from kylie to gaye bykers ..

for once, a 'dear diary' entry.

last night for the first time in ages i had the tv machine to myself. having perused the schedules i decided to give the forthcoming kylie 'showgirl' dvd a spin (out end of nov). expecting to become bored within 30 mins, 2 hours later, i am in awe of the sheer brilliance of the show. total pop perfection with dips to old era entertainment involving various 'chapters' in the show. hugely enjoyable, from its 30's glamour to full on acid/gay disco anthems via torch songs, and big band jazz reinterpretations kylie dominates and radiates the extravaganza with consummate ease, all the more impressive considering the news that was about to break.

then today i dug out some apollo 440 albums as i fancied some fun ambi-techno that would make me smile and bounce, a little research reveals that the band have just relaunched their website, and very corporate looking it is to. all the more strange, but somehow expected, when considering the route these guys have been on. from producing age of chance's epic '1000 years of trouble', and then adding crush collision styled noise to the 'heart of darkness' debut by hoodlum priest, through the industrial vs pwei styled hyperhead, before settling for the studio based core of the bros gray, trevor and howard, and noko. there is no way i can tell the complete @440 story here, the involvement of multiple personas, vocalists, permanent remix duties and the odd advert and film soundtrack track, in which they could easily wear gaye bykers on acid t-shirts in highly visible promo videos. to cap this strange personal 24 hour journey off, a dig through the best local trade-in shop resulted in the eventual conclusion in finding gboa's second album, 'stewed to the gills', on cd. i have had the cassette in the archive for years and loved it, but rarely in recent times have i seen the silver disc version, until today, as well as the cd ep of the bands debut releases. oh for the times when a major label snaps up such undergound grotty naughtiness and tries to propel them to the top of the charts (at the same time as snapping up gboa, virgin sorted out age of chance and that petrol emotion albums!).

so what happened to the gray bros along this path . well hopefully ireallylovemusic will find out. watch this space.

crack'on

mark e

ireallylovemusic