Classic Hits

They won’t be stopping in Kokomo, but The Beach Boys will be hitting the high seas with some other famous music stars next year on a new musical-themed nautical extravaganza, The Beach Boys Good Vibrations Cruise.

The three-day cruise will set sail from Miami on March 25 and will visit Nassau in the Bahamas on the 27th before returning to port on March 28.

Joining The Beach Boys to perform on the cruise will be The Monkees and The Temptations, as well as comedian Joe Piscopo, popular tribute act The Yacht Rock Revue, Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath and more.

“I can’t wait to celebrate 60 years of The Beach Boys’ music on The Good Vibrations Cruise, setting sail this March,” says founding lead singer Mike Love. “With endless music and activities, it’s going to be an unforgettable vacation and we’re so excited to share it with friends and fans old and new.”

Besides the many performances, the cruise will feature events, attractions and activities including a Q&A session with The Beach Boys, photo opportunities with many of the artists, theme nights, an onboard Beach Boys museum, an on-shore excursion in Nassau and more.

Tickets for the cruise go on sale on Friday, October 8, at 2 p.m. ET. Visit TheBeachBoysCruise.com for all the details.

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Back in 1991, Natalie Cole released “Unforgettable,” a Grammy-winning “virtual” duet with her father, the late, legendary Nat “King” Cole.  Now, some other other famous singers are getting the chance to posthumously duet with the late crooner.

Gloria Estefan and Johnny Mathis are among the guests on A Sentimental Christmas with Nat “King” Cole and Friends: Cole Classics Reimagined, a collection of Cole’s holiday recordings featuring restored vocals and new arrangements that’s due out due October 29. 

The album was co-produced, mixed and mastered by the same guy who mixed the “Unforgettable” duet, and the recordings are mostly sourced from Cole’s 1963 LP The Christmas Song, plus other material from his catalog.

The album, features Gloria singing with Nat “King” Cole on “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” and Mathis lends his voice to a duet of “Deck the Halls/Joy to the World.”

The album also features John Legend adding his vocals to Cole’s signature holiday classic, “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” and Broadway star and actress Kristin Chenoweth singing “The Very Thought of You” with Cole.

The Legend duet of “The Christmas Song” — Cole’s original recording of which is marking its 75th anniversary this year — is the first single; it’s available now on all digital streaming platforms.

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A new episode of the Song Exploder online audio series focusing on the late John Lennon‘s 1970 solo song “God” debuted this week.

The presentation, which was created by the Song Exploder team in partnership with Lennon’s estate, features a new interview with Plastic Ono Band bassist and longtime Beatles associate Klaus Voormann, as well as archival interviews with John, Ringo Starr and late keyboardist Billy Preston, all of whom played on the track.

To produce the episode, which takes an in-depth look at the creation of “God,” Song Exploder was given access the John Lennon Estate’s extensive interview archives, as well as the song’s master recording, original demo and outtakes.

“I’m a big fan of Song Exploder and the way [host] Hrishi [Hirway] analyzes songwriting and recording using the multitracks and sessions and the creator’s voice,” says John’s son, Sean Ono Lennon. “The shows are always intelligent, well-researched and beautifully edited, so we felt comfortable and confident opening up the archive to them to tell the story of this important song’s creation.”

“God” appears on Lennon’s first solo studio album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and famously features lyrics in which John declared that he’d put his famous band behind him, including, “I don’t believe in Beatles/ I just believe in me/ Yoko and me.”

Much of the music used in the Song Exploder episode was taken from the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band — The Ultimate Collection box set, which was released in April.

The Lennon interview featured in the episode was taken from a December 1970 conversation with Rolling Stone‘s Jann Wenner. Starr’s audio comes from the 2008 Classic Albums documentary about John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

You can listen to the episode at SongExploder.net, and via Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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That famous photo of Britney Spears and Madonna locking lips at the 2003 MTV VMAs is now reportedly being auctioned off as an NFT, a.k.a. a non-fungible token.

TMZ reports that the photographer, John Shearer, is teaming up with Cryptograph to sell the collectible digital token for a good cause.

The auction, which kicks off Thursday and lasts 72 hours, will share a portion of the proceeds with GLAAD.

The 2003 VMAs opened with the now-iconic performance from Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. The trio sang Madonna’s hits “Like a Virgin” and “Hollywood” and the performance concluded with Madonna kissing both Britney and Christina — though the Britney kiss garnered way more attention.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers have revealed the details of their upcoming 2022 world tour.

The global outing is set to kick off with a European run starting June 4 in Seville, Spain, before arriving stateside for a U.S. trek beginning July 23 in Denver. Dates are currently scheduled through a September 18 performance in Arlington, Texas.

The Peppers will be joined at various dates on the tour by a wide array of opening acts, including Beck, The Strokes, St. Vincent, HAIM, A$AP Rocky, King Princess, Thundercat and Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals.

Tickets go on sale to the general public next Friday, October 15, at 10 a.m. local time. A fan pre-sale for the U.S. dates begins October 9, and October 13 for the Europe and U.K. shows.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit RedHotChiliPeppers.com.

The tour is RHCP’s first since guitarist John Frusciante rejoined the band at the end of 2019.

(Video contains censored profanity.)

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The official video for “Move” — the single that reunites “Smooth” duo Carlos Santana with Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas — has arrived.

The black-and-white clip features Thomas singing alone under a stormy, lightning-filled sky, while Santana tosses off his signature guitar licks standing on a mirror in a black void. 

In the second verse, American Authors singer Zac Barnett joins Santana on the mirror, which begins to crack.  Later, Santana stands on top of a massive pile of speakers, playing the maracas.

“Move” is from Santana’s new album, Blessings and Miracles, which arrives October 15.

