Classic Hits

Paul McCartney has paid tribute to his former Wings bandmate Denny Laine, who passed away December 5 at the age of 79.

“I am very saddened to hear that my ex-bandmate, Denny Laine, has died,” McCartney writes, recalling his “fond memories” of the days when The Beatles toured with Laine’s band Moody Blues. “Our two bands had a lot of respect for each other and a lot of fun together.”

“Denny joined Wings at the outset. He was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player,” McCartney shares. “We had drifted apart but in recent years managed to reestablish our friendship and share memories of our times together.”

Finally, he notes, “Denny was a great talent with a fine sense of humour and was always ready to help other people. He will be missed by all his fans and remembered with great fondness by his friends.” 

Laine teamed with McCartney and wife Linda to form McCartney’s first post-Beatles band, Wings, in 1971. Over his 10 years with the group, they released seven studio albums, including the bestselling Band on The Run, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

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Bon Jovi continues to spread the holiday cheer. The band just dropped the music video for the recently released holiday tune, “Christmas Isn’t Christmas.”

The clip is set at a bar called Santa’s Pub, where Jon Bon Jovi is singing for the patrons, including his Bon Jovi bandmates. While some of the folks in the bar seem to be having fun and doing karaoke to the tune, there are others who seem to be identifying with the song’s themes, leaving them blue for the holidays.

“’Christmas Isn’t Christmas’ is a song that I wrote about family,” Jon previously shared. “The sentiment that Christmas really isn’t Christmas without YOU which can bring up a lot of memories for people.” He added, “I also liked to turn it around and know that because of you Christmas IS Christmas.”

Bon Jovi has given fans plenty of ways to get into the holiday spirit in the past, releasing the original Christmas track “I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas” as well as covers of “Please Come Home For Christmas” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

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It’s been a while since we’ve seen Barbra Streisand on the big screen, and fans shouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon. 

When asked by People if she planned on making any more movies, she replied, “No, not really,” adding that in 2009, she spent years trying to make a Gypsy movie to no avail. She notes, “In other words, it gets exhausting, trying to come up with the structure of the movie and then have it not happen.” 

Babs says there have been plenty of films she wanted to make that didn’t get done, noting, “They were about things I cared about, very interesting subjects.”

The last time Streisand was on the big screen was in 2012 in the comedy Guilt Trip. She last directed 1996’s The Mirror Had Two Faces.

Streisand, who recently released her memoir, My Name is Barbra, says she’s also partly to blame for not having a bigger movie resume.

“I had many movies that I wanted to make and then I get lazy. I go, ‘Oh yeah, to do this one, I have to have all these fittings for period clothes. This one, I’d have to live in Arkansas to do this one,’” she says. “I don’t know. It’s complicated, but I am complicated, I guess… I get lazy.” 

She adds, “Bette Davis made 80 movies. I made 19. She’s a wonderful actress and she liked working. I like time off.”

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Denny Laine, co-founder of Moody Blues and co-founder and guitarist for Paul McCartney & Wings, passed away Tuesday, December 5, at the age of 79. 

News of his death was confirmed by his wife, Elizabeth Hines, who shared on social media that he had been in the hospital battling interstitial lung disease. She writes that “he fought every day,” but his disease was “unpredictable and aggressive,” noting “each infection weakened and damaged his lungs.” 

Laine co-founded the Moody Blues in 1964 with Graeme Edge, Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Clint Warwick. They had their first big hit with “Go Now,” a U.S. Top 10 hit on which Laine sang lead and played guitar. Though Laine left the band in 1966, a year before they released their seminal album Days of Future Passed, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 as a member of the group. 

Following his Moody Blues departure, Laine formed several other groups, including Electric String Band with Trevor Burton, and played in Ginger Baker’s Air Force in 1970.

Then, in 1971, he teamed with Paul McCartney and wife Linda to form McCartney’s first post-Beatles band, Wings. Over his 10 years with the group, they released seven studio albums, including the bestselling Band on The Run, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 

Other hit singles from the group during Laine’s tenure include the James Bond theme “Live and Let Die,” “My Love,” “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ‘Em In.” Laine left Wings in 1981, and the group disbanded, though he contributed to McCartney’s early ’80s albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace.

Laine also embarked on a solo career, releasing 12 solo albums, starting with 1973’s Ahh…Laine. In 1996, he released Wings at the Sound of Denny Laine, featuring reworked versions of Wings tunes. His final solo album, The Blue Musician, came out in 2008.

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Adam Ant is hitting the road next year for his first U.S. tour in five years. 

The “Goody Too Shoes” singer just announced dates for his ANTMusic 2024 U.S. tour, featuring special guest The English Beat.

The trek kicks off March 21 in St. Louis, Missouri, with stops in Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle and more. It wraps May 11 with an appearance at the Cruel World festival in Pasadena, California.

A complete list of tour dates and ticket information can be found at adam-ant.com.

