Classic Rock 93.9

Neil Young has unveiled plans to launch a new series of archival live albums dubbed The Neil Young Official Bootleg Series, and will kick things off with Carnegie Hall 1970, which will be released on October 1.

The album was recorded on December 4, 1970, at the first concert that Young ever played at the historic New York City venue. The Neil Young Official Bootleg Series — Carnegie Hall 1970 can be pre-ordered now at the Greedy Hand Store at NeilYoungArchives.com, and will be available as a two-LP vinyl set, a two-CD collection and as a high-res digital download.

Carnegie Hall 1970 show was the first of two solo acoustic concerts that Neil played at the New York City venue that evening, and featured a 23-song set that, in addition to many selections from his solo career, included renditions of tunes from his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

The concert included performances of three songs that Neil had not yet officially recorded or released: “Bad Fog of Loneliness,” “Old Man,” and “See the Sky About to Rain.” Other tunes he played at the show included “Down by the River,” “Cinnamon Girl,” “Helpless,” “Southern Man,” “Sugar Mountain,” “After the Gold Rush,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” and “Ohio.”

You can check out Young’s Carnegie Hall 1970 rendition of “Cowgirl in the Sand” now at his official YouTube channel, accompanied by a series of photos from the concert.

Neil’s planning to release five more installments of his new Bootleg Series in 2022.

Here’s the full track list of Carnegie Hall 1970:

“Down by the River”
“Cinnamon Girl”
“I Am a Child”
“Expecting to Fly”
“The Loner”
“Wonderin'”
“Helpless”
“Southern Man”
“Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing”
“Sugar Mountain”
“On the Way Home”
“Tell Me Why”
“Only Love Can Break Your Heart”
“Old Man”
“After the Gold Rush”
“Flying on the Ground Is Wrong”
“Cowgirl in the Sand”
“Don’t Let It Bring You Down”
“Birds”
“Bad Fog of Loneliness”
“Ohio”
“See the Sky About to Rain”
“Dance Dance Dance”

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Eddie Vedder is rocking around the clock with his cover of the 1992 R.E.M. classic “Drive.”

The Pearl Jam frontman put his spin on the Automatic for the People opener for the soundtrack to the new film, Flag Day. While Vedder’s version stays true to the slow burning original musically, his baritone vocals give the track a different kind of vibe. You can check out the song new at Vedder’s official YouTube channel.

Along with the “Drive” cover, the Flag Day soundtrack includes a number of original Vedder tunes recorded with Irish musician and Once star Glen Hansard, as well as new music from Cat Power. Additionally, the album features the musical debut of Vedder’s daughter, Olivia, who performs songs titled “My Father’s Daughter” and “There’s a Girl.”

Fittingly, Flag Day stars another father-daughter pair: Sean and Dylan Penn. Both the film and its soundtrack are out today.

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Boz Scaggs is featured on a brand-new song by doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll great Dion DiMucci, a grooving blues-rock tune called “I’ve Got to Get to You.”

The track is available now as a digital download and via streaming services, and will be featured on Dion’s next studio album, which is due out in the fall. Scaggs contributes some guest vocals to the song, which also includes the talents of the father and son guitar duo Joe and Mike Menza.

You also can check out a video for “I’ve Got to Get to You” at Dion’s official YouTube channel. The clip mixes scenes of people using all sorts of modes of transportation with footage of Dion and his backing band playing the tune and, separately, of the Menzas jamming out on the song.

Explaining why he wanted to collaborate with Scaggs, Dion notes that Boz “is one of my wife Susan‘s favorite singers, and I’m right there with her.

He continues, “I’ve wanted for decades to record a song with this guy. There’s no mistaking his voice for anyone else’s — and here it is, as pure and clear as ever, on ‘I’ve Got to Get to You.'”

Dion also reveals that he was “inspired to write this song after a conversation with Roy Orbison more than fifty years ago,” adding, “Now that Boz has sung on it, it’s finally done. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Meanwhile, Scaggs says of Dion, “[He’s] one of my favorite singers,” adding about the collaboration, “Our voices are a natural blend.”

