WAR releases new mix of classic album ‘The World Is a Ghetto,’ vinyl box set coming November 25

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Fifty years ago this month, WAR’s classic album The World Is a Ghetto was released, hitting number one on the Billboard chart and going on to become the bestselling album of 1973. Now there’s a whole new way to listen to it.

Avenue/Rhino has released a new Dolby Atmos mix of the album, which features the top-10 title track and the number-two hit “Cisco Kid.” The World Is a Ghetto was WAR’s fifth album. The band was first formed in the late ’60s by ex-Animals frontman Eric Burdon and producer/songwriter Jerry Goldstein.

Meanwhile, on November 25, a four-LP multicolor vinyl box set called Eric Burdon & WAR: The Complete Vinyl Collection is being released as a limited edition for this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday event.

The set, limited to 5,500, includes both albums Burdon and the band made together: Eric Burdon Declares War and the two-LP set The Black-Man’s Burdon, plus Love Is All Around, a 1976 collection of songs Burdon recorded with WAR but didn’t put on their albums. This marks the first time the albums are being released on vinyl since the ’70s. “Spill the Wine” and “They Can’t Take Away Our Music” are the best-known tracks on those albums.

Fans pay tribute to slain rapper Takeoff in Atlanta celebration of life ceremony

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Thousands of fans gathered on a rainy Friday in Atlanta to pay their respects to Migos rapper Takeoff, who was shot and killed in Houston on November 1.

Fans were joined by family and friends of the slain rapper for a celebration of life in the rapper’s hometown. The memorial was held at the State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks, where Takeoff was a regular.

“It’s a sad day but you have to celebrate because he is one creative person. He has brought joy to us. Not just us — internationally,” a fan told ABC Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV on Friday as she lined up outside the arena.

Takeoff, birth name Kirshnik Khari Ball, was shot and killed outside the 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston following a private event, police said. He was 28. Quavo, Takeoff’s uncle and one-third of Migos, who was also present at the time, was not injured.

Police said that shots were fired following an argument and urged the public to come forward with tips. There is no indication the rapper was involved in the dispute, according to police, who said the investigation is ongoing.

“[His loss] hit home,” a fan who was lined up outside the State Farm Arena told WSB-TV on Friday. “He did a lot for the culture. I just love their music.”

Free tickets to the celebration of life service were made available to Georgia residents, but the tickets sold out quickly; the venue asked fans who didn’t have tickets not to come to the downtown area.

The memorial service was not livestreamed, and media coverage was limited to outside the venue. The State Farm Arena did not share details regarding the program ahead of the event.

Paul McCartney recalls discovering a reggae record “scam” while crate-digging in Jamaica

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

This week Paul McCartney announced the release of The 7″ Singles Box, which collects 80 7-inch vinyl singles — packaged in a wooden crate. It also comes with a forward Paul wrote about his love of singles. Rolling Stone has an exclusive excerpt, in which he discusses the “adventure” of discovering reggae music in Jamaica.

“Some of my happiest memories of buying 7-inch singles come from the Jamaican record shop that we used to go to when we were on holiday in Montego Bay … There were records [that] you didn’t know what they were, they weren’t established artists,” he calls. “So it was kind of a great adventure, just asking the guy behind the counter, ‘What’s this like? Is it any good?'”

He recalls one in particular called “Poison Pressure” by Byron Lee and The Dragonaires, which was credited to Lennon & McCartney. He writes, “I had to buy that one. Had they just recorded one of our songs? No. It was something completely different and we all presumed it might be a couple of guys called Tony Lennon and Bill McCartney. Either that, or it was a total scam.”

Or not. It turns out the song is based on the melody of Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance,” which explains the credit. Paul also writes about how much The Beatles loved to put weird and wacky stuff on their B-sides, and he continued that tradition in his solo career.

“I still respect the B side – where else can you find songs like ‘You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)‘ or ‘Ode to a Koala Bear‘?” he writes. “So, when my team suggested we put out this box of 45s, one of my hopes was that both sides of the record will be of interest to you.”

