Classic Hits

On social media, Rob Thomas has been teasing the fact that he’s recording his first Christmas album, but getting in that Yuletide spirit in the middle of summer is hard.  Thank goodness for the Hallmark Channel.

“They have this thing called ‘Christmas in July,’ so in the studio I have this big-screen TV with no sound on and Christmas lights everywhere,” Rob tells Rolling Stone, explaining how he set a holiday mood as he recorded the project. “My whole bubble of people would know what I was doing. Whenever I was talking to someone on the phone, before they got off they’d say, ‘Merry Christmas, Rob.'”

The album features original songs, as well as covers of songs by Bryan Adams and Ray Charles, plus guest appearances by Ingrid Michaelson, gospel star Bebe Winans and country star Brad Paisley.

“It’s something I’ve always kind of wanted to do,” the Matchbox Twenty frontman tells Rolling Stone. “But I didn’t think anybody needs to hear me sing ‘Jingle Bells.’ You know, nobody needs to hear anybody honestly sing ‘Jingle Bells’ again. But I think I managed to pick some really cool covers, so I think it’s got its own original sound.”

So far, the album doesn’t have a title or a release date.  Rob tells Rolling Stone he’s also working on a solo album, and of course, he just released a new single, “Move,” with his pal Carlos Santana.

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A recent book about The Rolling Stones‘ Charlie Watts has received a big sales boost following the passing of the legendary rock drummer, Billboard reports.

Sympathy for the Drummer: Why Charlie Watts Matters, which originally was published in hardcover and digital editions in November 2019 and was released this past August 1 in paperback, has bounded into the top 10 of Amazon’s latest “Best Sellers in Music History & Criticism” list.

The hardcover, paperback and Kindle editions of the book, which was written by veteran author, editor and musician Mike Edison, currently are at #2, #4 and #8, respectively on the list. The hardback version of the biography also sits at #8 Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Rock Band Biographies” list.

Sympathy for the Drummer follows Watts’ life from his early days playing in London’s jazz and R&B scene to joining The Rolling Stones and accompanying the group as they became the biggest rock band on the planet. The book also examines Charlie’s swinging drum style, his work as a composer and producer, his close camaraderie and long relationship with his Stones band mates.

A description of the biography at BackbeatBooks.com characterizes Watts as “the anti-rock star — an urbane jazz fan with a dry wit and little taste for the limelight — [who] was witness to the most savage years in rock history, and emerged a hero, a warrior poet.”

In addition to the hardcover, paperback and Kindle versions, Sympathy for the Drummer is available as an audio book read by Edison. You can check out a NSFW video featuring the author reading a section of the book on YouTube.

Watts died at a London hospital on August 24 at the age of 80.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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Duran Duran has released another track from their upcoming album Future Past, and the title is quite apropos.

This year, the legendary New Wave group is celebrating their 40th anniversary, and their new track is called, yes, “Anniversary.”  The upbeat track is reminiscent of the group’s classic ’80s sound.  Bass player John Taylor says that’s intentional.

“It was…fun to build a track with hints of previous Duran hits,” says John in a statement. “They’re like Easter eggs, for the fans to find.”

He continues, “‘Anniversary’ is a special song for us. Obviously we were conscious of our own impending 40th anniversary of making music together, but we wanted the song’s meaning to be inclusive in the broadest possible way.”

He adds, “After playing and working together for so long, we very much appreciate what ‘being together’ and ‘staying together’ can really mean. It’s not something we would have thought song-worthy 40 years ago but we do today!”

Future Past is out October 22. Ahead of that, Duran Duran will headline this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 3 and 10.  This month, they’ll perform at the worldwide Global Citizen LIVE event on September 25.

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The new series Only Murders in the Building debuts Tuesday on Hulu. It stars Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short as neighbors who make a true crime podcast while investigating a murder in their apartment building. Randomly, Sting makes a cameo as another resident of the apartment building, and Steve Martin tells ABC Audio that the rocker was so perfect during his appearance that it was annoying.

Calling Sting’s cameo “excellent,” the legendary comic actor declares, “He came in completely prepared, knew all his lines, he sang, he was game, he was funny, [and] charming off the set.”

“He sat and did the English cryptic crossword puzzle…in the Financial Times, which no one can do, and was completely charming and game,” Martin adds, mock-complaining, “I kind of hope he‘s the murderer!”

