444) - 3 Sun Glasgow Barrowlands (0870 169 0100) - 5 Tues Aberdeen Music Hall (0870 169 0100

R.E.M COMPILATIONS IN SEPTEMBER

R.E.M. and EMI Catalogue Marketing have collaborated for the release of the first complete CD and DVD anthologies of the band's 1980s I.R.S. Records output.

Developed and compiled by R.E.M. to best represent the band's entire I.R.S. tenure, And I Feel Fine... The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 will be released on September 11th in two formats - a 21 track single disc and digital collection of hits and band favourites and a 2 CD Collectors' Edition with a second 21 track disc of rarities, alternate takes, previously unreleased mixes and live recordings of familiar R.E.M. classics. This bonus disc features 10 previously unreleased tracks.

When The Light Is Mine - The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 Video Collection DVD draws back the curtain to reveal R.E.M's most vital early career film work, including the band's 11 I.R.S. music videos, among them Wolves, Lower, which makes its release debut with this collection.

Notable for propelling the medium forward as a creative extension of R.E.M's musical vision, several of the band's videos were directed by filmmaker James Herbert, often in collaboration with Michael Stipe. The DVD also unveils previously unreleased television appearances, including performances on The Tube and The Old Grey Whistle Test, performances and interviews from I.R.S.' own 1983-'84 MTV show, The Cutting Edge, an acoustic performance from Athens, GA - Inside/Out, James Herbert's 20-minute film Left of Reckoning and previously unreleased interview clips. The DVD's visual bounty clocks in at more than two hours, with approximately half of its content released for the first time in any format.

On September 16th, R.E.M. will be among 2006's inductees into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

Releases in detail:

And I Feel Fine-. The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982 - 1987

2CD Collectors Edition (also available digitally) / Catalogue number: 636 99412

And I Feel Fine-. The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982 - 1987

CD (also available digitally) / Catalogue number: 369 9412

When The Light Is Mine - The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982 - 1987

Video Collection DVD / Catalogue number: 369 9459

Release date: 11.09.06

More information and track listing

Album review

Rhino Entertainment will reissue Queensr˙che's album Q2K on August 29th.

The album which is currently out of print now contains previously unreleased material.

Queensr˙che recorded their seventh studio album in 1999 during a time of uncertainty. Emotionally devastated by the departure of one of its founding guitarists, the Seattle-based, progressive-metal quintet was also reeling from the twin losses of its management group and record company.

Despite the chaos, Queensr˙che returned stronger than ever with an album that marked a new beginning. Rhino Records revisits the band's triumph of will with the remastered and expanded version of Q2K.

The album will be available August 29th; the iTunes version of the album will also feature an interactive booklet with the exclusive video for "The Right Side Of My Mind."

E-Card

Critically acclaimed New York singer songwriter Libby Johnson has decided to get back to the basics with her solo debut album, Annabella, on Wrong Records.

Touring the world as a founding member of 22 Brides (Zero Hour/Universal) has given Libby the experience and music industry know-how to release a record on her own.

Libby is the featured artist, in the upcoming Fox Searchlight film 'Trust The Man', starring David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Songs from Annabella are prominently featured in the movie. The release of Annabella will coincide with the release of the film, September 5 2006.

Album review

On Monday 28th August, MEEKY ROSIE will release their debut single 'FOREVER' taken from the much talked about and highly publicised eco documentary film 'WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR' on Wandering Star Records.

Paul Knight-Malciak (vocals, guitar, arrangements and fx) Stephen Clayton (vocals, guitar, violin) Tim Brain (bass) Paul Oxenham (drums, percussion) and Ben Morgan (vocals, keys, flute and fx) formed MEEKY ROSIE while studying at Plymouth University. Recording of their debut album was made with cutting edge producer Max Hayes (Primal Scream, Paul Weller, The Doves.) and was mixed at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios in Bath, Avon by Tchad Blake (Dandy Warhols, Tom Waits) and Alan Moulder (The Killers, Bloc Party). MEEKY ROSIE craft challenging and intelligent lyrics with a clever use of multiple instruments, effects and textures to produce a sound displaying a maturity and depth far beyond their years and one which has already seen early comparisons to the likes of RADIOHEAD, SIGOR ROS, PINK FLOYD, THE VERVE and MOGWAI.

