Classic Rock News

Last month, Talking Heads released new Dolby Atmos mixes of all eight of their studio album — Talking Heads: 77, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues, Little Creatures, True Stories and Naked.

Overseeing the project was Talking Heads guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison, who tells ABC Audio that all of the band’s other members — frontman David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth — okayed the mixes.

Harrison says his main collaborator on the Dolby Atmos mixes was engineer Eric Thorngren, who also worked on the original Little Creatures and True Stories sessions. Ed Stasium, who engineered Talking Heads’ 1977 debut album, also contributed to the updated mixes.

The Dolby Atmos format offers a three-dimensional audio experience, and Jerry notes that while listening to the mixes with high-tech Apple headphones is great, he prefers listening them on traditional speakers.

“[W]hen you’re in a really good room that has an Atmos system, then that’s really quite fabulous sounding,” he maintains.

Meanwhile, Harrison teamed up with ex-King Crimson singer/guitarist Adrian Belew and other musicians this past Thursday at Los Angeles’ Wiltern theater and Saturday at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival for their latest in a series of gigs celebrating the music of Talking Heads.

As previously reported, the shows were inspired by a 1980 concert Talking Heads played in Rome during the Remain in Light tour, when the band featured an expanded lineup that included Belew.

Harrison says he and Belew have plans to play more of these shows, but they probably won’t be until next year because of Adrian’s other touring commitments. Belew is taking part in the Celebrating David Bowie tribute trek, which runs from October 6 through November 13.

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The Who will launch the second North American leg of their 2022 The Who Hits Back! tour this Sunday, October 2, in Toronto.

The trek, which features 16 shows, runs through a November 4-5 stand at Las Vegas’ Dolby Live venue.

As with the first leg of The Who Hits Back! tour and the previous Moving On! trek, the new outing will feature the British rock legends accompanied by an orchestra at all shows.

Ex-Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page will serve as The Who’s support act at the tour’s first five shows, spanning from October 2 through October 12. Founding Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and his current band The Dirty Knobs will be the opener at the next nine dates, running from October 14 through a November 1 performance at Los Angeles’ famed Hollywood Bowl.

The Wild Things, a contemporary British rock band that Who guitarist Pete Townshend has been producing, will be the support act at the tour’s two-show finale in Las Vegas.

Joining The Who’s two surviving original members, Townshend and frontman Roger Daltrey, the band’s current touring lineup also features guitarist/backing singer Simon Townshend — Pete’s brother — drummer Zak Starkey, keyboardists Loren Gold and Emily Marshall, bassist Jon Button, and backing vocalist Billy Nicholls.

The orchestras will be conducted by Keith Levenson, while lead violinist Katie Jacoby and lead cellist Audrey Q. Snyder will perform at all of the shows.

Visit TheWho.com to check out the full list of tour dates.

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Want to own a handwritten copy of lyrics to famous songs by ZZ Top and Peter Frampton? Now’s your chance.

A variety of music artists, including ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Frampton, have contributed handwritten copies of their song lyrics that will go up for bid starting October 1 at JuliensLive.com as part of an online auction to benefit the Music Health Alliance charity.

Gibbons has donated a sheet with the lyrics to his band’s classic 1983 hit “Sharp Dressed Man,” and a doodle of a skeleton wearing a sombrero and sipping a beer. Frampton has offered up handwritten lyrics to his 1976 hit “Do You Feel Like I Do,” which he co-wrote with John Siomos, Mick Gallagher and Rick Wills.

Among the many other artists contributing to the auction are Train‘s Pat Monahan, Michael Martin Murphey, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Loudon Wainwright and George Strait.

This sale marks the third annual installment of the “Handwritten Song Lyrics Benefitting Music Health Alliance” sale, which is hosted by Julien’s Auctions. Bidding closes on October 24.

The Music Health Alliance is an organization that advocates for music industry members’ access to health care and financial support for medical procedures.

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Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine hasn’t been in Metallica for nearly 40 years, but he’s leaving the door open to work with James Hetfield again.

