Photo by Eric Watson
Spaghetti Recordings was the imprint set-up by PET SHOP BOYS with Polydor Records to champion new artists and their first signing was a young Scot named David Cicero.
Cicero was to score a Top20 hit at the start of 1992 with ‘Love Is Everywhere’; produced by PET SHOP BOYS and featuring the unusual cross pollination of THE PROCLAIMERS and OMD with the sound of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, it showcased the melancholic but rousing electronic pop of the lad from Livingston in West Lothian.
His debut album ‘Future Boy’ was released in Summer 1992 featuring the excellent singles ‘Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me’ and ‘That Loving Feeling’ as well as highlights such as ‘My Middle Class Life’, ‘Sonic Malfunction’ and ‘Then’. Later in the year, Spaghetti Recordings were commissioned to provide the soundtrack to the film ‘The Crying Game’ which spawned a PET SHOP BOYS produced recording of the title song sung by Boy George and a new Cicero song ‘Live For Today’ which featured a duet with Sylvia Mason-James.
On the brink of wider success which would have been consolidated by a second album, personal issues led to Cicero leaving the music business altogether for a number of years. Making a tentative return to music, the belated second Cicero album ‘Today’ finally came out in Spring 2021, showcasing a naturally mature outlook.
In celebration of its 30th Anniversary, Cherry Red will be reissuing ‘Future Boy’ as a fully remastered 45-track 3CD deluxe expanded edition with an illustrated 24-page booklet featuring an introduction and track-by-track comments by David Cicero himself.
As well as all the Cicero tracks released during his Spaghetti period, there are also ‘Ciceroddities!’ in previously unreleased songs such as ‘Pretend’ and live tracks from a one-off concert at London Heaven opening for PET SHOP BOYS at an after party for the premiere of the 1991 Derek Jarman film ‘Edward II’. In addition, David Cicero revisits ‘Love Is Everywhere’ for 2023 while there are also newly commissioned remixes of the track by the likes of SOFTWAVE and SHELTER.
The limited edition white vinyl LP edition of ‘Future Boy’ comes with a bonus DVD ‘Cicerovision!’ and includes all the official promotional videos, his 1992 Electronic Press Kit with contributions from Neil Tennant and live footage of the 1991 Heaven gig.
David Cicero kindly chatted with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK with about the contents of the upcoming 30th Anniversary reissue, the reception for ‘Today’ and the future of the ‘Future Boy’.
This 30th Anniversary edition of ‘Future Boy’ has been updated to include a track called ‘Pretend’ in the main tracklisting, how come that got let off in the first place?
I think it was really down to the timing. We were still working on the track and I think we hit the deadline and decided to leave it out.
I read somewhere (I think it was PET SHOP BOYS fan club newsletter) that ‘Future Boy’ had originally been intended as an eight track album but ‘Cloud 9’ and ‘Sonic Malfunction’ were added at almost the final hour?
Not true, it was always intended to have these tracks as I had created them prior to moving to London and producing the album.
When ‘Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me’ was first released, it did not involve PET SHOP BOYS on the production side and David Jacob did the honours, but can you remember the excitement of putting out your debut single and the PSB remix which was later issued as the ‘fourth’ single?
Yes, it was exciting to have them work on it even though I did want ‘Then’ to be the next single at the time. Once it was completed, it did sound great and was happy we went with it instead.
What particularly motivated you to write ‘The Butcher Of Bucharest’ about Nicolae Ceaușescu?
I remember watching the news about this and seeing all the poor souls that suffered under this man, a so-called leader of the people who was pure evil. For some reason it drew me closer and I started watching documentaries and reading about it and I had this internal feeling that I must write a song about it, so I did.
There are a bunch of dance instrumental B-sides included in the package, what was your approach to these and do you have a favourite?
‘Splatt’ is probably my favourite. I love writing instrumentals, I feel that sometimes this helps bring out emotions in another level. I still do this in THE EVENT which I have released several ambient albums on. I like pop for the commercial side of things and THE EVENT for more emotional and even political driven direction. It’s part of me and what I am also known for so why not have them all on there for the people to enjoy.
How did the idea of the new remixes of ‘Love Is Everywhere’ come about, did you have any say who did them? How have you found them, particularly the SOFTWAVE version which has their singer Catrine Christensen duetting with you?
What can I say about the SOFTWAVE version but wow. I remember chatting with Barney at Cherry Red about this idea and Barney mentioned that he wanted to do some remixes for it but I did not know at the time who they were. He sent me them up once they were complete and I love them all. However when I listened to the SOFTWAVE mix, I was drawn to it immediately. I had created the promo video for the new ‘Future Boy’ release promo and knew their mix would fit perfectly. They had put a lot of time and effort into this mix and deserve to be part of it.
There are a bunch of ‘Ciceroddities’ as extras, one being an early 7” Version of ‘Wish’ which you later redid for your second album ‘Today’ in 2021, what had that been intended for and what are your feelings hearing it again?
I have the demo on tape so have listened to it when recreating it for the latest Cicero album ‘Today’. I always loved this song and tried many singers before Bianca came along. It was intended to be a later Cicero release and just missed being originally on ‘Future Boy’ but was written a way back then.
What can you remember about the 1991 Heaven gig opening for PET SHOP BOYS which is included visually as a bonus DVD on the vinyl LP and as audio on the ‘Ciceroddities!’ disc of the 3CD set, were you a natural stage performer?
I was crapping myself and maybe had a little too much to drink on the nite. I wouldn’t say I am a natural performer as nerves take the better of me. This may be why I don’t do many live gigs. It was an honour to be with the boys on the night and really got into it once the gig went on, just like my gig in Livingston.
You finally followed up ‘Future Boy’ in 2021 with ‘Today’, how has the journey been to release music again, are you enjoying the experience? Has it met your expectations?
You have to believe in yourself and keep going, never give up no matter who or what tries to stop you. This was my mission to release another album. I had been working on this for several years and thought the time was right to get it out there. The feedback I had was amazing from true fans who appreciated it and have been there since day one and some new ones too. I did expect more exposure but as it was released independently, the cost of promotion was not there and as you know, a lot of the radio stations are controlled by bigwigs and teenagers who only like one type of genre. I will keep going, keep writing as long as God wants me too.
You released an excellent new single ‘Hold On To Your Memories’ in 2022, is this the beginnings of your third album?
Thank you. Yes it is, I am hoping to have this out in 2024. I only have a few songs left to complete the album, but I want to make sure I am 100% happy with it before the release.
You released a single ‘We Were In Love’ with a software “AI” singer named Solaria on lead vocals, so is this the future, boy?
It was really just a project I was playing about with. I had completed the music and had the idea of using Solaria on the track. It involves a lot of tinkering but the final results were wonderful. I did not want to announce at first that she was AI and waited on the reaction. A few knew but I had so many asking who the singer was, so I made a video about the software which you can see on my official YouTube channel. She may feature again on the album but I think I will stick with the real Future Boy thing for now.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to David Cicero
Special thanks to Matt Ingham at Cherry Red
‘Future Boy’ 30th Anniversary Edition with ‘Ciceroddities!’ is released as a 3CD deluxe set via Cherry Red Records on 29 September 2023, pre-order via https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/cicero-future-boy-3cd-expanded-edition/
The white vinyl LP features a bonus DVD insert ‘Cicerovision!’ can be pre-ordered at https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/cicero-future-boy-limited-edition-white-vinyl-lp-with-exclusive-dvd-insert-cicerovision/
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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
1 August 2023
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