'MEEKY ROSIE' were chosen over a number of other established bands and artists including FATBOY SLIM and MOBY, after the film's Director Chris Paine and its producer Richard D Titus heard their music on a creative video journal website for bands, artists and film makers called www.artistlog.com (a hybrid of i-tunes/myspace/youtube). Two of the bands songs 'Forever' and 'Nothing To Lose' taken from their debut album, will now feature in the film.

Single review

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ANEMO - Slowburn (out 18th September)

"Anemo could be the new British pop-rock phenomenon..... This is magnificent stuff. Big words for big music." (Classic Rock Society)

Anemo's strength and originality lies in their ear for melody and musical diversity. When a classically trained pianist (and established producer), a rock guitarist and a front woman who's vocal gymnastics range from crystal-clear to crowd commanding pour their creative resources together the results are always going to be interesting. Creem magazine came closest to pigeonholing them when they described them as "Swirlin' around like a tornado tossed three-way between Eurythmics, Pretenders and Portishead".

Album review

(Single: Made of Fiction / Fallout Renegade - 4th September)

Single review

FLIPRON - Biscuits for Cerberus (2nd October)

"It's a treat to encounter a genuinely uncategorisable group ... they plough a furrow intriguingly distant from most of the contemporary cliché zones ... hyper-literate, densely rhymed lyrics ... far richer soundscapes than those of your average group ... Flipron deliver extreme variety." (Observer.)

Flipron have never been content making music that falls blandly into the categories dictated by market forces. Since their first critically acclaimed album, 2004's Fancy Blues & Rustique Novelties, they've been hard at work earning a reputation as a unique and brilliant live act at innumerable festivals and venues, charming wildly varying audiences with their amazing collection of exotic pop tunes, spellbinding lyrics and their warm, friendly wit on stages always extravagantly garlanded with flowers and sparkly lights.

Double A-side single "The End of Summer / Raindrops Keep Falling on the Dead" will be released on 25 Sept.

Album review

DEACON BLUE single release and Best Of album

October 16th album 'Singles' Best Of album with the hits plus 4 new songs.

October 9th single 'Bigger Than Dynamite', a new song

Ricky Ross, Jim Prime, Dougie Vipond and Lorraine McIntosh will be on tour in November

Sony BMG will be running a major TV advertising campaign to support the album

Album review

FIRST RELEASE IN OCTOBER FOR 'LOST' DAVE STEWART ALBUM

'Platinum Weird', the spoof band allegedly formed by Eurythmic Dave Stewart in 1973-4 gets a 'reissue' of its eponymous album in October.

Says Stewart, "Platinum Weird formed end of 1973 and only lasted till end of 1974. I was still meant to be in the band Longdancer - signed to Rocket Records - but I met Erin (Grace, Stewart's companion) and decided to form a band with her.

I played Elton John 'Platinum Weird' songs secretly on a cassette, and he agreed that it would be a good idea for me to hook up with Erin instead of Longdancer, and eventually signed Platinum Weird."

You can judge the album (and the affront) for yourself when the album is released October 14.

Album review

On September 12th, Capitol Records will release Face The Promise, Bob Seger's first studio album in 11 years!

Face The Promise opens a masterful new chapter in a songbook that has captured the dreams, ideals, yearnings and truths of the American experience for a remarkable forty years. The album's lead-off single is entitled 'Wait For Me.'

