Niki N. Phaser

               The Cure are known for doing things a bit differently than everyone else and this time they are breaking the -0/-5 anniversary cliché. They are choosing to celebrate the 21st birthday of their 1989 tour de force, Disintegration, by releasing a remastered anniversary edition. It will hit stores in the spring of 2010.

              Of course, the new edition will come with additional gifts, meaning the new Deluxe Disintegration will be a 3 cd affair, even though, truth be told, the bonus material is really just for avid collectors. It includes a cd of rarities from the 88-89 period (intrumental demos, home demos, rough mixes, etc.) and a second cd of a remixed live performance at the Wembley Arena from 1989. Also, 2010 promises more remastered goodies from The Cure, including a Mixed Up 2 album. There is also a hint of a DVD with their In Orange gig, which was released as a VHS by PolyGram in 1988 and begins with a dramatic unveiling of Robert Smith’s trimmed haircut at the time. Classic.

Confessions on a Dance Floor marks another stage and another successful comeback in Madonna’s career, bringing in record numbers all over the world and creating the inertia on which Hard Candy‘s triumph was originated. Lead single Hung Up also did its part of the job, as well as the other three that followed. If choosen as a single, Forbidden Love would have surely prooved to be a hit, but, truth be told, it’s not just pure dance energy like Hung Up, for example. This track holds the strange combination of being a very danceable serious song. It sounds as profound as some Gregorian piece and yet it’s filled with ethereal synths and powerful beats, which make the song seem like a really dirty ‘da-club’ remix, all courtesy of Stuart Price aka Thin White Duke. The somber electro moods do a great job in emphasizing the grandeur of the song’s theme. Love is regarded from a philosophical/existential point of view: “Are we supposed to be together, We seal the destiny forever”. It’s written so that it would fit any kind of ‘forbidden love’ and no matter how free-minded we think the world is there are still plenty of forbidden loves out there. Just think about it, there are plenty of loves you yourself would forbid… In live performances on her Confessions Tour, Madonna went for some religious meaning, brilliantly suggested through coregraphy as you can see in the following video:

LIVE PERFORMANCE OF Forbidden Love

NME has provided some staggering information about the state of the UK charts. La Roux scored her first number 1 with pop-power track Bulletproof, but that hardly seems important (unfortunately for her) in the light of another artist’s impressive evolution, both in the album and the singles charts. It seems Michael Jackson’s demise has reminded people of the great music he is responsible for. So much that the number one album in UK is his best of collection, entitled Number Ones. Seven of his albums are in the top 75, with five of them reigning in the top 20. On the singles front, the situation is just as legend-in-the-making. His 1988 hit Man in the Mirror is at 11 right now, with other 19 MJ songs in the Top 75, five of them being in the Top 30. This is just one more detail contributing to the legend of Michael Jackson and when they’ll make that biopic that everyone is waiting for, no doubt we’ll see these facts and figures written on the screen, before the end titles. One thing is sure, we should no longer feel inferior to those who were alive when Elvis or John Lennon died. This is pop history and we are right in the middle of it.