Classic Rock 93.9

Van Morrison is giving fans another preview of his upcoming album, Accentuate The Positive, which drops November 3.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released his take on Little Richard’s classic “Lucille,” turning it into a duet with blues musician Taj Mahal. The pair previously worked together on the song “How Can A Poor Boy,” which was featured on Morrison’s 2015 album Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue. 

You can listen to “Lucille” now via digital outlets and YouTube.

Accentuate the Positive, Morrison’s 45th studio album, has him covering some of his personal rock ‘n’ roll favorites, like the already released singles “Shakin’ All Over,” originally recorded by Johnny Kidd, and “Problems,” made famous by The Everly Brothers in 1958.

Morrison is set to celebrate the release of the new album with a series of concerts. He’ll headline three hometown shows at Limelight in Belfast, Ireland, November 3, 4 and 5, and two shows at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, November 27 and 28. 

Accentuate the Positive is available for preorder now.

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Neil Young is revisiting some old tunes for a new album.

On December 8, the rocker is set to release the new album Before and After, a solo acoustic record made up of reworked songs, designed to be listened to as one whole piece. It also features one previously unreleased tune, “If You Got Love.”

“Songs from my life, recently recorded, create a music montage with no beginnings or endings,” Young shares. “The feeling is captured, not in pieces, but as a whole piece — designed to be listened to that way. This music presentation defies shuffling, digital organization, separation. Only for listening. That says it all.”

Young fans are getting their first preview of the record with the release of three songs, “I’m the Ocean,” “Homefires” and “Burned,” which are out now.

Before and After is available for preorder now in a variety of formats, including black vinyl, limited edition clear vinyl, CD and Blu-ray featuring Atmos mix, Binaural mix and Hi-Res 96/24 stereo. 

Here is the track list for Before and After:

“I’m The Ocean”
“Homefires”
“Burned”
“On The Way Home”
“If You Got Love”
“A Dream That Can Last”
“Birds”
“My Heart”
“When I Hold You In My Arms”
“Mother Earth”
“Mr. Soul”
“Comes A Time”
“Don’t Forget Love”

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Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has premiered the video for his solo song “I Just Don’t Know,” which features Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell.

The clip finds McKagan and Cantrell sitting in a dark room beneath a flickering screen as they strum acoustic guitars. The songs itself may not be what you’d expect from a collaboration between GN’R and AiC members, though things get more electric toward the end.

You can watch the “I Just Don’t Know” video streaming now on YouTube.

“I Just Don’t Know” appears on McKagan’s new solo album Lighthouse, which is out now. The record also includes contributions from McKagan’s GN’R bandmate Slash and Iggy Pop.

By the way, Alice in Chains just wrapped a run of shows opening for Guns N’ Roses. During a show in Vancouver Monday, October 16, McKagan joined AiC onstage for their closing performance of “Rooster.”

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Green Day‘s last-minute club show in Las Vegas Thursday, October 19, featured the live premiere of their upcoming new single, “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”

The set, which the “American Idiot” trio announced with just a day’s notice, also included a full-album performance of 1994’s Dookie, which was recently reissued in honor of its forthcoming 30th anniversary.

“We just played Dookie in full, thank you for that Las Vegas AND our new single ‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’ comes out October 24th!” Green Day writes in a Facebook post. “Set those wake up calls, ya hear??”

Over the past couple weeks, Green Day had been posting video teasers on the website TheAmericanDreamIsKillingMe.com, one of which featured Billie Joe Armstrong waking up in a bed and looking at a calendar with the date October 24 circled.

“The American Dream Is Killing Me” is set to be the first single off Green Day’s next album, the follow-up to 2020’s Father of All… The group also has big tour plans in the works. As Rolling Stone reports, Armstrong announced during the Vegas show that Green Day will be hitting the road alongside The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas.

An official tour schedule is still forthcoming. Perhaps, we’ll find that out when “The American Dream Is Killing Me” drops Tuesday.

Before that, though, Green Day will headline Vegas’ When We Were Young festival, taking place October 21-22.

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On This Day, October 20, 2001…

The Concert for New York City was held at Madison Square Garden to honor the city’s NYPD and NYFD first responders in the wake of the September 11 attacks. 

Alongside many of the first responders, victims’ families and colleagues attended the concert, which raised $35 million.

The concert, organized by Paul McCartney, featured performances by The Who, Elton John, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, David Bowie and Billy Joel, among others.

The Who’s set — their final one with bassist John Entwistle, who died eight months later — was among the best-received.

New York native Joel performed his classic “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway),” telling the crowd that when he wrote it 25 years ago, “I thought it was gonna be a science fiction song. I never thought it would really happen.” He added, “But unlike the end of that song … we ain’t going anywhere.” 

