Ozzy Osbourne has released a deluxe digital version of his 2001 solo album Down to Earth in honor of its 20th anniversary.
The expanded collection includes three bonus tracks which had been previously unavailable on streaming platforms: the B-side “No Place for Angels,” an acoustic recording of “Dreamer,” and the “Single Version” of the track “Gets Me Through.”
Down to Earth was Ozzy’s eighth solo effort, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. It was recorded with longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde, Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin, and a pre-MetallicaRobert Trujillo on bass.
The digital Down to Earth reissue follows last month’s 30th anniversary re-release of 1991’s No More Tears.
Thirty-six of the Fab Four’s classic songs are now available for TikTok members to use to soundtrack their own video creations.
The debut of The Beatles’ TikTok account coincides with the release today of the deluxe reissue of the band’s final studio album, 1970’s Let It Be. It’s also in advance of the upcoming three-part Disney+ documentary series The Beatles: Get Back that will feature hours of unseen film footage shot of the band while they recorded the album.
Beatles songs available to TikTok users include all of Let It Be‘s 12 tracks, as well as the many #1 hits the band scored throughout its existence, including “Love Me Do,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Day Tripper,” “Paperback Writer,” “Hey Jude” and “Something.”
In the weeks leading up to the late-November premiere of The Beatles: Get Back, the band’s TikTok page will debut exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the Let It Be sessions, as well as videos looking at the making of individual songs from the album that feature interviews with surviving Beatles members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
The launch of The Beatles’ TikTok account also marks the arrival of the platform’s month-long #Rocktober campaign, a celebration of significant rock artists on TikTok.
All four Beatles members — McCartney, Starr and the late John Lennon and George Harrison — already have official solo TikTok accounts.
Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has tied the knot with his girlfriend of five years, Kamilah Chavis.
The British rock legend shared the happy announcement on Instagram, along with photos from the ceremony, which was reportedly held in New York’s The Hamptons. Waters titled the reveal, “I’m so happy, finally a keeper.”
The photos include snaps of the happy couple sharing kisses, cutting their cake, laughing together and, of course, photos of Chavis’ lace wedding dress.
Not much else is known about the couple’s nuptials.
In a 2018 interview, the 78-year-old Waters told Infobae, an Argentine media outlet, how he and his new bride first met and fell in love. “I actually met her at one of my concerts a couple of years ago. She worked in transportation. She was driving the car that was taking me,” the bassist said. “Something about her attracted me.”
Waters admitted that he made the first move and that he threw Chavis a compliment, which was, “Did someone ever tell you that you have beautiful cheekbones?”
It worked, and he recalled, “I saw a little reaction, and that was the beginning.”
This is Waters’ fifth marriage. He was previously married to Judith Trim, his childhood sweetheart, from 1969 to 1975, aristocrat Carolyne Christie from 1976 to 1992, actress Priscilla Phillips from 1992 to 2001 and to filmmaker Laurie Durning between 2012 and 2015.
The 15-track collection follows a similar template to the band’s massively successful 1999 album, Supernatural, with guitar legend Carlos Santana and his group collaborating with guest artists from various musical genres.
Like Supernatural, Blessings and Miracles finds Santana teaming up with Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas — this time on song called “Move” that, like its predecessor “Smooth,” blends melodic pop and rock with a Latin groove.
“This song…makes me realize energy is very welcome in our hearts, because it makes you feel like you’re 17 years old, with a lot of thirst for adventure,” Carlos said at a recent New York City press event.
Another standout track from Blessings and Miracles is a cover of the Procol Harum classic “A Whiter Shade of Pale” featuring Steve Winwood.
Carlos revealed that he asked Winwood to record the cover with him a few years ago when they were both playing a concert at London’s Hyde Park.
“I said, ‘Hey, man, I want to do ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ with you. You play Hammond organ and singing it,'” Carlos recalled, “‘but I want to do it ‘Spanish Harlem’ style…you know, put some real sex in it.'”
Carlos said the track was one of his favorites on the album, “because [Winwood’s] voice is so iconic.”
Blessings and Miracles also includes “America for Sale,” a politically charged song featuring Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett and singer Mark Osegueda of the thrash-metal band Death Angel.
While much of the album was recorded remotely, Santana noted that he and Hammett laid down dueling guitar parts on the song together.
