Birmingham Town Hall date for Scottish icons.
Hue And Cry, one of the 1980s’ most formative soul pop groups, have announced plans to celebrate their 40th anniversary throughout 2024, starting on Friday, January 12th and including Birmingham Town Hall on . The Labours Of Love celebration is a series of 12 releases in the form of 4-track EPs released on streaming platforms every 2nd Friday of the month, and a documentary series via YouTube releasing every 4th Friday of the month.
The Labours Of Love series launches with the first EP and documentary episode titled Beginnings, which covers the period of 1984 – 1985. The inaugural EP includes 4 previously unheard demos of Close The Door, Love In Word, Dangerous Wreck, and I Refuse, whilst the first in the YouTube documentary series will look at how their beginnings in grey, workaday mid-80s Glasgow and how the core musical ‘DNA’ for Hue And Cry was captured in early songs and persists right to the present.
The year’s worth of content is a backstage pass to every era of Hue And Cry; one for fans, collectors, historians, geeks, and the inquisitively minded. “Well doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?” comments Pat Kane. “Thanks to my brother Gregory’s careful & patient curation of thousands of items from our musical past, we can bring music lovers a panorama of 40 years of our creativity, in pop, soul, jazz, media, videos and much else. It’s an intriguing, looking over four decades, how much you change and how much you stay the same… Maybe listeners will have the same kind of rich memory trip as Gregory and I got, as we pulled this together.”
Never-before-heard material from Pat & Greg’s personal archive spanning from 1984-2024 will be released in digital formats over the 12-part journey, unearthing live recordings, demos, archival performances, rarities, bootlegs, and more from every stage in their career. “We wanted to use our 40th Anniversary as an opportunity to dive deep into the many boxes of demo cassette tapes, DAT tapes, CDRs, press clippings and old photographs we’ve accumulated throughout the years,” explains Greg,
“I’ve been glancing at all these boxes for years wondering when, where & why to start looking through them. Wind forward to 2024 and over the last 3 years of archiving, I’ve retrieved, recorded, and restored over 180 unreleased tracks comprising of live performances, demos, album outtakes and interviews along with nearly 200 press clippings and over 200 photographs. All of these assets have enabled us to accurately chart Pat & I’s musical journey over the last 40 years, and what a journey it has been!”
The documentary series, filmed, directed and produced by Greg, consists of 12×5 minute episodes that will reveal curios, photographs, videos, memorabilia, and lost footage, whilst the brothers talk through their experiences, as well as record their reactions looking at and listening to archived materials they re-discovered as part of the process of accumulating this archive.
Additionally, Hue And Cry will embark on a 40th Anniversary Tour that promises to be a celebration like no other, featuring a carefully curated setlist that spans the entirety of Hue and Cry’s amazing career. With soulful vocals, impeccable musicianship, and undeniable chemistry on stage, the tour will feature a full band, sure to transport audiences back in time, where fans can expect to hear their favourite songs as well as a few surprises.
Tickets for all their shows, including Birmingham Town Hall on 8th November, can be obtained here.