Lisa performed at the Frankfurter Hof yesterday and this report comes from the Allgemeine-Zeitung German press
0 Comments
The Real Thing Never Never Gonna give You Up So Be It Here's a preview of some photos taken by fans and professional photographers on Lisa's European Tour (pt2) which started on the 23rd October in Zwolle (Netherlands) and winds up on the 4th November in Riga (Latvia), performing in 9 cities in 12 days. Check out the Live Photo Gallery 2 'here' Here's an exclusive premiere of Lisa's new video for her brand new single 'There Goes My Heart' out on the 31st October 2014 . It's available on the expanded album edition of Seven+ which was released on 20th October in the UK as a double CD with 15 remixes and in Europe as a single CD remix album. From today you can preview 'Seven +' including Lisa's brand new single 'There goes My Heart' and the remixes on Spotify As many of you are aware by now, Lisa's current album Seven has been expanded with a bit of a twist and a mix called 'Seven +' and furthermore it will be released in the UK & Ireland tomorrow (20th October). The expanded edition contains 2 X CD , including Lisa's forthcoming new single "There Goes My Heart". The second CD includes 15 previously unreleased remixes tracks. We have an exclusive snippet of OPOLOPO 's remix of 'Picket Fence' (compliments of the man himself, thank you)! If you like what you hear and appreciate the incredible work that these amazing DJ's magic up for your ears, then we urge you to show your appreciation by giving a 'Like' to OPOLOPO's Facebook page . Additionally, check out his official website, Soundcloud and follow him on Twitter whilst you're at it. (Read his BIO below) Disc: 2
1. Cant Dance (Cool Million 83 Mix) 2. So Be It (SoulTalk Remix) 3. There Goes My Heart (Cool Million Goldchain + Moustarche Remix) 4. Carry On (Andy Lewis Remix) 5. Can't Dance (Snowboy Vintage Funk Remix) 6. Picket Fence (Opolopo Mix) 7. Love Can (Snowboy Remix) 8. You Can't Deny It (24/7) 9. The Crown (Cool Million Remix) 10. There Goes My Heart (Heartful Dodger Remix) 11. Can't Dance (Moto Blanco Edit) 12. So Be It (Cahill Remix) 13. There Goes My Heart (Cool Million Remix) 14. Can't Dance (Cool Million 81 Extended Mix) 15. Can't Dance (Snowboy Club Remix) Opolopo BIO Opolopo is Yoruban for "plenty", a word that best exemplifies the diversity of this production wizard’s musical voyage. Whether it's boogie, broken beat, funk, house, or soul, his compositions and productions are always uncompromising with a steady gaze on the horizon and a quick glance in the rear-view mirror. Starting out with over dubbing on cassette decks with a Casio VL Tone toy keyboard in his early teens, to constructing soundscapes on synths, beat boxes and computers, Peter Major a.k.a. Opolopo is one of Scandinavia’s most extraordinary producers. Born in Zirc, Hungary he spent the early part of his creative development touring with a keyboardist father and listening to fusion and electronic records. Artists like Herbie Hancock, Jeff Lorber, Earth Wind & Fire, Quincy Jones, Jean-Michel Jarre, Isao Tomita, and Kraftwerk helped feed his ingenuity. The likes of George Clinton, Bootsy and General Caine infected him for life with the funk virus. Equipped with keyboards, vocoder and gadgets, Opolopo DJ:s and plays live from London to Tokyo, creating unique sets, blending DJ:ing with improvised live jams. His sets span from funk, boogie and soul to various shades of house. From sweaty, stripped down and dirty to uplifting and lush. All unified by his worship of The Groove. His music spans over a decade on labels such as Tokyo Dawn Records, Local Talk, JVC Japan, Z Records, Om Records, Warner Brothers, Tru Thoughts, Sony/BMG, and Especial Records. Collaborations/remixes include Grammy nominated vocalist Gregory Porter, Omar, Steve Arrington, The Sunburst Band, Mario Biondi, Azymuth, Dazz Band, Mr. V, and Lanu (The Bamboos). Opolopo has just released his second remix album, Mutants #2, for Tokyo Dawn Records, as well as a house EP featuring Shea Soul for Tone Control. Apart from a slew of remixes, he is currently working on his fourth full length album for Z Records.
