Comeback’o'rama : Welcome Back To Planet Boo

To tell you the truth I'm getting a bit bored of 90s pop reunions rumours.  Take That - yes that's quite funny and I'm quite frankly very excited about going to see them this summer.  Funny, huh? As I was never ever a Take That fan when they were actually out.  Now though, fun fun fun.

Then there's All Saints.  To this I say YAY!   The actual band members seemed irritating as hell (although when I met Shaznay at work she was surprisingly lovely) but by eck, they had some good pop ditties.   I absolutely loved Saints & Sinners in my first year at uni.

But rumours of the Honeyz, East 17, and Eternal?   There is quite simply no need.

However, somewhat more interestingly, lots of acts who I missed 'first time round' seem to be evolving in different ways, taking their band, tweaking it somehow and coming back as a whole new act! 

You've already heard my excitement about the solo Sarah Nixey project, but now let's turn our minds to the early 1990s and remember Betty Boo.

Betty Boo, aka Alison Clarkson, had 4 top 30 singles between 1990 and 1992.  Not that big an achievement one may think, but she achieved cult status amongst pop fans across the globe. Fans became rather obsessed and even Melody Maker named her as a completely faultless goddess.   Then everything went quiet for years, until Alison Clarkson's name began appearing on the sleeve notes as songwriters for the likes of Girl Thing, Hear'Say and Girls Aloud.

But now, the Boo is back!

Now before indie snobs start looking away in horror, you might be interested to hear that the person she has collaborated with is non other than Ricky's favourite member of Blur, Alex James. And screw you anyway, Betty Boo ruled!  Together though, they are Wigwam.

I've been following Popjustice's tidbits of exclusive information on Wigwam for months and months, so I was rather excited when the eponymous debut single landed in my lap a month or so ago.  It's got a one of those basslines that makes you run to the dancefloor and although it may take a listen or two, once you're hooked you'll be singing it for days. 

I've been playing it at Miss-Shapes every week and it's getting a good reaction.  Last week, someone excitedly rushed over to me screaming 'OH MY GOD, IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS???'.  And last night,  someone came bouncing over to tell me that they are the person inside the cat in the video for the song.  Huzzah.

4 minutes of glorious silliness, the video was filmed a few weeks ago on a rooftop off Dean Street.  Directed by Dom  Joly & involving giant cats & dogs, we look forward to seeing the Boo defiantly back in action.

Let's just say it's a lot better than Hanging Around; and it's out on Instant Karma on March 6!
You can hear it at Wigwam's Myspace Page.

[the gist of this was originally posted on londonist.com]