THE WILD BOYS IN MALTA!!

On Thursday afternoon 80's top band Duran Duran landed in Malta on a private jet. Durin a short Press Conference, the band members promised their fans a great memorable concert. www.reflexmalta.com welcomes Duran Duran in Malta and congratulates NNG Promotions for bringing them over. Cu on Saturday!!

U2 DITCH NEW MATERIAL

U2 are to restart work on their new album ditching a years worth of material. The band, working on the follow up to 2004 LP How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, said that they are unhappy with the results and have decided to scrap the last 12 months in order to start afresh. The Edge told to CMUMusic.com, "We went into this project allowing ourselves the indulgence of making music without thinking about where it was going to end up. We're starting to get serious now".

MICHAEL JACKSON BACK IN RECORDING STUDIOS

Fallen superstar Michael Jackson is back in the studio working on a new album, it has been claimed. The ‘Thriller’ star, 49, has reportedly hired top producers RedOne and Akon to mastermind the new record. They started working together at the Palms recording studio in Las Vegas Wednesday. “Michael is producing the album himself and then will sell it to a record company when he’s finished,” a source tells the New York Post newspaper. “Michael has banned his kids from the recording studio. He realizes this is very important and doesn’t want any distractions.” The singer — who supposedly had been seeing his children’s nanny — has even put his love life on hold. “He’s not going to be involved in any personal relationships with women until he gets this record done,” the source said. “He’s dumped the nanny - she’s not around any more.”

