"Last night, Michael Pagnotta (the Cure's North American publicist) was on "Live In Toronto" on CFNY 102.1. Nothing really new to report -- he just mentioned they are currently busy watching the World Cup, will be doing festivals in Europe this summer, and a new studio album is expected by spring.

One other point of interest -- he did speak to the fact that tracks from the upcoming DM tribute CD (along with DM's new single) have been leaked out on the Internet. "The reality of dealing with new technology," he commented."

Depeche Mode Tribute Suitable For The Masses

God Lives Underwater, the Cure and Smashing Pumpkins are among contributors to forthcoming tribute album.

Contributing Editor Jon Vena reports:

God Lives Underwater guitarist Jeff Turzo considers Depeche Mode a major influence.

But there's more to Depeche Mode's impact on his band than meets the ear.

While critics have often compared his band's sounds to those originally crafted by the '80s techno-pop pioneers, few could ever realize how much Depeche Mode have meant to Turzo and his music, the guitarist said. That said, it seems fitting that the 26-year-old Turzo is one-half of the team behind arranging For the Masses, the much-hyped Depeche Mode tribute album.

"Dave [Reilly, GLU cohort] and I have always been into Depeche Mode," Turzo said recently from Los Angeles. "We were playing 'Stripped' live, so we decided to get a whole bunch of people together to do an album of all-Depeche material."

The end result, a 16-track opus co-produced by 1500 Records founder Gary Richards, includes tracks from early British mope-rockers the Cure, the last studio recording from the now-defunct Veruca Salt and a previously released rendition of "Never Let Me Down Again" from the Smashing Pumpkins.

And even though the project doesn't hit shelves until Aug. 4, a massive amount of hype has begun surrounding the project, fueled by months and months of rumors concerning which artists would be covering which songs on the record.

As it stands, Turzo said, For the Masses represents years of planning and studio time, from the inception of the project until last week, when Los Angeles modern-rock station KLLY-FM leaked a few tracks from the record. The leak prompted a swift cease-and-desist order from 1500, as well as a reported promise to never again do business with the station.

Nevertheless, assembling For the Masses was a difficult task, Turzo said, from finding the right bands to actually convincing acts to get involved. The entire project took three to four years to put together, he added. Now that the disc is finally complete, Turzo said there are still bands that he would have liked to have perform on the album.

But the end result, he added, is sweet nevertheless.

"It was hard at first," he said. "Failure, our friends from L.A., decided to do a cut ("Enjoy the Silence"). Then, (A&M labelmates) Dishwalla got involved ("Policy of Truth"), and finally the Cure came in. Once the Cure decided to go in ("World in My Eyes"), everyone wanted to do it. In time, we could have made a double record."

But with this tribute album, at least, Turzo said he is emphasizing quality over quantity.

"Our goal was always to make a good record, not a mockery of Depeche Mode music," he added. "We wanted to make a cool record that you could sit down and enjoy. And I think we've done that."

And despite Turzo's incomplete wish list of participants (among them Nine Inch Nails and Bjork), the album collects a veritable dream team of obvious Depeche Mode influencees.

There's the necessary mix of core alt.rock artists -- ranging from the Smashing Pumpkins to the Cure and the Deftones. But there's also an appropriate smattering of contemporary electronic performers. Rabbit in the Moon offer a trippy slant on "Waiting for the Night," Gus Gus take on "Monument," Apollo 440 launch an intense working of "I Feel You" and Hooverphonic breathe through "Shake the Disease." Meat Beat Manifesto blast through "Everything Counts."

But each of the 16 songs, whether extremely bizarre (Rammstein's first English effort on "Stripped") or jarringly dramatic (Veruca Salt's sublime, effeminate take on "Somebody"), offers a unique tribute to the sound of electronica's forefathers.

"The main thing is that Depeche Mode is one of our favorite bands of all time," co-producer Richards said. "Usually when a tribute album comes out, a record company is just trying to make money off one of its capital artists. For us, granted, it is a business, but we wanted to show how good Martin Gore's songwriting is and how influential Depeche Mode has been."

Rather than issue a standard single, 1500 Records will allow radio stations to decide which tracks work best for their market, Richards said.