“We’re looking at each other’s eyes and fingers, and we had fun having a conversation,” he recalled.
Here’s Blessings and Miracles full track list:
“Ghost of Future Pull”/”New Light”
“Santana Celebration”
“Rumbalero” (featuring Salvador Santana & Asdru Sierra)
“Joy” (Carlos Santana & Chris Stapleton)
“Move” (Carlos Santana, Rob Thomas, Zac Barnett & American Authors)
“A Whiter Shade of Pale” (featuring Steve Winwood)
“Break” (featuring Ally Brooke)
“She’s Fire” (Diane Warren, G-Eazy & Carlos Santana)
“Peace Power” (featuring Corey Glover)
“America for Sale” (featuring Kirk Hammett & Mark Osegueda)
“Breathing Underwater” (featuring Stella Santana, Avi Snow, MVCA)
“Mother Yes”
“Song for Cindy”
“Angel Choir” (featuring Gayle Moran Corea)/”All Together” (featuring Chick Corea)
“Ghost of Future Pull II”
Former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman has just launched a new club for his fans called the Caped Crusader Collector Club that will offer members the chance to receive and purchase a variety of rare recordings and memorabilia.
Those who sign up for the CCCC, as Wakeman calls the club, will receive a membership pack that includes an individually numbered membership card; a welcome letter signed by Rick; a sticker; four 8″ by 10″ photos; and an exclusive yearbook boasting rare photos, articles and memorabilia from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s archive.
Members also will receive the first of a series of exclusive CCCC CD releases, this one featuring a previously unreleased soundtrack Wakeman recorded for the 1984 sci-fi film She.
Each year, club members will receive four exclusive CDs featuring rare studio recordings and live performances from Wakeman’s archives.
CCCC members also will get a 10% discount off all purchases made from the Wakeman Music Emporium online store, and will receive invitations to special events, access to exclusive merchandise and more.
Fans who join the club this month will receive a 15-month membership for the price of a one-year membership.
“As a musician, I think it is important that serious fans get to hear music that would otherwise be left in drawers and on shelves and in some cases, discarded,” Wakeman says in a statement. “With the formation of the CCCC, I feel that this is an innovative way for core fans to get to hear music which I have discovered in various of my archives.”
In other news, Wakeman just launched the U.S. leg of his Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour on Wednesday, but he also announced some changes to his itinerary and the postponement of several dates. Check out updated details at RWCC.com.
Neil Young has announced plans to release a new studio album titled Barn with his frequent backing band Crazy Horse, due out on December 10.
Young revealed the news in a post on NeilYoungArchives.com, while making available one of the album’s tracks, “Song of the Seasons,” exclusively to paid subscribers to the website.
According to information posted on the site, Barn was recorded “high in the Rockies” at Le Mobile Remote Recording Studio, with Crazy Horse’s current lineup — the founding rhythm section of bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina, and multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren, who rejoined the band in 2018 after previously playing with the group during the early 1970s.
Neil says “Song of the Seasons” is the oldest song on Barn, and was “written about this time last year.” According to the website, the track was recorded in June of this year.
Barn is a follow-up to Young and Crazy Horse’s 2019 album, Colorado.
In other news, Young recently announced that he’s preparing an expansive audio and video collection titled Harvest Time that will feature various outtakes and film footage recorded during the time he was making his classic 1972 album, Harvest. He notes that Harvest Time, which will include “[a]lmost two hours of Harvest rarities,” will arrive in 2022.
The Storyteller faced some stiff competition, having been released the same day as former Donald Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham‘s tell-all book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now, as well as actor Stanley Tucci‘s Taste memoir. Still, Grohl’s collection of rock n’ roll tales, which range from his childhood to joining Nirvana and jamming with everyone from Paul McCartney to Iggy Pop, grabbed the top spot.
In a tweet reacting to the news, Grohl writes that he’s “honored” by the book’s success.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would someday be a number-one bestselling author,” Grohl says. “But it’s those same wildest dreams that I’ve followed since the day I picked up a guitar.”
