Classic Hits

An expansive Blondie box set titled Blondie: Against the Odds 1974-1982 that focuses on the influential New Wave band’s original heyday and is fully authorized by the group will be released on August 26.

The retrospective will be available in multiple formats and configurations, including an eight-CD set and a Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition featuring 10 12-inch vinyl LPs, a 10-inch LP and a 7-inch vinyl single.

The vinyl box set features 124 tracks, 36 of which are previously unreleased. The collection contains remastered versions of Blondie’s first six studio albums — 1976’s Blondie, 1977’s Plastic Letters, 1978’s Parallel Lines, 1979’s Eat to the Beat, 1980’s Autoamerican and 1982’s The Hunter — and four LPs of outtakes, demos, remixes, alternate versions and other rarities.

The 10-inch disc features rarities from 1974 and ’75, while the vinyl single boasts a cover of The Doors‘ “Moonlight Drive” and a demo of “Mr. Sightseer.”

The box set also includes extensive liner notes; track-by-track commentary from Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke and former members Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Frank Infante and Gary Valentine; essays by producers Mike Chapman, Richard Gottehrer and Ken Shipley; and a 120-page illustrated discography.

Blondie: Against the Odds will also be available as a four-LP package, a three-CD set and digitally, and can be preordered now. The “Moonlight Drive” cover has been released as an advance digital single.

“I am excited about this special collection,” says Harry. “When I listen to these old tracks, it puts me there like I am a time traveler.”

Adds Stein, “I am hopeful that this project will provide a glimpse into the ‘process’ and some of the journey that the songs took from idea to final form.”

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Two concerts held in tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins will take place this September in London and in Los Angeles, the band announced Wednesday.

The announcement reads, in part, “Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee will come together with the Hawkins family to celebrate the life, music and love of their husband, father, brother and bandmate with The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts.” 

One show will be held at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 3; the other is set for September 27 at The Kia Forum in LA.  Tickets go on sale June 17, with the lineups for each show to be announced “shortly,” the band said.

The statement goes on to note that “several” of the musicians Hawkins idolized, who offered “passionate and sincere tributes” in the wake of his death on March 25, will appear at the shows, along with the Hawkins family and the band. The shows will feature Hawkins’ “bandmates and his inspirations playing the songs that he fell in love with, and the ones he brought to life.”

You can sign up for a mailing list to receive information on “timings, ticketing links and on sale dates.”

Hawkins died when the band was on tour in Colombia.  Though there has been much speculation regarding his cause of death, no official cause has yet been publicly revealed.

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A new biographical book about Creedence Clearwater Revival titled A Song for Everyone that charts the band’s history and the examines how its music reflected the cultural landscape of its time, will be published on August 9.

Described as “the definitive biography” of the group, the book follows the band — featuring brothers John and Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford — from its formation in El Cerrito, California, in 1959 as The Blue Velvets through its mid-1960s  incarnation The Golliwogs and its rise to fame in the late ’60s after changing its name to Creedence Clearwater Revival to its 1972 breakup.

In just three years, from 1969 to 1972, CCR released nine singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, among them “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son,” “Travelin’ Band,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.” Many of those songs are considered timeless classics that continue to be embraced by generations of music fans.

A Song for Everyone was penned by author John Lingan, who has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Pitchfork and The Oxford American. The book was put together utilizing extensive interviews with CCR members and associates of the group, unpublished memoirs from people who were close to the band, and in-depth research focusing the musical and social developments that occurred from 1959 to 1972.

You can pre-order A Song for Everyone now. Visit HachetteBooks.com for more information.

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Jon Anderson has released a music video for a new song called “So Limitless,” which he recently recorded with some of the young musicians from the Paul Green Rock Academy touring band, with whom the founding Yes frontman will be hitting the road in July.

The video, which you can watch now on YouTube, was shot in April in Orlando, Florida, during Anderson’s spring tour with the Paul Green Rock Academy. The clip features footage of Jon, and the various young musicians and singers filmed separately.

The track was recorded at Solar Studios in Orlando and was produced by Michael Franklin, who also produced Anderson’s recent solo album 1000 Hands.

“So Limitless” was co-written by Anderson and Harry Bricklin, a member of the Paul Green Rock Academy band.

“Here we go making new music with the Rock Academy teens,” Jon says in a statement. “‘So Limitless’ … Because we are limitless in all our living, being and dreaming.”