"Of the bands we approached, every single one of them wanted to contribute," he said. "We called Gus Gus and they wanted to do four."

Music wasn't the only influence Turzo wanted represented. It's that "other" element of Depeche Mode -- the oft-overlooked songwriting talent of Gore -- that Turzo says makes Depeche Mode such an important act.

"Aside from being the first band to really explore electronic elements in their sounds," Turzo said, "Depeche Mode has written some incredible songs."

THE ROOT MYTH OF THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: If you are a SP fan you will wear black, have a pale face, live in a drizzly marshland of sadness and pain, and never, ever laugh. -"True!" Billy Corgan yelps, jollily slamming his hands down on the arm rests of his chair."You can't reconstruct that! I'm just an old goth. It's my goth roots showing. And then," he muses, "you finally meet Robert Smith, and he's wearing tennis shoes and a blue shirt." -"He looked so cute!" D'arcy reminisces, tucking her legs underneath herself. "In his little tennis shoes...he was standing in the lobby of this hotel just..." D'arcy does a very life-like impression of Robert Smith standing awkwardly, like an infant 41-year-old man who should be slapped.

"For those Cure fans on the West Side of Cleveland, Baldwin-Wallace College's radio station (WBWC 88.3) is having a Cure marathon Thursday June 25th from 7AM until 1AM Friday. The request line is 826-2187."

The X-Files: The Album/Elektra

As one of the most highly anticipated movies of the summer, The X Files: Fight the Future follows a long trail of other films which attempt to have savvy soundtracks, sometimes at the expense of including music appropriate to the film.

To its credit, several of the tracks here will go nicely with the Mulder and Scully flashlight scenes, like Bjork's "Hunter" with it's heart-fibrillating beat and Sarah McLachlan's ambient "Black."

The Cure turn in a deliciously brooding "More Than This," suitable for any of those almost-love-scenes that always seem to be interrupted -- or thought better of.

On the other hand, what exactly are bands like the Cardigans and Tonic doing on a soundtrack like this? Neither band possesses the kind of eerie flavor or intellectual might required to aptly complement a setup like The X Files. And while Ween's "Beacon Light" or X's cover of The Door's "Crystal Ship" might be fun on their own terms, they don't make sense in the context of this collection.

Interestingly, one of the best tracks here is Oasis brother Noel Gallagher's densely textured "Teotihuacan," and one of the worst is the Dust Brothers' remix of Mark Snow's "X Files Theme." The former is spacious, thrilling and unnerving in its beauty; the latter is an uninspired breakdown of an otherwise worthy tune.

The soundtrack, like The X Files itself, holds many suprises, but too many of these suprises are unpleasant ones.

-BETH WINEGARNER

The X-Files, The Album Various Artists (Elektra)

By Tony Fletcher

I've forgotten what a soundtrack album is meant to be. An interpretation of a film's visual qualities -- moody, scenic instrumentals that convey the peaks and valleys of the script? Some monumental new songs written specifically to accompany the opening titles or pivotal action and romantic scenes? Or a motley assortment of various artists with little in common apart from greedy record labels eager to hitch their acts on the coattails of a potential hit movie?

Often it's the latter. Puff Daddy's "Godzilla" collaboration with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant might be more frightening than the movie's monster, but such cross-marketing is the stuff of which blockbusters are built. Even the soundtracks that offer something new and exciting often come with hidden provisos. When the far-from-prolific Underworld contributed a new song for last summer's Batman and Robin soundtrack, they warned their fans that the rest of the album was garbage. So why not simply release the track as a single?

Record company pressure, five- or six-figure advances and the desire to be part of something special all figure in. Which brings us to the "X-Files." Rarely has a cult show resonated so strongly with cult rockers (14 such acts contributed to the movie soundtrack). The fact that they weren't allowed to see the film in advance was obviously no deterrent. As "X-Files" founder Chris Carter puts it in his self-mocking yet pretentious liner notes, the acts were to "go off to compose their work in secret ... expressionistic interpretations of the mysterious." In other words, operating in the dark with no idea of the movie's plot or to what sequence their song would be attached, they contributed whatever they wanted to.

