Classic Hits

It’s Christmas in July! And to celebrate Mariah Carey is releasing a limited edition crate filled with holiday goodies. 

The legendary voice behind the Christmas classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You” announced the news on Thursday, sharing an animated clip of Santa Claus taking her call while in a tropical-looking location.

“Hey Santa, it’s Mariah,” she says in the clip. “I miss you so much and I cannot wait for you to see what I’ve been working on. A sneak peek is out now and there’s even bigger news coming later.”

“Alright, love you,” Mariah concludes. “Merry Christmas in July!”

In the caption, the songstress directs to fans to a website where it’s revealed that she’s selling a limited edition crate “full of Mariah Christmas collectibles! From ornaments and gifting essentials like baker’s twine and exclusive gift labels to holiday baking treats like an exclusive cookie plate.” 

The crates, which sell for $49.99 plus shipping, are on sale now, however, the website states that they won’t be shipped out until November. 

Visit LootCrate.com/mariah-carey to learn more.

 

 

 

 

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This Saturday, July 17, marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Journey‘s seventh studio album, Escape, which is the band’s only album ever to top the Billboard 200.

Escape is packed with memorable tunes, including four top-20 hits — “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Open Arms,” “Who’s Crying Now” and “Still They Ride” — and the classic-rock-radio staple “Stone in Love.”

Escape has just been certified Diamond for amassing 10 million sales or album equivalent units in the U.S. It becomes Journey’s second album to achieve the milestone, following the group’s 1988 Greatest Hits compilation.

Speaking with ABC Audio, founding guitarist Neal Schon gushes, “To have a greatest-hits Diamond is incredible, but to have one of your [studio] albums become a Diamond, it’s like beyond incredible to all of us.”

Reflecting on what made Escape a special album, Schon notes, “I felt definitely it was the most diversified record musically we had ever made, with many different types of music on it.”

The album was Journey’s first to feature keyboardist Jonathan Cain, who replaced founding member Gregg Rolie. Cain immediately made his presence felt, co-writing all 10 of Escape‘s tracks.

Schon, who co-wrote eight of Escape‘s tunes, notes, “[Jonathan] bought something that the band needed to move on and move forward, and better the songwriting in a different creative way.”

Of course, “Don’t Stop Believin'” has become Journey’s best-known song, although it only peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Open Arms” and “Who’s Crying Now” reached #2 and #4, respectively.

Schon recalls that when “Don’t Stop Believin'” was finished, he “said to everybody in the studio, ‘I think this song has something special. I think this song is going to be one of our biggest songs ever.'”

Here’s Escape‘s full track list:

“Don’t Stop Believin'”
“Stone in Love”
“Who’s Crying Now”
“Keep On Runnin'”
“Still They Ride”
“Escape”
“Lay It Down”
“Dead or Alive”
“Mother, Father”
“Open Arms”

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Hulu’s new six-part documentary series McCartney 3,2,1, which features Paul McCartney examining his musical journey with acclaimed music producer Rick Rubin, premieres Friday, July 16.

Today.com debuted a preview segment from the series featuring the Beatles legend explaining to Rubin how he came up with the name “Sgt. Pepper” used in the title of the Fab Four’s groundbreaking 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

“I was on a plane with our roadie, and we were eating, and he said, ‘Could you pass the salt and pepper?’ And I thought he said ‘Sgt. Pepper,'” McCartney recalls in the clip. “So we had a laugh about that, but then the more I thought about it, [I thought,] ‘Sgt. Pepper? That’s kind of a cool character.'”

Meanwhile, another clip from the series that was posted on Hulu’s official YouTube channel shows McCartney and Rubin listening to the basic tracks from the 1966 Beatles tune “And Your Bird Can Sing,” and shows the producer animatedly gushing about how the band members were “cooking” on the track.

As previously reported, McCartney 3,2,1 features in-depth and intimate conversations between Sir Paul and Rubin about the music icon’s music, from the first songs he wrote as a teenager through his work with The Beatles, his 1970s group Wings, and his solo career.

In conjunction with discussing the writing and recording of his songs, McCartney also will talk about his influences, the personal relationships that helped inspire the tunes, and more.

All six episodes of McCartney 3,2,1 will be available for viewing on July 16. The series was directed by Zachary Heinzerling, who also directed the Academy Award-nominated 2013 documentary Cutie and the Boxer.

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Madonna‘s concert documentary, Madame X, has an official release date. It will have its Paramount+ debut on Friday, October 8.

