Classic Rock News

An expanded, 50th anniversary version of Zombies frontman Colin Blunstone‘s 1971 debut solo album, One Year, will be released November 5.

The reissue, which will be available on CD, as a two-LP vinyl set, digitally and via streaming, features the original 10-track album, plus a 14-song bonus album dubbed That Same Year.

Blunstone recorded One Year over a 12-month period following the breakup of The Zombies and their post-demise success with the single “Time of the Season.” Colin’s Zombies band mates Rod Argent and Chris White co-produced One Year, and co-wrote three of the album’s songs, while Blunstone penned four tracks.

The album also includes covers of tunes by Tim Hardin, ex-Manfred Mann singer Mike d’Abo and longtime Wings member Denny Laine.

His version of Laine’s “Say You Don’t Mind” from the album became a top-20 hit in the U.K. in ’72.

The bonus album, That Same Year, features recordings that Blunstone was preparing for possible consideration for One Year, nine of which are previously unheard.

One of the tracks, a stripped down tune called “I Won’t Let You Down” that features Argent on piano, has been released as an advance digital single.

The reissue, which you can pre-order now, features new liner notes penned by Colin, and rare photos from that time period.

Blunstone will celebrate the One Year reissue’s release with two special concerts, scheduled for November 2 in Los Angeles and November 8 in New York City. At the shows, Colin will perform the entire album live for the first time ever, accompanied by a 20-piece musical ensemble led by composer Joe Wong, and also featuring Roger Waters touring drummer Joey Waronker, Helium‘s Mary Timony and a chamber orchestra.

Here’s the One Year track list:

“She Loves The Way They Love Her”
“Misty Roses”
“Smokey Day”
“Caroline Goodbye”
“Though You Are Far Away”
“Mary Won’t You Warm My Bed”
“Her Song”
“I Can’t Live Without You”
“Let Me Come Closer to You”
“Say You Don’t Mind”

And here’s the That Same Year track list:

“Are You Ready”
“I’ve Always Had You”
“Sing Your Own Song”
“Caroline Goodbye”
“I’d Like to Get to Know You Better”
“Though You Are Far Away”
“Too Much Too Soon Last Night”
“I Wonder If You Know What You’ve Begun”
“I Won’t Let You Down”
“You Gave Me a Reason”
“I’m Coming Home”
“I Really Do Love You”
“Let Me Come Closer”
“You Really Were a Surprise”

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Rod Stewart will release The Tears of Hercules — his 31st studio album and his first new record in three years — on November 12.

The 12-track collection features nine new original songs and three covers, including renditions of Johnny Cash‘s “These Are My People” and Soul Brothers Six‘s “Some Kind of Wonderful.”

In advance of the new album, Stewart has released the lead track, a country-pop gem titled “One More Time,” as a digital single, and has premiered a companion music video on his official YouTube channel.

Stewart co-wrote “One More Time” and a few other songs on The Tears of Hercules with keyboardist-songwriter Kevin Savigar, who also was Rod’s main collaborator on his three most recent previous albums. Stewart co-produced all four albums with Savigar.

Among the other standout tracks on The Tears of Hercules is “Touchline,” a song about how Rod’s father inspired his love of soccer, a passion Stewart’s passed on to his own sons.

The album also includes song titled “Born to Boogie (A Tribute to Mark Bolan),” a tune Stewart co-wrote with his touring guitarist, Emerson Swinford, as an homage to T. Rex‘s late frontman.

In the liner notes for The Tears of Hercules, Rod writes, “I’ve never said this before about any previous efforts, but I believe this is by far my best album in many a year.”

The Tears of Hercules can be pre-ordered now on CD, as a vinyl LP and in digital formats.

On the performance front, Stewart’s next concert will take place on October 2 in Sparks, Nevada, and he’ll then kick off a new series of Las Vegas residency dates at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on October 6.

Here’s The Tears of Hercules‘ full track list:

“One More Time”
“Gabriella”
“All My Days”
“Some Kind of Wonderful”
“Born to Boogie (A Tribute to Mark Bolan)”
“Kookooaramabama”
“I Can’t Imagine”
“The Tears of Hercules”
“Hold On”
“Precious Memories”
“These Are My People”
“Touchline”

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Between Dave Grohl‘s many comings-and-goings, you may have forgotten that the Foo Fighters frontman has a book coming out next month. If that’s the case, then be sure to check out a new trailer for the upcoming memoir.

The minute-long clip, streaming now on YouTube, is stuffed with photos from throughout Grohl’s life as he shares why he decided to finally put pen to paper and tell the stories of his life.

“I’ve never really been one to collect stuff, but I do collect moments,” Grohl says. “My life flashes before my eyes every single day. In writing this book, I’ve tried to capture those moments as best I can.”

The book, titled Dave Grohl: The Storyteller, is due out October 5.

Meanwhile, Grohl’s been busy with his day job fronting the Foos, who just notched another number-one hit on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Making a Fire,” the current single off their new album, Medicine at Midnight.