Regarding the song, Santana previously said it’s “about awakening your molecules. Ignite and activate yourself – you know, move. When Rob and I work together, we have a sound that’s splendiferous.”

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John Mellencamp, the Indiana-born singer/songwriter who came to fame in the early ’80s under the name John Cougar, was born 70 years ago today.

Known for his roots-rock songs often celebrating small-town life in America, Mellencamp enjoyed his major commercial breakthrough with his fifth studio album, 1982’s American Fool, released under the John Cougar moniker.

American Fool is John’s only album to date to top the Billboard 200 chart, spending nine weeks at #1. It features his classic songs “Jack and Diane” and “Hurts So Good,” which peaked at #1 and #2, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100.

Starting with his next album, 1983’s Uh-Huh, he began releasing his records under the name John Cougar Mellencamp, and beginning in 1991, he dropped “Cougar” altogether.

Among the other hits Mellencamp has scored during his long career are “Crumblin’ Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Lonely Ol’ Night,” “Small Town,” “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to ’60s Rock),” “Cherry Bomb,” and a cover of Van Morrison‘s “Wild Night,” the latter a duet with Me’Shell Ndegéocello.

In 1985, Mellencamp, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, organized the first Farm Aid concert, and the charity event continues to raise money to support family farms each year.

Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.

John’s resumé also includes a collaboration with horror author Stephen King on the Southern Gothic stage musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, which premiered in 2012. In addition, Mellencamp is an accomplished painter whose artwork has been exhibited numerous times.

Mellencamp’s latest release is a duet with Bruce Springsteen titled “Wasted Days,” and the track also will appear on John’s next studio album, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, due out in 2022.

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Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have shared another new song from their upcoming collaborative album, Raise the Roof.

The track, titled “High and Lonesome,” was written by the Led Zeppelin vocalist alongside producer T Bone Burnett. It’s the lone original tune on Raise the Roof, which is otherwise filled with covers of “legends and unsung heroes of folk, blues, country and soul music.”

You can listen to “High and Lonesome” now via digital outlets.

“High and Lonesome” is the second song to be released from Raise the Roof, following the lead single “Can’t Let Go,” originally written by Randy Weeks. The whole album is set to arrive November 19.

Plant and Krauss, of course, previously collaborated on the 2007 album Raising Sand. The record won a total of five Grammys in 2009, including Album of the Year.

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Alice Cooper delves into his many adventures as a famous shock rocker in a new installment of Audible’s Words + Music audio series, Who I Really Am: The Diary of a Vampire, debuting today.

The two-hour feature captures the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer discussing how the original Alice Cooper band came together and, with their edgy sound and over-the-top, horror-inspired stage show, became one of the biggest rock group’s of the early 1970s.

Cooper, whose given name is Vincent Furnier, tells ABC Audio that he tapped his longtime producer Bob Ezrin to work with him on the Audible project.

“Bob and I are the only two that actually know the character Alice Cooper,” he notes. “I mean, we’ve created him over the years.”

Interspersed in the feature are acoustic renditions of some of Cooper’s biggest hits, including “I’m Eighteen,” “School’s Out,” and “Poison,” recorded especially for Who I Really Am.

“[T]hat was actually one of the more fun things to do, was to go revisit those songs in an acoustic version,” Alice says.

Who I Really Am also features Cooper discussing his childhood as the son of an evangelist; the inspiration behind some of his famous songs; his experiences with other famous rockers; his descent into alcohol and substance abuse; meeting his wife, Sheryl; and his Christian faith.

Reflecting on the incongruous aspects of his life, Cooper notes, “[T]he idea that I came from a Christian home, and that I went as far away as I could and then came back. The fact that I’ve been married 45 years to the greatest girl. I mean, there’s so many things that you would never, ever expect the Alice Cooper story to be.”

Visit Audible.com to find out how to access the Words + Music series.

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A little over a year after the release of their last studio effort, Whoosh!, Deep Purple has announced plans to put out a new album titled Turning to Crime on November 26.

The new collection, which was produced by the band’s frequent collaborator, Bob Ezrin, features the British hard-rock legends putting their own spin on 12 songs originally recorded by other artists.

Turning to Crime, which is Deep Purple’s first-ever covers album, includes versions of Fleetwood Mac‘s “Oh Well,” Bob Dylan‘s “Watching the River Flow,” Little Feat‘s “Dixie Chicken,” The Yardbirds‘ “Shapes of Things,” Cream‘s “White Room,” and more.

The final track is a medley titled “Caught in the Act” that features sections of songs by Booker T & the MG’s, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, and The Spencer Davis Group.

According to a making-of video posted on the earMUSIC label’s YouTube channel, the album came together remotely while the band members were separated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each member chose songs they wanted to record and then the group voted on the final list of tunes.

In advance of Turning to Crime, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have released the album’s lead track, a prog-flavored version of Love‘s 1966 garage-rock classic “7 and 7 Is,” as a digital single.

Turning to Crime can be pre-ordered now, and will be available on CD, as a two-LP vinyl set, as a five-LP/DVD box set and digitally.

You can check out more details about the album at TurningToCrime.com. Fans who sign up for Deep Purple’s newsletter at the site will receive a free download of a non-album track on November 12.

Here’s the full Turning to Crime track list:

“7 and 7 Is”
“Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”
“Oh Well”
“Jenny Take a Ride!”
“Watching the River Flow”
“Let the Good Times Roll”
“Dixie Chicken”
“Shapes of Things”
“The Battle of New Orleans”
“Lucifer”
“White Room”
“Caught in the Act” (Medley: “Going Down”/”Green Onions”/”Hot ‘Lanta”/”Dazed and Confused”/”Gimme Some Lovin'”)

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