Stars help reinstall Grand Ole Opry stage circle

As it turns out, the circle is unbroken.

Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens helped a handful of construction workers install the circle in the centre of the Grand Ole Opry House stage on Wednesday after flood waters nearly destroyed the precious piece of country music history.

The two then performed the Opry standard, Will The Circle Be Unbroken?

"That is a classic song that's been sung here for generations and it's taking on new meaning with all of this," Paisley said.

Officials announced the Opry House will reopen to the public with a star-studded performance Sept. 28 and the Opry's 85th anniversary celebration will go on as scheduled in October.

"We're having a party," Opry president Steve Buchanan said.

The circle in the centre of the Grand Ole Opry House stage is seen set in place on Wednesday in Nashville. (Mark Humphrey/Associated Press)
The circle, made in 1974 from a part of the old stage from the Opry's former home at Ryman Auditorium, was submerged in 1.2 metres of water during the May flood that damaged the Opry house and the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort in Nashville.

Many musicians and fans consider the circle the heart of country music. The wood carries scuffs from the boots of the genre's biggest stars and is a destination for aspiring singers from all corners of the world.

"This is absolutely the one place that matters more than any other in country music," Paisley said.

Buchanan said the 1.8-metre circle of oak buckled but proved to be sturdier than the modern Opry stage. It was refurbished by Nashville's CC Cabinet Inc., and is now surrounded by a dark brown teak that helps the lacquered circle stand out under stage lights.

Paisley said he's amazed at how far the reclamation project has come since the days following the flood, which caused more than $2 billion US damage in Nashville alone.

"When I first walked in here everything you see including the rafters and the very top pews were covered in a sort of brown film from the dried mud that had become dust and it was horrendous looking," he said.

"I didn't know how they were ever going to get it clean and rebuilt and all of these things that needed done."

The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood to release solo album featuring Slash, Flea and Eddie Vedder

The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood has revealed details of an upcoming star-studded solo-album.

Entitled 'I Feel Like Playing', the LP will be the guitarist's seventh solo studio effort and will feature Slash, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.

Released on September 27, other guests on the album include Kris Kristofferson, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Bobby Womack and Faces' Ian McLagan.

Meanwhile, Wood is streaming a song from the album called 'Thing About You', on his official website RonnieWood.com.

The tracklisting for 'I Feel Like Playing' is as follows:

'Why'd You Wanna Do A Thing'
'Sweetness'
'Lucky Man'
'I Gotta Go'
'Thing About You'
'How Am I Gonna Catch You'
'Spoonful'
'I Don't Think So'
'100%'
'Fancy Pants'
'Tell Me Something'
'Forever'.

Neil Young Releasing New Disc, ‘Le Noise,’ Next Month And Mostly electric album due September 28th, with iPod app to follow

Neil Young has announced on Facebook that his new album will be called Le Noise, and that it will be released on CD, vinyl and iTunes on September 28th. In late November it will then become available on Blu-Ray, and in the form of an iPhone and iPad app. "The app will be free," Young wrote. "It gives you an interactive album cover. Forgive my use of the word 'album.' I am old school. When you buy the songs/movies from I-tunes they show up in your APP."

Young and producer Daniel Lanois recorded the album in a Los Angeles mansion earlier this year. "We cut a couple of solo acoustic songs, but the rest is very electric," Lanois told Rolling Stone last month. "There's no band, but I got in there with my sonics. There's nothing else out there like it." Young previewed many of the tracks on his recent solo theater tour. You can to see his performance of "Hitchhiker," at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, here. Young first performed the autobiographical tune - which features a list of the drugs he has ingested over the decades - on the 1992 Harvest Moon tour.



Neil Young also took to the web recently to address negative fan comments on the popular Neil Young fansite Thrasher's Wheat. (The site’s commenters have complained about Young’s ticket prices, charity work with Tyson Foods, and that he hasn’t played with Crazy Horse for years.) "This is the most respected site on the net for this type of activity," Young wrote about Thrasher's Wheat on his own web site. "Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in what I am doing,” he continued, addressing the site’s operators. “There is always negativity with any internet endeavour. Now it has perhaps worn you down. It is alright to say goodbye ... Whether you choose to continue or just hang it up and get on with your life is up to you.”

Eric Clapton Announces New Solo Album, 'Clapton'

Rock legend Eric Clapton has announced the release of "Clapton," his 19th solo studio album and first in five years, due Sept. 28 on Reprise Records. The 14-song disc was co-produced by longtime collaborator Doyle Bramhall II and features guest appearances by Steve Winwood, Wynton Marsalis, Sheryl Crow, Allen Toussaint and Derek Trucks, among others.

Clapton says the follow-up to 2005's "Back Home" turned into an entirely different project than he had originally intended. "It's actually better than it was meant to be because, in a way, I just let it happen," says Clapton." It's an eclectic collection of songs that weren't really on the map-and I like it so much because if it's a surprise to the fans, that's only because it's a surprise to me, as well."

Released in Sept. 2005, "Back Home" debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200. The release of "Clapton" follows Clapton's scattered shows with Jeff Beck earlier this year and a performance at his Crossroads Guitar Festival last June.

Here is the track list for "Clapton":
"Travelin' Alone"
"Rocking Chair"
"River Runs Deep"
"Judgement Day"
"How Deep Is The Ocean"
"My Very Good Friend The Milkman"
"Can't Hold Out Much Longer"
"That's No Way To Get Along"
"Everything Will Be Alright"
"Diamonds Made From Rain"
"When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful"
"Hard Times Blues"
"Run Back To Your Side"
"Autumn Leaves"

Bono says U2 is working on a 'club-sounding' album

NEW YORK – You too will dance to U2.

Bono tells Rolling Stone that the band is working on "club-sounding" album.
The bands also plans to release a rock album and "Songs of Ascent," a set of tunes from the recording session of their latest disc, 2009's "No Line On the Horizon." Bono and The Edge will also score for the upcoming Spider-Man musical.

Bono had emergency back surgery in Munich in May. The group's 360-degrees World Tour resumed on Aug. 6 in Turin.

Bono says he thinks he "could have made a limp work."

He adds: "There are a lot bigger problems out there than the ones I was facing. ... But I came out of it perfect. And I feel incredibly grateful."

The September issue of Rolling Stone hits newsstands Friday.

John Mellencamp re-creates the past on 'No Better Than This'

After selling 40 million albums and racking up 22 top 40 hits over 35 years, John Mellencamp has left the record business for the record playground.

"I'm not selling anything anymore," says the iconic Hoosier. "I see my records as calling cards now. If people can discover my songs without having them shoved down their throats, it makes me feel good. And what's the point of being in the rat race if it's not fun anymore?"

At 58, Mellencamp has downsized his commercial ambitions and promotional zeal but not the creative standards and heartland vision that shaped such classics as Pink Houses and Small Town.

No Better Than This, his 21st studio album, arrives today on Rounder with 13 rustic Americana originals produced by roots kingfish T Bone Burnett and recorded at historic locations in the South. Armed with vintage reel-to-reel recorders and a single 1940s microphone, Mellencamp captured the tunes live, often in one take.

"We played music as opposed to piecemealing a record in a studio. Some of the lyrics I sang were not the ones I wrote, but there was no going back. What you hear is the way it went down."

Southern exposure

Studying the itinerary for his 2009 tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, Mellencamp pinpointed three compelling landmarks for recording detours.

They started in the basement of the First African Baptist Church in downtown Savannah, Ga., billed as the nation's oldest black church and a former sanctuary for escaped slaves traveling on the Underground Railroad. Between recording sessions, Mellencamp and wife Elaine were baptized at the church altar.

Memphis' musical mecca Sun Studio, where Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Howlin' Wolf crafted classics, was the second stop. Thanks to the untouched '50s floor, little prep was required. "X's marked where everything went: the vocalist, the drums, the guitar," Mellencamp says. "We recorded at night because there were tours during the day."

They wrapped up in San Antonio at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel, Suite 414, where Delta blues giant Robert Johnson first recorded in 1936.

"When I walked in, my engineers had everything set up wrong," says Mellencamp, who insisted on a precise re-creation of the Johnson blueprint. "Johnson was in a corner facing the street. The equipment was in the bedroom. The hotel had carpet, which was sucking up the sound. There wasn't carpet when Johnson recorded, so we brought in parquet. The room just came alive. That is the coolest-sounding corner in the world!"

Slow roll-out

Unwilling to jump on the TV promotional circuit and unlikely to get big radio support, Mellencamp knows the album may be off to a slow start. It's getting an assist from critics. Rolling Stone dubs No Better Than This "musical storytelling for hard times: far-fetched, violent, sexy, played for laughs. It doesn't get more timeless, or American, than that." And The New Yorker raves that Mellencamp's "wise, charming album is ... a highly personal testimonial on the order of Bob Dylan's Good As I Been to You."

Mellencamp, on the road with Dylan this month, kicks off his No Better Than This tour Oct. 29 in hometown Bloomington, Ind., showcasing acoustic blues, folk and full-band rock in separate sets. The theater shows will open with Kurt Markus' documentary, It's About You, a chronicle of the new album's evolution.

The singer left major label Columbia after 2003's Trouble No More and says he doesn't miss industry machinery that obsesses on chart heights. "With every album, the question was, 'How many hits do you have on this record?' It's not a very fun road to travel."

Rock is dead?

Besides, Mellencamp argues, the rock 'n' roll highway has reached a dead end.

"Oh, it's over, and it's not coming back," he says. "The music is now fifth or sixth generation, and the farther you get away from the original, the worse it gets.

"Let's face it, the best records were made a long time ago. Those first five Rolling Stones records, when they were covering black artists, were great. Dylan's Highway 61 is the best record ever. Who's going to make a better record? Nobody. Who's going to make better pop records than The Beatles? I hear the radio today and it sounds like Saturday morning cartoons to me."

He likens the fading rock era to the big-band boom from the 1920s to the 1940s, when hundreds of bandleaders and groups were popular.

"Now you can't name five," Mellencamp says. "When they talk about rock 'n' roll in a couple generations, they're not going to talk about me. They're going to talk about The Beatles, the Stones, Dylan, maybe Jimi Hendrix.

"When I came to that realization, it was really freeing."

Tears For Fears star branches out

Tears are not enough for Curt Smith.

The co-founder of British pop-rock duo Tears for Fears says there's much more to his life than singing Everybody Wants to Rule the World with bandmate Roland Orzabal.

"I would go crazy if that was all I did," the 49-year-old singer and multi-instrumentalist says from his Los Angeles home. "Besides, we don't tour nonstop. We know our limitations.

"There's only a certain amount of time that Roland and I really want to be on the same bus together. We've worked together for 35 years and we're quite open and honest about that fact that if we were on tour all year, we'd probably kill each other. Our limit is about four to six weeks. Then we do not see each other or talk to each other for a while, so when we come back it's fresh."

During his Roland-free days, Smith has several projects on the go: A new series of songs created with musicians he found through MySpace and Twitter; an online music series titled Stripped Down that's just getting off the ground; and even the occasional acting job. A few days before getting back on the bus with Roland for their latest trek -- which stops at Casino Rama north of Toronto on Saturday night -- Smith filled us on the state of Tears, his fresh approach to collaboration, and more:

Is Tears For Fears still a vehicle for new material, or are you just celebrating the legacy?

Right now, and this is not necessarily through choice, it's just celebrating our legacy. And when I say not through choice, I mean there really isn't a forum for people like us to make new music. People don't really buy records anymore, so record companies won't invest in bands like us. They want cookie-cutter acts. For us, making a record would be a money-losing proposition.

That must be frustrating.

Yeah, it is. But luckily, touring is not something you can copy. And if music comes out of that, we'll still include it live -- and at some point we may end up doing something. But it's a slower process, because we're only together when we're touring. When we're not touring, I'm in Los Angeles and Roland is in England. If he were living in Los Angeles, there might be more music.

Speaking of collaboration, you've been working with people you find over the Internet. How did that come about?

I came upon the idea initially by chance. We did a track called All is Love and I felt it required cello. So I went online. I found this woman named Zo' Keating via Twitter. Then I went to YouTube to watch and listen to her and she was fantastic. So I just tweeted 'Would love to work with @zoecello.' And about eight or 12 minutes later she tweeted back, 'Anytime.' We just took it from there. she did all the work on the song before we even met. And I just did another song called Perfectly ... Still that required a female vocalist. Again, I went to Twitter. I asked for suggestions. A bunch of fans tweeted, and there was a suggestion about Melissa Kaplan, who has a band called Universal Hall Pass. I went to her MySpace page and listened and thought she was fantastic. So I sent her an email and she didn't respond -- she thought it was a joke. But once she was assured it was me, she said she would love to do it. So I recorded the basis of the track and sent it off to her. She added vocals, keyboards, strings and a harp and sent it back. We still haven't met.

How does working this way change collaborative process?

It's a bit of a delayed back and forth, though weirdly enough, it's actually a lot more gratifying. Here's why: When you're in the studio, whether you call it a collaboration or not, you know who's record it is. So you're sitting there trying to please another party, with the artist or producer sitting behind you saying, 'I'm not sure about that bit.' But with Zo' and Melissa, when they asked for direction, I said, 'There is none. I want you to do it because I love what you do. If I don't like anything you've done, I won't include it. But I want you to be free to do whatever you feel like doing. Just go off and have fun with it.'

Are you going to keep working this way?

I want to continue doing this for this project, and because I'm still a big fan of albums, I would like to see it come together as a cogent piece of work. Even though I'll release it online a track at a time, at the end, my intention is to make a limited-edition album of these collaborations with people I found through social media.

How do you feel about singing Rule the World after all these years?

I don't have a problem with that song. It was the perfect recording of that song. So it's actually kind of gratifying. I have no issues with it. Once you hit the beginning bars and that little guitar break, it's quite joyous. I still get a buzz from it. There are issues I have with other songs like Shout, because I'm not an angry 22-year-old anymore. So that, we've changed the arrangement. Basically, if you have an issue with something, you just try and change it and update so that emotionally it works for you now. But Rule the World doesn't need changing.

Elvis Costello reveals new album title, release date and artwork

Entitled 'National Ransom', the LP will be released in the UK on October 25 and in the US on November 2.

Recorded earlier this year at Nashville's Sound Emporium and Los Angeles' Village Recorders, the follow-up to 2009's 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane' was produced by T-Bone Burnett.

The tracklisting for 'National Ransom' is as follows:

'National Ransom'
'Jimmie Standing In The Rain'
'Stations Of The Cross'
'A Slow Drag With Josephine'
'Five Small Words'
'Church Underground'
'You Hung The Moon'
'Bullets For The New-Born King'
'I Lost You'
'Dr Watson, I Presume'
'One Bell Ringing'
'The Spell That You Cast'
'That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving'
'My Lovely Jezebel'
'All These Strangers'

Halliwell to launch new Spice Girls?

British singer Geri Halliwell is creating a new girl group to follow in the footsteps of the Spice Girls, according to a U.K. report.

The star shot to fame in the 1990s as a member of the Spice Girls, along with bandmates Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton and Melanie Chisholm, and has now reportedly recruited five wannabe pop stars to form a similar group.

And several record labels bosses are already said to be interested in signing Halliwell's band, reports Britain's News of the World.

A source tells the publication, "This is very exciting for her. She's been painstakingly putting together the new band. She wants to combine the energy and drive of the Spice Girls. She's been keeping it quiet because she doesn't want to jinx anything but she has told the other girls and they are very supportive.

"Geri has already introduced the band to some key music executives and quite a few of the labels have already taken a keen interest. She believes the time is right for another girl band to take over the world. When Geri puts her mind to something it's hard to stop her. She could be a very successful manager."

Will.i.am doesn't support new Jackson album

NEW YORK – A new Michael Jackson album is expected by the end of the year, culled from unreleased material in his vaults. But Jackson collaborator and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am is vehemently opposed to the idea.

"I don't think that should ever come out. That's bad," he said. "He was a perfectionist and he wouldn't have wanted it that way. How you gonna release Michael Jackson when Michael Jackson ain't here to bless it?"

Will.i.am collaborated with Jackson on the rerelease of "Thriller" in 2008 with remixed versions of some of the album's classic songs. He said Jackson was very particular about all aspects of his musical productions, from his vocals to arrangements to instrumentation.

"Now that he is not part of the process, what are they doing? Why would you put a record out like that? Because he was a friend of mine, I just think that's disrespectful," he said. "What's wrong with what he already contributed to the world?"

The Jackson estate did not respond to a request for comment.

When asked about the high demand for any new Jackson music, will.i.am replied: "So what? You don't disrespect someone when they're gone. ... How much can you suck from his energy? ... Freaking parasites!"

Not much is known about what will be on the album, but Michael's brother Jackie has said he and brother Marlon were working on the record with John McClain, Jackson's former manager and executor of his estate.

New Michael Jackson album set to be released in November

A new Michael Jackson album featuring previously-unreleased songs is set to be released in November.

The as-yet-untitled posthumous LP is set to feature 10 songs from sessions recorded during his peak in the 80s right up to his recording sessions with Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am in 2006.

Before his death on June 25, 2009, Jackson left hard drives filled with unheard music, reports Rolling Stone. Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo claimed that the singer's vaults contains more than 100 completed and unreleased songs, including collaborations with Akon and Ne-Yo.

"There are a couple of songs we recorded for the 'Bad' album that we had to cut that are just sensational," DiLeo said.

Last year, a pair of previously-unreleased songs, 'Another Day' and 'A Place With No Name', surfaced. Rodney Jerkins, who co-produced Jackson's 2001 album 'Invincible', revealed that he was working on the collection.

The album will be the first in a 10-album, seven-year deal the Jackson estate agreed with Sony BMG in March 2010.

Beach Boys' Love Talks Reunion Plans, Katy Perry's 'California Gurls'

The Beach Boys will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first single in 2011, but the group's Mike Love says that any specific reports about how they'll do that are premature.

"There have been a lot of ideas floated, but nothing decided," the senior remaining Beach Boy tells Billboard.com. "So far it's just conversation. There are no big plans yet -- although there's a lot of interest from a lot of people to see what would happen if we got together and did some new music and maybe did some shows. But so far nothing's firm."

Former group member Al Jardine recently said the group -- including Brian Wilson, Bruce Johnston and early member David Marks -- would reunite in 2011 for at least one reunion show, probably free. And an early suggestion was made that Wilson and Love would be collaborating on some new material, but that was rebuffed by Wilson's management, who cited his focus on his upcoming "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin," due Aug. 17.

"I've had a few conversations recently with my cousin Brian...about doing some musical projects together," Love says. "But we're busy touring, he's busy recording and doing some dates, so in the fall we'll get more focused on it." Love says he himself has recorded "18 to 20 songs that I have yet to come out with," including tunes inspired by his experiences with Transcendental Meditation and the Maharashi Mahesh Yogi and a song entitled "Pisces Brothers," which Love describes as "a reminiscence about George Harrison."

Meanwhile, Love says he's getting his head around the idea that it's been 50 years since the Beach Boys released their debut single, "Surfin'." "It's a pretty remarkable landmark," he says. "I'm almost at a loss for words, but it is pretty damn special to even contemplate doing something 50 years after you started. It's pretty amazing to still have our music in films and people coming to see us five decades are we started. Initially the subject matter was so unique -- songs about surfing, great cars, being true to your school, California girls. And the subject matter is still in vogue -- just ask Katy Perry."

And Love's thoughts about Perry's "California Gurls?" "I think the part she did is pretty cool," he says. "There are a lot of writers on it, and I think it's probably a stroke of genius to have the king of canine cool, Mr. [Snoop] Dogg, do his thing. But I think her creative part, her musical part, is pretty hooky. I think it brings the Beach Boys' 1965 classic to mind, that's for sure."

Artists find intriguing ways to mine catalogues

NEW YORK – At a time of transition for their industries and careers, veteran musicians are seeking out ways to make something old seem new again.

Current projects by R.E.M., Sting, Squeeze and Suzanne Vega illustrate some different approaches artists are using to mine their catalogues for fresh business. All are more creative than the common begrudging approach to the past: Let the record company package some greatest hits together and add a new song or two for flavor.

Vega is in the midst of a four-volume set of bare-bones versions of old songs, arranged thematically. Squeeze re-recorded some of their best songs so faithfully they challenge fans to, as the disc's title says, "Spot the Difference."

Sting, who released a medevial-inspired holiday album last fall and two years earlier wrapped up a Police reunion, recently released symphonic versions of old songs.

R.E.M.'s record company just released a 25th anniversary edition of the "Fables of the Reconstruction" disc, a few months after the band put out a live set featuring rarely performed renditions of songs from early in its career.

Besides the attempt to squeeze more income from old work, the projects illustrate the shared circumstance of artists who became popular some 25 or 30 years ago. They're working artists — at a peak age of creativity for most professions — playing for audiences increasingly interested in what they did rather than what they're doing.

Squeeze's Chris Difford kicked around this topic while having a drink a few weeks ago with Neil Finn, who reformed the band Crowded House and is releasing its second album since the return.

"He didn't want to go out on the road and play another hits package," Difford said. "No artist does. You want to go out and play the things that most interest you. There are ways of doing that where you can marry the two together."

Despite two catalogue-mining releases within a year, bass player Mike Mills said R.E.M. continues to look forward. The band has split time in New Orleans and Berlin this year making a new album.

"The thrill of being in a band is writing a new song, rehearsing it with the guys and having it become something new and exciting," he said. "At the point you're not doing that anymore, you can either quit or become a jukebox band, a greatest hits band. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just never a direction in which we've wanted to go."

The deluxe "Fables of the Reconstruction" reissue cleans up the sound of R.E.M.'s third album, and includes a surprisingly redundant bonus disc with versions of the songs recorded in the band's Athens, Ga., base before the band went to London to make the disc with producer Joe Boyd.

The two-disc album from Olympia Theatre in Dublin, released last fall, is more interesting. The band took over the theater for live rehearsals before an audience, testing out songs for their upcoming "Accelerate" album. R.E.M. mixed in a lot of material from their cult favorite period in the early to mid-1980s, much of it left behind when the band started having hits.

All but 10 of the project's 39 songs are vintage, songs like "Kohoutek," "Cuyahoga" and "So. Central Rain" that are attacked with some nervousness by musicians wondering if they would remember them.

"It's like trying on a shirt that you haven't worn in 20 years," Mills said. "If it still fits, then it feels pretty good."

Squeeze literally tried on some old clothes, along with vintage recording equipment and instruments, to get in the spirit while making its new/old disc.

Its roots were strictly business. The Universal record company controls the rights to Squeeze's old recordings, which left Difford and partner Glenn Tilbrook feeling trapped. Marketing old Squeeze songs were low priority, yet Squeeze material was considered too valuable to give up, Difford explained. Their unhappiness came to a head three years ago when, on a trip to the United States, Difford turned on the TV and heard "Tempted" in a beer commercial. He had known nothing about it.

Squeeze wants to market its catalogue for use in soundtracks and ads more aggressively, but realizes no one's going to want a new version of "Tempted" unless it sounds almost identical to the original — complete with former band member Paul Carrack to repeat his vocal. "You're like a forensics scientist," Difford said.

It took three years of sporadic work.

"It became obvious to me that this wouldn't work unless it was a labor of love, and that was the struggle I was having in the beginning, because we wouldn't have chosen to go back and record stuff that we had already done," Tilbrook said. Most of the songs are virtually identical to the originals, but they tried to improve a couple where they were dissatisfied with the first try. They made "Black Coffee in Bed" bouncier and gave "Some Fantastic Place" more grand.

Vega gives a more intimate reading of her old songs on her "Close Up" series, usually accompanied by her acoustic guitar, a bass and some electric guitar. The first volume, "Love Songs," contains compositions ranging from 1985's "Marlene on the Wall" to 2007's "Bound." Volume two, "People & Places," is out in October, with "States of Being" and "Songs of Family" to follow next year.

Business was the inspiration here, too. She had no record deal, so Vega formed her own company in 2008 and decided to rerelease her catalogue on her own label.

"That way I would have control over the masters of my (newly recorded) songs, collect a database for the release of a new album in 2012, as well as raise cash for that new album," she said. "I also now have a way of earning a living for the rest of my touring life by selling merchandise at the venues."

Can she interest fans in new versions of the old songs when they love the old ones and their discs aren't wearing out? She noted the stripped down, relatively unproduced versions has their appeal.

"If Leonard Cohen did the same, for example, I would be interested," she said.
Sheryl Crow is aware of the trend of artists re-recording material so they have full control over its use. It's smart, she said, but not for her.

"I don't know if I really want to go travel backward for that," she said. "The money for me is not really why I'm doing it."

Under the title "Symphonicity," Sting is releasing versions of some old songs with an orchestral backing. He was intrigued by the sound when he was invited to give a private concert last year backed by the Chicago Symphony.

All of the projects, ultimately, are part of the feeling-out process of trying to make a living in an industry that prizes youth and is constantly in flux. Besides, Difford said, he found it enjoyable.

"I found it quite nourishing to go back and do some of these songs," he said. "They're like new songs for me."

Katy Perry album cover titillating

Katy Perry has given fans a taste of what only fiance Russell Brand sees in the bedroom on the cover of her new album, baring all for a dreamy portrait.

The I Kissed A Girl star unveiled the risque album cover for Teenage Dream online on Wednesday - and admits she wanted to titillate.

Los Angeles-based artist Will Cotton captured Perry lying nude in strategically placed clouds of cotton candy.

Cotton was also the creative director for Perry's California Gurls video.

Perry says, "I wanted to do something really off-the-cuff and not proper.

"It's (painting) so gorgeous... This is my first piece of real art, except my posters on the wall of Gwen Stefani when I was growing up."

Taylor Swift to release album 'Speak Now' October 25

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Taylor Swift will release her third album, "Speak Now," worldwide on October 25.

She announced it to her fans Tuesday through a live web chat.

It's been two years since Swift released her sophomore album "Fearless." She says, "You've got to give yourself a little bit of time to live a lot of things so you can write about a lot of things."

Swift explains that the title, "Speak Now," is the theme, and that "track by track, each song is a different confession to a different person."

She wrote all 14 tracks herself. The first single, "Mine," will be released August 16th. Swift also plans to launch a world tour following the release.

"Fearless" was the top-selling album of 2009 and earned Swift every major award, including four Grammys.

Rush 'Moving' On Tour, Recording New 'Clockwork'

Rush has a good head start on its next album, "Clockwork Angels," which is due out in 2011. But the group's three members are hoping that this summer's tour will prime them for a strong finish when they return to the studio.

"We've never afforded ourselves the luxury of coming off tour and then going straight into the studio when you're in top playing form," guitarist Alex Lifeson tells Billboard.com. "We usually finish a tour and then we take some time off and we slowly get back into writing and then into the studio, recording. This time we'll go straight back into the studio and continue recording and writing while we're still in top form from the road."

Lifeson says Rush is "a little more than halfway done" recording "Clockwork Angels" with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who also helmed 2007`s "Snakes & Arrows." Two of the songs, "Caravan" and "BU2B," have been released online, and four others were recorded during sessions at Blackbird Studios in Nashville. "Certainly these two songs are pretty heavy indications of where the record's going," Lifeson says, "but there are a lot of different tonalities and soundscapes on the material that we've written so far, so I'm interested to see where we go on these next few songs."

Lifeson says Rush hopes to finish recording during the fall in time for a release in the spring of 2011, followed by a more extensive world tour. Meanwhile the group is now busy gearing up for the summer shows, which kick off June 29 in Albuquerque, N.M., and will feature performances of the 1980 album "Moving Pictures" in its entirety.

"That was the album that took us to the next level," notes Lifeson, who credits drummer Neil Peart with the full-album idea. "After the release of that album we were headlining everywhere and our audiences increased by a large percentage and it gave us that push forward. Plus, 'Camera Eye' has been probably the top song on our request list from fans for several years, so it really gives us an opportunity to include it in the set and to present it with the full album."

The tour will also undoubtably give a push behind the award-winning documentary "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage," which premieres on VH1, VH1 Classic and Palladia at 9 p.m. EST on June 26 and is released on DVD three days later. Lifeson says Rush is "very pleased" with both the film and its early success and predicts that as "it will be interesting to see how broad the appeal is for non-Rush fans. Will it pique the interest of people who just want to go see a documentary that might be interesting rather than being Rush fans and going for that reason? It's an interesting story that a lot of people can relate to, and at the same time it's kind of unique and different."

Sarah McLachlan takes on love, loss and 'self-loathing'

VANCOUVER—Sarah McLachlan, the child-woman who was the heroine for an entire generation of Canadian music, is 42 years old now, with her marriage a thing of the past, two daughters to raise in the present and her future still uncertain.

“But I don’t think about that,” she insisted in a recent conversation. “I live in the moment. Today is a good day and I’m happy to be here and talking to you, but a few days ago, I spoke to someone else who asked me what my favourite part of myself was and I couldn’t answer.

“That day, I didn’t have a favourite part of me. I couldn’t think of anything about me that I cherished. Nothing.”

June 15 will see the release of her first studio album of new material in seven years, called Laws of Illusion, but she made it clear that she had only one law while making it: no illusions.

“In the past two years, I went through the hardest time of my adult life. The bottom just sort of fell out. But with that bottom falling out, there was a whole lot of reckoning to do.

“What have I bought into all these years? Who am I, anymore? What’s real in me? What’s false in me? All of these illusions I’ve been living with. It’s time to strip them all away.”

It’s strange to hear such heavy words being spoken by McLachlan with the same sweet, otherworldly voice that’s beguiled millions over the 22 years since she shot to prominence with her first album, Touch and later went on to Grammy-winning fame and supernova status as the Earth Mother behind the wildly successful series of concerts known as Lilith Fair.

“If there’s going to be any hope and growth in your life, then you have to fight the fear and the uncertainty.”

If McLachlan should feel safe and comfortable anywhere, it’s here, in West Vancouver, with the forest rising up behind her and the sea beyond. She’s just stepped out of a rehearsal in the home studio where she’s recorded some of her greatest hits and she’s doing the work she loves, getting ready to promote an album into which she poured her soul over the past 18 months.

Ask her how she’d describe her latest work and she ponders. “Is it a sad album? I’m not sure ‘sad’ is the right word for it as a whole, but yes, there’s a lot of sadness in it.”

And she’s right. Laws of Illusion is filled with exquisite songs, as good as any McLachlan has ever written, while her voice sounds clear and true, but there’s still a sense of malaise in the air. Even the happier cuts, like “Loving You Is Easy” have a slightly bitter aftertaste that lingers long after the initial sweetness has faded.

Although it’s written in a style that’s unmistakable McLachlan, it bears an overall tonal resemblance to Joni Mitchell’s classic Blue. That’s not surprising, considering it’s one of McLachlan’s personal favourites and when asked at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards in 1996 to select a single song to perform to honour Mitchell, she picked “River” from that very album.

And the same melancholia that lurks in the background of Blue is there in Laws of Illusion, the aching tooth you can’t help caressing with your tongue, because the pain is so sweet.

McLachlan serves notice in the opening song, “Awakenings” about where things are headed, when she zeroes in on “The feeling we are going nowhere fast” which drowns out any magic that “shooting stars and hopeful hearts” might have felt in the past.

Unlike many artists who act coy about what inspired their work, McLachlan is almost savagely honest about what lies behind that song and most of the album.

“A big part of it was the relationship with my husband,” she says, talking about Ashwin Sood, who was her drummer when she married him in 1997. They had two daughters, India Ann Sushil and Taja Summer, but the marriage broke up and they separated in 2008.

“I blame a lot of it on the relationship. All those walls and things that you build up over the years to hold the chaos at bay, they finally start to close in on you and you have to tear them down.

“I went through so much loss. The loss of a husband, the loss of a life partner, the father of my kids and the loss of myself in all of that.”

McLachlan makes it clear that the world of music superstardom had nothing to do with her troubles. This was purely personal.

“I went through my mid-life celebrity crisis 10 years ago,” she says. “This was about trying to find out who I really am. People have all sorts of images built up of who or what they think I am or ought to be. And they all have a bit of truth of them, but none of them ever see the whole picture.”

And though clues to what makes up the complete Sarah McLachlan are scattered throughout her songs, they’re never stated as bluntly in her lyrics as she suddenly does now, out of the blue.

“I’ve got a healthy dose of self-loathing inside of myself. It’s a big problem for me. I often think if I could just get a bit of perspective, pull up to look down on the whole picture instead of getting tangled in the details, I might have a chance.”

And at this difficult point in her life, McLachlan is finding her greatest trials and her greatest joys both lie with her two daughters.

“It’s tricky, it’s the hardest job in the world, parenting. I like to think I can manage anything, put it in a box, get it under control. But I can’t that do that with my daughters, especially the older one.

“She is the biggest challenge of my life. She will make me discover things about myself I never wanted to know. She holds up this mirror every day, saying ‘Here’s all your insecurities and shortcomings,’ and shoves it in my face. She’s teaching me patience.”

But there is balance in everything, including McLachlan’s children.

“The younger one is so easy, such a pleaser,” she says with a laugh. “She sees a man, walks up to him, puts her arms around him, smiles and he melts.

“I guess I’m like both of them, in a way.”

Having been through the dark night of the soul she catalogues in Laws of Illusion, it’s surprising to hear her discuss her current relationship with Sood.

“We get along really well now. He’s a wonderful man, a decent guy and a good father. We just weren’t meant to be together any more.”

And despite the personal feelings that fill her recent songs, McLachlan also wants to make it clear that it’s not to be read as a point-by-point autobiography.

“Fiction is way more interesting than truth and sometimes you say something to make a point, or create a rhyme, or finish off a thought. Two of my friends went through the same journey I did at roughly the same time and some of their story is in these songs as well. It becomes a universal journey.”

She’s also recommencing another journey, by reviving Lilith Fair, which has remained a glorious memory since 1999.

“I wanted to be a part of it again,” she affirms. “I missed the sense of community that was created. The society we’re in now has everyone texting and twittering and the world is too fast-paced. We don’t have time to connect on a personal level.

“I love getting large groups of people together. Rituals are all dissolving. People don’t go to church any more, the family unit is falling apart. It’s so important to get people together and connect on a visceral level.”

I think back to the first time I ever met McLachlan, in 1986 in Halifax, when she was our weekly babysitter for 18 months for our infant daughter Kat, now 24. I ask her how she remembers herself back then, just before she left for Vancouver to begin her career.

“I was desperate to be liked and to please people,” she says, after a pause. “I had a lot of insecurities.

“It sounds pretty much like I still am today."

Steve Winwood Looks Back With 'Revolutions'

Steve Winwood says a new detente with the Universal Music Group paved the way for the new retrospective "Revolutions -- The Very Best of Steve Winwood," which comes out June 8 as both a single, 17-song disc and a four-volume box set.

"For several years we'd had issues and disagreements," Winwood tells Billboard.com. "Finally, without going through legal channels, we pestered the and sat down and we did work out something...that was sort of a compromise and we reached an agreement. What that means is they're able to collaborate with me on old material that they had; until that point they could pretty much put out whatever they wanted, whether I had any input or not. NOw they have my input on the choice of songs, what the cover looks like, what goes out when...and 'Revolutions' is our first project."

Besides surveying his career through the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and his solo recordings, Winwood was particularly excited on "Revolutions" to completely recut one of his songs, "Spanish Dancer" from 1980's "Arc of a Diver" album. It's an exercise Winwood predicts he'll do more of in the future.

"I have every intention to re-cut more things in the future," he confirms. "I think it's quite a valid thing to do. I don't quite understand why it's not done more often. It's interesting to present them in certain different ways. It can sometimes free up artists from the shackles of old contracts as well." Winwood hasn't determined what he may try to re-record next but says his '80s releases are the most likely candidates. "I feel a lot of my material from the '80s -- especially the mid-'80s, when I was working with other producers -- had a sort of production style that clouds the essence of what the song is," he explains. "The '80s production style was very specific and had a lot of synthetic sounds and echoes and effects and compression as so on. It's good to sort of unravel that and try to get the song back to...its organic state. I think there's a wealth of opportunity there to re-record and rework some of those songs without actually rewriting them."

Still, Winwood add, he's not "overly taken" with the idea of re-recording old songs and still has new material in his radar, including chorale music and "dance music that's played rather than put together with samples." But that will likely stay on the back-burner until 2011; Winwood will be on the road much of this year, with Eric Clapton in Europe, Santana in North America and possibly with Steely Dan in Australia.

"I still like the idea of doing my own shows as well," Winwood says, "but these people are...great fun to tour with, and getting in front of their audiences sort of broadens the view of my music, I think. There's something to be said for both."

OMD making first new album in 24 years

OMD's original line-up are to release their first new album together in 24 years.

Called 'History of Modern', the album sees Paul Humphreys, Andy McCluskey, Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes reunited in the studio.

The album is due for release later this year, reports Electricity-club.co.uk.

Although the band have toured heavily since reforming in 2007, they have not released anything since 1986's 'The Pacific Age'.

Mike Crossey, who worked on Arctic Monkeys' 2006 debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not', will produce the record, which Humphreys describes as "very electronic".

Believin’ one song’s Journey

It took Journey 30 minutes to write one of the most enduring songs in rock history. “Don’t Stop Believin’” is, in many ways, more popular now than when the band first released it in 1981. It turned up in the “The Sopranos” finale, got a huge boost when it was featured on the first season of “Glee” and is the go-to song for wedding parties and bar crawlers looking to end a night of revelry with a bang.

The song is the best-selling catalog track on iTunes (more than 2 million downloads), and in January it charted twice in the UK’s Top 10: the original at No. 6, the “Glee” cover at No. 5.

The song was written by keyboardist Jonathan Cain, guitarist Neal Schon and singer Steve Perry while the band was writing and rehearsing new material for the album “Escape” in an Oakland warehouse Schon had bought from a member of Sly and the Family Stone. One day, Cain came in with a chorus melody and the lyric, “Don’t stop believin.’ ”

“The phrase came from my father,” Cain says. “I had a tough time trying to get down the road in the music business, and he used to tell me that stuff, ‘Don’t stop believing’ and, ‘Stick to your guns.’ ”

From there, Perry mostly dictated the structure.

“He worked backwards,” Cain says. “He said, ‘You need to start this thing like it’s going somewhere. Give me some rolling piano.’ So I started playing. Then I think Neal came up with the bass line. Steve scat on that.”

Schon then added his urgent, 16th-note arpeggiated guitar riff, played on a Les Paul, after Perry suggested he needed to sound like “a train.”

The next day, Cain went over to Perry’s house, and the two wrote the full lyrics about a “small-town girl” and a “city boy.” The line about taking a “midnight train going anywhere” was a reference to Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia,” while the lyric, “Strangers waiting/Up and down the boulevard” was pulled from Cain’s time living in LA in the early 1970s.

“My brother and I used go down Sunset Boulevard on a Friday night, and it was like a zoo, all those people cruising,” he says. “I never knew where they all came from or what they wanted.”

The song’s structure is unconventional, in that it builds slowly and has the chorus at the end of the song.

“To this day, even my [current] producer Kevin Shirley says it’s the oddest arrangement ever,” Schon says. “So I think, maybe that’s why it’s so big. It’s a bit unpredictable.”

Odd as the song may have been, the record company had no power to demand changes. Journey’s contract gave the band complete creative control. The entire “Escape” album was made for just $80,000, because the band was so well rehearsed and Perry, whose mantra was, “Time is money,” rarely did more than two takes of a song.

Schon guesses that today, “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” earns the band “double or three times” the amount of any other song. Royalties are complicated to estimate, but Jay Cooper, an LA-based entertainment attorney, says songwriters are paid 9.1 cents per download and an additional percentage for performing the song, as well. From iTunes sales of “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” alone, Journey has probably earned more than $462,000.

And that’s not counting the income the song generates from being spun more than 5 million times on TV and radio, according to Broadcast Music Inc. Another revenue stream comes from the advertisers and filmmakers who are clamoring to license the song. (Schon, Cain and Perry must unanimously sanction each usage.)

“I get so many e-mails a day requesting our approval, I just leave it up to management,” Schon says. “I thought with ‘Glee,’ when you get exposure like that, it’s hard to say no.”

Thomas Dolby Enlists Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Imgoen Heap For New

Thomas Dolby is "a good halfway through" his first new album in nearly 20 years, and he plans to have the first music from it out in June -- for his online fan club, at least.

Dolby tells Billboard.com that the "A Map of the Floating City" album -- which features guest appearances by Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Imgoen Heap, Natalie McMaster, Eddi Reader and Camera Club's Bruce Woolley -- is comprised of three suites. "Amerikana" focuses on a fondness for American roots music Dolby developed while living in the United States for 22 years. "Oceanea" was inspired by "returning to my spiritual home" in the eastern coastline of England, while "Urbanoia" is "kind of a dark place, a dark city-state, so there definitely are some slightly more twisted songs on there."

Knopfler and McMaster perform on "17 Hills," which will be part of the "Amerikana" section. Reader and Woolley are part of "Oceanea's" title track, while Spektor portrays an Eastern European waitress in a song called "Evil Twin Brother."

Starting with "Amerikana" on June 12, Dolby will release all three parts to members of his Flat Earth Society at thomasdolby.com. The other two sections will come out as digital EPs during the year, and Dolby hopes to have the full "A Map of the Floating City" album, with additional tracks not released online, out "before the end of the year."

"I don't know how I'm going to release it, whether there will be a label involved or what," says Dolby, who's best known for his '80s hits "She Blinded Me With Science" and "Hyperactive!" "With technology making music so accessible to everyone right now...I still feel the music industry is important, and I'm sort of hoping a new entity will emerge that...really helps the artists get to the right fans. I'm near enough to the end of the album to be going out and talking to people in the business and seeing what's out there, hoping to form a partnership with somebody who can help me get the album out."

Dolby's last set of songs was "Astronauts & Heretics" in 1992. After that he took what he planned to be "a couple years' sabbatical" and devoted himself to working in Silicon Valley, developing technology platforms with companies such as Headspace, Beatnik Inc. and the award-winning Retro Ringtones LLC. But, he says, "eventually it became all about engineering and sales and it wasn't very interesting to me. I decided to get back to music -- frankly, I was missing it. And it was exciting again because of all the changes that were happening with amazing new toys, self-publishing and all of that. I really feel energized."