Bob Seger is universally acknowledged by fans and musicians as one of the few truly defining voices of American music. His vivid portraits of working class lives convey the hope and the heartbreak implicit in the American dream. Face The Promise marks Seger's return in classic form: urgent, honest, rousing, timeless -- a new and compelling testament to rock and roll's undying redemptive power.

Seger has sold nearly 50 million albums in his career. Among his eleven platinum and seven multi-platinum awards, Against the Wind, Night Moves and Stranger in Town have each been RIAA-certified for over 5 million album sales in the U.S., as has his massively-influential 1976 breakthrough classic, Live Bullet. The 1994 Greatest Hits collection has sold over 7 million copies, in an unbroken 600-week run in the upper reaches of the Billboard Pop Catalog chart. He is a Grammy winner ('Against the Wind,' Best Rock Performance by a Group or Duo, 1980) and a 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

JOHNNY PANIC New single 'Happy Together' and special one-off show

After spending the last few months holed up in the studio rehearsing and recording a fist full of new material, South London's favourite rockers Johnny Panic are back with a brand new single, 'Happy Together'. Originally recorded by psychedelic rock outfit The Turtles way, way back in 1967, 'Happy Together' is loaded with infectious melodies that will surely make this song a soundtrack to your summer. Backed by the harder-edged 'I Live For' this is the band's first new material since the release of their 'Automatic Healer' last year.

The single will be released on strictly limited red 7'' vinyl and download on Propaganda Records. 'Happy Together' was produced by sound luminary Chris Sheldon (Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Pixies, Muse) and is due for release on download on August 27th and physically from September 4th from all good record stores.

The band will be playing a series of UK dates in September

EMI Catalogue Marketing release remastered versions of Monty Python's eight albums originally recorded for the Charisma label on October 2.

All eight albums have been remastered by Andre Jacquemin along with the complete co-operation of all the surviving Pythons, and the entire project has been over two years in the making.

Widely credited as exerting the same level of influence on comedy that The Beatles did on music, Monty Python's legacy to comedy both in the UK and the US is unparalleled. Each of the eight albums include previously unheard and unreleased bonus tracks, along with interviews with Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman.

All artwork has been overseen by Terry Gilliam, who opened his private archive to allow access to previously unseen images - many of which are included here in the CD booklets. The covers themselves are faithful to the originals, with sleevenotes provided by comedy historian Robert Ross.

Remastered at Abbey Road and Redwood Studios, the albums will coincide with the UK theatre debut of Eric Idle's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre, London, on the 2nd October 2006. A major hit on Broadway (it was the only musical to open there and be immediately sold out for eighteen months), Spamalot is going to Las Vegas shortly and is currently on a US tour.

All albums will be released across digital formats.

Audio Stream: (Another Monty Python CD)

Courtroom Sketch (Windows Media)

Review

Irish singer songwriter ELEANOR McEVOY released a new single in August, and her new album 'Out There' was released on 11 September.

The new single, August 7, 2006, is called Non Smoking Single Female.

Says Eleanor: 'I wrote it after a night out with some friends. One friend described how she'd signed up to an internet dating service. We then went back to a flat and started reading through the profiles of the subscribers to the site.

'I was fascinated by the way people described themselves, and by the qualities they most desired in the other person. I found myself reading personal ads in everything from 'Private Eye' to 'The Farmers Journal'.

The ads were couched in very different language according to the publication involved. The references and imagery may have been quite different, but the human sentiments and the desire for love were exactly the same.'

Eleanor's new album 'Out There' features ten new songs plus a co-write with the Beautiful South's Dave Rotheray entitled Quote "I love you" Unquote. There is also a rendition of Marvin Gaye's ecology classic 'Mercy Mercy Me' and Lowell George's haunting 'Roll Um Easy.'

Tour dates

Single review

Album review

Mystery Jets release a new EP 'Diamonds In The Dark' through 679 Recordings on September 4th 2006.

The title track which originally appears on the bands debut album, 'Making Dens', released in March of this year, has been re-recorded with the legendary Stephen Street.

