Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on September 23rd, 2021

On Sept. 17 KISS announced on its Twitter page that a massive 45th anniversary reissue of their 1976 album Destroyer will be released on Nov. 19. Destroyer was the first KISS album to sell 1 million copies in its first year, and is also the group's best-selling studio album of all time. The new reissue will take the form of a Super Deluxe 4-CD + Blu-ray Audio box set as well as on standard double black vinyl and limited edition yellow and red double colored vinyl, 2-CD set, and digital. Destroyer has been newly mastered at London's Abbey Road Studios and will include never-before-heard demos from band members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons' personal archives. The "Super Deluxe" version of the set also features memorabilia and ephemera including a recreation of the original KISS "Army Kit" which featured items including newsletters, photos, KISS Army membership certificate and cards from the fan club. - NME, 9/19/21...... On Sept. 22 Elton John released "After All," a new single from The Lockdown Sessions, his upcoming album of collaborations with younger artists that's due on Oct. 22. "After All" has the Rocket Man collaborating with Charlie Puth and is described as "a gentle, glowing ballad about true love." The track sees Puth taking full reins on the production, with a grooving electric piano line and surging strings bringing emotional life to the tender ballad, and John and Puth co-wrote the song with Jacob Kasher Hindlin. Elton and Puth sing of a sweet love affair bringing hope back into their lives, singing "Oh, oh, nothing compares to you, oh no, baby... They were just doing it wrong/ I gave up on love until you made me believe in it after all." The two musicians expressed a mutual admiration for each other in a press release, with John saying "Charlie is an amazing musician... We just had an amazing chemistry in the studio," and Puth noting he's been a lifelong fan of John. "It is truly incredible how the melodies and chords seem to come to him instantly whenever he sits down at the piano ... He is world class and the true definition of a musical genius," he said. "After All" can be previewed on YouTube, and follows the first single from The Lockdown Sessions, Elton's Dua Lipa collaboration "Cold Heart." John has scored his record-extending 40th Top 10 single on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart with "Cold Heart," which jumped from No. 11 to No. 10 on the list dated Sept. 25. The artist has collected his 40 AC top 10s over a span of 50-plus years, the first being "Your Song" in Feb. 1971 and the latest being "Answer in the Sky" in Jan. 2005. Sixteen of his entries, marking another record, have gone all the way to No. 1. In other Elton news, the singer has revealed that his requests to meet with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson regarding Brexit and touring visas for musicians have so far been ignored. Addressing the topic on a recent episode of his Apple Music 1 radio show Rocket Hour, John said: "What has happened is that it's impossible for young artists financially to pay for visas [and] negotiate their way through all of the red tape that's necessary for going to Europe. So I'm on the warpath to try and get this sorted out," he said, adding, "I've requested a meeting with Boris Johnson. I've yet to hear back from him." In August, the UK Government's Department of Culture, Media & Sport announced they had secured "short-term" visa-free touring in 19 European countries. This news was criticized by a number of music industry figures, including John, who called it "a rehash of what we already know." - Billboard/NME, 9/22/21...... Before launching into their first-ever performance since the death of longtime drummer Charlie Watts on Aug. 24, the Rolling Stones dedicated the Sept. 20 concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. to their dear friend and bandmate. "It's a bit of a poignant night for us," an emotional Mick Jagger told the intimate audience of 300 at the show put on by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft as guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood draped their arms around the vocalist. "Because this is our first tour in 59 years that we've done without our lovely Charlie Watts. We all miss Charlie so much. We miss him as a band. We miss him as friends, on and off the stage. We've got so many memories of Charlie. I'm sure some of you that have seen us before have got memories of Charlie as well. And I hope you'll remember him like we do. So we'd like to dedicate this show to Charlie," Jagger said in the speech, which has been shared on his Twitter page. After Jagger raised a toast, Ronnie Wood added, "Charlie, we're praying for you, man. And playing for you!" The 14-song show was the warm-up debut of touring drummer Steve Jordan, who slipped into the seat for the band's first gig without Watts behind the kit since he joined the band back in Jan. 1963. The hit-packed set also included the live debut of the band's cover of the Chi-Lites' 1971 track "Troubles-a-Comin'," originally recorded for the band during their Tattoo You session; it is slated for inclusion on the 40th anniversary edition of the album due out on Oct. 22. Meanwhile, the Stones will reportedly paint their forthcoming "No Filter" US tour logo black in tribute to Watts. The altered design will appear on big screens during their shows, as well as on concert merchandise for the tour which gets underway Sept. 26 in St. Louis. Watts was also recently remembered by his fellow iconic drummer Ringo Starr in an interview with BANG Showbiz. "Yeah, we will miss Charlie. He was a beautiful human