Although he's embraced those new technologies, however, Dolby says he took a decidedly old school approach while recording "A Map of the Floating City" in a converted, solar-powered 1930s lifeboat in the garden of his home.

"What I think I always did best was write songs that told a story...beyond the usual pop relationship songs," says Dolby, who started playing live again in 2006 and plans to tour in 2011. "I was using electronics, but I was looking for a lush sort of ethereal sound. I've come back to those songs, that storytelling that I do best. I'm focused on that rather than on the frills...so many of the songs on this album I could sit down and play on a piano like a singer-songwriter, and that was never the case, really, in the old days. The motto for this album has been 'only do what only you can do.'"

Bachman, Turner reunite for album

Canadian rock legends Randy Bachman and Fred Turner are reuniting for their first album in more than 20 years, to be released this September.

The two musicians, who dominated '70s rock in Bachman-Turner Overdrive, plan to return to that stripped-down rock sound in the as-yet-untitled new album, they announced Thursday.

They're offering a taste of their new work with the free release of the first track, Rock n' Roll is the Only Way Out, on their website. They have each written new songs for the album.

Bachman had originally intended Rock n' Roll for a solo album, which would have included vocal work from other artists.

But after Turner, the bassist for BTO, agreed to lend his gritty voice to the song, the two came to an agreement to work together on a new album.

"It turned out so incredible that I asked if he wanted to sing on a few more, send me some of his original material and from that it morphed into a Bachman & Turner project," Bachman said in a news statement.

BTO broke up in 1977 and reunited off and on in the 1980s and 1990s, both with and without Randy Bachman. Turner has been retired from music since the 1990s.

Bachman continues to record as a solo artist and jazz artist and is host of the popular CBC Radio show Vinyl Tap.

The two plan to tour together, playing old hits and songs from the new album, beginning with the Sweden Rock Festival in June.

Brent Howard, Marc LaFrance and Mick Dalla-Vee are the backup band.

Sisters find new voice with Court Yard Hounds

NEW YORK – After a triumphant comeback that included another best-selling album, a Grammy sweep and a worldwide tour, the Dixie Chicks went on hiatus — a break welcomed by the trio, who were approaching burnout.

"I needed that year," Martie Maguire, the group's fiddle player, recalls of their decision to step away from the limelight in 2006. "We were exhausted."

For sisters Maguire and Emily Robison, they had personal matters to attend to: Maguire was trying to have another baby through in-vitro fertilization (she had a third child in 2008 after enduring a miscarriage), while Robison and her singer-songwriter husband, Charles Robison, decided to end their marriage after nine years and three children.

It was enough upheaval to distract them from music, but after awhile, both started getting antsy and were ready to make music.

Except lead singer Natalie Maines wasn't ready. And her reluctance made the sisters worry about the future of the Dixie Chicks — and their own musical careers.

"After a year I started getting scared. I started feeling, 'Wow. I'm not really in control of my future,'" says the 40-year-old Maguire. "Because no matter what anybody says — what we should have done or we could have really pushed Natalie to do — we always felt like it had to be an organic want to go do music."

In the end, they found the solution: a new duo, the Court Yard Hounds, using songs Robison recorded after her breakup as foundation for their new material. Their self-titled debut is out this week, and even though Maines is rejoining the fold for a Dixie Chicks tour this summer, the sisters' heart is with their new endeavor.

"There's new ground we can find as to where we've been and what we have yet to feel and experience," says Robison, sitting on a couch in a hotel suite as Maguire listens in agreement. "I can kind of enjoy and experience the music all new right now, and we're pushing ourselves in ways that we've never pushed ourselves."

For Robison, 37, that includes taking most of the lead vocal duties on the album, though Maguire makes her voice heard on "Gracefully." Robison wasn't eager to sing lead; she wasn't eager really to sing at all. When she first started writing songs, she had Maines in mind, and tried to use the material as something that might lure Maines back into the studio.

The group's last album was 2006's "Taking the Long Way," which won the Grammy for best album, marking their return after being disowned by the country music establishment for making critical statements about President George W. Bush while overseas.

"I spent a good year and a half trying to get Natalie to do what my vision was. We even went in to cut a song that was supposed to be for a movie and it didn't work out," she said. "(I was) just trying to inspire her and then I realized, 'You know what, you can't force it ... ultimately we have to respect each other's wishes to do that,' so there really wasn't another choice for me but to look elsewhere."

She called Maguire for suggestions on another singer. But Maguire didn't want Robinson to let someone else sing her story.

"I felt really uncomfortable hearing the honesty in the songs and then having someone else claim it as theirs and try to own it," she explains. "I guess I just kind of felt like she was the only one who could sing those songs."

Maguire, who had been recording an album of fiddle tunes for children, acknowledges she saw an opportunity for herself.

"I figured I'd at least get a shot to audition for the band," she says, as the pair dissolve into laughter (as they often did during the interview).

That sisterly camaraderie is the gel that bonds the group; the pair finish each other's thoughts and are on the same page, which was apparent when they went into the studio to record, says Jim Scott, who produced the Court Yard Hounds' debut.

"Because they're family, they can talk about just about anything," says Scott, who has worked with Sting, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Dixie Chicks. "It was never a battle about a choice of a part or a harmony or a performance. ... The dynamic was easy."

It's somewhat of a different musical dynamic from the Dixie Chicks; though there are hints of the best-selling trio. The Court Yard Hounds' music is more subdued, with Robison delivering a performance that relies more on emotion than sheer vocal strength. Scott says initially, there was concern whether Robison could pull it off.

"I don't think she really fully believed it, and she may not really fully believe it now, but she's an incredible singer. ... The only fear that we had, and that she had, was, 'Am I going to be able to pull it off, and be compared with Natalie?'" he said. "With a little practice, she got great, fast."

Now that they have their own sound together, they'll also have to start recalling their sound as part of the Chicks: The band starts a summer tour June 8 with the Eagles (and Keith Urban on some dates). They'll also spend part of the summer touring as the Court Yard Hounds, including dates at Lillith Fair.

The pair say they are looking forward to working with Maines.

"It feels like a class reunion in a way. I do miss Natalie and I do miss the camaraderie of that dynamic as well," Robison says. "I think it's allowing us to enjoy when we are together more, because the pressure's off."

"I saw some glimpses of the old energy and excitement in her, and I was happy," adds Maguire.

That might even lead to another Chicks album. But even if that happens, the sisters don't consider the Court Yard Hounds a hiatus project, but their group outside the Chicks.

"I think as we make more and more records, (we'll) just find our own identity," says Maguire of the new duo. "It takes time."

Grand Ole Opry House hit by severe flooding

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country stars were heartbroken to learn Monday that the mecca of their music, The Grand Ole Opry House, was hit by floodwaters that washed over the city and are concerned about how much damage was done to the landmark.

The stage is of particular concern. At the center is a circle made of floorboards cut from the old stage at the Opry's former home of Ryman Auditorium. It's considered by many to be the heart of country music.

"As a country singer, there is only one place you dream of playing in your lifetime, and that is the Grand Ole Opry House," singer Blake Shelton said in an e-mail. "Standing on center stage in the 6-foot circle of wood cut from the stage of the Ryman is something I never take for granted. The history and legacy of that circle is awe-inspiring."

Grand Ole Opry member Dierks Bentley canceled a couple of shows over the weekend for the first time in his career to take care of flooding at his house, which paled in comparison, he said.

"We've all been affected by it," Bentley said of the flooding. "There's devastation all over the city. But to see the Grand Ole Opry affected, that just really hit home for me, even more than having water in my house."

Bentley, whose hits include "Sideways" and "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes," said the destruction at the Grand Ole Opry House was topic No. 1 for country music players Monday. It's unclear how much water inundated the entertainment complex. Pictures put out with a news release show water at least 3 feet high and this week's scheduled shows have been moved to alternate venues.

Shelton, who's hits include "She Wouldn't Be Gone," and this year's "Hillbilly Bone," a duet with Trace Atkins, is scheduled to play there May 13.

"The Opry House is hallowed ground," Shelton said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "We all need to help to make sure it lasts. I am devastated to hear that it is affected by this disaster."

The Opry House is part of the large Gaylord Opryland Hotel complex that took on water when the Cumberland River rose more than 12 feet above flood stage due to record rains that have inundated middle and western Tennessee. An aerial view showed the area surrounded by water.

"My first job in music was at Opryland USA," singer John Rich said in an e-mail. "To see it under water is a heartbreaking thing. I am sure the country music community will pull together and help overcome this disaster. I am ready to roll up my sleeves as soon as I get the call."

The flood hits as the Opry was poised for an 85th birthday celebration. Tuesday night's Opry show will be at War Memorial Auditorium and weekend shows will be moved to the Ryman Auditorium. Both are former homes to the Opry.

The Grand Ole Opry has been held at the Opry House in east Nashville since 1974, with an annual winter sojourn to the Ryman each February since 1999.

The Opry puts on 150 shows a year and the House hosts other concerts and performances.

This is the second time the Opry has been forced from the complex. Flooding on the Cumberland in 1975 also pushed the show to Nashville's Municipal Auditorium.

"While we ourselves are shaken by the impact of the flooding of the Opry House and throughout the area, it is important that Nashville's most treasured tradition continues with this week's shows," Grand Ole Opry vice president Pete Fisher said in the release.

It's unclear how long shows will have to be moved to other venues and it did not give details on how much water is in the Opry House. Pictures of the stage door show water above the door knob and a shot of the facade showed water several feet high as well.

The nearby hotel had 10 feet of water inside early Monday and flood waters had yet to reach their crest early Monday evening. City officials said earlier in the day the hotel would be closed for weeks up to several months. The hotel's website said reservations would not be accepted for several weeks.

Based on his own experience with the flood damage at his home, Bentley wasn't optimistic about the Opry's stage: "At my house, if water touches anything, it's ruined. That wood, hell, maybe it's got enough magic on it that it can survive the worst. I think everything in there is toast."

Dixie Chick sisters unleash the Hounds

Court Yard Hounds' Martie Maguire and Emily Robison also of Dixie Chicks fame.

Dixie Chicks bandmates and sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire kept their musical side project, Court Yard Hounds, a secret from everyone.

Even their fellow Dixie Chick — the country-pop trio’s lead singer Natalie Maines, who is still taking a break since the group went on hiatus in 2007 after sweeping that year’s Grammys.

“We kept it under wraps for a while,” said Maguire, 40, seated beside Robison, 37, in Toronto recently. “We didn’t tell anybody ’cause it was at my house. We thought, ‘We can kind of do this in secret,’ and see how it goes and take little baby steps. (Natalie’s) dad (musician Lloyd Maines) played on it and at that stage they were still demos.”

Ultimately, they both say, Tuesday’s release of Court Yard Hounds’ self-titled debut just allowed Maines to continue her sabbatical.

“I think it took a lot of the pressure off,” said Robison. “It was just a good way for us to be able to fulfill our want to be creative and not put pressure on her and still keep the Dixie Chicks intact.”

There’s even a Dixie Chicks greatest hits compilation, Playlist, coming out June 1. And Maines, for the record, got the hear the Court Yard Hounds album over New Year’s and her favourite song is the duet with Jakob Dylan, See You in the Spring.

“What (Natalie’s) not ready to do is the whole cycle,” said Maguire, who is married to Maines’ sister’s husband’s brother and lives in Austin, Texas, with their six-year-old twin girls and 21-year-month girl. “We don’t know what to sing about right now. We don’t know what to write about. We had such a big last album and it really made a statement for us and it was very cathartic.”

The Dixie Chicks found themselves embroiled in a fight with the Conservative right after Maines made some remarks against then-President George Bush during a London concert on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. The resulting backlash was reflected in the group’s 2006 song Not Ready to Make Nice off their album, Taking the Long Way.

The impetus for Court Yard Hounds came because Robison’s creative juices were cathartically flowing following a 2008 divorce from country singer Charlie Robison. The couple has three children — boy-girl twins, aged five, and a seven-year-old son.

“We were bored; we wanted to be creative,” said Robison, who lives in San Antonio. “So I was writing. (Martie) was working on a fiddle album (of instrumentals) at the time but I started sending her some songs that I was writing and she threatened me with my life if I gave them away. So we then started talking about doing something together.”

That something turned out to be an album of singer-songwriter-style, pop, folk and country-tinged tunes not unlike something Shawn Colvin or Sheryl Cow might offer up.

Amongst the songs about the end of Robison’s marriage are tunes about new love, so it’s no surprise Robison’s boyfriend, Martin Strayer, co-wrote many of the songs with her and is in the band.

Robison also sings lead vocals on all but one song, which could have been a scary prospect for the multi-instrumentalist who had previously only been used to singing harmonies with Maguire.

“I think that was another fun part of this album was just taking steps into the unknown,” said Robison. “Things we hadn’t done. I mean we’ve been harmony singers our whole lives and so blending has been the name of the game and so to get out of that and try and find your own voice has been my challenge.”

Robison continues, “People have asked us, ‘Are you intimidated to follow up the success with the Chicks?’ and it’s so not about that.

“To me, it’s kind of like a clean slate to just be able to go do something else and to be able to have fun ’cause we’re never going to be able to top what we’ve done in the past.”

Tour plans

Court Yard Hounds — sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, whose day job is as two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks opposite Natalie Maines — have a summer tour of wineries and festivals which kicks off June 18 in Telluride, Colo., and includes dates on Lilith Fair.

But they will also be part of the Dixie Chicks’ stadium tour with the Eagles, which kicks off June 8 at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The only other Canadian date is June 22 at Canads Inns Stadium in Winnipeg. Keith Urban is also on some of the U.S. stops.

“That was kind of a no-brainer,” said Maguire of touring with the Eagles. “We’re really excited. We couldn’t say no to this opportunity, really. Stadiums. The Eagles. Keith Urban. This is great.”

What Maguire wasn’t sure of was whether there might be some onstage collaborations.

“They haven’t asked. We’ve done that before. On the Vote for Change tour, we came out and sang Wide Open Spaces and Take It Easy and they’re really, really open about collaborating. I don’t know if this is going to be the show to do it.”

Neil Young Hits the Studio With Producer Daniel Lanois

Neil Young recently announced a solo acoustic tour, but his buddy David Crosby is handling the job of letting fans know his old bandmate is back in the studio. Crosby tells Rolling Stone that Young is recording a new album with producer Daniel Lanois, best known for his work with U2 and Bob Dylan. "Neil told me last week that he was having a great time talking music with him and just relating to him," David Crosby says, adding that he volunteered his services for any upcoming sessions. "I said to him, 'If you want a harmony, I'm volunteering.' He said, 'You know, if I need one you'll be the first guy I call.' "

Young has rarely worked with big-name producers throughout his four-decade career. "I think that Neil's been a little lonely for someone to interact that way because his best buddy [L.A. Johnson] died and that just really left a hole there," says Crosby. "The guy's paid an awful lot of dues, man. I suspect this will be a very heartfelt record. I expect it will be a very special record." Fans will likely hear a preview of songs destined for the in-progress LP when Young hits the road May 18th for his three-week American theater tour.

"He does that [solo acoustic] thing probably better than anybody," adds Crosby. "One of my most favorite concerts of his was him at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. He had a circle of his guitars around him and a chair, and he walked out there and sang. It was mesmerizing. He's a fantastic musician, but also a great storyteller. I was standing there in the wings with Bob Dylan. He and I are huge Neil fans, and we didn't move. We stood there the entire concert and just watched. We were as mesmerized as much as the audience was."

Roger Waters still looking to record new music

NEW YORK – Roger Waters has kept up a steady performing schedule, and this fall, he's launching a big spectacle with a 30th anniversary tour for Pink Floyd's "The Wall." But fans won't be hearing any new music from Waters — he hasn't put out an album in almost two decades.

That's not because of a lack of creativity, Waters insists.

"I have a ton of songs," he said in a recent interview.

"Some of them are recorded, and some of them are half-recorded, and I keep promising myself that I'm gonna find a collaborator and work on them and put them together in some kind of coherent form," he continued. "I suspect I will do that in some time in the near future. But it's strange how time keeps clicking away. And each page turns faster then the last, in my experience."

Whether the 66-year-old Waters puts out a new album remains to be seen, but he has plenty of other things to occupy his time. He spoke with The Associated Press about "The Wall," politics and more.

AP: There had been talk about bringing "The Wall" to Broadway. Is that still going to happen?

Waters: That's still very much in the cards. I have been working on and off for the last year or so with an English writer named Lee Hall, who has become greatly celebrated over here and in London, because he wrote "Billy Elliot," which is one of the most successful musicals out there at the moment. ... Lee's become a close friend of mine, and I'm touching wood but we think we've finally found a director that we want to work with, so that's another project that's in the pipeline. We're on the fourth or fifth version of the book, and trying to write some laughs into it. My one disappointment with the original rock 'n' roll show that we did, and to some extent with the movie as well, there weren't just not many laughs in it. ... Humor is a very important part of my life, so part of the reason for wanting to do a production on Broadway is to express the funny side of the characters.

AP: Green Day's "American Idiot" is in the vein of "The Wall." Do you plan to check out the Broadway play version?

Waters: It would be remiss of me not to check it out. I don't know the work very well. I am not a very good audience. ... My taste in music is very broad, but it's not very much popular music that I listen to. But when I got this invitation, I did check out some bits of Green Day, and you know, there's some very strong melodies in there.

AP: What were your inspirations for "The Wall"?

Waters: My early manhood was troubled by all kinds of feelings of inferiority, and inconsequence, I was that guy at parties who only ever dressed in black and stood in the corner and scowled at people. Very often those attempts by the young to be cool are just because they're absolutely scared. I certainly was. The writing of "The Wall" was part of a process that I used to free myself from some of those neuroses, and some of those fears. Fear is a very pernicious element in many of our lives ... (It) is in lots of ways similar to the fear that is engendered in nations and ideologies. ... We build up these defenses and the fear that we establish about other, anybody that's not us.

AP: What is your impression on the political divide in the United States?

Waters: The United states is very insular and parochial, and resists the idea of seeing yourselves they way others see you, the way you're seem in Europe, and the resistance is enormous, I think, to taking a straight forward look at this stuff. ... Obviously many, many American citizens are aware of these problems in society and how deeply important they are. ... I remember my mother, who traveled here before the second World War, used to say to me, 'Americans are so friendly, and so generous," but she also said, "And so naive." But I think there's a huge well of wanting to do good and wanting to help, but it is subverted by the power of commerce.

AP: It's always asked of you, so we will ask it again — any chance of another Pink Floyd reunion?

Waters: David (Gilmour) is completely disinterested in anything like that. After Live 8, I could have probably gone for doing some more stuff, but he's not interested, so it is what it is.

K'naan's Wavin' Flag raises $1M for Haiti relief

A star-studded, remixed version of K'naan's ubiquitous track Wavin' Flag has raised more than $1 million for victims of the Haitian earthquake.

Since its release on March 12, the benefit single racked up seven consecutive weeks atop Canadian radio charts, sold more than 160,000 copies on online music retailer iTunes and its accompanying music video viewed more than 4.5 million times, organizers announced on Wednesday.

Drake, Justin Bieber, Kardinal Offishall, Nelly Furtado and Nikki Yanofsky were among the dozens of Canadian artists who joined K'naan on the charity single, which was quickly organized and recorded in early February.

"What happened was, we were watching the [fundraising remake of] We Are the World in the United States the day after the Grammy awards, and the instinct was 'We want to do something as Canadians,'" Randy Lennox, the president and CEO of Universal Music Canada, told CBC in March.

"The moment of this song — watching these 57 artists come together in Vancouver — was unbelievable. A really rewarding moment for our history," he said.

The money raised from the single is earmarked for several charities with on-the-ground efforts in Haiti, including Free the Children, War Child Canada and World Vision.

Wavin' Flag, a track off Somali-born, Toronto-based K'naan's 2009 album Troubadour, was also selected to be the official song of the World Cup Trophy Tour, which made its sole Canadian stop in Toronto on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, K'naan was named artist and songwriter of the year at the 2010 Juno Awards in St. John's.

Drake, Bieber and Yanofsky joined him onstage to sing the benefit single version of Wavin' Flag to close the televised awards gala.

Cirque to put on show based on Michael Jackson

LOS ANGELES – First the Beatles and Elvis, now Michael Jackson.

The acrobatic troupe Cirque du Soleil announced Tuesday that it will put on a live touring show featuring the songs of the King of Pop starting late next year.

That will be followed by a permanent production in Las Vegas in 2012 at a property owned by MGM Mirage Inc. The casino company did not say which venue will host the show. A nightclub in Las Vegas will also open with the show.

Cirque and Jackson's estate will each own 50 percent of the projects and share equally in the cost of putting them on. The estate will also receive royalties from the use of Jackson's music and other assets.

Jackson, who died at age 50 last June after a drug overdose, was described as a "huge fan" of the French Canadian performance group.

He saw their first tent show in Santa Monica, Calif., many years ago with longtime lawyer and now estate co-executor, John Branca. And he visited their Montreal headquarters in 2004, Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre said.

"He said he was an acrobat himself," Lamarre said in an interview. "As an artist he had this amazing way of bringing some visual element to his performances."

Jackson even saw "Love," the Cirque show based on the legacy and music of the Beatles, shortly after it began at the Mirage casino in Las Vegas in 2006, and wanted to do his own version, said Jack Wishna, the president of consulting firm CPAmerica Inc. and a prospective business partner.

Ideas for Jackson's own Cirque show ranged from basing it on his hit video "Thriller" to him performing dozens of his No. 1 hits, Wishna said.

"But he passed away and everything just went by the wayside," he said. "It's a little different now, but at least it'll still get on. The music will still be there."

The touring show, which will begin in North America before branching out around the world, will be a simulation of a Jackson concert, while the Las Vegas show will be more theatrical and more technologically advanced, Lamarre said.

"The expectations of Michael Jackson fans around the world are going to be huge," he said. "And we have to deliver."

There are no plans for other members of Jackson's family to perform.

Before Jackson decided on a series of comeback concerts at the O2 arena in London, he was seen several years ago in Las Vegas and considered performing there.

Branca said Jackson would have approved of a Cirque tribute.

"I'm not convinced he would have gone to Las Vegas and performed like Celine Dion did," he said in an interview. "But this is something Michael would be very excited about."

Unreleased Jackson recordings may become part of the shows' musical numbers, and his biggest hits will likely be remixed and mashed up so fans will hear his music in a new way, Branca said.

The other co-executor, John McClain, a Jackson friend and music producer, has discovered more than 60 songs that Jackson recorded but never released. They form the backbone of a seven-year deal with Sony Music Entertainment worth up to $250 million. A new album from the recordings is set for release in November.

Jackson's mother, Katherine, said in a statement, "Our family is thrilled that Cirque du Soleil will pay tribute to my son in such an important way."

Jackson died after overdosing on propofol and other sedatives. He was about to start a series of comeback concerts he called "This Is It." The concert movie based on rehearsal footage went on to gross $252 million worldwide.

His personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He is expected to go to trial this summer.

Kylie Minogue Readies New Album, Single For Summer

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue returns to the music scene in June with new single "All the Lovers," the first track from her album "Aphrodite."

It is the diminutive singer's first album since "X" in 2007 and her 11th studio album overall.

"The single was one of the last tracks to be written for the album. As I was recording it I knew that 'All the Lovers' had to be the first single; it sums up the euphoria of the album perfectly," the 41-year-old said in a statement.

"It gives me goose-bumps, so I'm really excited to hear what everyone thinks of it."

According to a statement from her record label Parlophone, part of EMI, Minogue celebrates "her dance-floor roots" on the album, which features Stuart Price as executive producer.

The list of songwriters includes Minogue, Price, Calvin Harris, Jake Shears, Nerina Pallot and Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley. All the Lovers hits shelves on June 28 and Aphrodite on July 5.

Minogue, a regular chart-topper in her native Australia and adopted home Britain, has sold more than 60 million records, but she has yet to crack the key market in the United States where she toured for the first time in 2009.

The singer was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 but she returned to performing after recovering from surgery and chemotherapy. In a 2008 world tour she visited more than 20 countries.

Record Store Day unearths rare tracks

Plundered My Soul, a recently found and never-before-released Rolling Stones song, is among dozens of rare tracks set for limited-edition release Saturday for Record Store Day.

The brainchild of Chris Brown of the Bull Moose U.S. indie record stores, Record Store Day is aimed at celebrating and promoting independent music retailers and their customers.

Only 1,000 copies of each artist's special-edition record will be sold, making them instant collector's items.

Unearthed recently as the Rolling Stones were preparing the forthcoming reissue of their 1972 double album Exile on Main Street, Plundered My Soul will be released on vinyl and as a digital download this weekend.

Other artists who will have limited-edition releases Saturday include:

John Lennon
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Jimi Hendrix
The Beastie Boys
Lily Allen
REM
Pet Shop Boys
The Flaming Lips
Ani DiFranco
MGMT
Blur
"My local independent record shop (Honest Jons) is a library, where you can go to listen to music, learn about it, exchange ideas about it and be inspired by it," said Blur frontman Damon Albarn, part of a long list of artists who offered support for the Record Store Day on the event's website.

"I think independent record shops will outlive the music industry as we know it because, long term, their value to people is far greater...[E]ven in our era of file-sharing and blogs, you can't replace the actual look on someone's face when they are playing something they really rate and think you should listen to it too. It's special."

Record Store Day events will be held at independent music stores around the globe, including in Canada, Britain, the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Brazil, Portugal, Israel and New Zealand.

Vatican makes peace with the Beatles

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has finally made peace with the Beatles, saying their drug use, "dissolute" lives and even the claim that the band was bigger than Jesus are all in the past — while their music lives on.

Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano paid tribute to the Fab Four in its weekend editions, with two articles and a front-page cartoon reproducing the crosswalk immortalized on the cover of the band's album "Abbey Road."

The tribute marked the 40th anniversary of the band's breakup.

"It's true, they took drugs; swept up by their success, they lived dissolute and uninhibited lives," said the paper. "They even said they were more famous than Jesus," it said, recalling John Lennon's 1966 comment that outraged many Catholics and others.

"But, listening to their songs, all of this seems distant and meaningless," L'Osservatore said. "Their beautiful melodies, which changed forever pop music and still give us emotions, live on like precious jewels."

It is not the first time the Vatican has praised the legendary band from Liverpool.

Two years ago, Vatican media hailed the Beatles' musical legacy on the 40th anniversary of the "White Album." And last month the Vatican paper included "Revolver" in its semiserious list of top-10 albums.

Now, L'Osservatore says that the Beatles' songs have stood the test of time, and that the band remains "the longest-lasting, most consistent and representative phenomenon in the history of pop music."

Giovanni Maria Vian, the editor in chief of L'Osservatore Romano, said Monday that he loves the Beatles.

He said that at the time of Lennon's sensational statement, Osservatore "commented that in reality it wasn't that scandalous, because the fascination with Jesus was so great that it attracted these new heroes of the time."

Rush unveils 'Moving Pictures' tour

Rush are gearing up to play Moving Pictures on their Time Machine.

This summer and fall, the Canadian prog-rock trio will perform their 1981 Moving Pictures album in its entirety on their aptly titled Time Machine Tour, the band revealed Thursday.

The trek opens June 29 in New Mexico and includes four Canadian stops: July 9 at Sarnia's Bayfest, July 13 at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre, July 15 at Quebec City's Festival d'ete and July 17 at Toronto's Air Canada Centre.

It's the first time the band has played their most successful album as a whole, though most of its songs — Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight, The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt (Part III of Fear) and Vital Signs — have been staples of their live set for decades.

Drummer Neil Peart recently said the disc was an important turning point for the group.

“When we found our sound, we found our audience,” he said as the band — rounded out by singer-bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson — were inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of fame in March.

“We were slowly channeling the trend toward becoming more concise, more driving and more direct while still retaining the stylistic quirks and indulgences that pleased us.”

The trio are currently in the studio working on the followup to 2007's Snakes and Arrows.

Burger ad ruins Violent Femmes

A TV ad for a fast food treat appears to have wrecked a Violent Femmes reunion - because feuding bandmates can't agree over the use of their song in the commercial.

The tune, Blister in the Sun, was used as the soundtrack for a Wendy's commercial in 2007 - and bass player Brian Ritchie still can't get the bad taste out of his mouth.

He tells Spinner.com, "I don't like having my sound misappropriated to sell harmful products, such as fast food. That's not why we made the music. It should not be hijacked."

Ritchie blames former bandmate Gordon Gano for selling Wendy's the rights to use the cult track, which is actually about masturbation, and he sued the frontman, claiming the ad wrecked the band's reputation.

He and Gano are back on speaking terms, but Ritchie insists a reported reunion is out of the question: "There are certainly some disputes that haven't been resolved."

Ritchie currently performs with Midnight Oil spin-off band The Break.

Musician remixes anti-war hit "19" for Afghanistan

LONDON (Reuters) – British musician Paul Hardcastle is releasing an updated version of his international anti-war hit "19" 25 years on, but this time his focus is on the Afghan conflict rather than Vietnam.

The 1985 hit topped charts in 13 countries when it was released, appealing to audiences with its dance beat, catchy tune, anti-war message and accompanying video featuring harrowing footage of U.S. troops fighting in Vietnam.

It was inspired by a documentary Hardcastle saw which stated that the average age of a combat soldier in Vietnam was 19, compared with 26 in World War Two -- figures which are disputed by some.

On April 19, the musician is releasing a re-mixed version and new video which cuts film of British troops serving in Afghanistan with the older footage in the original.

"I was always going to do a 25th anniversary edition," Hardcastle said in an interview to promote the single.

"Seeing what is happening now, and my son's friend is actually one of the people that died in Afghanistan ... I thought maybe I should feature what's happening now as well, so that was the main reason of doing it I guess," he added.

Georgie Sparks, his son's friend, was 19 years old when he was killed in 2008.

While Hardcastle supports troops in the field, he criticized the government for failing to equip them as well as they would like, said they were paid too little and took issue with sending men and women into battle at such an early age.

"I think being out there and not even knowing who you're fighting -- is that a family over there or is it someone who is about to blow themselves up? -- I don't think that's fair on a 19-year-old kid. I think it's too young.

"At 21, you can't even have a (alcoholic) drink in America, yet you can go into some battlezone when you're 19 or 18. How does that work?"

JOB SQUEEZE

Hardcastle acknowledged that the British army was voluntary, but believed many young people were forced into joining the armed forces due to economic pressures.

"I know a few people that want to go into the army, and why do they want to go into the army? Because they can't get jobs."

The musician, who spends most of his time working on smooth jazz, or instrumental "chill out music," saw parallels between the Vietnam and Afghan conflicts.

"There are parallels and that's what it shows you on the video -- you see two shots, one from 35 years ago and one from now and it almost looks like the same piece of footage.

"It was all history repeating itself, as I say on the record. After seeing how long this Afghan thing is going to drag on, and it's going to drag on for a long tine, it could become another Vietnam, and that will be a big problem."

Hardcastle said his aim was to raise awareness and ensure that the British people did not forget that soldiers were fighting and dying in Afghanistan.

"The fact that the families of the people that have died out there are saying to me 'Thanks for keeping our sons' names alive', that's one of the things that spurs me on."

Dixie Chicks Duo Does Double Duty As Court Yard Hounds

Sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire are figuring out how to be both Court Yard Hounds and Dixie Chicks during the coming months.

The Dixie duo will be releasing their self-titled debut as Court Yard Hounds on May 4 and plan to tour in support of it. But the Chicks, which have been on hiatus since touring to support 2006's Grammy Award-winning "Taking the Long Way," have announced an eight-date stadium run in June with the Eagles. Robison and Maguire tell Billboard.com they don't think the Dixie Chicks shows will hamper Court Yard Hounds' rollout.

"One had nothing to do with the other," Robison explains. "When (the Eagles shows) came up we were in the middle of planning promotion for (Court Yard Hounds), and we were like, 'Is this going to derail us?' But at the same time we were so excited to do it because of the opportunity it represents. And it answers the biggest question, the elephant in the room, which is 'Have the Dixie Chicks broken up?' To us it's almost the perfect, 'Shut up! Stop asking! Believe us when we say we're still together, we're just not working right now.` So it just kind of helped us do that."

Court Yard Hounds -- which was born last year after third Chick Natalie Maines decided she wasn't ready to return to the group yet -- played several shows at the South By Southwest conference in Austin, where the 12-track album was recorded at Maguire's home studio. "It was a big leap of faith," she says of the project. "We've always been part of a band, even when we were kids, not just us two. There's always been somebody in between us, and now I turn (looks left) and I'm like, 'Oh, hi. That's my sister!' It's like we're getting to know each other in a different way."

Robison wrote all but one of the songs on "Court Yard Hounds," which the duo co-produced with Jim Scott and features contributions by Lloyd Maines, Natalie's father, and a duet with Jakob Dylan ("See You in the Spring"). Court Yard Hounds are booked for a June 18 appearance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and will play on some of Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair dates during the summer, and more dates will be announced in the near future. Meanwhile, Robison and Maguire plan for the group to be a going concern parallel to the Dixie Chicks and have enough additional material written during the first album sessions to make for a good start on the next album.

"We're ready to do the next record," Maguire says. "We have more repertoire; we had, like 20 songs. We just hope the songs resonate with people so they want to hear them in years to come. That's always the goal, that you're making something that lives for a really long time and that people want to hear more of."

Could Abba be ready for a one-off reunion?

LONDON (Reuters) – Swedish supergroup Abba may perform again nearly 30 years after they split, the former male members of the band hinted on Friday.

The group, one of the most successful in history, has enjoyed continued fame since breaking up in 1982, thanks to tribute bands mimicking their satin outfits and easy-listening music and lyrics.

They attracted new fans recently with the musical "Mamma Mia!" which was turned into a film.

But they have persistently shunned the chance to regroup, turning down as much as 1 billion dollars to tour again in 2000.

However Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus told The Times newspaper that an intimate one-off performance that could be screened around the world could be a possibility.

"Yeah, why not?" said Andersson, who now owns a farm where he breeds horses.

"I don't know if the girls sing anything any more," he added. "I know Frida was in the studio."

He added later: "It's not a bad idea, actually."

Ulvaeus said: "We could sing 'The Way Old Folks Do,'" in a reference to one of their "Super Trouper" album songs.

Observers have always thought too many barriers existed to the band reforming, including the reclusive lifestyle of the blonde female member Agnetha Faltskog.

Andersson and Ulvaeus have responded negatively in the past too. Two years ago Ulvaeus said: "We will never appear on stage again. There is no motivation to regroup. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were -- young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition."

Lyngstad married a German prince and lives in the Swiss Alps. She is thought to be relatively amenable to a reunion, the newspaper said.

Ulvaeus and Andersson are currently promoting their musical "Kristina" which opens in London on April 14.

Crowded House Plots Comeback, Moves Labels

Crowded House has a new label home, and a new album on the way.

The celebrated antipodean melodic rock act - comprising Neil Finn, Mark Hart, Nick Seymour and Matt Sherrod - will release the new studio album "Intriguer" this June through Universal Music worldwide, outside of North America. An extensive international tour will support the release.

"Intriguer" is the follow-up to "Time on Earth," which hit No. 1 in Australia and New Zealand, and No. 3 in the U.K. following its release in 2007 through longtime label partner EMI.

The new album will be released through Universal Music companies in the world outside North America. U.S. release details have yet to be announced. "Time on Earth" was released by ATO/Red stateside, while previous albums were issued by Capitol.

In a statement issued today, Finn commented, "I look forward to a long and productive relationship with Universal Music, who are obviously the music company setting the benchmark now. We're delighted to be in the company of music-loving people who believe in us and are eager to spread the word."

Produced by Jim Scott and Finn, the 10-track album was recorded in Auckland, New Zealand's Roundhead studios.

Max Hole, COO of Universal Music Group International, added: "Neil Finn has one of those instantly recognizable voices, and is one of the world's most accomplished songwriters. We are thrilled to be working with Crowded House on 'Intriguer' and beyond."

Crowded House hits the road from March 28 for concerts and festival shows in Australia and New Zealand before turning their attention to European audiences from May. A North American tour will kick off in July, their first since 2008.

The band formed in New Zealand in 1985. The debut, "Crowded House," followed a year later and the band began a long relationship with EMI.

Foo Fighters to reunite with Nirvana producer

Dave Grohl will reunite with producer Butch Vig for the first time since recording Nirvana's Nevermind to work on Foo Fighters' new album.

The 41-year-old drummer and singer will begin recording the follow-up to the band's 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in September.

He said: "It's the first album the two of us have made together in 20 years.

"There's something that Butch does that helps a song become a bigger song. At this point I just want to rock."

Dave Grohl is currently touring Europe with his side-project Them Crooked Vultures.

The ex-Nirvana drummer explained that reuniting with the producer will help Foo Fighters return to a more primal sound for their new material.

"We've done a lot of acoustic stuff, the last couple of records have had a lot of pianos and mandolins. This one, I just want it to be on ten.

"We're going to do it in my garage. It's just a garage, it's got junk and a refrigerator in it."

Speaking ahead of Them Crooked Vultures' appearance at this year's Teenage Cancer Trust residency at London's Royal Albert Hall, Grohl said Foo Fighters have been keeping unreleased new material for a couple of years.

"When we ended the last tour about a year-and-a-half ago or two years ago we had a lot of music we'd written on the road," he explained.

We had an albums worth of stuff ready but we didn't want to go into the studio and do it because we knew it'd put us right back out onto the road - we really needed a break

"We had an albums worth of stuff ready but we didn't want to go into the studio and do it because we knew it'd put us right back out onto the road - we really needed a break."

Grohl says he has "30 or 40 ideas" that the band will reconvene to work on in the autumn.

"The way you make an album dictates the way it sounds," he explained.

"One of my favourite records we made was our third one which we made in my basement in Virginia.

"We had sleeping bags that we nailed on the wall for sound proofing.

"The general vibe on that record is really comfortable. I'd got upstairs and make chilli and come downstairs and do a vocal on a couch. It's the same idea.

"To me it's about switching up the process, we've been using pro tools and all that computer stuff the last couple of records.

"We're putting that stuff in the closet and getting our old tape machines out so that we can just do it like we used to do it."

Them Crooked Vultures return to the UK in June to play this year's Download festival.

Music videos thriving online

MuchMusic and MTV may have given up on the music video, making it an endangered species on television, but if Lady Gaga's new video is an accurate barometer of audience interest, the art form is here to stay, albeit on a new platform.

And the artists who never lost faith in the music video couldn't be happier.

"Telephone," featuring Beyonce, hit the Internet with a deafening blast of buzz and surges of traffic last Thursday night and quickly amassed millions of views.

The clearly expensive nine-and-a-half minute video is reminiscent of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in its epic scale and its slick production values and pops of eye candy have been compared to Quentin Tarantino's handiwork.

About a week later, the video has now been viewed well over 20 million times at YouTube and the music video website Vevo.

"A lot of people conflate the fact that videos disappeared from television as a fact that the audience didn't want them - and that's not the case," said Rio Caraeff, president of Vevo, which launched in December and is owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media Company.

"The broadcasters on television made a decision to move away from videos because they wanted to get people to watch TV for longer periods of time, for their own business model.

"The appetite for the videos didn't go away, it's just been channelled to the web where people can watch whatever they want on demand."

Music videos are actually among the most viewed of all online videos, and according to traffic measurement firm Visible Measures, they're indisputably No. 1 when you factor in their influence.

The company's "true reach" stat counts a video's views on different sites across the web and also accounts for the hits generated by user-created fan videos, whether they be tributes or spoofs, said spokesman Matthew Fiorentino.

When factoring in fan engagement, the most viewed and most influential online video in the history of the Internet is surprising - it's the music video "Crank That" by Soulja Boy.

The song was a No. 1 hit on Billboard for several weeks in 2007 and inspired a dance craze but a relative few would peg it as the biggest video ever to go online.

"The brilliant thing about the video is there's a dance in the video and it takes you through how to actually do the dance," said Fiorentino.

"What we found is videos - and not just for music videos, for ads and other types of content as well - when they directly interact with audiences and put a challenge out there to get them to upload their own content or comment on it, it just keeps the activity going.

"The song is catchy but then there's also this interactive aspect to it that helps."

Of the Top 10 most-viewed online videos ever - as compiled by Visible Measures - six are music videos, including Beyonce's "Single Ladies" at No. 2, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at No. 3, Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" at No. 6, "Apologize" by Timbaland featuring One Republic at No. 8, and Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" at No. 9.

With the overnight success of "Telephone," Caraeff expects more big-budget productions and more experimentation with music videos online.

"The video for 25 or 30 years has been really pretty much the same, it hasn't really evolved," he said.

"Then it moved on to the Internet and now its ripe for reinvention."

The potential of making music videos specifically for the Internet might be more "freeing," said Canadian director Floria Sigismondi, who most recently directed "The Runaways" but was long known for her avant garde videos for the likes of Marilyn Manson, David Bowie and the White Stripes.

"You can change the format and do whatever you want online, you don't have to deal with the amount of time (you're given)," she said in a recent interview.

"When I've done videos in the past even four-or five-minute long songs I've always had to cut."

The band OK Go has become synonymous with its videos since releasing the low-budget dancing-on-treadmills video for "Here It Goes Again," which has racked up more than 50 million views and won a Grammy.

The band believes so much in the importance of a music video that it recently split with its label, EMI, after fighting over online access to their latest video. The band wanted it to be posted anywhere and everywhere online but the label restricted it from being embedded into websites and some fans in foreign countries couldn't see it at all because of licensing restrictions.

Bass player Tim Nordwind said the band has landed with a smaller label and is readying to make another new video, which this time will be available for fans to pass around.

He said he's excited about the new potential for video-making online, given that old limitations connected to television standards no longer exist.

"Now that MTV has actually come out and literally said, 'We don't play music videos anymore' ... people don't have to make videos to fit into the MTV mould, and that mould was you essentially had to make a commercial with your song in it," he said.

"Now on the Internet you can make whatever you want and you're probably going to get at least some people who want to watch it."

OK Go's latest video for "This Too Shall Pass" was sponsored by State Farm and Nordwind said he wouldn't be surprised if other bands accept similar offers to fund video production.

"Telephone" is littered with in-your-face blotches of product placement and Nordwind said he can understand why Lady Gaga would've agreed to them.

