Classic Rock News

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss‘ second collaborative album Raise the Roof has debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard 200.

The record lands at number seven on the all-genre chart with a total of 40,000 equivalent album units, 38,000 of which were traditional album sales.

Plant and Krauss’ first joint effort, 2007’s Grammy-winning Raising Sand, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. With Raise the Roof, Plant now has nine top-10 records as a solo artist, along with the 13 he’s notched with Led Zeppelin. Krauss, meanwhile, has a total of five top-10s.

Raise the Roof is primarily a covers collection paying tribute to “legends and unsung heroes of folk, blues, country and soul music,” although it does include one original called “High and Lonesome” that Plant co-wrote with producer T Bone Burnett. Plant and Krauss will hit the road in support of the album starting June 2022.

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It was canceled for 2020, but Alice Cooper‘s annual charity fundraiser, Alice Cooper’s Christmas Pudding, is returning for 2021.

Scheduled for this Saturday, December 4, the lineup includes Tom Morello, Ace Frehley, Ed Roland of Collective Soul, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray and Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals.  Of course, Alice himself will perform with his touring band.  It takes place at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona, where Alice lives.

According to the Arizona Republic, Alice’s wife Sheryl Cooper, a choreographer and dance instructor, will perform at the event for the first time.

As always, the event will raise money to pay for staff and resources at Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers, which provide free music, dance, arts and vocational training programs for young people aged 12-20.  There are two such centers: one in Phoenix and one in Mesa, Arizona.

“The uniqueness of this concert is that you’ll never see this caliber and variety of artists on the same stage again,” said Alice in a statement. “Come join our ultimate Christmas party and help support the teens at The Rock Teen Center!”

Meanwhile, the shock rocker will kick off a tour January 28 in Cincinnati; he’ll play eight shows through a February 8 concert in Orlando, Florida.  The next day, he sets sail on the Monsters of Rock Cruise.

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Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin‘s Hanukkah Sessions is back for 2021.

The Foo Fighters frontman and the producer first launched the series in 2020, releasing covers of songs by eight Jewish artists for each night of the holiday. With Sunday being the first night of Hanukkah this year, they’ve started it up again, beginning with a rendition of Lisa Loeb‘s ’90s hit “Stay (I Missed You).”

The cover begins as a faithful tribute before taking an unexpected turn into black metal with Grohl’s growling vocals and pounding guitar riffs. In an accompanying video, streaming now on YouTube, Grohl wears a dress and glasses modeled after Loeb’s iconic look from the original “Stay” clip.

“Welcome back to the menorah, y’all,” Grohl and Kurstin say. “Let’s kick [off] this year’s Hanukkah Sessions with one of Dallas, Texas’ favorite Jewish daughters. So put on your coffee shop spectacles and your Betsey Johnson dress and HAVA listen to this.”

The first season of Hanukkah Sessions featured covers of songs by Beastie Boys, Drake, Mountain, Peaches, Bob Dylan, Elastica, The Knack and The Velvet Underground.

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After Ed Sheeran teased it a while back, we now have a release date for his holiday collaboration with Elton John: a song called “Merry Christmas.”  The date is revealed in an adorable video inspired by everyone’s favorite British Christmas movie, Love, Actually.

In the video, we see Elton answering his door to find Ed on his doorstep with a series of cue cards, which detail the story of how the collab came about.

“Hello. Last Christmas, I received a call from my mate, Elton John, and he told me, ‘We should do a Christmas song,'” the cue cards read as Ed goes through them one by one. “And I replied, ‘Yeah, maybe in 2022.’ But I actually wrote the chorus that day, and here we are.”

Ed continues to shuffle through the cue cards: “Our Christmas song, ‘Merry Christmas,’ is out this Friday. Go pre-order or pre-save it now.  It has sleigh bells. A lot of them.”

