Classic Rock News

Iggy Pop is set to release his new album, Every Loser, on January 6.

His 19th solo album will feature 11 tracks, including the first single, “Frenzy.” The collection is being described as a throwback to Iggy’s “primordial roots” combined with “an undeniably modern lyrical point viewpoint and sonic palette.”

The cover features an original piece of art created by world renowned artist Raymond Pettibon, who’s designed iconic albums for artists such as Sonic Youth and Black Flag.

In addition to streaming services, Every Loser will be available as limited-edition vinyl, cassettes and CDs. And as a tie-in, Iggy will also be releasing an exclusive issue of the legendary fanzine PUNK Magazine.

Here is the Every Loser track list:

“Frenzy”
“Strung Out Johnny”
“New Atlantis”
“Modern Day Rip Off”
“Morning Show”
“The News For Andy”
“Neo Punk”
“All The Way Down”
“Comments”
“My Animus Interlude”
“The Regency”

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The Lion King will celebrate 25 years on Broadway this weekend, one of only three shows ever to hit that milestone. At a private event, Elton John — who wrote the music for the film that inspired the musical — celebrated the “extraordinary” milestone with a special performance.

While onstage at the event, Elton said, “For a show to have run this long is very rare and it’s extraordinary. It was one of the greatest things to happen in my life in 1993 when Sir Tim Rice rang me up and said, ‘Disney don’t think you want to do this, but will you do The Lion King?’ And I went, ‘Are you kidding me?'”

“It changed my whole life,” Elton added. “Because it’s such a magical show, brilliantly put on the stage by Julie Taymor. Every time you go and see it, you just get goosebumps. It’s extraordinary, and I’m so proud to be a part of it.”

He then performed his 1994 top-five hit “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from the film, which won him the Oscar for Best Original Song, as well as the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

The Lion King musical opened on Broadway November 13, 1997. It earned six Tony Awards, including one for director Taymor — the first woman ever to win the Tony for Best Director of a Musical.

Over the years, The Lion King as grossed more than $1 billion, making it the highest-grossing Broadway production of all time. Its various productions have been seen by more than 100 million people worldwide.

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To mark its 20th anniversary, Concert for George — a 2002 concert that memorialized the late George Harrison — will screen in selected theaters worldwide for one night only.

The screening will take place November 29, 20 years to the day that the actual concert was staged. Harrison died on November 29, 2001. Exactly one year later, his friends and colleagues — including Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, members of Monty Python, Billy Preston and George’s son, Dhani — gathered at London’s Royal Albert Hall to remember the Beatles legend.

Starting Thursday, the 2003 Concert for George album, which documented the event, is available on digital platforms in Dolby Atmos.

In a statement, George’s widow, Olivia, said that years ago, George imagined his ideal gig by saying, “I would like to have a few people who mean something to me.” She describes the Concert for George as “the most deep moving songs written by George … played with heart and soul by a core group of friends.”

She adds, “It is a joy to be able to relive that incredible evening again, on a big screen, 20 years on.”

Dhani adds, “Twenty years ago, I stood on stage beside my father’s dearest friends and celebrated his life and music. It was one of the most beautiful things we could’ve done on that day to mark his passing. There was a lot of love involved in that show, which has been preserved in this Concert for George film. I hope you dig it.”

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Paul McCartney will make sure fans have a “Wonderful Christmastime” by giving them the perfect gift: The 7″ Singles Box.

The collection includes 80, count ’em, 80 7-inch Paul McCartney singles, all personally curated by the Beatles legend. They include, yes, “Wonderful Christmastime,” but also “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run,” “Silly Love Songs” and dozens more hits. The box set includes a whopping 163 tracks in total and will also be released digitally.

The physical box set comes in a wooden art crate, along with 148-page book featuring a personal forward by Paul, chart info, liner notes and single artwork. The singles themselves are made up of 65 recreations of the original 7-inch vinyls, including the original B-sides and restored artwork, as well as 15 singles that have never been released in that format before. 

Those 15 singles include songs that were originally put out as picture discs, 12-inch singles, CD singles and promos, digital downloads, videos, unheard demos and a previously unheard 7-inch single edit.

The collection spans from 1971’s “Another Day” through 2022’s “Women and Wives.” Two of the tracks — rare 1971 mono recordings of “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” and “Two Many People” — are available now.

In his forward, Macca writes about the impact the 7-inch single had on him growing up, how the Beatles always put a lot of thought into their B-sides and how he still likes browsing for vinyl in record stores. In a statement, he says, “I hope the songs in this box set bring back fun memories for you too. They do for me, and there will be more to come.”

Limited to 3,000 copies, The 7″ Singles Box is available December 2.

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Got a cool quarter mil? You may want to invest in a treasure trove of old love letters that young Bob Dylan wrote to his high school sweetheart.

The 42 letters are currently up for sale by the Boston-based RR Auction house, and the starting bid is $250,000. In the letters, addressed to Barbara Ann Hewitt of New Brighton, Minnesota, Dylan — then named Bob Zimmerman — writes about preparing for the Hibbing High School talent show, as well as his dreams of selling 1 million records and changing his name. 

