Classic Rock News

The 1995 Eric Clapton documentary Nothing but the Blues, which was broadcast just once, on PBS, will get its official release on multiple formats and configurations, along with a companion soundtrack album, on June 24.

The film features Clapton showcasing and discussing his lifelong passion for the blues, and includes performances from two concerts that he played in November 1994, at San Francisco’s famed Fillmore during his tour in support of his 1994 blues covers album, From the Cradle.

Nothing but the Blues, which can be pre-ordered now, will be available as a Super Deluxe limited-edition box set, and as a standalone DVD or Blu-ray, while the soundtrack will be issued on CD, digitally and as a two-LP vinyl set. The vinyl collection will be released on July 29.

The movie was executive-produced by Martin Scorsese, who also conducted an in-depth interview with Clapton for the film, in which the guitar legend talks about his love for blues music and the artists who influenced him.

The film has been upgraded to 4K video, while the audio has been newly remastered.

The box set features a Blu-ray of the documentary, the soundtrack on CD and as a two-LP set, and a bonus CD featuring four extra tracks — “Driftin’,” County Jail Blues,” “Kid Man Blues,” and “It’s Too Bad.” The collection also with an exclusive hardcover book, and includes a lithograph, a poster, a set of Clapton guitar strings, guitar picks, and a bandana.

If you pre-order Nothing but the Blues, you’ll instantly receive a download of an unreleased Clapton performance of Freddie King’s “Have You Ever Loved a Woman.” You also can watch a video of the performance at Clapton’s YouTube channel.

Here’s the DVD and Blu-ray track list:

“Blues All Day Long”
“Standin’ Round Crying”
“Forty-Four”
“It Hurts Me Too”
“Early in the Morning”
“Five Long Years”
“Crossroads”
“Malted Milk Blues”
“Motherless Child”
“How Long Blues”
“Reconsider Baby”
“Sinner’s Prayer”
“Every Day I Have the Blues”
“Crosscut Saw”
“Someday After a While”
“Have You Ever Loved a Woman”
“I’m Tore Down”
“Groaning the Blues”
“T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness”
“Driftin” (Bonus Track)

And here’s the soundtrack’s track list:

“Blues All Day Long”
“Standing ‘Round Crying”
“Forty-Four”
“It Hurts Me Too”
“Early in the Morning”
“Five Long Years”
“Crossroads”
“Malted Milk”
“Motherless Child”
“How Long”
“Reconsider Baby”
“Sinners Prayer”
“Every Day I Have the Blues”
“Someday After a While (You’ll Be Sorry)”
“Have You Ever Loved a Woman”
“I’m Tore Down”
“Groaning Blues”
“County Jail Blues”*

* = exclusive to two-LP vinyl version.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Rolling Stones have debuted two previously unheard live performances that will appear on the upcoming archival concert album Live at the El Mocambo, which will be released next Friday, May 13.

Renditions of The Stones’ 1972 hit “Tumbling Dice” and their funky 1976 gem “Hot Stuff” are available now as digital downloads and via streaming services, and you also can check out visualizer videos for the tunes at the band’s official YouTube channel.

As previously reported, Live at the El Mocambo features performances from two shows that the British rock legends played at the 300-capacity Toronto club on March 4 and 5, 1977.

The album, which will be available as a two-CD set, a four-LP collection on either black or neon vinyl, and digitally, features The Stones’ full March 5 concert plus three bonus performances from the previous night.

The concerts were booked as secret shows, where attendees were winners of a ticket giveaway, and The Stones were billed under the moniker The Cockroaches.

The Stones’ set list included a variety of covers, hits and deep cuts. One of the tunes the band played, “Worried About You,” would be released on 1981’s Tattoo You.

Only four songs from the El Mocambo concerts have been officially released previously, appearing on 1977’s Love You Live album alongside many tracks that were captured during The Stones’ 1975 and ’76 tours.

Prior to the release of the “Tumbling Dice” and “Hot Stuff” performances, The Stones premiered two other tracks from the live album — “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Rip This Joint.”

Live at the El Mocambo can be pre-ordered now.

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In a new installment of Audible’s Words + Music audio series titled Pete Townshend: Somebody Saved Me, The Who‘s Pete Townshend treats listeners to a candid look at his life and music during the period spanning roughly from the 1978 death of Keith Moon to John Entwistle‘s passing in 2002.

