Classic Hits

Roger Waters is giving fans another taste of his upcoming reimagining of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, which he’s calling The Dark Side of the Moon Redux.

The rocker just released his new take on the album’s fourth track, “Time.” It is the second song he’s released from Redux following his new version of “Money.”

When he initially announced the album, Waters said he wanted to redo Dark Side to help celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary this year, noting it “deserves a reimagining.” He added, “I hope that we can gain more from it than we did back in 1973 when it first came out, ‘cause it’s been part of all of our lives for 50 years, and yet we are still not yet breathing in the air.”

The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, dropping October 6, is available for preorder now. It features reworkings of all the tracks on the original album. A double LP edition of the release will include a 13-minute bonus track, “Original Composition,” which was inspired by the rerecording.

Waters will celebrate the album’s release by performing his new take on Dark Side live at The London Palladium on October 8 and 9.

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Gene Simmons is known for having a huge stash of memorabilia, and now he’s giving fans a chance to own a piece of it. The KISS rocker has just added his personal ’80s Rockman II B belt amp to his personal auction page, GeneSimmonsAuctions.com.

“What you see here is my effects box. It was actually invented by a guy named Tom Scholz who was a guitar player and main songwriter in Boston,” Simmons shares in a video describing the piece. “So as soon as he invented this gizmo, you didn’t need a big amp to get a distorted guitar sound.”

Simmons explains that he used the effects box to record demos at home, which helped him get “good guitar sounds.” He says by using the amp he was able to sound like he was “playing out of a 100 watt Marshall amp.”

Gene says he used the belt amp on about 100 songs, including demos that appeared on his box set The Vault Experience 1966-2016.

Bidding on the autographed item is open now, with the highest bid as of Wednesday, August 23, being $450. The highest bidder will also get a video of Gene describing the item’s background, along with a background that notes it was “GS owned.”

Meanwhile, after a show at Crandon International Speedway on September 1, KISS will launch a fall leg of their End of The Road in North America tour on October 19 in Cincinnati, Ohio. A complete list of dates can be found at Kissonline.com.

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Duran Duran fans are getting new music soon. The band just announced their new single, “Danse Macabre,” is dropping August 30.

The cover art for the song features a black background with a red skeleton holding drum sticks, with what looks like an hourglass at his feet. 

So far there’s no word on whether the track is the first single off a new album, but back in March they did confirm “a special new music project is in the works, set for release later this year.” They also revealed that their former bandmate Andy Taylor, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment, would be playing guitar “on a few tracks.”

Duran Duran is currently on their Future Past tour. The trek hits Sacramento, California, on August 24. A complete list of dates can be found at duranduran.com.

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Paul McCartney is bringing his Got Back tour south of the border.

The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has just announced a November 14 show at Foro Sol in Mexico City. The concert will be McCartney’s first in Mexico in six years.

A presale on McCartney’s website will begin Tuesday, August 29, with a public on-sale beginning Saturday, September 2.  

McCartney is set to kick off the latest leg of his Got Back tour in Australia in October and will then bring the tour to Brazil in November. A complete list of dates, and information on the Mexico City presale, can be found at paulmccartney.com.

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A cryptic ad posted in London’s Hackney Gazette appears to be teasing a new album from The Rolling Stones. It promoted something called Hackney Diamonds, with the ad’s message featuring several Stones song titles, leading to speculation that an album announcement is coming.

Well, the editor of the paper has confirmed the ad was taken out by the band.

“It’s very exciting to have such a massive band announcing their new album in our papers, especially in such a cryptic manner,” Simon Murfitt, senior editor of both the Hackney Gazette and Islington Gazette, said, confirming the ad was taken out by Universal Music Group. “I have already had several emails requesting back copies and no doubt the papers will become collectors’ items for music fans.” 

He added, “I’ve always said The Rolling Stones have good taste when it comes to their local news and this just proves it!”

If the speculation is true, the album will be The Stones’ first record since 2016’s Blue and Lonesome, which was an album of blues covers.

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Lou Gramm doesn’t sound at all happy that his former band, Foreigner, which he fronted until 2003, is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He believes the omission is personal. 

“It’s not anything to do with our music or the amount of hits or notoriety or anything like that,” Gramm shares in an interview with The Rock Shop With Ralph. “It’s a personal thing that we’re not in there. It’s a personal vendetta between the gentleman who owns Rolling Stone and Mick,” referring to Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones.