As previously reported, Anderson’s upcoming summer tour leg with the Paul Green Rock Academy currently features 13 dates and is mapped out from a July 7 concert in Plymouth, New Hampshire, through an August 6 show in Albany, New York.

The new tour will feature Anderson and the young musicians performing Yes’ 1972 album, Close to the Edge, in its entirety in honor of the its 50th anniversary, plus other classic tunes and deep cuts by the legendary prog-rock band, as well as tunes from Anderson’s solo catalog, mash-ups and more.

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On Saturday, Queen + Adam Lambert rocked the crowds in front of Buckingham Palace to kick off the star-studded Party at the Palace concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II‘s 70 years on the throne.

Shortly before the event, Queen drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May shared an exciting tidbit of news during a BBC Radio 2 interview, revealing that a previously unheard track by the band featuring late frontman Freddie Mercury is scheduled to be released in September.

“We did find a little gem from Freddie that we’d kind of forgotten about,” Taylor told BBC host Zoe Ball. “And it’s wonderful. Actually, it was a real discovery.”

Taylor also revealed that the track came from the sessions for Queen’s 1989 album The Miracle, which was the next-to-last record Mercury made with the band before his death from AIDS in 1991.

“It was kind of hiding in plain sight,” May told Ball. “We looked at it many times and thought, ‘Well, no, we can’t really rescue that.’ But in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, ‘OK, we can do this and this.'”

He added, “It’s like stitching bits together. But it’s beautiful. It’s a very touching piece from Freddie.”

Taylor concurred, calling the track a “very passionate piece [that] turned out beautifully.”

According to Deadline, the title of the track is “Face It Alone.”

Queen + Adam Lambert recently launched a 2022 European leg of their Rhapsody Tour, which continues Wednesday, June 8, with one of a series of shows that the band is playing at London’s O2 arena.

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After months of speculation, Variety is reporting that Ozark star Julia Garner — who most recently earned raves for playing the title role in Netflix’s Inventing Anna — has officially been offered the role of Madonna in the Queen of Pop’s forthcoming biopic.

Variety quotes sources familiar with the project as saying that there were more than a dozen candidates for the role, but Garner has emerged as the favorite. It’s been rumored for months that Garner would land the role in the movie, which Madonna is co-writing and directing. A source tells Variety that Garner’s team is “considering” the offer, but is expected to accept.

The rest of the cast for the movie, which will follow Madonna’s early days, has yet to be determined and the production timeline is currently unknown. In the initial announcement of the project, Madonna said, “The focus of this film will always be music. Music has kept me going and art has kept me alive.”

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The lineup has been announced for the 11th annual installment of The KISS Kruise, a two-part event scheduled for October 24-29 and October 29-November 3.

Both cruises, which will feature what’s billed as KISS’ “final onboard performances,” set sail from Los Angeles and will stop at Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to port.

Week one of the 2022 KISS Kruise will also include performances by Dokken, featuring a reunion with founding guitarist George Lynch; Warrant; L.A. Guns; former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick; Heart by Heart, a group featuring Heart‘s original rhythm section; and an “All Hands on Deck Super Jam” featuring Lita Ford and other guests.

The bill for the cruise’s second week includes Black Label Society, Buckcherry, Kulick, Stryper, Vixen, and an “All Hands on Deck Super Jam” featuring ex-Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach and other musicians.

During both weeks, KISS will play multiple concerts, including an unmasked pool-deck set for all KISS Navy members and a masked electric indoor concert.

Those who purchase tickets for The KISS Kruise XI will receive engraved commemorative gifts, and will get to take part in two on-board activities with KISS and two on-board activities with each of the band’s members.

Other activities and attractions include a KISS memorabilia exhibit, autograph sessions with some of the performers and themed costume parties.

KISS fans who purchases tickets for both weeks will be rewarded with “an exclusive laminate, a poster signed by KISS, happy hour … with KISS, and an exclusive KISS Kruise XI two-timer t-shirt.”

Week two of this year’s KISS Kruise, which was announced first, is sold out. As for the October 24-29 cruise, presale tickets will be available starting June 16, one day before the public on-sale date.

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Original Beach Boys member Brian Wilson and his solo band kick off a summer co-headlining tour with Chicago tonight in Phoenix. The 25-date U.S. trek is mapped out through a July 26 concert in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, Michigan.

