SHIRLEY SINGING THE BLUE
Nile's Paul Buchanan pens track for Manson's comeback solo album
Beverley Lyons & Showbiz Liz

GARBAGE singer Shirley Manson i s making her comeback after the break-up of the band . . . and she has chosen Blue Nile frontman Paul Buchanan to help her.

But Paul says Shirley moved to the dark side when she asked him to write a song for her.

Paul, famed for his sombre music, told the Razz: "It was a bolt out of the blue for me when Shirley asked me to write the song for her forthcoming solo album.

"She wrote a really nice email to me and I said: 'Why do you want me to write you a song? You know what kind of stuff I write'.

"But that's what she wanted. She wants the album to be quite dark and moody.

"It was a real compliment. I was really happy to do it."

The meeting of two of Scotland's finest musicians happened earlier this summer in Glasgow when Shirley popped over from her home in America to visit her family.

Paul said: "We spoke about the album and I went off on my own tangent and just wrote it.

"She left and went to see her family. She had planned the trip round a visit to see them all.

"I wrote the song and the melody and sent it over to her and she put together the lyrics. I'm not sure what she's decided to call it."

And Paul isn't the only highprofile artist Shirley approached to collaborate with. He revealed there is a list of heavyweights writing with her.

"She's also working with Jack White of The White Stripes, Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumkins and Beck, so I guess that's the areas she wants to cover," said Paul.

Although Garbage are set to release their greatest hits album, Absolute Garbage, in March next year, Paul says he's not quite ready to release a Blue Nile compilation yet.

"It's been 25 years since we started the band. When you're an artist, you're really trying to create this one beautiful thing and make that shape over and over again.

"So I wouldn't be writing a greatest hits album because I've not finished yet. I've still got lots of music I want to make. If someone tells me I've been doing this for 25 years, I say: 'What are you going to do, give me a watch?'

"It's not finished yet. I don't think I've played my best game yet."

Over their long career, The Blue Nile produced only four albums, taking long periods between each one.

Their second, Hats, received a very rare five-star rating from Q Magazine.

Fans can be sure that Paul's next project will be well worth waiting for, even though he is reluctant to reveal a release date.

"I've got about six songs for the next album, but I don't want to be pushed into recording it," he said.

"I'm still a bit nervous about it. In a few weeks after the tour, I'll maybe look at recording something.

"It'll be one of those things, when nobody's looking I'll call up everyone and get them together in the studio."

And Shirley's solo project is still very much a work in progress as well. "She's not finished with it yet," said Paul. "I joked with her that it would be like a Blue Nile album and take ages to complete."

Paul Buchanan's solo tour kicks off tomorrow and his Scottish gigs are in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Perth.

Она [Ширли] хочет, чтобы альбом получился хмурым, темным, угрюмым и т.д.