being. He was like The Quiet Man...," Ringo said. "Me and Charlie, we hung out. It's not liked we lived together, we lived close in London, or we'd find ourselves at dinner or a gig," he added. - Billboard/Music-News.com, 9/22/21...... In other Stones-related news, Mick Jagger has appeared in a new music video with his younger musician brother Chris Jagger. The pair duet on the song "Anyone Seen My Heart" which appears on Chris Jagger's latest album, Mixing Up The Medicine, which dropped on Sept. 10. "Anyone Seen My Heart" has been shared on YouTube. Chris also recently released a memoir, Talking To Myself, which arrived with his new album. - NME, 9/19/21...... On Sept. 18, Eric Clapton performed a show at the Smoothie King in New Orleans, effectively undoing the stance he took earlier in 2021 against venues that require evidence of a Covid-19 vaccine or negative test result. In July, Clapton vowed never to perform at a venue that required proof of vaccination, shortly after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that vaccine passes would be required to enter nightclubs and venues in the country, with Clapton saying: "I reserve the right to cancel the show." But according to the Smoothie King's website, they require all those in attendance to have received at least one dose of a vaccine or provide a negative test result taken within 72 hours of attending an event, and to wear a mask while not eating or drinking. Although Clapton says he's been vaccinated, he has criticized the "propaganda" promoting the vaccine's safety, even claiming in May he had a "disastrous" reaction after experiencing side-effects. Clapton said that "my hands and feet were either frozen, numb or burning, and pretty much useless for two weeks, I feared I would never play again, (I suffer with peripheral neuropathy and should never have gone near the needle.)... But the propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone." - NME, 9/21/21...... Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA has launched a new initiative called Credits Due, which aims to tackle issues surrounding music royalties and metadata. Credits Due will attempt to ensure that "complete and accurate song metadata is attached to all recordings at the point of creation," leading to all songwriters and contributors being accurately and fairly paid for their work," according to a press release. It comes from a collaboration between The Ivors Academy and The Music Rights Awareness Foundation (MRAF), of which Ulvaeus is a co-founder, and was unveiled on Sept. 21 at the Ivor Novello awards. "I could think of no better event to launch the Credits Due initiative than at the Ivor Novello Awards," Ulvaeus said. "You could say that we celebrate all the great UK and Irish songwriters and composers by starting this open and inclusive collaboration with The Ivors Academy... It's very simple, music recordings must credit all involved and thus ensure that the right people get paid. People ask me why this isn't the case already and I don't know what to say," he added. In other ABBA news, member Agnetha Fältskog has revealed that the quartet's forthcoming "Voyage" concert experience may be their last. Speaking to Radio Sweden about the rehearsals, Fältskog: "None of us probably knew what to expect but we've worked with it a lot so you grew into it eventually. We stand there doing these songs with I don't know how many cameras and people. It felt great to do it in the end because it was so different. Also there was a vibe, one felt that maybe it's the last thing we do. Same thing with the album." When asked when the band will get together again in the future, she added: "I don't really dare to say. We're a bit older now, and have our minor ailments. But we struggle on. But I don't dare to say, because it's a bit uncertain. At the moment we feel happy that we got this together, and let's hope everything goes well in London, at the premiere over there." ABBA announced on Sept. 2 their new album Voyage will hit stores on Nov. 5, and also revealed their forthcoming tour will see a "digital" version of ABBA (not holograms) perform alongside a 10-piece live band. The run of shows will take place at the purpose-built, 3,000-capacity ABBA Arena at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, starting May 27, 2022. - NME, 9/22/21...... Genesis kicked off their first tour in 14 years on Sept. 20 in Birmingham, UK. The prog-rock trio's "The Last Domino?" opener saw Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford perform a host of hits at the Utilita Arena including "Mama" and "Land of Confusion," "You're No Son Of Mine" and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," along with a trio of hits from 1980's Duke LP including "Behind the Lines," "Duke's End" and "Turn It On Again." The UK run of the tour, originally set for November and December 2020 before being pushed back to April and then again to September due to the coronavirus pandemic, precedes a newly announced North American run. After the tour begins in Birmingham opener, the band will head to Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool and Glasgow before the leg wraps up with three dates at The O2 in London on Oct. 11, 12 and 13. A North American run will then begin Nov. 15 in Chicago, also visiting Washington, D.C, Charlotte, N.C., Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York City, Columbus, Oh., and Elmont, N.Y.'s Belmont Park before wrapping on Dec. 13 in Pittsburgh. In a new interview with Mojo magazine, Phil Collins ruled out any further dates from the band, saying these will be the last Genesis shows ever. "This English and American tour, that will be enough for me," he said. Highlights from the Birmingham