| CMU Daily - on the inside 19 Mar 2003 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Stars line up for Hendrix tribute
• Roxette singer sues over wrong tumour story
• Williams joins anti-war rounds
• Plumps artist album out in June
• Review: King Of Woolworths - L'illustration Musicale
• RZA plans album of euro hip hop
• Feeder added to V line up
• Live Review: The Mad Capsule Markets @ Concorde 2, Brighton
• Evans' PR warns tabloids to be vigilant
• RIAA warn companies whose employers upload
• Flaming covers
• Coldplay b-sides confirmed
• 24 Hour Party guy apologises for on air swearing
• Beat head of music takes on Capital challenge
• Cash back in hospital
• Review: The Kills – Keep On Your Mean Side
• MTV Freeview channel added to Telewest cable TV
• S Club deny split rumours
• Zeta Jones tells Celine Dion she's great
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CMU POP QUIZ
Win a free 12 month subscription to Xfm's new monthly music magazine X-Ray,
keep the answers to our movie related pop questions each day this week and
find out how to enter on Friday.
Q3: Soundtracks – Leftfield's 'Snakeblood', Underworld's '8 Ball' and All Saints' 'Pure Shores' appear on which movie's soundtrack?
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STARS LINE UP FOR HENDRIX TRIBUTE
A string of artists are lined up to appear on a Jimi Hendrix tribute album, which will be released to coincide with the 33rd anniversary of his death later this year.
Prince has recorded a version of 'Red House', which he's calling 'Purple House'. Seal and Jeff Beck have teamed up for a version of 'The Wind Cries Mary', Santana covers 'Spanish Castle Magic', Bootsy Collins and George Clinton collaborate on 'Power Of Soul', Earth, Wind & Fire do 'Voodoo Chile', Chaka Khan and Kid Rock's guitarist Kenny Olson perform 'Little Wing' and Musiq does 'Are You Experienced?'.
The tribute album has been assembled by Hendrix's half-sister Janie Hendrix who told MTV: "Jimi's music is really universal, and we wanted to express that. The songs all have their own feel. It's not just a recreation of Jimi. It is Jimi's music, but woven in is the talent of each individual artist."
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ROXETTE SINGER SUES OVER WRONG TUMOUR STORY
Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson has confirmed she will sue the Swedish newspaper that claimed she was suffering from a second brain tumour. Fredriksson had surgery to remove a tumour last September. Then earlier this year Swedish tabloid Expressen wrongly reported that doctors had found a second tumour. Despite the fact the paper apologised profusely at the time, Fredriksson's lawyer has requested an apology on the paper's front page and £37,000 in damages. It is thought the star would donate the money to the Swedish Cancer Society.
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WILLIAMS JOINS ANTI-WAR ROUNDS
More on the anti-war tip – Robbie Williams will include an anti-war track on the b-side of his next single, out in April. 'Happy Easter (War Is Coming)' is, needless to say, based on the classic Lennon anti-war song. It will appear on the b-side to 'Come Undone' due out on 14 Apr.
Talking to reporters in the US about the situation in the Middle East he said: "I'm really scared, to tell you the truth. It's a really serious thing for me. I don't understand it. I'm scared for everyone's future because I don't know who to trust. This is the first world event I've been grown up enough to watch and have a point of view about."
Williams, keen to break America proper, might regret the decision to release an anti-war number as US troops are actually fighting in Iraq. While there is a strong anti-war movement in the US, George Michael came in for intense media criticism last year with his anti-Bush/Blair track 'Shoot The Dog', and more recently the Dixie Chicks had to backtrack on anti-Bush comments after country stations staged a boycott.
Plus the fact by 14 Apr the war is pretty likely to be over and the fact it was "illegal, immoral and illogical" will be long forgotten.
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PLUMPS ARTIST ALBUM OUT IN JUNE
The long awaited artist album from breakbeat pioneers the Plump DJs has a release date – Finger Lickin will release 'Eargasm' on 10 Jun – with a limited edition preview double pack available on 31 Mar from Vinyl Addiction.
