Classic Hits

The 2021 documentary The Beatles and India, a film that explores the impact of the South Asian country and its culture on The Beatles‘ lives and music, as well as how the Fab Four helped introduce Indian music to the world, will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 21.

The Beatles and India was co-directed by Ajoy Bose, author of the book Across the Universe — The Beatles in India, which served as the inspiration for the movie. The film includes rare archival footage, recordings and photographs; expert commentary; eyewitness accounts; and new segments filmed across India.

According to the film’s official website, the documentary “is the first serious exploration of how India shaped the development of the greatest-ever rock band and their own pioneering role bridging two vastly different cultures across the universe.”

The Beatles’ interest in Indian music was sparked after guitarist George Harrison bought a sitar and began to take lessons from Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar. The band first featured sitar on their classic 1965 tune “Norwegian Wood,” and Indian influences were subsequently included on such songs as “Tomorrow Never Knows,” “Love You To,” “Within You Without You” and “The Inner Light.”

The Beatles and India also looks at the band’s 1968 trip to Transcendental Meditation guru the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi‘s ashram in Rishikesh, during which many of the songs that appeared on The White Album were written.

You can pre-order the DVD and Blu-ray versions of The Beatles and India now at MVDShop.com.

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Former Blue Öyster Cult bassist Joe Bouchard has released a new single titled “My Way Is the Highway” that’s an advance track from his forthcoming solo album, American Rocker.

The song is available now as a digital download and via streaming services, while a companion music video has premiered on the Deko Entertainment label’s official YouTube channel.

“The song ‘My Way Is the Highway’ is a dream of tour destinations while cruising down the coast as the sun sinks into the Pacific Ocean,” Joe explains. “It is powered by the drums of Mickey Curry, and cementing the groove is brother Albert on his iconic cowbell — the original ‘more-cowbell man’! This song makes you want to put the pedal to the metal while you dance to the rocking music of the 70s.”

Curry is best known as Bryan Adams‘ longtime drummer, and he’s also worked with many other famous artists, including Daryl Hall, Cher, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper and The Cult. Albert Bouchard was Blue Öyster Cult’s original drummer, and he and Joe have collaborated on many projects together, including their band Blue Coupe with original Alice Cooper bassist Dennis Dunaway.

American Rocker is an 11-track collection that will be released on June 3. CD copies of the album can be pre-ordered now at Merchbucket.com. Also available are special bundles pairing the CD with a t-shirt and an autographed booklet.

Joe’s upcoming concert schedule includes a July 16 show with Blue Coupe in Sacketts Harbor, New York, and a U.K. tour in August with Albert performing as The Bouchard Brothers.

Here’s American Rocker‘s full track list:

“My Way Is the Highway”
“In the Golden Age”
“Deadly Kisses”
“Love Out of Thin Air”
“Off Season Hotel”
“Hounds of Hell”
“Conspiracy”
“Rocket to Fame”
“The Devil’s in the Details”
“Katherine”
“Hey There Suzi Dear”

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As one of the most famous musicians to hail from Alabama, it’s only fitting that Lionel Richie return to his home state for a very special performance in July.

The Tuskegee, Alabama native will headline the closing ceremony of The World Games 2022, which will be held July 17 at Protective Stadium. It’ll mark the first time Lionel’s performed in Alabama in more than 20 years.

The closing ceremony will also feature other Alabama musicians, such as the country group Alabama, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Motown legend Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas, rapper Yung Bleu, and American Idol alums Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks and Bo Bice.

Funk legend Bootsy Collins will be the emcee for both the opening and closing ceremonies of The World Games, an international event featuring sports that aren’t part of the Olympic Games, like kickboxing, pool, squash and tug of war.  Performers at the opening ceremonies include Sheila E., Tony! Toni! Tone!, Yolanda Adams and Nelly.

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ABBA is ready to embark on their first-of-its kind Voyage concert series, which will feature a digital version of the band on stage.  Singer Björn Ulvaeus previewed the upcoming effort and admitted a lot is riding on its success.