The free two-hour presentation, which debuted today at Audible.com, also features new versions of noteworthy Townshend solo songs and Who tunes that Pete recorded especially for the episode.

Townshend tells ABC Audio that he initially turned down what he admits was a lucrative offer to do the Words + Music installment, but after he was informed that the teenage cancer charities he helps support were in need of funds, he changed his mind.

“I’m so glad [I did], because I had such a blast,” Pete says. “You know, it was a tricky period [to revisit], but I loved doing it.”

A main focus of the episode was the early 1980s, a prolific period for Townshend when he released the solo albums Empty Glass and All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, and The Who issued the Face Dances and It’s Hard albums.

The songs Townshend rerecorded for the Words + Music episode all came from those albums, and Pete tells ABC Audio that creating the new versions “was the fun bit for me,” because he loves working in his home studio.

One of the many anecdotes Pete shares in the presentation is how he came up with idea for his solo hit “Let My Love Open the Door” in the middle of a dinner party at his home, and then proceeded to keep his family and guests awake as he worked all night on the tune.

“I knew I had a hit,” Townshend says in justification.

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Paul McCartney recently launched his Got Back tour of the U.S., and in the latest installment of his “You Gave Me the Answer” Q&A feature, he fields questions about the challenge of choosing songs for his live sets.

So far, McCartney’s shows have included one song from his latest studio album, 2020’s McCartney III — “Women and Wives” — but one fan asks Sir Paul if he’ll consider playing another track from that record, “Find My Way.”

“[T]here’s always the eternal dilemma of what do you take out, knowing the audiences really want to hear the hits so you’ve got to balance it very carefully,” McCartney responds. “You’re taking out something they know very well and putting in something they don’t necessarily know, and I’m always dreading that’s the signal for them to go get a beer.”

The 79-year-old rock legend then admits, “I’d like to do a whole show of new songs but that’s for…the deep fans. Most of the people who come and see me, who have paid good money, have brought their mums and dads, who have traveled a distance…I’m not so sure they wanna hear the deep cuts.”

McCartney maintains that general audiences wants to hear “Beatles stuff mainly, Wings stuff, and maybe some of the new stuff.”

As for whether it was tricky preparing “Women and Wives,” which he recorded completely solo, to play live with his full band, Paul notes that it was “pretty simple because it’s a very simple song.”

He explains that “[i]n rehearsal we just listen to the record, and we’re all such reasonable musicians that we kinda go ‘Okay, I know what I’ll do.'”

McCartney’s next concert takes place Friday, May 6, in Oakland, California. Check out his full schedule at PaulMcCartney.com.

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As announced Wednesday, Judas Priest will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year in conjunction with receiving the Musical Excellence Award.

Unlike inductees in the main Performer category, which are chosen by the full list of eligible voters, Musical Excellence Award honorees are selected by a smaller committee.

Priest frontman Rob Halford tells ABC Audio that has no qualms about his band being welcomed into Rock Hall via the special category.

“I quite like the idea of the ‘musical excellence,’ because here is a band that’s been making metal from way back in the early ’70s, and we’re still making metal now,” Halford notes.

“Equally, as I understand, what this…’musical excellence’ refers to…[is] the quality of your music and the influence that your music has had,” the powerhouse singer continues. “So it’s covering a lot of important parts of Judas Priest, and that’s a good feeling.”

Many of Judas Priest’s fellow 2022 inductees actually come from outside of the rock genre, including Lionel Richie and Dolly Parton, but Halford says he has no issue with that.

“It’s a real display…of the inclusivity of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” he says of the diverse class of 2022.

The Priest members being inducted includes three musicians no longer in the group — longtime guitarist K.K. Downing and drummers Les Binks and the late Dave Holland. Halford says he hopes Downing — who’s had a contentious relationship with his old band mates since leaving the group — and Binks will both take part in induction ceremony.

“Everybody [being inducted from the band]…should be there, and I hope they will,” says Rob. “And I think that we’ll get to that place.”

The Rock Hall Induction Ceremony is set for November 5 in Los Angeles.

