Classic Hits

Spanish Model, the unique new album featuring a variety of Latin-music artists performing Spanish-language versions of the songs from Elvis Costello‘s second studio effort, 1978’s This Year’s Model, got its release today.

As previously reported, Spanish Model features all of the songs from This Year’s Model, plus select other tunes from that record’s sessions, with newly recorded vocals by various Latin artists accompanied by the original music by Costello and his band The Attractions.

Coinciding with the album’s release, a music video for award-winning Colombian-born singer/songwriter Sebastian Yatra‘s rendition of “Big Tears,” re-titled “Llorar,” has debuted on Costello’s official YouTube channel.

“Big Tears” didn’t appear on This Year’s Model, but was released in 1978 as the B-side of the “Pump It Up” single, and also was included on Costello’s 1980 compilation, Taking Liberties.

“‘Big Tears’ should have always been on the album, as it was at least equal if not superior to some of the other songs but we always wanted to make 7″ inch singles very special by having such a great track on the flip side of a hit record,” Elvis explains. “Yatra’s wonderful rendition of the song, only confirms my feeling that the tune is now where it has always belonged.”

Among the other artists who put their Spanish-language spins on the This Year’s Model tunes are Juanes, Luis Fonsi and Vega.

Meanwhile, the first episode of a six-part documentary series focusing on Spanish Model will premiere September 13. The series, which will roll out over the course of two weeks, will include interviews with nearly all of the artists who contributed to the album, as well as with Costello, The Attractions’ members and This Year’s Model producer Nick Lowe.

Here’s Spanish Model‘s full track list:

“No Action” — Nina Diaz
“(Yo No Quiero Ir a) Chelsea” (“[I Don’t Want to Go to] Chelsea”) — Raquel Sofía y Fuego
“Yo Te Vi” (“The Beat”) — Draco Rosa
“Pump It Up” — Juanes
“Detonantes” (“Little Triggers”) — La Marisoul
“Tu Eres Para Mi” (“You Belong to Me”) — Luis Fonsi
“Hand in Hand” — Francisca Valenzuela y Luis Humberto Navejas
“La Chica de Hoy” (“This Year’s Girl”) — Cami
“Mentira” (“Lip Service”) — Pablo López
“Viviendo en el Paraiso” (“Living in Paradise”) — Jesse & Joy
“Lipstick Vogue” — Morat
“La Turba” (“Night Rally”) — Jorge Drexler
“Llorar” (“Big Tears”) — Sebastián Yatra
“Radio Radio” — Fito Páez
“Crawling to the U.S.A.” — Gian Marco y Nicole Zignago
“Se Esta Perdiendo la Inocencia” (“Running Out of Angels”) — Vega

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Twenty years ago Saturday, Mariah Carey’s most maligned and misunderstood album, Glitter, was released. Here’s the story of this project, which is now a cult classic.

Mariah had been planning a movie and soundtrack project called All that Glitters since 1997, but didn’t get a chance to work on it until she signed a new five-album, $100 million contract with Virgin Records in April of 2001.

But on July 19, after the release of the soundtrack’s lead single, “Loverboy,” Mariah made a bizarre appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live, handing out ice cream to fans and stripping off her shirt to reveal a more revealing outfit. “Loverboy” failed to reach number one — which, in Mariah terms, made it a “flop.”

After the TRL incident, Mariah posted a voice note on her website saying she’d like to “take a little break.” On July 26, she was hospitalized for two weeks, citing “extreme exhaustion” and a “physical and emotional breakdown.” Mariah would later reveal in 2018 that it was during this time that she was diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder.

As Mariah became the butt of late-night jokes, the release of Glitter the album was delayed from August 21 to, unfortunately, September 11. When it finally emerged, critics disliked its ‘80s vibe and felt Mariah was overshadowed by the album’s many guest stars, which included rappers Ludacris, Da Brat, Busta Rhymes, Fabolous and others.