Dion’s most recent album, 2020’s Blues with Friends, included appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, The Stray Cats‘ Brian Setzer and more.

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On Wednesday, Carlos Santana released his new collaborative single with Matchbox Twenty‘s Rob Thomas, “Move,” which will appear on Santana‘s upcoming studio album, Blessings and Miracles.

“Move” arrives 22 years after Santana and Thomas teamed up for the massively successful hit “Smooth,” and at a New York City press event Wednesday, Rob explained via Zoom that the reason it took so long for Carlos and him to reunite for a follow-up tune was that it “had to happen naturally,” like “Smooth” did.

Thomas revealed that “Move” came about while he was working on material with the New York-based rock group American Authors, who also contributed to the track.

“[A]t the tail end of that session, [they sent] me a track and [said]…’See if you can do something with this,'” Rob recalled. “And…it just hit me immediately. The chorus came out, I sent it to Carlos immediately…Carlos is like, ‘Oh, this is beautiful. I want to do this. This sounds great.'”

Carlos, who attended the press gathering in person, shared that “Move” “has the two components that I love, being in a physical body — spirituality and sensuality.”

He added, “I feel very grateful and very confident that…Rob and I [get to] reach the four corners of the world again and make a lot of families happy.”

Santana and Thomas also will reach lots of people when they hit the stage together Saturday in New York City’s Central Park at the star-studded We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert.

Musing about the show and its theme, celebrating New York’s revival in the COVID pandemic’s wake, Carlos said, “I feel that New Yorkers need…a spiritual boost. Like a dog shakes water…we have to ward off and shake off fear and darkness and…anger.”

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The Eagles are set to launch their “Hotel California” 2021 Tour this Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and in celebration of the trek, the band’s Live at The Forum ’76 concert album will be released on vinyl for the first time on November 12.

The album, which features 10 performances recorded at the famed Los Angles-area venue in the fall of 1976, previously was only available on CD and digitally as part of the 40th anniversary reissue of the Hotel California album that was released in 2017.

The two-LP set, which you can pre-order now, is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and features three sides of music, plus an etching on the collection’s fourth and final side.

Live at The Forum ’76 was recorded during a three-night stand that the Eagles played at the venue in October of 1976. The shows, which took place two months before Hotel California‘s release, featured some of the earliest live performances of songs from the album, including the classic title track and “New Kid in Town.”

Besides those two tunes, Live at The Forum features renditions of earlier Eagles classics like “Take It Easy,” “Take It to the Limit,” “Witchy Woman,” “One of These Nights” and “Already Gone,” plus a version of guitarist  Joe Walsh‘s James Gang gem “Funk #49.”

As previously reported, the Eagles’ Hotel California 2021 Tour will feature the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers performing the Hotel California album in full, accompanied by an orchestra and a choir, followed by a set of the band’s greatest hits. The U.S. trek is mapped out through a November 5-6 stand in Seattle.

Visit Eagles.com to check out their full tour schedule.

Here’s the Live at The Forum ’76 two-LP set’s track list:

LP One

Side A
“Take It Easy”
“Take It to the Limit”
“New Kid in Town”

Side B
“James Dean”
“Good Day in Hell”
“Witchy Woman”
“Funk #49”

LP Two

Side A
“One of These Nights”
“Hotel California”
“Already Gone”

Side B
Etching

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Foo Fighters are set to receive the inaugural U.S. Global Icon Award at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.

The prize will recognize Dave Grohl and company for their “unparalleled career and continued impact and influence [that] has maintained a unique level of global success in music and beyond.”

The Global Icon Award has previously been given out by the MTV Europe Music Awards. Past winners include Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne, U2, Queen, Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston.

Along with the honor, the Foos will perform at this year’s VMAs, marking their first set at the ceremony since 2007. They’re also nominated in three categories: Best Rock, Best Choreography and Best Cinematography, all for the “Shame Shame” video.

The 2021 MTV VMAs will air September 12.