"I applaud her for making what I think is the video she wanted to make," he said.

"I imagine even her label maybe doesn't have all the cash in the world to make a music video like that - and she's at the top one per cent of artists in the world, she's still selling records like it was the '90s more or less - but I imagine when she partners up with different sponsors then she's able to make the video she wants to make.

"I saw all the product placement and it didn't necessarily ruin the experience. At the end of the day, I still felt like I was experiencing the story more than I was experiencing the product placement."

Vevo was thrilled with the response to the premiere of "Telephone," which set a record for traffic last weekend. The site was recently averaging 30 million video plays a day and picked up an extra nine million streams each day.

The site has been averaging 36 million U.S. visitors and as many as 6.8 million Canadian visitors in each of the last three months.

"We thought it would take a while to build this audience and it's happening much faster," said Caraeff.

"The appetite and the audience interest is very much there, I just think that need is not being met anymore on television."

White, Jay-Z record duet

Rocker Jack White has recorded a song with rap icon Jay-Z that he promises is "unbelievable-sounding".

The White Stripes star reveals he had been working on a track for the 99 Problems hitmaker for some time and they recently managed to lock down time in the studio to complete the tune.

He tells GQ magazine, "I just did a record with Jay-Z. We did a song together a few weeks ago. It was incredible. I played him something that I've been kicking around for a while and he immediately came out with words for it. It's unbelievable-sounding."

It is currently unclear whose album the duet will appear on but last month Jay-Z admitted he had already begun work on the follow up to his hit album The Blueprint 3.

He said, "I got one crazy record. To be honest with you, it's crazy. I got one and we'll build from there. Whether it comes out this year or next year, it depends on the music and how it's coming out. I don't really have any dates."

Dixie Chick members make debut at SXSW

NEW YORK – Even though the Court Yard Hounds are a new group, they are hardly your typical baby act. The duo is derived from one of music's best-selling bands — the Dixie Chicks — and their self-titled debut album is already among the spring's more anticipated releases.

Yet sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison are finding themselves working much like every other fledgling group, as they try to establish an identity that will shine despite the oversized shadow cast by the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum Chicks.

"Sometimes when our manager calls me and says certain things, we go, 'Oh God, we've gotta do that?" says Maguire with a laugh.

"(But) some of the starting over is actually fun. We missed it along the way. When I look back at some of the Chicks stuff, it's the early stuff we did where we kind of giggle and go, 'You know what? Those were the good old days,'" she adds. "We're feeling kind of those butterflies in our stomach once again."

The butterflies will be present on Thursday when they make their stage debut at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas — an industry showcase for nearly 2,000 acts, from eclectic, esoteric bands to legends. Among the expected highlights of the festival, which runs from Thursday to Sunday, are performances from Spoon, the Stone Temple Pilots, Estelle, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, Smokey Robinson and more.

There's also a planned tribute to Miles Davis and celebrity chef Rachael Ray's annual cookout and showcase, featuring acts like Neko Case and She & Him (M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel).

This year SXSW, which also holds a film and interactive festival around the same time, will have greater diversity of acts from other countries, said its creative director, Brent Grulke.

"We're seeing many more acts from Latin America now, South America, than we've ever seen before," he said. "We have a couple of bands from Iran, which is notable from itself, and obviously we have artists like Smokey Robinson performing."

Another new duo will make their SXSW debut — Broken Bells, the new group formed by super producer and Gnarls Barkley member Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton and the Shins' James Mercer. Mercer said SXSW is a utopia for music aficionados.

"Not everyone is as big a music fan as Brian and I," he said. "But when you go to South by Southwest, the whole town is taken over by people like you."

Maguire and Robison decided to unveil their new group at SXSW, at the intimate club Antone's, for all the reasons most artists come to SXSW.

"It's turned into such a great springboard for music and so many influential people come and listen to music," said Robison. "You're looking them in the eyeballs, and you're in the trenches, which we feel like we've returned to the trenches somewhat to launch this new band."

But it's also home for the two sisters, who are from Texas; Robison lives in San Antonio, while Maguire lives right in Austin.

"It feels really comfortable having the first one where I live, in a club where I go hear bands," she said. "So many times I've gone to hear bands and thought, 'Oh, I can't wait to be on that stage.'"

SXSW will mark the first time they will be center stage since the Dixie Chicks took off more than a decade ago, when it was Natalie Maines singing lead, flanked by Robison and Maguire playing their string instruments, usually banjo and fiddle. With the Court Yard Hounds, Robison will be singing lead.

While the Chicks haven't broken up, they haven't made any new music since their Grammy winning 2006 album, "Taking the Long Way." Both Maguire and Robison grew restless, and after Robison penned several new songs after her divorce, they decided to form a new group while the Chicks remained on hiatus.

"We have the ability to go off and do the stuff for the Court Yard Hounds and really fulfill that part of what drives us and not feel like we have to pressure Natalie to be working if she doesn't want to work," said Robison.

The sisters aren't sure when Maines will return to the Dixie Chicks, but they do have her blessing; she's heard the music and the three recently hung out together with Maines, who lives in Los Angeles.

Whether the Court Yard Hounds will attain the kind of multiplatinum success the Dixie Chicks had remains to be seen. But Robison and Maguire aren't even sure they want that for this band. For now, they are liking things a bit more low-key.

"With the chicks, to leave the house, it's just a big undertaking," Robison said.

"It's kind of like we recreated this monster, and it's a beautiful monster at times. But it's harder to activate. This time, it's a little bit more ...

"Mobile!" interjects Maguire, as they both laugh.

Jack White on making beautiful music with his ex-wife Meg

“Is it possible for a brother and sister to dress in only red, white and black, play blues music with no computers or samples, travel across the Arctic to places other bands would be scared to venture, play free shows everyday at random locations, and not be the biggest thing since The Beatles?” asks Jack White.

“The answer,” he says, “is clear.”

Since the duo’s first Detroit gig at an open-mike night back in 1997 and across six studio albums, the White Stripes — singer-guitarist Jack and his drummer and ex-wife Meg White (they now weirdly describe themselves as siblings) — have dutifully abided by Jack’s Rules of Threes. All clothes, gear, instruments and accoutrements are limited to three colors: red, black and white. Songs have just three sounds: guitar, drums and vocals. Roadies wear three-piece suits. It all feels a bit O-C-D.

Tuesday’s “Under Great White Northern Lights,” the duo’s first release since 2007’s “Icky Thump,” conforms to the code, too. It’s even issued in three different formats: audio (CDs and a double LP), video (concert and documentary DVDs) and print (a 208-page book, plus a silk-screened photo).

It’s issued by Warner Bros. and Third Man, Jack’s Nashville-based boutique label that specializes in handmade vinyl. (And, yes, it derives its name from the number 3).

“It’s us having a plethora of film and music at our table that we decided to put in a curry and bake it at 300 degrees,” Jack, 34, tells The Post. “There are dessert treats in there, too, for those fans that hate their vegetables. All kinds of exclusive vinyl and artwork. This isn’t some Internet mirage, either — you can hold these things in your hands just like Grandpa did.”

Audiowise, it’s the band’s first-ever live release, documenting a tour through every province and territory in Canada, including: a five-pin bowling alley in Saskatoon; a 40-foot fishing boat called the “Annandale Light” off of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and a rec-center acoustic jam in Nunnavut with Inuit elders, who fed Jack raw caribou.

“The strange locations made for the most intriguing and inspiring moments for us,” Jack says. “You tend to play songs in a bowling alley that you wouldn’t at home with mother in the parlor.”

His favorite performance?

“I like the show that was only one note,” he says, referring to a ridiculously brief, albeit free show in St. John, New Brunswick. “The crowd got their money’s worth on that one.”

The concert footage captures unhinged performances of songs that span the band’s career, demonstrating why Meg’s minimalist percussion and Jack’s colicky blues guitar have earned the Stripes respect from critics and rock titans alike. Jack jammed with Jimmy Page and U2’s The Edge in the film “It Might Get Loud” and shared a stage with the Rolling Stones in Martin Scorsese’s “Shine a Light.” The duo has won three Grammys and sold more than 12 million records.

The box set is also a multimedia monument to the bond between a former husband and wife whose music outlasted their romance.

The Canada tour did, however, end in cancellations and the painfully shy Meg suffering from acute anxiety. In the rare moments when she whispers, viewers need subtitles to understand what she’s muttering. By the end, the cracks in her psyche are showing. Following their 10th anniversary concert in Nova Scotia, Meg sits next to Jack at a piano while he plays “White Moon.” Tears stream down her face.

“Her femininity and extreme minimalism are too much to take for some metal heads and reverse-contrarian hipsters,” Jack says. “She can do what those with ‘technical prowess’ can’t. She inspires people to bash on pots and pans. For that, they repay her with gossip and judgment. In the end she’s laughing all the way to the Prada handbag store. She wins every time.”

Bowie turns down Gabriel cover

Peter Gabriel's ambitious plans to have the artists he covers on his new orchestral album Scratch My Back record renditions of his songs have hit a snag - David Bowie doesn't want to join the fun.

Gabriel's new album features his rendition of Bowie's Heroes and the rocker had hoped to persuade the reclusive star to tackle something of his for the follow-up, I'll Scratch Yours - but the Let's Dance singer has turned down the offer.

Instead, Brian Eno, who co-wrote Heroes with Bowie, will cover Gabriel for the album, alongside Paul Simon, Randy Newman and Neil Young.

Simon's rendition of Biko has already been recorded.

Meanwhile, Spinner.com reports Arcade Fire will not be covering Games Without Frontiers as initially planned.

Johnny Marr adds juice to the Cribs

The addition of guitarist Johnny Marr to an up-and-coming English indie band might seem like the creative maneuverings of sales-hungry record execs.

But according to Cribs bassist and co-frontman, Gary Jarman, the legendary Smiths axeman decided to join the three-piece (currently his second besides Modest Mouse) after declaring himself an unabashed fan of the meaty Britpop they displayed on 2005's "The New Fellas."

"It was as innocent as that," Jarman says down the line from his Portland home. "I guess a lot of people think these things are [orchestrated] by band managers or labels, but it really wasn't like that.

"We always resisted the idea of adding a fourth person because that meant one of us would have to go in the middle and no one wants to do that," he laughs. "We're too shy and humble."

Also based in Portland, Marr befriended Gary and brothers Ryan (guitars) and Ross (drums) following Modest Mouse's 2007 effort "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank."

The friendship, which was forged by hanging out almost daily, helped the Jarman brothers start to envision bigger, more intricate melodies for their follow-up, the recently released "Ignore the Ignorant."

"I loved being a three-piece, but it was a bit one dimensional because we had to try and generate powerful sounds between three people," he says. "Adding Johnny freed my brother and I to concentrate more on singing and the melodies."

Extended jam sessions in Marr's home let the band unite pop ambitions forged on the Alex Kapranos-produced "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever" (2007) with the bounce rock that has made them a radio mainstay in their native England.

Marr, who co-wrote all the songs with the Jarman clan, injects his unmistakable guitar between Gary and Ryan's melodic vocals, but doesn't overshadow Morrissey-like lyrics that take aim at a celebrity obsessed culture ("Victims of Mass Production") and the rise of the British right wing ("Ignore the Ignorant").

"After the success of our first couple of records, people had sort of pegged us as this super confident band, but that was never the case," says Jarman. "Just having Johnny as a fan was a huge thing because we were such big fans of the Smiths; they were a big influence and Johnny's playing was a big influence on my brother.

"That was a big enough deal anyway because we never expected anyone to ever care about our band in the first place."

And while the addition of Marr allowed Gary and Ryan to try their hand at arena singalongs ("We Were Aborted," "We Share the Same Skies," "Hari Kari"), the injection of the legendary guitarist forced the brothers realize their songs have to look cool on paper.

"The songs should look good written down," Gary recalls Marr saying. "And I agree. That might sound superficial, but I do honestly think that, just like a book, if you have a song with a boring title you won't be that compelled to listen."

Carly Simon lets slip a clue to pop’s great mystery

The identity of the man who walked into the party like he was walking on to a yacht in Carly Simon’s 1972 hit "You’re So Vain" is one of pop’s greatest mysteries, matched only by the price of that doggie in the window and what Meat Loaf would not do for love.

After guarding the secret for 38 years, however, the singer has let slip the first name of the man who jilted her before going to Saratoga to watch his horse naturally win. Her indiscretion, which coincides with the release of her greatest hits album, appears in an instrumental interlude in an acoustic version of the song.

The name “David” is whispered, backwards, about two and a half minutes into the song.

Simon, 64, confirmed in an interview with Uncut magazine that the whisper alluded to her former lover. “I’m just going to tell you this,” she said. “The answer is on the new version of You’re So Vain. There’s a little whisper — and it’s the answer to the puzzle.”

Her confession, if genuine, rules out most of the candidates who have been considered favorites over the years. Warren Beatty, who briefly went out with Simon in the early 1970s, was considered by many, including himself, to be the one who flew his Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun. His mother was born and raised in Nova Scotia. In 1983 Simon said that her description sounded like Beatty. “He certainly thought it was about him. He called me and said, ‘Thanks for the song’.”

Other suspects have included Sir Mick Jagger, who sang backing vocals for the original song, and James Taylor, the American songwriter to whom Simon was married between 1972 and 1983, although she denied it was him.

Two Davids have been considered in the past, although both have been dismissed because of other clues Simon has given. David Cassidy, who rose to fame with The Partridge Family, was 22 when the song was written, but he had already cultivated a solo career and had a hit album. David Bowie has also been discussed.

Simon said in 2003 and 2004, however, that the subject had the letters A, E and R in his name. This rules both Davids out unless she is including their middle names. Bowie was born Duncan Robert Jones and Cassidy’s middle name is Bruce.

Other prominent Davids of the early 1970s include David Frost, David Soul and David (now Lord) Owen. A more credible candidate is David Crosby, formerly of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash, who was in Los Angeles at the same time as Simon.

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Announce New Album, Tour

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will release "Mojo," their first album in eight years, this spring, the band announced today. The venerable heartland rockers also unveiled dates for a North American summer tour, which kicks off May 6 in Raleigh, N.C. and wraps Aug. 27 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"Mojo" marks Petty and company's first release since 2002's "The Last DJ" (Petty released his third solo album, "Highway Companion" in 2006). "The Last DJ" garnered mostly positive reviews and praise for its honest lyrics and pointed criticism of the music industry. Though the album reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200, it pulled up shy of gold, selling 353,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Fresh on the heels of "Mojo's" release, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will hit the road with an impressive billing of guest performers, including Joe Cocker, Drive-By Truckers, ZZ Top, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and My Morning Jacket. Tickets for all shows go on sale March 8 with the exception the June 25 Summerfest date, which will be available March 6.

Here are Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' tour dates:

May 6: Raleigh, N.C. (Time Warner Cable Pavilion at Walnut Creek)*
May 7: Charlotte, N.C (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)*
May 9: Tampa, Fla. (St. Pete Times Forum)*
May 15: Dallas, Tex. (Superpages.com Center)*
May 16: Houston, Tex. (Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)*
May 18: Phoenix, Ariz. (US Airways Arena)*
May 22: Los Angeles, Calif. (Hollywood Bowl)*
Jun 2: San Diego, Calif. (Cricket Wireless Pavilion)*
Jun 3: Irvine, Calif. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)*
Jun 5: Oakland, Calif. (Oracle Pavilion)*
Jun 8: Vancouver, BC (GM Place)*
Jun 11: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
Jun 12: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
Jun 15: Calgary, AB (Pengrowth Saddledome)*
Jun 16: Edmonton, AB (Rexall Place)*
Jun 19: Winnipeg, MB (MTS Centre)*
Jun 22: St Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center)**
Jun 23: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center)**
Jun 25: Milwaukee, Wis. (Summerfest)***
Jul 10: Indianapolis, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)**
Jul 13: Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)**
Jul 15: Cincinnati, Ohio (Riverbend Music Center)**
Jul 17: Chicago, Ill. (United Center)**
Jul 20: Cleveland, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)**
Jul 22: Detroit, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)**
Jul 24: Pittsburgh, Pa. (First Niagra Pavilion)**
Jul 28: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)
Jul 31: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wachovia Center)
Aug 11: Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)****
Aug 12: Nashville, Tenn. (Sommet Center)****
Aug 14: Darien Lake, N.Y. (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)****
Aug 15: Bristow, Vt. (Jiffy Lube Live)****
Aug 17: Hartford, Conn. (Comcast Theater)****
Aug 19: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug 21: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug 24: East Rutherford, N.J. (IZOD Center)*****
Aug 25: Toronto, ON (Air Canada Center)****
Aug 27: Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Saratoga Performing Arts Center)****

* with Joe Cocker
** with Drive-by Truckers
*** with ZZ Top
**** with Crosby, Stills & Nash
***** with My Morning Jacket

Rolling Stones unearth 10 new tracks for reissue

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones, who have long resisted releasing archival material, will include 10 previously unheard songs in an upcoming reissue of "Exile on Main Street," the group's representatives said on Thursday.

The original 1972 release, a sprawling two-disc set regarded by many observers as one of their greatest works, features such notable tracks as "Tumbling Dice" and "Happy."

It was recorded in the grim basement of a French villa once used by the Gestapo. Guitarist Keith Richards was consumed at the time by a heroin addiction and singer Mick Jagger was distracted by his new wife, Bianca.

The reissue, due out in the United States on May 18 and a day earlier internationally through Vivendi's Universal Music Group, will be supplemented by new tracks with such titles as "Plundered My Soul," "Dancing in the Light," "Following the River" and "Pass The Wine."

While the Stones have been widely bootlegged, the four disclosed titles appeared to be unknown to collectors. Alternate versions of the album tracks "Soul Survivor" and "Loving Cup" will also be included. A publicist said she did not have information on the other titles.

Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine that he and Richards overdubbed percussion and guitar, respectively, on some of the bonus tracks.

They oversaw the project with producer Don Was, who has worked with the band for 15 years. The singer also wrote fresh lyrics for "Following the River."

Jagger has been reluctant to open the band's vaults because he views the veteran British band that dates back to 1962 as a contemporary rather than a nostalgia act.

Peers such as Bob Dylan and David Bowie, as well as thriving younger acts like U2, have been less resistant to the idea of dusting off outtakes and other rarities.

The reissue will also be complemented by a made-for-TV documentary, "Stones in Exile," which features rare archival film footage and photos as well as fresh interviews.

The album will be available in three configurations: the original 18-track release; an edition with the bonus tracks; and a package that also includes a vinyl version, a different 30-minute documentary DVD and a book.

Cash, delivered

By 2003, Johnny Cash had already suffered a lifetime of pain and loss. As a boy, he’d witnessed the suffering of his brother Jack after a gruesome table-saw accident, and later saw his life and marriage whirl out of control due to drug addiction and infidelity. But the legendary Man in Black never felt deeper despair than when his soul mate, June Carter Cash, died that May.

In the hours following June’s death, Cash spoke to producer Rick Rubin, who had been recording him for 10 years. In discussing his agony, his message to Rubin was clear: Keep me working. Keep me recording and singing and making music. Because if I sit around dwelling on June’s death, I will die.

In those awful hours following June Carter Cash’s death, Rubin asked Cash if he thought he’d be able to find his faith.

The producer has compared that moment — Cash’s answer — to the flick of a switch. In a voice as willful and steady as if answering to the Lord himself, the singer declared his faith “unshakable.” From then on, the Man in Black, confined to a wheelchair and nearly devoid of sight, proceeded with a steady hand and a willful heart.

Cash’s vocal frailty, combined with his unmistakable optimism and faith, make his final album with Rubin, “American VI: Ain’t No Grave,” not just a collection of songs but a brilliant, heart-wrenching act of defiance and humanity.

“He had good days and bad days, mainly based on his level of physical pain and his ability to sing,” Rubin told The New York Post. “But when he sang well, he felt purposeful. He seemed to feel good after feeling he made progress with his art.”

The album, out on Friday — which would have been Cash’s 78th birthday — hangs heavy with the weight of the troubadour’s personal troubles. The title track opens the collection with an ominous, finger-picked acoustic guitar and Cash’s weary baritone. When the beat kicks in, it’s courtesy of a wooden box with a chain inside.

“Gabriel don’t you blow your trumpet until you hear from me,” he sings. “There ain’t no grave can hold my body down.”

Rubin and Cash met backstage at a concert in 1992. As Cash told “Fresh Air” in 1997, Rubin invited the singer to sit in his living room with just a guitar and two microphones, and “sing to your heart’s content everything you ever wanted to record.”

Their first album, 1994’s “American Recordings,” took shape over three weeks. With songs by writers as diverse as Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Nick Lowe, and a video starring Kate Moss, “American Recordings” won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album and opened a surprising new chapter in Cash’s storied career.

Over the next decade, the pair recorded anywhere from 30 to 80 songs each for five more albums, including some 60 tunes during the final year of Cash’s life. Never starting with a plan, they experimented with unexpected songs choices.

For 1996’s “Unchained,” Rubin suggested Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage,” but Cash was unable to get past singer Chris Cornell’s howling heavy metal vocals. But the famed producer eventually persuaded Cash to focus on the lyrics, and his version dripped with a whiskey-soaked, hard-driving brand of countrified, don’t-tread-on-me attitude.

It was during the recording of this album that Cash began feeling dizzy, or would sometimes be too tired to work. Thus began the battle with diabetes that would lead to his death just four months after June.

“Faith made him strong. It was inspiring,” says Rubin. “We were friends and I loved him. It’s sad to see this chapter close, but it feels good to know the music lives on.”

'We Are the World' debuts, worldwide airing set

LOS ANGELES – The revamped "We Are the World" made its world premiere Friday during NBC's coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, and a simultaneous worldwide screening of the full, seven-minute version of the music video is planned for Saturday.

The worldwide simulcast on 53 domestic and international channels is planned for 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) Eastern time.

A three-minute version of the video aired Friday. Filmed by Oscar winner Paul Haggis, the video shows images of devastation from the island nation after the January 12 earthquake that has claimed more than 200,000 lives.

It also shows some of the 85 artists who gathered in Los Angeles earlier this month to re-record the 1985 charity anthem.

Teen sensation Justin Bieber opens the song. Also featured are Jennifer Hudson and Nicole Scherzinger, Sugarland singer Jennifer Nettles, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion and Fergie. Josh Groban, LL Cool J, Nick Jonas, Lil Wayne (and his auto-tune), Jeff Bridges, Kanye West, Miley Cyrus and Haitian-American singer Wyclef Jean also get screen time.

Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the original hit with Lionel Richie, is shown in a clip from the original music video. In the new version, Jackson, wearing his trademark 1980s pseudomilitary regalia, sings alongside his sister, Janet Jackson.

Richie and fellow producer Quincy Jones introduced the song Friday via video, saying money raised by its sales will provide food, shelter and medicine for the Haitian people.

Fans can download "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" online now. All proceeds will benefit earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti.

Hagar not up for Aerosmith gig

Rocker Sammy Hagar’s manager has dismissed reports linking the ex-Van Halen star to the vacant frontman slot in Aerosmith.

Guitarist Joe Perry and his bandmates have been on the hunt for a new singer since Steven Tyler announced he was taking a hiatus from the band last year, and Hagar has emerged as the latest frontrunner - but the Why Can't This Be Love singer's manager insists there's no truth to the rumours.

John Carter quips, "His Led Zep gig conflicts with the Aerosmith job... Seriously, Sam is very happy to be going into the studio with (band) Chickenfoot to start the second album in April."

Reports suggest Billy Idol, Chris Cornell and Paul Rodgers have been approached as potential replacements for Tyler. Lenny Kravitz, who was one of the first names linked to the job, has already made it clear he's not interested in the job.

Last week, Perry confessed he's not ruling out a female star as Aerosmith's new singer.

Pete Townshend: Nice to be part of spectacle

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Pete Townshend is used to playing in front of stadiums filled with rabid fans who know every note of The Who's songs. He didn't get that at the band's Super Bowl halftime performance, but he's OK with that too.

Townshend and bandmate Roger Daltrey performed a medley of some of their most famous songs on entertainment's biggest stage Sunday, including "Won't Get Fooled Again" during a 12-minute set that included a laser-lit stage and plenty of fireworks.

While the crowd was involved, and some held up their cell phones to illuminate the night as instructed by the stadium announcers, they were somewhat subdued, and was clear it was not a Who event.

Backstage after their show, Townshend laughed and said: "You know, you could kind of tell from the stage the crowd is really here for the game."

"It was nice for that reason. It was nice to feel a part of something and not having it all to be about us," he added. When it was mentioned that most rock stars want everything to revolve around them, he joked and said: "We're too far gone to care I think."

It was the first football game Townshend and Daltrey, both Brits, ever saw (Daltrey went after his performance to watch the game, which the New Orleans Saints won over the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17). Townshend said he was awed by the spectacle, and the sheer work of putting together the event.

"It's extraordinary," said Townshend. "You forget how big sport is and how every week it happens ... I'm not trying to be humble but we felt like a very small piece of a huge team."

The Super Bowl also saw the debut of a new remix of "My Generation" by will.i.am and Slash. It is available for sale on Amazon.com, will.i.am's dipdive.com and the Who's Web site, and proceeds will go to aid Haiti after the earthquake there.

Townshend said he was impressed with the remix: "It's actually very elegant, it's not gangsta," he said of will.i.am's rap on the song.

Townshend called his entire Super Bowl experience a success, despite protests by some children's rights advocates about his presence in the Super Bowl.

Townshend was arrested in 2003 in Britain as part of a child pornography sting but later cleared. He accessed a Web site containing child pornography but said it was for research for his own campaign against child porn. He was required to register as a sex offender, despite being cleared. Townshend said he has been a children's advocate for years and was abused himself as a child.

He had to address the controversy at the Who's Super Bowl news conference, and though he feels like the protests were "a bit of a cheap shot," he said it was "dealt with fairly elegantly in the press conference."

"I think if people don't believe, they fall on that side of the line, there's little I can do, but most people have been very kind, very understanding, and I know I did nothing wrong," he said.

Celebrities sing out for Haiti, but how long will public listen?

More than three weeks after the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12, musicians continue to channel their concern into a range of relief projects.

The evening after the Grammy Awards, a bevy of stars gathered to record an updated, Haiti-themed version of the 1985 anthem We Are the World. The benefit concert SOS Saving Ourselves — Help for Haiti airs live Thursday night from Miami on BET, MTV, VH1 and Centric. A new Haiti-relief remix of The Who's My Generation will premiere Sunday during the Super Bowl.

But while artists remain galvanized by the disaster, some are questioning how long their endeavors can sustain the public's attention — not to mention its financial support.

"Everyone's hearts are in the right place," says Billboard senior charts manager Keith Caulfield. "But as we've seen in the past, when something like this happens, the first charitable efforts out of the gate tend to do the best. After a while, the novelty of artists coming together on behalf of a good cause is gone."

Caulfield points to 2001's telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes, which was broadcast just 10 days after 9/11. Packed with music and film icons, the program raised more than $100 million for relief, "and the musical performances are well-remembered." Jan. 22's Hope for Haiti Now was similar in timing, structure and star power, and has drawn $66 million in donations.

A collection of performances from Hope became the first digital-only release to make its debut atop Billboard's album chart (selling 171,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan), but Caulfield attributes that feat to "the instantaneous delivery and distribution of the music, which was recorded on a Friday night and released Saturday. Had they waited a month and a half for a physical CD, it probably wouldn't have had the same impact."

Yet new benefit shows and charity recordings keep cropping up, from local and independent efforts to high-profile outings such as Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige's performance of Bridge Over Troubled Water at the Grammys, made available at iTunes. This Monday, Blige, Wyclef Jean and Whoopi Goldberg will appear in New York with other personalities to launch the initiative Hope Help & Relief Haiti.

A remake of R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts, which will be downloadable Sunday, brought best-selling Brits Susan Boyle and Leona Lewis together with American icons such as Rod Stewart and Mariah Carey. We Are the World: 25 for Haiti showcases an even larger and more eclectic lineup.

"I can only hope this can have the impact that the original had," says one participant, Josh Groban. (The first World has raised more than $63 million from discs, downloads and merchandise.) Granted, music sales aren't what they were 25 years ago — or in the Sept. 11 era, for that matter. But Celine Dion, another voice in the new World, echoes Groban's goal: "We have to react and act and make a difference."

Some music consumers are skeptical. Danny Gillane, 44, of Lafayette, La., and his wife, Jenna, contribute to organizations that "have responded to the Haiti tragedy," but he feels less confident that musicians are positioned to deliver such assistance. "I do not always trust the recording industry's or the artists' abilities to optimize the use of the funds, or even to guarantee the delivery of the funds," he says.

BET programming co-president Stephen Hill acknowledges that it's "always a challenge to maintain the public's attention, especially as the media focuses on other stories." Hill hopes to put together an album from SOS, but more generally plans to provide BET viewers "with constant reminders, as the weeks go on, that this crisis is not yet over. That's what we did with Katrina: We kept making it clear that New Orleans still needed our help."

Celebrities play a role in maintaining awareness, particularly outside the country, says Francis Ghesquiere, the World Bank's regional coordinator for disaster risk management.

"People tend to get tired of one issue and start talking about the next crisis, but the truth is we'll just be starting reconstruction of Haiti in about a year," he says. "We'll need the long-term engagement of the international community, and this is an opportunity to enlist its support."

Kenny Rogers to mark 50 years in music on TV

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country music veteran Kenny Rogers is marking 50 years in the music business with a star-studded TV special.

"Pretty courageous, isn't it?" Rogers, 71, said in a phone interview, laughing.
"The whole idea is to get together with some friends of mine," he added. "I really don't want it to be a tribute. That's not what my deal is. It's kind of a celebration."

Friends including Dolly Parton, Allison Krauss, Lionel Richie and Wynonna Judd are already signed on to take part in "Kenny Rogers — The First 50 Years," which will tape on April 10 at the MGM Grand At Foxwoods in Connecticut.

The special will take viewers through the six decades of Rogers' hits, including "The Gambler," "Lucille," "Lady" and the Dolly Parton duet "Islands In The Stream." Entertainers who have known Rogers throughout the years will host segments of the show. Rogers will also perform, and he hopes that producers build in some unscripted time.

"I'm at my best when they turn me loose and just let me do something," he said.

There will undoubtedly be pictures and videos spanning six decades as well. Rogers is ready to embrace his fashion history. He started out in a jazz band wearing three-piece suits, but then changed it up when he joined The First Edition in 1967.

"I had never had a beard, and I parted my hair on the side like everybody else did," he said. "Then when I got in The First Edition, I was the oldest one, and they were saying, 'You may be too old for this group,' and I said, "Whoa, whoa, hold on. Give me a chance here.' So I went back and parted my hair in the middle, which was a little more contemporary. I put an earring in my ear, and then I grew a beard, and I wore those brown, rose-colored glasses to kind of give me an identification for that era."

While he has adapted to changing fashions, Rogers said the secret to long-term success is to be genuine.

"Everybody is three people. We're who we think we are, we're who the audience thinks we are, and we're who we really are, and the closer those three people are together, the longer your career can last," he said. "You can be a jerk, if you're a jerk all the time. But I think you have to be what you represent. The audience doesn't like to be fooled."

As for his next 50 years, Rogers is clear about his goals.

"Musically, I think I'm capable of making hit songs. Will they get played? Radio has said to me four or five times since my big success, 'Do a great song, and we'll play it.' They did it with 'The Greatest.' The did it with 'Buy Me a Rose.' They did it with 'I Can't Unlove You.' So I think I just have to find that song they can't say 'no' to, and I will constantly be trying to do that."

The network airing "Kenny Rogers — The First 50 Years" will be announced later. The special will also be syndicated internationally.

Rogers has sold over 105 million albums, earned dozens of awards, including three Grammys, and is ranked 8 on the R.I.A.A.'s list of top selling male artists of all time. His television movie, "The Gambler," is one of the highest rated TV movies of all time.

Cowell's Haiti charity single gets first airing

LONDON – A star-studded British single to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Haiti has had its first radio airplay.

The cover of R.E.M.'s 1993 ballad "Everybody Hurts" made its debut on breakfast-time broadcasts Tuesday.

Susan Boyle, Rod Stewart, Leona Lewis, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams are all featured on the track, coordinated by TV mogul Simon Cowell.

R.E.M. has agreed to waive royalties and the British government says the record will be exempt from sales tax.

It goes on sale by download Sunday and will be in stores starting Monday.

The song is one of several records raising money for victims of the Jan. 12 quake. Another is a re-recording of 1985 anthem "We Are The World" by 80 artists including Pink, Celine Dion and Kanye West.

Fall out Boy falling out?

Rockers Fall Out Boy appear to have fallen out - if 'tweets' written by bassist Pete Wentz are anything to go by.

In a series of recent posts on his Twitter.com blog, Wentz has confirmed the band are currently on hiatus, and hints that it might be a permanent thing.

He writes, "I don't know the future of Fall Out Boy. It's embarrassing to say one thing and then have the future dictate another. As far as I know Fall Out Boy is on (a) break.

"As much as I don't have a solo project, I also can't predict that I'd ever play in Fall Out Boy again."

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2009, Wentz explained he and his bandmates desperately needed a break from each other: "We've been seven years straight of just driving albums and tour, tour, tour. Everybody just needs to decompress."

The band formed in 2001 and became a big deal four years later, when their debut album From Under the Cork Tree achieved double platinum status after selling more than 2.5 million albums in the United States alone.

They have since become one of America's top bands.

Stars gather to cover 'We Are the World' for Haiti

LOS ANGELES – Twenty-five years after star-studded anthem "We Are the World" raised millions of dollars to aid famine relief in Africa, celebrities of a different generation were set to gather Monday night to re-record the charity tune to benefit Haiti.

Among those scheduled to perform on the revamped track the night after the Grammy Awards were Akon, Jason Mraz, Bono, Wyclef Jean, Carlos Santana, Enrique Iglesias, Usher, Toni Braxton and Lady Gaga. The session will be held at the same recording studio where the original was cut — the historic A&M complex in Hollywood.

Quincy Jones, who produced the 1985 anthem, announced last week that he planned to redo the song to benefit recovery from the deadly Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.

The session was all the talk at Sunday night's Grammy festivities. Music producer RedOne said being asked to participate was "the biggest honor a musician can ever do."

"Having Quincy, our father of music ... and Lionel Richie asking me to contribute and help, I said of course, because this is not about me," he said. "It's about Haiti."

Written by Michael Jackson and Richie, the original "We Are the World" thundered up the charts when it was released on the radio and in record stores in March 1985.

An unprecedented number of top pop musicians gathered at A&M the night of Jan. 28, 1985, following the American Music Awards, to record the tune. The song featured 45 American superstars, including Jackson, Richie, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan and Cyndi Lauper.

The record raised more than $30 million for USA for Africa, a nonprofit organization founded by the singers to fund hunger relief in African nations.

German rock band Scorpions to end career

BERLIN – The German rock band Scorpions is bringing down the curtain on a career spanning more than four decades.

The band, known for its early 1990s hit "Wind of Change" among others, said on its Web site Sunday that "we agree we have reached the end of the road."

It said it would end its career with a final album — "Sting In The Tail," to be released in March — and a tour that will start in Germany in May and take it across the world "over the next few years."

Guitarist Rudolf Schenker founded the band in Hannover in 1965. Singer Klaus Meine joined a few years later. Both men are 61.

Peter Gabriel Says He Won’t Reunite With Genesis at Rock Hall Induction

In two months Genesis will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but fans hoping to see Peter Gabriel sing with his former band for the first time in nearly 30 years are probably in for a disappointment. “As far as I know, I’m definitely not going to sing,” Gabriel tells Rolling Stone. “I learned at our last reunion [in 1982] that you can’t just get up there. You have to rehearse.”

Gabriel is actually not even positive he’ll be able to attend the March 15th induction ceremony in New York, since he’ll be in the midst of rehearsing for a European solo tour. “I’m trying to find a way to do it,” he says. “It’s not easy. If I can work it out, I’ll go.”

Five years ago Gabriel held a meeting with the classic Genesis lineup of Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett to discuss a possible staging of their 1974 prog-rock epic The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. “Initially I was open to it,” Gabriel says. “But then it seemed to be growing. I know what it’s like once you’re in it — these things tend to expand. I always describe it as going back to school, since this was a school group for me. It’s a fun place to visit and see your old friends, but its not a place you want to live.” Might he be open to a reunion show at some point in the future? “Phil has had trouble with his wrists and his back, so it’s pretty unlikely,” he says.

The group is actually more likely to collaborate on a possible movie project, Gabriel says. “The only thing that might happen is that some people talk about a film of the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. If it is to happen, we might work together on that. We’ll see.”

For more from our interview with Peter Gabriel, including info about his upcoming solo tour and his new covers album Scratch My Back, check out the next issue of Rolling Stone, out February 3rd.

Macca left out of Crooked Vultures

Paul McCartney wanted a place in Dave Grohl's supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, but was turned down in favour of Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones.

The Beatles star teamed up with the Foo Fighters frontman onstage for a performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards, and when the pair went out for dinner afterwards Grohl revealed his plans for a new band with Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme.

The veteran musician offered his services, but was disappointed when Grohl turned him down - because the rocker had already asked Jones to play bass.

McCartney says, "We went out for a bite to eat afterwards and Dave told me he was starting this band with Josh. I asked him who was playing bass and he rather sheepishly told me he'd approached John. So you read it here first - Paul McCartney was nearly the bass player in Them Crooked Vultures."

Johnny Cash's final studio album, 'American VI,' coming Feb. 26

“American VI: Ain’t No Grave,” the final studio album by Johnny Cash, will be released Feb. 26, timed to what would have been the Man in Black’s 78th birthday.

The Rick Rubin-produced collection consists of recordings they made together after finishing “American IV: The Man Comes Around” in 2002 and before Cash died on Sept. 12, 2003, and features a characteristically genre- and era-hopping batch of songs by Kris Kristofferson, Sons of the Pioneers’ Bob Nolan, Tom Paxton, Sheryl Crow and others.

Throughout his career, Cash consistently was drawn to a wide variety of songs and songwriters, reflecting his relentless pursuit of quality and substance. "He loved talking about music," Rubin told me shortly before “American V” was released. "Since I met him, he was never particularly talkative. But if you drew him out, he knew about everything. He was a really wise man.”

The new collection also includes an original that Cash wrote during his final years, “I Corinthians: 15:55,” from the New Testament passage about the spirit ultimately triumphing over the physical body: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

The first of the posthumous releases in the “American” series, “American V: A Hundred Highways,” surfaced in 2006 and landed Cash another Grammy Award for the music video accompanying the song “God's Gonna Cut You Down.” It also gave Cash his first No. 1 album since "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" had topped the national sales chart 37 years earlier.

“American VI” is being described as the final installment in the series that rejuvenated Cash’s career, beginning in 1994 with “American Recordings.” The “American” albums yielded six of the 13 career Grammys awarded to the storied country singer and songwriter.

Cash’s deteriorating health, especially after the death of his wife, June Carter Cash, in May 2003 meant that in terms of the recordings he and Rubin continued to work on, “There was a lot of stopping and starting,” Rubin recalled in a statement issued today. “But he always wanted to work. The doctors in the hospital kind of lectured me, saying, ‘He’s not going to stop, so you have to make sure he doesn’t work too much...’

"Johnny said that recording was his main reason for being alive,” Rubin said. “I think it was the only thing that kept him going."

Courtney Love defends using 'Hole' name for new album

Courtney Love has defended using the band name Hole for her forthcoming album 'Nobody's Daughter'.

The singer/guitarist recorded the LP with former Larrikin Love guitarist Micko Larkin, but without any of the former Hole members.

Founding member Eric Erlandson said last year that Hole would not be able to exist without his involvement. However, Love said she was persevering with using the moniker.

The last album to come out under the Hole name was 1998's 'Celebrity Skin'. In 2004, Love released the lbum 'America's Sweetheart' under her own name.

"It is Hole, yes of course," she said. "How do I do this? It is just because it is, and it is because we just negotiated our thing and it'll be fine. Everyone has good lawyers."

Love hinted that she and Erlandson may have come to a financial arrangement with regards to the name. "I don't want to slam him Erlandson," she said. "I'm a big sharer. Inside the business I am not known for being a stinge, for sure. I'm not stingy in any way, I give a lot of publishing to everyone."

To read the full interview with Love, make sure you pick up a copy of NME's Albums Of 2010 issue, which hits newsstands across the UK today (January 13).

The special issue features exclusive in-the-studio interviews with the likes of Radiohead, MGMT, MIA, LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Klaxons, Babyshambles and much more on this year's essential albums.

2 of 3 Dixie Chicks Returning With New Music

Two members of the Dixie Chicks - minus lead singer Natalie Maines - are preparing to release a new album this year.

According to CMT.com, sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison are working on a project to be released on Columbia Records.

However, Lloyd Maines, Natalie's father, tells CMT.com that the three girls are "definitely still an entity." He says the sisters are "cutting some demos" and that Natalie recorded "a little something with them" about a year ago.

The Associated Press' attempts to contact their publicist and Columbia Records were unsuccessful.

The Dixie Chicks suffered a backlash from fans and country radio over comments Natalie Maines made about President George W. Bush in 2003. The Chicks released their last album in 2006, called "Taking the Long Way."

The group has won 13 Grammys and was named the CMA entertainer of the year in 2000.

Slash turned down millions to reunite with Guns N' Roses

The original lineup of Guns N' Roses will "never" reform, Slash has declared, claiming that he turned down offers of hundreds of millions of dollars to reunite with Axl Rose. "It's sad that something so good doesn't exist any more, even though we're both still alive and on the same planet," he said.

Axl Rose might claim he doesn't need Slash. After all, Guns N' Roses still exist – more than a decade in the making, Chinese Democracy was released in 2008. But the band's sixth LP was more whimper than bang, and the group haven't undertaken a major tour in years. Wrestling with his management and copyright infringement claims, Axl Rose's hard-rock gang don't exactly seem like the biggest band in the world.

Slash isn't doing much better. His band, Velvet Revolver, lacks a singer, and his forthcoming solo album will be released, at least in part, as a free attachment with Classic Rock magazine. Plus, Jack White turned down an invitation to sing on one of his songs. Yet the guitarist still thinks that there "[isn't] ever a chance of a [Guns N' Roses] reunion".

