Classic Rock News

The new documentary Barn, about the making of Neil Young & Crazy Horse‘s 2021 album of the same name, will be streamed exclusively at Young’s official YouTube channel starting this Thursday, January 20, at 1 p.m. ET.

As previously reported, the Barn film was directed by Young’s wife, actress Daryl Hannah — aka “dhlovelife” — and offers an intimate look at Neil and the current Crazy Horse lineup working on the album in a restored 19th-century log barn in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains during the COVID-19 pandemic in June of last year.

Most of the album was recorded live.

A description of the movie notes that it “intentionally lingers on single shots for entire songs, showing there are no tricks, revealing the raw, organic and spontaneous process of the music bursting to life from unexpected moments.”

The Barn film previously premiered in a few select theaters around the time of the album’s December 10 release, and also is available on a Blu-ray disc that’s included in the deluxe box set version of the album.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Song of the Seasons”
“Heading West”
“Change Ain’t Never Gonna”
“Canerican”
“Shape of You”
“They Might Be Lost”
“Human Race”
“Tumblin’ Thru the Years”
“Welcome Back”
“Don’t Forget Love”

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Starting today, David Bowie‘s entire music catalog is available for Peloton users, and in conjunction with the launch, three brand-new mixes of Bowie songs by contemporary artists also have premiered exclusively for the home exercise platform.

The songs, 1980’s “It’s No Game (Pt. 1),” 1983’s “Let’s Dance,” and 1975’s “Golden Years,” were remixed, respectively, by alternative rocker St. Vincent and DJ/producers Honey Dijon and TOKiMONSTA.

St. Vincent says she chose to remix “It’s No Game (Pt. 1)” a song from David’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) album, “because it has a part 2 on the record, and I figured maybe Bowie wouldn’t mind so much if I made a part 3.” She adds, “I wanted to take Bowie’s throat-shredding vocal take from part 1, and make it front and center.”

Honey Dijon notes, “When I was asked to remix one of my favorite David Bowie songs, I chose ‘Let’s Dance’ because it’s a true celebration of music and movement — just like Peloton!”

As for TOKiMONSTA, she says she relates to Bowie because he was “an amazing innovator,” pointing out that he “was always reinventing himself and pushing the envelope of music, while somehow never ceasing to be authentically himself.”

The David Bowie Collection, including the remixes, will be available for various exercise classes under the “Collections” sections in the Peloton App or the Peloton hardware touchscreen.

For non-Peloton members, a free two-month trial of the app is available. Visit OnePeloton.com for more details.

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Rick Wakeman is preparing to return to North America in February for a new leg of his Even Grumpier Old Rock Star solo tour, but the former Yes keyboardist also says he’s making progress on a new concept album on which he’s been working for a while.

As he told ABC Audio late last year, the project is called A Gallery of the Imagination. Explaining the concept, the 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer noted, “[I]f you go into an art gallery, you’ll see all kinds of paintings…from surrealistic to renaissance paintings to modern art…So I wanted to have an album which was a gallery of all different kinds of music.”

In a recent post on his website, Rick said of the project, “I am really pleased with how it’s coming together and I now am going to spend some time playing around with the song melodies and the lyrics ready to send to [singer/sax player] Hayley [Sanderson] and also some more work from me is [needed] as regards the keyboard arrangements for the instrumentals.”

Wakeman told ABC Audio that in conjunction with the album, he plans to encourage fans to create works of art inspired by each track, and then “we want to collect them all and…get hold of a big gallery somewhere…and have those pictures [displayed].”

Rick envisions people who visit the gallery will put on headphones and listen to the songs from the album while looking at the corresponding pieces of art inspired by the tracks.

He added, “I suppose [it’s] the next stage of being interactive with the audience.”

Wakeman’s 2022 The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour starts on February 22 in Seattle and is mapped out through a March 14 show in Toronto.

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An archival live album capturing the very first concert by the veteran rock band Cactus will be released this Friday, January 21, on multiple formats.

The album, titled The Birth of Cactus 1970, was recorded at a show that also featured The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Grateful Dead and Steve Miller Band. The concert featured Cactus playing several tunes from its 1970 self-titled debut, as well as select songs from its second and third albums — 1971’s One Way…or Another and Restrictions.

Cactus was formed by Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice and bassist Tim Bogert around the time of their group’s initial breakup. The band’s original lineup also included singer Rusty Day of The Amboy Dukes and guitarist Jim McCarty of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.

