Classic Rock News

In early July, Neil Young announced that he’d just finished a new album with his frequent backing band Crazy Horse, and now, full details of the project have been revealed.

The album, which he co-produced with Rick Rubin, is a 10-track collection titled World Record that’s scheduled to be released on November 18.

According to a press statement about the album, “World Record contains a wealth of wisdom, and the kind of poignant observations one can only be collected over an eventful life. The iconoclastic songwriter reminisces with gratitude about the gifts the Earth has given him and sets his sights on an uncertain future with hope that we can right this big, blue and green ship. He does so in a vital and unyielding fashion.”

World Record was recorded live at Rubin’s Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California.

The album’s first song, “Love Earth,” is available now as an advance digital track. Among the other tunes on the record is the epic, 15-minute “Chevrolet,” which features Neil expressing his passion for cars while musing on the need to look ahead to a future without fossil fuel.

World Record can be preordered now and will be available on vinyl, CD and cassette as well as via various digital formats.

The vinyl version will be a two-LP set featuring music on three sides plus an etching on side four. A limited-edition vinyl edition of the album pressed on clear vinyl will be sold at Young’s online store, The Greedy Hand Store and at independent retailers.

World Record is a follow-up to Barn, which Young and Crazy Horse recorded in June of last year; the album released in December.

Here’s the full Word Record track list:

“Love Earth”
“Overhead”
“I Walk with You (earth ringtone)”
“This Old Planet (changing days)”
“The World (is in trouble now)”
“Break the Chain”
“The Long Day Before”
“Walkin’ on the Road (to the future)”
“The Wonder Won’t Wait”
“Chevrolet”
“This Old Planet (reprise)”

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John Mellencamp has announced plans for an extensive North American trek dubbed the Live and In Person 2023 tour, which is scheduled to get underway this February.

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. The tour will also make multiple night stops in a variety of other major cities, including New York City, Chicago, Vancouver, Nashville, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and more.

Tickets for the shows will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, October 7 at 10 a.m. local time. Citi card members will be able to purchase presale tickets for all U.S. shows starting this Tuesday, October 4 at 10 a.m. local time via the Citi Entertainment program; visit CitiEntertainment.com for more details.

Those who register for Mellencamp’s mailing list at Mellencamp.com will be able to access a presale that begins Wednesday, October 5 at 10 a.m. local time. A presale for Turner Classic Movies newsletter subscribers will start Thursday, October 6 at 10 a.m. local time.

Limited VIP packages offering premium seats and a collection of Mellencamp merch will go on sale this Tuesday.

The singer/songwriter revealed his tour plans Thursday at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland during an event that celebrated the opening of a permanent exhibit dubbed “Legends of Rock: John Mellencamp.”

Mellencamp, who’s a 2008 Rock Hall inductee, gave a special performance and took part in a Q&A during the event.

As previously reported, the “Legends of Rock: John Mellencamp” exhibit features such memorabilia as the 1976 Fender Telecaster guitar he played onstage extensively starting in 1981, a guitar that David Bowie gifted him and a new original oil painting.

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Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro will not be joining the band on their upcoming tour with The Smashing Pumpkins due to continued effects from a bout of long COVID-19 that he’s been dealing with since last December.

“I had hoped for a full recovery by October but I am still very fatigued and will not be able to join this leg,” Navarro writes in a social media post.

Navarro adds that he’s “personally gutted” to miss the tour, which kicks off this Sunday in Dallas, especially since it will mark the return of original Jane’s bassist Eric Avery, who reunited with the band over the summer.

“We wanted to bring you the original lineup but that will have to wait until I’m recovered,” Navarro writes. “While the band is touring, I will be working on new new Jane’s material in the studio here in [Los Angeles].”

Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, who’s also played in A Perfect Circle and Failure, will fill in for Navarro on the tour.

“[Van Leeuwen] is a great guy and I am honored to have him help make this tour happen,” Navarro says. “Though I am saddened to not make this tour I am focused on making a full recovery and rejoining the guys when I am able.”

“I truly wish the band well on this tour and I am confident they will bring everything to make it a fabulous show,” he adds. “Go get ’em guys! Maybe I can get to a show one night and watch my own band for the first time.”

Navarro’s condition previously forced Jane’s to cancel their set at the Welcome to Rockville festival earlier this year, which led to the reunion of Perry Farrell‘s other band, Porno for Pyros.

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Forty years ago today, Bruce Springsteen took fans on an unexpected detour down the sonic equivalent of a bleak, deserted rural highway with the release of his sixth album, Nebraska.

