Classic Hits

Van Morrison is being sued for libel by Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann after the singer called the politician “dangerous” in a series of recent outbursts criticizing Swann over his policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sunday Life newspaper reports.

According to the paper, Swann has hired libel lawyer Paul Tweed, who has represented such high-profile clients as Harrison Ford, Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Lopez, and is preparing for a High Court showdown with Morrison this coming February, unless the case can be settled before that.

Swann’s lawyers claim that Van’s public comments were equivalent to accusing the minister of misusing his office and endangering the public, and maintain that the singer falsely suggested that Swann had misrepresented facts regarding the pandemic.

The lawsuit stems from three separate incidents where Morrison verbally attacked Swann. The first occurred at a June concert in Belfast where Morrison, angered that some of his upcoming concerts had been canceled because of the pandemic, attempted to lead the audience in a chant of “Robin Swann is very dangerous.”

The second incident occurred when a Sunday Life reporter asked Van to comment about whether he regretted his remarks about Swann at his Belfast show and Morrison responded, “No, no I don’t regret it…Of course he’s dangerous.”

The third instance cited was a pair of videos Van posted on his YouTube channel in which he explains why he feels Swann is dangerous, while also expressing disdain for the politician over a then-recent op-ed piece Swann wrote for Rolling Stone in which he criticized Van’s anti-lockdown views and his series of recent protest songs he’d released in which he expressed those views.

Starting last year, Morrison began releasing songs protesting U.K.-imposed regulations meant to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Van believes the regulations are taking away people’s freedoms and destroying musicians’ livelihoods.

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Ex-UB40 member Terence Wilson, better known as Astro, died Saturday. He was 64.

The vocalist passed away following “a very short illness,” according to a tweet posted on his and founding UB40 lead singer Ali Campbell‘s joint Twitter account on Saturday.

“We are absolutely devastated and completely heartbroken to have to tell you that our beloved Astro has today passed away after a very short illness,” the statement reads. “The world will never be the same without him.”

Astro joined UB40 in 1979, a year after Grammy-nominated band’s formation, and remained with the group until 2013. Aside from contributing spoken-word vocals to the band’s work, he also played percussion and trumpet with the group.

After leaving the band, Astro teamed up with Campbell and longtime UB40 keyboardist Mickey Virtue, both of whom exited the group in 2008, to form UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro in 2014.

As part of UB40, Astro was featured on all of the group’s major hits, including their chart-topping covers of Neil Diamond‘s “Red Red Wine” and Elvis Presley‘s “I Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and their top-10 renditions of Al Green‘s “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” and The Temptations‘ “The Way You Do the Things You Do.”

Astro’s former band also saluted his life in a tweet on Saturday, writing, “We have heard tonight, the sad news that ex-member of UB40, Terence Wilson, better know as Astro, has passed away after a short illness. Our sincere condolences to his family.”

Wilson’s family is asking for privacy during this time.  No additional information regarding Astro’s health has been made available.

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Fifty years ago today, November 8, Led Zeppelin released its classic fourth studio album, an untitled collection commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV.

The massively successful album is packed with some of the band’s best-known songs, including one of the great all-time rock anthems, “Stairway to Heaven,” and cemented Led Zeppelin’s reputation as the world’s biggest hard rock band.

Led Zeppelin IV missed topping the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at #2, but the album has gone on to sell over 23 million copies in the U.S., making it among the five best-selling studio albums ever in the States.

Besides “Stairway to Heaven,” Led Zeppelin IV features “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Going to California” and more.

“Black Dog” reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, Led Zeppelin’s second highest-charting single in the U.S. after “Whole Lotta Love,” which peaked at #4 in 1970.

Two guest artists are featured on Led Zeppelin IV. Former Fairport Convention singer Sandy Denny duets with Robert Plant on “The Battle of Evermore,” and original Rolling Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart plays piano on “Rock and Roll.” Denny was the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin song.

Heart sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, who famously saluted Led Zeppelin at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors by performing “Stairway to Heaven” with late Zeppelin drummer John Bonham‘s son, Jason, tell ABC Audio that Led Zeppelin IV made a major impact on them.

Ann credits the album with being “probably one of the biggest turning points of my musical life,” while Nancy says that Led Zeppelin “painted…culture-altering landscapes” on the record.