Thus The X-Files: The Album, for all its claims to be something special, is notable instead for delivering on every single one of the now-familiar soundtrack marketing ploys. We have the "unlikely" cover version -- Filter screaming their way through the ancient Harry Nilsson-composed, Three Dog Night-performed hit "One." We have the "collaborative" cover -- the reunited and ever-distinctive X singing The Doors' "Crystal Ship," with that band's keyboardist Ray Manzarek in attendance. And we have the unnecessary re-recording, on which Sting -- who did so well for many years with watered-down reggae -- teams up for a remake of "Invisible Sun," not with one of the many trip-hop producers who could have added a new and challenging element to the song, but with Aswad, the most commercial reggae act on the planet. Without the menace of the original Police hit, "Invisible Sun" is rendered asinine.

Also much favored on the soundtrack these days is the instrumental that has no other home. In its defense, it should be said that "Teotihuacan" by Noel Gallagher is possibly the funkiest thing the Oasis songwriter has ever done (it is also his first-ever official solo recording), and as near to true soundtrack material as the album gets, a decent moody melody over proper modern beats. In fact, at first I had it confused with producers du jour the Dust Brothers, whose contribution follows Gallagher's and closes out the album -- but then theirs is that other familiar soundtrack option, the faithful reinterpretation of the TV title tune.

Elsewhere, suggestions that all songs were recorded especially for this project are proven false by Bjork's contribution "The Hunter," the opening track from her last album, and the Foo Fighters' gentle but equally familiar "Walking After You."

The disc also includes tracks by Tonic ("Flower Man"), Better than Ezra ("One More Murder") and Soul Coughing ("16 Horses"), none of which are outstanding. I do have to warn you that the Cure have rarely made a more forgettable song than "More Than This."

But the greatest disappointment here -- particularly given the status of the artists and the hype accorded not just the movie but the soundtrack -- is the lack of musical intrigue. The "X-Files" operates on one of the darkest premises on television, yet with the exception of Sarah McLachlan's "Black" and tracks by Bjork, Noel Gallagher and Filter, this album is almost totally harmless. Pointless, too.

When the "real" soundtrack comes out this summer, with incidental music by Mark Snow, the composer of the original TV show theme, how many will rush to buy it? No doubt just a small percentage of those who will pick up this grab bag of alt-rockers to fill a hole in their collection that can't possibly exist.

Tonight on Jeopardy the $1,000 question in the Brit Rock category (which meant it was supposed to be difficult) was "This therapeutic band is fronted by lead singer Robert Smith".

Delta Radio (German Alternative Station) Top 666 rock/pop tunes (Thanks Dennis):

The Planet (Detroit, Mi.) "The 396 Coolest Flashbacks" (Thanks Vic):

Update: The Cure were not on the special after all. Sorry if you wasted an hour of your life due to this report. The reports were based on the listing at RockonTV.

Also, I've heard that Y107 in L.A. has been playing the album today, so you might want to listen.

"There hasn't been any official word on it yet, but apparently Reeves Gabrels and Robert Smith have collaborated on a track for Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Orgasmo film. Collaborated as in it's credited to Smith/Gabrels. It's also apparently been mixed by the Dust Brothers. I got this off of a David Bowie mailing list, so I don't know all about the reliability but it's said to come from an industry insider. I figure it's something to get people going until the album finally comes out. But people who aren't fans of the electronic-ish direction Robert's been going in with Wrong Number and More Than This are going to be upset - the World In My Eyes cover goes the same way. If you do decide to post this RUMOUR, Gabrels fans will also want to know about Reeves' slide guitar duties on the next Rolling Stones single, "Out Of Control".

Oh, and if anyone wants to sign up to the list, contact DBfan@aol.com. On average, it comes every other day. The person who runs it is admittedly obsessive, as every scrap of even remotely Bowie-related news is included."

Smith is a master at weaving short, simple phrases in and out of groove. His linear melody lines are instantly catchy, pushing a song forward while pulling a listener deeper into the atmosphere. It's a lush, dense mix, but Smith's talent for supporting the vocal with numerous intersecting figures ensures that the song's melodic hooks are never buried in a wash of guitars.

