Classic Rock 93.9

This month marks the 45th anniversary of the 1977 plane crash that killed Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s Ronnie Van Zant and two other band members. The group’s former drummer, Artimus Pyle, says he’s now putting together a star-studded tribute album to commemorate the tragedy.

Pyle, who survived the accident, tells ABC Audio that 17 tracks have been recorded so far for the album, which will feature his solo group, the Artimus Pyle Band, playing classic Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes, along with a bunch of guest artists.

The 74-year-old drummer reveals Sammy Hagar, Gov’t Mule‘s Warren Haynes, Ronnie Dunn of the country duo Brooks & Dunn and Billy Ray Cyrus are contributing to the project.

“Sammy Hagar is singing ‘Simple Man,'” Artimus reports. “He puts his heart and soul into it.”

He adds that Haynes sings “Saturday Night Special,” Dunn performs “Sweet Home Alabama” and Cyrus sings “Call Me the Breeze.”

Pyle has long been estranged from the Lynyrd Skynyrd camp, so perhaps the most surprising news about the tribute is that founding Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington has contributed to a track.

“Gary Rossington plays his iconic slide solo on ‘Free Bird,'” Pyle notes. “I’m on the drum track. So that’s the first time that’s happened in 40 years … Against all odds, Gary and I are on a track together that will be on this new album.”

As for how he feels about his solo band’s renditions of the tunes, Pyle says, “Only we could play them with the ferocity and the fervor that we play these songs with.”

Artimus says the Skynyrd tribute is still in the works and that they may decide to make it a double album, “because who deserves more than Ronnie Van Zandt a double tribute album?”

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What happens when you combine the guitar of Eddie Van Halen and the vocals of Chris Cornell? Unfortunately, we may never know, but such a song apparently came close to happening.

According to guitarist Pete Thorn, who played in Cornell’s live solo band, the Soundgarden frontman and the Van Halen shredder had developed a friendship, which they one day hoped to channel in the studio.

“Eddie always wanted to do something with Chris musically,” Thorn tells The Mitch Lafon and Jeremy White Show. “Eddie loved his voice.”

As Thorn explains, a Cornell-Van Halen collaboration became a possibility toward the late 2000s, when Thorn was putting together some alternate, stripped-down demos of songs off Cornell’s 2009, electronic and pop-driven solo album, Scream. Upon hearing Thorn’s recordings, Cornell suggested they ask Van Halen to play on them.

While Thorn was waiting for Cornell to reach out to Eddie, he happened upon a friend who built amps for Van Halen. Thorn shared Cornell’s idea with him, who then gave Thorn Van Halen’s number. A few days later, Van Halen called Thorn back and the two set up a recording session. While Van Halen did play on the recording, that’s as far as it got.

“I don’t wanna get anybody excited thinking that this ever got finished, because it didn’t,” Thorn says. “But, [Van Halen] did work on it.”

“It’s a long story, but it never got a vocal on it by Chris,” Thorn continues. “It just never ended up getting finished.”

Sadly, it will stay that way, as Cornell died in 2017, while Van Halen passed in 2020.

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Foreigner has unveiled plans to return to Las Vegas in the spring of 2023 for a new residency at The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort.

The eight-date engagement, dubbed “The Best of Foreigner 4 & More Live,” will take place on March 24, 25, 29 and 31 and April 1, 5, 7 and 8. The concerts will feature the band playing selections from its best-selling studio album, 1981’s 4, as well as many other classics from the group’s back catalog.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, October 14 at 10 a.m. PT.

Foreigner fan club members will be able to buy pre-sale tickets starting Tuesday, October 11 at 10 a.m. PT, while Live Nation customers and members of The Venetian Resort’s Grazie loyalty program can purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, October 12 at 10 a.m. PT.

You can buy tickets via Ticketmaster.com, VenetianLasVegas.com, the box offices at the resort and by calling 702-414-9000 or 866-641-7469.

Foreigner has played multiple residencies at The Venetian Theatre over the years, most recently in March and April of this year.

Meanwhile, their next scheduled concert takes place on Tuesday, October 11 in Cape Town, South Africa. The band has 10 other confirmed dates on its upcoming schedule, not including the Vegas performances. Visit ForeignerOnline.com for a full list of those shows.

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Sharon Osbourne‘s 70th birthday party was basically an episode of Headbangers Ball.