"Things were so abrasive by the time I left," he told GQ. "I've never thought, 'Oh, wouldn't it be nice to get back together'. Because I know it wouldn't!" The lineup's last tour, in 1993, was "an ongoing exercise in how we could bond the least", Slash said. "It just got worse and worse." As Axl Rose remarked last year: "One of the two of us will die before a reunion." The two musicians have reportedly not spoken in 13 years.

Then again, if they do decide to reunite, the money would certainly be worthwhile. "I can't remember exact numbers, but [the offers have been] excessive," Slash told GQ. "Seven, eight-digit kinds of things." Asked directly if the amount was higher than $100m (£62m), Slash admitted, "Yeah".

"When we were on stage we were a real force together," he said. "But it got to a point off stage where it was impossible for us to even be in the same room together and create any music."

Barenaked Ladies Planning 'Good Time' Release, Olympics Gigs

The Barenaked Ladies will release their 11th studio album, All in Good Time," on Mar. 30 following a string of live dates at the Super Bowl and Vancouver Winter Olympics. The band has already been previewing the album's first single, "You Run Away," on a recent U.S. road trip, and the official track will hit radio later this month.

"This is a really important record for us and we're really proud of it," frontman Ed Robertson said in a statement. "We're redefining who we are, and how we communicate as a band, and as friends."

Recording for "All in Good Time" began in spring of 2009 in Toronto, where Roberston and his bandmates teamed up with producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda and mixed the album with Bob Clearmountain (Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones). "Good Time" will be released on Barenaked Ladies' Raisin Records through an exclusive worldwide deal with EMI Music.

"The album has an emotional rawness to it that we may have shied away from in the past," added Robertson. "I think we pushed ourselves to heavier places, and also allowed for some really spacious moments. We can't wait to play these songs live."

Barenaked Ladies have so far lined up three gigs leading up to the album release -- a Feb. 6 performance at the pre-Super Bowl event "Taste of the NFL," plus a Feb. 16 gig at the Olympic Victory Ceremony in Vancouver and the Olympic Village Free Show in Whistler on Feb. 17. Ticket information is available at tasteofthenfl.com and vancouver2010.com.

Kravitz confirms authenticity of leaked Jackson song

Lenny Kravitz released a video Tuesday morning to address speculation about whether a newly leaked snippet of a song called "Another Day" is a collaboration between him and Michael Jackson.

"I wrote the song, I played all the instruments," says Kravitz on the video released to TwitVid and The Wall Street Journal. Recording with Jackson, who died June 25, "was one of the most amazing musical experiences I've ever had," he adds.

Kravitz says he doesn't know the DJ whose voice is heard on the 90-second excerpt and the DJ had nothing to do with the recording.

Jackson fans anxious to hear the whole song will soon, says Kravitz. "All that is being worked out." The rocker made the video while surrounded by tropical trees somewhere "in the bush."

The "Another Day" fragment was leaked ("not by me," says Kravitz) last weekend, but because Kravitz doesn't appear on it, there was wholesale speculation of what it was and whether he was involved.

By Tuesday morning, Sony Music was busy yanking it from various websites for copyright infringement.

This could be the start of a cottage industry in 2010 Jackson leaks. Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo told Rolling Stone magazine that Jackson left behind hard drives full of unreleased songs on which he collaborates with various musicians such as Ne-Yo, Akon and Will.i.am, as well as songs from the 1980s.

"There are a couple of songs we recorded for the Bad album that we had to cut that are just sensational," DiLeo told the magazine, which calls "Another Day" a remake of Kravitz's 2004 song "Storm."

Last July, a 24-second fragment of a Jackson song called "A Place With No Name," based in part on the America hit "A Horse With No Name," also leaked online.

2010 music preview

Out with the old tunes and in with the new. Here’s some of what the music industry has in store for the first few months of the year — and what’s on the horizon after that.

JANUARY

Ringo Starr

Y Not

The world’s most overpaid drummer kicks off the year by welcoming a guest list that includes Joe Walsh, Joss Stone, Ben Harper, Richard Marx and some old guy named Paul.

Jan. 12

Vampire Weekend

Contra

Expect the hipster blogosphere to instantly anoint the acclaimed New York indie-rockers’ sophomore CD as the best disc of 2010 — or, more likely, condemn it as a massive failure. Jan. 12

Owen Pallett

Heartland

Thanks to a copyright issue with a certain video game, the one-man orchestra formerly known as Final Fantasy will use his real name for the followup to his Polaris-winning He Poos Clouds. Jan. 12

OK Go

Of the Blue Colour of the Sky

How will these Chicago power-popsters top that Grammy-winning synchronized-treadmill video from a few years back? My top 3 guesses: Escalators, Segways or Rascals. Jan. 12

Hawksley Workman

Meat

Eccentric singer-songwriter Workman’s latest is a typically eclectic offering that incorporates everything from electronica and hip-hop to Gregorian chants and metal. Go figure. Jan 19

Eels

End Times

This sequel to last summer’s desire-themed Hombre Lobo is reportedly a concept album about divorce and aging. What’s next? A box set about online dating? Jan. 19

The Magnetic Fields

Realism

Singer-songwriter Stephen Merritt and Co. offer up the unplugged folk-pop yin to 2008’s noise-rock outing Distortion — and complete the synth-free trilogy that began with 2004’s i. Jan. 26

Spoon

Transference

As 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga proved, these Austin indie-popsters are superb songwriters. Too bad they’re still one of the most boring live bands in existence.

Jan. 26

Corinne Bailey Rae

The Sea

British soul singer Rae’s long-awaited sophomore album deals with her husband Jason’s fatal overdose in 2008. Get ready for the feel-bad album of the winter. Jan. 26

FEBRUARY

Nick Jonas & The Administration

Who I Am

The youngest of the pop-trio siblings claims he modelled his new side-project group after Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Seriously, he said that. Feb. 2

Rob Zombie

Hellbilly Deluxe 2

Shock rocker-turned-horror director Zombie claims this sequel to his 1998 debut could be his last CD. Until he needs to sell his next one, that is. Feb. 2

Massive Attack

Heligoland

Seven years to the day after their last studio CD, the trip-hop duo finally return — with the help of guest vocalists including Damon Albarn and Hope Sandoval. Feb. 9

Allison Moorer

Crows

The red-headed roots-rock singer-songwriter releases her eighth album. Don’t be surprised if hubby Steve Earle makes a cameo. Feb. 9

Sade

Soldier of Love

This 10-song set is the British soul goddess’ first studio album in 10 years. Way to hustle there, Sade. Feb. 9

Peter Gabriel

Scratch My Back

Sorry, fans: The former Genesis frontman’s first disc in seven years consists of orchestral covers of Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Neil Young and more. Feb. 16

Juliana Hatfield

Peace and Love

Near as I can tell, the underappreciated indie-rock singer-guitarist has about two fans left: Me and the guy who e-mails me every time she puts out a new CD. This one’s for you, dude. Feb. 16

David Byrne & Fatboy Slim

Here Lies Love

Well, this should be interesting: It’s a two-CD song cycle about Imelda Marcos, with cameos by Tori Amos, Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Jones, Steve Earle and others. Feb. 23

Erykah Badu

New Amerykah, Part II: Return of the Ankh

This sequel to the soul mama’s deservedly acclaimed 2008 release has already missed several release dates. Here’s hoping this one sticks. Feb. 23

Airbourne

No Guts, No Glory

These Aussies aren’t the first band to cash in by ripping off AC/DC. With this second album, we’ll find out if they’ve got any other tricks up their sleeve. Feb. 23

MARCH

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

The Brutalist Bricks

Despite being one of the finest songwriters of his generation, indie-rocker Leo also remains one of the most overlooked. Maybe this CD will change that. March 9

Liars

Sisterworld

I have no idea what these experimental noise-rockers have in store on their fifth studio album. But I fully expect it to be nothing short of freaky. March 9

Broken Bells

TBA

This indie-rock duo consists of Shins singer-guitarist James Mercer and ubiquitous producer Danger Mouse. And they have a song called Your Head is on Fire. OK, then. March 9

Drive-By Truckers

The Big To-Do

Singer-guitarist Patterson Hood says the Athens roots-rockers’ eighth album is “more rocking than anything since Disc 2 of Southern Rock Opera.” Count me in. March 16

Peter Wolf

Midnight Souvenirs

If you remember The J. Geils Band, you might be interested in their singer’s first solo album in eight years — featuring cameos by Merle Haggard, Shelby Lynne and Neko Case. March 16

Dillinger Escape Plan

Option Paralysis

Three years after their last album, Ire Works, the New Jersey metalcore maniacs unleash some fresh hell. March 23

Goldfrapp

Head First

The British electro-pop duo’s fifth album shares its title with an old Babys disc. Presumably, that’s all they share. March 23

Scissor Sisters

TBA

The glammy dance-rockers teamed with British producer and remixer Stuart Price, who has twiddled knobs for everyone from Madonna to Gaga. Sounds like a good match. March

LATER

She & Him

Volume Two

M Ward and Zooey Deschanel return with another disc of indie-pop duets. April 6

Deftones

TBA

This will be the experimental metal band’s first album without bassist Chi Cheng, who has not recovered from severe head injuries he suffered in a 2008 car crash. April 27

Melissa Auf def Maur

Out of Our Minds

The former Hole bassist has been working on her latest album for years — and after hearing some of it played live, let me tell you: It still needs work. Spring

Bachman Turner

Rock ’n’ Roll is the Only Way Out

The Canadian rockers get back in business together for the first time in 20 years. Spring

Goo Goo Dolls

Something for the Rest of Us

Johnny Rzeznik and Co. deliver something for those who consider Bon Jovi too edgy and interesting. Spring

MGMT

Congratulations

Congrats are indeed in order for the Grammy-nominated dance-rockers, who are striking while the iron is hot with this followup to last year’s Oracular Spectacular. Spring

Interpol

TBA

The New York post-punks’ fourth CD is either a forward-leaning orchestral album, or a return to their old sound, depending on whose interview you read. Spring

The Walkmen

TBA

The New York indie-rockers put out albums in every even-numbered year since 2002, so there’s no reason for them to stop now. Spring

Gorillaz

Plastic Beach

Damon Albarn says this is the poppiest record he’s ever made — and it includes cameos by Lou Reed, Mos Def, Barry Gibb, and Bobby Womack. Spring

Beastie Boys

Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1

Now that Adam Yauch has reportedly recovered from cancer, the rap trio can finally dish up this long-overdue disc. Spring

John Mellencamp

No Better Than This

Mellencamp and producer

T Bone Burnett cut this disc in mono at historic locations like Sun Studio and a hotel where Robert Johnson recorded. Works for me. Spring

Devo

Fresh

Dig out your flowerpot hats: The Spudboys are putting the finishing touches on their first new CD in a couple of decades. Spring

DEFINITE MAYBES

Radiohead

TBA

Guitarist Ed O’Brien recently said the band would be recording in winter and releasing the followup to In Rainbows this year. Well, that should take care of 2010’s album-of-the-year spot. TBA

The Hold Steady

TBA

Craig Finn and his hardworking Brooklyn bar band have been playing new songs on the road lately, so a new album can’t be far behind. TBA

The Arcade Fire

TBA

The bad news? The Montreal indie-rockers recently shot down rumours of a May release. The good news? They claimed a new CD will surface in the latter half of the year. TBA

Cat Power

TBA

Word is that the singer-songwriter will ditch her Memphis Rhythm Band and return to the solo guitar-and-piano sound of old for this disc. TBA

Fleet Foxes

TBA

Singer-guitarist Robin Pecknold recently said there will “definitely” be an album in 2010. That’s good enough for me. TBA

The New Pornographers

TBA

It’s been a year since A.C. Newman’s Get Guilty and three years since Challengers, so it would seem to be about time for these indie-popsters to rise again. TBA

R.E.M.

TBA

The Georgia rockers are in the studio with producer Jacknife Lee making album 15 as we speak. TBA

Christina Aguilera

Light & Darkness

Becoming a mother has turned bigger singers than Aguilera into sappy crooners. Then again, she’s also filming the movie Burlesque, so who knows. TBA

Stone Temple Pilots

TBA

Supposedly, the reformed Weiland and Co. have almost wrapped up this disc with producer Don Was. Trouble is, their old label doesn’t want to let them out of their contract. TBA

Linkin Park

TBA

The California rockers claim their fourth album will be more cutting-edge than 2007’s Minutes to Midnight. That shouldn’t be hard. TBA

Offspring

TBA

Dexter Holland and his veteran pop-punk outfit are reportedly due back in the studio with producer Bob Rock this month. TBA

DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH

OutKast

TBA

Andre 3000 and Big Boi each plan solo albums in 2010 — and might team up again. I’ve heard that before. TBA

ZZ Top

TBA

In the six years since their last album, I could have grown a beard longer than Billy Gibbons’. TBA

Peter Gabriel goes orchestral for covers album

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Peter Gabriel eschews traditional rock'n'roll instrumentation on his upcoming album, "Scratch My Back," which sports orchestral covers of material originally recorded by David Bowie, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Radiohead and Arcade Fire, among others.

All of the artists whose songs Gabriel covers on "Scratch My Back" will return the favor by reworking his songs on a future album, dubbed "I'll Scratch Yours."
"Scratch My Back," due February 15 on Virgin Records, is Gabriel's first studio album since 2002's "Up," which peaked at No. 9 on The Billboard 200.

Gabriel will perform selections from "Scratch My Back" with an orchestra at four March shows: March 22 in Paris (Palais Omnisports), March 25 in Berlin (O2 World) and March 27-28 in London (The O2).

Here is the track list: "Heroes" (David Bowie) "The Boy in the Bubble" (Paul Simon) "Mirrorball" (Elbow) "Flume" (Bon Iver) "Listening Wind" (Talking Heads) "The Power of the Heart" (Lou Reed) "My Body Is a Cage" (The Arcade Fire) "The Book of Love" (The Magnetic Fields) "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" (Randy Newman) "Apres Moi" (Regina Spektor), "Philadelphia" (Neil Young) "Street Spirit" (Radiohead).

Is 'Empire State of Mind' the new 'New York, New York'?

It has been nearly impossible lately to surf the radio without hearing Jay-Z rapping about his gritty-to-glamorous ascent in the big city as Alicia Keys swoons about the "concrete jungle where dreams are made of . . ."

The song "Empire State of Mind" was the biggest hit at Yankee Stadium this fall, and then, just days before Jay-Z turned 40, it gave the rap legend his first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 list. And if it wasn't already ubiquitous, its beat blaring from the radio in almost every corner store, last month Keys issued her own version on her new album and has been regularly performing this salute to the aspirations of native New Yorkers.

For the last three decades, Frank Sinatra's " New York, New York," from the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb, has ruled as the city's sentimental favorite -- in ballparks, at weddings and to signal determination. Over the same three decades, hip-hop grew to be the dominant force in pop music and culture and Jay-Z one of its leading citizens. Like any good New Yorker, he has made no secret of his ambition to topple what came before him; and since there are few left to take on, he's trying to elbow aside the Chairman of the Board with an anthem reflective of a new generation.

But can any hip-hop song prove as universal and enduring as Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" (written by Billy Strayhorn) or Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's " Manhattan"? Or, for that matter, that other easy-to-whistle "New York, New York," by Leonard Bernstein and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green,which explains, "the Bronx is up and the Battery down, the people ride in a hole in the ground"?

The answer is maybe, maybe not.

From the very start of "Empire State," Jay-Z's lyrics sum up his rise from street kid to celebrity as well as his vision of New York in line with anthems that precede him:

Yea I'm out that Brooklyn
Now I'm down in TriBeCa
Right next to DeNiro
But I'll be hood forever
I'm the new Sinatra and . . . since I made it here
I can make it anywhere.

Even the idea of a "new Sinatra" feels wrong to Jonathan Schwartz, a radio personality from New York with an encyclopedic knowledge of the singer. During a phone interview, Schwartz hums one of his favorite ballads of the city, the 1934 slow-tempo "Autumn in New York," by Vernon Duke, who composed "April in Paris."

"These songs are . . . for everyone, forever," he says, complaining that the street music of today "won't last because it has no melody and very little that even rhymes. Words like 'home' and 'alone' don't rhyme and yet that's what these rappers use. That never would have been with a Vernon Duke or Oscar Hammerstein . . ."

But composer John Kander, who with the late Fred Ebb wrote the musical "Cabaret" as well as Sinatra's enduring anthem, is intrigued by Jay-Z's ode to the big city.

"I thought it was kind of interesting because it juxtaposed totally different styles of music," says Kander, 82, explaining it was first brought to his attention by another musical theater star, 29-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, who mixed rap with other styles in the Broadway hit "In the Heights."

Other than suggesting that an anthem usually embodies some measure of hope, Kander could not -- and would not -- attempt to explain what makes a city connect with a certain song; he merely pointed out that "Empire State of Mind" has as much of a chance of enjoying another 30 years of popularity as his did 30 years ago. "It doesn't matter what I think or what the critics say," says Kander. "It's what people think and feel and hang on to."

Kander and Ebb wrote and then rewrote "New York, New York" for a 1977 Martin Scorsese movie of the same name. ( Robert De Niro, who costarred with Liza Minnelli, didn't think their first version was "strong enough," so out of sheer anger of being told what to do by an actor, they reworked it in 45 minutes.) But even that version didn't go anywhere until Sinatra remade it a few years later.

"He rearranged it for his more limited range and botched the lyrics," Kander recalls with a chuckle (there was no "A Number One" in Ebb's lyrics), "and when I first heard it, I thought, 'Oh gosh, shouldn't we fix it for Sinatra?' But it became huge without us. So who's to say?"

Sinatra first performed "New York, New York" at an October 1978 concert in Radio City Music Hall. He was 62 with a voice that wasn't what it once was. But he still had the timing and the feral excitement of the kid from the mobbed-up Hoboken waterfront you could just imagine looking across the river thinking, "If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere."

There are generations of songs that capture New York's magic and allure, its extremes of wealth and poverty, of uptown and downtown, of private misery and public joy. Most date themselves by casting the city in a moment; others hang onto enduring ideals. Bob Dylan, in "Talking New York," reveals it through the eyes of an outsider; Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" is about a native coming home.

The songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart invented a tune for almost every New York: their classic references pushcarts at the same time it portrays a city as "a wondrous toy, just made for a girl and boy." But in "Give It Back to the Indians," they complain how New York has gone to hell: "We tried to run this city, but it ran away."

"It's classically New York that it would inspire a song for every mood and era," says Tony Fletcher, a music historian who recently published "All Hopped Up and Ready to Go" about the city's music scenes 1927 to 1977.

Growing up in Yorkshire, England, Fletcher, 45, got to know New York through the lyrics of the Ramones and Blondie, which romanticized (at least for him) the grimy Lower East Side and obscure areas in the boroughs.

"When I was coming in from JFK for the very first time, when I moved here, I was stunned to see a sign for 'Rockaway Beach,' " Fletcher says of the Queens area, also the name of a Ramones song. "It was a thrill to find out these places weren't fictional."

There are any number of hip-hop odes to specific neighborhoods, mostly in the spirit of yours-versus-mine, Queens vs. the Bronx vs. Brooklyn vs. the 212. On his albums, Jay-Z often returns to the Marcy Houses projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where he grew up. In "Where I'm From," he explains, it's "where the pimps, prostitutes, and the drug lords meet; we make a million off of beats, cause our stories is deep" and says you can forget about tomorrow "as long as the night before was sweet."

In "Empire State of Mind," however, he expands his community pride to cover the whole city and a wide spectrum of New Yorkers, including the late rap superstar Notorious B.I.G. and Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour. Jay-Z also samples broadly for this song -- for the title from Billy Joel, for the backing track from the 1970 hit "Love on a Two Way Street." Two lesser-known New Yorkers, Angela Hunt and Janet "Jnay" Sewell-Ulepic, wrote the lyrics for the chorus, or hook, which Keys, a New Yorker herself, reworked for a more introspective version on her new album, "The Element of Freedom," which was released on Dec. 15.

It's the hook that many see as Jay-Z's bid to make this The One -- that once-every-few-decades song about New York that catches on and becomes an anthem. "Empire State" pulls in a broader audience by tapping into classic mythologies with lines that revere a city where:

There's nothin' you can't do . . .
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York.

For now -- at least in New York -- this song has become something of a cultural phenomenon. The lyrics are mapped in the blogosphere and have been translated into a suburban boast by Stephen Colbert disguised in a hoodie. The local Madison Square Garden Networks re-aired Jay-Z debuting the song at the venue on Sept. 11 at a concert in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack back-to-back with a performance there by Sinatra in 1974; the concerts were promoted together as "Two Generations of Cool" or "Bada Bling!"

Not that any of this is a guarantee that Jay-Z's song of the city can live past its moment and beyond its generation the way Sinatra's did. But Al Shux, who created the backing track for "Empire State of Mind," will know when it has gone from a blip on the Billboard chart to a beloved entry in the American songbook.

"When someone says, 'Start spreadin' the news,' you know exactly what they're talking about and what comes next," says Shux, a British producer and a Sinatra fan even at the age of 27. "Someday I hope when someone anywhere in the world says 'I'm out of that Brooklyn,' the whole world will know what comes next."

Michael Jackson's Spike Lee-directed 'This Is It' video

Michael Jackson’s posthumous single “This Is It” finally has a music video. Not just any video, either, but one helmed by acclaimed director Spike Lee.

Lee’s clip is a heartfelt tribute to the late megastar, with whom he previously collaborated on 1995’s “They Don’t Care About Us” video. The new video opens with shots of Jackson as a small child — is there anything more heartbreaking? — interspersed with vintage and contemporary images of his hometown of Gary, Indiana. Soon it’s whirling through Jackson’s peak years, with well-chosen performance and candid footage illustrating his worldwide fame. Jackson’s countless fans serve as the clip’s co-star, mourning his loss and celebrating his life. At last, the camera comes to rest on Jackson’s iconic hat and sparkling glove, resting alone on a stool.

Given that he likely had no footage of Jackson performing the song “This Is It” to work with, I’d say Lee’s done a very nice job with this video.

Rage Against the Machine Win U.K. Christmas Single Battle

In one of the most unexpected victories of this decade, Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” beat out The X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s “The Climb” to become the U.K.’s Christmas Number One single. The victory was aided by a grassroots Facebook campaign that chose Rage’s 1992 hit to halt a run of four consecutive wins for the Simon Cowell-produced reality competition show. According to the BBC, the final tally revealed Rage had beaten McElderry by around 50,000 downloads.

The race was at one point much closer than the 50K-gap outcome, but Rage’s announcement last week that they’d perform a free “thank you” gig in the U.K. led to a late frenzy of downloads before the December 19th deadline. “It will be the victory party to end all victory parties,” guitarist Tom Morello promised, adding that both McElderry and Cowell would be invited to MC the show. On his Twitter early this morning, Morello tweeted, “Quite a day! Thanks again for making Rage part of this historic campaign. Changing the charts or the world: together we can’t be stopped.” Rage has also vowed to give all the royalties from the “Killing” downloading spree to charity Shelter.

Despite previously criticizing the campaign, Cowell took the Christmas single loss admirably, saying he had already called Jon and Tracy Morter — the organizers of the Facebook effort — to congratulate them. “I called Jon on Saturday to congratulate the two of them that, win or lose, they turned this into a very exciting race for the Christmas Number One,” Cowell told the BBC. Even Paul McCartney, who appeared on the massively popular X Factor this season, spoke out in support of Rage’s campaign, saying a victory for the 1992 song would be “funny” and “prove a point.”

“The people in the U.K. are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another and they want to back their own charts, and we are honored that they have chosen our song to be the rebel anthem to try to topple The X Factor label,” Morello told the BBC5 moments before Rage performed “Killing in the Name” live over the airwaves. Rage’s performance was cut short after frontman Zack de la Rocha sang “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” four times over the air.

Radiohead Returning To Studio In January

Radiohead plans to return to the studio next month to continue work on its next album, which began over the summer.

"The vibe in the camp is fantastic at present," guitarist Ed O'Brien wrote over the weekend on Radiohead.com. "I am so genuinely excited about what we're doing, but for obvious reasons I can't divulge anything more."

Radiohead's last album, 2007's "In Rainbows," was initially released as a name-your-own-price download through the band's Web site before coming out on CD a few months later.

"Ten years ago we were all collectively (that's the band) in the land of 'Kid A,' and although hugely proud of that record, it wasn't a fun place to be," O'Brien wrote. "What's reassuring now, is that we are most definitely a different band, which should therefore mean that the music is different too and that is the aim of the game ... keep it moving."

Meanwhile, frontman Thom Yorke made a surprise appearance at last week's Copenhagen climate summit and was vocal in his criticism while writing on Radiohead's site. "We have no international agreement. This is all too, too late," he wrote. "I feel deeply traumatized by the whole experience. If you'd been there you would also have been."

Yorke played a handful of solo shows in October with a band featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and drummer Joey Waronker. He is expected to return to the stage for more dates in 2010, but details have yet to be announced.

Nickelback named 'band of decade'

TORONTO — Bad news Nickelback haters: the rock band so many love to hate has been named the group of the decade by Billboard magazine.

Billboard has released a list of the top music stars of the 2000s based on chart success, and Canada’s Nickelback was the top group or duo, ranking No. 7 overall.

The list was compiled by tabulating the rankings on the Billboard top 200 albums and the Billboard Hot 100 songs lists from Dec. 4, 1999 to Nov. 28, 2009.

The list was topped by rapper Eminem, followed by Usher, Nelly, Beyonce and Alicia Keys.

Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” was also named the top rock song of the decade, and was No. 4 on the Top 10 songs of the 2000s list.

The much-maligned rock band also had five other Top 10 singles in the 2000s, and its last four albums all cracked the Top 10 of Billboard’s album charts.

The 2005 CD “All the Right Reasons,” with the hits “Rockstar“ and “Photograph,” spent 156 weeks on Billboard’s top-selling albums list.

New CD Releases, December 15th: Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Robin Thicke, Mudvayne, "Avatar" soundtrack, and more

Alicia Keys "The Element of Freedom" (J-Records)

The Grammy-winning R&B/soul star is set to drop her fourth studio album. "The Element of Freedom," which Keys co-produced alongside a bevy of well-known hit-makers, follows 2007's triple-platinum "As I Am."

"Doesn't Mean Anything," the first single from "The Element of Freedom," was released to radio in September. A second single, "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart," hit in November. The album also features a collaboration with Beyonce called "Put It In a Love Song."

Fans that loved Keys' work on Jay-Z's recent single "Empire State of Mind" can turn to this album to find a sequel of sorts; the track is titled "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down."

* * *
Mary J. Blige "Stronger with Each Tear" (Geffen)

The singer known as "The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul," a title she's earned by selling nearly 50 million records worldwide, is set to unveil a follow-up to 2007's "Growing Pains." "Stronger with Each Tear" is Blige's ninth studio album. Blige served as executive producer on the disc, supervising an all-star production crew that also included Johnta Austin, Ryan Leslie, Darkchild and Bryan-Michael Cox.

Thus far, two singles have been released: "The One," featuring Canadian rapper Drake, and the recently released follow-up "I Am." Guest appearances include rapper T.I. on "Good Love" and Trey Songz on "We Got Hood Love."

* * *
Robin Thicke "Sex Therapy" (Interscope)

The R&B vocalist, son of Canadian actor Alan Thicke, returns with his fourth studio effort. "Sex Therapy" follows 2008's "Something Else," which peaked at No. 3 on The Billboard 200.

The first single from "Sex Therapy" is the title track, which was released back in October. The album features numerous guest stars, including Estelle, Snoop Dogg, Kid Cudi and Jazmine Sullivan.

* * *
Mudvayne "Mudvayne" (Epic)

These metal men hope to rock The Billboard 200 with the release of the band's self-titled fifth studio album. "Mudvayne," produced by Jeremy Parker, follows last year's "The New Game." The album's first single is the cut "Scream With Me."

* * *
Official Soundtrack "Avatar" (Atlantic)

For the soundtrack to his new big-budget epic film, director James Cameron returned to the scene of his greatest success and has once again joined forces with "Titanic" composer James Horner. The "Avatar" soundtrack features 14 tracks, including the film's main theme, "I See You," which was sung by soul/pop star Leona Lewis. The film opens Dec. 16.

* * *
More new releases:
Animal Collective, "Fall Be Kind" (Domino)
James Brown, "Singles 8: 1972-1973" (Hip-O)
Chicane, "The Best of Chicane" (Ultra)
Elis, "Catharsis" (Napalm)
Lady Gaga, "The Fame Monster (Special Edition)" (Streamline)
George Lopez, "Tall, Dark & Chicano" (Comedy Central)
Julian Lennon, James Scott Cook, "Lucy" (Therevolution)
George Michael, "December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)" (101)
Donny Osmond, "Definitive Collection" (Polydor)
Pet Shop Boys, "Christmas" (101)
Phil Vassar, "Traveling Circus" (Universal)T
The Who, "Greatest Hits" (Geffen)
Young Money, "We Are Young Money" (Cash Money)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Nine" (Geffen)

Classic 1978 Elvis Costello show headed to stores

Elvis Costello and The Attractions' legendary 1978 show at Hollywood High will surface on CD next month, marking the first time the performance has been available in its entirety.

Titled "Live at Hollywood High," the 20-song set is scheduled for a Jan. 12 release, and will include 11 previously unreleased recordings, according to Universal Music Enterprises.

The album features a then-23-year-old Costello performing in front of a sold-out crowd at Hollywood High School's auditorium on June 4, 1978. The set list includes tracks such as "Alison," "Mystery Dance," "Waiting for the End of the World," Miracle Man" and "Watching the Detectives," as well as previously unreleased renditions of "Lip Service," "The Beat," "Living in Paradise," "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," among others.

The White Stripes set to release limited-edition documentary box-set

The White Stripes are set to release a limited edition box-set of their Canadian tour documentary.

Called 'The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights', the box-set will include an extensive collection of DVDs, the band's first live album on CD and vinyl, a 208-page book and more.

Priced at $179 (£110) until the end of the year, the package will then go up to $229 (£140).

For more information or to pre-order the box-set please visit WhiteStripes.com.

Cyrus to take music hiatus

Miley Cyrus is to take a hiatus from music - so she can drop her teen pop star image and concentrate on a rockier sound.

The 17-year-old Disney star is sick of clean-cut songs and is planning to give her music a drastic make-over.

And she's decided the best way to prepare her fans for an edgier sound is by taking a break from recording altogether.

She tells British TV show GMTV, "I want to do my last pop record, I'm working on a record right now. I kinda (sic) want this to be my last record for a little while and be able to take a break and just get all the types of music that I really love... you know my favourite styles. And be able have something edgier and not have to worry about people saying, 'Oh, this isn't what her fans want to listen to.' Because in a few years, as I grow up, so will my fans and I won't have to focus on that as much and I'll be able to have more of the sound of music that I'm into."

Decade's best: Eminem tops in sales; Beatles get No. '1' album

The race to dominate the decade in music has come down to Eminem and The Beatles in the stretch. The winner?

Both. The rapper emerges as the top-selling artist of the past 10 years, and the Fab Four have bragging rights to the best-selling album.

With 32.2 million copies sold, Eminem leads the pack in overall album sales, followed by The Beatles with 30 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which releases its decade tabulations today. Data were tallied through Nov. 1, and though figures could rise through Dec. 31, they won't alter the rankings.

The Beatles' hits compilation 1 sold 11.5 million, edging 'N Sync's No Strings Attached, with 11.1 million. Eminem has two titles among the top 10 albums, 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP at No. 4 with 10.2 million and 2002's The Eminem Show at No. 5 with 9.8 million.

An early and roaring start paid off for The Beatles and 'N Sync. Released Nov. 13, 2000, 1 sold 595,000 its first week, 662,000 the next and 1.3 million during Christmas week. It spent eight weeks atop the chart. No Strings, issued March 21, 2000, sold 2.4 million its first seven days, the biggest week in SoundScan history.

"When you get toward 11 million units, it has to be more than early momentum," says Eric Weinberg, president of Nielsen Entertainment. "It needs to be good. What's amazing about this industry is that we really never know what the numbers are going to be."

Case in point: the unexpected mainstream success of St. Louis rapper Nelly, whose hit-laden 2000 debut Country Grammar is the 10th best-selling album, with 8.5 million copies. Norah Jones' 2002 debut, Come Away With Me, was another surprise hit, boosted by five Grammys. It lands at No. 3 with 10.5 million.

New CD Releases, December 8th: Jimmy Buffett, Snoop Dogg, Thirty Seconds to Mars and more!!

Jimmy Buffett "Buffet Hotel" (Mailboat)

Mr. "Margaritaville" doesn't have any more tour dates lined up this year, but his loyal legion of fans (a.k.a. Parrot Heads) still have something to look forward to this holiday season: a brand new record. "Buffet Hotel" (one "t") is Buffett's first studio album since 2006's "Take the Weather With You."

Produced by Michael Utley and Mac McAnally (two members of Buffett's Coral Reefer band), "Buffet Hotel" features three tunes that the singer/songwriter/guitarist has already introduced in concert: "Surfing in a Hurricane," "A Lot to Drink About" and "Summerzcool," the latter of which was used as the 2009 tour name.

In a statement, Buffett said he was inspired to write the music on "Buffet Hotel" during a recent trek to West Africa to attend the Festival in the Desert, an annual music fest that takes place near Timbuktu, Mali.

"I actually didn't go to the desert with the pre-conceived notion of returning with an album," Buffett said. "I went looking for stories. ... The story that sparked the song 'Buffet Hotel,' which eventually turned into the title track and name of this album, began the minute we set foot on the patio of the infamous Hotel De La Gare Buffet in the Bamako train station, better known as Le Buffet Hotel." The Buffet Hotel is a colonial-era train station/hotel where the music scene flourished in Mali after its independence in 1960.

* * *
Snoop Dogg "Malice N Wonderland" (Priority)

The hip-hop icon takes a break from making horror movies, appearing on sports-talk shows and inventing new urban slang (fo' shizzle!) to unveil his 10th studio album. The cleverly named "Malice N Wonderland" follows last year's "Ego Trippin'," which debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200, selling 137,000 copies in its first week of release.

"Malice N Wonderland" features production by Dr. Dre, The Neptunes and Pete Rock, among others, and guest appearances by R. Kelly, Ghostface Killah, Mary J. Blige, Pharrell and many others. Snoop is currently bringing "Wonderland" to venues across North America, with upcoming dates scheduled in San Francisco and Los Angeles, among other cities.

* * *
Thirty Seconds to Mars "This is War" (Virgin)

The popular alt-rock troupe jumps back into the fray with the release of its third studio set, which follows 2005's "A Beautiful Life." The Los Angeles act, led by actor/singer/guitarist Jared Leto, worked with producers Flood (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails) and Steve Lilywhite (The Rolling Stones, U2) on "This is War."

Thirty Seconds to Mars" is currently on the road showcasing the "This is War" material. The trek continues through a Dec. 19 date at the House of Blues in Cleveland, OH.

* * *
Chris Brown "Graffiti" (Jive)

The troubled R&B star, who was convicted in September of assaulting fellow singer Rihanna, continues to try to get his career back on track with the release of his third studio effort.

Thus far, his efforts in that regard have paid dividends: the first "Graffiti" single, "I Can Transform Ya" (featuring Lil' Wayne and Swizz Beatz), proved popular, peaking at No. 18 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Brown is currently in the midst of his "Fan Appreciation" tour.

* * *
Timbaland "Shock Value 2" (Blackground)

The Grammy-winning producer--who has worked with such diverse talents as Justin Timberlake, Bjork, Ashlee Simpson and Coldplay--returns with his third solo outing, a follow-up/companion-piece to 2007's "Shock Value." "Shock Value II" finds Timbaland collaborating with Katy Perry, The Fray, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and many other big-name artists.

* * *
More new releases:
BG, "Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood" (Koch)
Clipse, "Til the Casket Drops" (Sony)
Bill Cosby, "Revenge" (Rhino)
Bill Cosby, "To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With" (Rhino)
Alejandro Fernández, "Dos Mundos--Tradicion" (Fonovisa)
Mantovani, "Christmas Carols" (Collector's Choice)
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, "John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (Deluxe Edition)" (Decca)
Elvis Presley, "Elvis 75: Good Rockin' Tonight" (Sony)
Puddle of Mudd, "Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate" (Geffen)
Linda Ronstadt, "Don't Cry Now" (Rhino)
We the Kings, "Smile Kid" (S-Curve)
Neil Young, "Dreamin' Man Live '92" (Warner)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Glee: The Music, Volume 2" (Sony)
"Invictus" (Watertower)

Was (Not Was) Turns 30 With Hits Collection

Was (Not Was) will trip through its past early next year with the Feb. 23 release of "Pick of the Litter (1980-2010)," a 19-song compilation which commemorates the 30th anniversary of the inventively warped dance/rock/soul/funk/jazz group's recording career.

"...Litter" spans the entire Was (Not Was) canon, from the 12-inch version of its firs single, "Wheel Me Out," to a pair of songs ("Semi-Interesting Week" and "From the Head to the Heart") from 2008's "Boo!" The set also includes the group's two Top 20 hits -- 1988's "Spy in the House of Love" and 1989's "Walk the Dinosaur" -- as well as an improvised live rehearsal take of "Hello Operator...I Mean Dad...I Can't Even Remember Who I Am;" the Steve "Silk" Hurley remix of "Shake Your Head" with Ozzy Osbourne and Kim Basinger; the single edit of the 1990 cover of the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone;" and collaborations with Leonard Cohen ("Elvis' Rolls Royce") and Mel Torme ("Zaz Turned Blue").

Don Was (ne Fagenson) and David Was (ne Weiss), who founded the group during the late '70s in their native Detroit (and subsequently relocated to Los Angeles), tell Billboard.com that the idea of a compilation "has been kicking around for as long as we can remember" and was even considered when Was (Not Was) signed with Shout! Factory for "Boo!" Don Was took the lead in choosing the material, saying that "I just picked the best ones, y'know? It was fun. I didn't expect it to be fun, but I remember every session, and certain things I thought were goofy I remember why we did it that way."

David Was recalls that the group's creative aim was, and continues to be, "to figure out what unlikely things could you put over a dance beat and still motivate people to move around and not freak 'em out. Whatever phantasmagoria or soloing or crazy words or whatever go in front of that beat, as long it's contemporary you can still make cool records. I still think that's a worthy ideal."

Don Was, meanwhile, feels that "...Litter" confirms that "there was a reason for us to exist. And mainly we had fun making all those records. It was never pull-your-hair-out labor. It was all laughs."

David Was says he hopes "...Litter's" release will "stir the waters enough to have an excuse to put out another record at some point," though nothing firm is planned at this point. But his partner concurs. "I think we just keep going," says Don Was, who's currently serving as a "production consultant" for Stone Temple Pilots next album and producing tracks for the Rolling Stones' upcoming "Exile on Main Street" reissue as well as albums by singers Sharon Little and Elizabeth Cool. "I anticipate doing this 'til we drop."

The track listing for Was (Not Was)'s "Pick of the Litter (1980-2010)" includes:

"Wheel Me Out"
"Out Come the Freaks"
"Tell Me What I'm Dreaming"
"The Sky's Ablaze"
"Should I Wait"
"Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball)"
"Walk the Dinosaur"
"Spy in the House of Love" (7-inch version)
"Dad I'm in Jail"
"Somewhere in America There's a Street Named After My Dad"
"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (promo edit single)
"I Feel Better Than James Brown"
"I Blew Up the United States"
"Semi-Interesting Week"
"From the Head to the Heart"
"Hello Operator . . . I Mean Dad . . .I Can't Even Remember Who I Am" (live rehearsal version)
"Shake Your Head" (Steve "Silk" Hurley remix featuring Kim Basinger and Ozzy Osbourne)
"Elvis' Rolls Royce" (featuring Leonard Cohen)
"Zaz Turned Blue" (featuring Mel Torme)

Bachman, Turner Reunite For New Music, Tour

The Bachman-Turner Overdrive principals Randy Bachman and Fred Turner have reunited to record the title track of Bachman's next album, "Rock 'n' Roll is the Only Way Out," which the guitarist describes to Billboard.com as "really rootsy, really AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, really fun, eager, hungry rock 'n' roll. It sounds like we're in our 20s again." Bachman and Turner plan to announce details of the album's release, which is expected next fall, as well as tour plans at a press conference Dec. 8 in Winnipeg, where both men reside.

They won't be joined by the rest of their bandmates, however; drummer Rob Bachman (Bachman's younger brother) and guitarist Blair Thornton have filed suit to prevent the duo from using the BTO name. But Bachman said that won't prevent he and Turner -- who are reportedly considering monikers such as Bachman-Turner or Bachman-Turner United -- from working together.

"We've been getting offers for the last five or six years," says Bachman, who served three separate tenures in BTO. "It started in 2000, with the reunion of the Guess Who. I went to see the Eagles, and the first thing Don Henley and Joe Walsh said was, 'How's Turner? Any chance you guys will do anything?' 'Why are you interested?' 'You're the last band of the '70s that hasn't gotten back together or put something out, that's why!' Mick Jagger said the same thing when we played the SARS show in Toronto (in 2003). So we'll see what happens when my CD comes out; the first cut people are gonna hear is this cut with me and Fred singing."

Bachman says he and Turner had been in contact for awhile before he presented the "Rock 'n' Roll is the Only Way Out" track to him. "I said, 'Fred, pick whatever vocal line you want and scream your head off, just like the old days...The guys recording it called me and said, 'We can't believe this. This is the greatest thing ever.' When I got the track and played it, i was like, 'Holy cow, no one has heard anything like this since the '70s. It's amazing."

Bachman -- whose album also includes appearances by Neil Young and the late Jeff Healey -- adds that since then Turner has given the guitarist a few of his songs to possibly work on as well.

During its run BTO sold an estimated 20 million albums worldwide, topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974 with "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and also scored Top 40 hits such as "Takin' Care of Business," "Roll On Down the Highway," "Hey You" and "Let It Ride."