The concert was broadcast on VH1, and an album and DVD of the event were released in January 2002.

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For episode 38 of their weekly YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live, Queen is looking back at their iconic performance at Brazil’s inaugural Rock In Rio festival in 1985.

The band is specifically sharing archival footage of their performance of the acoustic classic “Love of My Life,” showing how they could make even a massive show in front of 400,000 fans feel intimate to those in attendance.

The clip shows guitarist Brian May asking the audience if they want to sing along, to which they oblige, and Freddie Mercury conducting them to much delight. 

“I think it’s the moment we first realized they knew ‘Love of My Life,” May had previously shared. “Not only knew it but would sing it. And not only would they sing it but would sing it with a passion that brought tears to our eyes.” 

Next week on Queen The Greatest Live: “A Kind of Magic.”

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The album release party for the Rolling Stones‘ latest album Hackney Diamonds on Thursday evening had some major surprises for fans in attendance at New York City’s venue Racket NYC: Mick Jagger and the boys took to the stage.

The Stones played from the band’s first album of new material in 18 years — and Lady Gaga joined them to perform their single “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” to boot.

Questlove acted as house DJ for the event, which drew famous fans including Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Craig and his Oscar winning actress wife Rachel Weisz, Elvis Costello, Mary Kate Olsen, Diana Krall, Trevor Noah, and others.

The Stones played seven songs from the new album as well as classics. They shredded through “Shattered,” “Angry,” “Whole Wide World,” “Tumbling Dice,” “Bite My Head Off,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and their shared track with Gaga.

The 12-track album features two tracks from late drummer Charlie Watts — “Mess It Up” and “Live By the Sword,” the latter of which has former Stones member Bill Wyman on bass.

“Sweet Sounds” also features keys and piano from Stevie Wonder, “Get Close” and “Live By the Sword” features piano from Elton John, while “Bite My Head Off” has a bassline from Paul McCartney.

Here’s the track listing for Hackney Diamonds, which is available now:

“Angry”
“Get Close”
“Depending On You”
“Bite My Head Off”
“Whole Wide World”
“Dreamy Skies”
“Mess It Up”
“Live by the Sword”
“Driving Me Too Hard”
“Tell Me Straight”
“Sweet Sounds of Heaven”
“Rolling Stone Blues”

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Elton John played The Pinball Wizard in the 1975 movie of The Who‘s Tommy and now, almost 50 years later, he’s the inspiration for a new line of pinball machines.

Elton John Pinball, from Jersey Jack Pinball, gives fan a front row experience of a live Elton concert, complete with plenty of callbacks to Elton’s career. The machines, developed with Elton’s input, include 16 full-length Elton tracks, including “Rocketman,” “Tiny Dancer” and “Benny and the Jets.”

Each game features footage from Elton’s career, with additions like a piano-playing interactive Elton sculpture, a “Tiny Dancer” sculpture, “Rocketman” ball launcher and more. They come with over 1,000 interactive LED lights, plus LCD displays, animation and more. There’s even a “Superstar” topper, with dual 10-inch LCD screens and an interactive laser light show. 

Elton John Pinball machines are available to purchase now, but they don’t come cheap. They range in price from $12,000 to $15,000, not including shipping.

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Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Keith Richards are among the artists set to appear on the upcoming live release Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live At The Hollywood Bowl, dropping December 15. 

The live album features performances from Willie’s star-studded 90th birthday bash, which took place April 29 and 30, at the famed Los Angeles venue. Other artists featured on Long Story Short include Bobby Weir, Warren Haynes, Dave Matthews, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson, Snoop Dog, Tom Jones, Lyle Lovett, Lumineers, Chris Stapleton and Kris Kristofferson.

And music fans are getting their first preview of the set with the release of Dave Matthews’ cover of “Funny How Time Slips Away.” It is available now via digital outlets and on YouTube. 

Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live At The Hollywood Bowl will be released in a variety of formats, including two-CD + Blu-ray and digital sets, featuring 39 audio tracks and three hours of video performances. There will also be a two-LP vinyl set with select highlights. 

All formats are available for preorder now.

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A new documentary giving fans insight into some of the legendary session musicians of the 1970s is getting a theatrical release. 

Magnolia Pictures will screen the doc, Immediate Family, in theaters across the country on December 12, with a digital release to follow on December 15. 

The film is the follow-up to director Denny Tedesco’s 2008 documentary, The Wrecking Crew, which focused on session musicians of the 1960s. Immediate Family tells the story of Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel and Waddy Wachtel, featuring new interviews with the musicians.

It also includes interviews with some of the A-list artists they played with, including James Taylor, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Carole King, Phil Collins and Linda Ronstadt.

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