Iggy Pop sings on a new cover of the Depeche Mode song “Personal Jesus.”
The recording is featured on a new album by producing veteran Trevor Horn called Echoes: Ancient & Modern. It also includes vocals by musician Phoebe Lunny.
You can listen to the cover now via digital outlets. Echoes will be released December 1.
Depeche Mode, meanwhile, put out a new album called Memento Mori in March
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
War wants to get you in the holiday spirit. The ’60s legends just released their first holiday tune, “(Yes It’s) Christmas,” with a Dolby Atmos mix.
You can listen to “(Yes It’s) Christmas” now via digital outlets and on YouTube.
The new release comes as War celebrates the 50th anniversary of their bestselling album The War Is A Ghetto, which went to number one on the Billboard album chart.
On November 24, they will release The World Is a Ghetto: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition as part of Record Store Day Black Friday. The five-LP boxed set features a newly remastered version of the original album, unreleased session outtakes and more. Only 4,000 copies will be available at independent record stores across the country.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Scorpions are headed to Las Vegas to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their album Love at First Sting, which featured their hit tune “Rock You Like A Hurricane.”
The German rockers just announced a new 2024 residency, Scorpions – Love at First Sting Las Vegas, at the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The residency kicks off April 11 and consists of nine shows, running through May 3.
“We‘re very excited to return to Las Vegas in 2024 for nine more concerts at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino’s Bakkt Theater,” Scorpions’ Klaus Meine shares. “We can‘t wait to share our new show with our fans in the U.S., celebrating the 40th anniversary of the iconic Love at First Sting album along with our biggest Hits! Get ready for another Desert Sting … it‘s gonna be a Hell of a Ride!!!”
Scorpions previously headlined Las Vegas in 2022 with their Sin City Nights residency.
A presale for Scorpions fan club members kicks off Monday, November 6, at 10 a.m. PT, with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday, November 10, at 10 a.m. PT. A complete list of Scorpions dates can be found at the-scorpions.com.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Jimmy Buffett’s final album, Equal Strain on All Parts, is out now. Speaking to Billboard, the album’s co-producer Mac McAnally says even though Buffett was sick, he never let on that it could possibly be his final release.
“I wasn’t necessarily thinking in terms of this being the last thing he had to say, but I think, in retrospect, he probably was,” says McAnally, who produced the record with fellow Coral Reefer Band member Michael Utley. “But he never let on. He never surrendered to what was actually happening.”
McAnally says Buffett was deliberate about the order in which the songs appear on the album, noting it begins with “University of Bourbon Street,” about his career start in New Orleans, and ends with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mozambique,” a place Buffett had wanted to visit.
“When he heard the whole album in sequence, he was so proud of this one in a way that I’ve never seen him be,” McAnally shares. “And that may be because he knew it was the last one and he got it right.”
Equal Strain on All Parts may not be the last music we hear from Buffett. While McAnally says it will be “the final complete project,” there are other songs that could see the light of day, including a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Amelia,” which McAnally describes as “gorgeous.”
Buffett passed away on September 1. McAnally says few people he worked with knew he was sick. “He didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him. He just wanted to be this big ray of positivity that he always was,” says McAnally. “When I went and said goodbye to him the night before he died, he was still smiling just wider than his face.”
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Gun N’ Roses brought their tour to LA’s Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, November 2, and treated the crowd to something special.
In addition to their usual hits, like “Paradise City,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” “November Rain” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” the rockers surprised the crowd with the live debut of the new song, “The General,” which, according to setlist.fm, they played after the previously released “Perhaps.”
Fan-shot footage of the performance can be found on YouTube.
“Perhaps” and “The General” are Guns N’ Roses’ first new songs since the 2021 release of “Hard Skool” and “Absurd,” which were reworkings of old demos.
“The General” is actually the B-side of a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl of “Perhaps.” It was supposed to be released on October 27 but is now set to ship on December 8. It is available for preorder now.
Guns N’ Roses played two nights at the Hollywood Bowl to wrap the U.S. leg of their tour. They have one more show on the schedule for 2023: a headlining set at the Hell and Heaven festival in Toluca, Mexico.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
It is now easier than ever for The Who fans to enjoy late bassist John Entwistle‘s solo material. Deluxe editions of the rocker’s six solo albums have just been released to digital services for the first time.