New holiday albums abound this season

From the standards to more contemporary collections, store displays are filled with new or revamped holiday-themed releases this year, including albums by Straight No Chaser and A Fine Frenzy, along with a series of various collections that feature artists like Colbie Caillat, Weezer and Collective Soul.

Here is a quick look at some of the releases, with links below to previous coverage of acts like Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and Sting.

Various artists - "A Very Special Christmas Volume 7" (Universal Music Enterprises)

While recording "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Colbie Caillat's contribution to "A Very Special Christmas Volume 7," the singer/songwriter dolled up her studio to get in the mood.

"It was really funny," Caillat said. "We were in LA. I was wearing sandals and a dress. It was hot outside. I had a Santa hat on. We had Christmas decorations everywhere."

She recorded it with her longtime producer, Ken Caillat, who doubles as her father. "We had all the same musicians that are in my band on the song. My two best friends came and did background vocals. I think the song sounds beautiful."
Set for release Nov. 23, "A Very Special Christmas Vol. 7" benefits the Special Olympics, and features original recordings of new and traditional Christmas songs that each artist selected for the album. In addition to Caillat, acts featured on the album include the Carter Twins, Charice, Miley Cyrus, Kristinia DeBarge, Gloriana, Vanessa Hudgens, Sean Kingston, Leighton Meester, Mitchel Musso, Kellie Pickler, Ashley Tisdale and Carrie Underwood.

* * *
A Fine Frenzy "Oh, Blue Christmas" (Capitol Records)

This Target and iTunes exclusive explores the feelings that A Fine Frenzy frontwoman Alison Sudol had following a breakup earlier this year.

"The whole EP is a post-breakup Christmas album," Sudol said. "It's not like your typical sugar and spice, sugarplums record. There's a lot of melancholy going on."

The collection contains three holiday classics ("Blue Christmas," "Winter Wonderland" and "Christmas Time is Here," from "Charlie Brown Christmas") alongside three seasonal Sudol originals ("Redribbon Foxes," "Winter White" and "Wish You Well").

"It was really fun," Sudol said. "At first, it was really challenging. I actually started trying to write Christmas songs like a year or so ago as an exercise. It's different because a Christmas song, you want to get a bit of nostalgia and embody the feelings of the music, but you also don't want it to be cheesy. I wanted to focus on, 'What do I go through in the holidays? And what do I feel and what do I notice?'

"It seems to me, personally, that the things that are great during Christmastime are magnified. Like, everything is that much better. Everything is magical and spectacular. The things that are wrong or sad are just so much more wrong or sad. That's where I was just trying to approach this album. Family stuff and break-up things and sort of struggling with materialism of Christmas versus what it's supposed to be like."

* * *
Straight No Chaser "Christmas Cheer" (ATCO/Atlantic)

"Christmas Cheer," by the a cappella group Straight No Chaser, is the companion piece to last year's "Holiday Spirits," according to member Randy Stine.

"We did an album last year that was a little more the nice, relaxing holiday music," Stine said. "Maybe you'd have it on in the background opening gifts in the morning. This album is a little bit more of the Christmas party, I'd say. It's a little more up tempo, a little more tongue-in-cheek, a little more humor involved."

Recorded in July and August, the collection features a selection of holiday-themed classics, reworked in the group's style. The compilation is led by the new single "The Christmas Can-Can" and also features a studio version of the YouTube hit "The 12 Days of Christmas." "Who Spiked The Eggnog" came about from their "goofy sense of humor," Stine said.

"I think we wanted to have something a little bit different than last year's, so we'd have two contrasting albums rather than just putting out two things back to back that could have been a double disc or something like that," Stine said. "We wanted to make sure they both had their own unique feel to them."

* * *
Various Artists "JDRF's Hope for the Holidays" (United States Distribution)

Creedence Clearwater Revisited bassist Stu Cook is flattered to share space on this album with the likes of Weezer, Collective Soul and The Beach Boys on "JDRF's Hope for the Holidays" collection, for which the band recorded Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run." The album benefits the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

"This is something else isn't it?" Cook said. "It's a great release. Weezer's got a brand new album out. It's cool. We're on an album with these guys. The Creedence phenomena reaches across at least three generations, anyhow. To actually be on an album with a pretty mainstream band that has a much younger core audience is exciting.

"We had a fun time putting that together," Cook added, speaking about his band's rendition of "Run Rudolph Run." "It's one of Chuck Berry's classic songs and we thought we'd put our spin on it."

CCR was on tour in Ontario, Canada, in late July when it headed in the studio to record the song, which the band rehearsed for a month.

"We had two nights in the same location, so, usually, when we're in the same places for two nights, we don't do a soundcheck unless necessary on the second day," Cook said. "We took the opportunity to do a recording session. Everything was set up to play the concert that night. We went in in the afternoon and played the song a few times and recorded it live."

For more information, visit HolidayHope.net.

* * *
Various Artists "We Wish You A Metal Xmas" (digital only EP) (Eagle Rock Entertainment)

Anvil singer/guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow calls the recording process for "Frosty the Snowman," from the digital EP "We Wish You a Metal Xmas," "magical."

"While we were in the studio, I did a Jewish version, which had them rolling in their seats," said Kudlow, who is Jewish. "Man, they were dying. It was so funny."

The four-song, holiday EP, set for release on Nov. 24, also features appearances by Doro Pesch and Michael Schenker on "O Christmas Tree," Whitesnake's Doug Aldrich and DevilDriver's Dez Fafara on "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer," and Girlschool on "Auld Lang Syne," as well as other notable metal talent.

* * *
Joey+Rory "It's Christmas Time" (single) (Columbia)

Husband/wife duo Joey+Rory are offering their take on holiday traditions with their poignant single "It's Christmas Time," proceeds from which will benefit their local affiliate of Feeding America, The Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

"It's Christmas Time" was tune written during a stay at Joey's family farmhouse in Indiana.

"Just sitting in the house where Joey grew up made me think about all the Christmases she spent there," Rory explained. "All the trees they picked out and decorated, all the gifts wrapped while the kids tried to sneak downstairs, all the Christmas dinners cooked and the last-minute guests who showed up at their door. I woke up early in the morning before anyone else, pulled out my guitar and wrote the song with all that in mind." The single was produced by bluegrass legend Carl Jackson, who also produced the duo's debut album.

* * *
More New Holiday Releases:
Tori Amos, "Midwinter Graces" (Universal Republic)
David Archuleta, "Christmas From the Heart" (Jive)
David Arkenstone, "Christmas Lounge" (Green Hill)
David Bazan, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" (Suicide Squeeze Records)
The Beach Boys, "Christmas Harmonies" (Capitol)
Blackmore's Night, "Winter Carols" (MVD Entertainment Group)
Andrea Bocelli, "My Christmas" (Philips)
The Boxmasters, "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" (single) (Vanguard Records)
Ray Charles, "The Spirit of Christmas" (Concord)
Alexis Cole, "The Greatest Gift: Songs of the Season" (Motema Music)
Nat King Cole, "The Christmas Song" (Capitol)
Charlie Daniels Band, "Joy to the World: A Bluegrass Christmas" (E1 Entertainment)
Neil Diamond, "Cherry, Cherry Christmas" (Columbia)
Jerry Douglas, "Jerry Christmas!" (E1 Music)
Bob Dylan, "Christmas in the Heart" (Columbia)
Orla Fallon, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (single) (Elevation)
Family Force 5, "The Family Force 5 Christmas Pageant" (Transparent Media Group/EMI)
The Front Porch Country Band, "Christmas Once Upon a Time" (USAgency Entertainment)
Lee Greenwood, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (Ronnie Gilley Entertainment)
Rob Halford, "Halford III--Winter Songs" (Metal God)
The Hives and Cyndi Lauper, "A Christmas Duel" (No Fun AB)
House of Heroes, "House of Heroes Presents Christmas Classics" (Gotee)
Barry Manilow, "In The Swing of Christmas" (Arista)
Olivia Newton-John, "Christmas Wish" (EMI Canada)
The Mama Doni Band, "Chanukah Fever" (Mama Doni Productions)
Glenn Mohr Chorale, "A Star Still Shines" (Spencertown Records)
Kermit Ruffins, "Have a Crazy Cool Christmas" (Basin Street Records)
REO Speedwagon, "Not So Silent Night" (Sony Music Entertainment)
Frank Sinatra and Friends, "Christmas With Sinatra and Friends" (Concord)
Soundtrack, "A Christmas Story: Music From the Motion Picture" (TCM Music/Rhino)
Soundtrack, "Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas" (Denon Records)
Ronnie Spector, "It's Christmas Once Again" (single) (Bad Girls Sounds / RED)
Carolyn Stills, "George Bailey" (single) (Avatar Records)
Sting, "If On a Winter's Night" (Deutsche Grammophon)
Sugarland, "Gold and Green" (Mercury Records)
Connie Talbot, "Holiday Magic" (AAO Music/Reality)
The Song Trust, "Merry Kidsmas" (Giantslayer Records/S1 Songs/Welk Music Group)
Various artists, "A Blackheart Christmas" (Available on vinyl for the first time)
(Blackheart Records)
Various artists, "A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector" (remastered) (Legacy)
Various artists, "A Hollywood Christmas" (Time Life)
Various artists, "Gift Wrapped: 20 Songs That Keep On Giving" (Warner Bros.)
Various artists, "Now That's What I Call A Country Christmas" (Legacy)
Various artists, "Time Life's Treasury of Christmas: Traditions" (Time Life)
Various artists, "Voices: A Gospel Choir Christmas" (Time Life)

Foo Fighters taking a break

The Foo Fighters are taking a break from each other after 15 years.

Frontman Dave Grohl reveals the band's new greatest hits record marks the end of an era - and it's time to take a hiatus.

He tells CNN, "I think the band decided to take a break, not because we wanted to stop making music, but because we thought the world needed to take a break from us.

"This greatest hits record, that's the end of something... It's time to move on into this next chapter or another phase. Maybe it will be different in whatever way. I don't know.

"It's nice to not know what's going to happen next. We're going over to do some shows in Europe, but, after that, it's like I don't even know when I'm going to see these guys. So it's kind of weird."

But Grohl does know where he wants to record the rock act's next album: "I do know I want to try to make the next record in my garage. I'm serious."

Hansard, Irglová have a Swell Season

Lightning has already stuck Once for The Swell Season — and that’s more than enough for now.

“It’s been a huge couple of years,” says singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, chatting over his cellphone while he sips tea on the patio of the swanky Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood.

“My life has completely changed.”

And it’s all due to one song. Two years ago, the Irish musician was frontman of the critically acclaimed but commercially obscure band The Frames.

Then, in February of 2008, he was catapulted into the spotlight when he and Markéta Irglová — his musical partner and co-star in the busker romance Once — won the 2008 Best Original Song Oscar for Falling Slowly. You might remember Irglová being cut off in mid-acceptance speech and being brought back onstage by host Jon Stewart so she could finish.

For Hansard, the indie-folk duo’s overnight success ended 18 years of struggle.

But even as it put an end to many of his financial and professional worries, it created a whole new set of personal problems that left him feeling decidedlly less than swell for a season.

“Success came at such a rate and such a speed that I couldn’t adjust to it,” he admits. “All of these great things had happened — I had just won an Oscar and we were playing these rooms for thousands of people who were listening and interested and had paid money to come see our band — and I was so sad. I couldn’t understand why.

“And then I realized: The person I had been for 18 years had just died. The guy who struggled and wanted success and who was ambitious and chasing every opportunity was gone, and now I was being introduced to this new character — the guy who is successful — and I didn’t know how to deal with him. There was a brief but intense grieving period.”

Equally brief but intense, he admits, was a romance that sprung up between Hansard and Irglová — who is 18 years his junior.

“That was a chapter that was really great and fine,” he admits, “but we quickly found that we get on much better as mates than we do as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Some 18 months later, the 39-year-old Hansard’s mood has finally improved along with his fortunes. And his expanded horizons are reflected in the sound of the duo’s third album Strict Joy, released Oct. 27 on Anti-Epitaph.

While it’s hardly as rigourously optimistic as its title — Hansard and Irglová still specialize in heartfelt tales of romantic yearning and regret — it does move their sound several steps onward and upward by fleshing out their acoustic guitars, pianos and voices with the richly layered textures of Hansard’s longtime band.

Fittingly, Hansard says he felt no pressure to make a record that would have the same impact as Once.

“For me to sit around and think that I could match that success would be insane. Of course, you want to make stuff that lives up to your standard. But in terms of what it did and how it did in the world ... Let’s say that soundtrack was heard by a million people. I would hope that maybe a third of those people would hear this one.

“Which is a f---ing huge amount of people. But you’re not going to reach a million people again. Once had such a good amount of energy and was such a good thing in my life. To want to repeat that would be greedy.”

Instead, he’s learned to embrace his new life, which has taken him everywhere from The Simpsons (“That’s almost bigger than the Oscars”) to the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver (“Bono called me and asked if I could sing at her wake because he was playing Wembley that week”).

“It’s been an amazing ride, but it’s time to get back to work and to get back to doing what we do,” he says of The Swell Season’s upcoming tour, which stops at Massey Hall tomorrow, Montreal’s Olympia on Wednesday and Vancouver next month.

“Hopefully, along the way I’ll have other successes that are just as profound.”

After all, who says lightning can’t strike twice?

George Jones: new country music needs a new name

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country Music Hall of Famer George Jones isn't a big fan of where the genre has moved in recent years.

When asked about what he thought about music by today's top country stars, the 78-year-old said while they are good, "they've stolen our identity."
Jones made the comment during a recent interview when asked about music by artists like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.

"They had to use something that was established already, and that's traditional country music. So what they need to do really, I think, is find their own title, because they're definitely not traditional country music," he said.

"It's good to know that we still do traditional country music. Alan Jackson still does it, so does George Strait. We still have it, and there's quite a few of us that are going to hope that it comes back one of these days."

Still, his contemporaries haven't always stuck to traditional country, either. Fellow Hall of Fame member Johnny Cash was met with critical acclaim a few years ago by covering the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt." Asked whether he'd ever branch out to a completely different genre of music, like heavy metal or rap, Jones laughed and said: "Rap? That's tacky."

"How can you call that music?" he added. "Now, I love music, too. I love all kinds. I really do. I've got Brook Benton. I like his singing. Ray Charles. I've got an open mind. But now, you can't call rap, talking stuff like that, music. No, no, no, you've got to have another name for that."

Jones recently put out a new CD, through Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, called "A Collection of My Best Recollection." It includes some of his most requested songs from throughout his career, including classics like "White Lightning" and "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair," as well as two previously unreleased ones.

"Only thing I would like to keep accomplishing is music for my fans and achieving some goals to keep them happy with what I record in the future," Jones said. "I've done just about everything else. The good Lord's been good to me ... I'm going to enjoy the rest of my life."

New CD Releases, November 3rd: Carrie Underwood, Weezer, Slayer, Foo Fighters, Andrea Bocelli and more!!

Carrie Underwood "Play On" (Sony)

The multiplatinum country star, who came to fame by besting the competition during the fourth season of "American Idol" in 2004, releases her third studio effort. "Play On" follows 2007's "Carnival Ride," which debuted atop The Billboard 200 and has sold some three million copies.

The first single from "Play On" is the track "Cowboy Casanova," which was released to radio in mid-September and immediately raced into the country Top 10.

The 26-year-old vocalist will support the album with a variety of high-profile television appearances. Most notably, Underwood will headline her own two-hour variety special Dec. 7 on the Fox television network.

* * *
Weezer "Raditude" (Geffen)

The pop-rockers are ready to give their fans some major "Raditude." The disc, the band's seventh studio effort, follows last year's self-titled effort, also known as "The Red Album." That previous set peaked at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 and spawned the modern-rock chart-topper "Pork and Beans."

"Raditude" features ample co-production credits, including Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M.) and Butch Walker (Saosin, Katy Perry), along with the band's own Rivers Cuomo. The album's first single, "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To," hit radio waves in August, eventually peaking at No. 2 on Alternative Songs charts.

Weezer will support the album with a brief tour next month. The six-city outing kicks off Dec. 1 in Chicago and concludes on Dec. 10 in Philadelphia.

* * *
Slayer "World Painted Blood" (Sony)

The speed-metal titans return with their 10th studio album, which follows 2006's "Christ Illusion." "War Painted Blood" was produced by Greg Fidelman, who has worked with Metallica and Slipknot in the past, and executive produced by Rick Rubin, who has worked with basically everybody.

"War Painted Blood" will be available in three different configurations: a limited-edition CD with multiple CD covers, a deluxe-edition CD/DVD, and a high-quality, 180-gram vinyl edition.

* * *
Foo Fighters "Greatest Hits" (RCA)

Vocalist/guitarist Dave Grohl and company provide the perfect holiday gift for fans: a best-of compilation. The Foo Fighters' "Greatest Hits" will include such popular singles as "Everlong" and "Times Like These," as well as two newly recorded songs, "Wheels" and "Word Forward."

The package will be available as a 16-track standard edition and as a deluxe version that will include a DVD containing a select videography of the band's classic clips, as well as live performances from Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park and the intimate Skin + Bones theater tour, according to a press release. The set will also be issued as a collectors' 180 gram vinyl edition.

* * *
Andrea Bocelli "My Christmas" (Philips)

The pop-opera king brightens up the holiday season with "My Christmas." The 16-track CD includes a number of guest artists, including Mary J. Blige, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and – we kind you not – the Muppets. The disc features such holiday favorites as "White Christmas" and "Silent Night."

* * *
More new releases:
Bee Gees, "Ultimate Bee Gees" (Rhino)
Julian Casablancas, "Phrazes for the Young" (RCA)
Steven Curtis Chapman, "Beauty Will Rise" (Sparrow)
Epica, "Design Your Universe" (Nuclear Blast)
Halford, "Halford III: Winter Songs" (Metal God)
Vera Lynn, "We'll Meet Again: Very Best of Vera Lynn" (Decca)
Nirvana, "Bleach (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)" (Sub Pop)
Nirvana, "Live at Reading" (Geffen)
The Rolling Stones, "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert" (Abkco)
Frank Sinatra, "Sinatra: New York" (Rhino) (4 CD/1 DVD) [BOX SET]
Straight No Chaser, "Christmas Cheers" (Warner Bros.)
Various Artists, "Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 32" (Sony)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Glee: The Music, Season One" (Sony)
"NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack, Vol. 2" (CBS)

For Underwood, there's no holding back on 'Play On'

NASHVILLE — This time, Carrie Underwood feels as if she has some room to play.

She has a healthy string of chart-topping singles under her belt since winning American Idol in 2005. Her latest, the almost-urban Cowboy Casanova, is in the top five on the country singles airplay chart and climbing. Her first two albums have sold well enough that a good first week for her third –Play On, out Tuesday – could push her past the 10 million mark.

"I wanted to get out of my comfort zone," Underwood says. So she took familiar Nashville co-writers and added outside influences such as Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, fellow Oklahoman Zac Maloy (who once fronted the rock band The Nixons), Canadian singer/songwriter Chantal Kreziazuk and her husband, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida.

"I'd take some other small element and bring it into our world to see what we could do with it," Underwood says. "Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but I think it ended up being different and progressive."

The pressure to match previous successes, she says, came with her second album, 2007's Carnival Ride. "Everybody was cautious," she says. "We took a step forward, but we weren't trying anything crazy, right?"

Underwood doesn't get too crazy on Play On, though she did cut a remarkably country-sounding track with Swedish producer Max Martin, known for his work with pop divas Britney Spears, Pink and Kelly Clarkson.

Underwood, who will co-host the 43rd Country Music Association Awards next week and have her own variety special on Fox in December, is careful with the new album's pacing: For every danceable track like Cowboy Casanova or Songs Like This, there's a sentimental ballad like Mama's Song or inspirational message like Temporary Home.

"There's got to be good balance," she says. "That's something people do know me for, especially the bigger ballads like Change, things like that. We got some money notes. I can't not throw those in."

Foo Fighters mark 15 years with hits set, VH1 show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Almost 15 years ago, former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl quietly circulated among his friends copies of a demo tape on which he did all the singing and played all the instruments.

He considered the project "a goof," and he dubbed it "Foo Fighters" because he wanted people to think it was a real band, "like the Ramones or the Pixies," he recalled at a taping of VH1's "Storytellers" series on Wednesday.

That would have been the end of the story. But the tape inevitably ignited a bidding war among record labels, all desperate to release the first music from the Nirvana camp since the suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994.

Grohl assembled a real band with three musicians, signed with Capitol Records, and officially released the demo tape -- still dubbed "Foo Fighters" -- in July 1995.

Fast-forward past seven hit albums to next week, when the band will release its first compilation, simply titled "Greatest Hits." The 16-track RCA Records set also boasts two new tracks, "Wheels" and "Word Forward," both of which were unveiled at the "Storytellers" taping.

A deluxe version includes a 21-track DVD. Music videos have been good for the Foo Fighters, a showcase for their self-effacing sense of humor. Grohl recounted that the Mentos-themed clip for 1995's "Big Me" led to the band being pelted by the sweets every time it played the song.

He also mimicked a fey flight attendant's snooty reaction to the band's Grammy-winning video for 1999's "Learn To Fly," in which Grohl plays said character, among many others.

GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES

The "Storytellers" episode featuring Foo Fighters will air on the music cable network in November 27. The voluble Grohl, the band's singer/guitarist, warned his audience at the outset that "the microphone is my friend," and shared lengthy anecdotes between renditions of 13 songs.

The intimate setting on a Sony Pictures studio soundstage allowed for some back-and-forth with the audience, including 24-year-old fan John Clanton who helpfully pointed from his second-row berth that some stray mucus was hanging from Grohl's nose. A roadie scurried over with a box of tissues, but Grohl had gratefully wiped it away already.

Amid the hilarity, there were some serious moments. Grohl recalled that the 2002 song "Times Like These" was written after the band almost broke up.

"Things got kinda weird and it got kinda difficult and we actually had to step back from the band," he said.

But the hiatus proved even more uncomfortable, and the bandmates found that absence made their hearts grow fonder.

Things got a little uncomfortable for the audience when Grohl said fatherhood enabled him to open up more emotionally when writing songs.

"When I write a love song or something I know what love means now that I'm a dad," he said. Some female fans gasped some heartfelt "aws!," Grohl realized he was slipping into Hallmark-card territory and uttered a humorous expletive.

He saved the best for last, a version of the band's most-loved song, "Everlong," which appears on the hits album in both electric and acoustic forms.

"I honestly think that if it weren't for this song we probably wouldn't still be here because it opened up so many doors for us, melodically, dynamically," Grohl said.

He dedicated the electrified "Storytellers" version to Bob Dylan, after recounting perhaps the greatest highlight of his time in the Foo Fighters.

The band opened for Dylan in 2006, and Grohl recalled being nervously ushered into the rock legend's presence backstage at a hockey arena in Canada.

After some light banter, Dylan said to him, "Man, what's that song that you guys got?" and recited some lyrics. Grohl replied that it was "Everlong," and Dylan said, "Well, you gotta show that to me. I wanna start doing that song."

Dylan does not yet appear to have covered "Everlong," but Grohl was clearly chuffed by the exchange. He summarized his reaction to the "Storytellers" audience: "You know what? I'm done."

For Clanton, the nasally observant fan, the taping marked his 14th Foo Fighters show. "No artist out there engages the audience the way Dave Grohl does," he said.

Peter Gabriel back in studio

Singer Peter Gabriel is eyeing a return to the spotlight - he's set to release his first album for seven years in 2010.

The former Genesis frontman has teamed up with a number of artists to record versions of their hits for Scratch My Back, a completely acoustic project recorded without guitars or drums.

The collaborators have reciprocated by covering one of Gabriel's tracks for the disc.

Composer John Metcalfe, who has helped produce some of the the songs, insists fans will be surprised by the star's orchestral reinterpretations.

In a post on Gabriel's official website, Metcalfe writes, "I'm not allowed to say who, just yet, but there are some very, very famous singers and bands involved. It sounds amazing, even though I say it myself. It is literally Peter with an orchestra, sometimes the orchestra is quite large, then there are some more chamber music-style, sparse songs.

"But the songs are not simply covers, they are quite major reinterpretations of some famous stuff. It's quite radical and we're hoping that people really get it and enjoy it. There are some all time great singer-songwriters and bands, and then there are some bands that are very, very well known from the last 10 years, and one or two more recent bands and singers as well. There should be something in there for everybody."

New CD Releases, Oct. 27: R.E.M., Tegan & Sara, The Swell Season, Brian McKnight, Pink Martini and more.

R.E.M. "Live at the Olympia" (Warner Bros.)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act follows last year's acclaimed studio set "Accelerate" with a live offering. "Live at Olympia" is the second official concert release of the Athens, GA, band's nearly 30-year career--the first was 2007's "R.E.M. Live." Oddly, both albums were recorded in Dublin, Ireland.

Culled from a five-night residency at the Irish theater in 2007, "Live at the Olympia" features 39 tracks and is available as both a double-CD and as a CD/DVD combo (complete with concert and backstage footage). At that small-venue stand, R.E.M. was road-testing material for "Accelerate"--thus it's no surprise that many of the "Accelerate" tracks make the cut on "Live at the Olympia."

The set also includes two new songs not included on "Accelerate"--"On the Fly" and "Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance." The rest of the track listing is made up of songs from earlier R.E.M. albums, including "Murmur," "Reckoning" and "Life's Rich Pageant."

In related R.E.M. news, a 60-minute documentary film of the band's same run in Ireland--titled "This Is Not A Show: Live at the Olympia in Dublin"--is being screened in select towns across the US through Nov. 5. A complete list of screening dates can be found at R.E.M.'s website (www.remhq.com).

* * *
Tegan and Sara "Sainthood" (Sire)

Canada's twin-sister singer/songwriters are set to release their sixth studio album, which follows 2007's "The Con." "Sainthood" was produced by Howard Redekopp and Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, and its first single is the track "Hell."

The sisters will support "Sainthood" with a 25-date North American tour that kicks off early next year and runs into early April. The group also has album-release shows set in Los Angeles (10/26) and New York City (10/30-31).

Tegan and Sara also plan to release a three-book set, titled "On, In, At," in conjunction with "Sainthood." The books chronicle different time periods from the band members' lives: the 2008 US national tour, the 2009 Australian tour and a joint writing session in New Orleans for "Sainthood."

* * *
The Swell Season "Strict Joy" (Anti)

The Oscar-winning outfit, which claimed the Academy Award for Best Original Song for its track "Falling Slowly" in 2008, is back with its third album. The duo--Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Czech vocalist/pianist Marketa Irglova--was last heard on the gold-certified 2007 set "Once," the soundtrack for the indie film of the same name that featured the pair acting opposite one another in the lead roles. That was also the soundtrack that produced "Falling Slowly."

The Swell Season will support "Strict Joy" with a month-long headlining jaunt through North America. The 25-city trek kicks off with a Nov. 1 performance in Milwaukee, WI, and concludes with a Dec. 5 concert in Minneapolis, MN.

* * *
Brian McKnight "Evolution of a Man" (Koch)

The R&B star, whose previous outing was the 2008 holiday offering "I'll Be Home for Christmas," is back with "Evolution of a Man." The disc, produced by McKnight, features collaborations with Jill Scott and Stevie Wonder. The first single from "Evolution of a Man" is the track "What I've Been Waiting For."

* * *
Pink Martini "Splendor in the Grass" (Heinz)

The Portland, OR-based lounge-music ensemble--a self-described "little orchestra"--returns with a follow-up to 2007's "Hey Eugene!" The 12-member group, which includes vocalist China Forbes and is led by artistic director/pianist Thomas Lauderdale, also released a concert DVD, "Discover the World: Live in Concert," earlier this year.

* * *
More new releases:
The Blind Boys of Alabama, "Duets" (Time Life)
Gorgoroth, "Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt" (Regain)
Euge Groove, "Sunday Morning" (Shanachie)
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family, "Go Waggaloo" (Smithsonian)
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, "Infernal Machines" (New Amsterdam)
Stan Kenton, "Kenton Rarities" (DRG)
B.B. King, Albert King, Earl King, Freddie King, "The Four Kings of Blues Guitar" (Great American)
Chuck Prophet, "Let Freedom Ring" (Yep Roc)
R.A. The Rugged Man, "Legendary Classics, Vol. 1" (Green Street)
Kenny Rogers, "The Greatest Duets" (Time Life)
Stephen Stills, "Live at Shepherd's Bush" (Rhino)
Tech N9ne, "k.o.d." (Strange Music)
Various Artists, "Putumayo Presents: Jazz Around the World" (Putumayo)
Z-Ro, "Cocaine" (Asylum)

Garth Brooks says he's coming out of retirement

LAS VEGAS – Garth Brooks is coming to The Strip.

The country superstar and casino owner Steve Wynn announced Thursday afternoon that Brooks will be taking over the Encore theater at Wynn Las Vegas about 15 weeks a year, perhaps for the next five years.

And it only cost the entrepreneur a jet.

"I told him he couldn't afford me," Brooks said while sitting on stage with Wynn. "I was wrong. Wow."

Wynn bought the jet for Brooks so the best-selling solo act could continue to spend a maximum amount of time with his three teenage daughters and still perform. His youngest child has five years till she's off to college, and the deal Brooks and Wynn struck is flexible enough to guarantee the singer won't miss a precious moment.

He'll play shows on select Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays beginning Dec. 11. The plane lets him leave his Oklahoma home at 6 on Fridays and return home in time on Sundays so he can be ready to drive his girls to school the next morning.

"Every argument we ever had about why we shouldn't do this, he had an answer to," Brooks said of Wynn.

He got a simple answer when he asked what happens if things don't work out: Wynn told him, "You quit."

"We've agreed to a relationship together and that relationship I hope lasts for the entire five years," Wynn said.

Brooks, 47, started the day in Nashville where he told reporters he was coming out of the retirement he announced in 2000. Brooks wanted to spend more time with his children, and has accomplished that goal.

He said every member of his family signed off on the deal. The girls range in age from 13 to 17 and weren't exactly upset that dad might be getting out from underfoot some of the time, he said. Brooks' wife, Trisha Yearwood, also signed off on the plan, as did his ex-wife, Sandy Mahl.

"I don't have any trepidation because I've cleared it with the most important people," Brooks said.

Vegas will be just about the only chance to see Brooks over the next half decade. He even plans to hold his charity events at the theater. Until his youngest daughter is off to college, "You will probably not see new music from me. You will probably not see a tour from me."

The entertainer told reporters in Nashville that he felt like he needed to formally announce the end of his retirement so there would be no limitations going forward.

"We're going to take the retirement roof off over our head, and let me tell you I already feel taller," Brooks said. "It's nice."

Brooks said there will be no script for the show, which will be about 90 minutes. He plans to play solo with his acoustic guitar, but he could invite others to join him and didn't rule out Yearwood taking the stage with him occasionally. He will play some of his own music, but also offer fans interpretations of his favorite artists, such as Merle Haggard, Elton John, George Strait and Simon & Garfunkel.

It was clear Brooks was excited about the opportunity to play on a regular basis and reconnect with the fans who have helped him sell more than 128 million albums in a stellar career that started in the late '80s and transformed country music.

His last studio album, "Scarecrow," came out in 2001, but he showed with the release of his three-disc "The Ultimate Hits" that he still has selling power. It finished 10th on Billboard's list of the top albums for 2008.

Wynn said he framed the e-mail Brooks sent asking to play in the theater for the first time and said asking Brooks to take over the Encore was much more than a business decision.

"When a man can do what Garth does, it's almost a crime against nature for him not to do that," Wynn said.

Elvis Presley box set due Dec. 8

A few months after the Beatles box sets made retailers scramble to fill orders, the King of Rock 'n' Roll will get the royal treatment.

Legacy Recordings is marking Elvis Presley's 75th birthday in January with a 100-song box set called "Elvis 75: Good Rockin' Tonight." The four-disc set arrives Dec. 8.

The package defines "career spanning." Disc 1 opens with "My Happiness," the acetate recording Presley paid nearly four dollars to make at the Memphis Recording Service in July 1953, a year before signing with Sun Records. Disc 4 ends with "A Little Less Conversation (JXL Radio Remix Edit)," the electronica-fueled 2002 track that hit No. 1 in more than 20 countries and was included in that year's "Elvis: 30 #1 Hits," which has sold more than 5 million copies in the U.S.

"Elvis 75" ranges from the seminal rock 'n' roll of Presley's early years to his intimate ballads and includes movie songs, gospel performances and "Blue Christmas." The set's 80-page booklet features rare photos and a new essay by Billy Altman.

A single-disc edition of "Elvis 75" will be released Jan. 5, three days before what would have been Presley's 75th birthday.

Here's the track list for the "Elvis 75" box:

DISC 1
1. My Happiness
2. That's All Right
3. Blue Moon of Kentucky
4. Good Rockin' Tonight
5. Baby Let's Play House
6. Mystery Train
7. I Forgot to Remember to Forget
8. I Got a Woman
9. Heartbreak Hotel
10. I Was the One
11. Blue Suede Shoes
12. My Baby Left Me
13. One-Sided Love Affair
14. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)
15. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
16. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
17. Hound Dog
18. Don't Be Cruel
19. Love Me Tender
20. Love Me
21. Paralyzed
22. Too Much
23. All Shook Up
24. Mean Woman Blues
25. (There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)
26. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
27. One Night
28. Jailhouse Rock
29. Treat Me Nice
30. Blue Christmas
31. Don't

DISC 2
1. Hard Headed Woman
2. Trouble
3. King Creole
4. Wear My Ring Around Your Neck
5. I Need Your Love Tonight
6. A Big Hunk o' Love
7. (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I
8. Stuck on You
9. A Mess of Blues
10. It's Now or Never
11. Thrill of Your Love
12. Such a Night
13. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
14. Reconsider Baby
15. Doin' the Best I Can
16. Pocketful of Rainbows
17. Surrender
18. Crying in the Chapel
19. I Feel So Bad
20. There's Always Me
21. Judy
22. Can't Help Falling in Love
23. (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame
24. Little Sister
25. Good Luck Charm
26. Suspicion
27. She's Not You
28. Return to Sender

DISC 3
1. Bossa Nova Baby
2. (You're the) Devil in Disguise
3. (It's a) Long Lonely Highway
4. I Need Somebody to Lean On
5. Viva Las Vegas
6. It Hurts Me
7. This Is My Heaven
8. Adam and Evil
9. How Great Thou Art
10. Tomorrow Is a Long Time
11. Guitar Man
12. Big Boss Man
13. Too Much Monkey Business
14. U.S. Male
15. If I Can Dream
16. Memories
17. Don't Cry Daddy
18. In the Ghetto
19. Suspicious Minds
20. Stranger in My Own Home Town
21. Kentucky Rain
22. Only the Strong Survive

DISC 4
1. Polk Salad Annie
2. The Fool
3. Funny How Time Slips Away
4. I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water
5. I Just Can't Help Believin'
6. I'm Leavin'
7. An American Trilogy
8. Burning Love
9. Always on My Mind
10. Steamroller Blues
11. Loving Arms
12. Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues
13. Promised Land
14. T-R-O-U-B-L-E
15. For the Heart
16. Hurt
17. Way Down
18. Unchained Melody
19. A Little Less Conversation (JXL Radio Remix Edit)

New Releases, Oct. 13: Bob Dylan, The Flaming Lips, Sugarland, David Archuleta, Five for Fighting, and more

Bob Dylan "Christmas in the Heart" (Sony)

O' come all ye faithful and get an earful of Bob Dylan's 33rd studio set, the holiday offering "Christmas in the Heart." The album features the legendary singer/songwriter performing such Christmas staples as "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Do You Hear What I Hear?," "Winter Wonderland," "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" and "O' Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)."

All royalties from the album will benefit Feeding America, which provides meals to the hungry during the holiday season. "It's a tragedy that more than 35 million people in this country alone--12 million of those children--often go to bed hungry and wake up each morning unsure of where their next meal is coming from," Dylan said in a message posted at his website. "I join the good people of Feeding America in the hope that our efforts can bring some food security to people in need during this holiday season."

"Christmas in the Heart" follows "Together Through Life," which surfaced in April and debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, making it Dylan's fifth record to take the top spot. Dylan, one of the all-time great road warriors, is currently on tour, with dates scheduled into mid-November.

* * *
The Flaming Lips "Embryonic" (Warner)

The influential alt-rock outfit, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Wayne Coyne, returns to action with its 12th studio set. "Embryonic" follows 2006's "At War With the Mystics," which hit No. 11 on The Billboard 200.

The 18-song, 2-disc set was recorded at the home of the band's drummer/multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd, and features contributions from MGMT and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O.

* * *
David Archuleta "Christmas From the Heart" (Jive)

The 18-year-old pop vocalist, the runner-up to David Cook during the seventh season of "American Idol" in 2008, rings the jingle bells with his sophomore release, "Christmas From the Heart." The holiday-music outing features such usual suspects as "First Noel," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Silent Night" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

"Christmas From the Heart" follows the singer's 2008 self-titled debut, which peaked at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 and produced the smash single "Crush."

* * *
Sugarland "Green and Gold" (Roc-A-Fella)

The popular country music duo, consisting of singer/songwriters Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, is set to release its first Christmas album, which follows 2008's chart-topping "Love on the Inside."

"Green and Gold" features five original songs penned by Bush and Nettles. The rest of the album is filled with holiday-music standards, including "Winter Wonderland," "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Silent Night."

* * *
Five for Fighting "Slice" (Sony)

Five for Fighting, the stage name for pianist/singer/songwriter John Ondrasik, is back with a follow-up to 2006's "Two Lights," which peaked at No. 8 on The Billboard 200. "Slice," Ondrasik's fifth studio set under the Five for Fighting moniker, features the single "Chances."

Ondrasik will support "Slice" during an acoustic run through North American clubs. The 14-city trek begins Oct. 18 in Toronto and stretches through a Nov. 11 date in Los Angeles.

* * *
More new releases:
Bowling for Soup, "Sorry For Partyin'" (Jive)
Jack Bruce, "Seven Moons Live" (Ruf)
Dead by Sunrise, "Out of Ashes" (Warner)
Neil Diamond, "A Cherry Cherry Christmas" (Columbia)
Linda Eder, "Soundtrack" (Verve)
Hall & Oates, "Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates" (Sony)
Vijay Iyer Trio, "Historicity" (ACT Music)
Leaves Eyes, "Njord" (Napalm)
Los Lonely Boys, "1969" (EP), (R.E.D.)
Mario, "D.N.A." (J-Records)
Nellie McKay, "Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day" (Verve)
James McMurtry, "Live in Europe" (Lightning Rod)
Brian Setzer Orchestra, "Songs from Lonely Avenue" (Surfdog)
W.A.S.P., "Babylon" (Demolition)

...Jackson's 'This Is It' single to debut online

NEW YORK (AP) — The first song from the upcoming Michael Jackson music documentary will make its debut online.

Sony Music says This Is It will have its premiere late Sunday, at midnight, (0400 GMT Monday) on www.MichaelJackson.com.

The song plays during the closing sequence of Michael Jackson's This Is It and will be included on a companion two-disc CD set. The unreleased single features backup vocals by Michael's brothers, The Jacksons.

The documentary opens Oct. 28 for a two-week limited run and was built around rehearsal footage for Jackson's planned London concerts. He died in Los Angeles on June 25.

The CD features original album masters of some of Jackson's biggest hits, including Thriller and Billie Jean. They're in the same sequence as they appear in the film.

Unreleased Jackson 5 Tracks Discovered For New Collection

Motown/UMe is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Jackson 5's first single with "I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters," a new collection of 12 vault recordings due out on Nov. 10. A single, "That's How Love Is," was released Tuesday on iTunes; the song was written and produced by The Corporation, the team of writers and producers that wrote the J5's early material, and has been remixed by original Motown engineer Russ Terrana.

"That's How Love Is" is also streaming at jackson5.com.

"I Want You Back!" also features: a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Buttercup;" a medley of "I Want You Back"/"ABC"/"The Love You Save;" alternate versions of "Never Can Say Goodbye," with Michael Jackson's "safety" vocal for TV broadcasts, "ABC" and "Dancing Machine;" another unreleased Corporation track, "Love Comes in Different Flavors;" the Curtis Mayfield-written "Man's Temptation," which was produced by the Vancouvers' Bobby Taylor -- who also wrote and produced "Listen I'll Tell You How;" Hal Davis' "Lucky Day;" the Willie Hutch-written "Love Call;" and Johnny Bristol's socially conscious "I'll Try You'll Try (Maybe We'll All Get By)."

Tito Jackson tells Billboard.com that the J5's days at Motown were busy, but enjoyable. "It was just fun years," he says. "We were young kids then, pursuing our dream. And to have a company like Motown behind you to nurture you and grow you to your professionalism, it was quite an honor. And to have success at a young age when you were not really realizing what you were accomplishing...it was really fun. Everything was exciting."

In addition to "I Want You Back!," Motown/UMe is releasing on Oct. 13 "The Jackson 5 Ultimate Christmas Collection," a 21-track set that includes spoken seasons greetings from the Michael, Jermaine, Tito and Jackie, "stripped" mixes of "Someday at Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," a DJ Spinna re-edit of "Up on the Housetop" and an album-closing medley. The J5 also appears on "The Ultimate Motown Christmas Collection," a two-disc, 51-track anthology featuring holiday fare from Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Johnny Gill and more obscure acts such as the Elgins, Shorty Long and the Twistin' Kings.

The track listing for "I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters" includes:

"Man's Temptation
"Buttercup
"Never Can Say Goodbye
"That's How Love Is
"Love Comes in Flavors
"Lucky Day
Medley: "I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save"
"ABC"
"I'll Try You'll Try (Maybe We'll All Get By)"
"Listen I'll Tell You How"
"Love Call"
"Dancing Machine"

New CD Releases, Oct. 6: KISS, Backstreet Boys, Michael Buble, Toby Keith, Brandi Carlile, Rosanne Cash, and more

KISS "Sonic Boom" (Universal/Roadrunner)

Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees KISS return with their first new studio album in more than a decade, which band co-founder/vocalist/guitarist Paul Stanley produced. Stanley's edict to the group: no outside songwriters, no outside performers.

The result is 11 tracks written and performed by Stanley and fellow KISS co-founder Gene Simmons (bass/vocals), along with Eric Singer (drums/vocals) and Tommy Thayer (guitar/vocals).