Martin also jokes that he’s miffed that the one-time Police frontman ignored his offer to help him out musically.  The comedian, who’s also a Grammy-winning banjo player — really! — tells ABC Audio, “I think he’s hard of hearing, ’cause I said to him, ‘Hey Sting! Want me to play banjo on your next record?’ And it was like he didn’t hear it!” 

Sting appears briefly in the trailer for Only Murders in the Building, but how he fits into the plot is a mystery — for now.

(Trailer contains uncensored profanity.)

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Andy Summers released his first book of fiction, Fretted and Moaning: Short Stories, earlier this month, but the Police guitarist already is working on another writing project.

“I came up with this crazy idea…I’m in the middle of a screenplay now,” Summers tells ABC Audio. “It’s weird, but it’s also commercial. I think it can have legs. I’m working on it…trying. You know, we’ll see where it all goes.”

While he thinks his film idea has a lot of potential, the 78-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says he realizes that it may be a challenge to get the project produced.

“I mean, to get anything made in life…a record, a song recorded, a film, a book, it’s incredibly difficult, ’cause generally you’re dealing with people in the business who don’t get it,” he maintains. “They always want it to be like something else, or they go, ‘Well, it’s this. It’s one of these things.’ But no, it’s not. It’s original.”

Summers says working on the screenplay has been similar to writing his short-stories collection in that he’ll often reach a point where he runs out of ideas.

Andy explains that when he hits that point, “[Y]ou go and do something else…make a fried egg in your kitchen or something, [and then suddenly a new idea]…just like appears. You have to trust that process that…the neurons are doing something up there that you don’t know about. And it suddenly just springs out.”

Fretted and Moaning can be ordered now at AndySummersBook.com. Summers also is preparing to release a new instrumental solo album called Harmonics of the Night in October.

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A pair a virtual Van Morrison concerts will stream globally at nugs.net on consecutive days, September 10 and 11.

The first show will feature Morrison delivering a 65-minute concert that will include renditions of songs from throughout his expansive catalog. The second concert features Van showcasing tunes from his 2021 studio album, Latest Record Project: Volume 1, as well as performing select classics.

The performances were recorded at Peter Gabriel‘s Real World Studios near Bath, U.K. The shows will begin at 6 p.m. ET. both days.

Tickets for the concerts can be purchased individually for $14.99 in HD and $19.99 for the high-res 4K format at nugs.net/vanmorrison. Two-night bundles also will be available.  Nugs.net subscribers can purchase the streaming events for a discounted price.

Morrison released Latest Record Project: Volume 1 in May. The 28-track collection finds Van continuing to delve into his love of classic soul, blues, R&B and jazz. The album features a variety songs that offer commentary of modern life, some of which focus on Morrison’s dissatisfaction with how the U.K. government has handled the COVID-19 health crisis.

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The first trailer has been released for acclaimed indie-film director Todd Haynes‘ upcoming documentary about The Velvet Underground, the influential New York City-based band fronted by Lou Reed during the late 1960s and early ’70s.

The movie, simply titled The Velvet Underground, will premiere in theaters and on the Apple TV+ network on October 15.

The documentary features new interviews with surviving Velvet Underground members John Cale and Maureen Tucker, as well as with other people associated with the band and with late artist Andy Warhol, who managed and helped promote the group during its early years.

The film also includes previously unseen Velvet Underground performance footage, as well as clips of rare recordings and Warhol films.

The trailer features brief snippets of the Welsh-born Cale sharing his recollections of how filthy New York City seemed when he first arrived there, and discussing the band’s sonic explorations, and Tucker commenting about how the group began gaining a following but couldn’t get radio airplay.

The Velvet Underground, classic lineup of which featured Reed on lead vocals and guitar, Cale on bassist and viola, Tucker on drums and the late Sterling Morrison on lead guitar, came to fame as the house band at Warhol’s psychedelic multimedia show The Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The group’s songs explored dark themes such as drugs, kinky sex and domestic violence in the midst of the “Flower Power” era.  The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Meanwhile, a companion soundtrack album also is due out on October 15. The collection, which will be available as a two-CD set and in digital formats, will feature a mix of classic Velvet Underground tunes and rare recordings.