Among the metal luminaries who attended the bash last weekend were Sharon’s husband, Ozzy Osbourne, as well as Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Black Label Society frontman and Ozzy’s guitarist Zakk Wylde and Korn‘s Jonathan Davis.

On his Instagram, Davis posted a photo of him, Morello and Wylde dressed in their best tuxes while standing beside the Osbournes.

“What an amazing evening celebrating @sharonosbourne birthday,” Davis wrote in the caption. “Catching up with so many old friends felt good.”

Meanwhile, Sharon posted a video of her and Ozzy dancing together during the celebration.

Also in attendance was Sharon and Ozzy’s daughter Kelly Osbourne, who’s expecting her first child with Slipknot‘s Sid Wilson.

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U2 frontman Bono took part in a Q&A event focusing on his forthcoming memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, on Friday in New York City as part of the 2022 edition of The New Yorker Festival.

According to Billboard, the event, which featured the 62-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer in conversation with longtime New Yorker editor David Remnick, began with the singer performing a trio of U2’s songs — “With or Without You,” “City of Blinding Lights” and “Vertigo.”

During the interview, Bono revealed that bassist Adam Clayton had a few critiques regarding the memoir, including that he felt there wasn’t enough about music in the book.

Regarding his bandmate’s complaint, Bono said he told Clayton, “Well, you know, it’s not just a music memoir. I wanted to give people a view that my life as an artist, my life as an activist, my life as a hooligan, my life as a husband, my life as a father … [were] all part of the same creative canvas.”

A major part of Surrender is devoted to Bono’s 40-year marriage to his wife, Ali. Musing about what has been behind the couple’s successful relationship, he said, “Friendship can outpace romantic love, sometimes. And friendship is what myself and Ali have.”

Bono also talked about the significance of the book’s title.

“I still find it hard to surrender to my bandmates,” he noted. “As an older person, it gets even harder to surrender to my wife, to surrender to my maker. I’m a defiant character, but I’m working on that … That’s why I wrote the book.”

Surrender will be released on November 1. Bono will launch a 14-date world book tour the following day in New York.

Visit SurrenderMemoir.com for more details.

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Last month, Julian Lennon released his first new studio album in 11 years, an 11-track collection titled Jude.

Julian, the older of late Beatle John Lennon‘s two sons, tells ABC Audio that Jude is actually made up mostly of previously unreleased older songs.

“This journey started with me receiving a few boxes of different formatted tapes from the basement of my business manager in London, who retired,” he explains, noting that the tapes dated back to the beginning of his music career.

“The first thing I saw was reel-to-reel tape,” Julian says. “[I]t had the original demos for ‘Too Late for Goodbyes,’ for ‘Valotte,’ a number of other songs on the [1984 Valotte] album, and a couple of songs that I was saving for a later date.”

Lennon says he began working his way through the tapes, picking songs to update for what he initially felt would make a good EP. Julian looked for tunes with themes that fit together well, and that reflected what was currently going on in his life and in the world, eventually realizing he had enough tracks for a full album.

The album’s title is a reference to the classic Beatles song “Hey Jude,” which Paul McCartney famously wrote in 1968 to cheer up a young Julian after his father left his mother. Lennon says titling the record Jude partly ties in with his recent decision to legally change his given first name, John, to Julian, which he’s been called since childhood.

“Jules, Jude, me, retrospective, collection of songs from life, taking ownership of the name Jude and/or being me finally … that all made sense to me,” he maintains. “And it was just pieces of this weird puzzle that just came together and all made sense in the end.”

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The 2004 compilation The Animals Retrospective, featuring classic songs that famed British Invasion band The Animals and its lead singer, Eric Burdon, recorded from 1964 to 1970, will be released on vinyl for the first time on November 18.

The album, which can be preordered now, will be issued as a two-LP set on standard black vinyl, while Target also will offer an exclusive, limited-edition orange-vinyl version.

Retrospective is a 22-track collection that includes classic tunes by The Animals’ original lineup and by the group’s late-1960s Eric Burdon & The Animals incarnation, as well as “Spill the Wine,” the 1970 smash that Burdon recorded with the band War.

Hailing from Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., The Animals started as a blues-influenced rock ‘n’ roll act. The band quickly found fame in 1964 thanks to their chart-topping version of the traditional folk song “The House of the Rising Sun,” and followed that with such hits as “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “It’s My Life” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.”

