Classic Rock 93.9

Veteran Canadian power trio Triumph has just launched an expansive and in-depth website called the Triumph Vault celebrating the band’s history and music.

The website is packed with rare archival photos, images of memorabilia, newspaper articles, concert posters and much more, curated by Triumph’s three members — singer/guitarist Rik Emmett, bassist/keyboardist Mike Levine and drummer Gil Moore.

Some of the images are accompanied by newly recorded audio commentary from the band members. One of the sections offers a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Triumph’s most-successful album, 1981’s Allied Forces, which has been RIAA-certified Platinum for sales of over a million copies in the U.S.

The Triumph Vault also features an online shop that offers various pieces of limited-edition merchandise and collectibles, including signed copies of the band’s 40th anniversary Allied Forces box set.

New images and other content will be added regularly to the site.

To mark the launch of the Triumph Vault, fans who register for updates at the website will be automatically entered into a contest offering the winner a Dean Flying V guitar, along with a personal note from the band.

“We’re super excited to have our loyal fans experience the launch of the Triumph vault,” says Moore. “Finally, after years of touring and recording, we’re able to unearth and display rare elements and artifacts from Triumph’s history.”

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Eric Clapton has won a court case he brought against a 55-year-old German woman who put up for sale on eBay a CD featuring a bootlegged performance of a concert Clapton played in the U.S. during the 1980s.

German news website DW.com reports that a regional court in Dusseldorf sided with Clapton in issuing an injunction stopping the woman from selling the disc after Eric sent an affidavit that said the recordings were illegal.

According to the German newspaper Bild, the woman, who was identified only as Gabrielle P., was ordered to pay legal fees of 3,400 euros, or about $3,850 U.S.

The woman, who was selling the CD for 9.95 euros — about $11.30 — claimed that she had inherited the disc from her late husband, recalling that he told her he’d purchased it at a well-known department store, and that she didn’t realize the disc was bootlegged.

The court ruled that it didn’t matter that the defendant was unaware of the status of the CD. Bild also reports that if the woman continues to try to sell the disc on eBay, she could face a fine of 250,000 euros — about $283,000 — or six months in prison.

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Graham Nash and James Taylor are part of the just-announced lineup of musicians who’ll salute Joni Mitchell at the 31st annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala, which takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on January 29, two nights before the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.

Nash and Taylor, both of whom were romantically involved with Mitchell back in the day, are among a variety of artists who’ll pay tribute to Joni at the event by performing her classic songs.

The bill also includes Herbie Hancock, Brandi Carlile, Jon Batiste, Leon Bridges, country star Mickey Guyton, Pentatonix, singer/songwriter Maggie Rogers and Black Pumas.

“We are crafting a once-in-a-lifetime evening in honor of Joni,” says MusiCares executive director Laura Segura. “I thank each of these artists for lending their talents to celebrate Joni and her impact on the music community.”

Carlile and Batiste also will serve as the evening’s artistic directors. Earlier this month, Carlile and Hancock were tapped to pay tribute to Mitchell at the 2021 Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C.

Hancock’s album of Mitchell covers, River: The Joni Letters, was named Album of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

In addition to the tribute concert, the MusiCares Person of the Year gala features a dinner and a silent auction offering VIP experiences, celebrity memorabilia and more.  The event benefits the MusiCares Foundation, which provides medical, financial and personal assistance to in-need members of the music community.

Tickets are available now at MusiCares.org.

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A restored and re-edited version of Pink Floyd‘s 1995 concert video Pulse will be released on February 18, 2022, as a two-Blu-ray set and a two-DVD package.

The marks the first time that the Pulse movie will be available on Blu-ray as a standalone release: It first appeared in Pink Floyd’s massive 2019 box set The Later Years.

Pulse captures Pink Floyd on tour in support of the band’s 1994 album The Division Bell at an October 20, 1994, concert at Earls Court in London. The show featured a full performance of The Dark Side of the Moon, a selection of other popular Pink Floyd tunes and four songs from The Division Bell.

The two-disc sets also feature bonus content that was included on The Later Years, including music videos for songs from The Division Bell, Pulse tour rehearsal footage, on-stage visuals, a Pulse TV ad, documentaries, behind-the-scenes interviews with the road crew, footage from Pink Floyd’s 1996 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and more.

In addition, the new release boasts updated artwork and a 60-page booklet, and reintroduces the pulsing red light featured on the original 1995 Pulse CD package, operated by two replaceable AA batteries.