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Stevie Nicks has opened up in a new interview about her past struggle with drug addiction and how she was able to “save” herself.

Speaking with country star Tim McGraw on Apple Music’s Beyond the Influence Radio show Wednesday, as reported by People, the 73-year-old  Fleetwood Mac frontwoman admitted that she experimented with drugs when discussing what topics she’d avoid if given the opportunity to write her memoir.  She also made it clear that drugs are no longer part of her life.

“I managed to save myself. I got through some pretty scary moments, but I saved me,” she declared, noting how she relied on herself and “nobody else” to get herself through her darkest moments. “I survived me. I survived my cocaine. I survived by myself.”

Nicks continued, “I checked myself into rehab. Nobody did that for me. I did it and that’s like with my whole life.”

As for why she’d rather not go into full detail about that part of her life should it ever be put on paper, the “Dreams” singer said, “I would dance over those parts just to give the wisdom out to people.”

Nicks is considering writing her own memoir, but told McGraw that she doesn’t think one book would be enough to hold everything that’s happened to her. Instead, she may tell her life story across four installments.

“I think that what I would do first, and only lately have I thought this, I might sit down at some point across the kitchen table with some of my girlfriends who have been there for a lot of it and put on a tape recorder and just start talking from the very beginning,” she said.

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If your board game time needs a heavier soundtrack, then Iron Maiden is here for you.

The metal legends have dropped a new song called “Stratego,” a track off their upcoming album Senjutsu. While there aren’t specific mentions of flags, bombs or spies, the tune does include lyrics such as “Teach me the art of war” and “Spills of a crying nation upon my soul.”

You can listen to “Stratego” now via digital outlets.

Senjutsu, Iron Maiden’s 17th studio album and its first since 2015’s The Book of Souls, is due out September 3, and can be pre-ordered now. It also includes the previously released single “The Writing on the Wall.”

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Neil Young has announced that he’s decided not to perform at the Farm Aid 2021 festival scheduled for September 25 at Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut, citing his concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In a message posted on NeilYoungArchives.com, the 75-year-old rock legend writes, “Lots is going on in our world right now. I find myself wondering whether [Farm Aid] will be safe for everyone with the Covid pandemic surging…I don’t want to let anybody down, but still can’t shake the feeling that it might not be safe for everyone. I worry about audiences coming together in these times.”

He continues, “All you people who can’t go to a concert because you still don’t feel safe, I stand with you. I don’t want you to see me playing and think it’s safe now. I don’t want to play until you feel safe, and it is indeed…safe.”

Young adds, “My soul tells me it would be wrong to risk having anyone die because they wanted to hear music and be with friends… Since we know vaccinated people can catch and spread Covid, I worry about the children who could become infected after [Farm Aid], just by being with someone, maybe a parent, who caught the virus at [Farm Aid] and didn’t know it.”

Neil, who traditionally co-headlines the annual event with fellow Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, notes, “While I respect Willie, John and Dave’s decisions to stick with it and play, I am not of the same mind. It is a tough call.”

Other artists on the 2021 Farm Aid bill include Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, Bettye LaVette and Jamey Johnson. The concert is sold out.

For more info, visit FarmAid.com.

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Foghat is commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11 by offering free tickets to all police officers, firefighters and emergency medical service workers who’d like to attend the band’s concert this September 11 at the Paramount theater in Huntington, New York.

The offer is good for both active and retired workers, and tickets can be reserved by visiting Foghat.biz. The free passes can be picked up at the “Will Call” window at the venue.  ID will be required.

Foghat’s 2021 tour schedule runs through a November 27 show in Hiawassee, Georgia, and the band also has a few 2022 dates on the books. Visit Foghat.com for more information.

Meanwhile, the “Slow Ride” rockers released a new live album and concert video last month called 8 Days on the Road in celebration of the group’s 50th anniversary. The collection, which is available as a two-CD/DVD package and digitally, documents a November 2019 performance at the Daryl Hall-owned Daryl’s House club in Pawling, New York.

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