Twenty four hours from my deadline, it looks like Gene Pitney is a godsend from a journalistic point of view. The man that your mum liked is presumed to be at Livingstone studios in north London, working on a new album with engineer Jerry Boys. It's also been a month for chanteuziz (the plural of chanteuse?) with Dagmar Krause and Carol Grimes making LPs there, and those purveyors of perfection, Bronski Beat completing the happy family with producer Adam Williams.

Meanwhile at uptown Mayfair Studios Chaka Khan, the woman who solved the problem of visible panty line (VPL)... by not wearing a dress, has been exercising her well developed vocal chords in cahoots with none other than our own hero-in-a-tank-top, Phil Collins. The whole affair has been presided over by none other than Arif Mardin, so don't forget; you read it here first.

Mayfair seems to have been the place recently for glossy stars — many of them American. The glossiest of these must be a Mr Al Corley — better known as Steven from Dynasty — who has succeeded where Barry Grant failed, namely in stepping from a career in soap to singing. Tina Turner's been there, A-Ha have too... and well that's about all there... oh, and the perfect purveyors of pop have popped up again.

And talking of things which pop up, Bananarama have been seen at the Chocolate Factory with that dextrose intensive production trio Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Also down in deepest New Cross have been Odyssey — a long way from their Native New York. And the man who fooled the world into thinking he was but a piece of high technology — Max Headroom — has also been at the Chocolate Factory with the Fez Brothers, to do a single produced by the studio's manager Chris Baker.

At Palladium in distant Edinburgh, the studio that gave birth to the gothic romances of the Cocteau Twins, Robin Guthrie of that same illustrious trio has been spotted doing production on a single for indie stalwarts Felt — now newly signed to Creation records. Colour Box have been back after recording much of their last LP there, to finish off a five track EP.

In fact it seems that the song Little Boxes is quite appropriate for today's pop scene, another one being Red Box who've been recording their new single with David Motion down in The City at Strongroom. At the same location has been superstar sidekick Chas Jankel, Dante (I thought he was dead), the Mint Juleps, and Blancmange making their new single. The Housemartins — a band fast emerging from their undies, sorry from the indies (and I'm not talking about the Caribbean,) have been recording a single with producer John Williams, and Engineer Phil Bodger. And finally, David Knopfler, brother of the famous Ronnie Knopfler has been seen there working on an LP.

And in the Workhouse — down the Old Kent Road — have been Matt Bianco produced by Phil Harding and Mark Reilly — Matt Bianco himself in fact. Latin Quarter have been treading the wheel with Peter Hammond in the producer's chair. Family man Roger Chapman has been making an LP, and Manfred Mann's Earthband have finally finished the LP. That's all I know about it really, so if anyone else asks you about THE LP, remember, you read it... oh alright.

And from The Workhouse to The Greenhouse, Katrina and the Waves have been getting a bit of photosynthesis in, working on their second LP, as have King Kurt (with ne'er a flour bag in sight) both bands working with Pat Collier. I guess it must be the weather, but the Greenhouse has been cool enough for South London Soul Smarmers The Cool Notes to make their new single there as well. And so folks, if you're hoping for a neat concluding phrase, summing up paragraph or whatever, tough. That's all you're getting this month. Bye.