Word is the album will cover a wider range of sounds than you might expect from their recent Fabric compilation, and includes collaborations with Gary Numan and Lamb’s singer Louise Rhodes. More info at http://www.fingerlickin.co.uk
Meanwhile the Finger Lickin team have three more dates to come on the Tiger Beer Eastern Beats students' union tour - Fri 28 Mar - Sheffield University; Mon 31 Mar - Cardiff University; Fri 11 Apr - Brunel University.
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REVIEW: King Of Woolworths - L'Illustration Musicale (Beggars/Mantra)
Time to trot out the old 'soundtracks for imaginary films' cliche again then. 'L'Illustration...' - the follow up to equally fine debut album 'Ming Star' - deals in the same kind of panoramic, chilled beats that (fellow Mancs) Lionrock briefly elicited some years ago, albeit with a slightly more '70s retro feel. It's not all filmic strings, twangy guitars, glock/vibes and theremin, but their presence does suggest KOW's Jon Brooks knows his John Barry from his Roy Budd. Essentially though, this is just fantastic electronica, but with a beating human heart (unlike much of the genre's cold alien impenetrability). Tracks featuring guest vocalists, whilst sadly sparse, are particularly soulful. The emotive 'Sell Me Back My Soul' (with Dot Allison) is how Broadcast might sound once their anti-depressants kick in, whilst other songs are positively Saint Etienne-esque. Like 'Ming Star', 'L'Illustration Musicale' will probably pass by the record buying public (though expect much of it to be picked up by those really clever and hardworking people in TV advertising), but it's their loss. This is arguably the finest album of its ilk since David Holmes' 'Let's Get Killed'. MS
Release date: 24 Mar
Press contact: Beggars IH
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RZA PLANS ALBUM OF EURO HIP HOP
Wu Tang founder RZA is set to release an album of his European hip hop collaborations next month. RZA, real name Robert Diggs, has been scouting hip hop talents in Europe ever since he began touring here in the mid 90s and this album is a record of that work – with rappers and producers from Sweden, Germany, Italy and France including, among others, Gallic frontrunners Saian Supa Crew and Passi and German rapper Kool Savas. 'The World According To RZA' is due out on 28 Apr, with a DVD release following the project out later in the summer.
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FEEDER ADDED TO V LINE UP
Festival line up latest - Feeder have been added to the bill at the V Festival (now officially the V Festival, and not V2003), as have Morcheeba and The Roots. They join a bill that currently includes headliners Coldplay and Red Hot Chili Peppers plus Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Coral, David Gray, Ash, Underworld and Lemon Jelly.
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LIVE REVIEW: The Mad Capsule Markets @ Concorde 2, Brighton on 17 Mar
Those Japanese are so polite, right? Wrong, and CMU has the dead arm to prove it. After a build-up of gargantuan proportions (the band have turned up some eight hours late after their tour bus breaks down), The Mad Capsule Markets tear through 'Introduction 010' like a butcher through a pig's carcass, and Brighton is privy to the nastiest moshpit in the history of the West. Given the hi-tech complexities of the Mad Caps techno-metal sound, it’s a miracle that they can play live at all, with or without a soundcheck. It’s quite another miracle that they’re able to pull it off so damn well, bringing alive every nuance of terrifying whirlwind guitar, every intricate sound effect and every stupidly weighty riff with an ease and grace that would leave lesser bands agape. Indeed, tonight TMCM make Digital Hardcore sound positively softcore as their razor-sharp hooks creep down your spine and shatter your vertebrae, with two thirds of the tracks from '010' and a handful from last year's 'Osc-Dis' gracing the lovely PA. And the crowd, a disparate mix sporting T-shirts ranging from Muse to Rammstein, go absolutely mental, pounding their fists to ‘Bit Crusherrrr’ - contender for heaviest song of 2003 - and knocking this poor hack all over the place. One thing’s for sure, Fred Durst and his cronies have a hell of an act to follow later in the year. The UK tour continues until the end of March, and if you’re a sensible reader you’ll take the hint and check these fuckers out. Politely. DR
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EVANS' PR WARNS TABLOIDS TO BE VIGILANT
More bad news for the struggling Virgin Radio – Chris Evans plans to stage a media offensive when he goes to court to secure the £8.6 million of share options he reckons he is due after he was famously sacked from the station.