The film was shot in Lisbon, Portugal during the Queen of Pop’s sold-out tour, which ran from September of 2019 to March of 2020. It captures songs off her 2019 album, Madame X, as well as previous hits and fan favorites.

“Sharing my vision with global audiences has been profoundly meaningful to me,” Madonna says in a statement. “The opportunity to bring its message and the incandescent artistry of all involved to an even wider audience comes at a time when music is so deeply needed to remind us of the sacred bond of our shared humanity.”

Madonna’s Madame X trek was unlike any of her previous tours.  Instead of her usual stadium show, she created a much more intimate performance for theaters, and played multiple nights in major cities in the United States, England, France and Portugal.

Several shows on the tour were canceled due to a recurring knee injury Madonna suffered, and the entire trek was subsequently cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Journey‘s classic seventh studio album, 1981’s Escape, has just been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales and equivalent units of 10 million copies in the U.S.

Escape, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this Saturday, July 17, is the band’s only album to top the Billboard 200. It yielded some of Journey’s most enduring hits, including the anthem “Don’t Stop Believin’,” plus “Open Arms” and “Who’s Crying Now,” as well as the classic-rock-radio staple “Stone in Love.”

Impressively, “Don’t Stop Believin'” has amassed more than a billion streams on Spotify alone.

“This is such a truly gratifying achievement for all the work we did together,” declares guitarist Neal Schon. “Congratulations to all.”

Adds keyboardist Jonathan Cain, “On behalf of all that helped to make our album Escape a Diamond award achievement, we say thank you. To our fans, to our bandmates who took part in recording this album, to our label, to all in radio and finally to the distributors who believed in this music; we are deeply humbled and honored to accept this prestigious award.”

Escape becomes Journey’s second RIAA Diamond-certified album, following the band’s 1988 Greatest Hits compilation, which has sold over 15 million copies or album equivalent units.

Journey recently released a brand-new song, “The Way We Used to Be,” the group’s first new music since 2011, and its first with its three recently added members — bassist Randy Jackson, drummer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jason Derlatka. Jackson previously was a member of Journey during the mid-1980s.

Meanwhile, the band has several concerts on its 2021 itinerary, including a July 31 performance at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago and a July 29 Lollapalooza “Aftershow” event at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom.

Check out the band’s full schedule at JourneyMusic.com.

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If you feel the need to Power Up with alcohol, AC/DC‘s got you covered.

The band has teamed with the high-end collectible company KnuckleBonz and the CaliCraft Brewing Company to introduce two new beers: AC/DC PWR UP Juicy IPA and AC/DC TNT Double IPA.  They’ll be coming to select retail outlets in mid-September, but you can pre-order them now; depending on where you live, direct-to-consumer shipping starts July 26.

The 6.6% ABV PWR UP Juicy IPA is inspired by AC/DC’s most recent album, and features “massive flavors of bright passionfruit, ripe peaches, and juicy mandarin.”  The TNT Double IPA is 8.2% ABV, and is described as “big and bold,” with flavors of “fresh cut grapefruit, sweet mango, and fresh pine.”

If you happen to be in California, there is a series of release events for the beers on July 23, 24 and 25 at the CaliCraft Brewing Company at 2700 Mitchell Dr. in Walnut Creek, CA.

CaliCraft says that AC/DC had final approval over all the details of the beer, including the designs on the cans, and these two brews are the first in what will be a series of AC/DC-branded beers.

 

 

 

 

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Jeff LaBar, lead guitarist for the hair-metal band Cinderella, has died. He was 58.

His son, Sebastian, confirmed his father’s death on Instagram and shared a slew of family photos in the emotional tribute.

“So i just got the call… @jefflabar , my father, my hero, my idol, passed away today,” he wrote Wednesday. “I’m currently at a loss for words. I love you pop!”

Sebastian added, “If you could, please share pictures or video of all the fun times we all had with my dad. It would be greatly appreciated.”

Gaile LaBar-Bernhardt, LaBar’s ex wife, said in a separate statement to TMZ that LaBar was found deceased in his Nashville home.  A cause of death has not been revealed.

According to LaBar-Bernhardt, she went to check on her ex-husband after no one heard from him in a few days.

LaBar’s Cinderella band mates — frontman Tom Keifer, bassist Eric Brittingham and drummer Fred Coury — issued joint statement paying homage to him.

“Heavy hearts cannot begin to describe the feeling of losing our brother Jeff,” the musicians say. “The bond between us over decades of creating music and touring the world is something that we as a band uniquely shared. Those memories with Jeff will be forever alive in our hearts. It’s unimaginable that one of our band brothers has left us. We’re sending his wife Debinique, his son Sebastian, family, and friends our deepest condolences.”

