This Is Just An Excuse To Mention What A Nice Ride Kavana Looks Like These Days

Not sure how I missed this one, but the Top Of The Pops Collection was made available in December, one disc for each year spanning from 1964 to 2006, when the U.K. music performance program last aired. The collection boasts "more than 650 original Top 10 hits" and "over 150 U.K. number ones," from artists who all appeared on the show during its 40+-year history. Play.com actually has 'em for cheap.

Say, why don't we look at the tracklisting for one of the CDs! Oh, I don't know...why not 1997? Oh, look -- there's one-time British teen heartthrob Kavana on there:

1. "Picture Of You" - Boyzone
2. "I Wanna Be The Only One" - Eternal & Bebe Winans
3. "Arms Around The World" - Louise
4. "I Can Make You Feel Good" - Kavana
5. "Slam Dunk (Da Funk)" - 5ive
6. "Bodyshakin'" - 911
7. "Mmmbop" - Hanson
8. "Your Woman" - White Town
9. "Barrel Of A Gun" - Depeche Mode
10. "Please Don't Go" - No Mercy
11. "You're Not Alone" - Olive
12. "Bellissima" - DJ Quicksilver
13. "Reverence" - Faithless
14. "Piece Of My Heart" - Shaggy & Marsha
15 . "Tubthumping" - Chumbawamba
16. "Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
17 . "Hush" - Kula Shaker
18. "Richard III" - Supergrass

Back in 1997, Kavana looked like forbidden no-no touch jailbait...

...but now, at age 30, he looks like big sexy mouth-bounce!

Mmmm. Makes me hungry for a Cicero sandwich. Thanks, TOTP! FYI, Special Kind Of Something - The Best Of Kavana is available from U.S. iTunes.

ALSO SEE:
* R.I.P. Top Of The Pops

New Towleroad column up now!

Throwback: That Loving Feeling

Sweet Jesus, if I had known Cicero was this hot back in 1993 when I bought the Crying Game soundtrack -- on which his duet with Sylvia Mason-James, "Live For Today," appeared -- I'd have begged, borrowed and stealed then to order his full-length CD, Future Boy, on import!

If you've never heard "Live For Today," a Pet Shop Boys-produced track literally overspilling with synth-y arpeggios and overlapping chords, and topped with hopeful-if-not-desperate lyrics about forgetting the consequences and giving in to a doomed love affair, track it down!

For me personally, the sublime "Live For Today" appeared on every mix tape I made for my friends in 1993 and 1994.

David Cicero was born in 1970 in the Long Island part of New York, but was raised in Scotland by his mother. In the final chapter of the paperback version of Chris Heath's 1989 Pet Shop Boys book, Literally, there's a brief mention of how Cicero got signed to the duo's label in the early '90s:

That summer [1992], the Pet Shop Boys also launched their own record label, Spaghetti recordings. In its first year it released...records by its two longterm signings, rap duo Ignorance and Scottish singer, synthesizer player and songwriter, Cicero. The latter first met the Pet Shop Boys backstage after the [1989] Glasgow concert... He gave a cassette of his songs to [their assistant]...

Cicero had three singles off his 1992 Future Boy album (which sadly only saw a U.K. release that apparently suffered from distribution problems), and you gotta love how the homoerotic undertones of British "lad culture" were totally exploited in the videos! Is he gay? Is he straight? Who knows.

Here are the vids for "That Loving Feeling" and Cicero's only Top 20 U.K. hit, "Love Is Everywhere" (both of which Neil Tennant sings backing vocals on) -- dig the naked locker room and shirtless bedroom scenes:



Aww, bagpipes! "Love Is Everywhere" always kinda sounded a bit like New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" to me. The album also contains a rad, epic track called "Then," which gradually builds and comes close to packing the same emotional wallop "Live For Today" does.

Chris Lowe directed the video for the other single, "Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me." Future Boy is available on U.K. iTunes.

ALSO SEE:
* Cicero fan site
* David Cicero's MySpace