Yousif Nur from The Quietus, interviews director Elaine Constantine and actor Lisa Stansfield about their new film Northern Soul
Northern Soul is a tale of two young lads (played by Eliot James Langridge and Josh Whitehouse) discovering the music that changes their lives. They harbour ambitions of DJing as a partnership and flying to America to dig out rare soul records. However, along the way their friendship is tested with tragedies, drugs and egos. Set in the fictional northern town of Burnsworth in 1974, director Elaine Constantine was conscious that she didn’t want to “stitch any towns up for saying this is Oldham or Rochdale, it didn’t feel right calling them shitholes.” Northern Soul was shot in Burnley, Bury and Bolton (“all the B’s”) with the Wigan Casino dance scenes filmed at the King George’s Hall in Blackburn. Authenticity is an overriding theme that crops up time and again with Elaine, and she didn’t skimp when it came to detail with everything from 70’s fashion and dance steps to sourcing out houses suitable for shooting. Lisa Stansfield, who plays the mum of the lead character John Clark, also speaks to the Quietus. She describes the film itself as being “so true to form... it’s serious shit alright” and of Constantine being “a fucking anorak.” Was there an overwhelming sense that this was a film that simply had to be made? Elaine: Totally. Northern Soul was always going on in the background for me. I decided that I wanted to do some documentary footage on the scene. This was back in the early 90’s and because I’d been into Northern Soul since the 70’s, I kept filming stuff thinking it didn’t have the vibrancy or urgency that it had when we were teenagers, so I needed to re-create this to get that message across. Because all I wanted to do was say Northern Soul was brilliant. And the energy and ethos behind it, the need to get across the Atlantic to find music that was lost and the idea of bringing it back to people who’d never heard it before, with that absolute raw energy and enthusiasm that’s so esoteric was such a strong feeling. The only way I could portray that was to do it in fiction. I’m not a writer and I don’t consider myself one. But the only way I could get that idea across was to write the script myself. I considered hiring writers but in the end none of them came through. So I ditched the documentary idea and went into the choppy waters of screen writing! Lisa, how did Elaine approach you to feature in the film? Lisa: When Elaine and I went out for lunch one day before she started shooting, she said that she really wanted me to play the mum! I thought, “that’s a bit different but alright I’ll do it.” Elaine had plans for this film being like a British Saturday Night Fever. When you’re a kid and go right back to how you remember the north back then that’s exactly what it is. It’s incredible how Elaine’s done it. Could you relate well to John Clark’s mum? Lisa: I think you’ve got to relate to every role you play. If you play a complete bastard after seeing the good side of them, then you’d see that no one is a complete and utter horror. I really did see part of the typical northern mum in me. She’s always on your case all the time and shouting at you, ‘take your sandwiches and don’t forget your coat’. But she’d always be there for you when you were sad. They weren’t bad northern mums. They were just looking out for you all the time. How necessary was it to have elements of tragedy in the film? Elaine: When I was young there were some fatalities with kids that would go crazy and would go over the edge on a lot of things and there were some tragic moments. I’ve been to some funerals on this scene and I’ve experienced that. This film is not Billy Elliott or The Commitments; it’s a real film about real things that really happened, warts an’ all. So it’s not been certificated to suit everyone. It’s a film that is truthful about the experience of growing up in the north in the 70’s. “ You ran a series of dance clubs in preparation for the dance scenes. How long did you run these for and how receptive were the kids? Elaine: We started putting on these dance clubs for five years before filming. We’d started training the lead, Eliot James Langridge, six years before. We tried to do as many videos as we could to put onto YouTube to spread the word and get more kids through the doors. In all we had 500 kids. We’d been filming these dance clubs for the kids that we’d been training up to populate the scenes. So many gatekeepers of that scene were like ‘No you’re not doing that, don’t do it!’ But then as soon as we started posting up these videos of the dancers, everyone suddenly came on board. These kids were not dancers. This wasn’t Pineapple Studios with legwarmers and leotards, these were real kids coming in and going ‘I want part of that.’ They came for years and got involved with the culture. It wasn’t about ‘let’s work out how to do that move’. It wasn’t like there were mirrors in front of them and they were line dancing. It was more, ‘whack it on and get on the floor.’ Every so often we’d stop the music and say ‘Right, what kind of hand gestures are you doing? See what other people are doing and try to interpret what dance moves they’re doing. Fall in love with the music and we’re going to believe you when you’re on screen dancing because you’re really going through those emotions.’ Why are you so passionate about northern soul music? Elaine: I think for me fundamentally it is because it’s got a melancholy sort of feel to it, mixed with euphoria, which is a very strange contradiction and it makes my emotions just lurch. So, there’s that element of it which gets you right there. I’m talking about a particular number of records here. I’m not talking about Wigan’s Ovation or Tony Blackburn’s record or a load of shit they played in Wigan in the mid to late 70’s. I’m talking about the black, full-on late-60’s, heartfelt, raw emotional voices. And I think at the end of the day, I believe those voices when they say ‘My heart’s breaking.’ I don’t believe the voices that sing repetitive rubbish lyrics that are in the charts because there’s no feeling to them. And then I think that the accompanying music is so well matched to those voices that it’s almost like perfection. Then there’s the etiquette around the scene and the kind of bonding with people that are into northern soul that appreciate that stuff that says to me, ‘we know something and we’re doing something that’s really special.’ And then there’s this wonderful dance floor etiquette, which is all about appreciating that record and dancing to it without any distractions. So you can just dance, get right under that track and be a part of it. Because if you’ve experienced that music on the scene, especially as a youngster growing up, forming your opinions and the way you feel about the world, then there’s nothing quite like it. Every time I hear certain records and it doesn’t matter how many times I hear it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. And that’s why it won’t die because it has that ability and effect to make that happen to me after 35 years or more of listening to it. And then there’s another element to it, which is the progressive side. You’ve got a certain amount of DJ’s, collectors and promoters who are pushing that genre and boundaries. So you can still go out to nights around the UK and you can hear a record you’ve never heard before because somebody has had that kind of drive or passion to go to America or go through the internet daily for hours and hours to search out these masterpieces, bring them back and play them on this wonderful scene. Elaine: Because it’s brilliant! There’s something about that record that doesn’t immediately hit you when you hear it. It took me 2 or 3 plays but when you do get it, the song goes somewhere deeper than all the rest of them as there’s a certain kind of tension. It was written and produced by a woman called Josephine Armstead who then went on to be a boxing promoter! Do you feel there could be a revival in the soul scenes popularity because of the film? Elaine: There are a lot of those young kids who we got involved in the dance clubs who are now filtered into the northern soul scene. The age range is quite a wide spread. I think for it to be like how it is in the film, there would have to be a revival, like the one that happened duringQuadrophenia. Because bands like The Jam emerged at the same time as the Ska revival in 1979. That’s how I filtered into that scene as well. Remember I’m too young to have gone to Wigan even though I discovered northern soul in the 70’s through youth clubs when I was 18/19. I was in a mod/suede/skinhead type of network. That group of people is now everywhere and they’re the people who will go and see this film because though they may not be into northern soul they will be interested. Maybe there’ll be a revival and maybe those kids will have their own dos because they’re discovering that music for the first time. If they take the doctrines of the Northern Soul scene, they’ll know they can’t DJ with anything other than the original vinyl. Be nice to think that music might be championed by the youth and that they stop listening to the charts, stuff that’s pushed into them and think ‘actually this is quality, I want a piece of this.’ Lisa, you released ‘Carry On’ as a single from your latest album, which is clearly influenced by northern soul. Have you written songs that have been influenced by NS directly or indirectly? Lisa: I’m not sure really. I think that because I was doing the movie, it comes to the forefront of your brain and you can’t help but feel it. I’m terrible in that if I listen to a certain type of music or an album. I try not to when I’m writing because it influences me so much. Sometimes I can listen back to something I’ve written and think ‘Oh shit I’ve written someone else’s song!’ That’s why it’s so good! So you can’t afford to do that sometimes but I guess I’ve been influenced by so much soul music whether its funk, northern soul or Motown. Fran Franklin a choreographer on the production team passed away a few months ago. What impact did she have in terms of the film production overall? Elaine: The film was complete when Fran died and she saw the film in its finished form in February this year. So in that way it didn't effect the dance sessions as we stopped doing them after filming. As for the dance community, they were completely devastated as was every member of the team; Fran was one of a tight bunch of friends who had been working towards this film five years before it was green lit. Fran also was involved in the wardrobe of the film as her day job was as a seamstress so she made lots of skirts for the girls and lots of the jewelry too. The film was dedicated to her memory and she lives on through her influence not just in dancing but her warmth and generosity. Courtesy of The Quietus 25 years ago on this very day, 16th October 1989 saw the release of Lisa's phenomenal