Classic Rock News

Neil Young fans have a lot to look forward to in July.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has announced the fifth installment in his Official Release Series, this time comprised of four remastered albums: 1989’s Freedom, which includes the Young classic “Rockin’ In The Free World”; 1990’s Ragged Glory; and two albums from 1991: the live record Weld and the companion Arc, described as “a 35-minute outburst of feedback, improvisation, guitar solos and vocal fragments.” 

Official Release Series Volume 5, dropping July 14, will be released as a numbered vinyl box set, the first time these albums have been remastered for vinyl, and Arc‘s first time on vinyl ever. The set will include the four albums on nine vinyl LPs. There will also be a numbered CD set, featuring six CDs.

Both sets will be available at the Greedy Hand Store at the Neil Young Archives, as well as music retailers and most digital services. It is available for preorder now.

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Foo Fighters have announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The outing launches in November and stretches into January 2024. Tickets go on sale next Thursday, June 15. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit FooFighters.com.

The Foos will be headed Down Under in support of their new album, But Here We Are, which dropped last Friday, June 2. The record is the first from Dave Grohl and company since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in March 2022. During a streaming concert in May, Foo Fighters introduced Josh Freese, who’s played with bands including Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle and The Offspring, as their new drummer.

Foo Fighters are playing a mix of U.S. headlining and festival dates this summer, including Bonnaroo and Outside Lands.

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In the 31 years since Elton John established his AIDS Foundation, he’s raised millions of dollars for the cause, but their work is far from over. As part of a new initiative called The Rocket Fund, he’s now calling on people to “let their inner Elton out.”

Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday, Elton announced that he wants fans to take to social media and dress like him to show their support for The Rocket Fund — and he’s asked famous pals like Neil Patrick Harris and JoJo Siwa to join in. 

The fund aims to “turbo charge” the foundation’s fundraising efforts and take in $125 million for the fight against AIDS, with an eye toward ending the disease by 2030.

Elton also talked about the impending end of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which wraps up next month in Sweden. “It’s gonna be emotional but I’m not thinking about it,” he told GMA‘s Lara Spencer. “I’m just concentrating on doing the next best show I can.”

Noting that his two sons are going to attend the final show in Sweden, Elton added, “It’s gonna be a tremendous occasion … who knows what it’s gonna feel like?”

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On This Day, June 5, 1983…

During a stop on their War tour, U2 headlined Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and recorded the performance for what became their first video release, Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky. The concert was nearly canceled due to inclement weather, but the band went on and played in the rain.

The video featured a classic performance of “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” which Rolling Stone called one of the “50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll.”  

The concert film went on to become a best-seller, and was crucial in cementing U2’s reputation as a stellar live act and helped make them stars.  The band later released a live album, Under a Blood Red Sky, which featured eight tracks performed live during the War tour, with two songs from the same concert.

A remastered version of Live at Red Rocks was released on DVD in 2008, featuring previously unreleased tracks.

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June 4 marked the latest full moon, which means Peter Gabriel fans got a brand new song. The latest release is the tune “Road to Joy,” the sixth single he’s shared from his new album, i/o, which is due out sometime this year.

Gabriel says the song “connects” to another project he’s working on about “the brain and how we perceive things.”

“It deals with near-death experience and locked-in syndrome situations where people are unable to communicate or to move. It’s an amazingly frustrating condition,” he explains. “There have been some great books and films about this subject, but at this point in our story the people looking after our hero manage to find a way to wake him up. So, it’s a lyric about coming back into your senses, back to life, back into the world.”

As he’s done with previous i/o singles, Gabriel plans to release several mixes of the tune. The first is the Mark ‘Spike’ Stent (Bright-Side Mix), which will be followed later this month by mixes from Tchad Blake (Dark-Side Mix) and Hans-Martin Buff’s Atmos mix (In-Side Mix).

So far Gabriel hasn’t announced a release date for i/o. In the meantime, fans can catch him live on i/o The Tour, playing Amsterdam on Monday, June 5. The tour comes to North America on September 8 in Quebec City, Canada. A complete list of dates can be found at petergabriel.com.

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The Beach Boys‘ iconic 1966 album, Pet Sounds, has just been released with a new mix in Dolby Atmos, so fans can now enjoy an immersive experience while listening to the record. Giles Martin, son of late Beatles producer George Martin, is responsible for the new mix, and he certainly has great respect for the original.

“I think that’s what made this album exceptional is the fact that it sounded otherworldly because it used a combination of instruments that had never been heard before. Anywhere!” Martin tells ABC Audio.