Previous Medicine singles “Shame Shame” and “Waiting on a War” also earned the top spot on Mainstream Rock Airplay, making it the first Foos record to notch three number-one singles on that particular ranking from the same album.

Foo Fighters now have a total of 11 number-one Mainstream Rock Airplay singles, tying them with Five Finger Death Punch and Godsmack for fourth most in the chart’s 40-year history. In first place is Shinedown, with 16, followed by Three Days Grace and Van Halen with 15 and 13, respectively.

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Elton John has once again postponed his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.

The singer announced “with great sadness and a heavy heart” Thursday that he would have to reschedule his Europe and U.K. 2021 dates to 2023.

While the trek was initially halted last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time it’s an injury that’s keeping Elton off the road.

“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” he writes. “Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.”

He adds that he has been advised to have an operation as soon as possible “to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications.”

Elton, 74, will still perform at Global Citizen Live on September 25, because he says it requires limited physical demands. And if all goes well with the surgery, he plans to resume U.S. tour dates in 2022.

Elton ended with a message to his “incredible fans,” saying it breaks his heart to keep them waiting.

“I completely feel your frustrations after the year we’ve had,” he writes. “I promise you this — the shows will return to the road next year and I will make sure they are more than worth the wait.”

 

 

 

 

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Bruce Springsteen will interview his longtime friend and collaborator “Little Steven” Van Zandt for the first time ever during a virtual event on September 28 celebrating the release of the E Street Band guitarist’s new memoir, Unrequited Infatuations.

The livestreamed event will begin at 8 p.m. ET on the 28th, and tickets are available now at StevieandBruceLive.com and VanZandt.UnisonEvents.com. Tickets also include a copy of Van Zandt’s book — signed for $45 or unsigned for $35.

Fans who purchase tickets for the interview will be able to watch the event on demand for 90 days after the livestream.

In Unrequited Infatuations, Van Zandt recounts the story of his eventful life, from his childhood in suburban New Jersey and the development of his passion for rock ‘n’ roll, to playing in various Jersey Shore groups en route to joining Bruce’s E Street Band, to forging a solo career and becoming a political activist in the 1980s, to finding success as an actor as Silvio Dante on The Sopranos, to launching his Underground Garage radio show and satellite radio station, and so much more.

Little Steven’s virtual conversation with The Boss marks the launch of a promotional tour for the memoir that will include three in-person events and another virtual interview.

For more details about Unrequited Infatuations, visit HachetteBooks.com.

Here’s Van Zandt’s full book-tour schedule:

9/28 — Virtual, Premiere Unison Event, Van Zandt in conversation with Bruce Springsteen, 8 p.m. ET
9/29 — New York, NY, 92Y, Van Zandt in conversation with screenwriter Jay Cocks, 7:30 p.m. ET
9/30 — Virtual, Commonwealth Club, Van Zandt in conversation (Interviewer TBA), 8 p.m. ET
10/1 — Los Angeles, CA, Book Soup at the Colburn Music School, Van Zandt in conversation with director Chris Columbus, 7 p.m. PT
10/3 — Montclair, NJ, Montclair Literary Festival, Van Zandt in conversation with news anchor Budd Mishkin, 5 p.m. ET

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Paul McCartney will celebrate the publication of his upcoming book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, by taking part in a special Q&A event on November 5 in London at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Tickets to attend the event, dubbed The Lyrics: Paul McCartney in Conversation, will go on sale to the general public on Friday, September 17, at 5 p.m. ET/10 a.m. local time and to Southbank Centre members starting Thursday, September 16, at 5 p.m. ET.

The event also will be livestreamed via Dice.fm, and tickets for the stream can be purchased for $14 beginning this Friday, September 17, at 5 p.m. ET. The stream will be available on demand for seven days after the event.

During the event, the former Beatles legend will discuss the book while sharing stories about his life, songs and creative process with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet Paul Muldoon, who edited it.

As previously reported, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present will be released on November 2 and can be pre-ordered now. The book offers a self-portrait of McCartney while profiling 154 songs he’s written throughout his long career.

The two-volume work also will feature handwritten lyric sheets, as well as rare personal photos, drawings and rough drafts of songs. Sir Paul has penned commentary about each tune to give fans a look inside his creative process.

The songs featured in the book appear alphabetically, spanning from “All My Loving” though “Your Mother Should Know.” Also included are recently discovered lyrics to an unrecorded Beatles song, titled “Tell Me Who He Is.”

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Dave Grohl appears on the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone, revealing a number of interesting tidbits about the Foo Fighters frontman’s past, present and future.

For one, Grohl shares that he’s playing drums on an upcoming Miley Cyrus song.

“I was going to [producer] Greg Kurstin‘s studio to deliver him a snare drum for his kid,” Grohl recalls. “He’s like, ‘Do you have five minutes? I’m trying to program drums on this new Miley Cyrus song, but I suck. Can you just, like, do a couple takes?’ So I think I’m on a new Miley Cyrus record!”