Adding to the evocative blend of countermelodies is Smith's penchant for analog modulation effects that impart a shimmering sense of dimension and an inviting strangeness to the soundscape. Other colors include a Fender 6-string bass, nylon string counterpoints, and layered steel-string acoustics.

"Because the Cure did so well in the triple J 100 hottest ever, triple J are doing a special on the Cure tonight called "triple J Cure Files" at 10pm Australian Eastern standard time, 11th June."

Connolly joins bid for 'edgy' new Scottish radio station

by JIM MCBETH 06/04/98

Copyright (C) 1998 The Scotsman; Source: World Reporter (TM)

THE actor and comedian Billy Connolly is investing 1.4 million of his own money into high-profile bid to run a new Scottish radio station. Connolly has joined with Chrysalis Radio and the Mirror Group to bid for the Central Scotland franchise, which has one of the largest potential audiences outside London.

The consortium promise to capture the 15 to 34 age group with a blend of music programming that will focus on the best in 'alternative and indie', with heavy emphasis on Scottish bands. The proposed name for the new FM station, which would create 60 jobs in two bases in Glasgow and Edinburgh, is the Edge. It will cover a similar area to the one currently served by Scot FM.

Unlike previous radio franchises, which have been targeted by big business, the race to control Central Scotland has turned into a celebrity chase. Rival bidders for the franchise include Ally McCoist, the footballer; Carol Smillie, the television presenter; Alan McGee, the man who guided Oasis to stardom and Stuart Clumpus, the man behind T in the Park, Scotland's hugely successful annual rock festival.

The franchise is a lucrative one - the potential audience size is 2.3 million. However the successful bidder will have to beat off stiff competition for advertising from the established commercial radio stations in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Success will not come cheap. It is thought that to win the franchise, a bid of up to 3 million will be required. The Mirror Group is limited by law to a 20 per cent stake and the remaining 80 per cent will be split between Connolly and Chrysalis, which is currently the largest regional operator in the UK. Chrysalis is already a success in radio. It attracts 22 million listeners to its two stations -Galaxy, covering Bristol, Leeds and Manchester and Heart, which broadcasts to London and the West Midlands.

Connolly said: 'This is a brilliant opportunity to make a difference. There have always been millions of reasons for not playing bands, but people need to be heard, through the Edge we can make that happen. 'It's all about being connected to the people in the street by a real live medium that is interactive. You take it from the street and give it back to the people. 'This gives me the opportunity to decide what is good with people who understand radio and are as passionate as me about it. I've had so many ideas for years on how radio should sound. I can't wait to get involved'.

But he will have to wait. Bids for the franchise must be lodged with the Radio Authority by 28 July, but it will not make a decision until November.Whoever wins the battle, the station should be on the air by spring 1999.

The Glasgow club owner, Ron McCulloch, who owns the city's Tunnel, and Mr Clumpus are leading the McCoist-Smillie bid, which also includes Sharleen Spiteri of the chart topping group, Texas.

A rival bid is being tabled by Mr McGee and Robert Smith, the millionaire frontman of the Cure and London's X-FM.

Their rivalry has led to bitter exchanges with Mr Clumpus accusing Mr McGee of being out of touch in London. Mr McGee countered that the Scottish bands featured on T in the Park were discovered by his label.

I have just finished listening to Triple J hottest 100 ever......the answers are not up yet on their web site, however, the Cure polled the best with 5 songs being chosen . I couldn't listen all day but I know some results :

#66 - Lovecats

#74 - A Forest

#85 - Just Like Heaven

Don Was: Not only are Chris (Carter) and I fans of all the artists included on this album, but they in turn are big fans of the show. Especially The Cure's Robert Smith.

Robert Smith:I'm a huge fan.To the point where I have to wait until the whole series comes out on a video collection, and then I watch it all in one go, I watch them all back to back. So I think I'm probably like two series behind, certainly behind everyone in America, I think series four has just aired in the UK. But I've got one, two, and three on video. I just, because I'm never around , I never know where I'm going to be, I can't guarantee that I'm going to be able to see it. And I hated the idea of, because again it does actually follow on, there's like an internal logic to the whole series, I think it's like brilliantly done. There's a lot of self reference, and so if you've missed out on too much of it, you don't really understand who's playing what part, or you know, who's supposed to be the bad guy kind of thing. So I am, yeah, a huge fan.