As has been the case for the last several years, Wilson’s band will include two other Beach Boys alums, co-founding singer/guitarist Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, who sang and played guitar with the band in 1972 and ’73.

“It’s gonna be a big, big tour, and it’ll be a lot of fun,” Jardine tells ABC Audio. “I encourage people to come out and see it. It’s gonna be a great show.”

Al, who’s best known for singing lead vocals on The Beach Boys’ 1965 chart-topper “Help Me, Rhonda,” says that with Wilson sharing headlining duties with Chicago, Brian’s set will focus mainly on their old group’s best-known tunes.

“Yeah, it’s gonna more of a hits-driven performance,” Jardine notes, adding with a laugh, “And that’s…for the new generation. They want to hear the hits…and the old farts, too.”

After the tour with Chicago, Wilson — with Jardine and Chaplin — will play three headlining shows in Tennessee this September.

Prior to Wilson’s trek with Chicago, Al toured with his “Al Jardine’s Family & Friends” show, which featured Jardine performing with his son, Matt, and Wilson’s two daughters — Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips fame. There are two more “Family & Friends” currently scheduled for 2022 — on July 29 in Paso Robles, California, and October 21 in Cerritos, California.

Visit AlJardine.com to see a full list of concerts that Al will be playing this year.

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Journey has just released a fourth advance track from their upcoming studio album, Freedom, a soaring and soulful rock tune called “Don’t Give Up on Us.”

The track is available now via digital formats, and you also can check out a visualizer video for the song at Journey’s official YouTube channel.

“It is a very melodic song,” founding Journey guitarist Neal Schon says of “Don’t Give Up on Us.” “It’s soulful, coming more from that R&B place and a little more Motown sounding but it definitely rocks. I feel like it’s got Journey all over it.”

Freedom will be released on July 8 and can be preordered now.

The three other advance songs released from the 15-track collection are “The Way We Used to Be,” “You Got the Best of Me,” and “Let It Rain,” which debuted in June 2021, April 2022 and last month, respectively.

As previously reported, following Freedom‘s release, Journey will play four special symphonic concerts in Las Vegas — on July 15, 16, 22 and 23. The band also has several other concerts lined up around the U.S. this summer. Visit JourneyMusic.com for their full confirmed schedule.

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Jim Seals, one half of the popular 1970s soft-rock duo Seals and Crofts, has died at age 80, Variety reports.

Along with his musical partner, Darrell “Dash” Crofts, Seals scored a series of hits during the 1970s, including three top-10 singles: 1972’s “Summer Breeze,” 1973’s “Diamond Girl” and 1976’s “Get Closer,” which all peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other notable songs include “Hummingbird,” “We May Never Pass This Way (Again)” and “You’re the Love.”

Seals and Crofts were longtime adherents of the Baháʼí faith, which influenced the theme of many of their songs.

A native of Sydney, Texas, Seals first began playing with fellow Texan Crofts during the 1950s. Around 1959, the duo joined the Los Angeles rock band The Champs shortly after that group scored a chart-topping hit with “Tequila.” During the early ’60s, Seals and Crofts played in Glen Campbell‘s backing band, The GCs, before going their separate ways for a few years.

After playing together again in the late ’60s in a band called The Dawnbreakers, Seals and Crofts decided to form a duo. They released a self-titled debut album in 1969. Their first hit came with “Summer Breeze,” the title track off their fourth studio album. Their final top-40 single, “You’re the Love,” reached #18 in 1978.

The duo went on an extended hiatus after they were dropped by their record label in 1980. Seals and Crofts occasionally reunited during the ensuing years and released a final album, Traces, in 2004.

During the 2000s, Jim teamed up with his brother Dan Seals — a member of popular 1970s duo England Dan and John Ford Coley —  to play shows as Seals and Seals. Dan died of cancer in 2009. 

On Facebook, John Ford Coley wrote of Jim’s death, “I spent a large portion of my musical life with this man. We toured together, he and Dash invited us to sing on Seals and Crofts records, and we played with him for years … I am very sad over this but I have some of the best memories of all of us together. Rest In Peace Jimmy. You and Dan finally get reunited again. Tell him and your sweet momma hi for me.“

Jim had lived in Costa Rica since 1980. He is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Ruby, and several children.

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