REFLEXMANIA (MARC ALMOND CONCERT IN MALTA) MENTIONED ON UK TIMES

Never gonna give them up The Eighties are back – and somehow so much cooler than they were first time round http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2315358.ece Paul Burston They may have been acceptable in the Eighties, but do the likes of Bananarama, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Howard Jones and the Human League pass muster with the pop pickers of today? The organisers of Retrofest certainly hope so. Described as “Europe’s largest Eighties music festival”, the two-day event takes place next weekend and is expected to draw 10,000 people to Culzean Castle in Ayrshire. “Basically I wanted to see a bunch of bands who were big in my youth, but who I never got the chance to see,” explains Brad Snelling, the festival’s director. “I left school in 1983, so for me there’s a warm, cozy, nostalgic feeling about this. The Eighties was a great time for music. You had colourful characters like Boy George, MTV poster boys like Duran Duran, and doom and gloom merchants like the Cure and Depeche Mode. It was very diverse.” Alas, none of the aforementioned is on the bill, but to make up for it we have Hazel O’Connor, Kim Wilde, ABC and “the legendary Kajagoogoo”. Were the others too busy, or just too proud? “Most of the bands we couldn’t get were already booked,” Snelling insists. It’s easy to knock the idea of an Eighties music festival – so let’s start with those “legendary” one-hit wonders Kajagoogoo, as well as the prospect of people in their forties desperately trying to relive their youth. Not true, says Snelling. “We have an Eighties ‘school disco’ called the Reflex in the festival. They have about 40 clubs in the UK, and the average age is 22 to 24. A lot of these kids grew up up with this music. Their parents played it, so they have an affinity with it.” Other attractions include a dressing-up tent where you can get an Eighties pop star makeover, and the Slippery Stage New Acts Tent. An Eighties music festival showcasing new talent? Surely a contradiction in terms? Snelling doesn’t think so. “The new acts are all people who write their own songs, as opposed to manufactured bands,” he says. “Most new music doesn’t interest me. It’s all become so corporate and bland. An artist used to be able to experiment, record a few albums and build a career. That was very much the spirit of the Eighties. Now it’s all about having a No 1 single.” Well, yes and no. For many Eighties acts it was also very much about having a No 1 single. The majority of the so-called New Romantics were former punks who had absorbed punk’s methods (confrontation, shock value) but conveniently ditched its ideals (anarchy, “keeping it real”). Cheered on by the world’s biggest-selling pop magazine, Smash Hits, they launched an assault on the charts that led to one of the most lucrative periods in British pop. It was, in the words of the pop writer David Rimmer, “like punk never happened”. The chart rivalry between Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran was matched only by the rivalry between Duran Duran and Culture Club. Accused of selling out, Boy George replied that he’d “bought in”. And when the former punk Adam Ant appeared on the Royal Variety Performance and Duran Duran were seen cosying up to Diana, Princess of Wales the spirit of the Sex Pistols was long dead. One artist who lived through it all is the former Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond. Now enjoying critical acclaim for his latest solo album Stardom Road, Almond has no plans to appear at Retrofest. “I’m lucky enough to have the choice whether to do these sorts of events or not,” he says. “And I’m very wary of doing them in this country, just because there’s so much musical snobbery. But if people are happy to do them, good luck to them. A couple of major hits will give you a career for life, especially if you had your hits in the Eighties. People sold a lot more records then. Everyone watched Top of the Pops and read Smash Hits. And if there’s an audience still baying for Don’t You Want Me? or Too Shy why deny them?” Why indeed? And it’s not as if he never does this kind of thing. “I’ll go to Europe and happily play the Eighties card. I’m doing a show in Malta next month and they’re advertising it as ‘Eighties star Marc Almond singing Tainted Love’. The Eighties gave me a big audience, and the means to maintain a career. Tainted Lovepaid the mortgage. And it’s still my bread and butter.” Eighties nostalgia has never been so “now”. Films such as Music and Lyrics play to audiences old enough to remember a time when Hugh Grant was still considered charming, while high street shoppers have another chance to buy “Frankie Says” T-shirts. Even Tainted Love made a comeback last year, thinly disguised as S.O.S.,by Rhianna. “So it’s not just people in their forties who are recycling the Eighties,” Almond observes wryly. “Look at Rhianna! For me, the Eighties was the last great era of pop. Today pop is largely a celebration of mediocrity.” “Everyone always thinks their era of music is the best,” says Mark Frith, a former editor of Smash Hits and now editor of Heat. “But the Eighties stars really did seem to have better songs and more of a love of pop music. People took their role as a pop star very seriously back then. Not that they were ‘serious’ about it – anything but – but to them being a pop star took effort and you had to be really, really good to stand a chance.” They weren’t all good, of course. Every decade has its dross. For every Soft Cell there was a Department S, for every Culture Club a Haysi Fan-tayzee. Men in make-up and frilly shirts quickly became passé, and when Simon Le Bon capsized his yacht some people thought he’d got his just deserts for poncing about in the video for Rio. But this was a time when pop stars weren’t afraid of quoting Sartre (as David Sylvian did on Red Guitar) or making political statements (as Mor-rissey did on Meat is Murder). Big ideas were squeezed on to 7in singles, and who cared if people called you pretentious? (As Adam Ant sang, “Ridicule is nothing to be scared of”). The stars of the Eighties brought with them a combination of creativity and individualism rarely seen among the warblers who compete for the nation’s affections these days on The X Factor. “A lot of Eighties artists came from an art college or fashion background,” says Almond. “They were strong characters who weren’t prepared to be told what to wear or how to look.” Someone in X Factor winner Shayne Ward’s camp recently let slip that Ward’s manager had been busy planning his wardrobe for the next six months! When today’s pop stars can’t even dress themselves, is it any wonder people are taking inspiration from the past? And the Eighties revival isn’t all retro festivals. Alongside the main-stream marketing of nostalgia there’s a growing underground club scene that harks back to the age of gender-benders and electric dreams in more creative ways. Clubs such as Duckie, Horse Meat Disco and Pop-starz have been playing Eighties records for years, while others – Foreign, Nag Nag Nag and Trailer Trash – have spawned a new generation of club kids not unlike the Blitz kids of the early Eighties. “The whole club kid thing is definitely back,” says Mark Wood of the Readers Wifes, the resident DJs at Duckie. “Suddenly you’re seeing these larger-than-life characters who live their lives around clubs and maybe cross over into music. You walk around Hoxton between 7pm on Friday and 7am on Sunday and you’d swear you were walking past the Blitz or the Wag 25 years ago.” “There’s a very creative energy in the clubs again,” confirms the DJ Tasty Tim. “You’d think that someone like me, who’s been clubbing and DJing since 1980, would be very ‘seen it, done it, made the T-shirt’. But I still get a kick out of seeing someone wearing a handbag on their head, or a laundry bag as a dress.” For fellow Eighties icon and DJ Princess Julia, “the whole dressing-up thing never really went away. More people are referencing the Eighties, both visually and musically. But not in a literal way: it’s Eighties with a twist”. Julia also co-publishes the music fanzine The P.i.X, and is optimistic about the state of British pop. “There’s a lot of exciting bands coming through, people like Neils Children, These New Puritans, Ali Love, Electricity in our Homes – people with good songs and strong ideas about how they want to look, which is very Eighties.” The same could be said of the Readers Wifes, who’ve recently graduated from the DJ box to the recording studio. Their album, Gaslight, features the crunchy synthesizer sound of the Human League, and their single Nostalgia was produced by the former Banshee Steve Severin. Musically, at least, it seems we really have gone back to the future. “I DJed at my 16-year-old niece’s birthday party the other day,” says Mark Wood, “and almost all the music they requested was Eighties. It was the same stuff I was listening to when I was at school – ABC, Eurythymics, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, Dead Or Alive. People literally just can’t get enough.” That’ll be music to the ears of Brad Snelling. And a challenge to the club kids to make music we’ll still be listening to in another 25 years. ° Retrofest is at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire on Sept 1-2. www.retrofest.co.uk. Gaslight, by the Readers Wifes, will be available for download on Sept 10. The novel Lovers & Losers by Paul Burston is published by Sphere Have your say The comeback is not just in 1980s music and fashion, there also seems to be a revival in 80s themed movies such as The Wedding Singer, Music and Lyrics, Donnie Darko and James McAvoy in Starter for 10. For many 80s movies are unforgettable, unlike today's superficial incarnations. From the birth of the teen movie (The Breakfast Club) to the rise of the blockbuster.... Ironically many 80s hits that had stories and characters to root for are all coming back, think Indiana Jones 4, Rocky 6, Die Hard 4 and Rambo 4 in 2008 Justin Camilleri, Hamrun, Malta Howard Jones was a pop star in the 1980's who has lost much of his popularity. This is lamentable because his recent CDs "Revolution Of The Heart" and "People" are vastly superior to his 1980's recordings. His great vocals and Keyboard virtuosity are still intact. Jones' message of universal peace, vegetarianism and respect for life should resonate in every era. Brien Comerford, Glenview, United States As a 1986 school-leaver and a Brit ex-pat living in Malta, I can't wait for Marc Almond to tour here..I've just got to convince the wife why I need to dig out my black string vest and eye-liner again ! Anthony, B'kara, Malta