It’s commonly noted that in making Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson was inspired by The Beatles’ Rubber Soul; The Beatles then took inspiration from Pet Sounds for Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Martin believes it’s because there was a bit of “competitiveness” that went on between the bands, allowing both to break the rules. 

He explains, “[The Beatles] were like, ‘Oh, you know, if the Beach Boys can do that, we’re The Beatles, we can certainly do that!” He said Wilson felt the same way about his band.

For Martin, one of his main goals for the Dolby Atmos mix is to get younger music fans to listen to the classic album. He believes The Beach Boys “aren’t listened to enough” and the record “has now been lost on a generation.” 

Martin hopes at the very least the new mix will start a “conversation” about the album, whether people like what he’s done with it or not, which will lead to new generations discovering it.

He shares, “The Beach Boys is one of those bands that … it sounds overbearing for me to say they need to be discovered, but they certainly need attention. And so if I can do that, then great.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)

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Led Zeppelin fans now have a chance to get their hands on a guitar that was once owned by none other than Jimmy Page.

ATB Guitars is selling the 1969 Gibson Firebird III, which was purchased by Page from Mike Ladd’s Guitar City in Memphis. The listing claims Page lost it to drummer John Bonham in a game of spoof; in 1978 Bonham gave it to his business partner, who kept it for 45 years and is now selling it.

It’s unknown whether Page used the guitar for any recordings. ATB does note that it has been refinished in black, and while they don’t see that any repairs have been made to it, the paint job “could be hiding something.”

As for the price tag, ATB is currently asking for over $78,000 for the axe.

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David Lee Roth has once again shared a new take on a classic Van Halen track. The latest song he’s decided to tackle is “Atomic Punk,” which originally appeared on the band’s 1978 self-titled debut album. 

This is the seventh time Roth has shared a solo version of a Van Halen song. He previously released “Unchained,” “You Really Got Me,” “Dance The Night Away,” “Panama,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and “Everybody Wants Some!!”

All the tunes were recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles.

And speaking of Van Halen, the band’s second frontman, Sammy Hagar, recently shared a live recording of their OU812 hit “When It’s Love,” recorded in Oakland in 1985.

“‘When It’s Love’ was the first song we wrote and recorded for OU812,” Sammy shares. “It was the first single and it was a top-five hit. certainly one of my favorite love songs of all time, I can’t tell you how many fans have said they played it at their wedding.”

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June 2 would have been Charlie Watts’ 82nd birthday, and to mark the occasion the estate of the late Rolling Stones drummer is bringing him to social media, launching official Facebook and Instagram accounts.

“Charlie was too modest to embrace social media in his lifetime, so today we invite his fans to celebrate his huge musical contribution to the world of rock ’n’ roll, blues and jazz, and the wonderful man known and loved to the millions of fans around the world,” reads a post shared on the new accounts. “Please follow these accounts, and share your memories of the one and only Charlie Watts, who we miss every day and remember with much love.” 

The post was accompanied by a video clip of Watts performing “Ain’t Nobody Minding Your Store,” recorded live in 1978 at Swindon Arts Centre in Swindon, England. 

Members of The Stones also took to social media to remember Charlie.  

Ronnie Wood posted a series of photos with Watts, sharing, “Remembering dear @thisischarliewatts on his birthday Thinking of you my friend,” while Keith Richards also posted some photos, writing, “For my much missed friend, Charlie Watts! Happy Birthday! Love, Keith.” And Mick Jagger shared his own photo, writing, “Happy birthday dearest Charlie. Love Mick.”

Charlie passed away August 24, 2021, at the age of 80.

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Gov’t Mule’s new album, Peace…Like A River, is due out later this month, and they’ve just shared another track from the record. 

The latest single is “Made My Peace,” which frontman Warren Haynes says “portrays the most Beatles influence we’ve ever utilized on a recording.” 

“It deals with a lot of different aspects of what we’ve all gone through. It touches on the emotions I was having to get past with the loss of my dad, who was an extremely important figure in my life,” Haynes shares of the song. “There are several songs that reflect on loss, but more in a way of making the future count. Taking the rest of your life and looking at it with a fresher, more aggressively positive attitude.”

This is the third song Gov’t Mule has released from Peace…Like A River, following “Same As It Ever Was” and “Dreaming Out Loud.” The album, which drops June 16, is available for preorder now.

Ahead of the release, Gov’t Mule will launch their summer headlining tour on June 9 in Jacksonville, Oregon. A complete list of dates can be found at mule.net.

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