Classic Rock News

On This Day, Jan. 22, 1977 …

Paul McCartney and Wings hit #1 in the U.S. with the triple live album Wings Over America.

The album was recorded during the U.S. leg of the Wings Over the World Tour, which ran from 1975 to 1976.

The album included live performances of Wings tracks like “Band on the Run,” “Live and Let Die,” “Let ‘em In” and “Silly Love Songs,” as well as five Beatles songs, “Yesterday,” “Lady Madonna,” “I’ve just Seen a Face,” “Blackbird” and “The Long and Winding Road.”

The album was one of four number ones for McCartney and his post-Beatles band Wings. The others were 1973’s Band on the Run and Red Rose Speedway, and 1976’s At the Speed of Sound.

McCartney’s post-Beatles career, including his time with Wings, is the subject of the new documentary Man on the Run, which will debut Feb. 27 on Prime Video.

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Def Leppard is back with new music.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band has just debuted the new single “Rejoice.” It’s their first new track since releasing the single “Just Like 73,” featuring Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, in 2024.

“This song’s been an amazing journey from concept to conclusion,” says frontman Joe Elliott. “I said to Phil [Collen] one day, ‘I’ve got this idea for a lyric where the narrator is at absolute rock bottom and wants to rise up to a higher level. Do you have a musical piece that might match with that?’ And he said, ‘As it happens, yes I do.’”

“I had this riff, this idea for a song a while ago actually, so when Joe came to me I created this drum loop based with a tribal sound and it fit perfectly with this other arrangement I had,” Collen says. “I sent it to Joe and it was like magic – he sang straight over the top of it. And that’s how the song was formed.”

“We love it. It’s hard rock for us,” Collen adds. “It’s got a bit more of an ‘oomph’ than stuff we’ve been doing for a while. It’s kind of magical.”

Def Leppard fans can expect to hear them play “Rejoice” live for the first time when they launch Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Feb. 3. The residency runs through Feb. 28.

A complete list of Def Leppard dates can be found at DefLeppard.com.

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Phil Collins has given fans an update about his health in a new interview for the BBC.

Collins has been dealing with nerve damage from a spinal injury in 2007. His condition was so bad he had to perform shows seated during Genesis’ 2022 The Last Domino farewell tour, and he’s said it has left him unable to play drums. 

In recent years, Collin has been dealing with even more health problems. During the interview with Zoe Ball, Collins described his health issues as “an ongoing thing,” noting, “You know, I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do.”

“I’ve had challenges with my knee, I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me,” he continued. “I got COVID in hospital – my kidneys started to back up, you know, everything that started that could, all seemed to converge at the same time.”

When it comes to his knee, he said he’s had five surgeries before getting one “that works,” revealing “I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever.”

As for his kidney issues, he said, “I’d probably been drinking too much,” although he said he was 
“never drunk, although I fell over a couple of times.” He added, “It is just one of those things that happened and it all caught up with me and I spent months in hospital.”

Collins’ interview will debut as part of the fifth and final installment of the Eras: Phil Collins podcast, which debuts Jan. 26. Parts one to four are available now. The interview will also be broadcast on TV on BBC Two and iPlayer as a special, Phil Collins Eras: In Conversation, debuting Jan. 31.

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Actor Michael Shannon and his musical partner Jason Narducy have added some fall U.S. dates to their tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s fourth studio album, Lifes Rich Pageant.

The duo has added three news shows to their schedule: Sept. 24 in Maquoketa, Iowa; Sept. 25 in Chicago; and Sept. 26 in Detroit.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday.

The first leg of the tour is set to kick off Feb. 11 in Denver and wrap March 16 in Bloomington, Indiana. The duo plan to play the album in full, along with select R.E.M. classics. They will also bring the trek to the U.K. starting Sept. 1.

Shannon and Narducy have been celebrating the music of R.E.M. for years now. They previously toured in celebration of the 40th anniversaries of R.E.M.’s Murmur and Fables of the Reconstruction.

Their 2025 Fables of the Reconstruction tour included an onstage reunion of all four members of R.E.M. — Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry — during their stop in Athens, Georgia, birthplace of the band. Their upcoming tour hits Athens on Feb. 26 and 27.

Released in July 1986, Lifes Rich Pageant peaked at #21 on the Billboard album chart. It featured such songs as “Fall on Me,” “Begin the Begin” and a cover of “Superman,” which was sung by Mills.

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The Doors drummer John Densmore has teamed with Public Enemy rapper Chuck D for a new album that will be released for Record Store Day on April 18.

The album, no country for old men, is being released under the moniker doPE, a combination of the two bands’ names. It is described in a press release as a blend of “spoken word, rhythm and raw social commentary” that “brings together generations of rebellion and reflection.” It features the track “every tick tick tick,” which has been chosen as RSD’s 2026 Song of the Year.

“It’s been an honor working with Chuck D on this project,” Densmore says. “He’s got the rhymes and I’ve got the beats … and we made doPE!”

“John Densmore’s beat isn’t just rhythm, it’s history talking,” adds Chuck D. “He’s been scoring moments of our culture for decades, and that wisdom hits different when it meets the now. This collaboration is about locking generations together and pushing sound forward.”

Interestingly, Densmore and Chuck D first met at a Record Store Day event at Amoeba Music Hollywood in 2014. That led to Chuck D reaching out to Densmore via email a year later.

