HUE AND CRY ‘XMASDAY’ ALBUM

Hue and Cry will be releasing a new album on 30th November entitled Xmasday. The album, which contains a mixture of brand new Hue and Cry tracks along with some classic songs and seasonal favourites, takes the listener on a typical Christmas day journey, from the early morning air of excitement, through all the ensuing fun and festivities, to the contented end of the day. It’ll be available as ten track CD and digital download. The album will also be available as part of the Deluxe Limited Edition Gift Box.

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.

BOY GEORGE will headline a HERE AND NOW show at the Bay Festival on The Isle on Man on June 20th next year. The rest of the bill will feature RICK ASTLEY, KIM WILDE, BELINDA CARLISLE, CUTTING CREW, THE REAL THING and CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT.

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD have announced the tracklisting for their forthcoming new compilation 'Frankie Says Greatest' which will be released on November 2nd. The album will come out as a 2-CD deluxe edition, a single-CD standard edition and via digital download. See NEWS for the full deluxe edition tracklisting.

GEORGE MICHAEL will release a one-off Christmas single via Island Records on December 13th. The track will be a brand new version of 'December Song' the track he made available as a free download last year and will be available on CD and via download.

THOMAS DOLBY will play a special show at London's Union Chapel on February 28th next year. The show will be an impromptu evening and will see the touring band from Dolby's 1983-84 tour reunite onstage. See NEWS for more details.

BRYAN FERRY has teamed up with DJ Hell for a single release 'U Can Dance' which will be released in January.

SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK will be part of the line-up for the forthcoming Act Art event in London on November 6th. The 'Children Of The Damned' event will feature 100 artists and SSS will be performing updated electronic versions of classic tracks from 'Flaunt It'. The band will also play at Camden's Underworld on December 6th.

BAD LIEUTENANT, the new band put together by NEW ORDER's BERNARD SUMNER, have announced that they will be supporting the PET SHOP BOYS at their forthcoming UK shows in December. See GIGS for all the dates.

THE CLASH will reissue their 'London Calling' album on December 14th in a 2-disc CD and DVD set... the full tracklisting is expected to be announced shortly.

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN will release a live album 'Live At The Royal Albert Hall' on November 23rd. The release will feature the band's 2008 show at London's prestigious venue during which they played their classic 1984 album 'Ocean Rain' in its entirety, alongside a selection of their hits. The band also has a short run of UK dates scheduled for December, see GIGS for more details.

GO WEST frontman PETER COX has joined Manfred Mann's Earth Band as their new vocalist, however the role will not affect his work with Go West who are currently lining up a 25th anniversary tour for next year.

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED have announced a further London show at Camden's Electric Ballroom on December 23rd. The band will also play the venue on December 22nd instead of playing Brixton Academy as originally planned. See GIGS for all their dates.

ELTON JOHN and BILLY JOEL have announced another run of co-headlining 'Face 2 Face' shows in the US in November and December. The shows will see both singers perform separately and together and continues the series of shows the pair started in 2003. See GIGS for all the dates.

Thanks to: www.remembertheeighties.com - "The 80s... up to date!"

A-HA have decided to split at the end of 2010 after a special farewell tour to mark the 25th anniversary of their debut album 'Hunting High & Low'. The farewell tour will finish in Oslo on December 3rd and 4th and more dates are expected to be released soon. The band have stated that although they are retiring as a band they are not retiring as individuals, saying 'Doing this now will give us a chance to get more involved in other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else - and of course through new constellations in the field of art and music'. The band will be announcing more dates around the world shortly but have said that the tour will include shows in the USA, South America, Japan and Europe and are hoping to schedule shows in Australia too.

DEPECHE MODE's 'Enjoy The Silence', YES's 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart', and PHIL COLLINS' 'Two Hearts' have all received awards from the BMI recently marking radio airplay in excess of 3 million plays.

