Pink Floyd released their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here.
The album featured the nine-part “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” which was tribute to founding member SydBarrett, who’d been fired seven years earlier due to his drug use and mental health issues.
The album’s title track became a classic rock staple, and has often made the lists of the greatest songs of all time. Other songs on the album include “Have a Cigar” and “Welcome to the Machine.”
Wish You Were Here went on to be a huge hit for the band, reaching #1 in both the U.S. and U.K. It became Pink Floyd’s fastest selling album ever, and went on to sell 20 million copies.
Van Morrison is getting ready to release another new album.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just dropped a cover of the Johnny Kidd classic “Shakin’ All Over”; it’s the first single off his new album, Accentuate The Positive, dropping November 3.
Just like Morrison’s last album, Moving On Skiffle, in which he reinterpreted Skiffle music, popularized in the U.K. in the 1950s, Accentuate The Positive has Morrison sharing his take on some of his personal rock ‘n’ roll favorites, like The Johnny Burnette Trio’s “Lonesome Train,” Big Joe Turner’s “Flip, Flop and Fly” and many others.
“Rock ‘n’ roll is about simplicity, sincerity and expressive power and there’s no way you can get away from that,” Morrison shares. “That’s why it’s good and that’s why it’s lasted. It’s spirit music.”
The album features guest appearances by the late Jeff Beck on the track “Lonesome Train,” with vocals by Chris Farlowe, and blues musicianTaj Mahal on “Lucile” and “Shake Rattle and Roll.”
Accentuate The Positive is available for preorder now. Here is the track list for the album:
“You Are My Sunshine”
“When Will I Be Loved”
“Two Hound Dogs”
“Flip, Flop and Fly”
“I Want a Roof Over My Head”
“Problems”
“Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes”
“The Shape I’m In’
“Accentuate The Positive”
“Lonesome Train”
“A Shot of Rhythm and Blues”
“Shakin’ All Over”
“Bye, Bye Johnny”
“Red Sails in the Sunset”
“Sea of Heartbreak”
“Blueberry Hill”
“Bonaparte’s Retreat”
“Lucille”
“Shake, Rattle and Roll”
The music of the Grateful Dead will be celebrated at a new festival in Mexico early next year.
The Dead Ahead Festival will feature four nights of music in Riviera Cancun, featuring Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge, Don Was and Jay Lane, along with special appearances by DerekTrucks, Susan Tedeschi, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson and more.
The event promises two nights of curated collaborations celebrating the Grateful Dead songbook. There will also be two other nights of music, one headlined by Weir with the Wolf Brothers, featuring the Wolfpack, and another featuring Oteil & Friends, with Lettuce celebrating the Jerry Garcia Band. There will also be a ”late night rhythmic experience” with Hart’s Noche de Ondas.
The Dead Ahead Festival is set to go down January 12-15, with all-inclusive packages going on sale Friday, September 15, at 1 p.m. ET. More information can be found at deadaheadfestival.com.
This isn’t the first time members of The Dead have held a festival south of the border. From 2018 to 2020 Dead & Company headlined their own Playing in the Sand festival in Riviera Maya.
Van Halen is sharing another preview of their upcoming box set, The Collection II, which revisits the band’s Sammy Hagar era.
In case you missed it, Van Halen recently released a remastered version of “It’s About Time,” a tune the band recorded in 2004 when they temporarily reunited with Hagar, who had left the group in 1996. Two other songs from that time, “Up For Breakfast” and “Learning To See,” also appear on the 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, as well as a fifth album, Studio Rarities 1989-2004, featuring eight nonalbum Hagar-era tracks.
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 is available for preorder now.
The late songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David has returned to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time in almost 20 years, thanks to Doja Cat.
Doja’s latest single, “Paint the Town Red,” tops the Hot 100 this week. The track samples the songwriting pair’s classic “Walk On By,” which was made famous in 1964 by Dionne Warwick.
Thanks to a sample in Twista’s “Slow Jamz,” featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, Bacharach and David last earned a songwriting credit on a #1 song in 2004. That song, which spent one week on top of the chart, samples Luther Vandross’ cover of Warwick’s 1964 release “A House Is Not a Home.”
And with Warwick’s voice used in Doja’s track, it marks the first time her voice has appeared in a #1 song since 1986, when her classic “That’s What Friends Are For,” which also featured Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight, hit #1.
