Written at the end of 1981 some of the top men in record industry are predicting demise of the record business as it is known (Derek Green of A&M). Band wagon follows band wagon in the desperate efforts of the major companies to strike gold. The Megahype girl Hazel O'Connor's latest single at least utilises the rhythms of a Casio VL-Tone! A record company trying to reduce its overheads?

Vangelis has been putting the finishing touches to his latest opus in his London Nemo Studios. Florian Fricke of Popol Vuh has settled his differences in court with the owner of OHR records. As a consequence some vintage Popol Vuh material will become available again. There are rumours that an English company will re-release the legendary Aguirre. Celestial Harmonies have already released a re-mastered and "cleaned-up" edition of Tantric songs. Sei Stille has been rerecorded by Fricke for Werner Herzog's latest film epic.

Following on the popularity of the European release of Kitaro's Silk Road, Kuckuck are to lease Oasis and Kitaro Live from Canyon Records in Japan.

Richard Elen of Studio Sound is apparently greatly impressed by the digital sampling facility of the Synclavier II. Francis Monkman (ex-Sky) is already a proud owner and seems very happy to advise anybody else with £20,000 to spend! Those currently enraptured by Synclavier include Pink Floyd. For the ordinary mortal electro musician the Fostex Multitrack brings eight tracks on to a quarter of an inch tape at £1,000+. Critical response seems unanimously enthusiastic. The Fostex puts the production of professional quality masters into the realms of possibility for many electro musicians seeking a wider audience for their work.

Edgar Froese's Macula Transfer and Aqua are available again on import. The Virgin license deal having now expired.

This month's featured shops with a healthy interest in Electro Music are all in Edinburgh. The capital of Scotland is widely recognised as having some of the best record shops in the U.K. Of particular interest to the readers of this journal are Virgin in Princes Street and Listen.