All the U.K. profits from “Merry Christmas” will be donated to Ed and Elton’s respective favorite charities: the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

 

 

 

 

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Last week, Queen‘s Brian May gave an interview to the British paper The Mirror in which he reacted to the BRIT Awards — the British equivalent of the Grammys — doing away with the male and female solo artist categories in favor of just one single solo artist award.  Now, he’s clarifying his comments, which some have interpreted as being unsupportive of the transgender community.

On Instagram, May wrote, “Yes – I was ambushed and completely stitched up by a journalist…and it’s led to a whole mess of press stories making it look like I’m unfriendly to trans people. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

“My words were subtly twisted. I should have known better than to talk to those predatory Press hacks,” the guitarist continues. “Sincere apologies to anyone who has been hurt by the stories. My heart is open as always to humans of all colors, all creeds, all sexes and sexualities, all shapes and sizes – and all creatures. We all deserve respect and an equal place in this world.”

May went on to thank fans who “stepped up to defend me,” adding, “It means so much that you have faith in me.”

The guitarist was quoted as saying of the category change, “It’s a decision that has been made without enough thought..I get so sick of people trying to change things without thinking of the long-term consequences.”

He then mentioned the current “atmosphere of fear,” in which people are “are afraid to say how they really think,” and was quoted as saying that if Queen’s original lineup were around today, they wouldn’t have been considered diverse enough. 

“We would be forced to have people of different colors and different sexes and we would have to have a trans [person],” the paper quoted him as saying.

 

 

 

 

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Today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of George Harrison, who passed away from complications from lung cancer at age 58.

Harrison, of course, first came to fame as the lead guitarist of The Beatles, then had a long and successful career as a solo artist.

While the Fab Four was dominated by the talented and prolific songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Harrison eventually made major contributions to the band with his own compositions, including “Taxman,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Here Comes the Sun” and the #1 hit ballad “Something.”

George also helped introduce Indian music to the pop world thanks to sitar-driven tunes like “Love You Too” and “Within You Without You.”

Following The Beatles’ breakup in 1970, Harrison became the first member of the band to score a chart-topping solo hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “My Sweet Lord.” In addition, the album on which that song appeared, the three-LP All the Things Must Pass, spent seven weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200.

Harrison hit #1 on the Hot 100 again in 1973 with “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” and once more in 1987 with “Got My Mind Set on You.”

George also was a member of the successful supergroup The Traveling Wilburys, along with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne.

Harrison was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice — in 1988 as a member of The Beatles and, posthumously, in 2004 as a solo artist.

In August, a 50th anniversary reissue of All Things Must Pass was released in a variety of formats and configurations, including a Super Deluxe version featuring 42 previously unreleased tracks.

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The Royal Affair and After, the forthcoming live album from longtime Moody Blues singer/bassist John Lodge, was scheduled for release on December 3, but according to a message on Lodge’s social media pages, it’s now been pushed back until January 14, 2022.

The note explains that the “world-wide supply chain issue” that currently is affecting so many businesses has led to “a production and shipping delay.”

The message continues, “John and all his team are very upset by this news and hate to let you all down, especially those of you hoping Santa would leave [the album] under your tree on Christmas.”

However, the previously announced limited-edition blue-vinyl LP version of The Royal Affair and After is still scheduled to be released on January 28, 2022.

In related news, Lodge has released a live version of the 1981 Moody Blues hit “Gemini Dream” as a second advance digital single from the album. You also can check out a music video for the performance, which combines live footage with kaleidoscopic animation, at John’s official YouTube channel.

As previously reported, The Royal Affair and After features performances from a 2019 Las Vegas show that Lodge and his 10,000 Light Years Band played during his stint as an opening act on the Yes-headlined Royal Affair Tour.  It also includes songs recorded during John’s subsequent U.S. solo trek.

Two of the songs feature guest vocals by current Yes frontman Jon Davison, including a rendition of “Ride My See-Saw” that was released recently as the first advance digital single from the album.

After being forced off the road in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lodge will return to touring in March 2022 with a series of U.S. dates.

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Paul McCartney, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen are just a few the famous musicians who’ve contributed instruments and other memorabilia to an auction benefiting Music Rising, a charity organization co-founded by U2 guitarist The Edge and producer Bob Ezrin.

