It's been a while since my last update so there's lots to report. The not-so-good news is the fact that the much-talked-about "Ultra Violet" track with production team Block Rocker never saw a summer 2007 release. Neither did the cover of the 80s French song which Bananarama had apparently recorded earlier this year (although more information on that below).
In the meantime, rumours have been rife that the original Bananarama line-up of Keren, Sara and Siobhan was secretly reforming for a new album to be released on the Warner Music label - and that the release of the "Greatest Hits & More More More" compilation in May 2007 and the Daily Mail Bananarama CD giveaway in August 2007 were to start re-building the Bananarama brand name. The official Bananarama website denied all these rumours but they persisted nonetheless ...
What we do know now for sure, however, is this:
1. Bananarama will join the likes of Curiosity Killed The Cat, Paul Young, Rick Astley, Johnny Hates Jazz and ABC for a tour of the UK in 2008. As part of the promotion for this Here and Now 2008 Tour, Keren and Sara did an interview and live performance of "Venus" on This Morning (UK TV) on 5 Oct 2007. The ten-minute "This Morning" segment can be found on youtube here while pictures from the official media announcement for the Here and Now 2008 Tour can be found at London Features International and Wire Images.
The tour dates are as follows:
May 13th - MANCHESTER - Evening News Arena
May 14th - LIVERPOOL - Echo Arena
May 15th - BRIGHTON - Brighton Centre
May 16th - LONDON - Wembley Arena
May 17th - BIRMINGHAM - Birmingham NEC
May 18th - NEWCASTLE - Metro Radio Arena
Tickets can be purchased here
2. The official Bananarama website announced on 5 Oct 2007 that Bananarama will be recording an album of cover versions of disco songs and Keren and Sara are asking fans to nominate songs for them to record - the earlier-mentioned cover of the 80s French song is, in fact, one of the tracks recorded for this new album. Go to the Forum on the website now to submit your suggestions! - they can be any disco song from the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s! However, no news yet as to what label this album will be on and when the album will see the light of day ...
3. Finally, the new 2007 Pat the Cat mixes of "Move In My Direction" are available on iTunes in the US.
The Mail on Sunday in the UK is giving out a customised Bananarama Greatest Hits CD with every purchase of the newspaper on 5 August! The tracklisting is as follows:
Venus
Love In The First Degree
I Want You Back
Robert De Niro's Waiting
Cruel Summer
Really Saying Something
Shy Boy
Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)
Love, Truth And Honesty
I Heard A Rumour
Movin' On
More Than Physical
I Can't Help It
Only Your Love
Rough Justice
The publicity for this CD giveaway has included TV advertisements (which have apparently been getting loads of airtime on British TV) as well as an advert (see below) and a very complimentary article about Bananarama in last week's Sunday 29 July print edition of the Daily Mail (read it here). The article included new quotes from Keren and Sara about the group's history and, more importantly, promises that a new single and album is in the pipeline. Hm, where have we heard that before though, eh? :)
Anyway, here's what UK music industry magazine Music Week had to say about the CD giveaway:
Mail On Sunday covermounting Bananarama
30 July 2007 - 09:31:56
Source: Music Week
Eighties hit trio Bananarama are to follow in the footsteps of Prince by giving an entire album away with The Mail On Sunday.
The Best Of Bananarama will be covermounted on next weekend’s edition of the newspaper and feature such hits as Venus, Love In the First Degree, Robert De Niro’s Waiting and Cruel Summer. The paper says the tracks included are the “original studio recordings of their greatest hits”.
This latest giveaway comes only weeks after the newspaper added around 600,000 sales to its usual circulation by covermounting Prince’s new studio album Planet Earth. The 2.8m sale was the second highest in the history of the newspaper behind only the 2.84m copies sold for the edition that came out immediately following the death of Princess Diana in August 1997.
The Bananarama giveaway is bound to further provoke the anger of retailers who say such covermounts only devalue music in the eyes of consumers. It is not yet known whether HMV will stock the newspaper as it did with the Prince covermount issue.
According to yesterday’s edition of The Mail On Sunday, the trio – the most successful female group in terms of number of chart hits in the history of the UK singles chart – are back in the recording studio with a new single and album “in the pipeline”. They will be also headlining the 200,000-capaicty Retrofest festival in Ayrshire.
I don't agree with the politics of the newspaper but must admit they have good taste in music!