Nebraska is a 10-song collection of sparse songs that were recorded as demos on a four-track tape recorder in the bedroom of his Colts Neck, New Jersey, home. The Boss initially intended to present them to The E Street Band and rerecord them with his group in a studio, but decided instead to put them out in their raw, original form.

Arriving between Bruce’s first two chart-topping albums, 1980’s The River and 1984’s mega-smash Born in the U.S.A., Nebraska peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200. Not surprisingly, the record yielded no pop hits, although the songs “Atlantic City” and “Open All Night” reached #10 and #22, respectively, on Billboard‘s mainstream rock tracks tally.

Recorded at a time when Springsteen was dealing with bouts of depression, the album delves into a number of dark themes, focusing on various lost souls, criminals and killers. The title track is about the teenage mass murderer Charles Starkweather, who was executed by electric chair in 1959. “Atlantic City” looks at the decay of the New Jersey resort town before its revival as a gambling mecca. “Highway Patrolman” tells the story of a police officer who helps his brother get away with murder.

Nebraska is among Springsteen’s most critically acclaimed albums, described on his official website as “a raw, haunted acoustic record populated by lost souls searching not for salvation through music but simply a reason to believe.”

The record was ranked #150 on Rolling Stone‘s 2020 list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

Here’s Nebraska‘s full track list:

“Nebraska”
“Atlantic City”
“Mansion on the Hill”
“Johnny 99”
“Highway Patrolman”
“State Trooper”
“Used Cars”
“Open All Night”
“My Father’s House”
“Reason to Believe”

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R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills is among several noteworthy musicians slated to participate in an upcoming U.S. tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of #1 Record, the debut album by the short-lived but influential power-pop band Big Star.

The “Don’t Lie to Me!” trek takes place November 30 in Athens, Georgia; December 3 in Memphis, Tennessee; December 4 in Jersey City, New Jersey; December 6 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania; December 7 in Washington, D.C.; and December 9 in Carrboro, North Carolina.

Mills will be part of a collective of musicians led by Big Star’s only surviving original member, drummer Jody Stephens. Others taking part include Posies singer/guitarist Jon Auer, who played with a later incarnation of Big Star; Wilco‘s Pat Sansone; and Chris Stamey of The dB’s.

Prior to the tour, a special charity concert featuring a full performance of #1 Record will be held on November 5 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California.

Stephens, Mills, Auer, Sansone and Stamey will perform at the Glendale event, along with The Bangles‘ Susanna Hoffs, indie rockers The Lemon Twigs, ex-Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed and more.

The benefit show, presented by Stephens in partnership with the Wild Honey Foundation, will raise money for The Autism Collective. Tickets are available now at Ticketmaster.com.

Released in April 1972, #1 Record achieved little initial commercial notice, but went on to be embraced by a variety of artists, including R.E.M., The Bangles, The Replacements, Matthew Sweet, Teenage Fanclub and Elliott Smith. Most of the album’s songs were co-written by the group’s two leaders — singer/guitarists Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. Chilton had previously been the lead singer of The Box Tops.

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Following reports that a deal was in the works, the Wall Street Journal now reports that Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford — the most commercially successful lineup of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Genesis — have sold their catalog for a huge payday.

Concord Music Group is the buyer, and sources told the Journal that the deal is worth “upwards of $300 million.” In addition to the publishing copyrights, master recordings and “a mix of recorded music-income streams” of the three artists’ Genesis songs, the deal also includes their solo material.

That means Concord is buying the rights to Phil’s hugely successful solo albums, plus the ’80s hits Rutherford made with his side project Mike + the Mechanics, like “The Living Years,” “All I Need Is a Miracle” and “Silent Running.” The Journal notes that the catalogs of former members of Genesis, like Peter Gabriel, weren’t included in the deal.

Concord’s purchase isn’t surprising, since the company has been administering both Phil’s and Genesis’ publishing since 2017.

Genesis is the latest veteran rock act to cash in on the selling-your-catalog craze. Others who’ve sold their publishing and recorded music rights for millions in the last few years include Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Stevie Nicks.

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Iron Maiden has announced a deluxe, three-LP vinyl reissue of their 1982 breakout album The Number of the Beast in honor of its 40th anniversary.

The package includes an updated track list of the original album, subbing out the song “Gangland” for the cut “Total Eclipse.”

“On this vinyl release we get the chance to put ‘Total Eclipse’ in its rightful spot on the album for the first time,” says bassist and songwriter Steve Harris.

“The reason it didn’t make it in the first place was that it was all a mad rush when we were finishing the record and we had to get the ‘Run to the Hills’ single out before the tour and we basically had to pick a B-side and it was between ‘Gangland’ and ‘Total Eclipse’ and we just picked the wrong one, really!” Harris adds. “I think ‘Total Eclipse’ is a stronger song and the album would have been stronger if it had been on there.”