show, with Collins remaining seated throughout, have been shared by one fan on YouTube. - NME, 9/21/21...... In a new interview with Britain's The Times newspaper, Don McLean says computers have destroyed modern songwriters' brain cells, and their ability to write good songs has been taken away from the current crop of music-makers because technology has "prevented young people from concentrating." "I don't think they have any brains. The phone and the computer have prevented young people from concentrating, and you have to concentrate to write a song like 'A Day in the Life', 'Good Vibrations' or 'A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall'," the "American Pie" singer said. "I'm a philosopher. I like to think things through. I'm not saying I'm anything special, but myself, the Beatles and [Bob] Dylan had long periods of silence and contemplation when nobody cared about us very much. It allows a person to develop. Now people are poked with information from the day they are born. 'Ooh, Kim Kardashian has a fat ass!' Who cares?," he added. McLean, 75, also says he "doesn't care" about Bob Dylan since the "Like a Rolling Stone" hitmaker took issue with allegedly being referred to as the "jester" in McLean's 1971 smash "American Pie." "Never met him. I did meet his son Jakob, though, and he said to me, 'Is he the jester?' I said, 'I'm not going to answer that, but he'd make a pretty darn good jester, wouldn't he?' I gotta tell ya, I don't really care about Bob Dylan. He doesn't mean anything to me," McLean said. - Music-News.com, 9/22/21...... Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson has announced that he's releasing some stripped-back versions of several BB classics on a new album called At My Piano. The LP will feature new versions of "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "In My Room," "Don't Worry Baby," "California Girls," "Surf's Up," "Good Vibrations" and "God Only Knows," with Wilson sharing the latter song on YouTube. "We had an upright piano in our living room and from the time I was 12 years old I played it each and every day. I never had a lesson, I was completely self-taught," Wilson remembered in a press release announcing the the new project. "I can't express how much the piano has played such an important part in my life. It has bought me comfort, joy and security. It has fuelled my creativity as well as my competitive nature. I play it when I'm happy or feeling sad. I love playing for people and I love playing alone when no one is listening. Honestly, the piano and the music I create on it has probably saved my life," he added. At My Piano will drop in the US on Nov. 19 via Decca Records. - NME, 9/18/21...... New mixes of classic tracks by the Beatles have been shared on Spotify.com ahead of the forthcoming special edition re-release of the band's 1970 album Let It Be on Oct. 15. "Get Back" (Take 8), "One After 909" (Take 3), "I Me Mine" (1970 Glyn Johns Mix) and "Across The Universe" (2021 Stereo Mix) can be sampled on the music platform for the new Let It Be edition, which has been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell in stereo, 5.1 surround DTS and Dolby Atmos. The physical and digital "super deluxe" Let It Be collections will feature 27 previously unreleased session recordings, a four-track "Let It Be" EP and the never-before-released 14-track Get Back stereo LP mix, which was compiled by engineer Glyn Johns in May 1969. A new hardcover book, titled The Beatles: Get Back, will also be included with the "super deluxe" editions of Let It Be, with a foreword written by Paul McCartney. Meanwhile in other Beatles-related news, the Beatles and Metallica mash-up band Beatallica has announced their fourth studio album, The Devolver Album, will hit stores on Nov. 12 via Metal Assault Records. Beatallica will release a music video for the album's lead single, "Wherever And Everywhere," via the group's YouTube channel on Oct. 1. - NME, 9/17/21...... Sarah Dash, best known as a singer and founding member of the '70s R&B trio Labelle passed away of as yet undisclosed causes on Sept. 19. She was 76. Born in Trenton, N.J., Dash linked up with Patti Labelle and Nona Hondryx for the first time in 1961 as part of The Ordettes, along with Sundray Tucker. Soon after, Tucker was replaced by Cindy Birdsong and the group had changed their name to Patti Labelle and The Bluebells. In the late 60s, Birdsong left the band to join The Supremes, and the trio once again rebranded themselves to simply Labelle, in what is their most recognizable lineup. Together, the trio released eight albums together, most recently 2008's Back To Now. They enjoyed particular success with the release of their seminal 1974 single, "Lady Marmalade". As a solo artist, Dash released four studio albums between 1978 and 1988, also contributing to the Rolling Stones recording and touring projects, as well as on Keith Richards' solo endeavours. In 2016, she was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by The National R&B Music Society. Dash's death has been described as "unexpected," and her final performance took place on Sept. 18 when she joined Patti Labelle at the latter's concert in New Jersey. Posting a clip of the performance on Instagram, Labelle wrote that Dash "was an awesomely talented, beautiful, and loving soul who blessed my life and the lives of so many others in more ways than I can say. "I could always count on her to have my back! That's who Sarah was... a loyal friend and a voice for those who didn't have one. She was a true giver... always serving, always sharing her talent and her time. I am heart broken, as I know all of her loved ones and fans are. But, I know that Sarah's spirit and all that she has given