SPANDAU BALLET will play shows in Australia and New Zealand in April next year with TEARS FOR FEARS joining them as special guests. See GIGS for all the dates.

CAPTAIN SENSIBLE will join the HERE AND NOW roster on August 10th when he plays on a bill at Ascot Racecourse that will be headlined by BOY GEORGE and will also include BELINDA CARLISLE, MIDGE URE, THE CHRISTIANS, JOHNNY HATES JAZZ and CUTTING CREW.

BOY GEORGE has announced a special Christmas residency at London's Leicester Square Theatre in December. The run of eight solo acoustic shows will feature George's 'biggest hits from Culture Club, his solo career, new writing, and covers from his own music heroes...' See GIGS for all the dates.

MORRISSEY will appear on BBC Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs' on November 29th.

JAKI GRAHAM is to publish an autobiography, entitled 'Heaven Knows', next year and is set to release a jazz album - a collaboration with PATRICE RUSHEN - around the same time.

LLOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS will reunite for a one-off performance at Scotland's Tartan Clef Awards on November 27th. The show will take place at Glasgow's SECC and will also feature performances from The View, King Creosote and Mott the Hoople.

NIK KERSHAW, who is about to release a solo acoustic album featuring key tracks from his career, has announced a UK tour for February and March next year, see GIGS for all the dates.

GARY NUMAN is to record a special session for BBC Radio 6 in collaboration with Little Boots. The session will be recorded at the BBC's Maida vale Studios on December 7th. Numan's 'Pleasure Principle' show at Brighton's Dome this week has been reviewed, with photographs, in the REVIEWS section.

BRYAN FERRY will release a CD/DVD compilation 'The Best of Bryan Ferry' on November 23rd. The release will contain nineteen single and two bonus tracks on the CD and all Ferry's promo videos on the DVD alongside TV performances and bonus footage. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED are to reissue their 'Metal Box' album on December 14th in two editions, a 3-CD set and a limited edition 4-CD set which features rarities, including radio sessions and remixes, on the extra disc.

KILLING JOKE will play two UK shows, in Edinburgh and London, in April 2010. See GIGS for details.

OMD will release a live DVD on December 7th featuring a show they recorded at Liverpool's Royal Philharmonic Hall in June. The show, recorded with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra featured the orchestral premiere of The Energy Suite followed by a selection of classic OMD songs with orchestral backing.

SIMPLE MINDS will release each concert on the current 'Graffiti Soul' European tour, including the forthcoming UK dates, on special USB sticks which will be available directly after each show in special presentation boxes. Each show will also be available for download after the performance and both formats are to be made available via Concert Online. See GIGS for upcoming tour dates.

DEPECHE MODE will release 'Fragile Tension' and 'Hole To Feed' as a double a-side single on December 7th in the UK. The band will also be celebrated at a special Christmas clubnight 'Music For The Christmasses' at the London Stone on December 19th. The night will be hosted by the team behind London's 'Electric Dreams' and 'Ashes To Ashes' clubnight who will be holding their next 'Electric Dreams' night at Camden's Purple Turtle on December 11th and their 'Ashes To Ashes' New Romantic night at The London Stone on November 28th and New Year's Eve.

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago we brought you the news about our forthcoming album ‘Xmasday’ and a week on Monday it’ll be available “from all good record stores” as they say. However what we’d like to say is that we’ve been completely blown away by the overwhelming response from so many of you who’ve pre-ordered the personalised gift box direct from ourselves!

We hate to disappoint anybody, but we’ve only made one thousand of these boxes containing all the additional treats, so when they’re gone, well, we’re afraid that they’re gone!

The special goodies have started arriving at Blairhill Records HQ and next week, we’ll be heading there, magic markers in hand, to sign everyone’s orders and help out with the packing. We’re sure it’ll be a lot of fun (ho ho ho!) and we’ll do our best to get some visuals online – maybe you’ll spot us signing your own box!

Preparations for our brief appearance at the Homecoming Live event and our very own History City Xmas Weekend are coming together, but more on that later.

Best to all, Pat & Greg xx

HUE AND CRY ‘XMASDAY’ DELUXE LIMITED EDITION GIFT BOX

The Deluxe Limited Edition Gift Box will be strictly limited to a run of only one thousand. Each one comes lovingly hand packed with a certificate confirming the individual number of each box. Inside, you will find the ‘Xmasday’ album plus a raft of fantastic extras, including:
DVD containing bonus audio & video; 2010 calendar; Christmas greeting card; set of postcards; Christmas tree ornament, and a button badge.

For full details including tracklisting of both the album and the bonus DVD, please visit the Hue and Cry Shop.

Exclusively to Hue and Cry fans!

If you order your Deluxe Limited Edition Gift Box direct from the band at the Hue and Cry shop, it will come hand signed by Pat and Greg.
Additionally, you will have the option to have the blank Christmas greeting card personalised by Pat & Greg – just tell us the name of the recipient (perhaps yourself or someone special!) and Pat and Greg will add a handwritten dedication and their signatures to the card.

Don't forget that Hue and Cry will be playing a brief piano and vocal set at this year’s grand Homecoming Live concert taking place at the SECC's Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow on Saturday 28 November.

As previously announced, this Christmas Hue and Cry are presenting the History City Xmas Weekend at the ABC in Glasgow.?? Tickets for the Friday night Piano and Vocal show (18th December) SOLD OUT in record time.?? However if you missed out, don’t worry as a few tickets are still available for the Saturday night full band show (19th December).