The former Beatles legend is selling a Yamaha BB-1200 bass that he played live and in the studio with his old band Wings during in the ’70s. Elton has contributed a signed Yamaha Motif-8 keyboard that he played live for nearly a decade. The Boss is parting with a signed Americana Original ’50s Fender Telecaster guitar.

Other artists contributing instruments or other items to the sale include The Edge and his U2 band mates Bono and Adam Clayton, The Rolling Stones‘ Ronnie Wood, Steve Miller, former Eagles guitarist Don Felder, Joe Walsh, Slash, Rush‘s Alex Lifeson, Lenny Kravitz, Alice Cooper, KISS‘ Paul Stanley, Green Day, Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joan Jett, Dave Grohl and Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder.

The auction, which take place live and online on December 11, will be hosted by Van Eaton Galleries in Los Angeles.

“Some of the world’s greatest musicians and friends of Music Rising have generously donated their personal instruments to raise money for Music Rising,” The Edge says in a statement. “We hope you have a chance to bid on one or more of the beautiful instruments in the auction.”

Music Rising was first formed in 2005 to support New Orleans and Gulf South-area musicians in need following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The auction will raise money for those musicians now affected by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

For more information about the auction, visit VEGalleries.com.

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After enjoying your Thanksgiving feast this week, you can head to your local independent record shop to check out the limited-edition vinyl releases available for the 2021 edition of Record Store Day’s Black Friday sale.

Releases from Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, U2 and Fleetwood Mac are among the discs that will be available.

Aerosmith’s offering is 1971: The Road Starts Here, featuring a previously unheard early recording of the band playing several songs in their rehearsal room, including “Dream On.” It’s available on vinyl and cassette.

Osbourne’s 1991 solo album No More Tears will be available as a 12-inch picture disc. The record, which spawned the hit “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s release is Paris 67, a red-and-blue-vinyl LP that boasts an official “bootleg” performance that the guitar legend and his band gave at the Olympia Theatre in Paris in October of 1967.

U2 is issuing a four-track EP celebrating the 40th anniversary of their popular early tune “Gloria.” The disc, which is pressed on yellow vinyl, features the studio version of the song, plus three live renditions recorded in three different decades.

Fleetwood Mac is offering up a two-LP set titled Alternate Live, a 14-track collection featuring performances of various songs taken from the band’s deluxe reissues of the Rumours, Tusk and Mirage albums.

Other artists issuing 2021 Black Friday releases include Canned Heat, Dio, Dire Straits, Iron Maiden, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Janis Joplin, Judas Priest, Jorma Kaukonen, Little Feat, Motörhead, Todd Rundgren, Stray Cats, Joe Strummer, and Heart‘s Nancy Wilson.

For the full list of releases and participating stores, visit RecordStoreDay.com.

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Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain has a very busy holiday season planned with his famous band and his work serving as a minister at his wife Paula White-Cain‘s church, but first up he has some important familial Thanksgiving duties on his plate.

“I’m gonna be cooking a pretty extensive dinner like I usually do…Chef Jon,” he tells ABC Audio. “We’ll just have our close family and grandkids [over].”

Cain says he’s facing one major dilemma with his meal preparation, he’s been having a “big problem…finding a turkey.”

“Turkeys are, believe or not, scarce,” the 71-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, who lives in Florida, says with a laugh. “My little place [where] I bought my Amish turkey [last year is] unable to help me. I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ So yeah, you can’t even get a turkey anymore.”

We won’t stop believing that Jonathan will be successful in his quest to find a big bird for his family’s holiday feast.

After Thanksgiving is over, Cain and Journey will head to Las Vegas, where the band will play a six-show residency at The Theater at Virgin Hotels that runs from December 1 through December 11, and a special symphonic concert at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on December 18.

Cain, who recently released his latest in a series of solo Christian-music projects, an EP titled Oh Lord Lead Us, also has plans to host a Christmas concert.

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