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Dave Mason is hitting the road. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, best known for his work with Traffic, just announced dates for his 2024 Traffic Jam tour, which kicks off February 29 in Tallahassee, Florida, and wraps April 13 in San Antonio, Texas.

The tour, which features dates with Pat Travers, Jimmy Hall, The Outlaws and Jefferson Starship, will have Mason performing fan favorites, deep cuts from Traffic and more.

A complete list of tour dates, along with ticket information, can be found at davemasonmusic.com.

The tour news comes just weeks after Mason released a new version of the Traffic classic “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” featuring guitar great Joe Bonamassa.

“‘Dear Mr. Fantasy’ has been a favorite song of mine since its release in 1967,” Mason shared. “I’ve played it live for years in a number of different arrangements. As I’ve often said, there are no old songs, just good songs, and ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy,’ in my mind, is one of the finest examples around.”

You can listen to “Dear Mr. Fantasy” now via streaming services or watch the video on YouTube.

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A Tom Petty classic is featured in the trailer for the latest installment of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto.

The clip for Grand Theft Auto VI features the Petty tune “Love Is A Long Road,” from his 1989 debut solo album, Full Moon Fever. The tune was the B-side to the hit single “Free Fallin’,” Petty’s highest charting Hot 100 hit, which landed at #7. 

While “Love Is A Long Road” wasn’t officially released as a single, it still got airplay and peaked at #7 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. 

Grand Theft Auto VI will be released in 2025.

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As previously reported, Rod Stewart‘s new album Swing Fever will be out February 23. Now, you can hear the album’s first single, “Almost Like Being In Love,” which was originally written by Lerner & Loewe for the 1947 musical Brigadoon.

Among the other swingin’ classics on the record are “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Lullaby of Broadway” and “Pennies from Heaven.” As previously reported, the album is a collaboration between Rod and big band leader, TV host and former Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland. It was recorded with Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra at his London studio.

“I’d already started making a swing album, but it didn’t turn out how I wanted it,” Rod explains in a statement. “It was more Frank Sinatra than it was Louis Prima, let’s say. So I cancelled that, and then I realized the guy I should go to is Jools. Also, our fanatical model railway enthusiasm bonded us together. So, we started recording.”

“It’s the easiest album I’ve ever made in my life,” he adds to Music Week. You can preorder it now.

“Rod said at the beginning, ‘I don’t want any ballads, I want it all swinging,'” Jools tells Music Week. “And my hope for the album – what will really make me happy – is if I see people dancing to it. Also, as Rod says, it’s good for old people, it’s good for young people, you could put it on anywhere.”

As for the possibility of taking the album on the road, Rod notes, “We’d love to. I adore [Jools], I adore the band and I’ve made room for it. I’ve put a lot of the rock & roll stuff aside. We have to just sit down and talk and work out a plan.”

Here’s the Swing Fever track list:

“Lullaby Of Broadway”
“Oh Marie”
“Sentimental Journey”
“Pennies From Heaven”
“Night Train”
“Love Is The Sweetest Thing”
“Them There Eyes”
“Good Rockin’ Tonight”
“Ain’t Misbehavin’”
“Frankie And Johnny”
“Walkin’ My Baby Back Home”
“Almost Like Being In Love”
“Tennessee Waltz”

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On This Day, December 5, 1973…

Paul McCartney & Wings released their third album, Band on the Run, which became a huge hit and to this day remains McCartney’s most successful non-Beatles album.

The album produced two hits, the title track and “Jet,” and went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K.

The cover depicted McCartney, his wife Linda, and guitarist Denny Laine posing with actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee, British boxer John Conteh, U.K. broadcasters Michael Parkinson and Clement Freud, and English entertainer Kenny Lynch, all dressed as escaped convicts.

To celebrate the anniversary, McCartney just announced a special 50th anniversary edition, featuring an album of nine songs without any orchestral overdubs, dropping February 2. It is available for preorder now.

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Geddy Lee is sharing new music with his fans.

The Rush rocker has just released The Lost Demos, featuring the tracks “Gone” and “I Am…You Are,” which were recorded during the sessions for My Favorite Headache, his 2000 solo debut.

“I’m excited to see these two ‘lost demos’ released,” Geddy shares. “I loved the songs when they were written and in some ways they feel as fresh and perhaps more relevant all these years later.”

You can listen to the pair of songs now via streaming services.

Both of these songs have been played during Lee’s current book tour for his memoir, My Effin’ Life. During the opening night show in New York, he revealed they would be included as part of the memoir’s audiobook.

The release coincides with the Tuesday, December 5, premiere of Lee’s new Paramount + docuseries, Are Bass Players Human Too?, which features appearances by such famous bassists as Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo, Primus‘ Les Claypool and Hole‘s Melissa Auf der Maur. 

Lee wraps the U.S. leg of his My Effin’ Life book tour on Thursday, December 7, in Toronto. He then heads overseas for some U.K. dates, which kick off Sunday, December 10, in Wolverhampton, England. A complete list of dates can be found at rush.com.

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