Classic Hits

Roger Waters recently announced he’s rerecording the classic Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon, which turned 50 on Wednesday. Well, now he’s giving fans the first taste of what to expect with his new recording.

“When we recorded the stripped down songs for the Lockdown Sessions, the 50th anniversary of the release of Dark Side of The Moon was looming on the horizon,” Waters shares in a post on Facebook. “It occurred to … me that Dark Side of the Moon could well be a suitable candidate for a similar re-working, partly as a tribute to the original work, but also to re-address the political and emotional message of the whole album.”

The post featured a snippet of Waters’ take on “Us and Them.” He says when he and his collaborators first discussed the idea of making the record, they were “giggling and shouting ‘You must be f***ing mad'” at one another before eventually taking it on.

“It’s turned out really great and I’m excited for everyone to hear it,” he says. “It’s not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable. But it is a way for the seventy nine year old man to look back across the intervening fifty years into the eyes of the twenty nine year old and say, to quote a poem of mine about my Father, ‘We did our best, we kept his trust, our Dad would have been proud of us’.”

Waters also shares, “[I]t is a way for me to honor a recording that Nick (Mason) and Rick (Wright) and Dave (Gilmour) and I have every right to be very proud of.”

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Leonard Cohen’s heirs are due in court later this month in their battle with the singer’s former manager over Cohen’s trust, Variety reports.

As previously reported, Cohen’s daughter, Lorca, and son, Adam, are trying to remove Cohen’s former manager Robert Kory as a trustee of the Leonard Cohen Family Trust. They are accusing Kory and his legal representative of forging a document that appointed him as a trustee. In their most recent motion they note that Kory previously admitted to removing a page from the signed trust and switching it out for one that named him a trustee. 

The parties are due in court March 29, and Lorca and Adam are asking a judge to remove Kory as trustee, allowing them to take over control. They also want the court to force Kory to give back any money he earned as trustee, including funds from the 2022 deal that sold the rights to Cohen’s catalog to Hipgnosis Songs, reportedly worth $58 million.

Kory, who previously described the confusion over the documents as “a scrivener’s error,” has since claimed his former attorney Reeve Chudd is to blame for the forgery, noting he didn’t look at Chudd’s document before signing it. He said Chudd had “modified a document unbeknownst to anybody.” The heirs say his excuses “strain credulity.”

Cohen died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 82.

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David Lee Roth is once again sharing his solo take on a Van Halen classic. This time it’s the track “Unchained,” which originally appeared on the band’s fourth album, Fair Warning.

This is the sixth time Roth has shared a solo version of a Van Halen song. Previous releases include “Everybody Wants Some!!,” “You Really Got Me,” “Dance The Night Away,” “Panama” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.”

All the tunes were recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles in May 2022. They feature Al Estrada on guitar, Ryan Wheeler on bass and Francis Valentino on drums.

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On this Day, March 2, 1962 …

John Francis Bongiovi Jr. was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, later changing his name to Jon Bon Jovi for his musical career.

In 1983 he formed Bon Jovi with keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such and drummer Nico Torres; they were later joined by guitarist Richie Sambora. They released their self-titled debut album in 1984, which featured the top-40 hit “Runaway.”

The band has gone on to release 15 records, including 1986’s Slippery When Wet, which spent eight weeks at number one and has been certified 12-times Platinum by the RIAA, and 1988’s New Jersey, which also went to number one and produced five top-10 hits, including two number-one songs: “Bad Medicine” and “I’ll Be There for You.” It was certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Bon Jovi also released two solo albums. His solo single “Blaze of Glory” from the soundtrack to Young Guns II won a Golden Globe Award and earned him an Academy Award nomination.

In 2018, Jon was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Bon Jovi. In 2009, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

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The seventh annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert is happening next week at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, but if you can’t make it to the Big Apple you can still enjoy the show. 

For just $20, fans will be able to stream the concert, which features a lineup that includes James Taylor, Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo, Sheryl Crow, the John Mayer Trio, Warren Haynes and R&B legend Mavis Staples.

The annual concert is a benefit for God’s Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to New Yorkers who are unable to shop or cook for themselves. That $20 livestream ticket will translate to two meals. To date the concerts have raised more than $25 million. This year the charity expects to deliver more than 3 million meals, which are provided free of charge. 

Tickets for the livestream are available now.

