Classic Rock News

The latest installment of ABC’s Family Singalong franchise airs tonight. The Queen Family Singalong pays tribute to the iconic British rock group via songs belted out by a variety of music stars, including the band’s current lead singer, Adam Lambert.

Sharing some details about the special, Lambert says, “[Y]ou’re going to hear Queen songs in new and different ways that you’ve not heard them before, sung by some of your favorites and I think there’s a lotta surprises in there as well. I’m really happy to be a part of it and I can’t wait for people to see it.”

Lambert will be featured singing “Show Must Go On” on the special, which is hosted by former Glee star Darren Criss. Other artists who will perform on the show include Fall Out Boy, former Alice Cooper guitarist Orianthi, Alessia Cara, Jimmie Allen, Miss Piggy, JoJo Siwa, OneRepublic and Pentatonix.

Previous installments of ABC’s Singalong specials have focused on Disney music, so perhaps it’s not surprising that the Queen-themed show also will feature the casts of the Broadway productions of Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin.

The Queen Family Singalong airs tonight at 8 p.m ET on ABC.

Here’s a select list of performances from the special:

Adam Lambert –- “The Show Must Go On”
Derek Hough featuring Alexander Jean -– “Another One Bites the Dust”
Fall Out Boy -– “Under Pressure”
Jimmie Allen featuring Miss Piggy -– “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
JoJo Siwa and Orianthi -– “We Will Rock You”
OneRepublic -– “We Are the Champions”
Pentatonix –- “Somebody to Love”
The casts of Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin — “Don’t Stop Me Now”
Alessia Cara — “We Are the Champions”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Eddie Vedder has premiered a new live video for his latest solo single, “Long Way.”

The performance was filmed during the Pearl Jam frontman’s set at his Ohana Festival in September. The clip not only showcases Vedder, put also his backing band for the show, which included Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, former RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and guitarist/producer Andrew Watt.

Perhaps it’s the California night sky or the way Vedder stretches out the “Long Way” lyric “on the freeway,” but the whole thing has major Tom Petty vibes. You can watch the video streaming now on YouTube.

“Long Way” premiered in September. It’s the first single off Vedder’s upcoming new solo album, Earthling, release date TBA.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Here comes a shock: Green Day has announced a new song.

The track, titled “Holy Toledo!”, will drop this Friday, November 5. It was recorded for the upcoming film Mark, Mary & Some Other People, which hits theaters, on-demand and digital that same day.

“Holy Toledo!” will be Green Day’s third new tune of 2021, following “Here Comes the Shock” and “Pollyanna.” The punk trio also released a cover of the KISS classic “Rock and Roll All Nite,” which was recorded during their Hella Mega tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer.

Green Day’s most recent album is 2020’s Father of All… On December 10, they’ll release BBC Sessions, a collection of live recordings from the band’s four performances at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios in the ’90s and early 2000s.

We now interrupt your weekly BBC Live Sessions broadcasts to announce that we’ll be releasing a NEW song this week. “Holy Toledo!” from @MarkMaryMovie is out everywhere this Friday. pic.twitter.com/lraBK1BzdY

— Green Day (@GreenDay) November 3, 2021

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have shared a third advance track from their upcoming collaborative album, Raise the Roof, an atmospheric rendition of a 1965 song by late British folk guitar legend Bert Jansch titled “It Don’t Bother Me.”

The tune, which is available now via digital outlets, is the final advance song the duo plans to debut before the album’s November 19 release.

The track showcases Krauss’ lead vocals, some eclectic instrumentation, and guitar interplay from Marc Ribot and Los Lobos‘ David Hidalgo.

The Led Zeppelin singer says of recording “It Don’t Bother Me” for the new album, “I’ve been a big follower of Bert Jansch’s work since I was a teenager, and of that whole Irish, Scottish, English folk style that has a different lilt and different lyrical perspective. I was very keen to bring some of that into the picture.”

