First the BBC, then Shakatak, now a solo album: Bill Sharpe's list of Famous People is an impressive one. Dan Goldstein makes further enquiries.

To help you get into the festive mood, we asked a few artists and producers, and a handful of our regular contributors, what they'd like for christmas this year... In a hi-tech music kind of way. Paul Tingen collected the wish-lists.

the joys and pitfalls of having a festive hit: the stars tell all

Getting Publicity

the workings of the Press, and how YOU can get publicity out of them

Torch Song; aspiring musical and studio entrepreneurs

While many producers are content to work within one or two musical styles, Peter Collins casts a much wider net - using high technology to increase the number of possibilities open to him.

Mainframe's road to fame

Talk Talk Talk from the Furs Furs Furs

Clarke, Radcliffe & Marlow

Portrait of the artist as a (suffering) young man

The Mix's terrestrial bulletin board

Alphabet Coup

the importance of being alphabetical

RETROSPECT: elvis costello

an appreciation of one of the decade’s great songwriting talents; could you match them?

...while Paul Gallotta discovers how bass got its top end from the Yes man

Robert Plant's right-hand man and technology-fiend talks to Tim Goodyer about samplers, studios and dischords.

A new studio, a new LP. Tony Harkins isn't beating around the Bush

Veteran songwriter Peter Hammill and programmer Paul Ridout have used some revolutionary applications of MIDI technology in the creation of Hammill's latest album. Paul Tingen interviews them, and comes away suitably impressed.

Band-In-A-Box Auto-Accompaniment Software

You've never had it so easy — Band-in-a-Box adds intelligence to auto-accompaniment, as Mike Simmons finds out in his look at the latest version of this popular software package.

He was once electronic drummer with jazz-rockers Landscape. Now he's a successful producer for the likes of Spandau Ballet and Colonel Abrams, but the search for new ways of using new gear goes on.

Double-Manual Organ

a guided tour with Hull's high flyers

Are The Cult hippies? Do they like guitar solos? Do they know what other people think of them, and do they care? Chris Maillard has the answers....

Roy Wood risked burning the supper to bring us up to date on his career, his current activities and his method of working in the studio.