Don Was: We asked Robert if he believed in the conspiracy theory and alien abduction?

Robert: I must admit I'm not a great believer in, certainly not in the alien abductee phenomenon, I think its rubbish basically. I think it's an internal thing, I don't think I actually believe in it as an external reality. Some of the other things, you know, it's one of those things, I have a problem because I'm very, I'm not really cynical, but I suppose like with Mulder's character, I mean like the song "More Than This" that I did, was kinda like, I think there's something in everyone that sits down and thinks that you desperately want something more than this, you know, you just want there to be other things, you want to believe in, because it just makes life more interesting, more exciting. There is unfortunately a part of me which thinks well there isn't any more than this,you know, that kinda like dull reality is it. So there's this, I have like an internal tension so I, when I watch the X-Files I kinda like, I feel really good, cause I do, I'm able to suspend my disbelief and to really get into it.

A lot of the alien stuff I find, certainly as the series has developed, I think that's become kinda like the central issue. The cover-up or the fact they're among us sort of thing, I'm not too, you know, I don't really go for that. But certainly the whole idea of the conspiracy theory side of what goes on is very believable, you know. The thing is you never really know, which is why I suppose the X-Files can exist as a believable kinda genre, because you don't really know. I don't think anyone really knows what's going on. I find, I suppose the most problematic area is that you honestly couldn't believe that governments can be that effective, as to genuinely cover up huge secrets, because they're so hopeless at everything else that they do in the main, it's sometimes, it does defy belief that you could coordinate that many people to keep their mouths shut.

"More Than This" is played.

Don Was: A great song from Robert Smith and The Cure called "More Than This". The band is currently back in England in a studio about an hour outside of London recording songs for their next record.

"Tickets for the whole festival will be available by the CTS-system in a few days, single-day-tickets in a few weeks. Infos at +49(0)9867/9590.

The Cure will be supported by 'Guano Apes' and Sabrina Setlur, the 'Sisters Of Mercy' play on one of the other nights."

July 26th, 1998 - Rothenburg, Germany (Taubertal Open Air)

What's worth hearing at the movies

JANE STEVENSON Toronto Sun

The big green lizard is about to get stomped on by Mulder and Scully at record stores.

That's my prediction as the summer soundtrack sweepstakes heats up Tuesday with the release of The X-Files soundtrack (Elektra/Warner CD 62200), hot on the heels of the May 19 release of the Godzilla soundtrack.

Either that or both albums will succumb to the mighty staying power of Titanic -- still at No. 5 on Billboard's album charts with sales of 10 million -- and the curiously-strong City Of Angels, which sits at No. 2 on the same chart.

Godzilla, which did disappointing box office in its first weekend, isn't helped by a weak soundtrack that features the Wallflowers doing a lame version of David Bowie's 1977 classic, Heroes, as the first single. Even more unsettling is the second single, Puff Daddy's Come With Me, as he raps over Led Zeppelin's 1975 gem Kashmir, with Jimmy Page playing lead guitar, for God's sake. Rounding out Godzilla's 13-track collection are forgettable songs by the usually listenable Rage Against The Machine and Ben Folds Five.

The X-Files collection, meanwhile, is a much more cohesive, interesting listen led by the first two singles -- Filter's take on Harry Nilsson's One, and Foo Fighters (who also appear on Godzilla with A320) re-doing their song, Walking After You, from their latest album The Color And The Shape.

Also good is Ween's howling guitar stylings on Beacon Light; The Cure's exceptional dance number, More Than This; Soul Coughing's choppy and weird 16 Horses; X's remake of the Doors' Crystal Ship (with Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek); Noel Gallagher's trippy instrumental Teotihuacan, and the Dust Brothers' easy-listening (with a backbeat) version of The X-Files Theme. The jury is still out on Sting pairing up with Aswad for a remake of Invisible Sun, while Sarah McLachlan's Black is simply horrible -- it sounds as if she's singing from the bottom of a well.