to the world live on! And I pray that her precious memory brings us peace and comfort. Rest in power my dear sister. I love you always," LaBelle added. Other tributes to Dash on social media include posts by Nile Rodgers, Gloria Gaynor and Bootsy Collins, among others. - NME, 9/21/21...... Actress Jane Powell, the bright-eyed, operatic-voiced star of Hollywood's golden age musicals who sang with Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and danced with Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding, died on Sept. 16 at her Wilton, Conn., home. She was 92. Ms. Powell performed virtually her whole life, starting about age 5 as a singing prodigy on radio in Portland, Ore. On screen, she quickly graduated from teen roles to the lavish musical productions that were a 20th-century Hollywood staple. Ms. Powell played teens in such films as Holiday in Mexico, Three Daring Daughters and A Date With Judy. But she pleaded with the studio bosses to be given grown-up roles and finally succeeded in Royal Wedding. She also frequently appeared on television, notably in the Judy Garland role in a new version of Meet Me in St. Louis. Ms. Powell was married five times and survivors include her daughter Lindsey Nerney with her fifth husband, actor Dick Moore. - AP, 9/17/21.

Rod Stewart announced on Sept. 16 that he'll release his 31st studio album, The Tears of Hercules, on Nov. 12. Stewart has also released its lead single, "One More Time," which he says is about wanting to bed a former flame after a breakup. Stewart, who is currently married to model Penny Lancaster, told BBC Radio 2: "The story behind the song is you know when you break up with somebody and the sex was amazing and you just want to do it one more time? That's what the song is about. It's happened to all of us I'm sure." The 76-year-old Stewart added that Hercules's songs "are more or less life stories." "Unfortunately, a lot of them have got to do with love and sex on this album. Well not, unfortunately, that's the way I was feeling and they are just things that have happened to me," he says. The 12-track LP marks the 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?' hitmaker's fourth new album of original material since 2013, with nine new tracks featured alongside covers of songs by the likes of Marc Jordan and Johnny Cash. For the new LP Rod has once again reunited with Kevin Savigar, who has co-produced his last three studio albums (2013's Time, 2015's Another Country, and 2018's Blood Red Roses). - Music-News.com, 9/16/21...... Elton John announced on Sept. 16 that he is postponing the remaining dates on his 2021 "Farewell to Yellow Brick Road" tour after he will undergo surgery for a hip injury he suffered over the summer. John, 74, said the dates for his European run will be postponed until 2023. "It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I am forced to reschedule," John said in a statement shared on social media. "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." Though he's putting off the tour, Elton said will not cancel on his previously announced charity performance for Global Citizen, which is set to take place Sept. 25. "I don't want to let a charity down," he explained, noting that it's very different performing five songs versus nearly three hours every night. "After this I will be having the operation to ensure the tour can get back on the road in January of 2022 in New Orleans. It breaks my heart to keep you waiting any longer. 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," he added. John's ongoing "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour, which was announced in 2018, has been billed as the five-time Grammy winner's "final" time on the road. As with other concerts around the world, it was postponed in 2020 due to the global coronavirus pandemic. On Sept. 1, he announced that his new album of collaborations with some of today's hottest rising artists, The Lockdown Sessions, will drop on Oct. 22 via Interscope. - Billboard, 9/16/21...... As was expected, ABBA has snagged their first Top 10 U.K. single in nearly 40 years as their new single "Don't Shut Me Down" entered the Official U.K. Singles Chart at No. 9 for the week ending Sept. 10. "Don't Shut Me Down," from ABBA's forthcoming comeback LP Voyage, was streamed 2.3 million times in the U.K. during the latest cycle, and it's the second-most-downloaded song of the week, according to the OCC. ABBA's other recently released track, "I Still Have Faith In You," began its chart journey at No. 14 on the main chart and at No. 1 on the Official Vinyl Singles Chart following its limited-edition vinyl release. With those two releases, the Swedish pop icons now have 28 total Top 40 singles in the U.K. Meanwhile, in the U.S. ABBA's two new singles have returned to the Top 40 of Billboard's Global Excl. U.S. chart as "Shut" begins at No. 26 and "Faith" at No. 37. The former starts with 13.9 million streams and 23,900 sold outside the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 9, while the latter opens with 14.1 million streams and 20,300 sold. As ABBA Mania builds ahead of the new album, and their virtual residency next year at a custom-built arena in east London, their Gold: Greatest Hits collection has also surged from No. 114 to No. 34 on Billboard's Hot 200 albums chart on the Sept. 18-dated survey. Gold earned 15,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 9, up 61%, according to MRC Data. Gold was released in the U.S. back in 1993 and has spent 186 weeks on the chart in total. On the U.S. based Digital Song Sales chart, ABBA's 1977 U.S. No. 1 "Dancing Queen" has re-entered the survey at No. 19. - Billboard, 9/12/21...... American R&B icons Earth, Wind & Fire