Classic Hits

The Rolling Stones will release their new album, Hackney Diamonds, on October 20, and while the songs won’t be a huge departure from what fans are used to, frontman Mick Jagger says they will sound different. 

During an interview with Q with Tom Power, Jagger explains it was important to them that the album didn’t have a retro sound.

“I said ‘Andy (producer Andrew Watt), I want it to be true to the school, you know,” he says. “I want it to be like a Rolling Stones record, but it’s got to sound like it was recorded this year.’ We don’t want it to sound like 40 years ago, and of course it doesn’t.”

He adds, “It sounds like now — the clarity of it, you know, and fidelity of it. And if you listen to it — compare it to an old Rolling Stones record — it’s very, very different.”

Jagger also discussed the loss of his friend and bandmate Charlie Watts, who passed away in 2021.

“As you get older, you lose a lot of friends,” he shares. “I don’t want to just hang out with younger people, but I mean, a lot of the people in my generation are no longer here to hang out with, so what am I going to do?”

The 80-year-old says seeing friends die makes you “think about your own mortality,” but notes, “people think about that from much earlier ages than mine.” He adds, “People I loved really dearly, you know, died early, and it’s very sad. But there you are. It’s a part of life. Can’t make this all about death.”

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Yes rocker Rick Wakeman’s career is being celebrated with a new box set, out now.

The Prog Years 1973-1977 is a 32-disc, CD/DVD box set featuring Wakeman’s solo albums, including The Six Wives Of Henry VIII, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur and The Knights Of The Round Table, Lisztomania, No Earthly Connection and White Rock.

There’s also alternative recordings, live performances and more, along with a 60-page hardcover scrapbook, postcards, promotional photos and posters.

Only 1,500 copies are being made available, and the first 500 copies sold will be numbered and signed by Wakeman. The box set is available for purchase now.

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Linda Ronstadt will help you ring in the holidays with a reissue of her 2000 holiday album.

Merry Little Christmas is being reissued on CD and is also making its debut on vinyl on October 27. Three different colors are available: poinsettia red, available exclusively at Barnes & Noble; evergreen, available exclusively at Linda’s online store, and metallic silver. All versions are available to preorder now.

The best-selling holiday album of 2000, Merry Little Christmas features Linda’s favorite festive songs, including “I”ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Silent Night,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “River.” There’s also a duet with the late Rosemary Clooney on “White Christmas” and Linda’s takes on traditional Welsh and English carols.

Here’s the track listing:

“The Christmas Song”
“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
“White Christmas”
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
“River”
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
“Xicochi, Xicochi”
“I Wonder As I Wander”
“Away In A Manger”
“Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming”
“Welsh Carol”
“Past Three O’Clock”
“O Magnum Mysterium”
“Silent Night”

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On This Day, September 18, 1970…

Rocker Jimi Hendrix died after being found unconscious at London’s Samarkand Hotel. A coroner later ruled he died after asphyxiating on his own vomit after taking barbiturates.

Hendrix was only 27 years old when he passed, but he had already left his mark on the musical world, thanks to such songs as “Purple Haze,” “Hey Joe,” and “The Wind Cries Mary,” and his classic album Are You Experienced?  He was also well known for his live performances, including iconic sets at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and more. 

Hendrix was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 with his band The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

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U2 is getting ready to launch their U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere residency at The Venetian in Las Vegas on September 29, but it seems they’re already making their presence known in Sin City.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Irish rockers debuted a brand new song, “Atomic City,” on Freemont Street, shooting a video for the tune on a flatbed trailer that traveled along the famous downtown Las Vegas street.

“I’ve got the key to the cages, waiting for my dice,” Bono sang in the Vegas-themed tune. “I came here for the fight. I’m front row in Las Vegas. And there’s a big one on tonight.” He described the song as a “a rock ‘n’ roll 45 in the tradition of ’70s post-punk, Blondie, the Clash, some ’70s punk … We’ll take it from everywhere.”

The lineup for the video included drummer Larry Mullen Jr., who’ll be sitting out of the residency to recover from surgery; drummer Bram van den Berg will fill in his place. 

“The four of us recorded the song. Sadly, Larry Mullen Jr. won’t be with us at The Sphere,” Bono shared. “He doesn’t listen to doctor’s orders. Neither do many of us. But he is here tonight … Give it up for Larry Mullen Jr.!”

About 250 paid extras witnessed the video shoot and even got a bonus, with the band performing a stripped-down version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” the video for which was shot on Freemont Street back in 1987.

 “Let’s just try it as a country song,” Bono told the crowd. “It’s sort of a Saturday night-Sunday morning kind of a deal anyway. It’s a confession.”

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Fans of the Grateful Dead now have a new drink to help them relax while enjoying the music of their favorite band. Gnarly Head wines and the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have joined forces for a new line of limited-edition vintage wines.