"Sonic Boom" marks the first KISS album to feature the combo of Singer (who played and recorded with the band during its non-makeup era) and Thayer, both of whom, in recent years have been touring with KISS clad in the makeup and costumes made famous by original KISS members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, respectively. Each takes a turn on lead vocals on the new album.

Billed as a return to the group's classic, '70s-era sound, "Sonic Boom" features cover art created by Michael Doret, who worked with the band on its landmark 1976 album "Rock and Roll Over." The new set will be available exclusively at Walmart, and packaged with a bonus disc featuring re-recorded hits, as well as a live, six-song DVD recorded earlier this year.

* * *
Backstreet Boys "This is Us" (Jive)

The pop troupe bounces back into action with its seventh studio album. "This is Us" follows 2007's "Unbreakable," which was the group's first new album since original member Kevin Richardson left the fold in 2006.

The 11-track album features new material that the vocal troupe collaborated on alongside songwriters and producers like T-Pain, RedOne and Claude Kelly.

The quartet--which consists of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean--will support "This is Us" with a major world tour. The European portion has already been announced, and North American dates should soon follow.

* * *
Michael Buble "Crazy Love" (Reprise)

The platinum-selling pop vocalist returns with his fourth studio album, and the follow-up to the Grammy-winning "Call Me Irresponsible," which topped The Billboard 200 in 2007.

"Crazy in Love" pulls strongly from the Great American Songbook; 11 of the album's 13 tracks are standards. Selections include "Cry Me A River," "Georgia On My Mind," "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" and "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)." "Crazy in Love" also features two new original compositions.

The first single is "Haven't Met You Yet," which was co-written with Alan Chang and Amy Foster. The album was recorded in LA, Brooklyn and Vancouver with the help of producers David Foster, Bob Rock and Humberto Gatica.

Originally scheduled for release on Oct. 13, the album will now hit stores on Oct. 9.

* * *
Toby Keith "American Ride" (Show Dog Nashville)

The country superstar is set to take fans for an "American Ride," which follows last year's "That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy." "American Ride" is Keith's 14th studio album.

The album's lead single is its title track, which has already topped the charts, becoming Keith's 19th No. 1 hit. The most unexpected number on the set is "Cryin' For Me (Wayman's Song)." The song is a tribute to the basketball-star-turned-smooth-jazz-artist Wayman Tisdale, who died back in May. "Cryin' For Me (Wayman's Song)" features smooth-jazz players Dave Koz and Marcus Miller.

* * *
Brandi Carlile "Give Up the Ghost" (Sony)

The roots-oriented singer/songwriter, whose bluesy vocal approach has led to numerous comparisons to Bonnie Raitt, is back with her third studio album.

"Give Up the Ghost" follows her breakthrough effort, 2007's "The Story."

She worked with T Bone Burnett on "The Story," and turned to another legendary producer--Rick Rubin--for "Give Up the Ghost." The 11-song set includes the track "Caroline," a collaboration with Elton John.

Carlile is supporting "Give Up the Ghost" on the road during an in-progress tour that is currently set to stretch through an Oct. 24 show in Seattle.

* * *
Rosanne Cash "The List" (Manhattan)

The acclaimed country singer/songwriter receives plenty of help from her famous friends on her latest album. The guests that make "The List" are Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and Rufus Wainwright.

Cash, who is the eldest daughter of dearly departed country music legend Johnny Cash, goes the cover-song route with "The List." The tracklisting includes her renditions of songs by The Carter Family ("Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow"), Hank Williams ("Take These Chains From My Heart"), Jimmie Rodgers ("Miss The Mississippi and You"), Hank Cochran/Patsy Cline ("She's Got You"), Merle Haggard ("Silver Wings") and Bob Dylan ("Girl From the North Country," recorded by Dylan and Johnny Cash in 1969).

Grammy-winner John Leventhal (Cash's husband, who also contributes guitar work throughout), produced, arranged and played guitar on "The List."

* * *
More new releases:
Above & Beyond, Anjunabeats 7 (Ultra)
Air, "Love 2" (Astralwerks)
Luke Bryan, "Doin' My Thing" (Capitol)
Built to Spill, "There Is No Enemy" (Reprise)
DJ Tiesto, "Kaleidoscope" (Ultra)
Mike Doughty, "Sad Man Happy Man" (ATO)
Duran Duran, "Live at Hammersmith 82" (Capitol)
Lita Ford, "Wicked Wonderland" (JLRG)
Irish Tenors, "The Irish Tenors Christmas" (Razor & Tie)
Michael Jackson, "In Memory of Michael Jackson: 1958-2009" (IMV)
Relient K, "Forget and Not Slow Down" (Jive)
Tokio Hotel, "Humanoid" (Cherrytree)
Various artists, "WOW Hits 2010" (EMI)
BeBe and CeCe Winans, "Still" (Malaco)

Dad's list turns into Rosanne Cash's disc

NEW YORK – Make no mistake, Rosanne Cash fully understands the value of the sheet of yellow lined paper her father handed to her one summer day in 1973. Now she's giving the world a peek.

Back then, she was 18, just graduated from high school, a daughter of divorce eager to spend time with her dad and learn the family business. She tagged along on a concert tour and talked music during the long bus rides. When Johnny Cash grew alarmed at the songs Rosanne didn't know, he sat down with a pad and pen.

What he produced was a syllabus worthy of a master professor: Johnny Cash's list of the "100 Essential Country Songs."

Twelve of those songs make up "The List," Cash's new CD. Her first covers album includes duets with Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy and Rufus Wainwright.

Cash had put the list away after learning many of the songs. She had her own path to forge. It was forgotten in a box of memorabilia until she happened upon it late in 2005 while writing narrative portions of her "Black Cadillac" stage show. She talked about it during the concerts and fans would inevitably ask when she was going to record the songs. Her husband, music producer and guitarist John Leventhal, no doubt smiled.

"My husband has been telling me for 17 years, `Your voice is really well-suited to these songs,' and I would go, `I'm a songwriter, I'm a songwriter," she said. "Well, it turns out my voice really is well-suited to these songs."

The disc showcases some of the best singing in Cash's career, as she faces the challenge of carrying melodies other than her own and putting her stamp on songs already well known. The often spare arrangements also emphasize Leventhal's guitar.

Cash begins with "Miss the Mississippi and You," which the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers, recorded in 1932. She ends with the Carter Family's "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow," which always reminds Cash of her step-aunt Helen Carter, who taught her the guitar.

The disc's emotional centerpiece is the heartbreak trio of "Long Black Veil," a duet with Wilco's Tweedy on a prisoner's tale best known through Johnny Cash's version; the Patsy Cline hit "She's Got You"; and Bob Dylan's "Girl From the North Country," a composition that first intimidated Cash because she remembered her father singing it with Dylan on television.

Recording meant finding the songs' emotional core. "It's like going through tunnels and layers," she said.

The songs are some of the things that connect father and daughter and, Rosanne believed, it was time to claim the legacy.

"I don't have that young person's feeling of trying to get away from my ancestry and parents and what they passed on," she said. "In fact, I want to embrace it, so I can show it and pass it along to my own (five) kids. It's just unseemly at my age (54) to be doing that kind of `chip on your shoulder' rebellion."

Besides the personal connection, it's important to keep the songs alive, she said.

"Can you imagine America without this music?" she said. "It's who we are, culturally. It's as important as the Civil War, these songs. Personally, I would hate to see them become something you just visit at a museum. I think they are living and breathing and part of our cultural legacy."

"The List" is probably part of Cash's grieving process, said Jay Orr, historian for the Country Music Hall of Fame. He recalled the Everly Brothers putting out an album, "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us," during the peak of their success.

"The songs benefit from being dusted off and shared again in new arrangements that are contemporary and appealing," Orr said.

She's often thought about how the list would be different if her father had compiled it closer to his death in 2003. George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" would probably be on it. He loved Springsteen's "Nebraska" album and would likely have included one of those songs. Her father wasn't so modest as to leave his own material off the list, but you'll have to guess what it is.

Cash has also recorded a couple of extras: a duet with Neko Case on Porter Wagoner's "Satisfied Mind" will be available on iTunes. Mickey Newbury's "Sweet Memories" is another promotional item.

That makes 14. She noted "This Land is Your Land" is on the list, revealing a song that she didn't want to record because it's so well known.

So what about the other 85?

Sorry.

How much has she been offered to reveal it? "A lot," Cash said with a laugh. She's already thinking about a second volume of "The List." Why give anyone the chance to beat her to it?

"I like having it as my own," she said. "It's like a martial arts secret."

Student-made Peas video a hit

MONTREAL - A YouTube video of students at the Universite de Quebec a Montreal lip syncing the Black Eyed Peas hit "I Got a Feeling" is quickly becoming a phenomenon on the web.

Two UQAM communications students created the lip dub video to the popular tune during the first week of school and it has taken on a life of its own, with more than 400,000 views on the video-sharing website as of Wednesday.

The walking, first-person video takes the viewer on a tour of UQAM's downtown Montreal campus, right through the front door and snaking through the hallways as students sing and dance to the hit.

Luc-Olivier Cloutier and Marie-Eve Hebert, the student duo behind the Internet hit say it was a tremendous task to co-ordinate the roughly five-minute video, which was remarkably filmed in just one take.

"We really had to plan everything in advance, starting with the itinerary," said Cloutier, 22, who was the cameraman.

"We had to write, line-by-line, who would do what, everything had to be timed."

Six students worked on the concept for over a month and volunteers were recruited using social networking site Facebook, but they had no idea how many would actually show up until the day of filming.

A total of 172 students took part in the video, which was filmed in the span of about two hours.

According to the Viral Video Chart, the video was ranked number 12 as of Wednesday.

"There was no way we though that it would become as popular as it has," Cloutier said, adding the comments are added minute by minute on YouTube.

Local and international media have also taken notice, with CNN interviewing the creators on Sunday night and an NBC interview in the coming days.

"They are really impressed, that's what is special," said Cloutier of the media attention.

Both students are to graduate next spring and have been receiving job offers since the video went viral, meaning it became a mainstream hit on the Internet through word of mouth.

The clip is available on YouTube right here!

Paul McCartney to release CD/DVD of NY shows

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Paul McCartney's recent three-night concert stand in New York City -- during which the rock legend delved into his Beatles, Wings and solo catalogs and brought Billy Joel to the stage -- is coming to CD and DVD.

On November 17, McCartney will release "Good Evening New York City," a multi-disc set featuring nearly three hours of performances from his CitiField Stadium shows in July.

Among the set highlights are Beatles classics "Drive My Car," Eleanor Rigby" and "Hey Jude," a tribute medley to John Lennon, and the Wings staple "Live and Let Die," during which fireworks erupted to open McCartney's shows.

"It was three great nights for the band, and for me personally, it was very exciting to be back opening a new stadium on the site of the old Shea Stadium where we had played 44 years previously," said McCartney, alluding to the Beatles' famous christening of the Mets' original home in 1965. "Even more exciting because this time 'round you could hear us!"

"Good Evening New York City," which will also be made available on vinyl, will include a DVD of footage compiled from Hi-Def cameras and digital Flipcam video shot by fans in the crowd. The release will be McCartney's second on Hear Music, following 2007's "Memory Almost Full."

Genesis Preps Live Collections As Hall Of Fame Vote Nears

Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks isn't taking his tuxedo to the dry cleaner yet. But he's hoping that the British prog rockers, who are on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, wind up collecting trophies at the March 15 induction ceremony in New York City.

"It'll be great if it does happen," Banks tells Billboard.com, "but I can't really tell whether we're going to be one of the ones that goes there. It would be good to happen, I think. It would be nice."

A Genesis induction would, of course, create the potential for a reunion of the Peter Gabriel-fronted 1970-75 lineup, with Phil Collins on drums, that's been rumored for the past five years. Collins recently announced he has a back condition from years of wear and tear that prohibits him from drumming and could complicate such a performance, but Banks says "we'll face that particular hurdle when we get to it." It does, however, render any other future Genesis reunion "a long shot," according to the keyboardist. "I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it."

While the Hall of Fame announcement looms, Genesis is giving fans plenty to tuck into. A new 10-disc box set, "Genesis Live 1973-2007," comes out Sept. 29 featuring four of the group's five concert sets, an open slot for "Live Over Europe 2007," unreleased material from 1973 and 1975, and video footage, all remastered.

Banks, who's been active in compiling Genesis' series of box sets since 2007, says he "wasn't so sure about doing the live stuff" in this fashion but is happy with the result. "I think it's fun to hear the (music) in different versions for fans who like the stuff, anyhow," he explains. "As a first introduction to Genesis I think the studio albums are definitely better, but it's quite interesting to hear how we did these very complex pieces live. They take on a bit more fluency, I think."

Genesis' next release will be a 2010 box that compiles the group's concert videos. There will be no duplication from the box sets, Banks says, but there will be some previously unreleased material, including 40 minutes of "home movie" footage that Collins shot during the making of the 1983 "Genesis" album. Like the new live box, it will feature an empty slot for the "When in Rome 2007" DVD.

Banks, who's also releasing a remastered version of his 1979 solo album "A Curious Feeling," adds that Genesis is still planning to start making individual concerts from the archives available on its web site, though no firm plan is in place yet. "At some point we will do it," he promises. "We've just spent a lot of time recently doing all this other stuff, but I think it will happen. Whether any quality control goes into it, I don't know, really. Perhaps you hang it out, dirty laundry and all. Maybe somebody can get ahold of all this stuff and make a compilation of all the worst bits and stick them together and see what it sounds like. I think it would be quite funny!"

Mariah Carey is in a happy place with projects, love life

Mariah Carey could really use a nap. After a few hours of restless sleep, she rose at 4:30 a.m. to prepare for a performance in Central Park to promote her new album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. In the past, this scenario would have been a source of anxiety for the singer, who has long struggled with insomnia and worried about its effect on her famously fluid, multi-octave-spanning voice.

But sitting in her hotel suite as evening approaches, Carey, 39, seems alert and unruffled. "I felt really good about myself today," she says. For starters, she got positive feedback on the morning gig, taped live for The Oprah Winfrey Show, from her backup singers. "They're really talented, and they don't give me compliments all the time."

Another factor contributing to Carey's contentment is sprawled on the bed behind her, sleeping soundly — or at least pretending to. "Nick, I know you're awake," she says teasingly, as actor/rapper/TV host Nick Cannon, to whom she has been married for 17 months, stirs and mumbles, "Uh-uh."

Before she met Cannon, 28, "I wasted my time with stuff that wasn't really real, in my personal life," Carey says. "I was always more focused on my career. But now I have this support system."

The tracks on Memoirs, out Tuesday, hardly present a unified portrait of a blissed-out newlywed. The album "was going to be about women's empowerment," Carey says. "There are songs on there that are just saying (to men), 'I don't need you.' " The first single, Obsessed, accuses a wannabe beau of "lyin' that you're sexin' me," chiding him, "Finally found a girl that you couldn't impress." The song, which has sold more than 1 million downloads, peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Hot 100. It recently topped USA TODAY's rhythmic airplay chart and is at No. 12 and rising in top 40 airplay.

In the video, Carey appears both as herself and in a couple of male guises, one of them a goateed, hoodie-wearing chap bearing a suspicious resemblance to Eminem, who launched a media feud in 2003 by suggesting in his Superman single that Carey had unrequited designs on him.

Asked if the rapper inspired the tune, Carey says, a bit coyly, "I wouldn't ever call anyone an inspiration for that song. But I'm happy (that) all the people who have been stalked and abused now have an anthem."

Carey insists, though, that Obsessed was crafted with a generous dose of humor, as was much of the material on Memoirs. Even the angelic reference "is a wink and a nod" to previous album titles, among them Butterfly, Charmbracelet and Rainbow. "People were saying, 'Oh, she's going to call her next album Unicorn.' There are so many jokes on this album. It still makes me laugh thinking of them."

Co-produced by Carey and contemporary urban/pop wizards Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The Dream" Nash, Memoirs was "a really fun project. We'd sit around quoting movies, having a really great time. Dream was literally rolling around the studio floor."

Mr. and Mrs. C

The process wasn't entirely lighthearted. Carey points to Languishing, a plaintive interlude preceding the album's closing number and second single: a gospel-flavored reading of the power ballad I Want to Know What Love Is, a hit for the rock band Foreigner 25 years ago. Cannon was instrumental in selecting the cover, which is positioned at No. 20 and No. 30 on the adult-contemporary and urban AC airplay charts, and climbing both.

"Nick and I talk about music a lot, and we were talking about that song. I knew that if I was going to do it, I would have to bring my own thing to it." Carey also credits the track's co-producer James "Big Jim" Wright, who honed his gospel chops with Sounds of Blackness, and American Idol judge Randy Jackson, a veteran musician and longtime Carey confidant who lent additional production. "I wanted more drums, and Randy got a drummer who works predominantly in church, which took it to a different level."

The label has furnished Memoirs with various bells and whistles, including a bonus enhanced disc with four remixes of Obsessed and two versions of the video. The CD booklet consists of 34 pages compiled with Elle magazine, featuring ads for Angel Champagne, Elizabeth Arden and the board of tourism for the Bahamas, where Carey has a home, and where she and Cannon wed after a whirlwind courtship.

Island Def Jam Music Group chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid, who served as co-executive producer of Memoirs, got the idea while reading "one of those niche magazines where they sell ad pages with luxury brands, then give the magazine away. I thought, 'We reach more people with our CDs than these (publications) do,' and we need more ideas for how to generate revenue. I'm having many conversations (about this) with other artists," among them Carey's labelmate Rihanna.

Carey, who approved all the merchandise, says, "I love Elle, and the products are all things that I like. I thought it would be good to incorporate these little bits of my life and share my happiness with fans that way."

Clearly, neither Carey nor Cannon, her second husband (she was married early in her career to Tommy Mottola, then chief of Sony Music, her record company at the time), is reluctant to advertise their domestic beatitude. In conversation, Carey pulls her shirt up ever so slightly to reveal a burnt-orange butterfly tattoo on her lower back, with "Mrs. Cannon" inked delicately down the stem. Cannon, in turn, has "Mariah" branded in sprawling black letters across his upper back.

The couple met in 2005 at the Teen Choice Awards, but started dating in March 2008, when Cannon directed and appeared in the video for Bye Bye, a single off her last studio album, E=MC2. "The first thing I said to him is, 'I'm going to call you Mr. C,' " Carey says. "And the first thing he said was, 'I'm going to call you Mrs. C.' And we just started doing that."

Later that month, it was Mariah's "anniversary." ("I don't call them birthdays," she says. "I refuse birthdays.")

"We were on this island, and my security didn't want people around me — I guess they were being protective — so they planned for him to be on another part of the island that night. But I snuck over to where he was and woke him up with a piece of pineapple, and we stayed up and talked all night. When he had to go in the morning, neither of us wanted to leave." They tied the knot just over a month later.

A precious opportunity

Carey's lucky breaks have not been limited to the romantic arena. Director Lee Daniels, who cast her in last year's Tennessee— one of several films in which she has quietly picked up good notices since 2001's aggressively maligned musical Glitter— thought of her again when he needed an actress to play a dowdy social worker in Precious, his adaptation of Push, Sapphire's acclaimed novel about an abused, underprivileged teenager trying to overcome her wretched circumstances.

Precious, which arrives in theaters Nov. 6, boasts Winfrey and Tyler Perry as executive producers and has already earned top prizes at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals. Carey's role was originally intended for Helen Mirren, but the younger star, who had read and loved Push, happened to call the director shortly after he learned that Mirren was unavailable.

"A light bulb went off in my head," Daniels recalls. He offered Carey the part, "but I told her, 'The only way you can do this is if you lose your entourage and come to set without any makeup on, and be prepared for me to make you look even plainer.' I actually had somebody on standby, in case she wouldn't do what I wanted. But she gave her spirit to me, and became the Mariah I know: a girl who listens and is loving and nurturing."

Carey concedes that assuming the character's glammed-down appearance wasn't easy. "I was like, keep me away from every mirror! But Lee gave me several gifts. He gave me what I needed to get to the truth of this woman, and he gave me a certain lack of self-consciousness. Because you can't be self-conscious and look like that."

Looking ahead

Still, Carey's confidence has its limits. The negative press surrounding Glitter and her subsequent breakdown stung, despite her ability to defy critics by rebounding with 2005's best-selling album, the-six-times-platinum-plus The Emancipation of Mimi. She would consider doing another movie musical, "but it would have to be with an incredible director, someone who's really a genius, because I've been burned by that."

She's susceptible to stage nerves, as well. Singing I'll Be There at Michael Jackson's memorial service in July, she was still shaken by the pop icon's unexpected death "and didn't know I was going to go on first." She delivered an emotional but vocally tentative performance. "I wish I had done him more justice." (Memoirs is dedicated "to the King of Pop" and Carey's pastor.)

Former Spin and Vibe editor Alan Light says Carey "faces the challenge that all those at her altitude face now. Nobody sells records the way she used to, even as recently as Emancipation of Mimi. How do you scale expectations when that's the field you've played on?"

Light is particularly eager to see how Carey's career progresses as she enters her 40s. "She is so much a pop artist, and has so affiliated herself with urban musicians, and that's a young person's game. It would be good for her to get out and sing in front of people more, re-establish herself as a vocalist, because that's her strength."

Carey, who last toured in 2006, did two Las Vegas shows recently and has another pair scheduled for October, but she still isn't sure when she'll do a concert trek again. She has plainly thought about embracing more grown-up challenges. Having or adopting children is one consideration, "though I'd want to be in a position to handle that as well as possible." As Memoirs' title suggests, she's inclined to look back now and then — but not, these days, with anger or regret.

"There's a little bit of almost every album I've done on this new one," Carey says. "It's like I put everything in a blender and made drinks for my friends. They're festive drinks, though some are bittersweet. I'm at such a good place in my life, and that allows me to be honest. And to enjoy things."

Foo Fighters reveal greatest hits details

The upcoming Foo Fighters' greatest-hits compilation will be available as a 16-track standard edition and as a deluxe version that will include a DVD containing a select videography of the band's classic clips, as well as live performances from Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park and the intimate Skin + Bones theater tour, according to a press release.

The deluxe edition also will include a 28-page book featuring never-before-seen photos chronicling the band's 15-year history.

Both the standard and deluxe editions--as well as a collectors' 180 gram vinyl edition--will be released Nov. 3.

In addition to hits such as "Everlong" and "Times Like These," the set will include two newly recorded songs, "Wheels" and "Word Forward," both of which were recorded with Butch Vig especially for the collection. The deluxe DVD also will feature the soon-to-be-released video for "Wheels," which is the band's newest single.

Miranda Lambert Starting A 'Revolution' This Fall

Miranda Lambert didn't draw the title of her third album, "Revolution," from a song or a lyric; instead, the country-rocker is a bit more philosophical about her new work. "To me, that's an exciting word, that something new is happening. I sort of reinvented myself musically on this record," Lambert tells Billboard.com. "It feels like there's change, that country music is more open-minded. To me, anyways."

Slated for release next Tuesday (Sept. 29) "Revolution" is one of the most hotly anticipated country releases of the fall. The fifteen song set was written and recorded earlier this year, with the first sessions taking place in January, and features 11 new originals and covers of Fred Eaglesmith's "Time To Get A Gun," John Prine's "That's The Way The World Goes 'Round" and Julie Miller's "Somewhere Trouble Don't Go."

Lambert first broke onto the scene after finishing third place on the first season of reality TV show, "Nashville Star." She has since gone on to release two albums, 2005's "Kerosene" and 2007's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." Both have been successful commercially and critically, with "Kerosene" selling 979,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" selling 804,000. "Kerosene" peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard 200 and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend peaked at No. 6. Both records spawned very successful singles like "Gunpowder & Lead," "Famous In A Small Town," "Me and Charlie," and "Kerosene." Ahead of "Revolution," Lambert released "Dead Flowers" in May, which has since sold 68,000 downloads. The second single, "White Liar," was released to radio this this past August and peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs.

Even with this early roll out, Lambert is gearing up for a week of heavy, high-profile promotional gigs, starting this Thursday (Sept. 24) at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, where she'll play "Revolution" from start to finish. "I'm actually really nervous," she admits about this show. "I've never been this nervous, probably ever." Television performances are slated for next week, too, including an appearance on Good Morning America and The Late Show with David Letterman on September 29 and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on October 1. From there, she will fly to Los Angeles to tape the Ellen DeGeneres show on October 5 and the Bonnie Hunt show on October 6.

Lambert says "Revolution" expands on her songwriting "because there's more story to tell."

"Sonically, I think this record is a bit more out there in some parts than anything I've ever done," she says. Indeed, the songs on "Revolution" branch out from where her prior two left off- she takes on a driving, country-punk sound during "Only Prettier," is playful sounding during the acoustic swing of "Airstream Song" yet solemn and more reflective during "Makin' Plans." Lambert also expands on her bad-girl streak that lined "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," during the more rock and roll influences of "Heart Like Mine" and "Sin For A Sin."

While "Revolution" contains the most songs on a Lambert album so far, she concedes that it only clocks in at a little over three minutes longer than "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," with many songs falling in the two or three minute range. "I never use any demos; I usually just play my stuff on the guitar. It's really a quick process," she says. ""I'm writing about more things and branching out in my way of thinking."

Here is the track list for "Revolution":

"White Liar"
"Only Prettier"
"Dead Flowers"
"Me & Your Cigarettes"
"Maintain The Pain"
"Airstream Song"
"Makin' Plans"
"Time To Get A Gun"
"Somewhere Trouble Don't Go"
"The House That Built Me"
"Love Song"
"Heart Like Mine"
"Sin For A Sin"
"That's The Way The World Goes 'Round"
"Virginia Bluebell"

Joe Perry frustrated over Steven Tyler accident

NEW YORK – Joe Perry is angry that Aerosmith has been sidelined due to Steven Tyler's tour injury.

The group had to cancel their summer tour after the frontman suffered injuries when he fell off the stage during a concert in August.

"The tour was building up to be a great tour, and I was pretty (upset), you know," Perry said in an interview on Wednesday.

The guitarist hasn't even spoken to Tyler recently: "I haven't talked to him in over five weeks. I don't know what's going on with him. I hear he's getting better, but I don't know I really don't know what's going on with him.

The 61-year-old Tyler fell off the stage during an Aug. 5 performance in South Dakota. He broke his left shoulder and needed 20 stitches in his head. Tyler was ordered by doctors to take the time to properly recuperate from his injuries.

"I was pretty (upset), because right before that, he had pulled a muscle in his leg. And we had to take two weeks off and we missed probably seven dates," Perry said.

Even though Aerosmith is idle, Perry has been keeping busy promoting his upcoming album, "Have Guitar, Will Travel." It's the fifth record for his solo endeavor, The Joe Perry Project. Although the CD was already in the works, he put his full focus on it after Tyler was injured. It is out Oct. 6.

"The bottom line is that every hole that Aerosmith left I filled," he said of the CD.

Aerosmith has been together since the early 1970s, and Perry believes they'll be back in action again: "One thing I do know, there's still life left in the old band."
Still, Perry couldn't hide his feelings regarding Tyler.

"All I know is he's got to get his act together. I mean, he and I haven't written a song together alone in the same room in over ten years, so there's been some changes in paradigm of what Aerosmith is," he said.

A representative for Aerosmith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U2 Expanding 'Unforgettable Fire' This Fall

While U2's "360 Tour" just got underway in Chicago this past weekend, fans are in store for another treat this fall as the 25th anniversary of the band's classic 1984 album, "The Unforgettable Fire" will be celebrated with a host of reissue configurations. Due October 27 from Island/Universal, four options will be available that include B-sides, rarities, alternate versions, and previously unreleased songs including "Disappearing Act" (a.k.a. "White City"), a song that was originally started in 1983 with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Only recently the band put the finishing touches on "Disappearing Act" in France, according to an interview with BBC Radio 1.

Handling the re-mastering duties was U2 guitarist The Edge. The four versions will include a 180 gram vinyl album version, a standard re-mastered CD version, a deluxe double version with a 36 page bound book and a limited edition super deluxe box set, which includes the 2 CD version, a 56 page bound book, 5 portfolio prints and a DVD that will feature rare videos, concert footage and a "Making of" documentary of the album.

Although no official announcement has been made on U2.com, fans who have visited the group's merchandise table at recent concerts have received wind of this release from a shopping bag advertisement. In a possible nod to the upcoming anniversary, the band has been playing the title track "The Unforgettable Fire" at recent shows for the first time in many years. "The Unforgettable Fire" continues in a series of deluxe reissues of U2's earlier work. 2007 saw the expanded release of "The Joshua Tree," for that album's 20th anniversary and in 2008 the group reissued "War," "Boy," and "October" in similar deluxe formats.

U2 is currently in the midst of a stadium and arena tour of North America, with the next shows scheduled for September 16 and 17 at Toronto's Rogers Centre. The band's latest album "No Line on the Horizon" was released this past February and has sold 991,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Elvis Costello Launching 'The Costello Show Series'

There's just no slowing down Elvis Costello.

After launching his "Spectacle" TV series last December and releasing his latest studio effort, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," this past June, the punk icon is set to debut "The Costello Show Series," a selection of rare live recordings from throughout his career. First up is "Live at the El Mocambo," a heavily bootlegged concert from March 6, 1978 in Toronto. The 14 song set is due September 29 on Hip-O/Universal and originally appeared as a part of the "2 1/2 Years" box set issued by Rykodisc in 1993, but has never stood on its own as an official release.

The concert was originally broadcast on CHUM-FM and was pressed in a limited vinyl run as a promotional item. Costello was touring in support of his landmark debut, "My Aim Is True." The show features several early versions of what are now considered Costello classics, including "Pump It Up," "Watching the Detectives," and a fiery version of "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea." "Live at the El Mocambo" captures Costello at a very young age, with a raw sound in both the quality of the recording as well as the material.

While little information is available on how many shows will be included in future releases, the series is set to roll out concerts over the next year, with a performance from June 4, 1978 at Hollywood High slated next.

Costello has been a rather prolific renaissance man over the last twenty years, releasing a number of recordings with a bevy of different collaborators, including Allen Toussaint, Bill Frisell and Burt Bacharach. "Se ret, Profane & Sugarcane" continued his recent forays outside of the "punk" lexicon, pairing him with Americana legends T Bone Burnett, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Douglas and Stuart Duncan. Since June, it has sold 89,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Costello is currently on break from summer touring activities, resuming on October 5 in Singapore before heading to Australia.

Here is the track list for "Live at the El Mocambo":

"Mystery Dance"
"Waiting For The End Of The World"
"Welcome To The Working Week"
"Less Than Zero"
"The Beat"
"Lip Service"
"(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea"
"Little Triggers"
"Radio, Radio"
"Lipstick Vogue"
"Watching The Detectives"
"Miracle Man"
"You Belong To Me"
"Pump It Up"

Fans flood stores for Beatles reissues

TORONTO (CP) - It was a bit of Beatlemania all over again today as Canadian record stores faced a flood of fans clamouring for the two new remastered box sets, CD reissues, and a Fab Four-themed "Rock Band" video game.

In Toronto, HMV's flagship store sold out of the limited edition box sets within about 40 minutes, according to an employee.

Both sets include the entire Beatles catalogue remastered on CD for the first time.

One set has the Beatles' classics mixed into stereo, while a super limited-edition mono set is available for purists.

HMV Canada's director of product Ken Kirkwood says sales have been consistently strong right across the country and anything with the Beatles name on it is flying out the door.

He says the chain's Top 15 selling CDs are all Beatles remasters, while the various versions of the new "Rock Band" game are dominating the Top 5 video game chart.

"It's right across the board," Kirkwood said of the Beatles frenzy at HMV stores.

"I don't think there's a place in Canada where there are people that aren't (Beatles) fans."

He said the mono box set would definitely be sold out across the country by the end of the day, while a few stereo sets might still be kicking around.

All the Beatles albums were also rereleased individually for those who didn't want to shell out for the box sets ($189 for the stereo package and $219 for the mono) and Kirkwood said the top seller was "Abbey Road," followed by "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the "White Album," "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul."

"You can see the way the sales have gone that there are customers we've had that bought every single album," Kirkwood added.

The remastered Beatles: You've got to get this into your life

"Number nine, number nine, number nine," an engineer's voice intones over Revolution 9, the loopy loops-laden experimental track on The Beatles' self-titled 1968 album.

Little did John Lennon realize that the tune he dubbed "music of the future" would foreshadow Revolution 09/09/09, the day that would usher The Beatles' entire catalog into the future with a substantial engineering overhaul, rendering the most familiar music of the modern age suddenly astonishing and revelatory.

The remastered Beatles catalog, on sale Wednesday, is the remasterpiece fans have been craving since 1987, when the band's albums lost dimension and purity in their only wholesale transfer to CD.

A handful of scrubbed Beatles discs have bubbled up since then, most strikingly 2000's 1 hits compilation and 2006's brazen Love remix, but this is the first thorough catalog upgrade, a long-overdue digital reparation that restores the original vinyl's wider midrange, pin-drop clarity and rhythmic heft. Drum beats crackle with renewed insistence, burnishing Ringo Starr's star. Paul McCartney's bass has more visceral punch.

Abbey Road engineers tweaked the 20th century's most cherished songbook with surgical care, limiting reliance on "limiting," which makes music seem louder while quashing dynamic range.

Results vary from subtle to dramatic, and the mono-stereo debate will find eternal life in the blogosphere (especially regarding Sgt. Pepper), yet the enhancements overall are undeniable.

Even new and casual fans will be tempted to splurge on the $260 16-disc stereo box set (plus DVD) and the pricier $299 13-disc mono box set, which won't return to shelves once the initial pressing sells out.

Only the stereo discs are available individually. Cherry-picking? Start with these:

•The Beatles (1968). The so-called White Album sounds remarkably fresh, especially its unshackled rockers. Back in the U.S.S.R., Helter Skelter and Yer Blues cook with a furious intensity. I Will is stripped to a translucent elegance, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps rises to grander heights (and discloses a kick drum never before audible).

•Abbey Road (1969). Rich details emerge throughout the band's recording swansong, particularly showcasing the phenomenal strengths and interplay of McCartney and Starr. Come Together has a tougher strut, and The End explodes with rhythmic power. The textures and segues of the 16-minute medley are clearer, fully revealing a marvel of sonic architecture.

•Revolver (1966). Every groove is revitalized, brightening Good Day Sunshine and broadening Here, There and Everywhere. The psychedelic effects in Tomorrow Never Knows nearly shimmer. And the string quartet in Eleanor Rigby? It's now in your living room.

•A Hard Day's Night (1964). That opening claaaang! in the title track never sounded so vital. There's a more robust kick to Can't Buy Me Love. And yep, engineers didn't plaster over the catch in McCartney's voice on If I Fell.

•Let It Be(1970). The controversial Phil Spector production (despised by McCartney) benefits from a simple cleansing that brightens the beautifully spacey Across the Universe, plaintive title track and muscular Get Back.

The remasters won't be the last souvenir stop on The Beatles' long and winding road to immortality. Fans are clamoring for a full remix and Blu-ray DVDs of the catalog. That's years away. For now, this magical mystery tour de force breaks enough sound barriers.

Rather than cosmetically tarting up The Beatles, the scrupulous calibration has more honestly conveyed the band's warm, uplifting, indestructible pop. What you hear isn't technology. It's heart.

Thom Yorke releases 2-track 12"

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has given fans of vinyl a boost - his new solo single will be available on wax two weeks before it hits the internet as a download.

The singer/songwriter will release FeelingPulledApartbyHorses on 21 September as a limited-edition 12-inch single.

The vinyl will include a free digital download of the songs, which will be made available as a paid download in October.

FeelingPulledApartbyHorses is a track Yorke recorded with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and is backed by another new song, Hollow Earth.

Neil Young to release 14th CD of the year

The latest release in a blizzard of activity from Neil Young will be a solo acoustic album that takes a "closer look at" the 10 songs that became Young's bestselling Harvest Moon.

The album, announced on NeilYoung.com, will be released "on or about Nov. 2nd, 17 years after the original release of Harvest Moon. "A closer look at Harvest Moon songs, all performed solo acoustic before the release of Harvest Moon, Dreamin' Man contains intimate live performances recorded in concert halls during 1992."

Assuming this is Young's final release of 2009 (not an entirely safe bet), Dreamin' Man will be the 14th CD he's put out this year alone. That total includes the studio album Fork in the Road (April), the eight CDs that comprised the audio-only version of his massive Archives, Vol. 1 project (June), and reissues of Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Goldrush and Harvest (July).

Dreamin' Man includes all of the songs that ended up on Harvest Moon, albeit in different order, plus "Old King Rap," which one presumes is an elaborate intro to "Old King."

The track listing for Dreamin' Man:

1. Dreamin' Man
2. Such a Woman
3. Old King Rap
4. Old King
5. One of These Days
6. Harvest Moon
7. You and Me
8. From Hank to Hendrix
9. Unknown Legend
10. Natural Beauty
11. War of Man

Foo Fighters Ready Two New Songs For 'Greatest Hits'

Foo Fighters will commemorate the group's 15th anniversary with the Nov. 3 release of "Foo Fighters Greatest Hits" on Roswell/RCA. The group recorded two new songs for the set -- "Word Forward" and "Wheels," which the quartet debuted at a July 4 barbecue honoring military heroes at the White House -- with producer Butch Vig at the Foos' own 606 studio. They'll join Grammy Award-winning songs such as "The Pretender," "All My Life" and "Learn To Fly," along with "Best Of You," "Times Like These," "My Hero, "Everlong" and others.

The release of "Greatest Hits" will come at a time the individual Foos are dispersed to other projects. Founder and leader Dave Grohl is working with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Josh Home of Queens of the Stone Age in Them Crooked Vultures, whose debut album is due out in October. And bassist Nate Mendel is touring with the reunited Sunny Day Real Estate, which is also releasing remastered versions of 1994's "Diary" and 1995's "LP2," each with two bonus tracks.

Mendel tells Billboard.com that the Foos' hiatus is "kind of open-ended. We were pretty much planning to take this year off and start writing. This fall or winter we'll probably start writing new Foo Fighters stuff."

Mendel, meanwhile, is spending his time gearing up for the Sunny Day Real Estate tour, which kicks off Sept. 17 in Vancouver. "It's fun to do something different. You need some variety," Mendel says. "I've always loved those two Sunny Day records that I played on...and I like the other musicians in the band, so I wanted to just get together and re-live the whole experience."

But Mendel and his Sunny Day are "on egg shells" about whether the reunion will lead to new music from the group. "Any old wounds from the past, no one wants to bring them up," he explains. "We just want to focus on positive things, and you start writing new songs and that opens up a whole new can of worms. And those of us that are still playing in bands are pretty busy, too.

"One thing I didn't know before we start this and I know now is we [i]could[/i] make another record. We get along. We still have a connection that would allow us to make music. So if the will and time is there, it's a possibility at least."

As for Grohl's endeavor, Mendel says he started hearing about the group earlier this year and has had a chance to see Them Crooked Vultures in the studio. "They're great," Mendel says, adding with a laugh that "it's a different dynamic, though. It's interesting to see (Grohl) not being in charge."

Madonna Reveals Track List for “Celebration” Hits Collection

After taking requests from fans and carefully examining her extensive Warner Bros. catalog, Madonna has revealed the track list for her Celebration greatest-hits collection and confirmed a fresh collaboration with Lil Wayne titled “Revolver” will be included on the set. Celebration, which will be released in both single and double-CD formats, and Celebration: The Video Collection, are due on September 29th.

The 47-video Celebration two-DVD set kicks off with “Burning Up” and features previously unseen footage from “Justify My Love” along with the brand-new video for “Celebration” and clips for “Give It 2 Me” (from Hard Candy) and “Into the Groove.”

The 36 songs on the Celebration CD include 16 of the 17 tracks from Madonna’s first extensive hits comp, 1990’s Immaculate Collection (all but “Rescue Me”) and pairs of songs from her more recent releases: “Ray of Light” and “Frozen” from Ray of Light, “Don’t Tell Me” and “Music” from Music, “Hollywood” and “Die Another Day” from American Life, “Hung Up” and “Sorry” from Confessions on a Dance Floor, and “4 Minutes” and “Miles Away” from Hard Candy.

Full track list for all discs is as follows.

CD 1:
01) Hung Up
02) Music
03) Vogue
04) 4 Minutes
05) Holiday
06) Everybody
07) Like A Virgin
08) Into The Groove
09) Like A Prayer
10) Ray Of Light
11) Sorry
12) Express Yourself
13) Open Your Heart
14) Borderline
15) Secret
16) Erotica
17) Justify My Love
18) Revolver

CD 2:
01) Dress You Up
02) Material Girl
03) La Isla Bonita
04) Papa Don’t Preach
05) Lucky Star
06) Burning Up
07) Crazy For You
08) Who’s That Girl
09) Frozen
10) Miles Away
11) Take A Bow
12) Live To Tell
13) Beautiful Stranger
14) Hollywood
15) Die Another Day
16) Don’t Tell Me
17) Cherish
18) Celebration

Madonna Celebration DVD Track Listing:

01) Burning Up
02) Lucky Star
03) Borderline
04) Like A Virgin
05) Material Girl
06) Crazy For You
07) Into The Groove
08) Live To Tell
09) Papa Don’t Preach
10) True Blue
11) Open Your Heart
12) La Isla Bonita
13) Who’s That Girl
14) Like A Prayer
15) Express Yourself
16) Cherish
17) Vogue
18) Justify My Love
19) Erotica
20) Deeper and Deeper
21) Rain
22) I’ll Remember
23) Secret
24) Take A Bow
25) Bedtime Story
26) Human Nature
27) I Want You
28) You’ll See
29) Frozen
30) Ray Of Light
31) The Power Of Good-Bye
32) Beautiful Stranger
33) American Pie
34) Music
35) Don’t Tell Me
36) What It Feels Like For A Girl
37) Die Another Day
38) Hollywood
39) Love Profusion
40) Hung Up
41) Sorry
42) Get Together
43) Jump
44) 4 Minutes
45) Give It 2 Me
46) Miles Away
47) Celebration

Ellie Greenwich, `Chapel of Love' co-writer, dies

NEW YORK – Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote some of pop music's most enduring songs, including "Chapel of Love," "Be My Baby" and "Leader of the Pack," died Wednesday, according to her niece. She was 68.

