MM - 2nd-8th February 2000




IAN BROWN KILL 'DOLPHINS'




IAN BROWN is having to destroy the first 15,000 copies of his new single, "Dolphins Were Monkeys" - because they were printed with the wrong B-side.

He told The Maker last week: "I got my pressings yesterday and I played it at one in the morning, and they'd put the instrumental version of the UNKLE mix on, instead of the full mix. I was like, 'Oh shit! How many have you pressed up? Will we destroy them?'"

Asked if he was going to insist that the mistake was rectified, he said: "Yeah, for definite. I phoned up and got guarantees that they'll definitely destroy however many they've pressed up so far, which they say is 15,000. I've got a definite guarantee that they'll replace it and it'll be at their cost."

The single is released on February 7. And in other news about its B-sides, Ian has been telling The Maker about his cover of "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. "I was doing 'Thriller' in Japan last year. I did it at a few festivals and it was going down really well. I thought I'd like to record it. Then I played the original, and I thought, No, I can't record it, it's too fantastic. I can't touch it."

"But the next day, I went in the rehearsal rooms and said, 'Let's try "Billie Jean",' and we tried it and we just had it straight away.

"We've been doing it live. So we've made it our own. And I love the lyrics: 'The kid's not my son'. We changed it to 'The chancer's not my son'. It's a pretty strange lyric."

Warming to the subject of Michael Jackson, Ian continued: "His new LP's supposed to be fantastic. I met some kid that's working on it. He's got the sound of spaceships and sci-fi stuff for about three minutes, and Will Smith comes in rapping for about three minutes, it's seven and a half minutes before Jacko comes in. It's supposed to be a proper record. The best he's recorded for years."





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