Meanwhile, a video series profiling the making of Led Zeppelin IV has been posted on the band’s YouTube channel.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Black Dog”
“Rock and Roll”
“The Battle of Evermore”
“Stairway to Heaven”
“Misty Mountain Hop”
“Four Sticks”
“Going to California”
“When the Levee Breaks”

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Snow? Check. Christmas tree? Check. Mariah Carey in a glamorous gown, hitting those high notes and singing with a gospel choir?  Check. “Fall In Love at Christmas” is Mariah’s latest seasonal offering: A single and video featuring her performing with Khalid and gospel legend Kirk Franklin. 

The song starts out as an R&B love ballad, as Mariah and Khalid croon to each other in “The Butterfly Lounge” — a room decked with Christmas decorations and framed platinum albums — and outdoors in the snow.  Mariah’s twins Monroe and Moroccan put in an appearance, as does one of her dogs.

But then Franklin, who’s been playing piano in the background, suddenly brings out a gospel choir and takes us to church, as the song switches from being about falling in love with someone at Christmas, to being about finding “love for all mankind” this holiday season, because “we all need grace to heal our troubled minds.”

Mariah, Khalid and Franklin will perform the song together on Mariah’s upcoming AppleTV+ special Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues, debuting in December.

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Phil Lynott: Songs for While I’m Away, a 2020 documentary about the life and music of late Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, got its release on digital video today, November 5.

The film tells the story of how a Black boy raised during the 1950s by a working-class family in Dublin went on to become one of Ireland’s biggest rock stars, before dying in 1986 of drug-related health issues at the age of 36.

The film features archival footage of and conversations with Lynott, as well as new interviews with Thin Lizzy members and/or alums Scott Gorham, Eric Bell, Darren Wharton and Midge Ure, as well as with such other notable music artists as U2‘s Adam Clayton, Metallica‘s James Hetfield, Huey Lewis and Suzi Quatro.

The movie also includes conversations with Phil’s wife, Caroline Taraskevics, and his daughters Sarah and Catherine Lynott.

You can check out a trailer for the documentary at Thin Lizzy’s official YouTube channel. The promo includes archival audio commentary from Phil, as well as brief voice-over segments from various people, including Hetfield, who calls Lynott “one of the greatest songwriters of all time,” and Lewis, who says Phil was “literally the best hard-rock entertainer I’ve ever seen.”

For more details about the movie, visit PhilLynottFilm.com.

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On November 1, Billy Joel celebrated his 50th anniversary as a recording artist, and now he’s turning back the clock by posting his very first music video.

But maybe calling it a “music video” oversells it: It’s a 1971 film of a long-haired, bearded Billy in his early twenties, sitting at a piano and playing “Everybody Loves You Now,” a track from his debut solo album Cold Spring Harbor.

Cold Spring Harbor is one of the albums included in The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 1: a new box set of nine vinyl LPs featuring Billy’s first six studio albums and his first live album, Songs in the Attic, plus a previously unreleased double-LP concert recording that’s exclusive to the box set.  The set also comes with a 50-page booklet featuring archival photos, Billy’s personal observations, and tributes from fellow musicians and celebrities.

The box set is out today.  Tonight, Billy resumes his residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden.  He recently announced two more stadium shows for 2022: a March 12 concert at Orlando, FL’s Camping World Stadium and a September 23 show at Minute Maid Park in Houston, TX.  Tickets for both shows go on sale November 12.

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A number of well-known veteran music artists have received nominations for the 2021 Hollywood Music in Media Awards — the HMMAs — which honor composers, songwriters, and music supervisors for their work in music for film, television and videogames.

This year’s nominees include Brian Wilson, Carole King, U2, Van Morrison and Devo‘s Mark Mothersbaugh.

Wilson received two nods, both for his recent documentary Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road. Brian will vie for the Song: Documentary Film honor for “Right Where I Belong,” which the Beach Boys legend co-wrote with My Morning Jacket‘s Jim James, while the movie itself has been nominated in the Music Documentary/Special Program category.

King has been nominated for the Song: Feature Film for “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” from the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer co-wrote that tune with the movie’s star, Jennifer Hudson, and with Jamie Hartman.