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A new Thin Lizzy-themed audio/video collection pairing the 2020 documentary Phil Lynott: Songs for While I’m Away with the archival concert film and album Thin Lizzy: The Boys Are Back in Town Live at the Sydney Opera House October 1978 will be released on June 24.

The release, which will be available either as a two-DVD/CD set or a Blu-ray/DVD/CD set, can be pre-ordered now.

Songs for While I’m Away presents a candid look at the life and music of late Thin Lizzy lead singer and bassist Phil Lynott. It tells the story of how a Black boy raised during the 1950s by a working-class family in Dublin went on to become one Ireland’s biggest rock stars, before he died in 1986 of drug-related health issues at the age of 36.

The movie features archival footage of and conversations with Lynott, as well as recent interviews with Thin Lizzy members and/or alums Scott Gorham, Eric Bell, Darren Wharton and Midge Ure, and with other notable music artists like U2‘s Adam Clayton, Metallica‘s James Hetfield, Huey Lewis and Suzi Quatro.

The film also includes conversations with Phil’s wife, Caroline Taraskevics, and his daughters Sarah and Catherine Lynott.

Thin Lizzy: The Boys Are Back in Town Live at the Sydney Opera House October 1978, which originally was released in 1988, captures a short-lived lineup of the band featuring Lynott, guitarists Gorham and Gary Moore, and drummer Mark Nauseef performing many of the group’s classic songs at the famed Australian venue.  The footage has been restored for the new DVD release, while a companion CD of the show also is included in the package.

Here’s the The Boys Are Back in Town Live at the Sydney Opera House‘s CD track list:

“Jailbreak”
“Bad Reputation”
“Warriors”
“Don’t Believe a Word”
“Waiting for an Alibi”
“Still In Love with You”
“Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed”
“Cowboy Song”
“The Boys Are Back in Town”
“Suicide”
“Are You Ready”
“Baby Drives Me Crazy”
“Me and the Boys “

And here’s the track list for concert DVD:

“Jailbreak”
“Bad Reputation”
“Waiting for an Alibi”
“Cowboy Song”
“The Boys Are Back in Town”
“Are You Ready”
“Me and the Boys “
“Baby Drives Me Crazy”

Lost Sydney Performances
“Warriors”
“Don’t Believe a Word”
“Still In Love with You”
“Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed”
“Suicide”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sharon Osbourne is getting assistance from an IV amid her bout with COVID-19.

On Wednesday, the wife of Ozzy Osbourne shared a photo of her hooked up to an IV drip while sitting up in bed next to two dogs and giving the peace sign. In the caption, she simply wrote the word “Covid” bookended by two profanity emojis.

As previously reported, Sharon, 69, tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home to care for her husband, 73, when he was diagnosed with the virus last week. In an interview with the U.K.’s The Talk this past Monday, Sharon said that she felt “OK,” while adding that Ozzy was “doing much better.”

Sharon previously caught COVID-19 in December 2020, and was briefly hospitalized.

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Slash has premiered the video for “April Fool,” a track off 4, his new album with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators.

The clip captures footage of the song’s live debut during Slash and company’s concert at Nashville’s historic Grand Ole Opry House this past March. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

4, the aptly titled fourth Conspirators album, was released in February. It also includes the single “The River Is Rising.”

While the Conspirators don’t have any more tour dates currently announced, Slash is set to return to the road in Guns N’ Roses, beginning with a headlining set at Florida’s Welcome to Rockville later this month. GN’R will the launch a European tour in June, followed by a trip to South America in September. 

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Dolly Parton may not consider herself a rock ‘n’ roll great, but now that she’s a 2022 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, she says she’ll just have to live up to the title.

The singer says she still isn’t sure if she’ll be able to attend the November induction ceremony, “but if I do, I’m going to sing the hardest style rock ‘n’ roll song I could ever muster up just to show that I can do it,” she tells Billboard.

Dolly’s inclusion in the Hall’s class wasn’t without challenge. She initially declined her nomination, saying that — as someone who’s primarily worked in the country genre — she didn’t feel she’d earned it. But the Hall disagreed, leading Dolly to amend her statement, saying she’d misunderstood the criteria for inclusion.