In other letters, he asks Hewitt to go with him to see Buddy Holly in Duluth and discuses the records he’s been listening to, as well as the cars and fashions of the late 1950s. He also, according to the auction house, “professes his never-ending affection,” signing the letters “Love, Bob.” All the letters come with the original envelopes — and there’s even a Valentine’s Day card in there.

The trustees of Hewitt’s estate want to keep the archive together, which is why the letters are being sold as one lot. Individual letters by Dylan have sold for as much as $30,000.

If your pockets aren’t that deep, other items from the Hewitt estate that are up for bid include signed photos, an original sketch, a collection of handwritten poems, and signed and annotated lyric sheets.

If you’re not a Dylan fan, the auction, which ends November 17, also includes items from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zeppelin and The Doors.

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Sammy Hagar is hopeful that the shelved Van Halen song “Between Us Two” will eventually get released.

As the story goes, the “Panama” outfit originally wrote “Between Us Two” toward the end of the Van Hagar era for the 1996 movie Twister. While the disaster flick featured a theme composed by Eddie and Alex Van Halen, “Between Us Two” didn’t end up making the soundtrack and was eventually lost to time.

Speaking with Consequence’s Kyle Meredith with… podcast, Hagar confirms the song was indeed recorded and is somewhere in the Van Halen “archives.”

“I don’t know if I can resurrect it, but we got it; it’s done,” Hagar says. “It’s in the archives; they’ll find it. They’re looking through the archives right now to try to remaster some of the old stuff from my era. They’ll find it. That’s gonna be a treasure.”

Hagar notes that if the song were to finally come to light, it “would have to go through the Van Halen camp,” which he describes as “a little dysfunctional.”

Of course, given all the drama around the supposed Eddie tribute plans, which the late guitar icon’s son Wolfgang Van Halen said “never even got off the ground,” “dysfunctional” might be an understatement. So for all the “Between Us Two” believers out there, maybe don’t get too excited.

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Ever since Richie Sambora left Bon Jovi in 2013, fans have been wondering if he’d reunite with his old bandmates again. Well, the answer is a definite maybe.

While in London for an awards ceremony, Sambora was asked by Metro if there was a possibility that he and Bon Jovi could possibly set aside their differences and come together for a headlining spot at next year’s Glastonbury Festival, the United Kingdom’s most prestigious music festival.

“It’s a possibility. We’re talking a bit,” Sambora said, with what the publication called “a cheeky smile.”

Bon Jovi is one of the few massive rock bands that has never headlined Glastonbury, though Sambora appeared there in 2014, joining Dolly Parton onstage for her set.

Sambora did reunite with Bon Jovi at their 2018 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland; so did bass player Alec John Such, who left the band in 1994 and hadn’t played with them since a one-off performance in 2001. Such died last June.

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Neil Peart’s hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario, has commissioned an artist to create two bronze statues in honor of the late Rush drummer. The statues will be placed alongside the Neil Peart Pavilion in the city’s Lakeside Park, which inspired the Rush song of the same name.

Artist Morgan MacDonald has been tapped by the City of St. Catharines’ Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force to create the statues. The larger-than-life sculptures will be connected by a pathway lined with experiential and interpretive features that give insight into Peart’s legacy. The drummer died of an aggressive form of brain cancer on January 7, 2020.

One of the sculptures, which will stand about 12 feet tall, depicts Peart as a young artist and poet in the 1970s, holding a book and drumsticks. The other will show an older Peart, holding a piece of his drum kit and offering his drumsticks to passersby. Some of Peart’s old and damaged cymbals will be melted down and incorporated into the statues.

The creation of the statues is contingent on the task force raising $1 million. Donations toward that goal can now be made at stcatharines.ca/neilpeart. The sooner the million bucks is raised, the sooner the statues will be made and installed.

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Bruce Springsteen is staging a takeover of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The Boss will appear on the NBC show four times over the next couple of weeks. From Monday, November 14, to November 16, Bruce will be a lead guest on the show and will perform four songs from his new album, Only the Strong Survive, which is coming out this Friday. Then he’ll appear on November 24 during the show’s special Thanksgiving episode.

While this will be the third time Springsteen has appeared on Fallon’s show, surprisingly, the upcoming appearances will be his first musical performances on it.

As previously reported, Only the Strong Survive features covers of soul classics by the likes of The Four Tops, Ben E. King, The Temptations, The Supremes, Jerry Butler, Jimmy Ruffin and The Commodores.

The Fallon performances may give fans a taste of what they can expect on Bruce’s upcoming tour with The E Street Band — their first trek in six years. It launches February 1 in Tampa, Florida.

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Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell has announced a 2023 U.S. tour in support of his latest solo album, Brighten.

The headlining outing, described as the “closing leg” of the Brighten tour, will kick off February 21 in Ventura, California and will conclude April 1 in Tacoma, Washington.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 11 at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit JerryCantrell.com.

Brighten, Cantrell’s first solo offering in nearly 20 years, was released October 2021.

The most recent AiC effort is 2018’s Rainier Fog. The grunge outfit just got off the road last month after a tour with Breaking Benjamin and Bush.

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