The new vinos include the 2021 Gnarly Head x Grateful Dead Old Vine Zinfandel and the 2021 Gnarly Head x Grateful Dead Cabernet Sauvignon, with both featuring iconic Dead images on the label. The zinfandel’s label features The Dead’s beloved Dancing Bears, which glow under blacklight. The cabernet is decorated with The Dead’s “Steal Your Face” design, with a skull that also glows under blacklight.

“The music of The Grateful Dead has always invoked connection and authenticity rooted in passion and creativity, much like the California wines crafted by Gnarly Head,” Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux shares. “We hope to continue to inspire existing and new fans alike to jam out and rejoice in some great music and wine.”

The new Gnarly Head Grateful Dead wines will be available at most major retailers in September and sell for about $12 a bottle. More info can be found at gnarlyhead.com.

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Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner has been removed from the board of the Rock & Roll of Fame, a rep for The Hall tells The New York Times. Wenner’s removal comes in response to comments he made in a Times interview that were deemed racist and sexist.  

While promoting his new book The Masters, Wenner tried to explain why it didn’t include interviews with any Black or female artists, saying there were no women “articulate enough on this intellectual level.” Regarding Black artists, he acknowledged the genius of Stevie Wonder, but noted, “I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”

After receiving a ton of backlash online, Wenner issued an apology. “In my interview with The New York Times I made comments that diminished the contributions, genius and impact of Black and women artists and I apologize wholeheartedly for those remarks,” read the statement issued by his publisher Little, Brown and Company, adding the artists featured in the book, “were not meant to represent the whole of music and its diverse and important originators but to reflect the high points of my career and interviews.”

He notes, “I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words and deeply apologize and accept the consequences.”

Wenner was part of a group that founded the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1983. Although there has been an improvement in recent years, the Hall has often been called out for its lack of female and minority inductees.

His book, The Masters, featuring interviews with Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Jerry Garcia, Bono and Bruce Springsteen, comes out September 26.

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Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner is being blasted over comments he made that some are deeming racist and sexist.

Wenner is releasing a new book, The Masters, on September 26, featuring interviews with seven rock stars —Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Jerry Garcia, Bono and Bruce Springsteen. Notably, all of them are male — and none are people of color. In the book’s intro he explains there are no interviews with Black artists because they’re not part of his “zeitgeist,” something The New York Times found hard to believe.

The paper asked Wenner to clarify his comments; he defended himself, noting the artists featured in the book weren’t a “deliberate selection,” saying it just “fell together.”

“The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them,” he said. “Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.” He argued Joni Mitchell “was not a philosopher of rock ‘n’ roll.”

“She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did,” he said. “The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock.”

As for Black artists, Wenner acknowledged Stevie Wonder’s genius, but noted, “I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.” 

“Maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn’t measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism,” he said. “Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I don’t give a [expletive] or whatever.”

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Heart’s Ann Wilson is sharing new music with fans.

The Rock & Roil Hall of Famer just released the new track “This Is Now,” the first taste of her upcoming album, Another Door. It features the band Tripsitter, made up of Tony Lucido on bass, Ryan Wariner on guitars, Sean T. Lane on drums, and Paul Moak on guitars and keyboards.

The album, dropping September 29, features all original songs with lyrics by Wilson, the first time she’s been sole lyricist on an album. “This is an exciting time in my creative life,” Ann shares, “so much new and fresh to remind me of why I love my calling!”

And fans will get to see Ann Wilson and Tripsitter performing some of those songs when the PBS special Ann Wilson & Tripsitter: Live in Concert debuts November 24. The show, taped last July in Nashville, has them playing tracks from Another Door, as well as Heart classics like “Barracuda” and “Crazy On You.”

Another Door is available for preorder now.

Ann Wilson and Tripsitter are currently on tour and are set to hit Dallas on September 24. A complete list of dates can be found at annwilson.com.

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Pretenders’ brand new album, Relentless, is out now, and they’ve just shared another single from the record,  “Losing My Sense Of Taste,” which was inspired by the pandemic.

“That song was more a take on the whole lockdown experience,” Chrissie Hynde shares. “It is called ‘Losing My Sense Of Taste,’ though, as a matter of fact, I never lost mine during the Covid period.” 

She adds, “But it did kick off the idea for the song – losing my sense of taste, my sense of smell, and sometimes the whole culture just seems tired. Not now of course, because there’s a new Pretenders album out.” 

Relentless is Pretenders’ first studio album in three years. “Losing My Sense of Taste” is the fourth single they’ve dropped from the album following “A Love,” “Let The Sun Come In” and “I Think About You Daily.” 

Pretenders currently have a handful of tour dates left for 2023. They play BBC Radio 2 in the Park in Leicester, England, on Sunday, September 17, and return to the U.S. with a set at the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California, on October 1. A complete list of dates can be found at thepretenders.com.

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