Classic Hits

A remastered version of Cat Stevens‘ sixth studio album, 1972’s Catch Bull at Four, will be released on December 2 in multiple formats in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

The album, which can be preordered now, will be available on CD, as a 180-gram vinyl LP and via digital formats. A limited-edition orange-vinyl version of the LP can be purchased exclusively at CatStevens.com, uDiscoverMusic.com and TheSoundofVinyl.us.

Released in September 1972, Catch Bull at Four was Stevens’ only album to top the Billboard 200. It featured one hit single, “Sitting,” which peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Arriving at the height of Stevens’ popularity, Catch Bull at Four found the British singer/songwriter reflecting on his fame and delving deeper into his spiritual beliefs. Musically, the album featured more complex production and a wider range of styles than his previous records.

“Contrary to the spiritual nature and theme of the album, Catch Bull at Four went straight to number one and became one of my biggest commercial accomplishments,” Stevens, who is now also known as Yusuf, notes. “It was scary! I feared it would divert me from my spiritual goal. That’s precisely why I followed it up with an album called Foreigner, which would sacrifice my newly acquired crown for a welcome return to obscurity.”

Catch Bull at Four was produced by founding Yardbirds member Paul Samwell-Smith, who also produced Stevens’ Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Sitting”
“Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head”
“Angelsea”
“Silent Sunlight”
“Can’t Keep It In”
“18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)”
“Freezing Steel”
“O’Caritas”
“Sweet Scarlet”
“Ruins”

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What happens when you combine the guitar of Eddie Van Halen and the vocals of Chris Cornell? Unfortunately, we may never know, but such a song apparently came close to happening.

According to guitarist Pete Thorn, who played in Cornell’s live solo band, the Soundgarden frontman and the Van Halen shredder had developed a friendship, which they one day hoped to channel in the studio.

“Eddie always wanted to do something with Chris musically,” Thorn tells The Mitch Lafon and Jeremy White Show. “Eddie loved his voice.”

As Thorn explains, a Cornell-Van Halen collaboration became a possibility toward the late 2000s, when Thorn was putting together some alternate, stripped-down demos of songs off Cornell’s 2009, electronic and pop-driven solo album, Scream. Upon hearing Thorn’s recordings, Cornell suggested they ask Van Halen to play on them.

While Thorn was waiting for Cornell to reach out to Eddie, he happened upon a friend who built amps for Van Halen. Thorn shared Cornell’s idea with him, who then gave Thorn Van Halen’s number. A few days later, Van Halen called Thorn back and the two set up a recording session. While Van Halen did play on the recording, that’s as far as it got.

“I don’t wanna get anybody excited thinking that this ever got finished, because it didn’t,” Thorn says. “But, [Van Halen] did work on it.”

“It’s a long story, but it never got a vocal on it by Chris,” Thorn continues. “It just never ended up getting finished.”

Sadly, it will stay that way, as Cornell died in 2017, while Van Halen passed in 2020.

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Foreigner has unveiled plans to return to Las Vegas in the spring of 2023 for a new residency at The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort.

The eight-date engagement, dubbed “The Best of Foreigner 4 & More Live,” will take place on March 24, 25, 29 and 31 and April 1, 5, 7 and 8. The concerts will feature the band playing selections from its best-selling studio album, 1981’s 4, as well as many other classics from the group’s back catalog.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, October 14 at 10 a.m. PT.

Foreigner fan club members will be able to buy pre-sale tickets starting Tuesday, October 11 at 10 a.m. PT, while Live Nation customers and members of The Venetian Resort’s Grazie loyalty program can purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, October 12 at 10 a.m. PT.

You can buy tickets via Ticketmaster.com, VenetianLasVegas.com, the box offices at the resort and by calling 702-414-9000 or 866-641-7469.

Foreigner has played multiple residencies at The Venetian Theatre over the years, most recently in March and April of this year.

Meanwhile, their next scheduled concert takes place on Tuesday, October 11 in Cape Town, South Africa. The band has 10 other confirmed dates on its upcoming schedule, not including the Vegas performances. Visit ForeignerOnline.com for a full list of those shows.

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U2 frontman Bono took part in a Q&A event focusing on his forthcoming memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, on Friday in New York City as part of the 2022 edition of The New Yorker Festival.

According to Billboard, the event, which featured the 62-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer in conversation with longtime New Yorker editor David Remnick, began with the singer performing a trio of U2’s songs — “With or Without You,” “City of Blinding Lights” and “Vertigo.”