Evan's PR adviser Matthew Freud has written to national newspaper editors warning them that a "smear campaign" against Evans is likely to occur in the run up to his high court appearance, and urging them to triple check every story before going to press.
He wrote: "Over the past four days, Freud's have received an unusually large number of calls relating to Chris Evans. Each call has been on a different story, all "impeccably" sourced, all negative and damaging, and all entirely ficticious. This bears all the hallmarks of an old-fashioned smear campaign and I would appreciate your vigilance in making sure that any coverage that you do run on Chris is thoroughly checked for accuracy." Word is most tabloid attention has been focussed on Evan's marriage with Billie Piper, in which they're keen to find emerging holes.
Either way it remains to be seen who comes out worse. War reporting committing – it is likely to be a high profile court hearing between one of the biggest names in British radio of recent times, and the struggling radio station he bought, sold and was then fired from.
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RIAA WARN COMPANIES WHOSE EMPLOYERS UPLOAD
The RIAA has entered a new stage in its war against music downloaders by writing to 300 US based companies to tell them their webspace is being used by one or more of their employees to make illegal music downloads available. The letter, which follows a more general correspondence warning employers about letting their staff use their work internet access to download illegal music, specifically targets the companies whose employees are known to be 'uploading' as well as 'downloading' music illegally.
The letters warn said companies of the legal consequences of such activity, which could "expose your employees and your company to significant legal damages," amounting to up to $150,000 per infringed work. The letters urge said companies "to take immediate steps to prevent the continued infringement."
On announcing the initiative the RIAA declined to name the companies it had targeted, but said that they included those in medical-related, manufacturing and technology fields.
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FLAMING COVERS
The Flaming Lips, who have added a string of interesting cover versions to their live sets of late, will include three covers as b-sides on the single release 'Fight Test' next month. Covers of Kylie's 'Can't Get You Out of My Head', Radiohead's 'Knives Out' and Beck's 'The Golden Age' will all appear.
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COLDPLAY B-SIDES CONFIRMED
NME have confirmed the b-sides to single release of 'Clocks' (what we like to call the Freeview song) next week – the two new tracks are 'Crests Of Waves' and 'Animals' – the latter apparently one of the first tracks recorded during the sessions for the 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' album. Coldplay will headline one of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at the Albert Hall on the day the single is released.
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24 HOUR PARTY GUY APOLOGISES FOR ON AIR SWEARING
Former Factory Records boss Tony Wilson – now frontman for the ITV regional news programme in the North West - was suspended from reading last night's news after an "expletive-strewn tirade" at production staff was heard by viewers during a live mid-afternoon news broadcast. Midway through the 3pm news update he could be clearly hear shouting to his crew: "There's no fucking red lights on the camera, I can't see which camera I'm on. They're not fucking working."
Shortly after the incident – which led to the usual barrage of complaints – ITV’s North West company Granada issued a statement saying: "Anthony Wilson and Granada Television wish to apologise unreservedly for any offence caused to viewers watching the 3pm news bulletin. We would like to stress the incident was entirely unintentional and Anthony was not aware his remarks were being broadcast. Anthony did apologise on air to viewers at the end of the bulletin, however, following discussions, Anthony and Granada Reports producers have agreed it would not be appropriate for him to present this evening's programme as a further gesture of apology to our viewers."
Wilson has worked for Granada's news department since the late seventies – and was their roving reporter at the same time he set up the legendary Factory Records and Hacienda night club – a period in his life retold in the '24-hour Party People' movie. He continued hosting current affairs shows for Granada throughout the eighties, but only returned to front the station's main news show last year.
As far as we are aware Tony (or Anthony when he's in news mode) will return to the show tonight.
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BEAT HEAD OF MUSIC TAKES ON CAPITAL CHALLENGE
Mark Findlay – programme director and head of music at Capital's Scottish pop dance station Beat 106 - is to move to the Capital Group's London HQ in a bid to revamp Capital FM's flagging music policy. As listening figures continue to fall for Capital's flagship London station they admitted earlier this year their music policy had become far to pop focussed. Findlay, whose Beat 106 playlists have proved popular North of the border, will have the task of finding a more interesting yet user-friendly music mix. He will take over the music duties of former Radio 1 music guy Jeff Smith, who left his cross-Group music role at Capital earlier this year.
