Classic Hits

A deluxe, 30th anniversary edition of the late Natalie Cole‘s chart-topping 1991 album Unforgettable…with Love was released today on CD and digital formats.

The expanded collection features a newly remastered version of the original album, plus a couple of bonus tracks.

Unforgettable…with Love is a collection of standards that were previously recorded by Natalie’s famous late father, Nat King Cole, and was highlighted by a virtual duet between her and her dad on his classic early-1950s hit, “Unforgettable.”

The Natalie/Nat King Cole “Unforgettable” duet reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album spent five weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart during the summer of 1991. The album and song wound up winning a total of seven Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Unforgettable…with Love has gone on to sell more than seven million copies in the U.S.

The bonus tracks included on CD and digital versions of the reissue are renditions of “At Last” and “Cottage for Sale,” which were first released as B-sides of singles from the original album.

A two-LP 180-gram vinyl version of Unforgettable…with Love reissue, without the bonus tracks, will be released on March 25. Limited-edition colored-vinyl variants pressed on purple, pink and white vinyl, respectively, can be ordered from Natalie’s official website, Target and Barnes & Noble.

Nat King Cole died of lung cancer at age 45 in 1965, while Natalie passed away from congestive heart failure at the age of 65 in 2015.

Here’s the Unforgettable…with Love reissue’s track list:

“The Very Thought of You”
“Paper Moon”
“Route 66”
“Mona Lisa”
“L-O-V-E”
“This Can’t Be Love”
“Smile”
“Lush Life”
“That Sunday That Summer”
“Orange Colored Sky”
“A Medley Of: For Sentimental Reasons, Tenderly & Autumn Leaves”
“Straighten Up and Fly Right”
“Avalon”
“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”
“Too Young”
“Nature Boy”
“Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup”
“Almost Like Being In Love”
“Thou Swell”
“Non Dimenticar”
“Our Love Is Here to Stay”
“Unforgettable”
“At Last”*
“Cottage for Sale”*

* = bonus tracks on CD and digital versions.

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Oliver Wakeman, longtime Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman‘s oldest son who followed in his dad’s footsteps to play with the U.K. prog-rock legends from 2008 to 2011, will be releasing a new three-CD box set on April 11 featuring some of his noteworthy collaborative recordings.

Collaborations features expanded reissues of Oliver’s 2001 album with Yes guitarist Steve Howe, The 3 Ages of Magick, and his 2013 project Ravens & Lullabies, which he made with respected British folk and prog-rock guitarist Gordon Giltrap.

The box set’s third disc is a previously unreleased acoustic live album, From a Stage, recorded at a Christmas concert Oliver and Giltrap played several years ago with current Sweet lead singer Paul Manzi.

Ravens & Lullabies also features contributions from Manzi, as well as from ex-Yes frontman Benoît David.

The reissues of The 3 Ages of Magick and Ravens & Lullabies feature a few bonus tracks.

Collaborations comes packaged with a 16-page booklet and individual art prints of the three albums’ cover art.

In advance of the box set’s release, a new music video for the Ravens & Lullabies track “Moneyfacturing” has debuted on Oliver Wakeman’s official YouTube channel.

“This is one of my personal favorite band tracks I have ever written and recorded, allowing me to make use of a lot of my collection of keyboards,” Oliver says of the tune. “It is a radio-friendly song which also reminds people what a great electric guitar player Gordon is!”

You can pre-order the Collaborations box set now at BurningShed.com.

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One of Jim Brickman‘s biggest hits was his 1997 single “Valentine,” featuring country star Martina McBride. Now, to mark the song’s 25th anniversary, the veteran pop songwriter/pianist has released a remix with another acclaimed female vocalist: Olivia Newton-John.

Brickman recruited Olivia for the remake because they’ve been friends for a long time and have toured and written songs together.  The two also sang “Valentine” together on Jim’s 2000 PBS TV special My Romance.

“I was honored to collaborate with Jim Brickman by recording ‘Valentine’ and releasing this special remix single for the song’s 25th anniversary,” says Olivia in a statement. “His music is so romantic and this song in particular is perfect for couples to celebrate the most romantic day of the year.”

Jim adds, “When I wrote the song with Jack Kugell, I had been thinking about the fact that there was no song that truly represented the romance of Valentine’s Day. It was truly a pivotal moment in my music career to have created a classic song that has been celebrated for 25 years.”

Brickman’s Share the Love — LIVE! tour kicks off Saturday in Clearwater, Florida.

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Elton John‘s recently relaunched Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour has put him on top of a new weekly chart: Pollstar‘s Artist Power Index.

