Foo Fighters are releasing a new vinyl single featuring what they are calling “Re-Versions” of two tracks off the band’s new album, Medicine at Midnight.
The disc includes the previously released Mark Ronson mix of “Making a Fire,” as well as a new version of “Chasing Birds” recorded with the acclaimed New Orleans jazz outfit the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
You can pick up the single at your local independent record store on November 26 as part of the Record Store Day Black Friday event.
Other artists releasing exclusive vinyl for RSD Black Friday include Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, U2and Fleetwood Mac. For the full list of releases and participating stores, visit RecordStoreDay.com.
Eric Ryan Anderson/A&M/Interscope/Cherrytree Records
Sting has released a new song and video from his upcoming album, The Bridge. Called “Rushing Water,” the tune is the album’s opening track, one Sting says “is a fitting start to an album that seeks to bridge all of the petty differences that can separate us.”
“Rushing Water” follows the previous released advance track from The Bridge, “If It’s Love.”
Meanwhile, Sting premiered a new weekly web TV show, On the Bridge, on Tuesday. It features an intimate look at the rocker’s life as he gears up for the November 19 release of the album. There will be a new episode posted on Sting.com every Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET, where it will be exclusive to fan club members for 24 hours, and then be made available to everyone on Wednesdays at 9 a.m. ET.
Sting, who turns 70 on Saturday, will kick off his Las Vegas residency, My Songs, on October 29 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Well, maybe not, but it might as well after the Red Hot Chili Peppers earned a whole bunch of new RIAA certifications this week.
Songs including “Dark Necessities,” “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie” and “Tell Me Baby” are now all officially Platinum singles. Additionally, the tracks “Scar Tissue,” “Dani California,” “Californication,” “Snow (Hey Oh),” “Otherside” and “Can’t Stop” extend their multi-Platinum totals.
A few RHCP albums also got in on the fun: Californication and Stadium Arcadium are now seven and four-times Platinum, respectively, while the most recent Peppers record, 2016’s The Getaway, has been certified Gold.
The new RIAA distinctions come amid an eventful week for the Peppers. Last Friday, they announced plans for a 2022 world tour, marking their first full outing since longtime guitarist John Frusciante rejoined the band at the end of 2019. The news arrived on the 30th anniversary of RHCP’s hit 1991 album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
AC/DC‘s new “Through the Mists of Time” video certainly lives up to its name.
The clip opens up on an ancient Greek, Parthenon-type building filled with legendary paintings such as the Mona Lisa. Being that this is a rock video for one of the hardest rocking bands on the planet, the museum is filled with amps that shoot electricity through Leonardo da Vinci‘s masterpiece.
Towards the middle, the video transitions into a history of AC/DC themselves, showcasing all sorts of archival photos and videos. There’s a particular focus on late members Malcolm Young and Bon Scott, who passed away in 2017 and 1980, respectively.
The video ends with a Sistine Chapel-esque painting of AC/DC rocking out on the ceiling.
You can watch the “Through the Mists of Time” video streaming now on YouTube.
”Through the Mists of Time” appears on AC/DC’s comeback album Power Up, which was released last November. It reunites the surviving members of the band’s classic Back in Black lineup, and is dedicated to Malcolm.
The Rolling Stones have released a second advance track from the upcoming expanded 40th anniversary reissue of the band’s hit 1981 album, Tattoo You: a cover of the 1970 Chi-Lites song “Troubles A’ Comin.”
The soulful tune is one of nine previously unreleased tracks that will appear on the Lost & Found: Rarities bonus disc of the deluxe collection, which is due out on October 22. The Stones’ rendition of “Troubles A’ Comin” was recorded in Paris in 1979.
The track is available now via digital formats, and a companion lyric video for the tune has debuted at The Rolling Stones’ official YouTube channel.
The clip features animated graphic elements from the Tattoo You cover and other associated artwork, as well as photos of the band members from that period.
The Rolling Stones performed “Troubles A’ Comin” at the private tour warmup show they played at Massachusetts’ Gillette Stadium on September 22, and the song likely will be included in some sets during the trek.
The first advance track released from the Tattoo You reissue was a previously unheard original sing called “Living in the Heart of Love” that also will be part of the Lost & Found: Rarities disc.
Meanwhile, after launching the 2021 U.S. leg of their No Filter Tour in St. Louis on Sunday, The Stones are scheduled to play the second show of the outing tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Judas Priest‘s Richie Faulkner is “stable and resting” after undergoing emergency heart surgery.
The update comes from his partner, Mariah Lynch, who took to Instagram on Tuesday to say, “Thank you to everyone for all your messages.”
Alongside a photo of the couple with their one-year-old daughter, Daisy Mae, Lynch wrote, “Richie underwent major emergency heart surgery. He is stable & resting. If you know him, you know how tough & strong he is. So tough that he finished the show & kept the hair flips coming.”
Lynch added, “There’s no one like him. We’d be lost without him #HotDad.”
Priest frontman Rob Halford also took to social media to spread the “good news.” Sharing a photo of the guitarist, he wrote, “Good news metal maniacs as you may have seen via Ritchies beautiful @mariahklynch our Falcon is stable and resting after undergoing extensive heart surgery.”
