Director Martin Scorsese is paying tribute to his friend and longtime collaborator, The Band‘s Robbie Robertson, who passed away Wednesday, August 9, at the age of 80.
In a statement, Scorsese called the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work.”
The pair collaborated 14 times. Not only did Scorsese direct The Band’s iconic documentary, 1978’s The Last Waltz, but Robertson wrote the music for many of Scorsese’s films, including 1980’s Raging Bull and his upcoming release Killers of the Flower Moon, which is due out in October.
“I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor. I tried to be the same for him,” Scorsese continued. “Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life—me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys.”
He adds, “It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting. There’s never enough time with anyone you love. And I loved Robbie.”
Former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor is getting ready to share some new music. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just announced he’ll drop his new solo album, Man’s A Wolf To Man, on September 8, featuring the first single, “This Will Be Ours.”
The album is Taylor’s first solo record in more than 30 years. He says he started writing the album during “the beginning of the chaos – 2016, 2017,” noting that its subject matter seems “pretty apt now.”
“I know America very well. And when you watch the breakdown, and the extremes of it, how quickly people became vicious enemies,” he says, adding the album is “about how man is his own worst enemy and will behave like a pack of wolves towards his other human enemy.”
Taylor was reworking the record when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, for which he’s currently undergoing life-changing and lifesaving targeted therapy. Duran Duran is set to headline a show at The Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, California, on August 19 to raise money for Andy’s treatment.
“Man’s A Wolf To Man”
“Influential Blondes”
“Did It For You”
“Try To Get Even” (Featuring Tina Arena)
“Reachin’ Out To You”
“Getting It Home”
“The Last Straw”
“This Will Be Ours”
“Gotta Give” (Featuring Gary Stringer)
“Big Trigger”
“Man’s A Wolf To Man” (reprise)
Robbie Robertson, best known as the guitarist and main songwriter for Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Band, has died after a long illness, ABC Audio has confirmed. He was 80.
A statement on Robertson’s Facebook page reads, “Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, including his wife, Janet, his ex-wife, Dominique, her partner Nicholas, and his children Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine, and Delphine’s partner Kenny,” as well as his five grandchildren. No cause of death was given.
The statement notes that Robertson had recently finished working with his longtime friend and collaborator Martin Scorsese on music for Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon.
In lieu of flowers, the statement requests that donations be made to the Six Nations of the Grand River to build their new cultural center; Robertson’s mother, Rosemarie Dolly Chrysler, was Mohawk, one of the Six Nations. His biological father, Alexander Klegerman, died in a car accident before he was born. Robertson’s First Nation heritage later inspired much of his solo work.
Robertson, born in Toronto, was a member of rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins‘ backup band, The Hawks, along with Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson. After leaving Hawkins, the musicians toured as Bob Dylan‘s backup band and recorded the legendary “basement tapes” with him in 1967.
As The Band, they released their debut album, Music from Big Pink, in 1968. Their rootsy sound influenced everyone from Elton John and Eric Clapton to The Beatles. As The Band’s guitarist and primary songwriter, Robertson wrote such classics as “The Weight,” “Up On Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
The Band split in 1976 amid personal conflicts and substance abuse issues; they said goodbye at a star-studded farewell concert documented in the Scorsese-directed film The Last Waltz. Robertson went on to work with Scorsese on music for movies including Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Casino, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman, and on other TV and movie soundtracks. He also worked as an A&R rep at DreamWorks, helping to sign Nelly Furtado, among other acts.
Robertson released six solo albums; his self-titled 1987 debut featured contributions from U2‘s Bono and Peter Gabriel, and included the rock hit “Somewhere Down the Crazy River.” Robertson and The Band were inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
New bronze sculptures celebrating The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been unveiled in their hometown of Dartford, Kent, England, The Guardian reports.
The statues, which are being called The Glimmer Twins, were unveiled Wednesday, August 9, at One Bell Corner, which is close to the town center. Richards’ daughter Angela and granddaughter Ava were on hand.
The Glimmer Twins are the creation of sculptor Amy Goodman, who captured the rockers midperformance: Richards playing his guitar and Mick strutting with a microphone in his hand. “I was a nervous wreck,” she said about the project. “There was a lot of pressure because they are such icons.”
“Many Dartfordians have gone on to change our world, but in terms of culture and music you don’t get much more influential than The Rolling Stones,” Jeremy Kite, leader of the Dartford Borough Council, previously said about the pair. “Their music has changed the face of popular music and these lads from Dartford are now two of the most recognizable and loved people in the world.”
Jagger and Richards, who were childhood friends, reunited as teenagers in 1961 at the Dartford Railway Station. It was then that they started talking about music and decided to form a musical partnership that eventually became The Rolling Stones.
Night Ranger is giving fans a taste of their live show with the new live album 40 Years and a Night with Contemporary Youth Orchestra, dropping October 20.
The album captures the band’s November 9, 2022, performance at Key Bank State Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio. As the title suggests, they were backed by the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, which is made up of musicians ages 12 to 18 from over 40 schools in the state.
“It was a dream come true to have Night Ranger music accompanied by an entire symphonic band… including our own!” Jack Blades shares. “Although now, we’re spoiled, and we want to carry the orchestra with us everywhere we go!!”
