Classic Hits

Bruce Springsteen is looking back at his 50-year career with a new compilation album.

Best of Bruce Springsteen, dropping April 9, will feature a collection of The Boss’ hits, early career favorites, live staples and more, marking the first time his career-spanning works have been together in one set. 

The release features 18 tracks, including such classics as “Born To Run,” “Hungry Heart,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Thunder Road,” “Growin’ Up” and “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” along with newer tunes like “Hello Sunshine” and “Letter To You.”

Best of Bruce Springsteen, available for preorder now, will be released as a single CD or two-LP set, with a colored vinyl set sold exclusively through Amazon. The digital release will be expanded to 31 songs, with additions like “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” “Badlands,” “The River” and “Glory Days.”

The release will come just weeks after Springsteen and the E Street Band return to the road. The latest leg of their tour is set to kick off March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

Here is the track list for Best of Bruce Springsteen:

“Growin’ Up”
“Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”
“Born To Run”
“Thunder Road”
“Badlands”
“Hungry Heart”
“Atlantic City”
“Dancing in the Dark”
“Born in the U.S.A”
“Brilliant Disguise”
“Human Touch”
“Streets of Philadelphia”
“The Ghost of Tom Joad”
“Secret Garden”
“The Rising”
“Girls In Their Summer Clothes”
“Hello Sunshine”
“Letter To You”

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On This Day, March 1, 1995 …

R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry collapsed onstage at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The band was on tour in support of their ninth studio album, Monster. It was their first tour in six years.

Berry underwent surgery and R.E.M. wound up canceling the rest of the tour’s European leg. He was able to rejoin them once the tour resumed in the United States in May of that year.

It wound up being Berry’s last tour with R.E.M. He announced his departure from the group in October 1997, and R.E.M. continued on as a three piece. They would eventually announce their breakup in 2011.

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The Who infamously sang, “I hope I die before I get old” in their hit “My Generation.” But luckily for music fans, that wish hasn’t come true for frontman Roger Daltrey, who’s celebrating his 80th birthday on March 1. 

In 1959, Daltrey founded a band called The Detours, with a changing lineup that only became permanent in 1964, after the band had changed their name to The Who and Keith Moon joined as drummer. Daltrey, Moon, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle went on to sell over 100 million records worldwide.

Daltrey launched a solo career in 1973, releasing eight solo studio albums, and dabbled in acting, with roles in film and on TV. He also published his memoir, Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story, in 2018.

As a member of The Who, Daltrey was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2008. He was also appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to music, entertainment and charity in 2004.

Daltrey is also well known for his extensive charitable work, including his patronage of the United Kingdom’s Teenage Cancer Trust and its U.S. counterpart, Teen Cancer America. In fact, he recently announced that after 24 years he’ll be stepping down as host and curator of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust charity shows.

Before that he’ll keep on rocking for the charity, with The Who set to headline two shows, March 18 and 20, at London’s Royal Albert Hall.  

And Daltrey’s time as curator will be celebrated at the same venue on March 24 with Ovation, a Celebration of 24 Years of Gigs for TCT, featuring guests Robert Plant with Saving Grace, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones and Paul Weller.

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The Black Crowes are gearing up for the release of their new album, Happiness Bastards, and they’re giving fans a chance to preview it early.

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson just announced a string of listening parties, happening March 14 at indie record stores across the country. The parties will feature giveaways and give fans a chance to purchase the album early.

The Black Crowes gave fans their first taste of Happiness Bastards, their first album of new material in 15 years, with the release of “Wanting and Waiting” and then followed that up with the track “Cross Your Fingers.” The album is available for preorder now.

They’ll hit the road on the Happiness Bastards tour starting April 2 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. A complete list of dates can be found at theblackcrowes.com.

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After a more than 50-year career, Foghat is still rocking out onstage, and now they are giving fans at home a taste of their live show.

The band will release Slow Ride – Live in Concert, a new CD/DVD, on April 5, featuring a 1999 Texas concert recorded prior to Foghat co-founder Dave Peverett’s death in February 2000.

The concert features the band performing some of their classic tracks. They’re previewing the record with the release of a live performance of their iconic tune “Slow Ride.”

You can listen to the live “Slow Ride” now via digital outlets and watch the performance on YouTube.

Slow Ride – Live in Concert is available for preorder now.

Foghat released their latest studio album, Sonic Mojo, in 2023. They are currently on the road with their Sonic Mojo tour and are set to play Lynn, Massachusetts, on March 1. A complete list of dates can be found at foghat.com.

Here is the track list for Slow Ride – Live in Concert:

“Drivin’ Wheel”
“Somebody’s Been Sleepin’ In My Bed”
“Stone Blue”
“It Hurts Me Too”
“Rock Your House”
“Sweet Home Chicago”
“Angel Of Mercy”
“Fool For The City”
“I Just Want To Make Love To You”
“Slow Ride”

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Three cassette tapes featuring previously unheard audio from The Beatles is set to go up for auction in March.