Speaking to London’s Sunday Times, the Swedish pop legend opened up about ABBA coming together for the first time in 40 years, which saw them release the Grammy nominated album Voyage.  Now, the group will perform a series of “revolutionary” concerts and Ulvaeus admits he is feeling the pressure.

“It’s an immense risk and most people I talk to don’t appreciate that,” he said. “They say, ‘Oh, it’ll be fine.’ Sometimes I wake up at four in the morning and think, ‘What the hell have we done?'”

ABBA Voyage, the concert experience featuring a performance by digital avatars of the band’s four members, accompanied by a 10-piece live band, will take place at the specially built ABBA Arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

“Lots of artists are going to be studying us, definitely,” Ulvaeus added. “I won’t name names, but I can think of a few.”  He cryptically teased, “I wonder who’s going to be first. I couldn’t possibly comment.”

ABBA fans certainly have theories and will be sure to watch out for the famous faces who will be among the audience when the concert series kicks off on May 27.

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Earth, Wind & Fire played a seven-show Las Vegas residency last November at Venetian Resort’s Venetian Theatre, and now the band has announced plans for a similar limited engagement at the venue this fall.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees have scheduled seven new concerts taking place October 26, 28 and 29 and November 2, 4, 5 and 6.

Tickets for the shows go on sale to the general public this Friday, May 6, at 10 a.m. PT at Ticketmaster.com, VenetianLasVegas.com and any Venetian resort box office, or by calling 702-414-9000 or 866-641-7469.

Citi card members can purchase pre-sale tickets starting this Tuesday, May 3, at 10 a.m. PT via the Citi Entertainment program; visit CitiEntertainment.com for more info.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers and members of The Venetian Resort’s Grazie Rewards program will be able to purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, May 4, at 10 a.m. PT. A limited number of VIP packages also will be available.

The legendary funk/soul group also has a bevy of U.S. headlining concerts scheduled this year, as well as joint trek with Santana dubbed the Miraculous Supernatural tour that scheduled to run from a June 17 show in Chula Vista, California, all the way through an August 27 performance in Tampa, Florida.

Visit EarthWindandFire.com for the band’s full list of dates.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In September 2020, Todd Rundgren announced that he would be releasing a new album titled Space Force in early 2021 featuring collaborations with an eclectic variety of artists, similar to his most recent studio effort, 2017’s White Knight.

However, Space Force has yet to be released, and Rundgren recently admitted to ABC Audio that there was no “hard date” for the album’s arrival, even though the project has “been done for a year.”

The 73-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer explained that the delay was due to supply chain issues involving vinyl, noting that his label, Cleopatra Records, “insists on putting out all formats at once.”

Rundgren added with a laugh, “[T]hey’re just waiting for Adele to stop hogging up all the vinyl [for her hit album 30], and then maybe we’ll have a release date.”

Todd has already released four advance tracks from Space Force — “Espionage,” featuring Iraqi-Canadian hip-hop artist Narcy; “Down with the Ship” with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo; “Your Fandango” with eclectic sibling duo Sparks; and “Godiva Girl” with The Roots.

Rundgren revealed that other guest artists on Space Force include Cheap Trick‘s Rick Nielsen, Steve Vai, Thomas Dolby, Crowded House frontman Neil Finn, former King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew, and indie-rock group The Lemon Twigs.

Meanwhile, Todd has a busy upcoming U.S. tour schedule. From May 12 to May 22, he’ll be opening for Daryl Hall on a run of six concert. From May 24 to June 26, he’ll be taking part in a new series of dates on the “It Was Fifty Years Ago Today” Beatles tribute trek that also features Joey Molland, Denny Laine, Christopher Cross and Jason Scheff. Then, from June 30 to July 30, Rundgren will be hafining his own Unpredictable Tour.