Brad Gillis adds, “I can check this one off my bucket list. Having the CYO backing us for this show was just amazing and it really took Night Ranger to another level.”
And Night Ranger is giving fans a preview of the record with the release of a video performance of their track “(You Can Still) Rock in America.”
40 Years and a Night with Contemporary Youth Orchestra will be released on CD, vinyl, DVD, Blu-ray and digitally. It is available for preorder now.
Here is the track list for 40 Years and a Night with Contemporary Youth Orchestra:
“Intro”
“(You Can Still) Rock In America”
“Four In The Morning”
“Sing Me Away”
“Call My Name”
“Sentimental Street”
“High Road”
“Night Ranger”
“Goodbye”
“When You Close Your Eyes”
“Don’t Tell Me You Love Me”
“Sister Christian”
“High Enough” (Bonus Track – Japan)
ABBA fans will want to head to movie theaters in September for a special two-night screening of the band’s 1977 mockumentary, ABBA: The Movie.
The film, originally released in Sweden and Australia, was directed by Lasse Hallström. It follows ABBA on an Australian tour, with a subplot about a country DJ going to great lengths to snag an interview with the Swedish pop group. It features full-length performances of such ABBA classics as “Dancing Queen” “SOS,” “Waterloo” and more.
Trafalgar Releasing is holding the special screenings of a newly remastered version of the film. It will run in select cinemas worldwide on September 16 and 17. Tickets go on sale August 16.
August 8, 1983, brought a surprise for Billy Joel fans: a brand-new album, which came less than a year after his previous release, 1982’s The Nylon Curtain.
An Innocent Man was a tribute to the music that Billy had loved as a teenager, like Motown, R&B, doo wop and The Four Seasons. He said that inspiration came from the fact that he was newly divorced and single for the first time since he became a rock star. Having the opportunity to date supermodels like Elle Macpherson and Christie Brinkley, he explained, made him feel “like a teenager all over again.”
“When you’re gonna write [songs for a new album], you write what you’re feeling. And I didn’t fight it,” he added. “The material was coming so easily and so quickly, and I was having so much fun doing it. I was kind of reliving my youth…. I think within 6 weeks I had written most of the material on the album.”
Billy also said he was pleasantly surprised when retro-sounding songs like “The Longest Time” and “Uptown Girl” became hits. In fact, the first single from the album, “Tell Her About It,” became his second #1 single.
In addition to those three songs, the album also spun off two other hits — “Leave a Tender Moment Alone” and ‘Keeping The Faith” — and has sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone. It also earned him two Grammy nominations, including a nod for Album of the Year. It was the second year in a row he’d been nominated in that category.
After the one-two punch of The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man, Billy fans waited three more years for his next album of original music: 1986’s The Bridge.
The 50th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s classic album Let’s Get It On will be celebrated with a new deluxe edition of the album, dropping digitally on August 25.
The expanded edition will include 33 bonus tracks, 18 of which have never been released before. The bonus material consists of unheard mixes from the six-months of recording sessions that went into the making of the album, as well as several instrumental tracks.
In addition to the expanded edition of the album, Let’s Get It On will be getting both a Dolby Atmos and colored vinyl release.
The 50th anniversary will also be marked by a special event at the Grammy Museum. Taking place August 23, the celebration will feature Smokey Robinson, Jimmy Jam and Gaye biographer David Ritz. Tickets are on sale now.
Released August 1973, Let’s Get It On was Gaye’s most commercially successful album. It featured three hit singles — the title track, “Come Get to This” and “You Sure Love to Ball” — was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004 and frequently appears on lists of the greatest albums all time.
Van Halen is revisiting the Sammy Hagar years with a new box set.
The Collection II, dropping October 6, 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.
It will also include a fifth album, Studio Rarities 1989-2004, featuring eight non-album Hagar-era tracks, including “Crossing Over,” the B-side to the Balance tune “Can’t Stop Lovin’ You,” and their two songs from the Twister soundtrack: “Humans Being” and “Respect The Wind.”
You listen to the newly remastered version of “Humans Being” now via digital outlets and watch the accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.
“This stuff sounds so good,” Sammy shared on social media about the remastered set. “You know how long we’ve been waiting for this. I know you’re gonna enjoy it.”
The Collection II is the follow-up to Van Halen’s first box set, The Collection, which was released in 2015 and featured the band’s six studio albums with David Lee Roth. It will be released as a five-LP or five-CD set, both of which are available for preorder now.
The original KISS lineup — Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss — reunited at Sony Music Studios in New York to record MTV Unplugged.
The show was the first and only time all original members performed together without wearing their iconic stage makeup. The performance also included Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick, making it the first time Frehley and Criss had shared a stage with the musicians who replaced them in the band.
Songs performed during the show included “Comin’ Home,” “Beth,” “Rock and Roll All Nite” and more.
The recording was such a success that in 1996, the original four members teamed for a new tour, the first time they’d hit the road together since 1979.
KISS Unplugged was released on CD in March of 1996, along with a standalone VHS and DVD documentary.