have reached the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay chart for the first time in 28 years as their new single "You Want My Love," featuring rising R&B singer Lucky Daye, has jumped from No. 12 to No. 9 on the chart dated Sept. 18. "You Want My Love" is only the fifth song of 2021 to reach the Top 10 on that survey in one month. "You Want My Love" returns the legendary troupe to the Adult R&B Airplay's upper tier for the first time since 1993, when "Sunday Morning" peaked at No. 10 in Oct. 1993, a few weeks after the chart's launch. The song has also darted from No. 31 to No. 24 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Released on Aug. 20, the new version of "You Want My Love" was co-produced by Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and originally appeared on EW&F's 1975 album Gratitude. - Billboard, 9/16/21...... Sharon Osbourne has told the Daily Mail TV that she received death threats against her and her family after she left the U.S. morning show The Talk in the wake of a controversy with her The Talk co-host Sheryl Underwood. The furore began when Sharon defended long-time friend Piers Morgan, who had made what critics said were racist comments about Meghan Markle. Former co-hosts including Holly Robinson Peete and Leah Remini accused Sharon of using similar language in the past, leading to her departure after 10 years on the show. "I had ketamine treatment and I got it all out. All the tears and everything that I felt, you know. All of that, it's gone," Sharon said. "I definitely went through a difficult patch at the beginning. I found it embarrassing. The humiliation that people would think that I might be a racist." She went on to detail the death threats that she and her family received since the controversy began. "They were going to kill the family. They were going to come at night with knives, cut all our throats and the animals. So I had all of that, all the threats, and we had to have 24 hour guards," said Sharon, adding "It's like, listen, 'It's about me, not about [Ozzy] Osbourne, not about my kids. Anything you got to say about me, I can take it. Do not start on my family.' I mean, you can't get any lower." Sharon also offered an update on Ozzy's struggle with Parkinson's disease. "He's fine, he's got it under control," she said. "It breaks your heart that he wants to get back. He misses his friends, his musicians, they're his partners. He misses that life." Sharon added that she would like an unknown actor to play Ozzy in a forthcoming biopic about the metal icon and thinks it should include "all the fights, all the make-ups, all the fights, all the arrests, all the everything." - New Musical Express, 9/16/21...... In other Ozzy-related news, the musician has shared a new version of "Hellraiser" featuring a duet with late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Lemmy, who died in 2015, co-wrote "Hellraiser"' with Osbourne for the latter's 1991 album. Motörhead later recorded their own version of the song and released it as a single from their 1992 album March ör Die. "I hope everyone enjoys the song," Osbourne said in a press release. "This is just a small way to honour my friend Lemmy. Sharon and I talk a lot about how much we miss him." The new version of "Hellraiser" appears on the digital reissue of his No More Tears LP but not the vinyl release. An upgraded digital release of No More Tears and an LP edition which will come as a two-disc set on black vinyl hit stores on Sept. 17. - NME, 9/13/21...... The Doors announced on Twitter on Sept. 16 that their iconic 1968 Hollywood Bowl gig will be screened in cinemas worldwide for one night only on Nov. 4. The Doors: Live At The Bowl '68 Special Edition will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band's classic 1971 L.A. Woman album and feature a special conversation with surviving Doors members John Densmore and Robby Krieger. "The magic that has been done to enhance the picture and sound quality of this show will make everyone feel as though they have a front row seat at the Hollywood Bowl," Robby Krieger says. Ticket information and screening details can be found at TheDoorsFilm.com. On Dec. 3, a 50th Anniversary Edition of L.A. Woman will be released on CD and vinyl. The new reissue will feature a 3xCD/1xLP box set of a newly remastered version of the album, alongside two bonus discs of unreleased material. Meanwhile, Robby Krieger has announced his first-ever memoir, Set The Night On Fire: Living, Dying, And Playing Guitar With The Doors, will be released on Oct. 12 via Little, Brown & Co. - NME, 9/16/21...... The estate of David Bowie announced on Sept. 16 that Bowie's recordings from 2000 until his passing in 2016 will shift to Warner Music Group for the first time. WMG said the "landmark" new licensing deal, of which financial terms were not disclosed, will unite five decades of the Thin White Duke's music under the same creative roof. Among the artist's later works covered by this new pact are 2002's Mercury Prize-nominated Heathen; 2003's Reality; 2013's The Next Day; and his final studio album, 2016's Blackstar, also nominated for the annual Mercury Prize. Blackstar dropped just two days before Bowie's death, on Jan. 10, 2016. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 LP chart, giving Bowie a posthumous, first leader. The following year, during the 59th Grammy Awards, Blackstar swept all five awards it was nominated for. Warner Music Group has controlled the lion's share of Bowie's recordings since 2013, when the company acquired the Parlophone Label Group, following the split-up and sale of EMI. WMG CEO of Recorded Music Max Lousada says the company's expanded partnership with the Bowie estate "will help us deliver innovative, career-spanning projects and attract new generations to his extraordinary musical universe," and that more special Bowie releases can be expected in the future. - Billboard, 9/16/21...... An "immersive" Queen pop-up shop is set to open in London on Sept. 28 and run until Jan. 2022. The shop will be located on London's Carnaby Street, and each month will see the store change its theme, rotating through music, art and design, and magic. Visual installations will let visitors explore Queen's decades-long history, while each week will see new products released and events hosted in the space. Up for grabs will be limited edition music releases, fashion collaborations with the likes of Champion, Wrangler and Johnny Hoxton jewellery, and lifestyle products. In a press release, Queen said: "We are pleased to collaborate with Bravado on this project, which will be an exciting experience for everyone to come to London and enjoy. Carnaby Street was the perfect spot for the store to celebrate five decades." In other Queen news, Brian May has just reissued his debut solo album Back To The Light, and to commemorate the occasion, he's travelled back in time to perform with his younger self in a new YouTube video. The video features a masked, present-day May entering an empty concert venue before he sees a vision of himself and the Brian May band performing the title track from his 1992 album. After a flash of blue light, the 2021 Brian May begins to perform the song as well, before both versions of the Queen guitarist close out the track on stage next to each other. "I feel kind of affectionate looking back," May," May told Rolling Stone. "Looking back at me 30 years ago, a young man with no idea of the incredible journey that was still to come," he added. The Queen guitarist's solo album, which also featured singles "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and "Driven By You," will turn 30 in 2022. While the album has already been reissued, the title track is set to receive a physical release. It will be released on CD and on 7" vinyl on Oct. 22. It will also be coupled with his "Freddie Mercury-inspired" track "Nothin' But Blue." - NME, 9/15/21...... The Grammy Museum announced on Sept. 14 that a Bruce Springsteen traveling interactive exhibit will open at the Grammy Museum Experience in the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Oct. 1. The exhibit will feature Springsteen and the E Street Band's live performance footage, instruments, stage costumes and exclusive interviews. The exhibit in New Jersey will run until March 20, 2022. It will travel to the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in the fall of 2022. "As we reopen the doors to our museum and so many of us return to the workplace, it only seemed fitting that we would look to 'The Boss' to lead the way," said Mark Conklin, director of artist relations and programming at the Grammy Museum Experience Prudential Center, in a statement. "No musical artist has captured the spirit and resiliency of New Jerseyans in song better than Bruce Springsteen, so we couldn't imagine a more appropriate exhibit at this moment," he added. Among the items to be displayed are Springsteen's modified Fender guitar that was featured on several of his album covers such as Human Touch and Born to Run, as well as a saxophone played by the late Clarence Clemons, who performed alongside Springsteen for 40 years. The Grammy Museum partnered with the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University for the exhibit. - AP, 9/14/21...... Paul McCartney is set to discuss his new book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present at the Royal Festival Hall at London's Southbank Centre on Nov. 5, three days after the book hits stores. Sir Paul's new book recounts the musician's life through his earliest boyhood compositions, songs by the Beatles and Wings, and from his lengthy solo career. As well as the in-person event, the conversation will also be livestreamed globally. Tickets for the Southbank event and livestream are available at the South Bank Centre site. The Lyrics will be presented with previously unseen drafts, letters and pictures from McCartney's personal archive. In August, McCartney revealed the names of the 154 songs that are featured in his forthcoming career-spanning biography. To accompany the new book, the British Library has announced it will host a free display entitled "Paul McCartney: The Lyrics" between Nov. 5, 2021 and Mar. 13, 2022. - NME, 9/15/21...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, a 33-minute recording of John Lennon playing an unreleased song in Denmark in 1970 is going up for auction in Copenhagen later in September. The recording is being sold by four Danish men who met Lennon when they were teenagers as the international superstar was spending the winter of 1969-1970 in a small Danish town on the west coast wife Yoko Ono's daughter Kyoko, who was living with her father in Jutland. The audio, which was recorded after a press conference, includes a conversation between the four teenagers, Lennon and some local journalists. After their chat, Lennon plays a number of songs for them, including a track called "Radio Peace," which remains unreleased. The artefact will go under the hammer in Copenhagen on Sept. 28, and is expected to fetch between 27,000-40,000 (£23,000-£34,000). "The tape is totally unique because it's a conversation. It took place after a press conference with the four schoolboys and some journalists, and John Lennon plays a few songs for them," a spokesperson for the Bruun Rasmussen auction house says. "One of them, 'Radio Peace', has never been published. It's a little piece of Danish history and