Glitter was the lowest-selling album of Mariah’s career to that point — something she would later blame on the 9/11 terrorist attacks — but when the film also flopped at the box office, Virgin Records dropped her.

Flash forward to 2018: Mariah Carey fans launched a #JusticeForGlitter social media campaign, urging people to buy the album.  It worked: The album ultimately reached number one on iTunes.  A grateful Mariah, then on tour supporting her album, Caution, added a medley of songs from Glitter to her tour set list.

Many music critics subsequently changed their tune, praising Glitter as “brilliant,” “undeniably ahead of its time” and “the perfect ‘80s tribute.”

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In 2018, former Journey frontman Steve Perry returned to music with Traces, his first new solo album in 24 years.  Now he’s set to release his first-ever collection of holiday tunes.

The Season, which is due out on November 5, features Perry’s renditions of eight classic yuletide tunes, including “Winter Wonderland,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “Auld Lang Syne,” “Silver Bells” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

“I hope when people hear this record, they’re teleported in the same way I was when I recorded all these songs,” says Steve. “I hope it brings them back to those golden moments with their loved ones and gives them that feeling of joy and connection and comfort that we all need so much.”

In conjunction with the album announcement, Perry has debuted one of the songs as a digital single, a jazzy, stripped-down rendition of “I’ll be Home for Christmas.”

“When I was recording vocals for ‘I’ll be Home for Christmas,’ as I was singing ‘Please have snow and mistletoe and presents under the tree’…I was emotionally thrown into standing in my grandmother’s house staring through the door that I always hung mistletoe and then I saw her beautiful Christmas tree in front of her living room window,” Perry notes. “I had to stop singing because it felt like I was really there…I was a bit stunned…Back Home for Christmas is where everyone wants to be!”

The Season, which you can pre-order now, is available in multiple formats, including CD, digital, streaming and vinyl. Various limited-edition colored-vinyl versions of the album can be purchased at Perry’s official online store, Target and Barnes & Noble.

Here’s the full track list of The Season:

“The Christmas Song”
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
“Auld Lang Syne”
“Winter Wonderland”
“What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”
“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
“Silver Bells”
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

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Rolling Stones fans in the U.S. will have an additional chance to see the band on their upcoming 2021 No Filter Tour. The British rock legends have just announced that a second concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles has been confirmed for October 14, three days before the previously scheduled show at the venue will take place.

Tickets for the October 14 performance go on sale to the general public on Friday, September 17 at 10 p.m. PT via RollingStones.com.

Pre-sale tickets will be available for people who’ve signed up for the Stones mailing list starting Wednesday, September 15 at 10 a.m. PT. You can sign up for the mailing list at uk-umg.com.

The Rolling Stones’ U.S. tour leg, which now features 13 dates, kicks off September 26 in St. Louis and is mapped out through a November 20 concert in Austin, Texas.  The trek will feature lauded session drummer Steve Jordan stepping for the band’s beloved longtime beat keeper Charlie Watts, who died August 24 at age 80.  Jordan’s participation was arranged prior to Watts’ unexpected passing.

Meanwhile, in honor of Watts, the band is asking fans to share photos and memories of Charlie and of their favorite pieces of vintage Rolling Stones-related memorabilia, artwork and more, on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #mystonesmerch. The Stones also have been displaying many of the images on a fan wall that you can check out at digital.umusic.com/rollingstones.

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This Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice has shared with ABC Audio his recollections of that awful day.

The Brooklyn, New York, native says he was living in California at that time, and he recalls that he was sick that day and was watching on television as the Twin Towers collapsed after terrorists flew passenger planes into the buildings.

“I have this condition with really bad nosebleeds, and I had one that day, and I was just watching the news,” he remembers. “I was laying around and I saw the towers go down.”

Appice continues, “[M]y anxiety level was through the roof, ’cause I was living in Brooklyn when those things were going up, and every time I’d come into the city, I’d see them get higher and higher…And now they were gone. Freaked me out.”