Greenwich died of a heart attack at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where she had been admitted a few days earlier for treatment of pneumonia, according to her niece, Jessica Weiner.

Greenwich, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was considered one of pop's most successful songwriters. She had a rich musical partnership with the legendary Phil Spector, whose "wall of sound" technique changed rock music. With Spector, she wrote some of pop's most memorable songs, including "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "River Deep, Mountain High." But Spector wasn't her only collaborator.

She also had key hits with her ex-husband Jeff Barry, including the dynamic song "Leader of the Pack" (years later, Broadway would stage a Tony-nominated musical with the same name based on her life).

"He was the first male I could actually harmonize with," she once said.

Greenwich was a native of Brooklyn. While she garnered her greatest success as a songwriter, Greenwich started out as a performer. She performed in talent shows as a child, and by the time she was a teen, she had her own group, called The Jivettes.

She went to college, where she met Barry, and shortly after graduation, began working for songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, where she got her break. She had her first chart success with the Jay and the Americans song "This Is It," which she wrote with Doc Pomus and Tony Powers.

She also had success with Barry as the duo The Raindrops with the songs "What a Guy" and "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget."

Greenwich also worked as an arranger and singer, a role that saw her working with artists including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

She is also credited with helping Neil Diamond get his start and was a co-producer of early Diamond hits "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman."

"Ellie Greenwich was one of the most important people in my career. She discovered me as a down-and-out songwriter and with her then-husband Jeff Barry co-produced all my early hits on Bang records," said Diamond in a statement. "She has remained a great friend and mentor over the years and will be missed greatly."

Among the more famous songs she wrote are "Baby I Love You," "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "Look of Love."

Greenwich is survived by a sister, brother-in-law, nephew and her niece.

Fall music preview

This fall, there are hundreds of new CDs being released by names you know, names you’re about to know and names you need to know.

Here are several dozen releases we’re looking forward to over the next three months — and a few we aren’t. See if you can spot the difference.

And remember: Everything here is subject to change.

SEPTEMBER

Black Crowes

Before the Frost ... and ...Until the Freeze

The jam-rockers drop two albums — one on CD and the other a free download. Two heads really are better than one.

Sept. 1

John Fogerty

Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again

His grammar sucks, but the CCR leader’s guest list does not: It includes Bruce Springsteen and Don Henley.

Sept. 1

The Used

Artwork

Album no. 4 from the Utah screamers deals with mortality and self-loathing. The kids will love it!

Sept. 1

Jay-Z

Blueprint 3

Hova bucks the Tuesday release trend by dropping this Kanye-produced disc on a Friday.

Sept. 11

Os Mutantes

Haih ... or Barauna ...

The Brazilian tropicalia psychedelicists make their first CD in 35 years. Beck and David Byrne rejoice.

Sept. 8

Phish

Joy

It’s comeback time for jam gods Trey Anastasio and co. after a five-year hiatus. HIppies everywhere rejoice.

Sept. 8

Yo La Tengo

Popular Songs

Good songs, I can believe. But popular? That would be a first for these New Jersey indie-rock vets.

Sept. 8

Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson

Break Up

Frankly, Scarlett ...

Sept. 8

Ace Frehley

Anomaly

KISS’s spaceman lands with his first album in 20 years. Ack!

Sept. 15

Megadeth

Endgame

A return to thrashing ’80s form from guitarist Dave Mustaine and co.

Sept. 15

Anvil

This Is Thirteen

Canada’s Spinal Tap try to strike while their rockumentary iron is still hot. Sept. 15

Pearl Jam

Backspacer

Eddie Vedder and co. say they’ve made a “positive” record. Thanks, Barack!

Sept. 20

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band

Between My Head and the Sky

Son Sean Lennon helped mom produce her first album of new originals in over a decade.

Sept. 22

Shakira

TBA

The Colombian popster’s hips don’t lie — so ask them for the title of this album. Sept. 25

Alice in Chains

Black Gives Way to Blue

After 14 years and the death of singer Layne Staley, AiC return with a new singer and ... an Elton John cameo?

Sept. 29

Mariah Carey

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel

Can’t wait to hear what Eminem is going to have to say about this.

Sept. 29

50 Cent

Before I Self-Destruct

Too late.

Sept. 29.

Nelly Furtado

Mi Plan

After two Spanish cuts on her 2006 Loose CD, Furtado goes todo cerdo aqui.

Sept. 29

Miranda Lambert

Revolution

Country-rock’s crazy ex-girlfriend is back.

Sept. 29

Lynyrd Skynyrd

God & Guns

They’re down to one original member — and no original ideas.

Sept. 29

Paramore

Brand New Eyes

Album no. 3 should make these female-fronted pop-punks into bona fide stars. Sept. 29

Barbra Streisand

Love Is the Answer

What was the question? On second thought, never mind.

Sept. 29

OCTOBER

Backstreet Boys

This is Us

T-Pain guests. Which only proves that T-Pain will play on anybody’s CD.

Oct. 6

Rosanne Cash

The List

Johnny’s daughter plays some of his list of the 100 Most Important Songs. Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello help.

Oct. 6

KISS

Sonic Boom

Gene and Paul get back to basics on their first new studio disc in 12 years. Cross your fingers.

Oct. 6

The Raveonettes

In and Out of Control

More noise-pop from the Danish duo.

Oct. 6

Slayer

World Painted Blood

The death-metal demon gods rise again, just in time for Halloween. Oct. 6

Flaming Lips

Embryonic

Wayne Coyne and his psychedelic warriors birth a double-album. Double your dose. Oct. 13

Toby Keith

American Ride

If he stays away from religion and politics, country king Keith might do OK.

Oct. 13

R. Kelly

TBA

Kelly’s long-delayed (and still untitled) latest has song called Falling From the Sky and #1 Fan. Just saying.

Oct. 13

The Roots

How I Got Over

Well, I guess Jimmy Fallon doesn’t have to look for a musical guest that night. Oct. 13

Creed

Full Circle

It’s their first album since 2001. What’s the rush, fellas?

Oct. 20

Flight of the Conchords

I Told You I Was Freaky

Put on your business socks, boys and girls.

Oct. 20

Lyle Lovett

TBA

The quirky country gentleman’s latest blends covers and originals.

Oct. 20

Tim McGraw

Southern Voice

The single is called It’s a Business Doing Pleasure With You. That about sums it up.

Oct. 20

Sting

If On a Winter’s Night ...

More traditional fare from the former Police man. As long as he doesn’t play the lute.

Oct. 27

Weezer

Raditude

Given their last stinker of a CD, that title could be optimistic.

Oct. 27

NOVEMBER

Carrie Underwood

TBA

More inescapable country-pop from the former AmIdol winner.

Nov. 3

Bon Jovi

TBA

Rumour is it’s called The Circle and comes out Nov. 10. Tell your wife.

TBA

Robbie Williams

Reality Killed the Video Star

But nothing can kill Robo’s popularity with the Brits, it seems.

Nov. 10

Avril Lavigne

TBA

Lavigne says she’s “not trying to write a perfect pop song” this time. That should make her label very happy.

Nov. 17

John Mayer

Battle Studies

Mayer has nearly 2 million Twitter followers. Now if he can only convince every one to buy a CD.

Nov. 17

Mary J. Blige

Stronger

Seriously, how much stronger does she need to be?

Nov. 24

Diddy

Last Train to Paris

Didd welcomes The-Dream, Tricky, Neptunes and T-Pain

(see, I was right).

Nov. 24

BOX SETS

The Beatles

Mono Box Set & Stereo Box Set

The Fabs entire catalog gets remastered in two different mega-sets. The mono box has 13 CDs. The Stereo has 17. All you need is cash.

Sept. 9

Big Star

Keep an Eye on the Sky

A four-disc set honouring cult hero Alex Chilton’s legendary Memphis power-pop outfit. About time.

Sept. 15

Rod Stewart

The Rod Stewart Sessions

1971-1998

It’s CDs of unreleased recordings. This could be truly great — or utterly awful. Sept. 29

Daryl Hall & John Oates

Do What You Want, Be Who You Are

All the duo’s hits, 16 unreleased cuts and live fare are included in this four-disc box. I can go for that.

Oct. 6

Dolly Parton

Dolly

The buxom country queen’s career is stuffed into a three-CD set.

Oct. 27

Various artists

Atlantic Records:

The Time Capsule

This eight-CD, 130-track label retrospective includes a vinyl single and a 128-page hardcover book.

Nov. 3

Bee Gees

Mythology

This four-disc anthology has 81 tracks by the Gibb brothers, including Andy.

Nov. 3

Miles Davis

The Complete Columbia Album Collection

And they do mean complete: This sucker has 70 CDs by the iconic jazz trumpeter! Nov. 10

John Mellencamp

On the Rural Route 7609

Early demo recordings and other rarities from the artist formerly known as Cougar.

Nov. 14

Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks

The 2000 Year Old Man:

The Complete History

Your grandparents’ favourite comedy duo’s five albums are collected on three CDs and one DVD.

Nov. 24

Frank Sinatra

Sinatra: New York

The 2006 live Sinatra: Vegas set was a keeper. Here’s hoping this one follows suit.

Nov. 3

Blue Rodeo readying new double-disc

TORONTO - Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy feels the wind of change sweeping through a record industry that is increasingly moving away from traditional album releases.

He just doesn't care.

"It was funny 'cause just recently, (Radiohead lead singer) Thom Yorke said he couldn't be bothered making albums anymore - that the album was dead, and he was going to make singles from now on," Cuddy told The Canadian Press in a recent telephone interview.

"Well we're making a double record. In an effort to swim completely cross-current - we're very excited about this - we're making a double record, so we'll have a double vinyl and a double CD."

Cuddy says Blue Rodeo is just finishing the new album at their Toronto studio now, and it'll be released at the end of October. The title, he thinks, will be "All The Things We Left Behind."

"It's just sort of a massive work," Cuddy said. "It's 16 songs, and it's very enjoyable for us to be thinking about splitting it into two sections, and then splitting each one into a different side."

Cuddy said the record would feature vocals from Cuff the Duke's Wayne Petti. Unsurprisingly, the album sounds like it'll be a throwback of sorts.

"It's pretty organic, acoustic-y," Cuddy said. "It's got a lot of vocals on it. We're kind of harkening back to Neil Young, CSNY, that kind of vocal sound - much more falsetto, bigger choirs. "

"There's a couple songs that are very different for us, instrumentation-wise too. It's got a pretty wide range, as I think you'd expect from a double record."

And Cuddy says he's particularly excited about the prospect of laying the record out on double vinyl.

"I'm becoming more of a vinyl-phile, all the time, as more become available, which is great," he said. "How to split it up - an A-side is different than a B-side, is a B-side heavier, or more sleepy, or whatever? - it's been a very enjoyable little conundrum for us to try to figure out how to arrange this."

New Norah Jones album due in November

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Singer-songwriter Norah Jones will move away from jazz roots on her fourth studio album.

The Blue Note Records release is due in November, the label announced Thursday.

Producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse) is working with Jones on the as-yet-untitled project, which will feature songwriting contributions from Ryan Adams, Will Sheff of Okkervil River and Jones' longtime collaborator Jesse Harris, who penned the singer's breakthrough hit, "Don't Know Why."

"I got in touch with Jacquire initially because he engineered one of my favorite records of all time, Tom Waits' 'Mule Variations,'" Jones said in a statement.

Jones is said to be branching out from her jazz-influenced pop roots on the new material and playing guitar more than piano. The changes suggest that her new material may resemble her work as a member of the alt-country outfit The Little Willies, whose self-titled 2006 album featured covers of songs by Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Fred Rose.

In addition to working with a new producer and songwriters, Jones has made some changes in her band. Among the musicians playing on her new recordings are drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green) and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer).

"I'd been playing with the same musicians for a long time," Jones said. "We're all still friendly and I hope we play together again, but it felt like a good time to work with new people and experiment with different sounds."

Jones' new album will be her first since 2007's "Not Too Late," which sold 1.58 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Bon Jovi unleashes new single

For the first time in two years, Bon Jovi has unveiled a new single, "We Weren't Born to Follow," the lead track from the band's forthcoming album.

The new song, which premiered on radio stations nationwide Tuesday (8/18), currently is streaming at the band's website.

The New Jersey rockers will release their 11th studio set, "The Circle," Nov. 10. The new album follows 2007's "Lost Highway," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and was certified platinum last fall.

Earlier this year, Jon Bon Jovi and his long-time collaborator/guitarist Richie Sambora were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The pair has been working together for nearly three decades.

Black Eyed Peas set record for most weeks at No. 1

NEW YORK – Will.i.am would love to say "I told you so" to all the people who have bashed the Black Eyed Peas in the past, but he won't — even though the group just made history on the Billboard charts.

"There's a part of me that wants to be cocky, but then I can't be cocky," the 34-year-old Peas leader said in a phone interview from Los Angeles on Tuesday. "There's a part of me that wants to call out all of my other peers and competitors. I don't want to say no names because I'm not like that, but part of me wants to do that. And would it be wrong if I did that? Yes it would. I'm not like that."

This week the foursome, who have had their share of critics, will have topped Billboard's Hot 100 singles charts for 20 consecutive weeks, the most ever by an act. "Boom Boom Pow" and the song that dislodged it, "I Gotta Feeling," have been at the top of the charts for 12 and eight weeks, respectively.

Though the band has had big hits over the years, "Boom Boom Pow" was their first No. 1 single. Will.i.am says he's surprised how successful the song became.

"I knew that `Boom Boom Pow' would be big in the clubs, but I didn't know it would be that potent with the world, outside of the club. So that my accountant's aunt would be like: Black Eyed Peas, I love `Boom Boom Pow!'" he laughed. "I didn't know it was going to be that. I didn't know that teachers would say I like `Boom Boom Pow.'"

But the success is not pure luck, will.i.am explains. Though he says the band didn't listen to the radio when creating their latest disc, "The E.N.D.," he says they did heavy research by partying at underground nightclubs and events.

They chose "Boom Boom Pow" as the first single after the response it got when they debuted it at a Grammy party this year. After its success, they used the same idea for their current hit.

"When I picked up `I Gotta Feeling' we tested in the clubs, looked at people, how they responded to a song they didn't know. We're looking at what's the best summer song out of all the songs, let's go out there and have a party," he explained.

So they had a party. And the response was great.

He says the group will use the same strategy for the third single, the groovy "Meet Me Halfway."

"We kept in mind when it would be coming out: It'll be out for the holidays. Do we want to be jam-pack smacking people high octane in the club during Christmas? No. So let's know that the emotion we want to get out there is still melodic, a love subject would be cool around Christmas and we still want to be in the club," he said.

Will.i.am says he's not sure how to take it all in.

"Like how am I supposed to take this and soak this in? If these people like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson have these No.1s, but yet we just broke a record, how am I supposed to take that because we came from the under, under, underground," he said.

Film airs Beatles outtakes from Abbey Road recording

Never-before-heard outtakes and conversations from the Beatles' final recording sessions at the legendary Abbey Road studios in London will be broadcast for the first time by BBC television.

They are part of a new documentary, The Beatles on Record, which features archive recordings and narration from the Fab Four as well as commentary from the group's producer George Martin.

The BBC film, to be aired in September, has studio banter from the band's recordings for their final album, Abbey Road.

"This is a chance for viewers to enjoy some rare footage and fascinating insights into the career of the greatest pop group of all time," the BBC's George Entwistle said in a statement on Monday.

The documentary, directed by Bob Smeaton, chronicles the group's musical path from 1963's Please Please Me to Abbey Road, examining how John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney developed as songwriters and musicians.

Although Let it Be was the last Beatles album to be released, it was recorded before Abbey Road.

The Beatles on Record is part of the BBC's Beatles Week, starting Sept. 5.

The U.K. public broadcaster will also be airing Storyville: How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, a documentary on how the group's music may have influenced the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Other highlights include The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit, Albert and David Maysles' film that follows the Fab Four's 1964 visit to the U.S.

Beatles Week on BBC is a precursor to the release of The Beatles re-mastered back catalogue and Rock Band computer game.

Kiss to release new album at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club

NEW YORK – Wal-Mart is being embraced with a Kiss.

The veteran heavy metal group, Kiss, is joining a growing list of classic acts putting out new music through the world's largest retailer.

"Sonic Boom" is due to be released only at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club on Oct. 6. It will include a CD of the band's first new music in 11 years, re-recorded versions of famous Kiss hits and a live DVD.

Other classic acts that have chosen to release albums through Wal-Mart include the Eagles, AC/DC and Foreigner.

Yorke: No more Radiohead albums

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has ruled out releasing any more Radiohead albums - because to do so would "kill" the band.

The Creep hitmakers are contemplating selling individual songs one at a time rather than full-length efforts, which Yorke insists requires a concerted effort to complete.

The rocker explains that their 2007 album In Rainbows was only made because the group had a clear vision to keep them on track in the recording studio.

He says, "None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha (commotion) of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it's just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we've all said that we can't possibly dive into that again. It'll kill us."

The star went on to clarify the band isn't necessarily against the concept of an album, adding, "Obviously, there's still something great about the album. It's just, for us, right now, we need to get away from it a bit. In Rainbows was a particular aesthetic and I can't bear the idea of doing that again."

Radiohead's latest song, written in honour of the late World War I veteran Harry Patch, is only available via internet download.

Morrissey tells fans to boycott new box set reissues

Morrissey has requested that fans don't buy any of the forthcoming box set reissues from his back catalogue.

The former Smiths singer claimed in a statement issued to fan site True-to-you.net, which he often communicates through, that he wouldn't receive any money from the reissues, released on November 2, and that he was not asked for approval for their release.

The Morrissey reissues will see singles and B-sides re-packaged as new seven-inch vinyl releases.

"Morrissey would like it to be known that he has not been consulted by EMI/HMV/Parlophone [record labels, and not the retailer] with regards to two forthcoming boxed sets of Morrissey singles," the message read.

It continued: "Morrissey does not approve such releases and would ask people not to bother buying them. Morrissey receives no royalty payments from EMI for any back catalogue, and has not received a royalty from EMI since 1992.

"Morrissey also does not approve of, and was not consulted on, the [past release] Rhino box of Smiths CDs, or the Warner releases of Smiths LPs on 180 gramme vinyl.

"Morrissey last received a royalty payment from Warners ten years ago and, once again, he would ask people not to bother buying the reissued LPs or CDs."

The singer made a similar move in August 2008, asking fans not to buy a DVD of one of his live shows, 'Live At The Hollywood Bowl', describing the sleeve art as "appalling".

Alice in Chains gets Elton John for tribute song

NEW YORK – Alice in Chains thought it would take a miracle to get Elton John to play on the band's tribute record to their late lead singer, Layne Staley. But it only took a listen to the song to get the rock legend on board.

"He's a really warm person," said Alice in Chains co-founder Jerry Cantrell of John. "He got up and gave us a couple of hugs, and said, `Well Jerry, I just wanted to tell you that I think it's a beautiful song. ... I really dig the sentiment of what it's about and who it's for and I just want to tell you that I'm going to play on the song.'"

John plays piano on "Black Gives Way to Blue," a short but poignant ode to Staley, who died of a drug overdose in 2002. The song is the title track for their upcoming CD, the grunge rock band's first studio album in 14 years.

Cantrell, who wrote the tune, had already made a demo of the song when someone heard it and suggested John as the perfect person to play the piano part. Although the band knew people connected to the 62-year-old singer, they thought it was a long shot that he would even consider it.

"I didn't think that would happen. He's a pretty busy guy doing his own thing," Cantrell said.

But they sent the song to him, and as fate would have it, both acts were slated to record at a studio complex at the same time.

It wasn't until Alice in Chains left the studio for a break that they got word that John wanted to meet with them.

"We got a call from our studio manager saying that Elton wanted to talk to us," said Cantrell, laughing. "We jumped in the car, left our lunches on the table, and cruised back to the studio and walked into the studio where he was recording."

After John confirmed he would play on the song, the band flew to Las Vegas, where John was performing, to finish the recording.

"One of the most nerve-racking moments I had was actually making a suggestion to him. What do you say to Elton John?" he joked. "But he was really open to the process. ... He fit into the song, and he really brought something that was really necessary and took the song to another level."

The CD, set for release Sept. 29, is Alice in Chains' first with singer-guitarist William DuVall, who joined the band — which also includes drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez — a few years ago. While DuVall has a different sound than Staley, Cantrell says the music is still Alice in Chains.

"It never gets too far out that you can't figure out who it is after a couple of notes, and that's always one of my main goals," he said. "To find that musical fingerprint I think is the goal of every band and musician, and we're very grateful that we found ours pretty early, and it's still intact, although evolved."

Brooks & Dunn to 'call it a day' after 20 years

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Brooks & Dunn are done.

Best-selling country duo Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn posted a message on their Web site Monday saying they agreed to "call it a day" after 20 years of making music together.

"This ride has been everything and more than we could ever have dreamed ... We owe it all to you, the fans," they said in the message. "If you hear rumors, don't believe them, it's just time."

Brooks & Dunn will release a greatest-hits album on Sept. 8 and tour one last time in 2010.

The duo's many hits include "Boot Scootin' Boogie," "My Maria," "Red Dirt Road" and "Cowgirls Don't Cry" with Reba McEntire.

The men's label, Arista Nashville, said the group has sold more than 30 million albums.

Brooks, 54, and Dunn, 56, were struggling solo artists when Arista's Tim DuBois urged them to join forces in 1990. Together they've scored 23 No. 1 hits.

They've recorded 10 studio albums, the latest 2007's "Cowboy Town."

"They've been to the mountaintop and they've accomplished everything that two human beings joined together musically can do in a career," said Brian Philips, president of Country Music Television. "They've had every kind of hit. Literally, they've explored every musical texture and tempo and style and flavor."

CMT is scheduled to tape Brooks & Dunn performing and discussing their music Wednesday for an episode of the show "Invitation Only" to air in October.

Philips called the announcement of the split a complete surprise. He said he has no idea what they might do in the future, but he's certain it will involve music.

"The guys that I know, I can't imagine either of those two individuals walking away from music. That's unthinkable," Philip said.

The pair steeped itself in the mythical West (the duo's emblem is a sun-bleached steer's skull) and rode the charts with a driving honky-tonk sound. Brooks & Dunn took a turn with 2003's "Red Dirt Road" and often pay homage to their classic rock influences, including playing shows with the Rolling Stones and ZZ Top.

Brooks & Dunn won the Country Music Association's vocal duo of the year award every year between 1992 and 2006, except for 2000.

The CMA named the duo entertainer of the year in 1996.

Other country groups have called it quits only to reunite. The mother-daughter duo The Judds split in 1991 but regrouped to tour and record years later.

New Shania album 'nowhere in sight'

TORONTO - For the seventh year in a row, Shania Twain fans are gathering at a conference in the country superstar's hometown of Timmins, Ont.

But it's also been seven years since they've had a new Twain album to listen to, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime in the near future.

A spokesman for Twain's label says a new record from the singer is still "nowhere in sight," despite Internet rumours to the contrary.

The 43-year-old hasn't released an album of new material since 2002's "Up!" And yet in an oft-fickle music industry where artists are forgotten in the time it takes to download a new ringtone, Twain's fans and peers are proving extraordinarily patient in waiting for new material from the singer.

"One of the things that's very unique about Shania, is that she writes her lyrics and she writes her music - and subsequently, she doesn't turn out an album every six weeks or every other year, it takes her a while," said Richard Sessions, a 51-year-old from Goshen, Ind., who has made the trip for all of Twain's fan conferences.

"We understand that she's also had some other things in her life that have distracted her from her music, so we're patient."

And Twain, apparently, appreciates it.

In a June 12 blog posting, Twain apologized to her fans for her delay in creating new music, writing: "I realize I'm not holding up very well on my end of the relationship!"

But Twain, who has always shunned the spotlight when it comes to her personal life, has kept an even lower profile since splitting from her husband and producer Mutt Lange.

In June, she wrote about the difficult time she's endured, and discussed trying to keep her emotions in check for the benefit of her young son.

And she also described a creatively fruitful period that followed the "personal crisis."

"Since then, I've been inspired by my pain to write and use writing as a therapy through the suffering," Twain wrote. "I truly wouldn't wish this on anybody as a means to get inspired, but it's been a productive period with so much emotion trying to find its way out. "

"However, there is no telling how long it will take me to actually finish these songs and record them so they can get out to you."

Rumours swirled on the Internet earlier this year that Twain would, in fact, have a new album out in the spring, and then the fall. But her label rep says there definitely won't be a new studio album from Twain out this year.

Meantime, many people anxiously waiting that new material, including the staff at the Shania Twain Centre in Timmins, a $6-million facility that opened its doors in 2001.

Tracy Hautanen, the centre's manager, says that roughly 30 people registered for this year's Twain conference, which started Thursday and runs through Sunday. That's down from 100 a few years ago.

"We were hoping for more people, but of course, the numbers are low for a few reasons - the economy is not helping, and then this is a quieter time in (Twain's) career as well," she said in a telephone interview. "So we know when things pick up with her, our numbers will pick up again."

Hautanen said just 500 fans have toured the centre this year. That's quite a comedown from 55,000 annual visitors projected when the centre opened to much fanfare eight years ago.

Twain's peers are also eagerly awaiting the singer's return. A surprise appearance at last year's CMA Awards in Nashville earned Twain a standing ovation, and a chorus of country stars - including Taylor Swift - have been vocal about wanting to see Twain come back.

"I was so proud of our country music family in Nashville when (Twain) came out on stage at the last CMAs," country legend Reba McEntire told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview.

"They were so glad to see her again. They showed their love and support by giving her a standing ovation."

As far as Twain's staying power, it's no mystery to McEntire.

"She's beautiful, she's very talented, great material, lord - what's not to love?"

Forty years on, Beatles fans flock to Abbey Road crosswalk

LONDON (AFP) – Fans of the Fab Four are flocking to the most famous pedestrian crossing in Britain for the 40th anniversary on Saturday of the taking of one of the greatest images in rock 'n' roll history.

It was outside the Abbey Road recording studios at 11.35 am on August 8, 1969 that the Beatles strutted purposefully from one side of the street to another, for the cover of what would be their final album as a group.

Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, standing on a stepladder in the middle of the road, had just 10 minutes to knock off six frames of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison traversing the zebra crossing.

McCartney alone walked in bare feet, out of step with his bandmates, a cigarette in his right hand -- unusual for a leftie, perhaps, but enough to feed a generation's worth of "Paul is dead" rumours.

Re-enacting the walk across Abbey Road is what hundreds of tourists -- walking single file, eyes firmly looking straight ahead -- come to the well-heeled Saint John's Wood neighbourhood do every day.

"It's one of the rare unchanged places in Beatles history, somewhere that we can get an idea of what it was like at the time," a Beatles fan from California said the other day.

"The challenge is to exactly re-create the picture," said Christopher, who was visiting from France with his friend Thierry and spent an hour on Abbey Road with their four teenaged children.

"Except that you need a step ladder and to set yourself up in the middle of the street," Thierry explained.

It might be hard to match the fashions of the day.

Lennon, who would be shot and killed in New York in December 1980, was in head-to-toe white. Behind him was Ringo in black, then barefoot Paul. George brought up the rear in blue denim shirt and bell-bottoms.

"It's crazy to say that we've walked at the exact same place as they did," said Lucille, 15.

"And so near to the anniversary," added her brother Paul. "But we told ourselves it would be better to come a few days early, because there are going to be too many people on Saturday."

Because it is a zebra crossing, with orange beacons atop striped poles flashing at either end, motorists must stop for all pedestrians -- Beatles pilgrims or otherwise.

But there are drivers who "honk their horns and shout not very nice things in English" when tourists dawdle too long in the middle of the two-lane street that is, in fact, part of a busy intersection, said Paul.

The nearby Abbey Road studios -- the world's first purpose-built recording facility when it was opened in the early 1930s -- merits a visit as well.

The Beatles made nearly all their records there, and in its history it has hosted a raft of other artists -- names as diverse as Fred Astaire and Fats Waller to U2, Oasis and Manic Street Preachers.

Propped atop its roof is a webcam (www.abbeyroad.co.uk/visit) that peers down on the crosswalk -- making virtual visits to Abbey Road possible from anywhere on Earth.

Hark! Bob Dylan Christmas album coming

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Bob Dylan is set to release an album of Christmas songs this holiday season, according to the Web site BullyPulpit.com.

It said at least four songs have already been recorded for the album including, "Must Be Santa," "Here Comes Santa Claus," "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem." The sessions have taken place at Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica, Calif., it added.

A source close to Dylan told Reuters that the project is "a possibility," and more information will be revealed in two or three weeks.

Dylan joins a music business tradition of Jewish artists who release Christmas-themed albums, including Neil Diamond and Phil Spector. Irving Berlin, who wrote the yuletide classic "White Christmas," was also Jewish. Dylan did go through a "born again" Christian phase from 1979-1981, releasing three gospel-style albums including the Grammy-winning "Slow Train Coming."

His most recent album, "Together Through Life," was released in April, entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 and has sold more the 300,000 copies to date according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Mariah Carey, Diddy, Lil Wayne Albums Delayed

Some of the most highly-anticipated albums of the summer have been delayed, including Mariah Carey's "Memoirs of An imperfect Angel," Sean "Diddy" Combs' "Last Train To Paris" and Lil Wayne's proprter rock and roll album "Rebirth."

Carey's "Memoirs," first slated for an August 25th release via Island Def Jam will now be available on September 15th according to the Universal Music Group business-to-business website. Carey's new single, "Obsessed," is at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week.

Combs said via a video interview with MTV News release last week that his project's been delayed partially because it's "Jay-Z time and Drake time -- enjoy those guys. But the 'Train' is coming, baby," he warns. "Get your ticket, you don't want to be left out."

Lil Wayne's label publicist confirmed to Billboard.com that his release date has also been moved, although a new date hasn't been scheduled yet. "Rebirth" was last slated for a June 23rd street date.

In addition, Amerie's long-awaited return, "In Love & War," which was originally slated for an August 11th release, will now be available on September 8th. Lead single, "Why R U," reaches No. 62 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart this week.

Foreigner Comeback To Be A Wal-Mart Exclusive

Can Wal-Mart work its magic for yet another '70s rock act?

The retail giant's exclusive September 29 release of Foreigner's "Can't Slow Down" will be its first major exclusive since AC/DC's "Black Ice" in October. The album (Foreigner's first since 1995's "Mr. Moonlight") has much in common with Journey's 2008 Wal-Mart-only release, "Revelation." Like its predecessor, "Can't Slow Down" will be a three-disc set that features a CD of new material, a concert DVD and a best-of collection. But whereas "Revelation" included a CD of rerecorded Journey favorites, Foreigner remixed the band's original master recordings to make its hits sound more contemporary.

Perhaps most noticeable to longtime fans of both bands, each release features a replacement lead singer -- in Foreigner's case, Kelly Hansen, who takes the place of original frontman Lou Gramm.

Despite the absence of original Journey lead singer Steve Perry, "Revelation" sold 633,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In its debut week that ended June 8, 2008, it sold nearly 105,000 copies, good enough to reach No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart. "Black Ice" sold 2.1 million U.S. copies, including 784,000 in its debut week that ended October 26, 2008.

It won't be easy for "Can't Slow Down" to match the success of "Revelation" or "Black Ice." During the past year, overall U.S. recorded-music sales have continued to tumble, with CD sales plunging 21.2 percent in the first half of 2009 from a year earlier.

And despite being a regular chart fixture in the '70s and '80s, Foreigner doesn't have a synch-licensing hit like Journey's 1981 single "Don't Stop Believin'," which has helped keep the band in the public eye through its use in hit movies and TV shows, most memorably the June 2007 series finale of HBO's "The Sopranos."

But Foreigner boasts its own potential source of hip cachet: founding guitarist Mick Jones' stepson, Mark Ronson. Ronson, who has collaborated with Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Kanye West and is a BRIT Award-winning performer in his own right, co-produced the new songs on "Can't Slow Down" with Marti Frederiksen.

Foreigner also has a catalog of hits that instantly register with fans, even if they don't remember who performed them. "When Foreigner played at the company's annual shareholders meeting, the band's (appeal) was reinforced by how much our associates loved it," said Wal-Mart senior music buyer Tom Welch.

"People know all of Foreigner's songs," the group's manager, Phil Carson, said. "But the band has so many hits -- nine top 10 hits and 16 top 30 -- they aren't aware that they are all by the same group ... With the album at Wal-Mart's entrance, we can get people to associate the band with their songs."

Blunt rejects Yankovic parody

James Blunt has refused comedy singer 'Weird’ Al Yankovic the right to sell a parody of his single You’re Beautiful, vowing he will "never approve" its release.

Yankovic has written and recorded You're Pitiful, his light-hearted take on Blunt's 2005 hit, and had hoped to include it on his upcoming greatest hits album Essentials, scheduled to hit shelves later this year.

But the funnyman - best known for his satirical takes on Michael Jackson's hits - has had to axe the song after Blunt failed to see the humour in the joke track.

Yankovic tells fans on his Twitter.com page, "In case you were hoping for You're Pitiful to be included on my Essentials collection, sorry, this just in from Blunt's manager: Thanks for your email, but both James and I will never approve this parody to be released on any label."

Fogerty enlists Springsteen, Eagles for covers set

NEW YORK (Billboard) – John Fogerty's "The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again," a new collection of some of the veteran rocker's favorite classic songs, is set for release September 1.

The Verve Forecast project, recorded under the guise of the mythical group of his 1972 solo debut, includes guest spots from Bruce Springsteen and members of the Eagles.

It features covers of songs by John Prine, Buck Owens and John Denver, among others, as well as Fogerty's own "Change in the Weather."

Fogerty produced "...Rides Again" with help from former Warner Bros. executive Lenny Waronker at The Village Recorder studio in West Los Angeles. Rather than the one-man-band affair of the original "Blue Ridge Rangers" album, the new set features studio pros such as drummer Kenny Aronoff, guitarists Buddy Miller and Hunter Perrin, and former Jane's Addiction bass player Chris Chaney.

"Those guys are just fantastic players," Fogerty told Billboard. "They really captured or understood what the Blue Ridge Rangers vibe is. It's a really cool record."

The Eagles' Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit harmonize on Rick Nelson's "Garden Party," while Springsteen duets with Fogerty on the Everly Brothers' classic "When Will I Be Loved."

Fogerty hopes to put the Blue Ridge Rangers on the road once the album is out.

"Lord knows we played it great live in the studio -- it's probably more live than many rock 'n' roll records," he said. "I think it really needs to be presented that way to an audience. We'll have to wait and see how everything shapes up."

The full track list for "The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again" is:

"Paradise" (John Prine)
"Never Ending Song of Love" (Bonnie Bramett/Delaney Bramlett)
"Garden Party" (Rick Nelson)
"I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)" (Buck Owens)
"Back Home Again" (John Denver)
"I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)" (Ray Price/Rusty Gabbard)
"Change in the Weather" (John Fogerty)
"Moody River" (Gary Bruce)
"Heaven's Just a Sin Away" (Jerry Gillespie)
"Fallin' Fallin' Fallin'" (D. Deckleman/J. Guillot/J.D. Miller)
"Haunted House" (Robert L.Geddins)
"When Will I Be Loved" (Phil Everly)

Sony bids $50 million for Jackson rehearsal film

LOS ANGELES – Sony Corp.'s movie studio has bid $50 million to acquire the worldwide distribution rights to a film based on rehearsal footage for Michael Jackson's "This Is It" comeback concert series, according to a person familiar with the bid.

The person said Monday that the bid came after several studios, including Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox, were shown footage starting early last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the bidding had not been completed. None of the studios would comment on the record.

The winning studio would produce the film with Jackson's concert promoter, AEG Live, and his estate. It would go a long way to helping AEG Live recoup some of the $30 million to $32 million it spent producing the concert before Jackson died June 25.

The bidding was reported earlier by the Los Angeles Times and industry blogger Nikki Finke.

Sony Pictures has a leg up on other bidders because Sony Music distributes Jackson's music and is in a 50-50 partnership with his estate in Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Sony's bid is on par with the cost of making a mid-range budget movie, and is offset by the fact that the Sony group of companies would benefit from the music licensing rights attached to the film.

There is also massive interest in Jackson material worldwide. An estimated 31 million viewers in the U.S. alone watched the Jackson memorial service live earlier this month, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's just shy of the 33 million U.S. viewers who watched Princess Diana's funeral.

"This type of a story, if put together right, could be very compelling and draw a very, very wide audience," said Mark Fleischer, an entertainment attorney with Venable LLP and former executive at MGM Studios.

The estate and AEG Live are also negotiating with several television networks and pay-per-view outlets on a TV special that would be a stage show featuring Jackson's music and dancing. It would be directed by "This Is It" director Kenny Ortega.

The selling price being discussed for the rights to show the TV special is also in the tens of millions of dollars.

General Electric Co.'s NBC has been in talks on the TV show, but the concept, air date and cost for the rights has not been finalized, said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.

"We have no deal for the rights to the Michael Jackson special," Marks said.
The special administrators of Jackson's estate, attorney John Branca and former music executive John McClain, have been moving quickly to secure Jackson's assets and cut deals to capitalize on the surge in interest in the pop star since he died.

Last week, Branca and McClain received signed court papers authorizing them to act on his estate's behalf until another hearing Aug. 3. McClain has been sorting through unreleased Jackson recordings, while Sony Music is interested in releasing a commemorative album. Music sales have soared.

Jackson's 2002 will named Branca and McClain as executors and directs all of his assets to be placed in a trust that will benefit his mother Katherine Jackson, his three children, and unnamed children's charities. The estate is estimated to be worth more than $500 million.

But Katherine Jackson's lawyers on Friday sought a judge's ruling on whether she can challenge the authority of the men without triggering a "no contest" clause in the trust that would cause her to be disinherited.

New Pirate Bay owners to introduce fees

One of the world's largest file sharing websites, The Pirate Bay, is going legal through a series of give-and-take payment models that in some cases may even earn its users a bundle of cash, the new owners said Saturday.

"The more you give, the more you get," said Hans Pandeya, chief executive of Swedish software firm Global Gaming Factory X, which announced last month it was buying the site and would start paying both content providers and copyright holders.

The change in ownership was met with skepticism by the file sharing community who feared that, by taking The Pirate Bay legal, its new operators would start charging them for downloading content such as films, music and computer games, which they had previously accessed for free.

In April, four men connected with the site were sentenced to one-year prison terms for abetting violations of copyright law, and ordered to pay a fine totalling 30 million kronor ($4.28 million). At least three of the men claim they haven't owned the site for years.

Pandeya said his company bought the site from a foreign company through lawyers and he doesn't know who the current owners are, but that none of the prosecuted men seemed to be involved.

When the deal was announced, Pirate Bay spokesman and one of defendants, Peter Sunde, said however that he and his associates were pleased with GGF's plans for the site since they felt they couldn't take it any further — lacking both money and resources to do so. Sunde could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Pandeya said The Pirate Bay, whose domain name and related websites were bought by Global Gaming Factory X for 60 million kronor ($8.56 million), will not become like pure pay sites, such as the iTunes Store and Napster.

"For the great majority it will be free of charge, for a minority it will actually make them money, and for a small portion it will cost them," he said.

'File sharers are our best friends,' new owner says

Pandeya said plans are underway to introduce a monthly fee to be able to use The Pirate Bay, but he said the fee could be worked off by, for example, sharing downloaded content or lending storage capacity to others on their PCs in exchange.

"We know that unless we're able to create revenues for the file sharers they'll just move on to the next free site," he said. "File sharers are our best friends."

Pandeya also said other give-and-take packages were in the works, but declined to elaborate, saying more details would be revealed in the next few weeks.

The site, under its new management, is expected to be launched in about a month's time. It will also raise money through advertising and by making network data traffic cheaper and more efficient for internet service providers.

This would be done by making the file sharing more local, allowing users in the same city to be interconnected as opposed to swapping data across multiple borders.

GGF claims the site will fully address the legal issues that troubled it before because income will be distributed between file sharers, copyright holders and others involved.

Pandeya said that although no deals have been struck yet, his company is currently in negotiations with some of "the world's largest players" within the music industry. "It's been positive," he said, declining to name the companies involved in the talks.

Leonard Cohen's heard enough of Hallelujah

If Leonard Cohen gets his wish, other people will stop singing this song.

In an interview with the CBC, Cohen called for a temporary moratorium on new versions of his song Hallelujah.

Cohen said he read a review of the movie Watchmen and the reviewer asked for a moratorium on Hallelujah in movies and TV shows.

He said he feels the same way.

"I think it's a good song, but too many people sing it," he said.

The Montreal poet and songwriter admits he is pleased to see the song take on new life — so many years after he recorded the original version.

Hallelujah was part of the album Various Positions that was rejected by his label, Sony.

The song has been sung by Jeff Buckley, k.d. lang, Rufus Wainwright and recently by X Factor and American Idol contestants.

The version of the song featured in Watchmen is Cohen's own.

Spinal Tap visits Stonehenge

Fans of metal mockers Spinal Tap will be thrilled to hear the band members visited the ancient site of Stonehenge recently after performing at Britain's Glastonbury music festival.

News of the surreal visit comes courtesy of Canadian band Metric. Singer Emily Haines posted news and photos of the art-meets-life-meets-art happening on Metric's blog.

In the 1984 mockumentary, This is Spinal Tap, band members — played by actors Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean — create a bizarre tribute to Stonehenge in their act, complete with a tiny reproduction of the prehistoric site along with dancing dwarves.

The film has since become global cult hit and resulted in a reunification of the mock band for a real tour this year.

Haines says she and her band wanted to see the monument but were disappointed when they discovered the entrance was closed.

"We were staring at the stones through the fence and halfheartedly watching various generic families wander toward their cars when [drummer Joules Scott-Key] said the words we will remember forever: 'Um, guys, that's … Spinal Tap!" wrote the singer.

"We descended upon them immediately."

Band members only managed to catch up with Shearer, who obliged for a photo op.

"The best part is, it was Spinal Tap's first trip to Stonehenge as well," Haines notes.