During the interview, Bono revealed that bassist Adam Clayton had a few critiques regarding the memoir, including that he felt there wasn’t enough about music in the book.

Regarding his bandmate’s complaint, Bono said he told Clayton, “Well, you know, it’s not just a music memoir. I wanted to give people a view that my life as an artist, my life as an activist, my life as a hooligan, my life as a husband, my life as a father … [were] all part of the same creative canvas.”

A major part of Surrender is devoted to Bono’s 40-year marriage to his wife, Ali. Musing about what has been behind the couple’s successful relationship, he said, “Friendship can outpace romantic love, sometimes. And friendship is what myself and Ali have.”

Bono also talked about the significance of the book’s title.

“I still find it hard to surrender to my bandmates,” he noted. “As an older person, it gets even harder to surrender to my wife, to surrender to my maker. I’m a defiant character, but I’m working on that … That’s why I wrote the book.”

Surrender will be released on November 1. Bono will launch a 14-date world book tour the following day in New York.

Visit SurrenderMemoir.com for more details.

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Last month, Julian Lennon released his first new studio album in 11 years, an 11-track collection titled Jude.

Julian, the older of late Beatle John Lennon‘s two sons, tells ABC Audio that Jude is actually made up mostly of previously unreleased older songs.

“This journey started with me receiving a few boxes of different formatted tapes from the basement of my business manager in London, who retired,” he explains, noting that the tapes dated back to the beginning of his music career.

“The first thing I saw was reel-to-reel tape,” Julian says. “[I]t had the original demos for ‘Too Late for Goodbyes,’ for ‘Valotte,’ a number of other songs on the [1984 Valotte] album, and a couple of songs that I was saving for a later date.”

Lennon says he began working his way through the tapes, picking songs to update for what he initially felt would make a good EP. Julian looked for tunes with themes that fit together well, and that reflected what was currently going on in his life and in the world, eventually realizing he had enough tracks for a full album.

The album’s title is a reference to the classic Beatles song “Hey Jude,” which Paul McCartney famously wrote in 1968 to cheer up a young Julian after his father left his mother. Lennon says titling the record Jude partly ties in with his recent decision to legally change his given first name, John, to Julian, which he’s been called since childhood.

“Jules, Jude, me, retrospective, collection of songs from life, taking ownership of the name Jude and/or being me finally … that all made sense to me,” he maintains. “And it was just pieces of this weird puzzle that just came together and all made sense in the end.”

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Veteran British musician and producer Peter Asher is recovering from an emergency brain operation that he underwent on Friday, October 7.

The 78-year-old Asher, known as one-half of the 1960s pop duo Peter and Gordon, as well as for his work as a producer with Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, posted a message about his health scare Saturday on his Instagram.

“As some of you may have heard, I had quite the scare yesterday,” he wrote. “I wasn’t feeling 100% for a few weeks so I went to get an MRI after my wife and daughter insisted I check things out. Good thing I did because I had to be rushed into emergency brain surgery from there. Two small holes in my head but I am on the mend and should be outta here by next week which I am really excited for.”

Asher continued, “I am honestly just bored because I’m usually so active and can’t stand having to stay in one spot but I am grateful things went so well. In the meantime I’ll be watching movies from the bed with my daughter @vickyt and the little teddy she gave to keep me company. Thanks for the kind messages!”

The post is accompanied by a photo of a smiling Peter in a hospital bed giving a thumbs-up sign, along with a teddy bear wearing a pink t-shirt that says “Feel the Heal.”

Meanwhile, Asher has postponed the upcoming October performances of his “A Musical Memoir of the 60s and Beyond” show, which had been scheduled for October 14 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and on October 15 in Plainville, Massachusetts. Visit PeterAsherMusic.com for more details.

In other news, a new Asher biography, Peter Asher: A Life in Music, will be published on November 15.

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“Carolina Shag,” a previously unreleased John Mellencamp song from the sessions for his classic 1985 album Scarecrow, has just been made available as an advance track from the upcoming deluxe reissue of the record.

The song is one of 11 bonus tracks featured on the deluxe versions of the Scarecrow reissue, which is due out November 4. As previously reported, the expanded reissue will boast a remixed and remastered version of the original album, as well as demos, outtakes and rough mixes of tracks.

“Carolina Shag” is an upbeat rock tune that tells the story of a guy who takes a trip to the Carolina coast and meets a free-spirited woman on the beach. The track is available now via digital formats, and a companion lyric video has premiered at Mellencamp’s official YouTube channel.