In an interview with site VWMusic, Mustaine shares that he’s been “secretly hoping” that he and the “Enter Sandman” rocker might be able to “write together again.”

“I think the world really does want us to do that, and I think there is a pretty good possibility of it happening down the line,” Mustaine says. “I do think that it’s possible that one day James is going to come around and that he and I are going to be able to do something together again.”

“I guess that’s one of the things that has always kept me pushing forward,” he adds. “I think it’d be good for Megadeth, and it could be great for Metallica too.”

Mustaine was famously fired from Metallica in 1983 and replaced by Kirk Hammett, who remains the band’s guitarist today. Following his dismissal, Mustaine went on to create Megadeth.

Megadeth, meanwhile, just released a new album called The Sick, the Dying…and the Dead! in September.

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 R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic guest on a new single from rising Cuban rock artist Hector Tellez Jr.

The track is called “Silver Blue Jellyfish” and is available now via digital outlets.

“‘Silver Blue Jellyfish’ is a song about hope and how powerful your life can be when you listen to the call of your deepest purpose and how you can inspire others to pursue their desire to lead a life of freedom, love and happiness,” Tellez says.

The collaboration came together after Tellez’s demo found its way to producer Barrett Martin, who played drums in Screaming Trees and the grunge supergroup Mad Season. Upon inviting Tellez to Seattle to record an album, Martin also recruited a few friends, including Buck and Novoselic, to take part, too.

Buck joined Tellez to perform “Silver Blue Jellyfish” during this year’s Hispanic Heritage Awards, which will air Friday on PBS.

Novoselic, meanwhile, performed at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in Los Angeles earlier this week, joining his Nirvana bandmate Dave Grohl, members of Soundgarden and The Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen to play two Soundgarden songs.

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Late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland‘s 2011 holiday album The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is getting the reissue treatment.

A deluxe version of the compilation will be released digitally and on limited edition red and green vinyl on November 4.

The reissue features new artwork and four previously unreleased bonus tracks, including a rendition of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono classic “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” which you can listen to now via digital outlets. The recording is also accompanied by a lyric video, streaming now on YouTube, that features Weiland’s family holiday photos.

Notably, the reissue marks the first official posthumous solo release from the Weiland vault since his death in 2015 at age 48.

In related STP news, the band’s bassist Robert De Leo has announced his debut solo album. The record, titled Lessons Learned, will arrive October 21.

“The past few years of life have revealed many changes,” De Leo says. “This collection of songs represents what has transpired. The journey and gift of songwriting has played such an important role for me. It’s been a close companion throughout my life.”

You can listen to the first Lessons Learned single, “Love Is Not Made of Gold,” now via digital outlets.

Meanwhile, STP’s 1992 debut album, Core, celebrated its 30th anniversary this week. The band marked the occasion with a deluxe vinyl reissue.

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Sammy Hagar and current band The Circle‘s new studio album, Crazy Times, has just been released on CD and via digital formats.

The 10-song collection was recorded in Nashville with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb, best known for his work with a variety of major country artists.

Cobb interviewed Hagar about the album for an episode of his Southern Accents Radio program, which will premiere October 1 at 7 p.m. ET on Apple Music.

Cobb enthused about getting to work with Hagar and The Circle’s members — drummer Jason Bonham, longtime Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and virtuoso guitarist Vic Johnson.

“Going into the studio, watching you guys play was so intimidating because I’m looking at heroes up there, but not only that, but just the fire that you guys have,” Cobb said. “When you sing, there’s a fire that very few people have and it was just so impressive to see the whole thing go down live. I’ll never forget it.”

Hagar responded by noting, “You got to admit, there is great chemistry in this band and as many bands as you’ve produced and dealt with, you can have the best musicians in the world, and without chemistry, it don’t work.”

The two also discussed the Crazy Times track “Father Time,” which Cobb said is the best song Hagar has ever written.