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In celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd is releasing a new Blu-ray disc and CD of the classic concert The Dark Side of the Moon — Live at Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974 — and now they are giving fans a taste of it.

The band just released the album’s live recording of “Breathe (In The Air),” which is the second song on the classic album.

The March 24 release of the album will mark the first time it’s been issued on its own; it will be released on CD and, for the first time, on vinyl. Also on March 24, Pink Floyd will release The Dark Side of the Moon deluxe box set, which also includes the Wembley concert. 

And also in conjunction with the anniversary, Abbey Road Studios, where the album was recorded back when it was EMI Studios, just announced an exclusive 1973 Collection of The Dark Side of the Moon merch, including short and long-sleeve shirts, a hoodie, bucket hat, tote bag and replicated session sheet. The items can be purchased at shop.abbeyroad.com.

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Stephen Stills is revisiting his first solo tour for a new album. Stephen Stills Live at Berkeley 1971 is set to drop April 28, featuring archived songs hand-picked by Stephen.

The 14 previously unreleased live performances on the album were recorded August 20 and 21, 1971, at Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, California. It includes two songs with Stills’ Crosby, Stills & Nash bandmate David Crosby. 

“The intimacy of the Berkeley Community Theater seemed to serve as a focal point between the audience and the energy surrounding the social climate of the day,” Stills shares. “It was my first tour as a solo artist and these shows were raucous and unrestrained, captured here in these recordings.” 

Stephen Stills Live at Berkeley 1971 is available now for preorder in a variety of formats, including two-LP, CD, digital and a deluxe package that contains photos by famed photographer Henry Diltz, a numbered limited-edition self-portrait, framed lithograph and more.

Here is the track list for Stephen Stills Live at Berkeley 1971:

“Love The One You’re With”
“Do For The Others”
“Jesus Gave Love Away For Free”
“You Don’t Have To Cry” (with David Crosby)
“The Lee Shore” (with David Crosby)
“Word Game”
“Sugar Babe”
“49 Bye-Byes/For What It’s Worth”
“Black Queen”
“Know You’ve Got To Run”
“Bluebird Revisited”
“Lean On Me”
“Cherokee”
“Band Introductions”
“Ecology Song”

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Extreme has announced a new album called Six.

The aptly titled sixth studio effort from the “More Than Words” outfit — and their first since 2008 — will arrive on June 9.

“When Eddie Van Halen passed, it really hit me,” says guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. “I’m not going to be the one who will take the throne, but I felt some responsibility to keep guitar playing alive. So, you hear a lot of fire on the record.”

You can listen to the lead single “Rise” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.

Extreme plans to tour this year in support of Six, the details of which will be announced at a later date.

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A new musical about legendary disc jokey Alan Freed is set to open in New York this summer. 

Rock & Roll Man stars American Idol’s Constantine Maroulis as Freed, the DJ who popularized records by such artists as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis. It will begin previews June 2 at the New World Stages, Stage 3 in Manhattan, with the opening set for June 21.

The musical is set in the final days of Freed’s life; during a fever dream, Freed’s musical legacy is on trial, with J. Edgar Hoover as prosecutor and Little Richard as the defense attorney. It features an original score, along with classic tunes like “Lucille,” “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” “Tutti Frutti,” “Peggy Sue,” “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Great Balls of Fire.”

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We are getting our first look at the new Blood, Sweat & Tears documentary, What The Hell Happened To Blood, Sweat & Tears?, which is set to hit theaters March 24. 

A trailer for the John Scheinfeld-directed doc has just been released.

The film, which was made with the full cooperation of band members, delves into how the band got caught up in political controversy following a State Department-sponsored tour of Iron Curtain countries Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland in 1970. As the description notes, “As a result, they found themselves in the crosshairs of a polarized America – as divided then as it is now – and became an early victim of cancel culture.”

“It has been fascinating for me to re-live these incidents of some 50 years ago, through the footage, documentation and, incredibly, the live performance tapes John and his team discovered through some very deep and tireless digging. I believe the music we made then holds up today,” founding member and drummer Bobby Colomby shares. Blood, Sweat & Tears is known for such hits as “Spinning Wheel,” “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” and “And When I Die.”

Scheinfeld adds, “Uncovering the details of the extraordinary story took us far and wide, and we were amazed by the unexpected twists and turns of the tale. We hope people will be as struck as we were by the political parallels and counterpoints between then and now.”

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