The ranking combines concert ticket sales data with streaming, radio airplay and social media of the top 1,000 artists to determine which ones are truly the most popular. The concert ticket sales data is more heavily weighted, since it usually generates the most revenue.

Elton tops the first chart, because not only is his tour doing well on the road, but he also is ranked fairly high when it comes to airplay and streaming. The top 10 also includes Elton’s former tour mate Billy Joel at #6, and Bryan Adams at #8. Further down the tally are Santana at #12 and Van Morrison at #23.

In coming up with the ranking, Pollstar takes into account headline performances over the last 30 days, and an average of ticket sales over the past 36 months.

Pollstar says the new ranking truly reflects “fan passion, audience consumption, and consumer engagement.”

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Longtime Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone‘s first new solo album in nearly 50 years, Deeper than My Roots, got its release today.

Coinciding with the album’s arrival, Johnstone has premiered a music video for the first track, “Go Easy on My Heart,” a melodic ballad that, like most of the songs on Deeper than My Roots, is sung by Davey’s youngest son, Elliot.

The clip features Davey, Elliot and former Paul McCartney & Wings drummer Denny Seiwell performing the tune in what appear to be a rehearsal room.

As previously reported, Davey recorded Deeper than My Roots while Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour was forced off the road because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to his son Elliot, a number of Davey’s other children contributed to the project. His son Charlie recorded many of the basic tracks at his home in California and contributed keyboard and backing vocals, and his son Jesse played drums on some of the songs. Also, Davey collaborated with his oldest son Tam and Jesse to write, record and produce the two instrumental tracks that are featured on the album, “Black Scotland” and “Walt Dizney,” while his daughter Juliet conceived and designed the cover art.

Meanwhile, Seiwell is featured on three tracks, while Davey’s longtime Elton John band mate Nigel Olsson plays drums on the Deeper than My Roots‘ lead single, the melancholy “Melting Snow.”

Deeper than My Roots also features a pair of bonus tracks, including a cover of The Beatles‘ “Here, There and Everywhere.”

Davey’s only other solo album, Smiling Face, was released in 1973. You can order Deeper than My Roots on CD now at CherryRed.co.uk and Amazon, while the record also is available via digital formats.

Here’s the Deeper than My Roots full track list:

“Go Easy on My Heart”
“One Look in Your Eyes”
“Meh Amour”
“Walt Dizney”
“Melting Snow”
“You Lied to Me”
“Deeper”
“Boxer in the Corner”
“Black Scotland”
“The Final Quarter”

Bonus Tracks
“Here, There and Everywhere”
“All the Time in the World”

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Robbie Robertson, the founding lead guitarist and main songwriter of The Band, joins the list of rock greats who have recently sold the rights to their music catalogs for big bucks.

Music Business Worldwide reports that Robertson’s music publishing, the rights to his name, image and likeness, and his recorded music interests to date have been acquired by the Los Angeles-based Iconoclast, a company launched by Olivier Chastan. Chastan is the former CEO of Eagles manager Irving Azoff‘s Iconic Artists Group.

Sources tell Variety that the deal had a $25 million price tag. According to Music Business Worldwide, the agreement doesn’t include the underlying publishing rights to The Band’s 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, which were owned by Bob Dylan, and passed to Universal when that company bought out Dylan’s catalog in 2020.

Among the classic songs Robertson composed for The Band are “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up on Cripple Creek.” Robbie also has had a significant career as a solo artist and as a film score composer.

Chastan tells Music Business Worldwide that as part of the agreement, Robertson has joined Iconoclast’s board and will serve as a creative adviser with the company.

Robbie says in a statement, “Olivier’s deep appreciation for art and creativity infused with his vision for the future of entertainment convinced me that Iconoclast was the right partner to entrust with the legacy of The Band and my catalog.”

Chastan, meanwhile, explains that he’s been a fan of Robertson since he first first heard Music from Big Pink when he was 13 years old, adding, “His sophisticated and cinematic songs changed my life and have never left my musical universe.”

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Welcome to your 60s, Axl Rose!

The Guns N’ Roses frontman was born on February 6, 1962, 60 years ago this Sunday. He moved to Los Angeles in the early ’80s, and in 1985, Guns N’ Roses was formed with Rose on vocals, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler, now referred to as the band’s classic lineup.

Two years later, GN’R released their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, which spawned hit singles in “Welcome to Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City,” and went on to become one of the best-selling records of all time.

GN’R followed Appetite with 1988’s GN’R Lies, and then 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and II. By then, drummer Adler had been fired from the group because of his drug use, and the band had earned a bad reputation due to destructive behavior on the road. Stradlin soon left, too.