At the time of Pulse‘s original release, drummer Nick Mason said of the concept behind the blinking light, “Essentially, it’s a device which we thought was entertaining. It’s an idea of [Hipgnosis artist] Storm Thorgerson‘s, which related to The Dark Side Of The Moon and the pulse, and it’s a live album, so the box is ‘alive.'”

You can pre-order the updated Pulse releases now.

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The Byrds‘ three surviving original members, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman, have come together to collaborate on a new deluxe photo book focusing on the influential band’s early years that will be published next year.

The 400-page tome, titled The Byrds: 1964-1967, features over 500 images taken by such lauded photographers as Henry Diltz, Jim Marshall, Linda McCartney and Barry Feinstein, as well as restored pics from the Columbia Records archives and from the personal archives of the group’s original manager.

The book also features commentary penned by McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman, who share their recollections about the group, which pioneered folk rock, psychedelic rock and country rock, as well as about their late band mates Gene Clark and Michael Clarke.

The Byrds: 1964-1967 is the first in-depth photo book about the group, and the book on which the surviving founding members have collaborated. The project also marks the first time that Roger, David and Chris have all worked together since recording a few new songs for The Byrds’ 1990 retrospective box set.

Four versions of the book will be published: a Standard Version, a Deluxe Limited Edition, a Super Deluxe Limited Edition, and a Super Deluxe Limited Edition that comes with a fine art print.

The Super Deluxe Limited Editions, which will be released in October 2022, can be pre-ordered now at ByrdsBook.com, and are the only configurations signed by all three surviving founding Byrds members. When copies of the Super Deluxe versions sell out, they will not be reprinted.

Those purchasing the Super Deluxe Limited Edition with a print will be able to choose one of three images — McGuinn photographed by Diltz in 1967, Crosby photographed by Marshall in 1965 or Hillman photographed by Feinstein in ’65.

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Gov’t Mule, the group fronted by ex-Allman Brothers Band singer/guitarist Warren Haynes, recently released a new studio album titled Heavy Load Blues that’s the jam band’s first full project dedicated to the blues.

Haynes and company must have done something right, because the album currently is spending its third week at #1 on Billboard‘s Blues Albums chart.

Heavy Load Blues features a mix of covers of songs by blues legends like Howlin’ Wolf, Bobby Blue Bland, Elmore James and Junior Wells and original tunes Warren wrote that were inspired by some of his blues heroes.

Haynes tells ABC Audio that he’s been planning to make a blues album with Gov’t Mule for years, but kept putting it off because of his busy schedule, that is until the COVID-19 pandemic freed up some time for him.

“During the whole COVID lockdown thing, I wrote five or six blues songs…and I had also for several years been compiling a list of blues covers that eventually I would want to tackle,” Warren explains. “And I think the whole lockdown thing just forced that to the forefront…[I]t seemed like the right time to do this.”

Haynes says some of his goals for the record was to include songs by artists that Gov’t Mule hadn’t covered live before, to explore various blues subgenres, and to make the album sound like a vintage recording.

A deluxe version of Heavy Load Blues features several bonus tracks, including, interestingly, a heavy blues interpretation of the 1973 Elton John song “Have Mercy on the Criminal.”

Haynes notes, “[O]ur version is a little heavier and darker [than Elton’s], but it’s perfect that way. It’s a great song and a great story.”

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Blues Before Sunrise”
“Hole in My Soul”
“Wake Up Dead”
“Love Is a Mean Old World”
“Snatch It Back and Hold It”/”Hold It Back”/”Snatch It Back and Hold It”
“Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City”
“(Brother Bill) Last Clean Shirt”
“Make It Rain”
“Heavy Load”
“Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home”
“If Heartaches Were Nickels”
“I Asked Her for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)”
“Black Horizon”

Deluxe Version — Bonus Tracks:
“Hiding Place”
“You Know My Love”
“Street Corner Talking”
“Have Mercy on the Criminal”
“Long Distance Call”
“Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home” (Extended Version)
“Need Your Love So Bad” (Live)
“Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” (Live) — with Hook Herrera

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In a deal that dwarfs even that of his idol Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen has sold his masters and music publishing to Sony for a whopping $500 million, sources tell Billboard.  The publication says the deal may be the biggest payday yet for an individual musical body of work. 

Springsteen’s album catalog has sold more than 65 million copies in the U.S. alone. That catalog includes such bestsellers as 1984’s Born in the U.S.A., which has sold 15 million copies, and 1980’s The River, which has sold five million copies.

Billboard estimates Springsteen’s album catalog generated about $15 million in 2020 alone, with his publishing catalog generating about $7.5 million a year.

