(Photo by Bel Canto) In 1996 Bel Canto’s then record label American record label Lava (started the year before as a joint venture with Atlantic Records) released the EP “Rumour (Master at Work Mixes)” featuring remixes of this “Magic Box” track which was released the same year. The EP was released in various versions and now Warner has reissued the EP holding 4 tracks.

• Rumour (M.A.W. 12″ Mix)
• Rumour (Tribe In Dub)
• Rumour (Abstract Remix)
• Rumour (Abstract Instrumental)

The album promo for “Magic Box” suffered from the interest that Jason Flom, CEO of Lava Records, had taken in The Corrs. While Bel Canto released their album The Corrs suddenly got all the attention and would become very popular. Bel Canto itself weren’t as a result not able to jumpstart their career outside their home country Norway (and Europe) as they had hoped after leaving the Belgian label Crammed. On the contrary.

The album did have some really good tracks though such as “In Zenith”, “Sleepwalker”, “Bombay”, “Paradise” (a trademark Bel Canto track), “Didn’t You Know It?” or “Big Belly Butterflies”.

For the album itself Anneli Drecker and Nils Johansen had some interesting collaborators lined up for the recordings including B.J. Cole, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit or yet producer Ulf Holand (who already worked on the remix of “Keena Mareme” in 1992).

Below is the new release.