Talking about his new job Findlay told reporters: "I'm looking forward to working closely with the network programme controllers, cementing strong working relationships with record companies and promoters across the music industry that will be beneficial to both the Capital FM Network and the UK music industry as a whole."
Findlay – formerly a flagship presenter at Edinburgh station Forth FM – joined Beat 106 shortly after it was acquired by the Capital group. Originally billed as Scotland’s Xfm when launched as an independent, Beat 106 quickly went down the dance route. When Capital bought the station many expected them to roll out the brand elsewhere in the country to compete with dance stations Kiss and Galaxy. Although they awarded the station the same musical autonomy as Xfm in London they are yet to transfer the Beat brand outside Scotland's central belt.
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CASH BACK IN HOSPITAL
The legend that is Johnny Cash was admitted to Nashville's Baptist Hospital last week after coming down with pneumonia. But the latest word is the 71 year old performer, who has suffered from the illness before, is doing fine and should be discharged next week. Cash suffers from something called autonomic neuropathy, which makes him extremely susceptible to pneumonia - in 1998 he nearly died after one particularly nasty spell. But despite occasional scares and hospital stays Cash continues to work a gruelling schedule – last year releasing 'American IV: The Man Comes Around' which included those bizarre Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails cover versions.
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REVIEW: The Kills – Keep on Your Mean Side (Domino)
After the exciting debut 'Black Rooster EP' it has to be said that The Kills were one of the most disappointing bands that have graced a festival stage. At Reading 02 no matter how many cigs they smoked and poses they pulled the guitar-singer duos reliance on a drum machine made them dull, predictable and lifeless. Many of the problems then are present here, on their debut album. When it is done well though, on tracks such as 'Cat Claw', monotony is lost in sex-driven guitar licks with sleaze only a glam-rocked oily biker could provide. It doesn’t last, the excitement fades and we’re left with tacky ramblings and cheaply recorded riffs. It tries too hard, to be too cool. Tunes, excitement and spontaneity are left far far behind. DH
Release date: 10 Mar
Press contact: Cool Delta [CP, CR], Sainted [RP, NP], Rocket [RR], Anglo [NR]
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MTV FREEVIEW CHANNEL ADDED TO TELEWEST CABLE TV
MTV's free to air channel The Hit Factory, which is currently available via the terrestrial digital TV platform Freeview and Sky, will be added to Telewest's music channel line up later this month. Telewest already carry all of MTV's other UK channels, as well as all the EMAP channels, including their free to air channel The Hits.
The Hit Factory will be one of nine channels added to Telewest's 'Supreme' TV package next week.
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S CLUB DENY SPLIT RUMOURS
S Club have denied newspaper rumours they will split up this summer. Paper reports said Rachel was working on a solo project while Hannah was working on a Hollywood movie. But speaking to Radio 1 Jon and Tina said the Rachel story was untrue and that Hannah's movie work was just a ten minute walk-on part in a small independent movie. They told the station: "We haven't split up, and we've got a film coming out, and we're still here. Our tour is starting on 2 April in Glasgow - we're united with the S Club Juniors who also haven't split up."
No comment on the other rumours the "gay one" plans to come out after the group splits!
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ZETA JONES TELLS CELINE DION SHE’S GREAT
Catherine Zeta Jones has bought an ad in Hollywood trade mag Variety to tell Celine Dion just how great she is. Jones spent something like £11,500 on a full-page ad to say "Celine. We can't wait to see your show! All our best wishes, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones." The show referred to is Dion's long awaited residency at Las Vegas's Caesar's Palace.
Variety always cashes in on personal announcements at this time of year with the studios keen to let everyone know which of their films is up for an Oscar. Douglas meanwhile Douglas last week took an ad praising his wife's work on the film Chicago – it read: "Dear Catherine/Mom, we know how hard you worked and we know what a joy it turned out to be. We love you, Michael.”
Anyone wishing to spend $11,500 including a personal message in the CMU Daily is welcome to call.