The Rolling Stone owner he’s likely referring to is Jann Wenner, who cofounded the mag and is also the cofounder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In reality, Wenner no longer owns Rolling Stone, having sold his remaining interest in the mag in 2017.

Regarding the band’s snub, Gramm notes, “It’s very juvenile, the whole thing, and I don’t think it’s gonna get any better. I think it’s gonna stay that way. I think we’re being made an example of.”

Foreigner has been eligible for the Hall of Fame since 2002, but to this day have never been nominated, and Gramm thinks it’s a travesty. 

Asked whether he thinks they deserves to be in the Hall, Gramm declares, “Of course I do,” although he notes it should be “the original Foreigner” as opposed to later lineups. He adds, “I put an exclamation point at the end of that.”

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Culture Club’s Boy George is one of several artists set to appear in Camden, a new Disney+ documentary series focusing on London’s Camden neighborhood and the music and performers identified with it. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is being directed by Asif Kapadia, who directed Amy, the documentary about Amy Winehouse, one of the biggest stars identified with Camden.  

Other musicians featured in the film include Nile Rodgers, Coldplay‘s Chris Martin, Mark Ronson, the Black Eyed Peas, and Dua Lipa, whose production company, Radical22, is producing the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they are all artists whose “lives and careers have been changed forever” by the neighborhood. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Yes’ biggest hits are about to be all in one place. Rhino is set to release the new vinyl Yessingles on October 6, featuring 12 of the band’s most popular tunes. 

The album features a chronological history of Yes hits, with songs from 1971 to 1984. Tracks on the album include “Your Move,” “Starship Trooper,” “America,” the #1 hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and more. Also included is a promo radio edit version of “And You And I (Part One),” which has just been released digitally for the first time.

Yessingles will be released on 140-gram black vinyl, with a special splatter-vinyl coming to retailers. It is available for preorder now.

Here is the track list for Yessingles:

“Your Move” – Single Version
“Starship Trooper: Life Seeker” – Single Version
“Roundabout” – Single Edit
“America” – Single Edit
“And You And I (Part One)” – Promo Radio Edit
“Soon” – Single Edit
“Sound Chaser” – Single Edit
“Wondorous Stories” – Single Version
“Don’t Kill The Whale” – Single Version
“Into The Lens” – Single Version
“Owner Of A Lonely Heart” – Single Version
“Leave It” – Single Remix

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On this Day, August 23, 1946… 

Future The Who drummer Keith Moon was born in North West London.

Moon joined the band in 1964 before they recorded their first single, and went on to play on eight of The Who’s albums, with his last being 1978’s Who Are You.

Throughout his musical career, he was known for his destructive nature and turned trashing hotel rooms into an art.

He suffered from alcohol problems over the years and died in September of 1978 from an overdose of a drug that was supposed to prevent alcohol withdrawal.

The Who’s Roger Daltrey has been very vocal about his attempts to make a Keith Moon biopic; as of February, he revealed that he had finished the script for it.

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A new TV music series coming this fall will try to answer an often debated question: Who is the greatest rock star?

AXS TV is teaming with SPIN for the new series, SPIN’s 100 Greatest Rock Stars Since That Was A Thing, which is inspired by a list the mag initially put out in 2021. The series, which premieres October 2 at 8 p.m., will spotlight artists who “best embody the ‘Rock Star’ spirit,” including Stevie Nicks, Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Page, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Syd Barrett, Grace Slick and more.

The series will include “Artist Spotlights,” and there will be segments celebrating musicians who are loved by other artists, including Sammy Hagar, The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson and AC/DC’s Angus Young. There will also be plenty of guests chiming in about what makes the artists on the list great, with appearances by Twisted Sister‘s Dee Snider, The Police‘s Stewart Copeland, Steve Vai, Joel McHale, Carnie Wilson and others.

“The problem with lists like this is they are invariably BS. So our prime objective was to make sure we didn’t do a BS list,” says SPIN founder Bob Guccione Jr. “A rock star is, perhaps by definition, undefinable. They just are. They’re luminescent. Even when, in some cases, they didn’t want to be,” adding, “I’m excited to bring this list to life with AXS TV!” 

So, who made SPIN’s list of the greatest rock stars? Well, it’s certainly possible the list will change, but the original 2021 article picked The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards for the top spot, with Prince, Hendrix, Page and Bowie also making the cut.

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