Classic Rock News

The new documentary One to One: John & Yoko is ostensibly about John Lennon and Yoko Ono‘s move to New York City in the ’70s and their 1972 One to One concerts, which were Lennon’s only post-Beatles full-length performances. But according to People, the doc also shows Ono airing her grievances about how she was treated because of her relationship with Lennon.

In one portion of the film, People reports, Ono is seen giving a speech at the First International Feminist Conference in 1973, where she told the crowd that after she and Lennon got together, “the whole society started to attack me, and the whole society wished me dead.” 

In another part of the documentary, Ono says that because she was made a scapegoat for the breakup of The Beatles, she received letters while pregnant that read, “I wish you and your baby would die,” and was even sent a voodoo doll stuck with pins.

According to People, in the film Ono also expresses disappointment over the fact that, she claims, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney never “set the record straight” about the fact that she wasn’t the reason the band broke up.

“Whenever they ask me about the Beatles, I said, ‘The Beatles are four beautiful, very intelligent, creative, artistic people … and they’ve outgrown the group.’ Whereas none of the Beatles made any comment on me,” she says in the movie. “Have you heard of any comment about me in the press by the Beatles? They ignored me. That’s male chauvinism.” 

Lennon, however, had Ono’s back. People reports that in a clip in the documentary, he says, “I fell in love with an independent, eloquent, outspoken, creative, genius … I started waking up.”

The doc premieres Aug. 30 at the Venice Film Festival.

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Back in 2006, Bon Jovi teamed up with Jennifer Nettles of the country duo Sugarland for a duet version of their song “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” which became a Grammy-winning hit. Now the band has teamed up with another country duo for a duet version of a song on their latest album.

The song is question is “The People’s House,” which appears on Bon Jovi’s latest album, Forever. Joining them on the new version is Grammy-nominated duo The War And Treaty, comprised of husband and wife Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter. While they are generally regarded as a country act, their music also encompasses Americana, blues, gospel and soul.

The song is about healing the division that currently exists in the U.S., with lyrics that go, “Old ways have changed/ No crime to look out for each other/ Father, Mother, Sister, Brother/ Can’t keep fightin’ one another/ We are buildin’ this house of love/ This is the people’s house.”

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John Mellencamp‘s children really love reality TV: His daughter Teddi was a regular on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and his son Hud just finished in the top three on ABC’s Claim to Fame, which pits the relatives of celebrities against each other. But as a consolation prize, Hud may have found love.

Hud tells People that he’s sort of involved with fellow Claim to Fame contestant Mackenzie Adkins, the daughter of country star Trace Adkins. Trace is no stranger to reality TV himself, having famously appeared on The Apprentice.

“We’re just hanging out, seeing what happens,” Hud tells People. “He visited me a few times in Nashville,” Mackenzie adds. “I visited him. Yeah, going well.”

She also said out of all the contestants, she “especially” liked connecting with Hud, because they were both on the show due to the fact that their dads are musicians.

Hud, whose mother is Mellencamp’s third wife, Elaine Irwin, is one of the five children John has from three marriages. Hud told People that he didn’t reveal to his famous father how he did on the show prior to the finale, which made the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “furious.”

If you missed it when it aired, you can watch Hud and Mackenzie’s relationship unfold by streaming Claim to Fame on Hulu.

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The first poster for the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has been released.

The image shows Timothée Chalamet as Dylan, wearing the sunglasses he usually sported during the time covered in the film.

As previously reported, A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, arrives in theaters Christmas Day. It follows Dylan from his arrival in New York City at age 19 to his groundbreaking decision to “go electric” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

In addition to Chalamet, who does his own singing in the film, A Complete Unknown stars Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash and Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax. Elle Fanning plays Sylvie Russo, a character based on Dylan’s real-life girlfriend and muse Suze Rotolo.

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On This Day, Aug. 30, 1986 …

Former Traffic star Steve Winwood landed his first Billboard Hot 100 #1 with “Higher Love,” from his fourth solo album, Back in the High Life. 

The song, featuring backing vocals by Chaka Khan, spent one week on top of the chart. It went on to win Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Vocal Performance.

Winwood’s second and only other #1 single came less than two years later when “Roll With It,” from the #1 album of the same name,  topped the chart in July 1988. 

Whitney Houston covered “Higher Love” in 1990, which was released on the Japanese version of her hit album I’m Your Baby Tonight. In 2019, Norwegian DJ Kygo released a remix of that version, which hit #1 on the Dance Club Songs chart.

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A deluxe edition of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers‘ 1982 album, Long After Dark, is coming on Oct. 18.

The album, featuring the singles “You Got Lucky,” “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness,” was the first to feature new Heartbreaker Howie Epstein on bass and was a top 10 hit.

Petty once said, “There was some music recorded for Long After Dark that didn’t get on the record, that I thought would’ve made it a better album. I left off … four things that I liked quite a bit. And probably a few more written that never even got in the door.”

The deluxe edition will add some of these missing songs. It includes the remastered original album, plus 12 bonus tracks, among them Petty’s versions of his songs “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” which were previously recorded by Rosanne Cash and Lone Justice, respectively. Other additional tracks were taken from sessions for French TV.

The new package will be available in various configurations, including digital; a two-LP vinyl set pressed on red with black splatter vinyl; a three-disc CD and Blu-ray set; and various other color vinyl versions.

In addition, as part of a yearlong release plan, The Petty Legacy archives will put out previously unseen film and audio of the band. The first release is a French TV performance of “Straight Into Darkness,” which you can watch and listen to now.