Appice recalls of Cactus’ first gig, “I remember…hanging out with Hendrix who was a friend of Cactus. We got on stage and the energy level was off the charts! All the songs kicked major a**. We were so excited to get Cactus going and this show helped. Crowd was great and we did ROCK!!”

The Birth of Cactus 1970 can be pre-ordered now and will be available as a CD digipak and a limited-edition purple-vinyl LP, as well as in digital formats.

Here’s the album’s track list:

“One Way…or Another”
“Sweet Sixteen”
“No Need to Worry”
Medley: “Let Me Swim/Big Mama Boogie/Oleo”
“Feel So Good”
“Parchman Farm”

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Heart‘s Ann Wilson has released a music video for her cover of Alice in Chains‘ 1993 grunge classic “Rooster” that you can watch now at her official YouTube channel.

The clip mixes visually distorted footage of Wilson singing the song with a variety of disturbing images and segments, including new and archival photos and film of soldiers, a baby doll set on fire, maggots feeding on a dead fly, a depressed looking older man drinking a bottle of liquor, a military drone and more.

Alice in Chains guitarist/singer Jerry Cantrell wrote “Rooster” about the psychological scars his father experienced while serving in the Vietnam War.

Wilson first released her version of “Rooster” in December 2020 as the B-side of a limited-edition vinyl single that also featured her rendition of the 2004 Steve Earle song “The Revolution Starts Now.”

A video of Ann performing “Rooster” also was shown during the virtual Founders Award tribute honoring Alice in Chains that was presented by Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, a.k.a. MoPOP, in December 2020.

On her social media pages, Wilson has posted a screen grab of a Seattle Times interview from December 2020 in which she explains that the “Rooster” music video originally was created to be shown at the Founders Award tribute to Alice in Chains, noting that the organizers decided not to use it because they preferred live footage of artists performing.

Ann added, “[S]ometime I’ll put that video out because it’s really cool. Just maggots and war stuff and darkness and insanity.”

Wilson’s “Rooster” cover also is available as part of a five-song EP compiling some of her recent solo recordings titled Sawheat 8 that she released last June.

(Video contains images that may disturb some viewers.)

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On the heels of the release of their latest studio album, The Boy Named If, Elvis Costello and his longtime backing group The Imposters will be the musical guests this Friday, January 21, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, airing 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.

Costello also will take part in an interview on the show.

The Boy Named If, which was released this past Friday, is a 13-track collection that’s described in a press statement as an album “of urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, guitar solos that sting and a quick step to the rhythm.”

Costello explained about the project, “The full title of this record is The Boy Named If (And Other Children’s Stories). ‘IF,’ is a nickname for your imaginary friend; your secret self, the one who knows everything you deny, the one you blame for the shattered crockery and the hearts you break, even your own.”

The Boy Named If is available on vinyl, CD, cassette and digital formats. There’s also “an 88-page hardback storybook edition,” each copy of which is signed and numbered by Elvis, although that version appears to be currently sold out.

The storybook edition features 13 illustrated short stories that have the same titles as the album’s songs and relate to the corresponding tunes in some way. The stories feature the lyrics of the songs, and the illustrations were created by artist Eamon Singer.

Meanwhile, coinciding with The Boy Named If‘s release, Costello debuted a lyric video for the title track on YouTube. The clip appears to offer an animated version of the illustrated story that accompanies the song.

Costello and The Imposters’ current plans to promote the album include a U.K. tour that kicks off June 5 in Brighton, England.

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John Mellencamp‘s latest studio album, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, gets its release this Friday, January 21, and the lauded singer/songwriter shares some details about the project in a new interview with Forbes, including how he wound up collaborating with Bruce Springsteen on three songs.

Mellencamp says the collaboration came about “quite by accident,” after he and Springsteen played together at the 2019 benefit concert for Sting‘s Rainforest Fund.

“Bruce and I…met each other years ago, but we just knew each other enough to say hi. But we did a rainforest thing for Sting and…all of a sudden he was like my big brother, and he treated me like I was his sibling, and I treated him with respect,” John explains. “And then we became really good friends, and it just kind of happened. He came to Indiana, he stayed at the house. It was great.”

Springsteen appears on the songs “Wasted Days,” “Did You Say Such a Thing” and “A Life Full of Rain.”

Mellencamp tells Forbes that rather than a collection of disconnected individual songs, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack features 12 tunes he wrote from the perspective of a specific character.

“[A]ll the songs are really one guy speaking,” John notes. “It’s just one guy talking about his life, his future, his self.”