single, 'All Around The World' in the UK. To date this song still remains as Lisa's biggest selling hit record across the globe. Arguably a perfect song from start to finish, deservedly became Lisa's 1st number one record in the UK. Undeniably, this song has been cherished by millions of fans around the world and in many ways it formed the soundtrack of our formative years. In celebration of this milestone year Lisa's first five studio albums (under the Arista record label) are getting a complete make-over with a luxurious re-issue package to be released next month. The initial project was masterminded by Tom Parker in collaboration with Edsel Records and the Demon Music Group. Without any doubt no fan will be disappointed, these reissues have all been individually assembled and produced with such meticulous attention to detail, making the overall package an extremely tempting buy for any die-hard fan. It really is a 'must-have' item for the collection. Inside 'The Collection 1989-2003' each 2CD+DVD package includes the re-mastered album plus rare tracks, 12"mixes plus videos, live footage, specially recorded interview with Lisa and accompanying 28-pages of photos, memorabilia, lyrics and brand new sleeve notes. With the compliments of Demon Music Group and Edsel records, we can now exclusively share the very first peek inside these amazing re-issues offering just a small taster and sample of what to expect when you open up your forthcoming copy next month. Affection Lisa's1989 debut album Affection marked the arrival of a defining voice in British soul, meeting with major critical acclaim and over five million sales worldwide. The unforgettable #1 All Around The World features alongside the club classics This Is The Right Time and What Did I Do To You?, the uplifting Live Together and the US hit You Can't Deny It. Real Love In 1991, Real Love found Lisa fulfilling the promise of her debut with an equally compelling, still more diverse set of songs. An instant contemporary classic, the poignant All Woman features alongside the seductive Time To Make You Mine and the irresistibly uplifting hits Set Your Loving Free and Change. So Natural Perhaps Lisa's most personal work to date, 1993's So Natural included such hits as In All The Right Places (a classic collaboration with the legendary John Barry), the dance floor favourite Little Bit Of Heaven and the intimate title track. Additionally this re-mastered deluxe edition is expanded to feature the Top Ten hit Someday (I’m Coming Back) from The Bodyguard soundtrack, Lisa Stansfield In 1997, Lisa returned to the top of the charts with her self-titled fourth album. Lisa Stansfield produced such irresistible cuts as The Real Thing and a consummate cover of the Barry White classic Never, Never Gonna Give You Up, while infectious bootleg update of People Hold On hit the Top Five and became the first of four consecutive US club #1s. Face Up Lisa's final album for Arista, 2001's Face Up was both forward-thinking and as timeless as ever, exploring contemporary beats with the garage hit Let's Just Call It Love and mining more classic grooves such as the latter-day Northern Soul favourite 8-3-1. This re-mastered deluxe edition also includes previously unavailable 2003 remixes of the #1 hit All Around The World. People Hold On...The Remix Anthology The unmistakable voice of Lisa Stansfield has been a constant presence on the dance floor ever since the breakthrough success of People Hold On with Coldcut in 1989. Over the years since, her classic tracks have been remixed by the cream of clubland from Frankie Knuckles, Masters At Work and David Morales to Ashley Beedle, Massive Attack and The Orb. This re-mastered three-disc anthology Lisa Stansfield - People Hold On… The Remix Anthology brings together over thirty sought-after and previously unheard full-length mixes, with a 28-page booklet featuring photos, memorabilia, lyrics and brand new sleeve notes. And in case you have not yet pre-ordered a copy of the boxset, you can follow these links:
The fan bundle (with limited edition 12" SIGNED by Lisa) can only be pre-ordered if you are based in the UK or Ireland via: myplaydirect.com Otherwise pre-order the albums individually or as the complete box set here via: Amazon UK. They will ship to most countries outside of the UK. 'Lisa Stansfield Gets Away With Wearing Naughty 'C****' Necklace On 'Good Morning Britain'16/10/2014 Huffington Post reports If, like us, it takes you a bit of time to wake up of a morning then you might not have noticed anything unusual about Lisa Stansfield's appearance on Thursday's 'Good Morning Britain'. But the non-bleary-eyed among you might have picked up on the singer and actress's choice of accessory as she sat on the 'GMB' couch. Hosts Susanna Reid and Ben Shepherd (or anyone else working on the show) failed to spot the 'All Around The World' singer's necklace, which featured a key and the word 'C****' stamped onto it. We're not sure who it was aimed at or if it was just Lisa's state of mind at having to get up at the crack, but we're still impressed she managed to get away with it. The 48-year-old was on the ITV breakfast show to chat about her new film, 'Northern Soul', which she stars in alongside 'Royle Family' star, Ricky Tomlinson. And if you hadn't heard about the Brit movie before, well, you have now. Mission accomplished. Here's the interview that the GMB website have actually taken down now because of the controversy! |
Archives
October 2023
Categories
All
|