Adds Krauss, “One of my favorite parts of this is the songs and songwriters that I had never heard of. Working with Robert, and with [producer] T Bone [Burnett], is always a great education in music history.”

As previously reported, Raise the Roof features covers of “legends and unsung heroes of folk, blues, country and soul music,” as well as one original tune co-written by Plant and Burnett titled “High and Lonesome.”

“High and Lonesome” was one of the previously released tracks from Raise the Roof, along with the album’s lead single “Can’t Let Go,” a song written by Randy Weeks that previously was recorded by popular alt-country artist Lucinda Williams.

Raise the Roof can be pre-ordered now. It’s a follow-up to Plant and Krauss’ 2007 collaborative album Raising Sand, which won a total of five Grammys in 2009, including Album of the Year.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The recently reported special screenings of an updated version of the Doors concert film Live at the Bowl ’68 take place in select theaters around the world tonight, November 4, to celebrate the 50th anniversary this year of the release of the band’s classic album L.A. Woman.

The event, dubbed The Doors: Live at the Bowl ’68 Special Edition, will feature the full movie, as well as footage of a new performance by surviving Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, plus a conversation with Densmore, Krieger and the group’s manager, Jeff Jampol.

Krieger recently shared some details about the new performance with ABC Audio. Robby revealed that the performance was filmed a few weeks ago at his recording studio, and featured him and Densmore playing a couple songs with former Chicago singer/bassist Jason Scheff.

As Krieger explained, Jason has an interesting familial connection to The Doors.

“[H]is dad [Jerry] played bass on L.A. Woman,” Robby noted. “[A]nd he had his dad’s old Sunn amp that he actually used to play [on the] album.”

Jerry Scheff also played bass on a few other Doors albums, although he’s best known for being a longtime member of Elvis Presley‘s TCB Band.

Live at the Bowl ’68, which originally was released in 2012, features restored footage of a historic July 1968 show that The Doors played at Los Angeles’ famed Hollywood Bowl that’s widely considered one of the band’s best filmed performances.

The screenings feature a remastered audio mix in Dolby ATMOS and 5.1 surround sound created by longtime Doors engineer Bruce Botnick, who recorded the original Hollywood Bowl show.

You can buy tickets for the screenings now at TheDoorsFilm.com.

Meanwhile, as previously reported, an expanded 50th anniversary L.A. Woman reissue is due out December 3.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

After being off the road since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carl Palmer and his current band ELP Legacy launches a new U.S. tour tonight in Warrendale, Pennsylvania.

The trek, which currently features 14 dates on the East Coast and Midwest, is mapped out through a November 21 concert in Wayne, New Jersey. More shows will be added to the schedule soon.

The tour will feature Palmer’s ELP Legacy marking the 50th anniversary of Carl’s old band, the legendary prog-rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

“Finally! The band and I are very eager to get back on stages in America, and around the rest of world, where possible,” says Palmer in a statement. “The show will have some material we have not played in years, as well as ELP’s best loved material. Visually, we will include footage in the show that reflects the highlights of ELP’s career.”

ELP Legacy is a power trio that also features guitarist/singer Paul Bielatowicz and bassist/Chapman stick player Simon Fitzpatrick.

Palmer is the sole surviving member of ELP, as keyboardist Keith Emerson and singer/bassist Greg Lake both died in 2016.

Meanwhile, Carl notes that the ELP Legacy tour marks the launch of a three-year series of events and releases celebrating the music and history of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Future plans include a limited-edition biography about the group, a new Palmer art collection focusing on ELP’s five main studio albums, a documentary, a film based on the band’s classic song “Karn Evil 9,” and a special trek that will feature Carl performing alongside archival footage of his late band mates.

Visit CarlPalmer.com to check out ELP Legacy’s full list of upcoming tour dates.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

U2 has premiered a new single called “Your Song Saved My Life.”

The characteristically uplifting tune was recorded for the upcoming animated film Sing 2, in which Bono voices a rock-star lion character named Clay Calloway. The movie hits theaters this Christmas.