Carmine admits that after the first plane crash, “I thought…’What kind of idiot flies a plane into the tower’…I thought it was like an accident. And then when the second one hit, I said, ‘Whoa!…This is no idiot, this is planned.'”

Appice reveals that he actually visited the Twin Towers two weeks before the attacks, while he was in New York for a concert with his band Cactus.

“For some reason, [guitarist] Jim McCarty wanted to go down to the towers,” he recalls. “[The band] went down to the towers after the gig. It was late, like one o’clock in the morning…and we just looked up at the towers and there was nobody around…And then we went home to California. Two weeks later, bam, they’re gone.”

Earlier this week, Vanilla Fudge released a new single, a cover of the Supremes classic “Stop in the Name of Love.”

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Lindsey Buckingham, who’s preparing to release his new self-titled solo album next week, has a lot to say about his 2018 dismissal from Fleetwood Mac in a new Los Angeles Times interview.

It’s been reported that Buckingham was fired from the group after Stevie Nicks gave Fleetwood Mac a “him or me” ultimatum following an incident at the 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year gala. Buckingham told the Los Angeles Times that he was disappointed that band mates Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie didn’t have his back in that conflict, while suggesting that financial concerns may have been a factor.

Lindsey maintains Mick has “never quite gotten to the point where he’s financially stable all the time,” adding, “He’s been married and divorced many times. He’s just not smart with his money.”

As for Christine, Buckingham reports that she sent him an email after his firing that read, “I’m really sorry that I didn’t stand up for you, but I just bought a house.” Lindsey also posed that Stevie wanted him out of the band so she could garner more attention and more control of the group’s direction. “I think she saw the possibility of remaking the band more in the Stevie Nicks vein,” he maintains.

The Los Angeles Times informed Nicks about Buckingham’s comments, and she sent a message in response, saying that Lindsey’s version of the events surrounding his firing “is factually inaccurate.”

She continues, “To be exceedingly clear…I did not demand he be fired. Frankly, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my well-being.”

Nicks says “many lengthy group discussions” followed, and Fleetwood Mac “found a new path forward with two hugely talented new members,” referring to Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

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Genesis‘ upcoming tour is called The Last Domino?, but the question mark at the end of that phrase should be an exclamation point, as far as Phil Collins is concerned.

Phil appeared on BBC Breakfast on Thursday along with band mates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, and said flatly, “We’re all men of our age, and I think to some extent, I think [this tour] probably is putting [the band] to bed. I think just generally for me, I don’t know if I want to go out on the road anymore.”

Phil, who’s 70, has been sidelined by a number of serious health problems; his son Nicholas will be playing the drums on the tour this time around. Asked if he’s still able to play, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer admitted, “No. No. I would love to but…I mean, I can barely hold a stick with this hand, so there are certain physical things that get in the way.”

He added that his condition is “very frustrating, because I’d love to be playing up there with my son.”

During his I’m Not Dead Yet solo tour, which ran from 2017 to 2019, Phil sat on stage and sang while Nicholas played drums, although he did play a cajón — a percussion instrument played with the hands — at some shows.

The Last Domino? tour will be the first time Genesis, which has been in existence for more than 50 years, has toured together since 2007.  The trek kicks off in the U.K. next week, and if all goes according to plan, it’ll come to the U.S. in November.

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When Elton John announced Wednesday that he was going to be in an UberEats commercial with rapper-singer Lil Nas X, we didn’t expect to get three separate commercials — and three sets of fabulous costumes to boot.

Each ad is part of UberEats’ ongoing “Tonight I’ll Be Eating” campaign, in which celebrities detail what they’ve ordered and had delivered via the online platform.  The first one, “Rides,” shows Elton riding a coin-operated kiddie rocket ride, while Nas is on a similar one in the shape of a horse.

After each singer describes their food order, Elton asks Nas to loan him some money to gets his ride started, but Nas doesn’t understand him because Elton uses the British slang words for money: “bones,” “lolly” and “bangers and mash.”

