Classic Hits

Black Crowes start their opening gig for Aerosmith‘s Peace Out tour this Saturday, September 2, but they’ve also got some plans for their back catalog.

A limited-edition box set of the band’s second album, The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion, is now available for preorder; it ships December 1.

On Instagram, the band writes, “We revisited the archives alongside our friend [and producer] George Drakoulias and created an incredibly special, super deluxe edition of our sophomore album.” 

Among the goodies you’ll find are unreleased studio recordings; rare B sides; a live performance from Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas, on February 6, 1993; and a newly remastered version of the original album.

The four-LP and three-CD versions of the box set come with a reproduction of the original 132-page promotional hymn book that came with the album. Also included are insights on the record from Chris and Rich Robinson, as well as a set of lithographs of classic images from the original album photo sessions, plus the sheet music for the nine songs the brothers co-wrote.

The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion was first released in May 1992. It topped the Billboard album chart and featured four songs that topped the publication’s rock charts: “Remedy,” “Hotel Illness,” “Sting Me” and “Thorn In My Pride.”

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The Rolling Stones teases continue.

On Friday, September 1, the “Gimme Shelter” rockers shared new videos on Facebook and Instagram directing you to their newly launched website, HackneyDiamonds.com, which fans are speculating is hinting at a new album titled Hackney Diamonds. The posts feature the Stones’ lips logo made up of broken diamond pieces and rising from the street and the beach.

“A new Stones era,” the captions to the posts reads. “Worldwide September 6th.”

Notably, the HackneyDiamonds.com site features a countdown clock that will hit zero on September 6.

Meanwhile, both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have shared similar teasers on Instagram. Mick’s post also includes the beach video, as well as a clip of the Lips logo rising from a glacier, while Keith’s features footage of a New York City Subway station.

Should Hackney Diamonds indeed be a new Rolling Stones album, it’ll be their first since their 2016 blues covers compilation Blue & Lonesome. The most recent original Stones record is 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

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On This Day, September 1, 1973 …

Paul McCartney and Wings began recording what would become the album Band on the Run in Lagos, Nigeria.

Just ahead of the sessions, drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Henry McCullough quit, leaving McCartney to make the album with just his wife Linda McCartney and Denny Laine.

McCartney faced several challenges during the recording of the album; the quality of the studio was poor, he and Linda were robbed at knifepoint, and he was accused of “stealing” African music by legendary Nigerian singer Fela Kuti.

Despite it all, Band on the Run was a massive success and went to #1 on the Billboard 200, spending four weeks on top of the chart. It wound up becoming McCartney’s bestselling and most-acclaimed post-Beatles release.

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Paul McCartney will launch a new leg of his Got Back tour in Australia in October, which means a lot of traveling for the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. And he has some specific ways he likes to pass the time.

In a new Q&A posted to his website, McCartney was asked how he keeps himself busy while traveling on a plane, with the fan wondering if he has hobbies like “reading, watching TV, or knitting…?” McCartney says he’s not a knitter, although he notes, “I imagine that would be quite cool, actually … it must be a great release of tension.”

“But I watch movies,” he says. “So when I travel from London to New York, its [sic] normally a seven-hour journey so I end up watching about three movies, and in the middle of it all I try and have a meal.”

For long car rides, McCartney says he’ll watch movies or TV shows on his iPad, revealing, “I’m currently on Better Call Saul and it’s a good one.”  

One thing he doesn’t do is read, leaving that instead for just before he goes to bed. “I try to read biographies, which can be a little bit dry,” he says. “After a few pages you start you yawn, the page goes fuzzy, so it’s light off and straight to sleep. I like that!” 

Paul McCartney’s Got Back tour kicks off October 18 in Adelaide, Australia. He’s also announced dates in Brazil and Mexico City. A complete list of dates can be found at paulmccartney.com.

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Aerosmith‘s hits are still popular with fans. The band’s recent Greatest Hits compilation tops the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart this week.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers moved 19,000 equivalent album units, 10,000 of which were from album sales, to land at #1. It’s their second chart-topper on the Rock Albums chart following 2012’s Music From Another Dimension, which was their last album of original songs.

Greatest Hits also lands at #4 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #7 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart. It’s at #36 on the all genre Billboard 200 chart, their 31st album on that chart.

But this isn’t the first time Aerosmith has released a greatest hits package. In 1980 Columbia released Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits, which was then reissued in 1997 with hits they accumulated through 1988. They also released Big Ones in 1994, O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits in 2002 and Devil’s Got A New Disguise: The Very Best of Aerosmith in 2006.