You can listen to “Your Song Saved My Life,” which U2 previously teased via their newly launched TikTok profile, now via digital outlets. It’s U2’s first new, original song in two years, though Bono and The Edge just contributed to a track with DJ and producer Martin Garrix called “We Are the People” earlier this year.

U2’s most recent album is 2017’s Songs of Experience.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new mini-documentary about the creation of the limited “333 Edition” vinyl version of Paul McCartney‘s latest solo album, 2020’s McCartney III, has premiered at the Third Man Records label’s official YouTube channel.

To created the limited-edition LP, Third Man Records — the label co-founded by White Stripes frontman Jack White — melted down crushed-up copies of the former Beatles legend’s 1970 debut album, McCartney, and his 1980 studio effort, McCartney II. As its name suggests, only 333 copies of the McCartney III “333 Edition” LP were produced.

The five-minute video features black-and-white clips of Sir Paul working on McCartney III combined with footage of the vinyl LPs being created, as well as interviews with Third Man co-founder Ben Swank and respected Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield.

Sheffield discusses how McCartney recorded the new album during the COVID-19 lockdown and envisioned it as the third installment of a trilogy, along with McCartney and McCartney II. As previously reported, Paul wrote, recorded and produced all three albums almost entirely by himself.

Explaining the idea behind the creation of the limited McCartney III LP, Swank notes, “When I started discussing this with Paul’s manager, he said, ‘Let’s destroy the old to make the new.'”

Near the end of the video, Swank says, “I hope that the philosophical idea of something new growing out of something old, a metaphorical rebirth, as well as a physical rebirth for this vinyl, I hope that comes through to people. Maybe you can’t hear it, but it’s there.”

In addition to the “333 Edition” of McCartney III, Third Man created a “3333 Edition” pressed on yellow-and-black splatter vinyl that was released released exclusively to independent record stores, limited to 3,333 copies worldwide.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Courtney Love is applauding the way the Nirvana song “Rape Me” was used in last weekend’s episode of the HBO drama series Succession.

In a message posted in her Instagram Story and on her Twitter feed, Love writes that she’s “never been so proud of approving” the licensing of one of her late husband Kurt Cobain‘s songs, and includes a clip from the episode that features a snippet of the song.

“This cue in [Succession] is as if they truly understood KC, what he was screaming his heart out…without specifics…about,” Love says. “I’m sure wherever he is he’s proud of this.”

Other recent Nirvana syncs include “Something in the Way” for The Batman trailer, and “Come as You Are” in Captain Marvel. Additionally, an orchestral version of “Heart-Shaped Box” was featured in an episode of Westworld.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Beatles‘ Let It Be will be among the albums profiled during the second season of the Amazon Original weekly podcast Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums, which premieres at Amazon Music on November 16.

As its name suggest, the episodic podcast delves into records that were chosen for Rolling Stone magazine’s latest list of the 500 greatest albums. Each episode takes a behind-the-scenes look at how one specific album on the list was made, featuring interviews with people associated with the record, and sometimes including the artists themselves.

The Let It Be episode will kick off season two of the podcast. Interviews with surviving Beatles members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are featured in the presentation, discussing details about how the band’s final studio album came together, and the whether the common perception that the band members were angry with each other throughout the project is accurate.

Also appearing in the podcast are Giles Martin, son of late Beatles producer George Martin, and filmmaker Peter Jackson, director of Get Back: The Beatles, the upcoming Disney+ docuseries focusing on the Let It Be sessions.

Other upcoming episodes of the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums podcast include shows focusing on Britney Spears‘ Blackout, jazz artist Alice Coltrane‘s Journey in Satchidananda, Dolly Parton‘s Coat of Many Colors, and Weezer‘s self-titled 1989 studio effort, a.k.a. The Blue Album.

Season two of the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums podcast will be available exclusively at Amazon Music and Wondery+.

You can check out a trailer for the new season, and episodes from the podcast’s first season, at Amazon.com.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.