when we listen to it, we can sense that John Lennon felt cosy in Denmark. He could be left alone and just be," the spokesperson added.Elsewhere, a John Lennon tribute show called "Dear John" is set to be livestreamed in October. The online event will follow on from the release earlier this year of the Dear John tribute album, which featured Lennon covers by a range of artists and raised money for the War Child charity. A livestream tribute concert will now take place on Oct. 9 to mark what would have been Lennon's 81st birthday, with the event benefitting War Child once again. Participants will include Peter Frampton, Martin Freeman, Matt Lucas, Jack Savoretti, Fearne Cotton and Yola, among others. Tickets for the "Dear John" event can be purchased at blurredvision.veeps.com. - NME, 9/15/21...... Joni Mitchell has just signed with Reservoir Media, Inc. for the administration of her entire songwriting catalog worldwide, including all 19 of her studio albums. While Mitchell retains the ownership of her publishing catalog, the administration of its songs has bounced around various publishing entities in the past. Most recently, the iconic singer-songwriter's catalog had been administered worldwide by Sony Music Publishing since the two parties struck a deal in 1997. Long considered one of the most influential artists and writers of the 20th century, Mitchell has penned songs ranging from jazz to folk to pop since she began releasing music over five decades ago, including "Big Yellow Taxi," "Woodstock," "A Case of You," and more. In 2021, Mitchell has released a slew of new demos and outtakes from her Blue album era in celebration of the ongoing success of Blue's 50th anniversary reissue. - Billboard, 9/13/21...... Late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was laid to rest during a "modest" funeral in Devon in August, his former tour manager has revealed. Watts, who died on Aug. 24 at the age of 80, had undergone an undisclosed medical procedure in the weeks before his death, which had caused him to pull out of the Stones' upcoming US tour. Former tour manager Sam Cutler, who first worked with Watts in the 1960s, has now detailed the small ceremony, saying the "lack of fuss" suited the notoriously fame-shy drummer. In a piece written for the UK paper The Mirror, he said: "It perfectly reflects the man he was, and I completely understand the choice that was made. He would have hated a fuss and the commotion that involving the public would have meant." In the same piece, Cutler said he was sure Watts would have wanted the Rolling Stones, who are continuing with their "No Filter" US tour dates beginning on Sept. 26, to carry on performing without him. "He would have wanted his band mates to continue," Cutler said. "I feel certain that they will, and that every show will become a tribute to a remarkable and well-loved man, for there is no way that they will not continue being the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world," he added. - NME, 9/15/21...... Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) is claiming he's in "financial ruin" after losing a court case against his former bandmates Steve Jones and Paul Cook. Jones and Cook sued Lydon after Lydon refused to license the group's music for inclusion in Danny Boyle's upcoming biopic series, Pistol, challenging Lydon's veto. According to Jones and Cook's lawyer, Edmund Cullen, the band agreed in 1998 that all decisions about licensing requests could be determined on a "majority rules" basis. This was upheld in High Court ruling on Aug. 23. Now, in an interview with The Telegraph, Lydon has slammed his former bandmates as "evil" and said he is "seriously in a state of financial ruin" following the court case. "I've got no more savings, no more loans, no pensions. I've got nothing... I'm f---ed, and I'm scuppered in so many different ways," Lydon said. "This entire juggernaut of confusion has cost me millions," Lydon said of the court case. "Such a hideous, nasty onslaught; I never expected Steve, Paul, and Glen [Matlock, the original Sex Pistols bassist] to be that evil. And we never even sat down and had a conversation about it." - NME, 9/15/21...... Todd Rundgren has vented his frustration over working with rapper Kanye West on his recent album DONDA. In an interview with Classic Rock magazine, according to Rundgren he contributed to the record over a year and amassed "three albums worth of Kanye stems on my computer" and said he was initially put in touch with West via the rapper's longtime collaborator, 88-Keys. "I didn't mind working on his gospel stuff. If you want to sing about Jesus, go ahead, I don't care. I'll help ya do it, you know? If you want to sing about your troubles with your wife, go ahead and do it. I don't care," he said of the early sessions. But over time Rundgren said he grew frustrated with West. "When it got into the homestretch in July, I just said, 'That's enough for me. I have no idea whether any of this is being used.' You don't get much feedback from him regarding what it is," he said. "If I can contribute something, fine. If I can't, just let me know. I'm out of here... There is a possibility that I'm actually in there somewhere. There's so much junk in that record!," Rundgren added. He also criticized West for rush-releasing the album so he could release it before Drake's Certified Lover Boy. "He was too afraid that Drake would one-up him, so he hurried up and released the album the weekend before Drake could get his out," Rundgren said. "And in the end, Drake ate his lunch anyway." 