The superstar says her husband is the “rock freak” of the house, but she’s still a fan of the genre. “I love The Rolling Stones. I always wanted to do the song ‘Satisfaction,'” she continues, hinting that any Hall of Fame induction ceremony performance she’d give just might have to feature Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

“I may have to drag Mick’s guys up there to help me sing it,” says Dolly. “I may do a version of something like [Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s ] ‘Free Bird’ and do my own versions of some classic things that I think would make good rock ‘n’ roll songs.”

Dolly adds that she’s always wanted to make a rock ‘n’ roll album, and her induction might be the push she needs to make it happen. “Now I may have to call my album Rock Star!” she says.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Gala is set for November 5 in Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen‘s triple compilation The Platinum Collection, which gathers together all three volumes of the band’s official Greatest Hits albums, will be released on vinyl for the first time on June 17.

The six-LP collection will feature Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits II and Greatest Hits III as half-speed-mastered two-disc sets, with each LP pressed on a different-colored 180-gram vinyl disc and housed in an individually designed sleeve. The package will offer new artwork and will include an exclusive 24-page photo book.

First released in the U.S. in 2002 as a three-CD set, The Platinum Collection has been certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Here’s a look at the individual compilations included in the retrospective:

— Greatest Hits got its initial release in 1981, and features classic Queen songs spanning from 1974 to 1980. The album has been RIAA-certified nine-times Platinum in the U.S. and is the best-selling album ever in the U.K.

— Greatest Hits II was first released in 1991 and has sold 19 million copies worldwide. It arrived shorty before the death of Queen singer Freddie Mercury and boasts highlights of the band’s catalog from 1981 to 1991.

— Greatest Hits III was originally released in 1999, and features songs from Queen’s Made in Heaven album issued after Mercury death, solo tunes by Freddie and guitarist Brian May, rarities, the group’s collaborations with other artists, and more.

You can pre-order the vinyl version of The Platinum Collection now.

In related news, a companion book titled Queen — The Platinum Collection: Complete Scores Collector’s Edition, a hardcover volume featuring full-band transcriptions for almost 50 classic songs by the British rock legends, is available for pre-order now at HalLeonard.com.

Here’s the full track list of The Platinum Collection vinyl edition:

Greatest Hits

LP 1 — Side A
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“Another One Bites the Dust”
“Killer Queen”
“Fat Bottomed Girls”

LP 1 — Side B
“Bicycle Race”
“You’re My Best Friend”
“Don’t Stop Me Now”
“Save Me”

LP 2 — Side A
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
“Somebody to Love”
“Now I’m Here”
“Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy”

LP 2 — Side B
“Play the Game”
“Flash”
“Seven Seas Of Rhye”
“We Will Rock You”
“We Are the Champions”

Greatest Hits II

LP 3 — Side A
“A Kind of Magic”
“Under Pressure” — Queen + David Bowie
“Radio Ga Ga”
“I Want It All”
“I Want to Break Free”

LP 3 — Side B
“Innuendo”
“It’s a Hard Life”
“Breakthru”
“Who Wants to Live Forever”

LP 4 — Side A
“Headlong”
“The Miracle”
“I’m Going Slightly Mad”
“The Invisible Man”

LP 4 — Side B
“Hammer to Fall”
“Friends Will Be Friends”
“The Show Must Go On”
“One Vision”

Greatest Hits III

LP 5 — Side A
Queen + Elton John — “The Show Must Go On” (Live, Theatre National de Chaillot, Paris, 1997)
Queen + David Bowie -– “Under Pressure” (Rah Mix)
Freddie Mercury + Montserrat Caballé -– “Barcelona” (Single Version)
Queen — “Too Much Love Will Kill You”

LP 5 — Side B
George Michael + Queen -– “Somebody to Love” (Live, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert For AIDS Awareness, Wembley, April 1992)
Queen -– “You Don’t Fool Me”
Queen -– “Heaven For Everyone”
Queen -– “Las Palabras De Amor” (The Words Of Love)

LP 6 — Side A
Brian May -– “Driven by You”
Freddie Mercury -– “Living On My Own”
Queen –- “Let Me Live”
Freddie Mercury -– “The Great Pretender”
Queen -– “Princes Of The Universe”

LP 6 — Side B
Queen + Wyclef Jean -– “Another One Bites the Dust” (Remix)
Queen — “No One but You (Only the Good Die Young)”
Queen — “These Are the Days of Our Lives”
Queen — “Thank God It’s Christmas”

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