'Diamonds In The Dark' has been changed from a standard single to an EP to incorporate the incredible run of three new tracks the band have recorded with legendary DJ and now producer Erol Alkan over one 6 day session.

Released on four track CD and two 7"s, the EP will include 4 brand new tracks including the West Coast psych pop of Syd Barrett tribute 'Scarecrows In The Rain', the Liquid Liquid meets Zongamin meets Roxy Music jam of 'Crosswords', which is already kicking up a storm on dancefloors up and down the land, 'A Private Place' which features the brass section from Rumblestrips and a special acoustic cover of Diamonds' by London troubadour Kid Harpoon.

Audio streams

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Dirty Pretty Things release a new single Wondering, taken from their Top 3, certified Gold, debut album Waterloo To Anywhere, through Vertigo Records on Monday 25th September.

The band also release a DVD, Puffing On A Coffin Nail, Live At The Forum on Monday 16th October.

The single will be available on CD single and two seven-inch singles. Wondering is the follow-up to the Top 5 single Bang Bang You're Dead and the Top 20 single Deadwood.

The DVD includes a twelve song set from the bands Kentish Town Forum shows filmed in May this year, seventeen other live recordings from various locations across the world and a host of exclusive DVD extras. It has a Running Time of more than 2 hours.

THE VINES RELEASE NEW SINGLE ON SEPTEMBER 25

Singer Craig Nicholls has continued to make big strides forward with his treatment for Asperger's Syndrome.

The Vines played the Reading NME/Radio1 stage on Friday 25th August and Leeds on the Saturday 26th. It saw the Vines returning to the site of their best UK festival appearance, a blistering performance given back in 2002 that justified why they had created such excitement with their debut album 'Highly Evolved'.

Third and acclaimed current album, 'Vision Valley' shows Nicholls in very good form. Quality songs throughout including the new single 'Don't Listen To The Radio' which is released through Heavenly/EMI on Sept 25th.

Album review

Single review

Tobias Froberg has just announced a UK Tour with Kathryn Williams in October, and two London shows.

His single "When The Night Turns Cold" is released on 21st August

18-Aug The Local, Crouch End, London
22-Aug Instore perfromance, Fopp Records, Tottenham Court Road, London

The new Kathryn Williams single, Hollow, is out on 18 September through Kathryn's own label Caw Records.

It's taken from the album, Leave to Remain, due on October 8th.

Video streams:

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Album review

TOBIAS FROBERG supporting KATHRYN WILLIAMS:

09-Oct Telford's Warehouse Chester - 11-Oct Musician Leicester - 12-Oct Union Chapel London - 13-Oct Trinity Arts Centre Tunbridge Wells - 15-Oct The Junction Cambridge - 16-Oct Norwich Arts Centre Norwich - 18-Oct Asembly Rooms, Darwin Suite Derby - 19-Oct St Georges Bristol - 20-Oct Bridgewater Arts Centre Bridgewater - 22-Oct The Pavilion Falmouth - 24-Oct The Point Cardiff - 25-Oct The Glee Club Birmingham - 27-Oct Southport Arts Centre Southport - 28-Oct The MET Bury - 29-Oct Gala Theatre Durham

1-Nov Pocklington Arts Centre Pocklington - 3-Nov The Arches Glasgow - 4-Nov The Brewery Kendal

The CD that PAUL SAMSON was recording in the months prior to his untimely death in August 2002 is now completed, and will be released by Angel Air on 4th September 2006.

Entitled P.S.... The CD contains 11 tracks from one of Britain's most underrated performers.

In addition to Paul, the line up includes Nicky Moore, Ian Ellis, Billy Fleming and John McCoy.

Composers include Paul Samson, Nicky Moore, Ian Ellis, Chris Aylmer and Barry "Thunderstick" Purkis. Released on Angel Air, the catalogue number will be SJPCD220.