Things have been quiet on the Bananarama front after the flurry of album re-releases in the UK and much talk about possible forthcoming single releases. Keep your fingers crossed for good news but, in the meantime, enjoy these photos from Jeffrey (the blond with Keren below) that were taken on 2 June when the girls performed at Gay Days at The Parliament House Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Not only have Nana fans just discovered that "Move In My Direction" from the girls' 2005/2006 "Drama" album has just been released in France (see advertisement above) but the vinyl-only 12" single actually features two great new 2007 remixes of the song - Pat The Cat Ibiza Mix and Pat The Cat Ibiza Dub - which according to music website, Topplersmusic are currently breaking into dance charts (Lewis Dene Top 20, Radio FG, Kiss FM, Pete Tong Essential New Tune etc.) across Europe!!! Best of all, you can hear clips of both the new remixes by Pat The Cat (a DJ at Ibiza) at the Topplersmusic site here: once you get to the site, search for Bananarama under the Music/Downloads header. *** Update 21 May: According to the official Bananarama website, the 12" single release in France has been postponed to 25 May.***
In other news, "Move In My Direction" has apparently just started to get radio play on dance music stations in San Francisco again as well ... about a year after the 2006 track already stormed the US national Club Play Dance chart where it peaked at #14!
The new Bananarama Greatest Hits package "The Greatest Hits & More More More" has entered the UK album chart as a disappointing #61. Still at least it has charted! To put things in perspective, here are the UK chart positions of all Bananarama albums released in the UK:
Deep Sea Skiving #7
Bananarama #16
True Confessions #46
WOW! #26
The Greatest Hits Collection #3
Pop Life #42
Please Yourself #46
The Very Best of Bananarama #46
Drama #169
The Greatest Hits and More More More #61
Just a reminder that the new Bananarama Greatest Hits package "The Greatest Hits & More More More" is out in the UK this week! See the 20 Apr news item below for the tracklist - although there aren't any new songs on this release, fans may still want to support this purchase because it is eligible for the UK charts, being a full-priced CD (the re-issues released in March were not chart-eligible as they were sold at mid-price). It would be great to see the girls back in the charts this year - 25 years after their first release hit the Top 40 in the UK!
The album is currently already at #20 on the WH Smith Top 30 Artist Chart, #25 on the Asda Chart and #22 on the Woolworths Chart ...which bodes well! You can see the UK TV advert promoting the CD over here. Also, check out this review of the compilation from Female First:
Transport yourself back to the days when ‘Girl Power’ meant big hair, spangly leggings and woolly leg-warmers; when 3 girls stormed the charts with their perfect fun pop tunes and legendary videos.
Bananarama – The Greatest Hits & More More More contains 22 tracks from Britain’s finest female group who went on to sell over 40 million records worldwide. Bananarama are still in the record books as the 3rd most successful girl group of all time: only behind their contemporaries The Supremes and The Spice Girls.
Sara Dallin, Keren Woodward and Siobhan Fahey (later replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan) enjoyed success throughout the 80’s both in the UK and internationally with their music.
Catchy choruses, sexy and sleek dance moves and those brilliant videos helped launch the girls onto the global market. Number One singles around the world meant that they were flying the flag long before Ginger Spice. Venus, I Heard A Rumour, Love In The First Degree, Cruel Summer, Really Saying Something, Nathan Jones, Robert De Niro’s Waiting and More More More of their greatest hits are pulled together on this fantastic album.
So, to return to a place when music was about fun and attitude, and to remember just who influenced many of today’s pop artists, dust off your denim jacket, break out the hairspray and prepare to dance along, hairbrush in hand to Bananarama – The Greatest Hits & More More More.
Hot off the heels of the reissues, Warner Music is releasing yet another Bananarama greatest hits package, this time called "The Greatest Hits & More, More, More". It will be released on 7 May 2007 and will feature the following tracklist:
1. Venus
2. Love In the First Degree
3. I Want You Back
4. Robert De Niro's Waiting
5. Cruel Summer
6. Really Saying Something
7. It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)
8. Shy Boy
9. Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)
10. Love, Truth & Honesty
11. Nathan Jones
12. I Heard A Rumour
13. Movin' On
14. More, More, More
15. I Can't Help It
16. Only Your Love
17. Preacher Man
18. Long Train Running
19. Aie A Mwana
20. A Trick Of The Night
21. Rough Justice
22. Cheers Then
There aren't any new tracks so I was wondering why it was being released at all! Interestingly, according to Kurt from Warners, it is because the record label, seeing the success of the recent spate of mid-price, limited-release Bananarama compilations, believes that a full-priced, wide-release CD will have enough crossover appeal to sell to mainstream buyers in a big way. The album is, therefore, going to be marketed with TV spots, made available in mass-market department stores like Woolworths and Tesco etc.
This compilation will be the girls' first official, chart-eligible release in the UK since 2005's "Drama" album and 2001's admittedly-more-comprehensive "The Very Best of Bananarama" (which got to #46 in the UK charts)! Fans may, therefore, still want to support this purchase even though there aren't any new recordings on it so that it can do well on the charts. No news yet on what goodies the inside sleeve may (or may not!) contain. Let's hope for the best! - and that Warner may consider changing the tacky sleeve!!