MUSIC NEWS: SATELLITE SWEETHEART

'Satellite Sweetheart' is an extremely satisfying and well-crafted, stylish and groove-filled album from keyboard maestro Dave Formula. It features collaborations with Howard Devoto, Barry Adamson, John Doyle and John McGeoch and performances by guest vocalists and musicians David McAlmont, Robert Wyatt, Corinne Drewery, Joel Purnell and Dennis Rollins.

Dave was a member of the seminal Manchester beat mod group St Louis Union, headquartered at the 60s club of that city, The Twisted Wheel - the birthplace of what became northern soul. He was a founder member of the band Magazine and the part of the futurist Visage studio band

There's a striking childhood memory behind Track 1: Elvis in Space. The young Formula was taken by his mum to see the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space in 1961, when made an appearance at the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers in Brook’s Bar in Manchester. He even got to shake him by the hand. In the cover photo he is reading the newspaper describing the event.

The track 'Bison Heard' a collaboration with Barry Adamson, recalls Paul Marsh’s on Alexandra Road, Moss Side record shop, which sold imported mento, calypso and early blue beat and which Dave considered "the coolest place on earth."

Via Sacra, the collaboration with Howard Devoto, was the spark that led to the recent Magazine reformation and a successful string of concerts.

See: Via Sacra video on YouTube