Classic Hits

ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog [Ang-NE-ta FELT-schoo-g] has shared another track from her upcoming album, A+, a reimagining of her last solo record, 2013’s A.

The latest is a new version of the tune “I Should’ve Followed You Home,” a duet with Take That’s Gary Barlow.

“It was a highlight to sing a song together with Gary. He’s a very nice guy,” Agnetha shares. “It was great to hear that Gary also likes this new version. Listen when the castanets come in, it’s great.” 

A+ has the original album’s producer Jörgen Elofsson working alongside fellow producer Anton “Hybrid” Mårtensson to reimagine A in an entirely new way, with fresh productions and arrangements.

“When we made A ten years ago, it was a bit of a reaction against EDM and the dance music that dominated the pop world at the time,” Agnetha says. “We therefore did something that was exactly the opposite.” She adds, “Now, when we brought the songs into today’s music world, we were all surprised by how well it works. The songs have blossomed into the pop songs they are at their core.”

A+, dropping October 13, is available for preorder now. You can listen to “I Should’ve Followed You Home” now via digital outlets and on YouTube.

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Queen is once again turning the spotlight on their late frontman Freddie Mercury in episode 35 of their weekly YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live.

Like last week’s episode, the band is sharing archival interview footage of Mercury. This time, he’s discussing the role he plays onstage with the band.  

“I have to win them over or it’s not a successful gig,” he says. “It’s my job to make sure I win them over and make them feel they’ve had a good time. That’s part of my role, part of the duty that I have to do.” 

He continues, “This cliché of saying, ‘Oh, you have them eating from the palm of your hand’ – I just feel that the quicker I do that, the better, because then I feel I can manipulate them or whatever,” adding, “But it’s all to do with me feeling in control as so that I know that it’s all going well.”

The clip features a 1974 performance of “Stone Cold Crazy” at London’s Rainbow Theatre, which shows Freddie in his element onstage in front of an audience.

“Everybody wants to play to the biggest audiences. I want to play to as many people as I can and the more the merrier,” he says. “So as far as I’m concerned, I like the whole world to listen to my music. And I want anybody and everybody to come and listen to me and look at me when I’m playing.” 

Next week on Queen The Greatest Live:  “Iconic Venues.”

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While Bruce Springsteen fans will have to wait until 2024 to see him live again, they at least have some new music to tide them over. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released the new song “Addicted to Romance,” which will be featured in the movie She Came To Me starring Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei and Anne Hathaway.

When Springsteen’s participation was first announced back in February, the film’s director, Rebecca Miller, told Variety she “had a secret wish” that The Boss would write a song for the movie. “I was reluctant to ask because I felt it was so unlikely, and frankly I was a bit shy,” she shared, but she finally got up the nerve.

Springsteen and his wife, Patti Scialfa, watched the movie and loved it, so he wrote the song. Miller noted, “He says he was inspired by the film, which is a great honor for me.”

She Came To Me hits theaters October 6. 

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Next week, it’ll be a Merry Cher Christmas when the legendary diva releases the first single from her upcoming holiday album.

The single, “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” the first release from her album Christmas, will be out October 6. She posted a snippet on Instagram, and it’s giving major “Believe” vibes.

Meanwhile, Cher, 77, seems to be back with boyfriend Alexander “AE” Edwards, 37, after the two initially broke up in May. This month, they’ve been seen together at Paris Fashion Week and in LA.

“Alexander is playing the game well,” an insider dished to Page Six. “He gave her space when she first called it off … Cher does enjoy spending time with him. The fact is at this point in her life she just wants to be happy.”

The insider also said that the death of Cher’s close friend Tina Turner, who passed away in May at age 83, has convinced her to go for it.

“With the passing of her friend Tina, she is realizing life is to short,” said the insider. “She just wants to be happy, and Alex is filling that gap right now.”

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Along with September’s harvest moon comes a new song from Peter Gabriel. He just dropped the new track “This Is Home” from his upcoming album i/o, which so far doesn’t have a release date.

Gabriel calls the tune a love song, sharing that he initially worked on the track with DJ Skrillex, who doesn’t actually appear on the song.

“He was trying to encourage me to write a song about staying up all night in a night club and that sort of thing, but that’s not really my life so I made it more about family and home and I like it,” says Gabriel. “Though we took the song in this other direction it was an interesting experience nonetheless, and I think it is good for me to be taken outside my normal comfort zone sometimes.”

As he’s done with all the other songs he’s shared from i/o, Gabriel plans to release several different remixes of “This Is Home.” The first is the Tchad Blake (Dark-Side Mix), which will be followed by Mark “Spike” Stent‘s (Bright-Side Mix) and Hans-Martin Buff’s Atmos mix (In-Side Mix). 

