NEAL X (AKA NEAL WHITMORE) IS MUSICAL RIGHT-HAND MAN TO MARC ALMOND. HE’S ALSO THE FRONTMAN OF SURFABILLY ROCKERS THE MONTECRISTOS, WHOSE RECENT ALBUM BORN TO ROCK ‘N’ ROLL FUSED THE SPIRIT OF PULP FICTION WITH A KNOWING NOD TO THE ELECTRO-PUNK OF HIS FORMER BAND – THE NOTORIOUS SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK.
In this new edition of The Mouthcast (recorded in a venue bar shortly before soundcheck for a show on Almond’s SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS tour) Neal looks back to Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s impact on the mid 1980s, and reflects on critical reappraisal of the band’s contribution to electro (their early work was guided by pioneer Giorgio Moroder). Foreshadowing U2’s ZOO TV extravaganza by half a decade, Sputnik’s overloaded multi-media assault was one of the pioneering pop stories of the decade. Neal also discusses The Montecristos – and his three decade role as ‘sideman’ to Marc Almond…

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