Here’s the track list:

DISC 1
“A One Story Town”
“You Got Lucky”
“Deliver Me”
“Change Of Heart”
“Finding Out”
“We Stand A Chance”
“Straight Into Darkness”
“The Same Old You”
“Between Two Worlds”
“A Wasted Life”

DISC 2
“Stories We Could Tell” (French TV)
“Never Be You” *
“Turning Point” (Original Drums Version)
“Don’t Make Me Walk The Line” *
“I’m Finding Out” (French TV) *
“Heartbreakers Beach Party” (Extended Version)
“Keeping Me Alive” (French TV)
“Straight Into Darkness” (French TV)
“Ways To Be Wicked” (Denver Sessions) *
“Between Two Worlds” (French TV) *
“One On One” *
“Wild Thing” *

* previously unreleased

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John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s One to One concerts in the ’70s are the subject of a new documentary premiering Aug. 30 at the Venice Film Festival, and a teaser for the film has just been released. 

The clip for One to One: John and Yoko, directed by filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, features quick cuts from what appear to be home movies with footage of John and Yoko in the Big Apple, set to the Lennon-penned Plastic Ono Band track “New York City.” 

A previous announcement about the film describes it as “a moving look at the couple’s life upon their entry into a transformative 1970’s New York, exploring their musical, personal, artistic, social, and political world.”

It culminates with the pair’s 1972 One to One concerts, which were Lennon’s only full-length performances after The Beatles‘ 1970 breakup. They featured Yoko, the Plastic Ono Band, Elephant’s Memory and special guests. 

This isn’t the only documentary about John and Yoko hitting the big screen this year. Another doc, Daytime Revolution, which looks at the week in February 1972 when the pair produced and co-hosted the popular daytime talk show The Mike Douglas Show, is set to open in theaters Oct. 9, which would have been Lennon’s 84th birthday.

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Aerosmith may have retired from the road but bassist Tom Hamilton doesn’t believe they’re over for good.

In a new interview with AARP, Hamilton was asked to rate on a scale of one to 10 the likelihood of whether Aerosmith will do anything in the future, and he didn’t rule it out. 

“On the hope scale, I’m somewhere between seven and nine,” he says. “We won’t be doing any tours from now on, but I’ll always have hope that other types of opportunities will come along.”

He adds, “This isn’t the first time black clouds have been on our horizon — and somehow the sun managed to come out. Time and hope are all we have at the moment.”

Aerosmith canceled their Peace Out tour and retired from the road in early August, citing Steven Tyler’s continuing vocal problems. He fractured his larynx when the tour first launched in 2023. The new dates were supposed to kick off in September.

Hamilton says he “was surprised but not shocked” by the cancellation, noting “it was a real punch in the gut.”

As for what the future holds for Aerosmith, Hamilton doesn’t seem to know. While he says there’s hope Tyler recovers completely, he insists they won’t be touring. But he notes “there are a lot of other ways to be and do Aerosmith.”

He also says he has doubts of a another Aerosmith residency in Las Vegas. As for new music, he shares, “So far there hasn’t been any talk about a new Aerosmith album.”

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The Who’s Pete Townshend continues to share live footage from his 1985 concert at the Brixton Academy in London. 

The latest is a clip of a performance of the track “Give Blood,” which appeared on Pete’s fifth solo album, White City: A Novel, a concept album released in 1985. The original track featured Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, and Gilmour backed Townshend on guitar at the concert.

This is the third video Townshend has released from the concert, following performances of “After the Fire” and “The Sea Refuses No River.” 

The Brixton Academy concert, Deep End Live at Brixton Academy in London, is part of Townshend’s recent release, Pete Townshend Live > In Concert 1985-2001, a 14-CD box set that included newly remastered versions of his live solo recordings, seven of which have long been out of print. In addition to the Brixton show, it includes concerts recorded in Brooklyn, San Francisco, La Jolla and London.

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Warren Haynes is finally sharing details of his new solo record.

The Gov’t Mule frontman first teased the record, Million Voices Whisper, back in July. Now he’s announced that it will be coming out digitally and on CD Nov. 1, and on vinyl Nov. 15. 

“This album is quite different than my previous solo records,” Haynes shares. “There’s a lot of soul music influence but very song oriented with subtle nods to a few of my heroes. … I’m really proud of this new album.”

Million Voices Whisper, Haynes’ first solo record in almost a decade, features guest appearances by Derek Trucks, Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson. It is being previewed with the release of the first single, “This Life As We Know It,” along with an in-studio performance video that features behind-the-scenes footage.

“It has a very uplifting message and musically, as well, it is just a very positive feeling song,” Haynes says of the tune. “One that I feel we can all relate to. It’s about moving forward and getting past a lot of things but feeling good about life and feeling good about yourself.”

Million Voices Whisper is available for preorder now. There will also be a deluxe CD edition that includes four additional tracks.

Haynes and his Warren Haynes Band will support the album with the upcoming Million Voices Whisper Tour, which kicks off Sept. 19 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at warrenhaynes.net.

Here is the track list for Million Voices Whisper:
“These Changes” (ft. Derek Trucks)
“Go Down Swinging”
“You Ain’t Above Me”
“This Life As We Know It”
“Day of Reckoning” (ft. Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson)
“Real, Real Love” (ft. Derek Trucks)
“Lies, Lies, Lies > Monkey Dance > Lies, Lies, Lies”
“From Here On Out”
“Till The Sun Comes Shining Through”
“Terrified”
“Hall of Future Saints” (ft. Derek Trucks)

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