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A previously unreleased soundtrack album that Peter Gabriel recorded in 1981 for a short film called Undecurrents, by renowned British painter Graham Dean, will be included in a multimedia box set focusing on Dean’s work titled Strange Beauty that’s due out on June 30.

The Deluxe Edition of the Strange Beauty collection features a book of Dean’s artwork, a DVD boasting films and music videos that Graham directed, and cassette of the Undercurrents soundtrack, marking the recording’s first official release.

Limited to only 50 copies and priced at $600, the deluxe box set also comes with a certificate signed by Dean and two pieces of his artwork.

The Undercurrents is a 14-minute instrumental piece that Peter composed and recorded to accompany a short film Dean made for an exhibition of his work. The flick, which combines images and film footage that Dean then manipulated, also was shown at the time on a BBC arts television program called Riverside.

Graham recalls that Peter agreed to take part in the project in exchange for a painting, and the recording was done over the course of an all-night session.

The original multi-track tapes of the soundtrack were recently rediscovered by Gabriel’s Real World record label and the recording was newly remixed last year.

The DVD featured in the Strange Beauty box set includes the Undercurrents film, as well as music videos Dean shot in 1993 for two of Gabriel’s classic songs: “Solsbury Hill” and “In Your Eyes.” The disc also includes two other short films by Dean that feature music by Gabriel’s longtime guitarist David Rhodes.

Strange Beauty also is available as a signed hardback edition and an unsigned soft-cover version, both of which feature just the book and the DVD.

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Stevie Wonder will be presented with an honorary doctorate degree by Detroit’s Wayne State University on May 7 during the school’s spring 2022 commencement festivities.

The Motown legend, who was born in Saginaw, Michigan, will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters in acknowledgement of his musical achievements and contributions, and in honor of his work as an advocate for civil rights and for the disabled.

In recognizing Wonder with the doctorate, the school notes that he’s sold over 100 million records worldwide; that he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Civil Rights Museum and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom; and that he led the successful efforts to have Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s birthday declared a national holiday.

The ceremony honoring Stevie will begin at 1 p.m. ET on May 7. Former Saturday Night Live cast member — and Detroit native — Tim Meadows also will receive an honorary degree from Wayne State that day.

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Van Morrison has debuted a third advance track from his forthcoming 43rd studio effort, What’s It Gonna Take? — a soulful, violin-driven tune titled “Dangerous.”

“Dangerous,” which is the new album’s lead track, is available now via digital formats. The song features Morrison apparently addressing the negative reaction he’s received after voicing his views criticizing the U.K.’s COVID-19 response, particularly the effect that closing music venues has had on musicians’ ability to support themselves financially.

“Somebody said I was dangerous/ I said something bad, it had to be good,” Morrison sings. “Well there must be somebody looking, seeing I’m close to it/ Maybe I’m getting close to the truth.”

What’s It Gonna Take? will be released on May 20, and can be pre-ordered now. The 15-track collection will be the eighth studio effort that the 76-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has issued in the past six years. The album will be available on CD, as a two-LP set pressed on either black vinyl or colored vinyl, as a digital download and via streaming services.

According to a press statement, the songs on What’s It Gonna Take? reflect Morrison’s “indefatigable drive to record and perform live in front of audiences.”

Prior to “Dangerous,” Morrison released the advance tracks “Pretending” and “Nervous Breakdown.”

Van currently on tour in the U.S., with his next performance is scheduled for Friday night at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee. Visit VanMorrison.com to check out his full tour itinerary.

Here’s the full track list of What’s It Gonna Take?:

“Dangerous”
“What’s It Gonna Take?”
“Fighting Back Is the New Normal”
“Fodder for the Masses”
“Can’t Go On This Way”
“Sometimes It’s Just Blah Blah Blah”
“Money from America”
“Not Seeking Approval”
“Damage and Recovery”
“Nervous Breakdown”
“Absolutely Positively the Most”
“I Ain’t No Celebrity”
“Stage Name”
“Fear and Self-Loathing in Las Vegas”
“Pretending”

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