'Certified Lover Boy' outstreamed 'DONDA' in just three days in the US. He's just a dilettante at this point. Nobody would regularly make records like that unless they had stupid money to throw around. Nobody rents a stadium to make a record in. Nobody flies in the entire world of hip-hop just to croak one syllable, just so you can say that everybody was on it," Rundgren added. Meanwhile, in the same interview Rundgren says he will not be attending the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in Cleveland in October, where he's set to be inducted alongside the likes of Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Tina Turner and more. Rundgren -- who has acknowledged that his relationship with the Hall of Fame has been "obviously... not copacetic" -- will instead be performing a show a few hours away in Cincinnati on the evening of Oct. 30. "I have offered to do something live for them from my venue. I will stop my show and acknowledge the award and mostly acknowledge my fans, because it's for them," Rundgren said. "They're the ones who wanted it. And now they've got it. So it's a celebration for them, not so much for me. I've been totally willing to do that. But for me to do something extraordinary for the Hall of Fame would just be hypocritical. You know, I'm too much on the record about my feelings." Rundgren has indeed been fairly vocal about his feelings towards the Hall of Fame, which run the gamut between broad indifference and labelling it a "scam" when speaking to Billboard in February. Despite his personal feelings towards the Hall of Fame, Rundgren said that he's tried to stay relatively quiet since his nomination was announced earlier this year. "A lot of artists take this seriously. Just because I don't, doesn't mean I should try and spoil it for them... I would just like it to elapse without any kind of bad vibes or anything being a result of it. I'd just like it to happen and be over with." - NME, 9/14/21...... Alice Cooper and The Cult announced details of a co-headlining UK arena tour that's set to kick off in Swansea on May 23, 2022. The six arena shows will also include stops in London (5/25), Manchester (5/27), Glasgow (5/28), Birmingham (5/30) and Leeds (6/1). - NME, 9/14/21...... During a press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival for the premiere of her new documentary Don't Make Me Over, Dionne Warwick says she plans on approaching Taylor Swift to see if she's interested in recording new music with her. After confirming she had recorded a song with Chance The Rapper, Warwick said she would be "working with The Weeknd as well." It was reported earlier this year that Chance and Warwick had recruited The Weeknd for a charity single they were making together. - NME, 9/15/21...... Nearly 500 items from Rocky and Rambo star Sylvester Stallone are set to go under the hammer in December and expected to raise around $1.5 million. Nearly 500 items from Stallone's personal archives are being sold, including costumes, props, scripts, notebooks and other memorabilia from the actor's biggest films, including the Rocky and Rambo franchises, Cliffhanger, The Expendables and Demolition Man, Julien's Auctions announced on Sept. 14. Highlights include Stallone's boxing gloves from Rocky III, with an estimate of $10,000-$20,000, as well as handwritten notebooks about the first four Rocky films, priced at $40,000-$60,000. Rambo fans are being offered a collection of knives from the first three films, priced $10,000-$20,000 each, as well as a headband worn by Stallone in Rambo: First Blood Part II ($8,000-$10,000) among other memorabilia. "He's a sports guy, that's what he represents, sports and hard graft and people can relate to that," Martin Nolan, executive director at Julien's Auctions, told Reuters. "And that's why he's so collectable and really, people have very little opportunity to own anything from his life and career until now. Overall, we estimate the sale in the range of $1 (million) to $1.5 million. That's a conservative auction estimate because they are so iconic and people love this stuff," Nolan added. The "Property from The Life and Career of Sylvester Stallone" sale takes place on Dec. 5 at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills and will be preceded by an exhibition of the items in London starting on Thursday at the Mall Galleries .- Reuters, 9/14/21...... Sheila Bromberg, a former harpist with British symphony orchestras who contributed the intro and rhythm to the track "She's Leaving Home" on the Beatles' 1967 masterpiece Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, died on Sept. 12. She was 92. Ms. Bromberg was a busy symphony musician when an agent called on Mar. 17, 1967, to offer her a three-hour stint that night as a session musician at the EMI recording studio on Abbey Road in London. Ms. Bromberg was offered only £9 (about $17) for her work, and with two young children to feed, showed up at 8:30 p.m. to tune her harp and was handed a piece of sheet music. Backed by a full string section, the intro set the poignant tone of "She's Leaving Home" before Beatle Paul McCartney (who recorded separately) began the lyric "Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins..." Only later did she learn that the notes she played were to be the intro on "She's Leaving Home" by the Beatles. The song was released months later on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of the most acclaimed albums in pop music history. Referring to her part in Sgt. Pepper in a 2011 interview with the Oxford Mail newspaper, Ms. Bromberg said, "I feel very grateful to have been chosen to be on it. And I feel very proud that that piece of work has given such a tremendous amount of pleasure to everyone. But what amazes me, of all the music I've performed in, I'm noted for four bars of music. I find that a little bizarre." - The Sunday Globe UK, 9/12/21.