The latest Greatest Hits album was released ahead of Aerosmith’s Peace Out tour, which will be their goodbye to the road. It launches Saturday, September 2, in Philadelphia. A complete list of dates can be found at aerosmith.com.

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The effect artificial intelligence will have on music has been the subject of hot debate, and Queen’s Brian May has shared his thoughts on the subject.

“I think a lot of great stuff will come from AI, because it is going to increase the powers of humans to solve problems,” May shares in an interview with Guitar Player. But he says, “[M]y major concern with it now is in the artistic area. I think by this time next year the landscape will be completely different. We won’t know what’s been created by AI and what’s been created by humans.”

He continues, “I think we might look back on 2023 as the last year when humans really dominated the music scene. … It makes me feel apprehensive, and I’m preparing to feel sad about this.”

May shares that he’s worried about “the potential for AI to cause evil” in all areas, not just music.

“I think the whole thing is massively scary. It’s much more far-reaching than anybody realized — well, certainly than I realized,” he says.

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U2’s Bono has huge FOMO, according to Noel Gallagher. The Oasis rocker revealed the fun tidbit during an interview discussing his first meeting with Bruce Springsteen. 

Gallagher tells Sunday World’s Shuffle feature that his meeting with Springsteen happened by chance when they bumped into each other in Ibiza, Spain. Noel called Springsteen an “amazing guy” and recalled the fun time he had lunching with The Boss, his wife, Patti Scialfa, and others.

“We were sat at this long table, we’d had a few bottles of wine and there’s food everywhere and we took a selfie with each other and [Springsteen] said, ‘Should we ruin Bono’s day?’ And we sent him the selfie,” Gallagher shared, suggesting the U2 frontman “has got a crippling fear of missing out.”

“And his wife called me and said, ‘When you sent him that photograph he couldn’t handle the fact that you two were in Spain having the time of your life and he wasn’t there,'” he says.

But it was all in fun, as Gallagher called Bono “one of his dearest friends.”

“He gets a lot of flack, but I f***** love him,” Gallagher said.

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While we haven’t heard any new music from ABBA since 2021, fans are getting the next best thing with a new song from member Agnetha Fältskog [Ang-NE-ta FELT-schoo-g].

Agnetha just released the track “Where Do We Go From Here?” It will be the only new song on an upcoming album reimagining the tunes from her last solo record, 2013’s A. She explains that she was inspired to reimagine the record after hearing one of the songs on the radio.

“Suddenly it hit me, what would the album sound like if we had made it today…? I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” she writes on her recently launched Instagram account. “I reached out to the boys who produced ‘A’ back in 2013 – ‘What would you guys think about reimagining “A” and making a totally new version of it?’ They loved the idea! ‘Let’s try!'” 

Agnetha’s new album, A+, will be released October 13. It is available for preorder now. You can listen to “Where Do We Go From Here?” now via streaming services and on YouTube.

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The Jimi Hendrix documentary Music, Money, Madness … Jimi Hendrix In Maui is getting a special screening in Los Angeles, with proceeds going to help the victims of the recent wildfires in Maui, Hawaii. 

The screening is happening September 20 at the TCL Chinese Theatre at 7 p.m. It will include a Q&A with the film’s producers: Janie Hendrix, Hendrix’s sister and Experience Hendrix CEO, and John McDermott, who also directed the film. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Maui Food Bank, Hawaii Community Foundation—Maui Strong Fund and Maui Humane Society. 

“Jimi loved Hawaii! His time there proved to be historic and really rather epic,” said Janie. “He was also a humanitarian in his own right, and very concerned about the human condition. This screening of the film of Jimi’s live concert in Maui is a profound opportunity for him to continue what he started there all those years ago, and at the same time help the people of Maui who have suffered such a tremendous loss.” 

Music, Money, Madness … Jimi Hendrix In Maui follows the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1970 visit to Maui and their participation in the critically panned counterculture film Rainbow Bridge, produced by their controversial manager Michael Jeffery.

Tickets for the special TCL Chinese Theatre screening are on sale now.

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Fleetwood Mac has released another track off their upcoming Rumours Live double album, which drops September 8.

The latest is a live version of their classic “Go Your Own Way,” written by Lindsey Buckingham. The original was the lead single from 1977’s Rumours and became the band’s first top 10 hit. This is the third track they’ve released from Rumuors Live, following live versions of “Dreams” and “Say You Love Me.”

Rumours Live features performances from the band’s August 29, 1977, concert at the Forum in Los Angeles. The 90-minute concert was the opening night of a three-night stand, where the band performed live versions of “You Make Loving Fun,” “Songbird” and “The Chain,” as well as “Landslide,” “Rhiannon” and others from 1975’s Fleetwood Mac.

Rumors Live is available for preorder now.

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