An appearance on a Miley tune would mark his second collaboration with a major pop star of late — he also drummed on a song off Halsey‘s new album, which was produced by Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Nirvana and Kurt Cobain pop up throughout the interview, given the upcoming 30th anniversary of Nevermind. Speaking about Cobain, Grohl explains how his late band mate inspired the 2011 Foos song “Walk.”

“It kind of comes from the day after Kurt died,” Grohl says. “Waking up that morning and realizing, ‘Oh, s***, he’s not here anymore. I am. Like, I get to wake up and he doesn’t’…That was a big revelation to me.”

As for Foo Fighters, Rolling Stone reports that they have “vague ideas” about the direction of their next record to follow this year’s Medicine at Midnight, though nothing’s been written yet.

“Every album that we’ve made is a response to the one we made before,” Grohl says. “So now there are whispers of making an insane prog-rock record.”

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Rolling Stone has published a brand-new list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time — it’s first since 2004 — and among the top-ranked tunes are classic recordings by rock artists including Bob Dylan, Nirvana, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac.

Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” which topped the 2004 tally, is #4 on the new list, followed at #5 by Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The other rock songs in the top 10 are The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” at #7 and Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” at #9.

Also ranked high on the list are The Beach Boys‘ “God Only Knows” at #11, The Rolling Stones‘ “Gimme Shelter” at #13, The Kinks‘ “Waterloo Sunset” at #14, The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” at #15, Queen‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody” at #17, John Lennon‘s “Imagine” at #19, David Bowie‘s “Heroes” at #23, and the Fab Four’s “A Day in the Life” at #24.

Topping Rolling Stone‘s new list of all-time greatest songs is Aretha Franklin‘s classic 1967 version of Otis Redding‘s “Respect,” moving up from #5 on the 2004 tally.

Rolling Stone‘s ranking was determined by more than 250 artists, musicians, producers, music industry figures, critics and journalists, who all submitted in their top 50 choices, which the magazine then tabulated. More than half of the songs on the new list weren’t present on the 2004 list.

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The U.K.’s Download Festival is heading to Germany, and Metallica will be along for the ride.

The metal legends are headlining the inaugural Download Germany, set to take place June 24, 2022. The lineup will also include Five Finger Death Punch and Sabaton, with more artists being announced at a later date.

For more info, visit DownloadGermanyFestival.de.

The U.K. version of Download was founded in 2003, and is held in England’s Donington Park. However, it hasn’t taken place since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though a smaller, downsized version, deemed Download Pilot, was held this past June.

Download is set to return in 2022 with headliners Iron Maiden, KISS and Biffy Clyro.

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Last year, Dion DiMucci released a collaborative album titled Blues with Friends that featured contributions from a jaw-dropping cast of music legends.  Now the doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll great has announced plans for a similarly star-studded follow-up project.

The album, titled Stomping Ground, will be released November 5, and features Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Peter Frampton, ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, Boz Scaggs, Rickie Lee Jones and more. In addition, the record’s liner notes were penned by The Who‘s Pete Townshend.

In his own album notes, Dion writes, “To make music with friends, and to make friends through music: I can’t imagine a better life than this. I am grateful to my friends who made Stomping Ground with me — and my new friends who are listening.”

Stomping Ground features 14 tracks: 13 originals, plus a cover of Jimi Hendrix‘s “Red House” that Dion recorded with folk-blues artist Keb’ Mo’. You can pre-order the album now.

Last month, Dion released one of the new songs as an advance single — “I’ve Got to Get to You,” which features Scaggs and the father-son guitar duo Joe and Mike Menza.

The album’s lead track, “Take It Back,” which features blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa, has just debuted, along with a companion video. A third advance song, “Angel in the Alleyway,” featuring Springsteen on guitar and harmonica and Scialfa on vocals, is due out October 13.

Townshend writes about Stomping Ground, “This one will blow those little white things in our ears right into your brain.”

In other news, a stage musical based on Dion’s life and music, titled The Wanderer, will premiere next March at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.

Here’s Stomping Ground‘s full track list:

“Take It Back” — with Joe Bonamassa
“Hey Diddle Diddle ” — with G.E. Smith
“Dancing Girl ” — with Mark Knopfler
“If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll ” — with Eric Clapton
“There Was a Time ” — with Peter Frampton
“Cryin’ Shame ” — with Sonny Landreth
“The Night Is Young ” — with Joe Menza and Wayne Hood
“That’s What The Doctor Said ” — with Steve Conn
“My Stomping Ground ” — with Billy F Gibbons
“Angel in the Alleyways ” — with Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen
“I’ve Got to Get to You ” — with Boz Scaggs, Joe Menza and Mike Menza
“Red House ” — with Keb’ Mo’
“I Got My Eyes on You Baby ” — with Marcia Ball and Jimmy Vivino
“I’ve Been Watching ” — with Rickie Lee Jones and Wayne Hood

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