DoPE’s no country for old men will be available at independent record stores on Record Store Day. Participating stores can be found at recordstoreday.com. A full list of Record Store Day releases has yet to be announced.

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We are getting our first look at the upcoming documentary about legendary musician Billy Preston.

A trailer for Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It has just been released, featuring archival footage of Preston performing, including clips of him with The Beatles. 

Ringo Starr says of Preston in the trailer, “He was so great, he never put his hands in the wrong place.”

The film is directed by Emmy winner Paris Barclay. It will give fans insight into the six-decade career of the legendary singer and keyboardist, as well as the struggles he faced in his life. 

Preston was known for such hits as “Nothing From Nothing,” “Will It Go Round in Circles” and “Space Race.” He also co-wrote and recorded the classic “You Are So Beautiful,” which became a hit for Joe Cocker. Preston appeared on The Beatles’ Let It Be and Abbey Road albums, and he joined them for their legendary Rooftop concert, which was The Beatles’ last live performance.

Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It is set to open Feb. 20 at the Film Forum in New York City, with plans to release it in select theaters in North America sometime in 2026.

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The music of Neil Young will be celebrated at a concert in Los Angeles ahead of the Grammy Awards.

The Americanafest Pre-Grammy Salute to the Songs of Neil Young, put on by the Americana Music Association and the Americana Music Foundation, will be held Jan. 31 at the Troubadour and will feature a lineup of artists performing songs from Young’s catalog. Artists participating this year include Margo Price, Rhiannon Giddens, Molly Tuttle, Maggie Rose, Sierra Hull, I’m With Here, Jesse Welles and Young the Giant.

“We are proud to continue our longstanding pre-Grammy salute tradition, and I can’t wait to see our extraordinary performers honor Neil and his incredible songs,” said Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association. “Our organization prides itself on community. We hope this evening helps bring everyone together, as we pay it forward with a donation to MusiCares and their charitable efforts.”

Last year, the Americanafest Pre-Grammy Salute concert celebrated the music of John Haitt. Previous concerts honored the works of Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, John Prine, Loretta Lynn and others.

The concert raises money for the Americana Music Association and Americana Music Foundation, plus a portion of the night’s proceeds will benefit the Recording Academy’s charitable initiative, MusiCares.

Tickets for the concert are now available on the Troubadour’s website.

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In November, Talking Heads released Tentative Decisions: Demos and Live for Record Store Day Black Friday, featuring early band recordings. Now they are expanding the release.

The original Tentative Decisions: Demos and Live collection included 11 songs that showed the evolution of the band. The new release, dropping March 6, has been expanded to three CDs with the addition of 15 unreleased demos the band made for CBS in September 1975, along with live recordings from their early days in New York City.

As a preview of the release, an early CBS demo of the song “Love Goes to a Building Fire” has been released via digital outlets.

In addition, the Record Store Day version of the album, previously available on clear vinyl, will be released on black vinyl, also on March 6. In addition to 10 early demos and a live track, it comes with a 7-inch single of the Talking Heads classic “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign,” a track that appeared on the band’s album More Songs about Buildings and Food. They were both recorded when band members David Byrne and Tina Weymouth performed under the name The Artistics.

Tentative Decisions: Demos and Live is available for preorder now.

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The Beach Boys‘ mid-1970s era is being explored in a new box set.

We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years, dropping Feb. 13, is a three-CD, three-LP box set highlighting music recorded between 1976 and 1977. It’s made up of 73 tracks, 35 of which are previously unreleased, along with 22 newly mixed tracks. All were recorded at Brother Studio in Santa Monica, California.

According to the press release, the set “reframes 1976–77 as one of the most revealing and creatively restless chapters of the band’s evolution — a moment when all five Beach Boys were navigating change, rediscovering their creative identities, and shaping a deeply human turning point in the continuing story of The Beach Boys.”

We Gotta Groove includes a newly remastered version of the band’s 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You, plus 10 session outtakes, as well as the first-ever official release of the shelved album Adult/Child, which was recorded in 1977, and previously only available through collector’s tapes and bootlegs. The set also includes outtakes and alternative recordings from the sessions for their 1976 album 15 Big Ones.

One of those Love You outtakes is “We Gotta Groove,” which is out now.

Along with the music, there’s a 40-page booklet with extensive liner notes, plus rare photos and more.

We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years is available for preorder now.

To mark the release of We Gotta Groove, the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is hosting a special evening on Feb. 12 featuring the set’s producer James Saez and Beach Boys historian Howie Edelson, along with Brother Studio engineers Stephen Moffitt, Earle Mankey and John Hanlon, reuniting for the first time since the Beach Boys sessions 50 years ago.

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On This Day, Jan. 21, 2025…

Keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson, who was the last surviving member of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Band, died at age 87.

He passed away in his sleep in a nursing home near Woodstock, New York.

The oldest and only classically trained member of The Band, Hudson was best known for his distinctive Lowrey organ work on songs like “Chest Fever” and its dramatic live improvised intro, which is known as “The Genetic Method.” He also played saxophones, woodwinds, synthesizers, accordion and other instruments on the group’s acclaimed albums.

Hudson and The Band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received the Grammy Lifetime of Achievement Award in 2008.

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