In Search Of Peter Pan

Toys in the attic: English singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer Kate Bush lets the cat out of the bag in her second album, Lionheart (EMI, 1978). Including the hit single "Wow", the album takes its title from the track, "Oh, England, My Lionheart", in which a pilot who has been shot down contemplates his homeland as his plane hurtles towards the ground, and to his death. Literary references include J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan in "In Search of Peter Pan" (a song which also quotes "When You Wish Upon A Star" from the classic Disney film, Pinocchio), as well as a nod towards Arsenic and Old Lace in the song "Coffee Homeground", which despite being similar in plot to the play, was inspired by a taxi driver who drove Bush once. Film references include "Hammer Horror", inspired by the Hammer Film studio, known for their gothic horror films. Bush's eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic lyrics have made her one of England's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.

You Could Feel The Sky

New Order were an English rock group formed in 1980 in the wake of the demise of their previous band, Joy Division, following the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. New Order melded post-punk and electronic dance, and became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the 1980s. Though the band were shadowed by the legacy of Joy Division in their first years, their immersion in the New York City club scene of the early 1980s introduced them to dance music. The band's 1983 hit "Blue Monday" saw them fully embrace dance music and synthesized instruments, and is the best-selling 12-inch single of all time. Bottom/ Republic (London, 1993) was New Order's first album after the demise of Factory Records. Top/ "Ruined In A Day" (London, 1993) was released as the second single from Republic. Prior to that release, New Order were the flagship band for Factory Records. New Order albums, and Factory Records products in general, frequently bore the minimalist packaging of Peter Saville. Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify
the band's products without explicit labelling.

Party Hard

Bottom/ The cover art for This Is Hardcore (Island Records, 1998) by British indie rock band Pulp was directed by the American painter John Currin, whose work shows influences as diverse as the Renaissance, popular culture magazines, and contemporary fashion models. Pulp are most famous in the UK, where their blend of disco-influenced pop-rock coupled with the down-to-earth "kitchen-sink drama"-style lyrics of frontman Jarvis Cocker made them popular during the mid-1990s as part of the Britpop movement. Top/ The gender-ambiguous cover art for Suede (Nude Records, 1993), the debut album by English band Suede, provoked some controversy in the press, prompting Suede frontman Brett Anderson to comment, "I'm not really interested in being controversial. If we wanted to be controversial we'd have called the album I Fuck Dogs." The fastest-selling first album in UK history, Suede jumpstarted Britpop along with albums from Blur, Pulp, and Oasis

Finding Beauty

Scottish composer Craig Armstrong gained critical acclaim on films like Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! His first album of his own orchestral music The Space Between Us was released in 1998 (Melankolic). Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins contributes vocals to the track "This Love".