Sammy agreed, saying, “To me, it’s the best song of the album. Best song I’ve ever written. Maybe my best vocal performance … I’m happy with the whole record, but if I said, ‘Listen to one song on this record,’ I’d say listen to that song.”

Meanwhile, vinyl versions of Crazy Times will be released on October 28.

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Ozzy Osbourne has premiered the third and final installment of his behind-the-scenes series detailing the making of his new solo album, Patient Number 9.

The episode, titled “Live Forever,” focuses on the track “Immortal,” which features Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready. Along with producer Andrew Watt and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who plays throughout Patient Number 9, McCready shares how he approached collaborating with the Prince of Darkness.

“I’m thinking that I want to play the s*** out of this,” McCready says. “What is on there is me feeling it.”

You can watch the “Live Forever” episode streaming now on YouTube, along with the previously released installments, “When Ozzy Calls” and “The Sabbath Connection.”

Patient Number 9, Ozzy’s 13th solo album, was released earlier this month. It also includes guest contributions from Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Black Sabbath‘s Tony Iommi, Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde, Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

(Video contains uncensored profanity) 

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Putting on two massive tribute concerts to late drummer Taylor Hawkins this month was undoubtedly quite the undertaking, but Foo Fighters did have a guide to help out.

As Queen drummer Roger Taylor tells Billboard, Foo members Dave Grohl and Pat Smear told him they used the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute concert as a “model.”

“I was very heavily involved in [the ’92 show], so that was sort of the model they built these shows on,” Taylor says. “Which is nice because we’ve always been tight with the Foo Fighters. We just love that band, like family.”

The Mercury concert was held several months after the iconic vocalist passed away in November 1991 and featured performances from the likes of Elton John, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, U2, George Michael and Def Leppard.

The Foos shows were no less star-studded, featuring names like Paul McCartney, AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson and Joan Jett, plus members of Rush, Led Zeppelin, The Pretenders, The Police, The Cars, Def Leppard, Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Taylor and Queen’s Brian May also performed at both concerts, which were held in London and Los Angeles. The drummer tells Billboard that the shows had “different” energies, partially because the London one was livestreamed.

“The one in London was more of seamless show with a lot of little filmed sequence in-between and so many acts,” Taylor says. “[Los Angeles] was more like a real rock parade. It was an emphasis on hard, heavy rock, and just one act after another and a parade of drummers like you’ve never seen, all the best rock ‘n’ roll drummers in the world.”

He adds, “It was a fantastic night, just a wonderful night for my great friend Taylor.”

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Today, September 30, marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Bob Dylan‘s lauded 30th studio album, Time Out of Mind.

The collection of 11 new original tunes was considered a return to form for the influential singer/songwriter, who hadn’t released an album of his own new compositions since 1990’s Under the Red Sky.

Time Out of Mind reached #10 on the Billboard 200, Dylan’s first studio album to break into the top 10 of the chart since 1979’s Slow Train Coming, which peaked at #3.

The album won a trio of Grammys in 1998 — including his first and only Album of the Year trophy, as well as awards for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Rock Vocal Performance for the song “Cold Irons Bound.”

Time Out of Mind was produced by Daniel Lanois, who also worked with Dylan on his 1989 album Oh Mercy. Among the musicians who contributed to the record were acclaimed session drummer Jim Keltner, Augie Meyers of the Sir Douglas Quintet on keyboards, and guitarist Duke Robillard.

Standout tracks on the album included “Love Sick,” “Standing in the Doorway,” “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” and the oft-covered “Make You Feel My Love.”

Among the notable versions of “Make You Feel My Love” were renditions by Billy Joel, Garth Brooks and Adele. Brooks scored a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1998.

Time Out of Mind has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of 1 million copies in the U.S.

Here’s the album’s complete track list:

“Love Sick”
“Dirt Road Blues”
“Standing in the Doorway”
“Million Miles”
“Tryin’ to Get to Heaven”
“‘Til I Fell In Love with You”
“Not Dark Yet”
“Cold Irons Bound”
“Make You Feel My Love”
“Can’t Wait”
“Highlands”

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