“Dream Weaver” singer Gary Wright passed away September 4 at the age of 80, and now, his family is sharing what they call “a joyful remembrance” of the artist.
The family describes Wright as “a spiritual hero and musical innovator,” with his wife, Lehua Wright,sharing, “Gary’s smile and profound ability to always find the humor in life, ensured that laughter followed him everywhere” and adding, “Thinking of Gary is infinite joy.”
His son Dorian said his father did not fear death, noting the singer would say, “when you feel pain, realize that it’s the ego getting in the way and that his soul is on it’s journey to the astral plane.” His son Justin added, “When I think of my father, I think of the spirituality in his life. He always found beauty in nature and never took anything too seriously.”
The family also shared a message with fans, thanking “those who loved him for taking the time to look at his contributions in life through a unique lens.”
“You focused on what was meaningful and not what was sensationalized, and for that our family is grateful,” they wrote. “Our hope is that his gift of music will continue to touch the hearts of all those who listen to it and will continue to do so for a very long time.”
Aerosmith is currently on their Peace Out final tour, and they’re throwing some surprises into their set for fans.
According to setlist.fm, at the band’s Friday, September 9, show at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, they performed the Joe Perry sung tune “Bright Light Fright” for the first time since 1994. The song appeared on Aerosmith’s fifth studio album, 1977’s Draw The Line.
The show also included the tour debut of “Walking The Dog,” the Rufus Thomas cover that appeared on the band’s 1973 self-titled album.
If that wasn’t enough, the concert ended with the crowd joining the band to sing “Happy Birthday” to Perry, who turned 73 on September 10. They also brought out a cake for the celebration.
Next up, Aerosmith brings their Peace Out tour to Toronto, Canada, on Tuesday, September 12. A complete list of dates can be found at aerosmith.com.
Bob Dylan has added some new dates to the new North American leg of his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.
The new dates bring Dylan to the East Coast, with multiple nights in Boston, Port Chester and Brooklyn, New York, and Newark, New Jersey, as well as shows in Providence, Rhode Island, Philadelphia and more.
The tour is set to kick off October 1 and 2 in Kansas City, Missouri, with the new additions starting November 2 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and dates confirmed through November 20 and 21 in Newark.
Tickets for the new shows go on sale Friday, September 15. A complete list of concert dates can be found at bobdylan.com.
Tommy Roland Shaw, guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the band Styx, was born in Montgomery, Alabama.
Shaw joined Styx in 1975 and made his first appearance on their 1976 album, Crystal Ball. He co—wrote and sang such well-known Styx songs as “Renegade,” “Blue Collar Man” and “Too Much Time On My Hands.”
In the 1990s, Shaw, Ted Nugent, Night Ranger’s Jack Blades and drummer Michael Cartellone formed the band Damn Yankees and had a huge hit with the song “High Enough,” which Shaw co-wrote. He and Blades also got together and formed the duo Shaw Blades, which released their debut album, Hallucination, in 1995.
Shaw still tours with Styx to this day. They have dates booked through November 11 and will then resume touring in early January 2024.
Jimmy Buffett’s wife, Jane Slagsvol, shared a touching tribute to her late husband, who passed away September 1 at the age of 76.
“As Jimmy said a few months ago, ‘growing old is not for sissies.’ These last few years have been unimaginably challenging for Jimmy and me, and we’re definitely not sissies,” she wrote on his website. “One thing we both knew and experienced, through every difficult moment, was the feeling of being buoyed up by all the people in our lives,” she continued, noting they felt “surrounded by love.”
Jane thanked Jimmy’s fans, who she described as a “big, boisterous family.” “The smile that Jimmy beamed at you from the stage was sparked by your spirit, she wrote. “He was so grateful to the community you built around him.”
Jane also thanked all the people who cared for Jimmy during his battle with Merkel cell skin cancer as well as their friends and all those who worked for the rocker.
“Jimmy was love. Every cell in his body was filled with joy. He smiled all the time, even when he was deeply ill,” she wrote. “And his sense of humor never wavered. Jimmy was always the optimist, always twinkling, always making us laugh.”
After quoting his new song “Bubbles Up,” she concluded, “Jimmy knew he was loved. Right until the end, he looked for the light. Thank you for giving joy to him and to me.”
Meanwhile, fans are showing their love for Jimmy by rediscovering his music. Billboardreports that Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s) is back on the Billboard 200 at #4, a new high for the record. It’s also the first time the album’s made not only the Top 10, but the Top 40.