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THE REFLEX PARTY ON WHATZ UP - NEXT SATURDAY ON PBS

Check out next Saturday's 15 March Whatz Up TV program on PBS at 6.35pm which shall feature the 1st March Reflex Party and an interview with DJ Alex Grech.

DURAN DURAN TO PERFORM AT SAN REMO FESTIVAL 2008

Duran Duran are confirmed to perform at the San Remo Music Festival on Tuesday, February 26th. The Festival di Sanremo will be aired on television live from 8.45 pm on RAIUNO.

HOWARD JONES TO PERFORM IN MALTA

Howard Jones and his band shall perform in Malta on 21st June 08 at a Fete la Musique concert in Bugibba. More info soon.

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REFLEX PARTY...HERE WE GO!!! 1 MARCH @ GIANPULA

Click on the TV Promo on the left and find out! or copy and paste the link below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1jVVyBCKO8

UK ROCK INVASION

80's top rock bands such as Bon Jovi, Def leppard, Whitesnake and Iron Maiden shall all pay the UK's major arenas a visit this summer. BON JOVI JUNE 11 Southampton St Mary's 21 Glasgow Hampden Park 22 Manchester, City of Manchester Stadium 24 Coventry Ricoh Arena 25 Bristol Ashton Gate 27+28 London Twickenham Stadium Def Leppard supported by Whitesnake June 17 - Glasgow SECC 18 - Birmingham NEC 20 - Manchester MEN 23 - Sheffield Arena 24 - Newcastle Arena 26 - London Wembley Arena IRON MAIDEN JULY 5 - London, England Twickenham Stadium AC/DC (Tour Dates still to be confirmed) THE MISSION FEBRUARY 27 - London Shepherds Bush Empire ('First Chapter' show) 28 - London Shepherds Bush Empire ('Gods Own Medicine' show) 29 - London Shepherds Bush Empire ('Children' show) MARCH 1 - London Shepherds Bush Empire ('Carved In Sand' show) MARK KNOPFLER MAY 16 - Birmingham NEC 17 - Manchester MEN Arena 19 - Edinburgh Playhouse 21 - Newcastle City Hall 22 - Cardiff Arena 24 - Brighton Centre 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 - London Royal Albert Hall