The publication notes that years ago, Springsteen was granted ownership of his earlier albums as an incentive to re-sign with Columbia, the label for which he’s recorded his entire career.

Last year, Dylan made headlines when Universal Music Publishing Group purchased his catalog for between $375 million and $400 million.

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Rush is releasing a collection of rare, never-before-seen photos from the Moving Pictures album cover shoot.

The images were taken by photographer Deborah Samuel, who also shot the covers for the Rush releases Permanent Waves, Exit…Stage Left and Signals. The pics are now being unearthed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Moving Pictures, and to raise money for the charity organization Grapes for Humanity and its efforts to provide sight-restoring surgeries and “eradicate preventable and curable blindness in low to middle income countries.”

“I clearly remember the day Deborah set up for this cover, and especially the interior series of the Moving Pictures photographs,” says guitarist Alex Lifeson.

“I was jumping around in the dark with a bright strobe flashing away, which was disorienting to say the least, but the results fit so well with the album concept, and I loved the final photos she produced,” Lifeson recalls. “I’m thrilled to revisit them and make the covers and these interior photos available in support of Grapes for Humanity.”

Singer/bassist Geddy Lee adds, “I’m very thankful to Deborah for generously making these rare photographs available to our fans, the proceeds of which will help bring sight to the sightless.”

For more info, visit MovingPictures40.com.

Moving Pictures, Rush’s best-selling album, hit the big 4-0 this past February. The 1981 record produced the singles “Tom Sawyer” and “Limelight,” as well as the beloved instrumental “YYZ.” It’s been certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 5 million in the U.S.

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Singer/songwriter Chris Jagger, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger‘s younger brother, has been hosting a podcast series for the Austin, Texas-based Hot Pie Media podcast network, and he’s revealed that his famous sibling will be joining him on multiple upcoming episodes of the show.

The Jagger brothers are still working out the details of their podcast collaboration, which, according to a press release, “[is] guaranteed to be one-of-kind, uniquely entertaining and the beginning of bigger things to come.”

Hot Pie Media tells ABC Audio that the episodes will feature “scripted portions, as well as allotted time for chatting,” adding, “In addition to [Chris and Mick] creating music beds for some of the content within the episodes, we will encourage them to also perform.”

Chris’ latest studio album, Mixing Up the Medicine, which was released in September, features a duet with Mick on a tune titled “Anyone Seen My Heart?“

“I look forward to my brother Mick being a part of my Hot Pie Media podcast series,” Chris says in a statement. “Mick joined me for a duet on my new album…so working together again on my podcast makes our collaboration another family affair!”

Hot Pie Media CEO Robert Walker adds, “Having the Jagger brothers working together on our network is a major milestone for our company. It’s also a very rare opportunity for the public to enjoy these two talented artists performing as a duo.”

Chris, who’s a partner in Hot Pie Media, has co-hosted and/or contributed to a number of podcasts and specials for the network. One of these saw him team up with Mick’s former romantic partner, supermodel Jerry Hall, for a program called Jerry’s Hall of Fame that featured Hall playing and discussing some of her favorite recordings.

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Josh Groban has recorded at least one of Billy Joel‘s songs, but now, he’ll actually be playing the part of The Piano Man himself in a new original scripted series from Audible.

The series is called The Miranda Obsession, and it’s based on a true story that was documented in a 1999 Vanity Fair article of the same name. The audio-only series stars The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan as Miranda Grosvenor, the alias of a real-life Louisiana woman who charmed many famous men in the ’70s and ’80s, simply by talking to them on the telephone.

Born Whitney Walton, “Miranda” would call stars late at night, and was reportedly so alluring that the men she called would fall in love with her, just by hearing her voice. Among the people with whom Walton had phone relationships were Billy, Eric Clapton, Warren Beatty, Bob Dylan, Richard Gere, Peter Gabriel, Robert De Niro, Ted Kennedy, Johnny Carson and many more. 

Billy was reportedly so entranced by Miranda that he considered writing a musical about her.  Others bought her expensive gifts, and, according to Vanity Fair, two of her telephone pals — music producers Quincy Jones and Richard Perry — proposed to her.  Walton died in 2016 at age 74.

In a statement, Brosnahan says, “I was completely captivated by the story of Miranda and her intimate relationships with some of Hollywood’s most powerful male players. Not only did she hold her own, but she curated a fantasy on the other end of the telephone and drew men into her design with words alone.”

In addition to Brosnahan and Josh, The Miranda Obsession series will feature Milo Ventimiglia as Richard Perry, and will premiere on Audible April 28, 2022.

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