In 1966, Burdon reformed the band with a new lineup and the group, rechristened Eric Burdon & The Animals, relocated to California and began exploring a more psychedelic-influenced sound. Among this version of the band’s hits were “When I Was Young,” “San Franciscan Nights,” “Monterey” and “Sky Pilot.”

After the group’s 1968 breakup, Burdon began collaborating with the San Francisco-based funk-rock band War, scoring a #3 hit in ’70 with “Spill the Wine.”

Reflecting on the original Animals in Retrospective‘s liner notes, Burdon said, “We were the ultimate club band. We had our differences and sometimes came to blows, but we all stood together when anybody attacked us from the outside.”

Here’s the compilation’s full track list:

Side 1
“House of the Rising Sun”
“I’m Crying”
“Baby Let Me Take You Home”
“Gonna Send You Back to Walker”
“Boom Boom”
“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”

Side 2
“Bring It On Home to Me”
“We Gotta Get Out of This Place” (U.S. single version)
“It’s My Life”
“Don’t Bring Me Down”
“See See Rider”
“Inside-Looking Out”

Side 3
“Hey Gyp”
“Help Me Girl”*
“When I Was Young”*
“A Girl Named Sandoz”*
“San Franciscan Nights”*
“Monterey”*

Side 4
“Anything”*
“Sky Pilot”*
“White Houses”*
“Spill the Wine”**

* = Eric Burdon & The Animals
** = Eric Burdon & War

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“Carolina Shag,” a previously unreleased John Mellencamp song from the sessions for his classic 1985 album Scarecrow, has just been made available as an advance track from the upcoming deluxe reissue of the record.

The song is one of 11 bonus tracks featured on the deluxe versions of the Scarecrow reissue, which is due out November 4. As previously reported, the expanded reissue will boast a remixed and remastered version of the original album, as well as demos, outtakes and rough mixes of tracks.

“Carolina Shag” is an upbeat rock tune that tells the story of a guy who takes a trip to the Carolina coast and meets a free-spirited woman on the beach. The track is available now via digital formats, and a companion lyric video has premiered at Mellencamp’s official YouTube channel.

The Scarecrow reissue can be preordered now, and will be available in multiple configurations and formats.

Scarecrow, Mellencamp’s eighth studio album, was released in August 1985, and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200. The album yielded five top-40 hits — “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to ’60s Rock),” “Lonely Ol’ Night,” “Small Town,” “Rain on the Scarecrow” and “Rumbleseat,” which reached #2, #6, #6, #21 and #28, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Meanwhile, Mellencamp recently announced plans for an extensive North American trek dubbed the Live and In Person 2023 tour. The outing, which features 76 dates, is slated to run from a February 5-6 engagement in Bloomington, Indiana through a June 23-24 stand in South Bend, Indiana.

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A new documentary about longtime Rolling Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones, titled Darryl Jones: In the Blood, premiered Friday, October 7, in select theaters, and also is now available to rent digitally via Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

The film includes interviews with Jones and Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts, as well as with some of the other musicians who have toured with the band for many years, including keyboardist Chuck Leavell and singer Bernard Fowler.

Watts appears in one of the final interviews he gave before his death in August 2021.

In the Blood tells Jones’ life story, including a look at his childhood growing up on the South Side of Chicago, and his early music career, which included a five-year stint performing and recording with jazz legend Miles Davis, and working with Sting, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Madonna and many others.

Jones began playing with The Rolling Stones in 1993, after longtime bassist Bill Wyman retired from the band. He went on to play with the group on all of their ensuing albums and tours.

In the documentary, the various Stones members discuss working with Darryl and enthuse his talent.

In a trailer for the film, Richards notes, “Darryl is one of the best bass players in the world … I mean, obviously, playing with Miles Davies for five years, no mean resumé, you know?”

For more info about the movie, visit GreenwichEntertainment.com.

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Iggy Pop has shared a cover of the Leonard Cohen song “You Want It Darker.”

The Godfather of Punk’s rendition of the 2016 track stretches out to over five minutes, and features his slow-burning, gravelly vocals over jazz instrumentation.

“There’s nobody like Leonard, not in the whole world,” Pop says.

Pop’s cover is available now via digital outlets, and will appear on the upcoming Cohen tribute album Here It Is, due out October 14. The compilation also includes contributions from Peter Gabriel, Nathaniel Rateliff, Norah Jones, James Taylor and Mavis Staples.

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