Metalheads the world over will tell you that The Number of the Beast is already pretty strong, having spawned the Maiden classics “Run to the Hills” and the title track. The RIAA Platinum-certifed record also marked the debut of vocalist Bruce Dickinson.

Along with the revised track list, the reissue includes the live album Beast Over Hammersmith, which is making its vinyl debut after dropping as a CD in 2002. Beast Over Hammersmith was recorded in March 1982 just days before The Number of the Beast was released.

The Number of the Beast reissue will be released November 18.

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A new book that takes an in-depth look at Paul McCartney‘s life and musical endeavors following The Beatles‘ breakup will be published this winter.

The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1 — 1969–73 is a 720-page tome co-written by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair that will be released December 13. The book utilizes recently unearthed documents and exclusive interviews with various producers, studio engineers and musicians, as well as archival interviews with McCartney, to examine the early years of his solo career.

Described as “the most exhaustive account of Paul McCartney’s life beyond the Beatles ever committed to paper,” the book also delves into his internal conflicts, his perfectionism and his struggle for acceptance in the wake of the Fab Four’s split.

Among the highlights included in the book are newly discovered details about such McCartney solo hits as  “Another Day,” “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” “Live and Let Die” and “Band on the Run”; information about Paul’s decision to sue his Beatles bandmates with regard to their business dealings, and the effect that had on his friendship with John Lennon; a look at the internal workings of McCartney’s solo group Wings; and Pink Floyd‘s surprising influence on Paul’s music.

The book also features stories about songs that McCartney wrote for other artists around this time, including “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” for model Twiggy, “Six O’Clock” for Ringo Starr and “Mine for Me” for Rod Stewart.

You can preorder The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1 now at HarperCollins.com.

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September 29, 1992, was a veritable grunge-a-palooza.

Thirty years ago today, both Alice in Chains‘ Dirt and Stone Temple Pilots‘ Core were released.

Dirt followed Alice’s 1990 debut Facelift, which put the band, and the signature harmonized vocals of Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell on the map with the single “Man in the Box.” As AiC prepped their sophomore follow-up, the grunge scene had begun to take off, and the budding genre eventually became a household term as Nirvana‘s Nevermind hit #1 on the Billboard 200 in January 1992.

A few weeks before Dirt dropped, the new Cameron Crowe movie Singles premiered in theaters, which featured Alice in Chains performing the album’s lead single, “Would?” When Dirt did arrive, it debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, which was then a career-high for AiC.

Dirt also featured the singles “Rooster,” “Them Bones,” “Down in a Hole” and “Angry Chair.” The album would go on to earn a Grammy nomination and is today certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA.

As the grunge explosion continued, the “Seattle sound” of Nirvana, Alice, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden was no longer constricted to just the Pacific Northwest. Down the coast, Stone Temple Pilots were building a following in Southern California, leading to the release of their debut album, Core.

In addition to being geographical outsiders, Scott Weiland and company weren’t exactly critical darlings and were often dismissed as Pearl Jam imitators. Nevertheless, STP connected with listeners, who eventually propelled Core to #3 on the Billboard 200.

Singles including “Plush” and “Creep” are now considered ’90s classics, while Core has been certified eight-times Platinum.

Both AiC and STP have released deluxe reissues of Dirt and Core in honor of their respective albums’ milestone anniversaries.

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If your love of metal expands beyond just the music, then perhaps you’d be interested in a James Hetfield cigar or an Ozzy Osbourne burger.

The Metallica frontman has launched his own signature stogie, according to Cigar Aficionado. The Blacked M81 was created in collaboration with cigar maker Jonathan Drew and distiller Rob Dietrich, who also works with Metallica on their Blackened Whiskey.

“The three of us connected and shared each other’s vision and story about where we’ve been, what we like to see and what is important to us now,” Hetfield says. “We all came up with what a Blackened M81 cigar would look and taste like.”

Cigar Aficionado will be offering Blackened M81s at the magazine’s upcoming Big Smoke Las Vegas event in November.

Meanwhile, the metal-themed burger joint Grill ‘Em All has announced a new sandwhich inspired by Ozzy. Fittingly for the Prince of Darkness, the burger is served on a black bun with “house made
chimichurri, garlic aioli, blue cheese, onion frizzle and field greens” topping a half-pound of meat.

You can try one for yourself this Saturday, October 1 at the Grill ‘Em All in Alhambra, California. While the real Ozzy won’t be in attendance, the 25-foot inflatable version of the Black Sabbath frontman, which previously made its debut over the summer at San Diego Comic-Con, will be on display.

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