LaBar had served as Cinderella’s guitarist since 1985, replacing Michael Schermick, and assisted with their hits “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone),” “Somebody Save Me,” “Nobody’s Fool” and many others.

LaBar also toured with fellow rockers such as Bon Jovi, Poison, Quiet Riot and Skid Row.  He also served as guitarist for Naked Beggars.

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A few months ago, Carlos Santana told ABC Audio that his band will be releasing a new album later this year titled Blessings and Miracles, and in a new interview with the network, the guitar legend shares some updated details about the project.

Carlos reveals that the album was “just completed” and is due out in the fall. An eclectic list of artists contributed to the record, which Santana says will feature various musical genres, including “country, gospel and reggae.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also reports that country star Chris Stapleton “wrote an incredible song for us, ‘Joy,'” and that hit-making pop songwriter Diane Warren “wrote some great songs” for the project as well.

In the previous interview, Carlos told ABC Audio that Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett will be featured on the album, and that Steve Winwood and Living Colour frontman Corey Glover also might appear on the record. Santana now confirms that Winwood and Glover will be on the album, and says Hammett will be featured on a track alongside Mark Osegueda, lead singer of the Bay Area thrash-metal band Death Angel.

In addition, Ally Brooke of the girl group Fifth Harmony also sings on Blessings and Miracles.

“This new album is going to blow a lot of people [away],” Carlos gushes.

Meanwhile, Santana says he’s feeling great about still creating vibrant music at this time in his life.

“I just feel like it’s wonderful to be 73 years old, young, and be relevant, and stay relevant,” he declares. “You know, it’s quite a gift from God, man.”

Carlos adds, “I’m still dreaming of doing music with new musicians and discovering new avenues to the unknown and unpredictability.”

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Queen‘s Greatest Hits may have been released 1981, but the 40-year-old compilation was still among the best-selling albums in the U.S. for the first half of 2021.

According to music-sales info provider MRC Data, Queen’s Greatest Hits landed at #7 on the Top Physical Albums tally, charting total combined vinyl and CD sales.

The compilation also landed at #9 on the Top Vinyl Albums list. Other albums by veteran artists appearing on the top-10 of the vinyl-sales tally included Prince‘s Purple Rain at #5, Michael Jackson‘s Thriller at #6 and Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours at #10.

Queen’s Greatest Hits also was #2 on the Top Rock Albums list, which is compiled using combined traditional album sales, individual track downloads and on-demand streams. Further down on the tally were Rumours at #3, Elton John‘s Diamonds compilation at #4 and Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits at #5.

Looking at individual tunes, Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was #3 on Top Rock Songs chart, which is ranked by combining digital song sales and on-demand streams.

As for the Top Radio Songs list, which is ranked by “audience impressions across all monitored formats of radio,” Journey‘s classic anthem “Don’t Stop Believin'” was #5.

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R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has contributed a track to a compilation paying tribute to The Velvet Underground and Nico‘s legendary 1967 self-titled debut album.

The record, titled I’ll Be Your Mirror, will be released September 24, and features new versions of The Velvet Underground & Nico‘s 11 songs recorded by various artists. Stipe’s contribution is a rendition of the album’s lead track, “Sunday Morning.”

I’ll Be Your Mirror is available for pre-order now. In advance of the album’s arrival, you can listen to indie-rocker Kurt Vile‘s version of “Run Run Run” now via digital outlets.

The Velvet Underground & Nico was initially a flop, but later came to be considered one of the best records of all time, as well as a massive influence on the what would become punk rock and alternative rock. Even if you’ve never actually heard the album by the Lou Reed-fronted band, you’d surely know it by its iconic Andy Warhol-designed cover artwork, featuring a partially peeled banana on a white background.

Other artists featured on I’ll Be Your Mirror include Iggy Pop, St. Vincent, Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore, Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie, Courtney Barnett and  The National‘s Matt Berninger.

Here’s the full track list:

“Sunday Morning” — Michael Stipe
“I’m Waiting for the Man” — Matt Berninger
“Femme Fatale” — Sharon Van Etten
“Venus in Furs” — Andrew Bird & Lucius
“Run Run Run” — Kurt Vile
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” — St. Vincent & Thomas Bartlett
“Heroin” — Thurston Moore feat. Bobby Gillespie
“There She Goes Again” — King Princess
“I’ll Be Your Mirror” — Courtney Barnett
“The Black Angel’s Death Song” — Fontaines D.C.
“European Son” — Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney

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