Go-Gos’ Carlisle
is proud to be
out of touch with U.S. music scene
As she approaches 50, Belinda Carlisle sees things a bit differently from when she was a young musician on the way up in the ’80s.
For one thing, the former lead vocalist of the Go-Gos isn’t impressed with today’s U.S. music scene.
“The American music scene is much worse than in Europe,” Carlisle says during a recent telephone conversation from her home in London. “When I come to the States I don’t hear a lot of great stuff. I’m not into the ‘American Idol’ genre. I don’t think it’s healthy for music, and that seems to be what dominates the charts, that type of music. I would rather not listen to the radio if that’s what they’re going to play.
“Music is more about marketing than it is about artistry, which is the reason record companies are in the toilet. It’s not downloading that’s hurting them — they’ve forgotten what music is supposed to be. Now it’s more about showing the midriff or being shocking. Record companies are not interested in nurturing artists today. It’s about making an instant buck.”
But she admits she may be a little out of touch.
“I don’t have my finger on the pulse anymore. I’m a bit older now, a bit stodgy,” says Carlisle, whose milestone birthday is Aug. 16.
But she’s still rockin’.
Carlisle — sans Go-Gos — comes to Planet Hollywood on Saturday as part of Regeneration Tour 2008. The ’80s nostalgia tour also features the Human League, ABC, A Flock of Seagulls and Naked Eyes.
This is Carlisle’s first U.S. tour in more than six years. The 20-city romp lasts through August.
Carlisle, a former cheerleader from Hollywood, Calif., formed a punk rock band with Jane Wiedlin, Margot Oliveira and Elissa Bello in 1978. The Go-Gos’ debut album, “Beauty and the Beat,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart — a first for an all-woman band that wrote and performed its own songs.
When the group broke up in 1985, Carlisle embarked on a successful solo career with such hits as “Mad About You” and “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.”
The Go-Gos reunited in 1990 and still perform together a couple of times a year.
“We still like working together,” she says, “but at the same time everybody has their own life going on. It’s not as easy to get five people on the same page to do the work. Now we just do it when it’s a fun thing to do. We’re not a full-time working band anymore. That’s not us anymore.
“We’re winding down a bit. Everyone has their own thing going on.”
But she still has an active solo career in Europe, she says, performing as much or as little as she wants. She will be solo at Planet Hollywood.
“For me, doing this kind of thing is fun,” she says. “I get to do my solo hits. For the audience it’s fun, instant gratification. They’ll get to hear all the different acts’ hits.
“For myself, it seemed interesting because I hadn’t toured in the United States for quite a long time. I’m really busy on this side of the planet. I have a life outside music that keeps me busy — I’m a mom and a wife and I have other interests, so it’s not music 24/7. There are other things to do.”
Carlisle married Morgan Mason, son of the late British actor James Mason, in 1986. They moved to France 10 years later and eventually settled in England. Their 16-year-old son, James Duke Mason, is serving as a congressional page in Washington this summer.
“He has no interest in music at all,” Carlisle says.
Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.
Five groups revive music of era in Regeneration Tour
The ’80s were the formative years for Carlos Keyes.
“I grew up with the music of that period,” Keyes said during a recent interview from his New York City offices.
Keyes, a former musician, became an agent representing the likes of Gladys Knight and Kool and the Gang. He grew nostalgic while attending the Retro Fest of ’80s bands in Europe — where there was a resurgence of synth pop in the early 2000s.
He decided he wanted to pay homage to the music of his youth and created Regeneration Tour 2008, a 20-city tour that comes to Las Vegas on Saturday.
The lineup at Planet Hollywood includes Belinda Carlisle (of Go-Gos fame), the Human League, ABC, Naked Eyes and A Flock of Seagulls. (Flock of Seagulls replaces Dead or Alive, which had to cancel because lead singer Pete Burns fell ill.)
“We’re celebrating an era of music, that’s what’s important,” Keyes said.
The concert won’t have a single headliner or anyone considered an opening act. Each group will perform a 30-minute set.
Keyes plans to make the Regeneration Tour an annual event with the bands changing from year to year.
“I think there’s an audience for this,” Keyes said.
The Human League could be the poster child for ’80s synth pop.
Synthesizer players Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh started with an avant-garde bent and added vocalist Philip Oakey in 1977. When Ware and Marsh left a few years later, Oakley enlisted vocalists Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall. They teamed with backing musicians to marry pop melodies with dense synthesizer backing and electronic beats.
That trio was responsible for the band’s big hits, including “Love Action (I Believe in Love),” “The Sound of the Crowd,” “(Keep Feeling) Fascination,” “Human” and “Don’t You Want Me.”
The current band lineup includes keyboardist Neil Sutton, who has been with the Human League since 1990, multi-instrumentalist Nic Burke and percussionist Rob Barton.
ABC
In 1980, music journalist Martin Fry interviewed members of the band Vice Versa for his fanzine Modern Drugs. The group adopted Fry as lead vocalist and changed its name to ABC. The band was pigeonholed as part of the New Romantic movement of the time, which included bands such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and the Human League.
Its first single, “Tears Are Not Enough,” made the UK Top 20 in 1981. The band followed it with such hits as “Poison Arrow,” “The Look of Love,” “Be Near Me,” “Vanity Kills” and “When Smokey Sings.”
ABC split up in 1992, but Fry resurrected the band’s name in 1997 and continues to tour.
A Flock of Seagulls
This one-(and-a-half)-hit wonder of the new wave era has gone through as many hairdos as personnel changes since it hit the music scene in 1980.
Hairdresser Mike Score (lead vocals, keyboards) formed A Flock of Seagulls with his brother Ali (drums) and fellow hairdresser Frank Maudsley (bass). Guitarist Paul Reynolds joined several months later. The group’s “Telecommunication” became an underground hit in Euro-disco and new wave clubs and the band signed a major label contract with Jive. By the end of the year it had its only major hit single. For those keeping count at home, that would be “I Ran (So Far Away),” which reached No. 3 on the charts. It got a half-hit for the instrumental follow-up “Space Age Love Song,” which reached No. 30.
The group broke up in 1986, but Mike Score assembled a new lineup in 1989.
Naked Eyes
Another synth-pop group from the ’80s, Naked Eyes reached back to the ’60s for its first Top 10 hit, choosing the Burt Bacharach-Hal David tune “Always Something There to Remind Me.”
But the band’s founders, vocalist Pete Byrne and keyboardist Rob Fisher, wrote most of the band’s material, including the hits “Promises, Promises” and “When the Lights Go Out.”
After two successful albums, the duo walked away and didn’t reunite until 1999 when they decided to make a third album. Fisher died of complications of stomach surgery before the project could be completed, and Byrne eventually carried on with the group.
IF YOU GO
What: Regeneration Tour 2008
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Planet Hollywood
Tickets: $69 to $125; 474-4000, ticketmaster.com
Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.
Copyright 2008  Las Vegas Sun