Grohl recently wrapped a tour in support of The Storyteller, which featured him playing drums alongside the recording of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would someday be a number one bestselling author, but it’s those same wildest dreams that I’ve followed since the day I picked up a guitar. Honored. pic.twitter.com/LpZx93C2jn
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2021 will be welcomed into the hallowed institution at a ceremony held on October 30 in Cleveland. To celebrate the new inductees, a special exhibit will open at the Rock Hall museum in the city on Sunday, October 24.
The display will feature items from all of this year’s inductees, which include Foo Fighters, Todd Rundgren, The Go-Go’s, Tina Turner, Carole King and JAY-Z in the main Performers category; Early Influence honorees Kraftwerk, Charley Patton and Gil Scott-Heron; and, in recognition of Musical Excellence, Randy Rhoads, Billy Preston and LL Cool J.
The exhibit’s opening will take place on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Celebration Day event, which offers free admission to the museum for Ohio residents.
Among the exhibit’s many highlights is a Dan Armstrong Ampeg model guitar that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl used as his main instrument during the band’s One by One era.
Rundgren has contributed an embroidered purple suit that he wore in concert in 1978, and while he was recording his live album, Back to the Bars.
The late Rhoads will be represented in the display by an iconic white V-shaped Jackson Concorde guitar that he designed.
The five members of The Go-Go’s have all contributed costumes and/or instruments to the exhibit.
A red lace dress that Turner wore in the music video for her hit “Private Dancer” also will be part of the exhibit.
In addition, the exhibit will feature a video presentations and playlists for the various honorees.
The 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. An HBO special focusing on the event will premiere at a later date.
As shocking as it might sound, the upcoming Red Hot Chili Peppers tour next year will mark the band’s first-ever run headlining U.S. stadiums. Speaking with Rolling Stone, drummer Chad Smith admits that playing such big venues feels “kind of scary.”
“We’ve played stadiums in Europe before,” Smith shares. “Live Nation was really confident that we could [headline U.S. stadiums], and we’d never done it.”
Any anxiety that Smith and the rest of the Peppers might feel, though, will apparently be channeled into their performance.
“We’re like, ‘F*** it, balls out!'” Smith exclaims.
“We’ll literally have our balls out,” he laughs. “No one wants to see that! Old balls!”
Beyond the prospect of whatever that entails, the Peppers tour features the reunion of the band’s classic lineup now that guitarist John Frusciante‘s back in the fold. Frusciante, who played on beloved RHCP albums including Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication and Stadium Arcadium, rejoined the band at the end of 2019 after previously leaving 10 years earlier.
“I know there’s gonna be people [attending the tour], even Chili Peppers fans, that have never seen this lineup,” Smith says. “We’ve written some of our best songs with these these four guys, and we do have something special.”
“It will be really exciting, and I see us not taking that for granted at all,” he adds. “As you get a little bit older, you appreciate it more. It’ll be a real joyful thing.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers tour kicks off June 2022 in Europe. The U.S. leg launches in July.
We’re not sure just how many Tuesday afternoons he’s enjoyed or how many nights in white satin he’s spent during his life, but Moody Blues singer/guitarist Justin Hayward celebrates his 75th birthday today.
Born in Swindon, England, Hayward played in a number of groups as a teenager before joining The Moody Blues in 1966 after the band’s original frontman, Denny Laine, exited following release of their 1965 debut album.
With a knack for writing melodic and emotional ballads and rock tunes, Hayward soon made a major impact on the band, contributing the classic songs “Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon” to The Moody Blues’ groundbreaking second album, 1967’s Days of Future Passed, a concept record that married the group’s songs with symphonic interludes by the London Festival Orchestra.
While all of the band members contributed songs to The Moody Blues’ albums, most of their hits were written and sung by Hayward.
Among the many memorable tunes Hayward has penned for the band are “Question,” “The Story in Your Eyes,” “The Voice,” “Your Wildest Dreams” and “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.”
When the band went on hiatus for several years during the 1970s, Hayward teamed up with Moodies singer/bassist John Lodge to release the 1975 collaborative album Blue Jays, which peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200. He then launched a moderately successful solo career that coincided with his work with The Moody Blues.
Hayward was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Moody Blues in 2018. The band continued to tour until late 2018; Hayward has focused on his solo career since then. His latest solo release is a two song EP that came out in 2020. He wraps up a U.S. solo tour on Friday in Clearwater, Florida.