The albums now available include 1971’s Smash Your Head Against the Wall, the first solo album from any member of The Who; 1972’s Whistle Rymes, which featured guitar contributions from Peter Frampton; 1973’s Rigor Mortis Sets In; 1975’s Mad Dog, the debut album by his band John Entwistle’s Ox, and 1981’s Too Late the Hero.
It also includes The Rock, the self-titled debut of Entwistle’s new band, which featured The Who drummer Zak Starkey and Prism’s Henry Small. It was supposed to come out in 1986 but released in 1996 as an Entwistle solo album.
The deluxe editions of each album come with bonus tracks, including demos, outtakes and early versions of songs.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Queen is giving fans a look at another classic performance in this week’s episode of their YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live.
The band shares footage of their performance of the Sheer Heart Attack track “Stone Cold Crazy” at the Rainbow Theatre in London in November 1974. It was the first time the band headlined the famed 3,000-seat venue and the first time their live performance was professionally filmed.
“When I see the footage of us from those shows now, I see so much confidence and adrenaline,” guitarist Brian May said in a 2014 interview with Mojo. “And I think, ‘My God, we were such impatient boys.’”
This was the second time Queen played the Rainbow Theatre, having previously opened for Mott the Hoople; the show’s deemed the moment they proved they had what it takes to be headliners.
Next week on Queen The Greatest Live: “Encores.”
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
On This Day, November 3, 1992…
Bon Jovi released their fifth studio album, Keep the Faith, which peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and went on to be certified double Platinum by the RIAA.
The album produced two hit singles: the title track, which landed in the top 40, and “Bed of Roses,” which peaked at #10. It also featured the fan favorite, “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”
Keep the Faith was the last Bon Jovi album to feature all five original members of the band. Bass guitarist Alec John Such was let go from the group in 1994. Such passed away in 2022 at the age of 70.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Barely 24 hours after debuting their new single, “Now and Then,” The Beatles are back with the track’s video.
The clip, directed by Peter Jackson, features archival footage of John Lennon and the band, clips of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison in the recording studio in the ’90s, and current footage of Paul and Ringo.
There are even clips that blend the archival and current footage to make it feel like the whole band is playing together and with younger versions of themselves.
According to Jackson, the video features “a collection of unseen outtakes in the vault, where the Beatles are relaxed, funny and rather candid.” He adds, “We wove humour into some footage shot in 2023. The result is pretty nutty and provided the video with much needed balance between the sad and the funny.”
Finally, he notes, “I realised we needed the imagination of every viewer to create their own personal moment of farewell to The Beatles.”
“Now and Then” uses vocals Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s. Jackson developed new technology to isolate Lennon’s instruments and vocals, and Paul and Ringo completed the song in 2022, using guitar parts Harrison recorded in the ’90s during the sessions for their Anthology series.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Many R.E.M. fans still mourn the day in 2011 when the band announced their breakup, but those holding out hope they may one day reunite will likely be disappointed.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone to promote the 25th anniversary reissue of their 11th studio album, Up, bassist Mike Mills insists he and his bandmates, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Bill Berry, will not be getting back together.
“There is not,” he replied, when asked if there was a chance of a reunion tour. “We’ve all got our own things that we’re doing, and I think we’re all really happy with the way things are.”
And Mills said seeing another huge band onstage made him realize he didn’t really miss going out on a big tour.
“I went to see U2 a few years ago, and they were so good. I was sitting there thinking, ‘Man, I could be up there doing that. That would be so much fun,’” he explained. “I said, ‘They’ll be doing it tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the week after that, and the week after that, and the month after that.’ I said, ‘You know what? It’s actually OK.’”
As for the breakup, Mills said they all knew it was the right time to go their separate ways.
“The music industry had radically changed. Our relationship to it had changed. Our record contract was up. Our record company was very different,” he said. “We said, ‘Let’s do something that nobody’s done and shake hands and walk away as friends, and go do other things while we’re still young enough to do them.'”
The 25th anniversary reissue of Up will be released November 10. It is available for preorder now.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.