Mellencamp also addressed how his singing voice has changed as he’s gotten older, admitting he’s pleased with its weathered quality.

“I was happy when I heard me sing [the new song] ‘Gone So Soon,’ that I sounded like Louis Armstrong,” the 70-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer maintains. “It wasn’t anything I tried to do, it’s just that cigarettes take their f***ing toll on your vocal cords…But I’m happy that I sound that way.”

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Just days after Judas Priest announced that they would be moving forward as a four-piece live outfit without touring guitarist Andy Sneap, the heavy-metal legends apparently have changed their minds and will continue as a quintet with Sneap.

In a message posted on their social media pages, Judas Priest says, “Hello metal maniacs…given all that has recently evolved and transpired we have decided unanimously as a band to continue our live shows unchanged with [singer] Rob [Halford], [bassist] Ian [Hill], [guitarist] Richie [Faulkner], [drummer] Scott [Travis] and Andy.”

The note also explains that longtime guitarist Glenn Tipton, who retired from touring full time with Judas Priest in 2018 after revealing he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, will continue to join the band at select concerts “whenever he’s able.”

The message concludes, “[S]o see you all soon as we forge ahead celebrating 50 massive heavy metal years of Judas Priest together!”

Sneap is a veteran guitarist and producer who co-produced Judas Priest’s most recent studio album, 2018’s Firepower. He was tapped by the band to step in for Tipton on tour that same year after Glenn revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis.

As previously reported, Judas Priest will relaunch their 50 Heavy Metal Years tour with a North American leg that kicks off March 4 in Peoria, Illinois.

The trek features rescheduled dates that were postponed last year after Faulkner suffered an aortic aneurysm onstage during the band’s set at the Louder than Life festival in Kentucky last September. Faulkner announced in November that his recovery was going well, and he’s expected to be with the band when the trek begins.

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The Scorpions have just released the title track of their forthcoming studio album Rock Believer, which is due out on February 25.

The tune, which is available now via digital formats, combines a catchy melody sung by frontman Klaus Meine with soaring rock accompaniment highlighted by harmonized guitar solos.

Meine, who wrote the song’s lyrics, notes, “Over the years, we’ve heard people say lots of times that rock is dead. But there are still millions of rock believers out there all over the world that prove them wrong. Our fans are the best in the world. We’ll see you someday somewhere out there, because we’re Rock Believers, just like you.”

As previously reported, the “Rock Believer” single’s cover art was designed by Klaus Voormann, who famously created the cover of The Beatles‘ classic 1966 album Revolver. A music video for the song will premiere on The Scorpions’ YouTube channel this Tuesday, January 18, at 12 p.m. ET.

Following the video’s premiere, The Scorpions will be hosting a special after-party and Q&A event that will be accessible to subscribers of the YouTube Premium service. You can submit questions for the band members now in the comments section of this Facebook post.

Rock Believer‘s title track is the second advance song issued from the album, following “Peacemaker.” You can pre-order the album now.

The Scorpions will kick off their 2022 tour itinerary in support of Rock Believer with a nine-date Las Vegas residency at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood, running from March 26 to April 16. Visit The-Scorpions.com for more info.

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As Loverboy prepares to return to the stage for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, the veteran Canadian rockers have released a brand-new single, “Release,” that they recorded remotely during lockdown.

The hard-rocking, ’80s-influenced song is available now via streaming services, while a video for the tune has premiered at Loverboy’s YouTube channel. The clip features the band performing the song together, mixed with archival footage of the group playing at various concerts.

Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean began writing “Release” for a heavy-metal band that wanted him to collaborate with them, but when the project fell through, he decided that the song could work as a tune for his own group.

“It started out as a frustrated call to action, after months of lock down, and morphed into a metal anthem about the loyalty and commitment of that audience,” explains Dean, who says the lyrics were inspired by the 2005 documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey.

Paul adds, “The communal aspect of heavy rock is almost like a religion. I’ve always been a big metal fan; my son and I have seen many of those bands in concert.”

Dean enlisted his Loverboy band mates to help finish the song, including frontman Mike Reno, who contributed some lyrics as well as lead vocals.

Paul also praises Loverboy drummer Matt Frenette, who sent him seven different drum takes to choose from for the track.

“That was amazing,” Dean enthuses. “It totally blew me away.”

Loverboy will play their first concert in nearly two years on January 23 in Ridgefield, Washington. The band has a variety of other headlining shows scheduled leading up to their upcoming spring/summer tour with Styx and REO Speedwagon, which kicks off May 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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