Motörhead mourns “Lemmy’s old bandmate,” Hawkwind’s Nik Turner

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Lemmy, left, and Nik Turner, right; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Before Lemmy founded Motörhead, he was famously a member of the “space rock” band Hawkwind — in fact, he named his new band after the last song he wrote for Hawkwind before they fired him in 1975.

The official Motörhead Twitter shared the news Friday that a member of Hawkwind whose time overlapped with Lemmy’s has died.

“We lost Lemmy’s old bandmate Nik Turner today,” the account tweeted. “Play some Hawkwind nice and loud! Brainstorm here we go!”

Multi-instrumentalist Turner died at home Thursday night, according to a post on his Facebook page. He was 82. Turner played saxophone and flute in Hawkwind, and wrote or co-wrote some of the band’s famous songs, including “Brainstorm” and “Master of the Universe.”

Turner had two stints in the band: from 1969 to 1976 and from 1982 to 1985. In between and afterward, he released many solo albums and collaborative projects, the most recent being 2019’s Final Frontier.

Referring to Turner as “The [Mighty] Thunder Rider,” the Facebook post noted, “He has moved onto the next phase of his Cosmic Journey, guided by the love of his family, friends and fans. Watch this space for his arrangements.”

Yungblud says he can’t relate to Arctic Monkeys and The 1975

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Yungblud says he can’t relate to “older” bands like Arctic Monkeys and The 1975.

The 25-year-old Gen Zer explains to Rolling Stone UK that he feels “a generation apart” from these artists.

“When I look at The 1975 and Arctic Monkeys, they’re such a different generation to me,” he says. “When they speak, they’re profound now. I don’t want to be profound yet, I want to be on the f****** tarmac, on the ground.”

“I love Matty [Healy] and I love Alex [Turner] but I don’t relate to them as much as I used to,” he adds. “They’re older and it’s all very serious.”

Yungblud says there’s a “big difference” between him and these artists: “Different brains, different way of communicating.”

As for artists he can relate to, Yungblud names Mac Miller, Billie Eilish, Lil Peep and Lil Nas X. “That’s where my head is at,” he says.

Maddie & Tae explain the song Maddie Font was scared to share on ‘Through the Madness Vol. 2’

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Maddie & Tae’s Through the Madness Vol. 2 rounds out a 16-song musical chapter that the duo began in January with Vol. 1 of the project, and its songs mark a new step in their evolution as artists and songwriters.

But some growth is painful, and the band’s Maddie Font admits there was one song on Vol. 2 that she initially didn’t want to release.

“‘These Tears’ was one that I really did not even want to share with our A&R,” the singer explains to Kelleigh Bannen during a new installment of Today’s Country Radio With Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Country.

“I was hiding it because we had written it and I was fresh out of therapy getting into my childhood stuff that I needed to work through,” Maddie continues. She and bandmate Taylor Dye wrote the song with co-writers Laura Veltz and Jonathan Green.

The song describes letting tears from old wounds flow, years after the fact — and Maddie strongly considered keeping the painful track to herself. But her duo partner ultimately pushed her to change her mind.

“We were just in the moment and Tae’s like, ‘You’ve got to play this.’ And so we did,” she recounts. “And it ended up on the record and I was so terrified.”

When she heard the finished product, though, Maddie knew she’d made the right decision. “It’s almost like my younger self is saying, ‘Thank you for doing that,’” she concludes.

Lizzo named “The People’s Champion” for upcoming People’s Choice Awards

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Lizzo is ending her 2022 on an even higher note, adding yet another award to her trophy case. The powerhouse singer has been named “The People’s Champion” and will receive the honor at the People’s Choice Awards.

The announcement was made on Friday as the organization laid out why Lizzo earned this year’s high honor. The PCAs highlighted her philanthropy, activism and how she uses her platform to promote positivity. Moreover, the organization saluted Lizzo’s work in championing diversity and inclusivity for all — regardless of race, gender, size or sexual orientation.