ERASURE will release a 21st anniversary edition of their classic 1988 album The Innocents next week (November 24th in the USA). The album will be available as a standard CD featuring a remastered edition of the original release, and as a deluxe 3-disc (2-CD and 1-DVD) hardback book edition containing the remastered album, a disc of b-sides, remixes live tracks and rarities plus a concert filmed at Birmingham's NEC on The Innocents tour in 1988 as well as videos for all the singles and TV performances. See NEWS for the full tracklisting.

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD are to be awarded the 'Classic Track' award by Q Magazine for their classic single 'Relax' at next week's Q Awards in London.

NEW ORDER and THE CLASH are among artists to have classic album covers featured on a series of UK postage stamps. New Order's 'Power, Corruption & Lies' and The Clash's 'London Calling' are among the ten covers featured in the series alongside classic jackets from David Bowie, Blur, Coldplay, Led Zepplin, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, Primal Scream and The Rolling Stones. The set of ten stamps will be available from January 7th.

YELLO have released a new album 'Touch Yello' via Universal in Germany. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

SHAKATAK will play two special 30th anniversary concerts at High Barn in Great Bardfield, Essex on January 22nd and 23rd.

SIOBHAN FAHEY has announced the tracklisting for 'Songs From The Red Room', her new album using the SHAKESPEARS SISTER name, which is scheduled for release on November 16th. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

SWANS WAY and SCARLET FANTASTIC singer MAGGIE K DE MONDE will appear at London's Halo Bar on November 20th as one half of Maggie & Martin, alongside MARC ALMOND collaborator Martin Watkins. The duo will be joined by a number of guests including THE AU PAIRS' Lesley Woods and a DJ set from ABC's STEPHEN SINGLETON.

MADNESS will reissue their debut album 'One Step Beyond' in an expanded 2-CD edition next week. The release, to mark the album's 30th anniversary, will feature the original album alongside a host of bonus tracks and videos. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

DURAN DURAN, ERASURE, DEPECHE MODE, OMD, PET SHOP BOYS, HUMAN LEAGUE, KIM WILDE and ULTRAVOX are among the artists complied on a new 3-CD release featuring original 12" mixes. The release contains one CD of tracks featured in a continuous mix by Blank & Jones and a further 2 CDs of remixes. The compilation will be released in Germany on October 30th with releases elsewhere expected to be announced soon. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

BOY GEORGE will appear as a special guest at Rufus Wainwright's forthcoming 'A Not So Silent Night' concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on December 9th. Boy George is planning to release a solo album next year which will allegedly include a song entitled 'Your Pain Makes a Beautiful Sound' which he has written about Amy Winehouse.

SIMPLE MINDS and OMD have announced that they will perform the KRAFTWERK track 'Neon Lights' together on stage as part of Simple Minds' forthcoming 'Graffiti Soul' tour where OMD will appear as special guests. Both bands have covered the track previously but the tour will be the first time they have performed it together. See GIGS for all the dates.

UB40 will play a special charity show at Birmingham's 350-capacity Rainbow Courtyard venue on November 3rd. The show is to benefit the venue which is under threat of closure and will kick off UB40's UK tour that runs through November and December. The band will also release another hits compilation 'The Best of Labour of Love' on November 23rd. See GIGS for all the dates.

NITZER EBB have announced that they will support DEPECHE MODE on their 'Tour Of The Universe' in January and February next year. See GIGS for all the dates.

CYNDI LAUPER and POISON singer BRET MICHAELS will be among the contestants on the new series of TV show 'Celebrity Apprentice'.

HELEN TERRY's 1986 solo album 'Blue Notes' will be reissued by Cherry Red on October 19th in an expanded edition featuring a number of bonus tracks many of which will be available for the first time on CD. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

JAPAN's MICK KARN has self-published an autobiography entitled 'Japan & Self Existence' which he describes as 'a personal insight into life as a musician and artist spanning more than 30 years'. Meanwhile his former bandmates DAVID SYLVIAN and RICHARD BARBIERI have also been active, Sylvian has released a new solo album 'Manafon' and Barbieri has joined the band Porcupine Tree.