The health update comes just one day after the band announced they were postponing their tour due to Faulkner’s health.
“It is with deep regret that we have to postpone the rest of our U.S. tour,” Judas Priest said. “Richie Faulkner has major medical heart condition issues which have landed him in the hospital where he is being treated. In the meantime, we are all sending love to our Falcon to wish him a speedy recovery… As soon as we have any updates from the doctors on when we can reschedule the dates, we will of course announce them.”
They’ve worked together twice previously, but Elton John and Stevie Wonder have finally recorded an actual duet: “Finish Line,” which is available now as a digital download and on all streaming services.
In 1985, Elton and Stevie teamed with Dionne Warwick and Gladys Knight to record the HIV/AIDS charity single “That’s What Friends Are For,” and in 1983, Stevie played harmonica on Elton’s smash “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.” But for Elton’s upcoming album The Lockdown Sessions, they did a proper collaboration, with both men singing and playing piano, Stevie on harmonica and a gospel choir backing them up.
In a statement, Elton celebrates his “fifty years of friendship” with Stevie, and says recording the duet was “a magical process.” “When you listen to what he does vocally and instrumentally on ‘Finish Line’ you think, ‘This is a true genius here,'” he adds.
Stevie raves in a statement of his own, “It is both a joy and honor to sing, play piano and harmonica for Elton! He has truly been one of the great spirits of music, life, friendship, and love, who I’ve met on this life journey! True artistry and music like love equals a forever commitment lasting many lifetimes.”
The music legend adds, “Elton, anyone who hears your voice singing ‘finish line’ will hear and feel your wisdom, your pain, your soul, your love, but also your resilience…I love it!! Congratulations to you and our forever and never, never-ending music, friendship, life-song! Long live Sir Elton John!”
The Lockdown Sessions comes out October 22 and also features collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Gorillaz, Miley Cyrus, the late Glen Campbell, Dua Lipa, Charlie Puth, Lil Nas X and more.
The record, which will be the veteran German hard rocker’s 19th studio effort, is a follow-up to 2015’s Return to Forever.
The album’s first single, “Peacemaker,” will be released on October 21.
The project was mostly written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, with The Scorpions working at their Peppermint Park Studios in Hanover, Germany.
“The album was written and recorded in the Scorpions DNA with core Schenker/Meine compositions,” says frontman Klaus Meine, referring to himself and founding guitarist Rudolf Schenker. “We recorded the album as a band live in one room, like we did in the ’80s.”
Rock Believer will be the first studio album by the group to feature ex-Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee, who joined The Scorpions in 2016.
After the album’s release, The Scorpions will launch their Rock Believer World Tour, which will kick off with the band’s previously announced nine-date Las Vegas residency at The Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood that runs from March 26 through April 16. Queensrÿche will open the Vegas shows.
Following the residency, The Scorpions will head back across the pond, where a European leg of the trek will get underway on May 10 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Pre-sale tickets and VIP packages for the European concerts went on sale today, are available for members of the Scorpions Rock Zone fan community. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 1.
Jethro Tull will belatedly mark the 50th anniversary of their third studio album, 1970’s Benefit, by releasing an expanded, four-CD/two-DVD version of the record on November 5.
The Benefit (The 50th Anniversary Enhanced Edition) collection’s CDs feature stereo mixes of the original album and associated tracks done in 2013 by acclaimed studio whiz Steven Wilson; mono and stereo mixes of various single A-sides and B-sides, radio spots and more; a previously unreleased Wilson remix of a 1970 Jethro Tull performance at Massachusetts’ Tanglewood venue; and a newly remastered mono recording of a previously unreleased 1970 Tull show at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom.
The DVDs feature high-res versions of Wilson’s 2013 remix of Benefit and associated tracks, a video of the 1970 Tanglewood concert, and more.
The reissue also comes packaged with a 100-page book, featuring a new essay about Benefit; commentary about each of the album’s tracks from frontman Ian Anderson and former Tull members Martin Barre, Glenn Cornick and Clive Bunker; and interviews with Benefit studio engineer Robin Black, executive producer Terry Ellis, and others.
Released in April 1970, Benefit peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the U.K. album chart. The record included one hit U.K. single, “Witch’s Promise,” which reached #4 on the chart. The album’s best-known song in the U.S. likely is “Teacher,” which went on to become a classic rock radio staple.
Benefit has gone on to be RIAA-certified Gold in the U.S. for sales of over 500,000 copies.
You can pre-order the deluxe reissue and check out the full track list at BurningShed.com.
Move over Diamond plaques and Grammy trophies, because Metallica‘s The Black Album has now earned the most prestigious honor there is: a Funko Pop! recreation.
The toy company has announced a Black Album-themed set in its ever-popular line of adorable, big-headed vinyl figures. The collection includes period-appropriate plastic versions of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and former bassist Jason Newsted, along with a Funko replica of the record and its cover artwork.
You can pre-order the package now exclusively via Walmart.com.
The Black Album celebrated its 30th anniversary in August. Earlier this month, Metallica released a deluxe reissue of the record, as well as The Metallica Blacklist, a 53-track tribute compilation featuring covers of each one of the original album’s songs.