Here’s the track list:

Disc 1
“Venus in Furs” — The Velvet Underground
“The Wind” — The Diablos featuring Nolan Strong
“17 XII 63 NYC The Fire Is a Mirror” — The Theatre of Eternal Music
“Heroin” (Mono) — The Velvet Underground
“Road Runner” (Live) — Bo Diddley
“The Ostrich” — The Primitives
“I’m Waiting for the Man” —  — The Velvet Underground & Nico
“Chelsea Girls” — Nico
“Sunday Morning” — The Velvet Underground & Nico

Disc 2
“Sister Ray” (Live) — The Velvet Underground
“Pale Blue Eyes” — The Velvet Underground
“Foggy Notion” — The Velvet Underground
“After Hours” (Live) — The Velvet Underground
“Sweet Jane” — The Velvet Underground
“Ocean” — The Velvet Underground
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” — The Velvet Underground & Nico

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Ron Bushy, longtime drummer of the psychedelic band Iron Butterfly, who played on the band’s classic 1968 song “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” died Sunday morning at the age of 79.

A message on the band’s official Facebook page reports that Bushy “passed away peacefully, with his wife Nancy by his side…at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital. All three of his daughters were also with him.”

The note adds, “He was a real fighter…He will be deeply missed!”

Bushy joined Iron Butterfly in 1966 and, according to Rolling Stone, was the only member of the band to play on all six of its studio albums.

“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was the title track’s of Iron Butterfly’s second album, which was released in June 1968. The epic 17-minute song became the group’s signature tune and has become an enduring psychedelic-era anthem. An abbreviated version of the track peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached #4 on the Billboard 200, and has sold over four million copies in the U.S.

Bushy shared the story about the tune’s origins in a 2020 interview with Its Psychedelic Baby magazine, noting that it began as a slow country ballad written by Iron Butterfly singer/keyboardist Doug Ingle.

“I came home late one night and Doug had been drinking a whole gallon of Red Mountain wine… [He was] playing a slow ballad [he’d written] on his Vox keyboard,” Bushy recalled. “It was hard to understand him because he was so drunk…so I wrote it down on a napkin exactly how it sounded phonetically to me…’In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.'”

Bushy continued to play drums with various Iron Butterfly incarnations on and off through 2018, and made guest appearances with the band until his passing.

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ABBA went on hiatus nearly 40 years ago, but now their music has come to TikTok.

As Billboard reports, the Swedish group’s catalog is now available to TikTok users.  ABBA’s music was the most requested by an act that doesn’t have an official TikTok account of its own.  The good news was announced Sunday with an upload of a piano version of their signature song, “Dancing Queen.”

Meanwhile, a huge announcement is set for September 2 regarding ABBAVoyage, a mysterious project that’s being teased on the group’s socials. You can sign up now to be notified when the project is finally announced.

The British tabloid The Sun is reporting that the group will release its first new music in 39 years on Friday, in connection with a hologram show that will see avatars of the group’s four members performing all their hits.

The Sun also claims that the show — which will include a documentary-style film — will open in a purpose-built theater in East London next May, and the group’s members will be on hand for the event. None of this is confirmed, however.

An event in New York City’s Central Park on September 2 is also planned in connection with the big announcement.

 

 

 

 

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Eric Clapton released a brand-new single on Friday titled “This Has Gotta Stop” that available now as a digital download and via streaming services.

The mid-tempo blues-rock shuffle finds Clapton apparently railing against his detractors, perhaps in response to the media backlash he’s received in recent months over his critical comments about AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and his support of Van Morrison’s protests over the U.K. government’s policies restricting live music because of the pandemic.

“This has gotta stop/ Enough is enough/ I can’t take this B.S. any longer,” Clapton sings. “It’s gone far enough/ You want to claim my soul/ You’ll have to come and break down this door.”

An animated music video for the new song has also premiered at Clapton’s official YouTube channel. The clip includes imagery that appears to illustrate people being controlled and brainwashed by the media and politicians.

The video features such scenes as a sinister giant man with strings running from his fingers to small common-looking people walking beneath him, a bunch of people mesmerized by their mobile devices as they traveling down a series of escalators, and people with televisions instead of heads.

The clip also includes scenes illustrating environmental issues that are our planet is facing, including forest fires, flooding and pollution.

“This Has Gotta Stop” was written by Clapton, and produced by his longtime studio collaborator Simon Climie. Eric handles lead vocals and guitar, and is joined on the track by drummer Sonny Emery, bassist Nathan East and backing singer Sharon White. Strings on the track were arranged and conducted by Nick Ingman, and the strings were led by violinist Perry Montague-Mason.

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