RED CARPET MASSACRE - DURAN DURAN'S NEW ALBUM NOW OUT !!

Red Carpet Massacre is the twelfth studio album by British pop group Duran Duran. Three years in the making, it is expected for release in late 2007. On the 26th June, the official Duran Duran website confirmed the title of the new album and announced some of the song titles. Early sessions The band did its initial recording with producer Michael Patterson between January and April of 2006, bringing at least fifteen tracks to near completion. DURAN DURAN have revealed they were forced to scrap their album and start again when ANDY TAYLOR left. The CD was almost ready to go when the guitarist went in October over what the band called an “unworkable gulf.” So the other four lads decided to start all over again. But fans of SIMON LE BON and his gang shouldn’t cry just yet — the new recording isn’t too far away. Keyboard player NICK RHODES said: “The album had to be scrapped when five became four. We started again and now we’re nearly there. “We’ve got one track left that needs a girl’s voice on it. We’re tying to work something out with NELLY FURTADO.” The album will be a return to the band’s new wave roots. In October 2006, vocalist Simon Le Bon announced that they had recorded three songs with famed hip hop producer Timbaland and his protegé Danja.[3] Trade magazine Billboard reported that one of those tracks was "Nite Runner", featuring Justin Timberlake, which is expected to be the first single from the album. The other two songs that the band worked with Timberlake on were titled "Skin Divers" and "Zooming In." The article also mentioned two additional tracks named "48 Hours Later" and "Transcendental Mental" Andy Taylor leaves the band Shortly after the sessions with Timbaland, guitarist Andy Taylor apparently had a falling out with the rest of the band. He did not perform at any of Duran Duran's October shows, and on October 25, a message posted on the band's site announced: "As of last weekend, however, the four of us have dissolved our partnership and will be continuing as Duran Duran without Andy, as we have reached a point in our relationship with him where there is an unworkable gulf between us and we can no longer effectively function together." Dominic Brown, who had taken Taylor's place at several previous missed concerts, was hired as Duran Duran's permanent guitarist (although he is not an official member of the band). It is not yet known whether Brown plays guitar on Red Carpet Massacre, or how much of Taylor's work might remain on the album, given the legal battles that followed Taylor's disputed contributions to the Notorious album before his previous departure from the band in 1986. Release Delays While initially expected in late May 2007 with a subsequent summer tour, as reported in Billboard,[4] the new album was delayed as the band reworked some of the music recorded before Taylor's departure. According to tabloid newspaper The Sun, as of March 2007 Duran Duran had one track left that needs a female vocal, and they were trying to arrange to work with Nelly Furtado.[1] As of end of April, according to the Rolling Stone magazine, another track titled "The Valley" was announced, which the band's bassist, John Taylor describes as a very grand conceptual piece. In June, Duran Duran announced on their official website that they are recording another track with Justin Timberlake titled "Falling Down". During the concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on 17th June, Duran Duran played new tracks which include, in playlist order, "The Valley", "Red Carpet Massacre", "Nite Runner", "Skin Diver" and "Box Full o' Honey". Videos of the performance appeared on the YouTube video hosting site the same night. Song List On June 26th, 2007, the band announced some of the track titles to be included on the album: "Nite Runner" (co-written with and featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland) "Skin Divers" (Feat. Timbaland) "Red Carpet Massacre" "Box Full O' Honey" (Feat. Macy Gray) "Last Man Standing" "The Valley" "Falling Down" (co-written with Justin Timberlake) "Good as New" (Feat. Nelly Furtado)

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