Of course, Lizzo will also be celebrated for her contributions to music and television.

She now joins previous recipients Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Tyler Perry, P!nk and Bryan Stevenson.

The singer will collect her honor on December 6 and could bring home up to five additional trophies that night. Lizzo has been nominated for Female Artist of 2022, Song of 2022 for “About Damn Time,” Album of 2022 for Special, Social Celebrity of 2022 and Competition Show of 2022 — the latter for her Amazon series Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.

It should be noted her reality show earned her an Emmy Award, which means she is officially halfway to EGOT status.

The 2022 People’s Choice Awards will be broadcast live from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, on Tuesday, December 6, at 9 p.m. on NBC and E!.

Hear a cappella version of “All This Is That” from The Beach Boys’ new box set ‘Sail On Sailor – 1972’

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

The Beach Boys have released another advance track from their upcoming box set Sail On Sailor – 1972, available on December 2.

This time, it’s a previously unheard a cappella version of “All This Is That,” which features just the vocals of Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Mike Love — who also co-wrote the track.

“All This Is That,” inspired by the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” and by the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, originally appeared on the 1972 album Carl and the Passions – “So Tough.”

As previously reported, Sail On Sailor – 1972 examines the transformative period in The Beach Boys’ history during which they released that year’s Carl and the Passions and 1973’s Holland. It’s available in several configurations, including a six-CD Super Deluxe Edition that includes an entire unreleased live concert recorded at Carnegie Hall on Thanksgiving 1972.

Out of the 105 tracks in the package, 80 are previously unreleased and include rarities like unreleased outtakes, live recordings, radio promos, alternate versions, alternate mixes, isolated backing tracks and a cappella versions.

Pierce the Veil announces new album, ‘The Jaws of Life’

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Pierce the Veil has announced their first new album in six years.

The Jaws of Life, their follow-up to 2016’s Misadventures, is due out February 10. The band also released a new song off the album, “Emergency Contact.”

“There’s so much desperation underlying the lyrics of this song,” frontman Vic Fuentes says in a statement shared with Kerrang. “It talks about a relationship where one person is ready to take things to the next level while the other is still unsure. One person is begging the other to either move forward or to let them out because being stuck in the middle is torture.”

Fuentes says he wrote the song in Seattle, a special place for him. “I love writing in Seattle because it gives me all of the ’90s grunge rock vibes,” he says. “Plus, it rains all the time, and I love the rain.”

As for the new album, he says it brought the band closer than they’ve ever been.

“The Jaws Of Life is about how life can sink its teeth into you and try to devour you,” he says, according to Kerrang. “The negativity in the world and within your mind can be a vicious thing. We’re extremely grateful for this record, our fans, and the opportunity to play live music again.”

Here is the track list:

“Death of an Executioner”
“Pass the Nirvana”
“Even When I’m Not With You”
“Emergency Contact”
“Flawless Execution”
“The Jaws of Life”
“Damn the Man, Save the Empire”
“Resilience”
“Irrational Fears” (Interlude)
“Shared Trauma”
“So Far So Fake”
“Fractures”

Steve Hackett, Adrian Belew, Queensryche & more joining Cruise to the Edge 2024

November 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Prog-rock fans, your ship has come in: Cruise to the Edge is returning for 2024.

The cruise sets sail March 8, 2024, from Miami, Florida, aboard the Norwegian Pearl. It visits Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and George Town, Grand Cayman, before returning to Miami on March 13.

The lineup includes ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, ex-King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew, ex-Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre, Queensrÿche, Marillion, Big Big Train and Flying Colors. Visit CruisetotheEdge.com to see the full lineup.

Starting November 15, fans who sailed on the 2022 edition of the tour can reserve a cabin on this year’s cruise. Anyone who’s ever done a Cruise to the Edge trip can book starting November 17; booking is open to the general public starting November 21.

Belew, Marillion and Barre were also part of the 2022 edition of Cruise to the Edge; the lineup for that sailing also included Alan Parsons, Saga, Al DiMeola and Al Stewart.

+ More