U2 received a nod in the Song: Animated Film category for their new tune “Your Song Saved My Life” from the upcoming flick Sing 2.

Morrison will compete for the Song: Independent Film award for “Down to Joy,” which is from the movie Belfast.

Like Wilson, Mothersbaugh is a two-time nominee. He’s in the running for the Score: Animated Film prize for The Mitchells vs. The Machines, and in the Score: Video Game category for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

The winners of this year’s Hollywood Music in Media Awards will be announced during a livestreamed ceremony held November 17 in Hollywood, California.

To check out all of the nominees, visit HMMAwards.com.

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse have debuted a music video for “Heading West,” the second advance track that the veteran rockers have released from their upcoming album Barn.

You can check out the visual now at NeilYoungArchives.com and at Young’s official YouTube channel.

Like the clip for the first advance track released from Barn, “Song of the Seasons,” this video was directed by Young’s wife, Daryl Hannah, and features time-lapse footage of the Rocky Mountain area where Neil and the band made the album.

The “Heading West” clip shows the actual barn where the Barn album was recorded.

“This is the second of our series,” Neil writes in a post about the video on his website. “We are featuring ‘nature on the move’ in the area of the BARN where the music is emanating…Watch the door pulsing with the beat! It’s wonderful the way the videos let you listen and watch undisturbed at the same time.”

In a separate post, Young explained what inspired him to write “Heading West.”

“My mom and I travelled across the country together, heading west. She was on her way back home to start over. I was on my way there with her,” he wrote. “Here’s a song about me and my mom and those ‘growing up’ times. It’s so great to remember her this way!”

As previously reported, Barn, which you can pre-order now, is a 10-track collection that will be released on December 10. It will available on CD, vinyl, cassette and digital formats, and as a deluxe box set.

The box set includes a CD and a vinyl LP, as well as a Blu-ray disc that features a film directed by Hannah offering a look at the making of Barn. The Blu-ray will also be released separately.

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Rod Stewart has debuted a third track from his upcoming studio album The Tears of Hercules, an upbeat and romantic pop-soul tune called “I Can’t Imagine” that the singer has dedicated to his wife, Penny Lancaster Stewart.

The song is available now as a digital download and via streaming services, and you also can check out a new companion music video at Stewart’s official YouTube channel.

The clip captures Stewart performing the song and having fun with his band members and backing singers at a large lakeside mansion outside of Las Vegas. “I Can’t Imagine” is one of nine songs that Rod co-wrote on the 12-track album, which is due out next Friday, November 12.

Stewart will be promoting The Tears of Hercules with a number of TV appearances in the coming week. On Monday, November 8, he’ll be featured on Entertainment Tonight, while on November 12, the album’s release date, he’ll perform and be interviewed on The Kelly Clarkson Show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The Tears of Hercules can be pre-ordered now, and is available on CD, as a vinyl LP and in digital formats.

“I Can’t Imagine” follows the release of two other advance tracks co-written by Stewart, the country-pop gem “One More Time” and the introspective and topical gospel-influenced ballad “Hold On.”

Stewart recently wrapped his latest Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, and his next engagement at the venue is scheduled for May 2022. First up for Rod is a tour of Australia and New Zealand taking place in March and April.

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Diana Ross‘ first album of new, original songs in over 20 years, Thank You, got its release today.

Coinciding with the album’s arrival, the Motown legend debuted her first music video in more than a decade, for her new song “All Is Well.” The clip, which you can watch on her official YouTube channel, was directed by Amanda Demme in collaboration with Ross’ two sons, producer Evan Ross and photographer Ross Naess.

As previously reported, Thank You was recorded in Diana’s home studio during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, and features producers and songwriters who’ve created hits for Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Usher, Justin Bieber, Sam Smith, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé and Rihanna.

Ross says of the 13-track collection, “I spent the past year recording new music and this music is a reflection of the joy and the love and the gratitude that I feel every day. It’s an album of great appreciation for life, and for all of you.”

Prior to Thank You‘s release, Ross debuted three songs as advance tracks — the title cut, “If the World Just Danced” and “I Still Believe.”

Diana’s last album of new, original songs was 1999’s Every Day Is a New Day.

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