The tapes, believed to have been made in 1966, are personal recordings made on drummer Ringo Starr‘s tape recorder, and feature 248 minutes of audio. On one of the tapes he’s heard describing them as “a talking record of our trip to Germany and Japan.” 

The audio includes the band talking about their set list for shows in Japan, clips of performances from their Budokan concerts, Ringo’s thoughts on the tours, a demo of Ringo performing The Beatles tune “Don’t Pass Me By,” a clip of manager Brian Epstein discussing how to get out of paying import taxes when purchasing items in Japan and more.

All three tapes are being auctioned off as part of Omega Auctions’ Beatles Collection auction. The sale is set to begin on March 26, with the estimated price for the cassettes between $12,000 and $25,000.

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A new U.K. poll finds that the majority of folks wish they could tickle the ivories just like Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

The U.K. Express reports that a poll of 2,000 Brits, conducted by Trinity College London, finds that 53% of them wish they had learned how to play piano, with 32% of those folks picking Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the tune they wish they knew how to play. 

Elton John’s “Your Song” is close behind in second place, followed by John Lennon’s “Imagine,” with Adele’s “Someone Like You” and Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” rounding out the top five.

The almost six-minute “Bohemian Rhapsody” was the lead single off Queen’s 1975 album, A Night at the Opera, and went on to sell over 6 million copies worldwide. The track reached 2 billion streams on Spotify in December 2022.

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The first day of Elton John‘s much-hyped Goodbye Peachtree Road Christie’s auction, which featured items from his home in Atlanta, Georgia, brought in $8 million. But that was only the first day; it turns out the entire event pulled in more than $20 million.

According to ArtandObject.com, the auction spanned two live sales and six online auctions, and earned $20.5 million. The live sales together brought in $14.5 million. Top sellers included artwork, photographs, Elton’s Bentley convertible, and Cartier and Rolex watches.

As for the online auctions, a jewelry-focused one brought in $1.7 million, while a 120-item collection of nude images, statues and gold crosses went for $1.1 million. Artwork and home decor brought in $1.3 million, and photographs of rock stars and celebrities brought in just under $588,000.

Meanwhile, a collection of all of Elton’s Versace-brand stuff, including clothing, furniture and jewelry, earned just under $575,000.

After owning it for more than 30 years, Elton sold the Atlanta duplex for more than $7 million in November. The reason he did so was practical: Now that he’s no longer on tour, he doesn’t need a central hub like Atlanta’s DeKalb-Peachtree Airport to fly in and out of.

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Neil Young has added another show to his summer schedule.

The rocker and his band Crazy Horse are set to play Ottawa Bluesfest, a nine-day festival that runs July 4-7 and July 10-14. Young will headline the July 11 show. 

Mötley Crüe and Nickelback are also set to headline the Canadian festival, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Other headliners include Maroon 5, Tyler Childers, Zac Brown Band, 50 Cent and Nas.

A ticket presale kicks off Friday, March 1, at 10 a.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public Saturday, March 2. More information, including a complete lineup, can be found at ottawabluesfest.ca.

Young & Crazy Horse recently announced dates for the Love Earth Tour, which launches with two nights in San Diego, April 24 and 25. The Canadian leg of the tour begins in Toronto on July 8, just a few days before their Bluesfest show. A complete schedule can be found at livenation.com.

They will also release the new album FU##IN’ UP on April 26, with a special clear vinyl two-LP limited edition dropping on Record Store Day, April 20.

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While some songwriters may find themselves struggling to write tunes or finish a song, it seems that’s never really been a problem for Paul McCartney. 

In a new Q&A on his website, McCartney reveals that writer’s block is something he’s never really had to deal with.

“I don’t really get it. I’m quite lucky with that – touch wood!” he shares. “I hardly ever sit down and go, ‘I’m going to write’. It’s nearly always when I’ve got some time and there’s nothing else I particularly want or need to do.” 

He adds, “I can just sit down and noodle around with something because it’s come from my own desire and not somebody else’s, or of a requirement. It often comes reasonably easy.”

McCartney says he’s blessed that he’s never really felt stuck on a tune, sharing, “I sometimes tell the story of John (Lennon) and I having written just short of three hundred songs, and every time we sat down to write we came up with a song. Which is incredible!”

Writing comes so easily to McCartney that he says he sometimes has to stop what he’s doing to take note of a song idea that his come to him.

“I’ve got endless bits of paper stuffed in places, which one of these days I swear I’m going to get to!” he says. “But most things these days are written on my phone.”

He adds that luckily he’s his own boss and only gets concerned about writing if he’s on a deadline, noting,  “I can decide what I want to do and when I want to do it, and that helps with the writing.”

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