Guns would release one more album, a covers compilation called “The Spaghetti Incident?”, in 1993, before Slash and McKagan eventually departed the group in 1996 and 1997, respectively.

Rose, the only remaining original member, continued to work on new GN’R music for a new album called Chinese Democracy, which would become one of the most notorious records in history while sitting in development hell for a decade before finally being released in 2008.

As Rose kept touring GN’R without his old band mates, fans wondered whether a reunion was ever possible. Finally, in 2016, Slash and McKagan rejoined for the Not in This Lifetime tour, a reference to Rose’s previous comments regarding a reunion. The run became the third highest-grossing tour of all time.

In between, Rose fronted AC/DC in 2016 in place of Brian Johnson, who was sidelined due to hearing issues.

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It’s official: Red Hot Chili Peppers are giving fans another album, but first comes their new single, “Black Summer.”

After teasing the new track last week, the band released “Black Summer,” along with the music video, at midnight on Friday.  In the same breath, they revealed that their new album, called Unlimited Love, would be out April 1. 

Shortly after the news, RHCP said in a lengthy Instagram post, “Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make the best album we could.”

“We yearn to shine a light in the world, to uplift, connect, and bring people together. Each of the songs on our new album UNLIMITED LOVE, is a facet of us, reflecting our view of the universe,” the post continued. “This is our life’s mission.” 

John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith and Flea signed off on the note by telling fans, “Thank you for listening, we hope you enjoy it.”

Unlimited Love will be RHCP’s first studio album since Frusciante rejoined the band in 2019. It’s currently available for pre-order. An exclusive colored vinyl of the album is available for pre-order as well. 

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This Monday, February 7, Julian Lennon will auction off six one-of-a-kind NFTs focusing on three prized Beatles-related items from his memorabilia collection and three guitars that his late dad, John Lennon, gave him as gifts.

The “Lennon Connection: The NFT Collection” sale is being presented by the NFT marketplace YellowHeart in partnership with Julien’s Auction, and will be held live in Beverly Hills and online at JuliensLive.com and YH.io.

The Fab Four memorabilia depicted in the NFTs are Paul McCartney‘s handwritten studio notes for the recording of “Hey Jude,” a black cape Julian’s father wore in the film Help!, and an Afghan coat John wore in the Magical Mystery Tour special.

Julian tells ABC Audio that to make the NFTs unique, he came up with the idea to animate the images of the items and record narration explaining why each piece is special to him.

He says the “Hey Jude” studio notes are meaningful because McCartney wrote the song to cheer him up when he was a boy at the time that his father and mother were separating.

Julian explains that the Help! cape is significant because he remembers his mother telling him about how she visited his dad during filming in Austria, where they both learned how to ski.

He says the Afghan coat has particular meaning to him because he spent lots of time with John while Magical Mystery Tour was being made. In addition, Julian notes, “I just loved [the] coat, regardless. I thought it was a beautiful, beautiful coat.”

Julian says an important aspect of the auction is that some proceeds will go to his White Feather Foundation, which will help fund the charity’s global work in such areas as clean water, health, education, conservation of life, and protection of indigenous cultures.

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In the wake of Tuesday’s announcement of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s nominees for induction in 2022, some of the artists shared their feelings about the good news on their social media pages or in interviews.

Pat Benatar, who previously was nominated for the honor in 2020, said in a joint statement with her husband and longtime guitarist and songwriting partner Neil Giraldo, “Thrilled to be nominated again for the RRHOF. Congratulations to all the nominees!”

Eurythmics, who were previously in the running for the honor in 2018, also notched their second nod this year. Singer Annie Lennox reacted to her group’s nomination by posting a still from the music video for their hit “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” along with a tongue-in-cheek message that reads, “Quote from Eurythmics Chapter ll Circa 1982…’Brethren! One day we will ALL be nominated into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in the sky and wooden cased computers like these will be reduced to pocket sized devices.'”

Carly Simon received her first Rock Hall nod this year. The singer-songwriter responded with a simple message that reads, “Hello! I can’t thank you enough for all of your support. I am thrilled to be nominated.”

Devo received their third nomination this year. The veteran New Wave band’s lead singer, Mark Mothersbaugh, was interviewed by Billboard and said about the Rock Hall, “Somebody there must like us, there’s somebody tenacious over there. We’ll see what happens. It’s a nice honor if it would happen — but I look at all the other people [nominated this year] and I would vote for them, too.”

The 2022 Rock Hall inductees will be announced in May. Fans can vote at RockHall.com for their favorite nominees through April 29.

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