The Scarecrow reissue can be preordered now, and will be available in multiple configurations and formats.

Scarecrow, Mellencamp’s eighth studio album, was released in August 1985, and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200. The album yielded five top-40 hits — “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to ’60s Rock),” “Lonely Ol’ Night,” “Small Town,” “Rain on the Scarecrow” and “Rumbleseat,” which reached #2, #6, #6, #21 and #28, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Meanwhile, Mellencamp recently announced plans for an extensive North American trek dubbed the Live and In Person 2023 tour. The outing, which features 76 dates, is slated to run from a February 5-6 engagement in Bloomington, Indiana through a June 23-24 stand in South Bend, Indiana.

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A new documentary about longtime Rolling Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones, titled Darryl Jones: In the Blood, premiered Friday, October 7, in select theaters, and also is now available to rent digitally via Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

The film includes interviews with Jones and Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts, as well as with some of the other musicians who have toured with the band for many years, including keyboardist Chuck Leavell and singer Bernard Fowler.

Watts appears in one of the final interviews he gave before his death in August 2021.

In the Blood tells Jones’ life story, including a look at his childhood growing up on the South Side of Chicago, and his early music career, which included a five-year stint performing and recording with jazz legend Miles Davis, and working with Sting, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Madonna and many others.

Jones began playing with The Rolling Stones in 1993, after longtime bassist Bill Wyman retired from the band. He went on to play with the group on all of their ensuing albums and tours.

In the documentary, the various Stones members discuss working with Darryl and enthuse his talent.

In a trailer for the film, Richards notes, “Darryl is one of the best bass players in the world … I mean, obviously, playing with Miles Davies for five years, no mean resumé, you know?”

For more info about the movie, visit GreenwichEntertainment.com.

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Heart‘s Ann and Nancy Wilson, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Kenny Loggins, Todd Rundgren, and ex-Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora are among the many music stars lending their support to the Keep Music Alive organization’s seventh annual Kids Music Day, which is being celebrated Friday, October 7.

The Wilson sisters, Benatar, Giraldo, Rundgren and Sambora are all serving as Kids Music Day Ambassadors, along with such other performers and musicians as Julie Andrews, Sarah McLachlan, Jack Black, Michael Feinstein and Vanessa Williams.

During the annual event, music schools, music shops, instrument stores and other participating locations offer free music lessons, concerts, community and family jams, instrument donation drives and other activities meant to encourage young people to get involved with music.

For this year’s Kids Music Day, Keep Music Alive is again partnering with the Music & Arts retail chain, which offers lessons for a wide variety of musical instruments.

The Music & Arts chain will host special events at its more than 250 locations across the U.S. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday will feature a student showcase where visitors can enjoy performances by students and instructors, and meet local instructors. On Saturday and Sunday, free group guitar classes and instructor performances are being offered, and participants also will have the opportunity to sign up for a free trial lesson.

Anyone attending the events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday who signs up to become a lessons student will receive a free guitar, while supplies last.

For more information, visit KeepMusicAlive.org.

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Former Yes frontman Jon Anderson recently revealed to ABC Audio that plans were in the works for him to tour with a talented cover group called The Band Geeks, and now official details have been announced about a spring 2023 U.S. trek with the collective.

The tour, dubbed “Yes Epics & Classics featuring Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks,” kicks off April 14 in Westbury, New York, and runs through a May 16 show in North Tonawanda, New York. Twelve dates have been confirmed, with more concerts expected.

The shows will feature performances of an eclectic selections of Yes songs, including epic pieces like “Close to the Edge,” “waken” and “Gates of Delirium,” and popular tunes “And You and I,” “Roundabout” and “Your Move/All Good People.”

The Band Geeks came together as the house band of Blue Öyster Cult bassist Richie Castellano‘s Band Geek podcast internet show. The group gained attention thanks to the YouTube videos they posted of their detailed performances of songs by Queen, Toto, Black Sabbath and, of course, Yes.

Anderson says, “The first time I heard the BAND GEEKS I truly freaked out — they sound just like the classic YES of the seventies, the YES that I know and love … AND THAT’S WHAT I’M WANTING TO BRING TO YOU ON THIS TOUR … YES MUSIC IS FOREVER!!!!!!”

In addition to Castellano, who plays bass and guitar in The Band Geeks, the group features former John Entwistle Band keyboardist Chris Clark, drummer Andy Ascolese, guitarist/keyboardist Robert Kipp and guitarist/bassist Andy Graziano.

For more details about the tour, visit JonAndersonYesEpicsandClassics.com.

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