Finally, an exasperated Elton says, “I don’t have any money!” to which Nas responds, in a British accent, “You don’t LOOK broke!”

The second clip, “Mayo vs. Ketchup,” features Elton announcing that he’s ordered a club sandwich with fries, with mayo on the side.  Nas, who’s sitting in a clump of flowers wearing a Louis XIV-style wig and playing a sitar — because why not? — responds, “Mayonnaise? On fries?” Elton responds, “A little judgy, don’t you think?” to which Nas adds, “That’s weird.”

The third clip, “Legendary Looks,” features Nas dressed in the multi-colored spangled feather outfit Elton wore on The Muppet Show, while Elton is wearing a pink cowboy outfit like the ones Nas wore while promoting his song “Old Town Road.”

“You look amazing!” gushes Elton.

“No, YOU look amazing,” responds Nas.

“Thank you,” replies Elton.

“Thank you,” says Nas. They go back and forth before Elton finally says, “You’re welcome.”

As previously reported, Elton and Nas have recorded a duet with will appear on both of their upcoming albums.

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In celebration of today’s 50th anniversary of the release of John Lennon‘s classic solo album, Imagine, and his enduring peace anthem of the same name, a segment of the song’s lyrics has been projected digitally on buildings and structures in select cities around the world.

The lyrical phrase “IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE LIVING LIFE IN PEACE” has appeared as a digital projection in London on the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul’s Cathedral; in Lennon’s hometown of Liverpool, U.K., on the Liver Building and the Museum of Liverpool; and on remnants of the Berlin Wall in Germany.

The lyrics also have been posted on billboards in New York City’s Times Square, and in Tokyo near the historic Nihonbashi bridge.

Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, whom John credited with co-writing the song’s lyrics, said about the projections, “John would have loved this. ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. We are still together now and we still believe this. The sentiment is just as important now as when it was written and released 50 years ago.”

As previously reported, a number of events and activities have been planned today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Imagine album and song. As part of the celebration, John and Yoko’s experimental 1971 film Imagine will be screened today at 2:30 p.m. ET at select theaters or online for free. Fans also will be able to check out the movie, which was restored and re-released in 2018, at Amazon Prime’s music-themed streaming service The Coda Collection.

Also, U.K. radio presenter Tim Burgess will host a special edition of his popular Tim’s Twitter Listening Party at the same time as the Imagine film screenings.

Visit JohnLennon.com to find out more details about the various planned commemorations.

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Eric Clapton will release a new live album and video called The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions on November 12 that features the guitar legend playing a mostly acoustic set with select members of his touring band.

The intimate performance was recorded at the Cowdray House country mansion in West Sussex, U.K., with no audience except for Clapton’s wife, Melia. The show featured Eric performing some of his best-known original songs, several blues classics and covers of two memorable Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac tunes: “Black Magic Woman” and “Man of the World.”

Slowhand was joined for the performance by bassist Nathan East, drummer Steve Gadd and keyboardist Chris Stainton.

Lady in the Balcony, which you can pre-order now, will be available as a DVD/CD or Blu-ray/CD set, a 4K UHD/Blu-ray collection, a two-LP set pressed on yellow vinyl, as digital video and audio versions, and as a Deluxe Edition package featuring the DVD, Blu-ray and CD housed in a 40-page hardback photo book. In addition, a standalone CD version will be sold exclusively at Target.

Among the classic songs from Clapton’s back catalog featured on Lady in the Balcony are “After Midnight,” “Bell Bottom Blues,” “Layla” and “Tears in Heaven.”

The performance was organized after Clapton’s May 2021 concerts at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s the full track list of Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions:

“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”
“Golden Ring”
“Black Magic Woman”
“Man of the World”
“Kerry”
“After Midnight”
“Bell Bottom Blues”
“Key to the Highway”
“River of Tears”
“Rock Me Baby”
“Believe in Life”
“Going Down Slow”
“Layla”
“Tears in Heaven”
“Long Distance Call”
“Bad Boy”
“Got My Mojo Working”

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