You can listen to “This Is Home” now via digital outlets and YouTube.

Peter Gabriel is currently on the North American leg of his i/o tour. He hits Detroit, Michigan, on Friday, September 29. A complete list of dates can be found at petergabriel.com.

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Van Halen has released another track off their upcoming box set, The Collection II, which drops October 6. The latest is the song “Crossing Over,” which is included on the set’s Studio Rarities disc.

In a video posted to YouTube, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony discuss the backstory of the song, which Anthony notes was written about a childhood friend of Eddie and Alex Van Halen who took his own life. 

Eddie played almost all the instruments on the song, which Sammy says was recorded before he even knew the guys. “I pulled that out and put a vocal on it like 10 years later,” he said, noting, “that was a special a** song.” Sammy explained the track was also about Ed Leffler, the band’s manager who passed away, adding that “it became about Eddie” following his death in 2020.

He says, “The truth of the matter is, that’s a deep track.” 

The Collection II will feature newly remastered versions of the band’s four #1 albums with Hagar — 1986’s 5150, 1988’s OU812, 1991’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and 1995’s Balance — along with Studio Rarities 1989-2004, which features eight non-album Hagar-era tracks. It is available for preorder now.

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On This Day, September 29, 1979…

The Police earned their first U.K. #1 with “Message In A Bottle” from their debut album, Reggatta de Blanc.

The song went on to become a classic track for the rockers, although it was initially far from a hit in the U.S., peaking only at #74.

“Message in A Bottle” was one of five U.K. #1 singles for the future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. In the U.S., The Police had only one #1 tune, but it was a huge one: “Every Breath You Take” spent eight weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983.

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It’s going to take Aerosmith a bit longer to say Peace Out to the road.

The band kicked off their Peace Out farewell tour in early September but were forced to postpone several dates after frontman Steven Tyler injured his vocal cords. Well, it seems Tyler needs even more time to recover because they’ve pushed back the whole tour to next year.

“Unfortunately, Steven’s vocal injury is more serious than initially thought. His doctor has confirmed that in addition to the damage to his vocal cords, he fractured his larynx which requires ongoing care,” read a statement from the band. “He is receiving the best medical treatment available to ensure his recovery is swift, but given the nature of a fracture, he is being told patience is essential.”

Tyler adds, “I am heartbroken to not be out there with Aerosmith, my brothers and the incredible Black Crowes, rocking with the best fans in the world. I promise we will be back as soon as we can!”

Aerosmith says the tour will resume “sometime in 2024″ and that new dates will be announced “as soon as we know more.” All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new shows, and fans will be able to get refunds if they are unable to attend the rescheduled dates.

The tour, featuring special guests The Black Crowes, kicked off September 2 in Philadelphia and was supposed to run through February 29 in Cleveland, Ohio.

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U2 is ready to hit Las Vegas. The Irish rockers will kick off their new residency, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere, at The Venetian Resort on Friday.

The residency will be the first-ever show at the new state-of-the-art venue Sphere, which boasts a 160,000-square-foot wraparound interior LED screen with 16K resolution, along with an exterior that features 580,000 square feet of LED displays.

“Over playing a theater, most music venues are sports venues … they’re built for sport, they’re not built for music, they’re not built for art,” Bono previously told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about the venue. “So this building was built for immersive experiences in cinema and performance … you can’t come here and see an ice hockey game.”

The Edge added, “The sound has been designed as a priority from the beginning. Best sound I’m sure we’ll ever hear.”

Unfortunately, the residency will be happening without the band’s drummer, Larry Mullen, Jr., who is sitting out the shows as he recuperates from surgery. Drummer Bram van den Berg will be filling in behind the drum kit.

Ahead of the residency debut, U2 gave fans a bonus treat with the release of new single “Atomic City.” “It’s a love song to our audience … ’where you are is where I’ll be,’” Bono says of the track, which features a nod to Blondie’s “Call Me.” 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, including Mullen, shot the video for the song earlier this month on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, the same location where they shot the video for “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” back in 1987.

U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere will consist of 25 shows, wrapping December 16. A complete list of dates can be found at U2.com.

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Joni Mitchell’s Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) is set to drop October 6, and fans are getting another preview of some of the extras they’ll get with the expansive box set.

The legendary singer has shared “You Turn Me on I’m a Radio” with Neil Young and The Stray Gaters, which was recorded during the early sessions for 1972’s For The Roses.

Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) will feature a whole treasure trove of music for Joni fans, including never-before-heard demos, performances, and early and alternative versions of songs from three of her albums: For The Roses, 1974’s Court And Spark and 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

It also includes several live performances, including Joni’s entire 1972 concert at Carnegie Hall, and performances in Montreal in 1973 and Los Angeles in 1974.

Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) is available for preorder now.

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