"According to Shearer, they were just making their way back to London when they spotted the source of their most memorable joke in in the distance and decided, 'This would be the time to see the full-scale version."

The Swell Season announces new album

Oscar-winning duo The Swell Season will follow its gold-certified 2007 soundtrack "Once" with a new studio album entitled "Strict Joy," which will hit shelves in September.

The pair--Frames frontman Glen Hansard and classically trained Czech vocalist/pianist Marketa Irglova--recorded the majority of the 12-track set last year at producer Peter Katis' Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT.

The new effort's title comes from a piece by Irish poet James Stephens and features members of The Frames--violinist Colm Mac Iomaire, bassist Joe Doyle and guitarist Rob Bochnik--along with guitarist Javier Mas (Leonard Cohen), percussionist Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo), pianist Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) and horn players Steven Bernstein and Clark Gayton from Levon Helm's band.

Hansard and Irglova first collaborated on the 2006 album "The Swell Season," and again in 2007 for the soundtrack to the indie film "Once," which featured the pair acting opposite one another in the lead roles. "Falling Slowly," a song from "The Swell Season" and included on the soundtrack, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008.

A fall tour of the US is in the works, according to a press release, as well as a documentary about the pair's sold-out world tour behind "Once."

'Maggie May' and more arrive in 'Rod Stewart Sessions'

Every disc tells a story in The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998, a four-CD box set spanning nearly three decades of the rock legend's career in studio tracks, outtakes and ephemera. The set, out Sept. 29 on Warner Bros. for $65 (physical) and $30 (digital), opens with an early, ragged version of Maggie May, the hit that launched his solo career in 1971.

The set boasts unreleased versions of Scottish rocker Frankie Miller's When I'm Away From You and Python Lee Jackson's In a Broken Dream, featuring Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.

The unfinished Think I'll Pack My Bags, which later resurfaced as Mystifies Me on Ron Wood's solo debut, made the cut, along with alternate takes of Sailing, Tonight's the Night (It's Gonna Be Alright) and You Wear It Well, plus acoustic renditions of You're in My Heart and Rosie.

Rarities from the '80s include unreleased song Thunderbird and a spare Forever Young. The collection closes with such shelved '90s tracks as covers of Bob Dylan and The Band's This Wheel's on Fire, Oasis' Rockin' Chair and Bobby Womack's Looking for a Love.

New Carrie Underwood album on the way

Just announced: Carrie Underwood will release her third album this fall. The as-yet-untitled CD from Season 4's American Idol is slated to come out Nov. 3, with the first single hitting the airwaves sometime this summer, says 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville.

MJ, Freddie Mercury songs leaked

Guitarist Brian May is furious after "music thieves" exploited Michael Jackson's death by releasing previously unheard tracks by the King Of Pop and Queen's late frontman Freddie Mercury on the Internet.

Jackson, who passed away last week, and Mercury worked together in the 1980s on a number of tracks that have never been heard by the public.

May revealed the existence of the songs earlier this week, saying, "He (Jackson) used to come and see us when we were on tour in the States. He and Freddie became close friends, close enough to record a couple of tracks together at Michael's house, tracks which have never seen the light of day."

But the rocker has been left incensed after two tunes by the pair, State Of Shock and There Must Be More To Life Than This, ended up on video sharing website YouTube.com.

He fumes, "The music thieves at work as usual."

Michael Jackson Breaks Billboard Charts Records

As predicted, Michael Jackson is once again the King of the Pop charts.

Based on preliminary sales numbers from Nielsen SoundScan, the entire top nine positions on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums chart will house Jackson-related titles when the tally is released in the early morning on Wednesday (July 1). Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week ended at the close of business on Sunday (June 28) night.

Jackson himself has a record eight out of the top 10, while a Jackson 5 compilation also finds its way into the upper tier.

The King of Pop's "Number Ones" will fittingly lead the pack at No. 1 with 108,000 (an increase of 2,340%) while "The Essential Michael Jackson" and "Thriller" are in the Nos. 2 and 3 slots with 102,000 and 101,000, respectively. Last week "Number Ones" was the only Jackson title on the chart, at No. 20 with 4,000 copies; both "Essential" and "Thriller" re-enter the tally this week.

Additionally, his classic 1979 studio set "Off the Wall" re-enters at No. 4 with 33,000 while his 1987 album "Bad" returns at No. 6 with 17,000. At No. 5, the Jackson 5's "The Ultimate Collection" debuts with 18,000. Jackson's fourth studio album for Epic Records, 1991's "Dangerous," re-enters at No. 7 with 14,000 while his 2001 compilation "Greatest Hits: HIStory -- Volume 1" also comes back to the list at No. 8 with 12,000. Finally, Jackson's 2004 box set "The Ultimate Collection" charts its first week on the Pop Catalog chart, arriving at No. 9 with 11,000.

The lone non-Jackson-related set in the top 10 is a reissue of the "Woodstock" movie soundtrack, which bows at No. 10 with 8,000.

Collectively, Jackson's solo albums sold 415,000 this past week. That's extraordinary, since his titles sold a combined 10,000 in the week that ended June 21. Of the 415,000 total, 58% were digital downloads.

Additionally, the 415,000 albums sold just last week is nearly 40% more than what Jackson's catalog had sold the the entire year up through June 21 (297,000).

Speaking of digital albums, on the Top Digital Albums chart, Jackson has a record six out of the top 10 slots, including the entire top four. "The Essential Michael Jackson" leads the Top Digital Albums list with 80,000 downloads sold, while "Thriller" is No. 2 with 57,000.

With the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." moving back to the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 chart with 88,000, this week marks the first time that a catalog album has sold more than the No. 1 current set on the Billboard 200 albums chart. (All three of Jackson's top sellers on the Pop Catalog chart outsell "The E.N.D.")

Ironically, the feat almost occurred when Jackson re-issued "Thriller" in February 2008. The set relaunched with 166,000, re-entering at No. 1 on the Top Pop Catalog chart. That week, Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static" led the Billboard 200 chart with 180,000 while Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" was at No. 2 with 115,000.

Catalog albums are ineligible to appear on the Billboard 200 albums chart, though they can chart on the all-encompassing Top Comprehensive Albums list. On the latter chart, Jackson's "Number Ones," "Essential" and "Thriller" are at Nos. 1-3, followed by the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." at No. 4.

Jackson places a record 25 songs on the 75-position Hot Digital Songs chart (21 solo hits and four with his siblings), smashing the mark of 14 charting titles established by David Cook in the June 7, 2008 issue. Jackson's Halloween radio staple, "Thriller," moves 167,000, which is good for second place on the chart behind the 203,000 shifted by the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling."

"Thriller" was also Jackson's best seller in the week before his death with 5,000 downloads, which translates to a 3,551% jump. Jackson's total volume of downloads this week -- including his tracks with the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons -- account for 2.6 million downloads, a remarkable number considering last week's cumulative sum was 48,000. Moreover, Jackson becomes the first act to sell more than 1 million song downloads in a week.

Besides "Thriller," Jackson places five other songs in the top 10 including "Man In The Mirror" (No. 3, 165,000), "Billie Jean" (No. 4, 158,000), "The Way You Make Me Feel" (No. 6, 136,000), "Beat It" (No. 7, 134,000) and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (No. 8, 125,000).

Not surprisingly, each of the tracks in the top 10 of Hot Digital Songs were among the top 10 most-played Jackson selections at radio following his passing. According to research provided by Nielsen BDS of monitored airplay from over 1,600 terrestrial and satellite radio stations and cable music channels, "Billie Jean" was the Jackson track with the most spins for the week ending June 28 with 4,540 -- 97% of which occurred after news of his death became public. The track posted only 318 plays in the prior week.

Jackson wrapped video before death

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 19 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – Two weeks before he died, Michael Jackson wrapped up work on an elaborate production dubbed the "Dome Project" that could be the final finished video piece overseen by the King of Pop, The Associated Press has learned.

Details on the project are scarce. Two people with knowledge of the project confirmed its existence Monday to the AP on condition they not be identified because they signed confidentiality agreements.

They said it was a five-week project filmed at Culver Studios, which 70 years ago was the set for the classic film "Gone With the Wind." Four sets were constructed for Jackson's production, including a cemetery recalling his 1983 "Thriller" video.

Shooting for the project lasted from June 1-9, with Jackson on the set most days. Now in post-production, the project is expected to be completed next month.

Producer Robb Wagner, founder of music-video company Stimulated Inc., did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the project.

Michael Roth, a spokesman for Jackson's Los Angeles-based promoter AEG Live, said he hadn't heard about the production but did not rule that it could be part of the company's contract with the entertainer.

According to one of the people with knowledge of the project, a willow-thin, pallid Jackson left a memorable impression on the crew, arriving in a caravan of SUVs with hulking security guards in tow. The person said Jackson introduced himself to workers on the set and walked with a spring in his step but at one point needed assistance as he descended steps off a stage.

Besides the cemetery, one set was draped in black with an oversized portrait of Jackson in his "Thriller" werewolf costume. Another set was designed to simulate a lush jungle, and a fourth was built to replicate a construction site, with a screen in the back to allow projection of different backgrounds.

Taping took place in marathon sessions ending early in the morning. One scene filmed on the construction site set included scantily clad male dancers wearing carpenter's belts.

It's unclear what final form or forms the video project will take.

According to Stimulated's Web site, the company was hired to produce screen content for Jackson's planned comeback concerts in London. Stimulated has worked with Def Leppard and the Pussycat Dolls, and produced content for the Academy Awards and the Emmys.

New Releases, June 30: Rob Thomas, Brad Paisley, Wilco, Moby, Levon Helm, and more!!

Rob Thomas "Cradlesong" (Atlantic)

The pop/rock star, who came to fame as the frontman for Matchbox Twenty, is finally ready to unveil his second solo record. The first single from "Cradlesong" is the track "Her Diamonds."

"Cradlesong" follows 2005's "...Something To Be," which made chart history when Thomas became the first male artist from a rock or pop group to debut at No. 1 with his inaugural solo album, according to a press release. In a broader sense, "Cradlesong" also follows his 2007 reunion with his Matchbox Twenty bandmates on "Exile On Mainstream," which was the first group effort since the 2003 six-song collection, "EP."

* * *
Brad Paisley "American Saturday Night" (RCA)

The mega-popular cowboy crooner/guitarist is back with a follow-up to last year's "Play." The first single from "American Saturday Night," Paisley's eighth studio album, is the hit song "Then," which holds the distinction of being the fastest-rising chart-topper of Paisley's career, according to a press release.

Paisley currently is supporting the new album with a major North American trek, dubbed the "Saturday Night Tour." The run will hit more than 40 cities and stretches well into October. His tour companions are fellow country singers Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne.

In other news, Paisley had a huge night at the most recent CMT Music Awards. The country star tallied the most belt-buckle-shaped trophies this year of any entertainer, snagging Male Video of the Year for "Waitin' On a Woman," Collaborative Video of the Year with Keith Urban for "Start a Band" and Performance of the Year alongside Alan Jackson, George Strait and Dierks Bentley for their rendition of "Country Boy" on "CMT Giants: Alan Jackson."

* * *
Wilco "Wilco (The Album)" (Nonesuch)

The acclaimed alt-rock act is set deliver "Wilco (The Album)." The record is the Chicago-based group's seventh studio offering to date, and its first since 2007's "Sky Blue Sky."

Wilco co-produced the album with studio vet Jim Scott (who had worked as a mixer on some of the band's prior discs) during recording sessions in New Zealand and Chicago. "Wilco (The Album)" also includes the group's first-ever official duet, "You and I," which was recorded with Canadian singer Feist.

Wilco is currently touring in support of its new album--as well as a recently released concert DVD, "Ashes of American Flags"--and plans call for the band to remain on the road through an Aug. 23 appearance at Minnesota's 10,000 Lakes Festival.

* * *
Moby "Wait For Me" (Mute)

The electronica giant, who took the music world by storm with the 1999 dance manifesto "Play," plugs back in for his ninth studio album. "Wait For Me" follows 2008's "Last Night."

The first single from "Wait For Me" is the track "Shot in the Back of the Head," the music video for which was directed by David Lynch. Moby produced the album, then turned it over for mixing to Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros).

* * *
Levon Helm "Electric Dirt" (Vanguard)

The classic-rock legend, best known as a founding member of The Band, returns with his second solo offering. "Electric Dirt" was produced by Larry Campbell, who also worked the boards on Helm's 2007 Grammy-award winning "Dirt Farmer."

"Electric Dirt" features versions of The Grateful Dead's "Tennessee Jed," Happy Traum's "Golden Bird" and Randy Newman's "Kingfish." It also includes horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint and the Levon Helm Band.

* * *
More new releases:
Bjork, "Voltaic" (Nonesuch)
Jefferson Airplane, "Jefferson Airplane: The Woodstock Experience" (Sony)
Janis Joplin, "Janis Joplin: The Woodstock Experience" (Sony)
Killswitch Engage, "Killswitch Engage" (Roadrunner)
Lillian Axe, "Sad Day on Planet Earth" (Blistering)
Santana, "Santana: The Woodstock Experience" (Sony)
Sly & The Family Stone, "Sly & The Family Stone: The Woodstock Experience" (Sony)
Rod Stewart, "A Night on the Town" (Rhino)
Tanya Tucker, "My Turn" (Saguaro Road)
Twisted Sister, "Stay Hungry" (Rhino)
Various Artists, "Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 31" (Sony)
Various Artists, "The Woodstock Experience" (Sony)
Johnny Winter, "Johnny Winter: The Woodstock Experience" (Sony)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Road Show" (Nonesuch)

A Lost Michael Jackson Tune...and His Final Concert?

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Michael Jackson never got around to recording that long-awaited comeback album, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of material.

E! News has obtained the King of Pop's recording of "Shout"—the first of what will likely be a slew of posthumous recordings unearthed in the next few years.

The tune, which puts a distinctive Jackson twist on the Isley Brothers' seminal 1959 hit, was cowritten by the New Jersey-based team of Cyph and Crystal and recorded in the fall of 2001 at Sony Recording Studios in New York City, but was never released.

"After the recording was done, we could see him dancing to the song," Cyph, who was introduced to the star by producer Teddy Riley, tells E! News. "He really was feeling that record, but, unfortunately, the record got rail roaded by politics within the album and the dispute between M.J. and Tommy [Mottola], so it got released as a maxi single to R. Kelly's "Cry." No one's heard "Shout" in the U.S."

Jackson's last studio album, Invincible, came out in 2001.

One of Jackson's biographers, Ian Halperin, claims the singer may have left more than 100 unreleased songs to his three children as a "personal legacy," according to the the Times of London.

Meanwhile, per TheWrap.com, Jackson's final Los Angeles rehearsal for his upcoming London concert series was recorded by AEG as part of his multimillion-dollar deal, and the concert promoter is reportedly planning to release it on DVD and CD as a "live concert."

Wentz denies Fall Out Boy split

Fall Out Boy star Pete Wentz has denied the rockers are set to go their separate ways - even though they have no plans to make any more albums.

The bassist shocked fans earlier this week by taking to his Twitter.com Internet page to admit the band's last record, 2008's Folie a Deux, may be their "swan song."

But Wentz insists the band is set to continue - they just won't be making any new music.

He tells MTV.com, "No, we're not calling it quits, but we've no future album plans right now. We can't quit, we're waiting to get fired.

"I think it's all in context. There aren't any new Fall Out Boy songs because we don't write for the sake of it. We will stop doing Fall Out Boy when it stops being fun."

Green Day Let the Bullets Fly in Marc Webb’s “21 Guns” Video

Green Day’s video for “21 Guns,” the second single off the band’s acclaimed 21st Century Breakdown, premiered last night on MySpace Music. The video was directed by music video vet Marc Webb, who previously helmed clips for Weezer and My Chemical Romance and will make his feature film debut later this summer with (500) Days of Summer.

Like the “Know Your Enemy” video, “21 Guns” is a performance-heavy clip that has the band — including touring guitarist Jason White — rocking inside a bleak single room where a young couple are barricaded. Newspaper clippings and the lyrics to the song (as well as other Green Day songs, including “See the Light”) cover the walls, and before long bullets riddle the room, smashing glasses and everything else in sight. But the pair suddenly lose their fear and walk proudly to the middle of the room, where they kiss in a scene that echos 21st Century Breakdown’s cover art.

Drummer Tre Cool recently told Spinner the clip does indeed mirror the album art, and he thinks “It’s the perfect video for the song.” What’s more, “There’s a hot girl and a hot guy in it.” Cool said the video was filmed on a two-day shoot and promised a “lot of explosions, good times and gunpowder.”

“21 Guns” will be among the songs on Rock Band’s Breakdown download three-pack along with “Know Your Enemy” and “East Jesus Nowhere.” Fans will able to see “21 Guns” live this summer when Green Day embark on their full tour starting July 3rd in Seattle.

New CD Releases, June 23rd: Pete Yorn, The Mars Volta, Cheap Trick, Dream Theater, Regina Spektor, and more!!

Pete Yorn "Back and Fourth" (Sony)

The alt-rock singer/songwriter is finally set to release his fourth studio album, which follows 2006's "Nightcrawler." "Back and Fourth" marks a production shift for Yorn, who played virtually all of the instruments on his first three albums, but worked with drummer Joey Waronker (Beck), pianist/arranger Nate Wolcott (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley), bassist Joe Karnes (John Cale), backing vocalist Orenda Fink (Azure Ray) and Jonny Polonsky (the guitarist in Yorn's touring band).

The New Jersey native will showcase the new material at a sold-out album-release show at LA's Roxy Theatre June 24. He'll then launch a two-month North American tour beginning July 9 in San Diego, CA.

Yorn also has plans to drop another studio effort this fall--"Break Up," an album of duets with actress/singer Scarlett Johansson. The nine-track record is set to hit stores on Sept. 8.

* * *
The Mars Volta "Octahedron" (Warner Bros.)

The psychedelic-inspired hard-rock band returns to the fray with the release of its fifth studio album. "Octahedron" follows 2008's "The Bedlam in Goliath," which featured the Grammy Award-winning song "Wax Simulacra."

Having appeared earlier this month at the mammoth Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN, the group will again see massive crowds when it shows up in August at the second annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in San Francisco.

* * *
Cheap Trick "The Latest" (Cheap Trick)

The legendary classic rock band is ready to give fans "The Latest." This new disc, which follows 2006's "Rockford," was produced by Julian Raymond and includes a cover of Slade's "When the Lights are Out."

Cheap Trick--frontman Robin Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos--will back "The Latest" by joining Def Leppard and Poison on the road. The 40-city trek kicks off June 23 in Camden, NJ.

Also of note, the group made headlines recently when it announced plans to interpret The Beatles' classic 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" during an engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton, which kicks off Sept. 13.

* * *
Dream Theater "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" (Roadrunner)

The prog-metal act, which formed in 1985 in Long Island, NY, is set to unleash its 10th studio album. "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" follows 2007's "Systematic Chaos."

The new offering will be available in several different formats. Along with the standard CD, the effort will also be sold as a vinyl LP and as a three-disc special-edition package with the full album, as well as a disc of instrumental mixes and one featuring six cover songs.

Dream Theater will support "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" with another round of "Progressive Nation" tour dates. The trek begins July 24 in Miami and will end Aug. 29 in Los Angeles.

* * *
Regina Spektor "Far" (Warner Bros.)

The Moscow-born singer/songwriter/pianist is back with a follow-up to 2006's "Begin to Hope." "Far" features work from four big-name producers--Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra), Mike Elizondo (Eminem), David Kahne (Paul McCartney) and Garret "Jackknife" Lee (R.E.M.). Spektor will support "Far" with a seven-city North American trek that begins Sept. 11 in Saint Paul, MN, and finishes Sept. 24 in Philadelphia.

* * *
More new releases:
Neal E. Boyd, "My American Dream" (Decca)
Shawn Colvin, "Live" (Nonesuch)
Dinosaur Jr., "Farm" (Jagjaguwar)
Kurt Elling, "Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman" (Concord)
Escala, "Escala" (Columbia)
Judy Garland, "Live at the Palladium" (Collector's Choice)
Michael Johns, "Hold Back My Heart" (Downtown)
Bob Marley, "B is For Bob" (Tuff Gong)
VNV Nation, "Of Faith, Power and Glory" (Red)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Hair (The New Broadway Cast Recording)" (Ghostlight)
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (Reprise)

Sting Announces 'Winter' Album For Fall

Summer is just around the corner, but Sting has another season on his mind. The singer announced today (June 17) that his next album, "If On a Winter's Night...," will be inspired by his favorite time of year and feature two original compositions as well as traditional songs, carols and lullabies from the British Isles. The album is slated for release October 27 on Deutsche Grammophon.

"The theme of winter is rich in inspiration and material," Sting said in a statement. "By filtering all of these disparate styles into one album I hope we have created something refreshing and new."

"If On A Winter's Night" finds Sting collaborating with Robert Sadin, who produced and arranged Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning "Gershwin's World," and a host of guest musicians including his longtime guitarist Dominic Miller. The artist's original compositions are entitled "Lullaby for an Anxious Child" and "The Hounds of Winter," and among the traditional songs being interpreted are the Newscastle ballad "The Snow It Melts the Soonest," the English "begging" song "A Soalin'," and "Gabriel's Message," a carol that dates back to the 14th century.

Of his deep affinity for winter, Sting explained, "Our ancestors celebrated the paradox of light at the heart of the darkness, and the consequent miracle of rebirth and the regeneration of the seasons."

Sting's 2006 album "Songs from the Labyrinth," inspired by the lute songs of English composer John Dowland, has sold 259,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

New CD Releases, June 9th: Black Eyed Peas, Sonic Youth, Iron Maiden, Dredg, Aventura, and more!!

Black Eyed Peas "THE E.N.D." (Interscope)

The R&B/hip-hop ensemble returns with its fifth studio effort. "The E.N.D."--which stands for "Energy Never Dies"--is the Black Eyed Peas' first original album since 2005's "Monkey Business."

The group--featuring Will.I.Am, Fergie, Apl.De.Ap and Taboo--is off to a quick start with this album. The set's first single, "Boom Boom Pow," has already hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

All told, the Black Eyed Peas have sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, thanks to such hit songs as "My Humps," "Pump It" and "Let's Get It Started."

* * *
Sonic Youth "The Eternal" (Matador)

Having released its last nine albums through Geffen, the seminal indie-rock act is set to go indie once again as it puts out its latest offering on the Matador label.

"The Eternal" was produced by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Drive-By Truckers) and marks the debut of former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold as a permanent, full-time member of the group.

Sonic Youth will support "The Eternal" on the road. The 21-city tour is set to begin June 28 in Chicago and will finish up Aug. 2 in Oakland, CA.

* * *
Iron Maiden "Flight 666" (Sony)

This two-disc set documents the legendary metal band's 2008 world tour, which took the group from Mumbai, India and Melbourne, Australia to San Jose, Costa Rica and Sao Paulo, Brazil, and seemingly everywhere else in between.

In all, Iron Maiden's "Somewhere Back in Time World Tour" consisted of 23 shows in Asia, Australia, and North, Central and South America in just 45 days, according to a press release.

This double-disc offering serves as the soundtrack to the feature-length tour documentary, "Iron Maiden: Flight 666," which made its theatrical debut back in April.

* * *
Dredg "The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion" (Dredg)

These Northern California prog-rockers are set to drop their fourth studio effort, something that fans have been waiting for since 2005's "Catch Without Arms."

Dredg will support "The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion" during a co-headlining jaunt through North American clubs and theaters with fellow Californians RX Bandits. The trek begins and ends in Southern California; opening night is July 8 in Anaheim, CA, and the closing stand happens Aug. 30-31 in Los Angeles.

* * *
Aventura "The Last" (Sony)

The New York-based, Dominican boy band is back with its fifth album, which follows the 2007 live offering "Kings of Bachata: Sold Out at Madison Square Garden." The group is known for such Latin radio hits as "El Perdedor" and "Mi Carazoncito," as well as for serving as the opening act on Enrique Iglesias' 2008 tour.

* * *
More new releases:
Above & Beyond Presents: Oceanlab, "Sirens of the Sea Remixed" (Ultra)
Nanci Griffith, "The Loving Kind" (Rounder)
Teena Marie, "Congo Square" (Stax)
Johnny Mathis, "Rapture/Romantically" (Collector's Choice)
Johnny Mathis, "Those Were The Days/Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet" (Collector's Choice)
Johnny Mathis, "Up Up & Away" (Collector's Choice)
Rhett Miller, "Rhett Miller" (Shout Factory)
Placebo, "Battle for the Sun" (Vagrant)
Pleasure P, "The Introduction of Marcus Cooper" (Atlantic)
The Rolling Stones, "Emotional Rescue" (Universal)
The Rolling Stones, "Some Girls" (Universal)
The Rolling Stones, "Tattoo You" (Universal)
Todd Snider, "The Excitement Plan" (Yep Roc)
Paul Van Dyk, "Volume" (Ultra)
Various artists, "Originis: Live from Brasil, Nadja and the Assads" (NSS)

Woodstock Box Set Unearths Famous Festival's Rarities

Thirty-eight previously unreleased recordings -- from groups such as the Who, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane -- will dot Rhino's "Woodstock -- 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm" box set, which will be released on Aug. 18.

Among the highlights of the six-CD, 77-song collection are a 19-minute rendition of the Dead's "Dark Star," "Amazing Journey" and "Pinball Wizard" by the Who, "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker, CCR's "Bad Moon Rising," Blood Sweat and Tears' "You've Made Me So Very Happy" and tracks from Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Joan Baez, Melanie, Country Joe & the Fish, Sha Na Na, the Butterfield Blues Band, Johnny Winter and others.

The set, which lists for $79.98, also restores full-length performances of Canned Heat's "Woodstock Boogie" (to a whopping 30 minutes) and the Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It," and it includes the never-released Woodstock performances of Arlo Guthrie's "Coming Into Los Angeles" and Mountain's "Theme For an Imaginary Western," which were replaced by better-sounding recordings from other concerts for the original "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music" soundtrack.

The track lineup is accurate to the actual running order of the legendary 1969 festival, and it also includes stage announcements (you still need to check the brown acid, apparently), Wavy Gravy's announcement of "breakfast in bed" for the crowd estimated at 500,000, Max Yasgur's famous speech to the crowd and audio of Abbie Hoffman's encounter with Who guitarist Pete Townshend.

"This will be the most comprehensive collection of Woodstock music yet," Rhino Vice-President of A&R Cheryl Pawelski tells Billboard.com. "The goal was to make it as real as possible...as authentic an experience as possible. It feels like dirt. It feels like a field. We wanted to take you there. We worked very hard to make it a true document of that time."

Co-producers Andy Zax and Mason Williams compiled "Woodstock -- 40 Years On" from the original multitrack tapes recorded during the festival. Their research also allowed them to put the songs and artists in the correct order of performance, and the accompanying booklet will include the accurate sequence complete with full set lists.

One performance is conspicuously absent; Pawelski says Ten Years After would not clear the use of its performance for the box, meaning the group's epic version of "Goin' Home" will not be included. The Band and Keef Hartley were the only other acts that opted out of the set.

"Woodstock -- 40 Years On" follows Rhino's re-release earlier this week of "Music From the Original Soundtrack and More: Woodstock" and "Woodstock 2." A new Woodstock.com web site also launched this week, and a new DVD edition of "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music -- The Director's Cut" comes out Tuesday. And on June 30 Legacy adds to the onslaught with "Woodstock Experience" editions of seminal albums by five of the festival's acts -- the Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers," Janis Joplin's "I Got Dem 'Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama!," Santana's debut album, Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand!" and Johnny Winter's self-titled effort -- each with a second CD featuring the acts' complete Woodstock performances for the first time ever.

The full track listing for "Woodstock -- 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm" includes:

Disc 1: Richie Havens -- "Handsome Johnny," "Freedom (Motherless Child);" Sweetwater -- "Look Out," "Two Worlds;" Bert Sommer -- "Jennifer," "And When It's Over," "Smile;" Tim Hardin -- "Hang On to a Dream," "Simple Song of Freedom;" Ravi Shankar -- "Raga Puriya-Dhanashri/Gat In Sawarital;" Melanie -- "Momma Momma," "Beautiful People," "Birthday of the Sun;" Arlo Guthrie -- "Coming into Los Angeles," "Wheel of Fortune," "Every Hand in the Land"

Disc 2: Joan Baez -- "Joe Hill," "Sweet Sir Galahad," "Hickory Wind," "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" (with Jeffrey Shurtleff); Quill -- "They Live the Life," "That's How I Eat;" Country Joe McDonald -- "Donovan's Reef," "The ‘Fish Cheer"/"I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag;" Santana -- "Persuasion," "Soul Sacrifice;" John Sebastian -- "How Have You Been," "Rainbows All Over Your Blues," "I Had a Dream;" Incredible String Band -- "The Letter," "When You Find Out Who You Are

Disc 3: Canned Heat -- "Going Up the Country," "Woodstock Boogie;" Mountain -- "Blood of the Sun," "Theme For an Imaginary Western," "For Yasgur's Farm;" Jerry Garcia and Country Joe McDonald -- Green Acid Advice (stage announcement); Grateful Dead -- "Dark Star;" Creedence Clearwater Revival -- "Green River," "Bad Moon Rising," "I Put a Spell On You"

Disc 4: Janis Joplin -- "Work Me, Lord," "Ball and Chain;" Sly & the Family Stone -- Medley: "Dance To The Music"/"Music Lover"/"I Want to Take You Higher;" The Who: "Amazing Journey," "Pinball Wizard," "We're Not Gonna Take It; Jefferson Airplane -- "The Other Side of This Life," ""Somebody to Love," "Won't You Try"/ "Saturday Afternoon," "Volunteers"

Disc 5: Joe Cocker -- "Feelin' Alright," "Let's Go Get Stoned," "With a Little Help From My Friends; Country Joe & the Fish -- "Rock & Soul Music," "“Love," "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine," "Summer Dresses," "Silver and Gold, "Rock & Soul Music (Reprise);" Johnny Winter -- "Leland Mississippi Blues," "Mean Town Blues;" Blood, Sweat & Tears -- "You've Made Me So Very Happy"

Disc 6: "Crosby, Stills & Nash -- "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Guinnevere," "Marrakesh Express," "4 + 20;" Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -- "Sea of Madness," "Wooden Ships;" Butterfield Blues Band -- "No Amount of Loving," "Love March," "Everything's Gonna Be Alright; Sha Na Na -- "Get A Job," "At the Hop," "Get a Job (Reprise);" Jimi Hendrix -- "The Star Spangled Banner," "Purple Haze," "Woodstock Improvisation"

Whitney Houston Comeback Album Due Sept. 1

The wait is over -- Whitney Houston is finally making her comeback on Sept. 1 with an as-yet-untitled album on Arista Records. For her return, the label has set up a countdown on the New Jersey-bred artist's official site,

WhitneyHouston.com, which will also preview selected tracks slated to appear on the album in coming weeks.

Producers and songwriters said to aid with the set include will.i.am, Sean Garrett and Akon, although there is no confirmation on whether a duet with Akon, "Like I Never Left," which leaked last year, will make the cut.

"The voice is there; I don't think anyone could ever take that from her. As long as we apply that voice to hit records, she'll be right back where she left off," Akon told Billboard.com back in 2007.

Houston made her first high-profile public appearance at her mentor Clive Davis' pre-Grammy gala back in February, where she performed a four-song set that included brief renditions of "I Will Always Love You" and "I Believe in You and Me" plus a tent revival-style take on "I'm Every Woman."

Houston has been dogged in recent years by drug and health issues -- including rehab stints in 2004 and 2005 -- a legal dispute with her father, John Houston, rumored financial problems and a troubled marriage to fellow singer Bobby Brown that ended in divorce.

Houston's last album was 2002's "Just Whitney," which sold 737,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

New CD Releases, June 2: Dave Matthews Band, Neil Young, Rancid, Elvis Costello, Ryan Bingham, Chickenfoot and more!!

Dave Matthews Band "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King" (RCA)

The multi-platinum rock act is on an impressive run: Its last four studio outings have all debuted in the No. 1 slot on the US album charts. Now, the Dave Matthews Band is looking to make it five in a row with the release of "Big Whiskey and the GooGrux King."

The set, which follows 2005's "Stand Up," is DMB's first release since the death of founding member LeRoi Moore. The saxophonist died in August from complications resulting from an ATV accident that occurred on his Virginia ranch. The second part of the album's title, "GrooGrux King," is said to be a reference to Moore.

The album was produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance) and its first single is the track "Funny the Way It Is."

The Dave Matthews Band is currently on tour in support of the album. Currently, the group has shows booked through the start of October.

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Neil Young "Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972" (Reprise)

Nearly two decades in the making, the first volume of Young's ambitious "Archives" project is finally ready to hit shelves. The multi-disc collection will be available in three different formats: Blu-ray, DVD and CD.

This volume--which spans 10 discs in the Blu-ray and DVD configurations, and eight discs in the CD version--covers the first 10 years of Young's legendary body of work. An interactive-timeline feature allows the viewer to follow the singer-songwriter during this period of his career, beginning with his high school band The Squires and continuing up through his landmark albums of the early '70s.

The release of the first volume of "Archives" quickly follows a new studio offering from Young. The Northern California resident can be heard singing the praises of eco-friendly transportation on "Fork in the Road," which hit stores in early April.

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Rancid "Let the Dominoes Fall" (Epitaph)

The San Francisco Bay Area punk rockers are back with the long-awaited studio follow-up to 2003's "Indestructible," a work that peaked at No. 15 on The Billboard 200 and spawned the modern-rock hit "Fall Back Down." The band's most recent offering was 2007's "Rancid B Sides & C Sides," which included previously unreleased material alongside songs that have been featured on compilations, soundtracks and B-sides.

"Let the Dominoes Fall" is the group's seventh studio album, and it was produced by longtime collaborator Brett Gurewitz. "Let the Dominoes Fall" is available in several different formats, including a single-disc CD, a double-vinyl LP set and an expanded multi-CD/DVD combo, which offers such bonuses as an acoustic version of the album.

Rancid will let the "Dominoes" fall while serving as the main support act on Rise Against's North American headlining tour. The trek gets underway June 4 in Vancouver, BC, and is currently scheduled to run through a July 31 date in Toronto.

* * *
Elvis Costello "Secret, Profane and Sugarcane" (Hear Music)

The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter is set to drop his 25th studio album, which trails last year's "Momofuku." The 13-track record was produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett, who also co-wrote two of its numbers, "Sulphur to Sugarcane" and "The Crooked Line."

"Secret, Profane and Sugarcane" also features guest-star vocalists Jim Lauderdale, Emmylou Harris and Loretta Lynn. The album was recorded over three days at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studio, and will be sold at participating Starbucks locations in the US and Canada, as well as through traditional music retailers.

Costello will tour with the musicians who backed him in the studio for the new album. Dubbed The Sugarcanes, the lineup includes Jerry Douglas on dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Mike Compton on mandolin, Jeff Taylor on accordion and Dennis Crouch on double bass. The run begins on June 9 in Red Bank, NJ.

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Ryan Bingham "Roadhouse Sun" (Lost Highway)

The alt-country troubadour returns with a follow-up to his 2007 major-label debut, "Mescalito." "Roadhouse Sun" was produced by former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, who was also at the dials on the singer's previous record.

Bingham spent the spring helping to create a buzz about the new album's release. Notably, he appeared on both the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Also, his song "Southside of Heaven" was featured in an "ER" episode.

* * *
Chickenfoot "Chickenfoot" (Fontana)

Exiled from Van Halen in favor of David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen's teenage son, singer Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony have gotten themselves another guitar legend and powerhouse drummer--this time in the form of Joe Satriani and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers). Originally a just-for-fun trio featuring Hagar, Anthony and Smith--who joined forces a couple of years ago during an impromptu jam at Hagar's Cabo Wabo nightclub in Mexico--the group went legit by recruiting six-string wizard Satriani and recording an album with legendary producer Andy Johns (Led Zeppelin, Van Halen).

Hagar raised eyebrows when he commented in an interview last year that Chickenfoot's music could rival that of Led Zeppelin; Smith recently defused that bomb while making an on-camera Zeppelin reference during a track-by-track, "Chickenfoot" video documentary that is available at the group's website.

"I know we're not supposed to talk about Led Zeppelin since Sammy got drunk and said that we were better than Led Zeppelin," Smith joked. "We're not better than Led Zeppelin, and Sammy was drunk when he said that, OK? So let's put that s--- to rest."

* * *
More new releases:
Stephanie J. Block, "This Place I Know" (PS Classics)
Jeff Buckley, "Grace--Around the World" (Sony)
Crosby Stills & Nash, "Demos" (Rhino)
Eels, "Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire" (Vagrant)
IQ, "Frequency" (Inside Out)
Paolo Nutini, "Sunny Side Up" (Atlantic)
Iggy Pop, "Preliminaires" (Astralwerks)
Eros Ramazzotti, "Ali E Radici" (Sony)
Taking Back Sunday, "New Again" (Reprise)
311, "Uplifter" (Volcano)
UFO, "The Visitor" (Steamhammer)

Soundtracks and scores:
"The Story of My Life" (PS Classics)
"West Side Story: The New Broadway Cast Recording" (Sony)

New CD Releases, May 26th: Marilyn Manson, Mandy Moore, Grizzly Bear, Dave Alvin, Phoenix and more.

Marilyn Manson "The High End of Low" (Nothing)

The shock-rocker returns with a follow-up to 2007's "Eat Me, Drink Me." "The High End of Low" is Manson's seventh studio album.

The record's first official single, "Arma... geddon," was released in mid-April, however another album cut, "We're From America," was made available as a free download on MarilynManson.com back in March.

Manson will support "The High End of Low" this summer by co-headlining alongside Slayer on the second annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. The 27-city trek is set to begin July 10 in Sacramento, CA.

* * *
Mandy Moore "Amanda Leigh" (Storefront)

The 25-year-old vocalist, whose full name is Amanda Leigh Moore, is back with her sixth studio album. Her previous outing was 2007's Top 40-charting "Wild Hope."

The album was produced by Mike Viola, a Boston-area songwriter who co-wrote a number of the tracks featured in the John C. Reilly film "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." The first single from "Amanda Leigh" is the tune "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week."

* * *
Grizzly Bear "Veckatimest" (Warp)

The acclaimed indie-pop quartet is set to unveil its third studio album, which follows 2006's "Yellow House." "Veckatimest" was recorded at Allaire Studios in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains.

Having appeared over the weekend at Washington State's Sasquatch! Festival, Grizzly Bear will remain on the road through late June. Highlights of the 19-city trek include a pair of dates (5/28-29) in New York City.

* * *
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women "Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women" (Yep Roc)

The roots-rocker, a founding member of The Blasters and the leader of The Guilty Men, showcases the talents of his latest ensemble. The Guilty Women includes such players as Cindy Cashdollar, Nina Gerber, Laurie Lewis, Sarah Brown, Amy Farris and Marcia Ball.

* * *
Phoenix "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" (Glass Note)

The French alt-rock troupe, often associated with better-known fellow countrymen Air and Daft Punk, is ready to release its fourth studio album. Besides the tip of the hat to Mozart in the title, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" also honors another classic composer, Franz Liszt, on the album's first single, "Lisztomania".

* * *
More new releases:

The A's, "The A's/Woman's Got the Power" (American Beat)
James Brown, "The Singles, Vol. 7: 1970-1972" (Hip-O)
Gary Burton, "Quartet Live!" (Concord)
Del-Lords, "Frontier Days" (American Beat)
Del-Lords, "Johnny Comes Marching Home" (American Beat)
The Doors, "The Soft Parade" (Audio Fidelity)
Paul Hardcastle, "The Collection" (Trippin & Rhythm)
Vinnie Moore, "To the Core" (R.E.D.)
Linda Ronstadt, "Heart Like a Wheel" (Audio Fidelity)
Michelle Shocked, "Soul of My Soul" (Mighty Sound)
Luciana Souza, "Tide" (Verve)
Sunn 0))), "Monoliths and Dimensions" (Southern Lord)
Various Artists, "Man of Somebody's Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney" (Yep Roc)
Johnny Winter, "The Johnny Winter Anthology" (Shout)

Sammy Hagar Stimulated By Chickenfoot

Tired of the tequila-friendly party shows that he's been performing for the last 13 years with his post-Van Halen solo band The Waboritas, Sammy Hagar tells Billboard.com his decision to form Chickenfoot with guitarist Joe Satriani, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith was a challenge he desired as an artist.

"I just got to a point where I felt I needed to grow," Hagar says. "I was feeling stuck and stagnant. And the whole party thing I created, I just got tired of doing that. You need to eat and feed yourself in order to grow and the best way to do it for me is to start new projects, and I don't want to call this band a project because we're a band. It's just getting together with other people for new input that stimulates and inspires you to become better. That's all there is to it."

After making its debut at a February 2008 solo Hagar show in Las Vegas, Chickenfoot songwriters Hagar and Satriani started working in earnest last October. The band then reconvened earlier this year to record its self-titled debut effort, which is due out June 9 on Redline Entertainment.

"I don't think I could have written a record this good by myself in 100 years," Hagar says. "And by getting together with Joe, I think we wrote some amazing songs. It's funny he's in the same place as me. He's tired of being a solo artist. We're all on the same page so much in this band it's scary. And we want to take this thing worldwide. We need to take this to everyone who loves this kind of music. I really think it's Montrose, Van Halen and the thing Chad brings is a deep pocket. He plays this groove that is kind of Zeppelin-esque. We're really coming from everywhere."

Currently finishing up its debut mini-tour playing clubs, Chickenfoot is set to make its national television debut on during the first week of Conan O’Brien’s "Tonight Show" on Friday June 5. The band then starts looking ahead to a month-long European jaunt beginning June 20 in Austria before returning stateside for a full North American run slated for August and September. Hagar says the group will then take a break while Smith returns to the Chili Peppers to presumably work on recording that band's next studio effort. Chickenfoot may get back together in early 2010 for an Australian tour with another American leg as well.

While the current outing finds the band playing its debut effort in its entirety, along with unreleased new track "Bitten By The Wolf" and covers such as Montrose's "Bad Motor Scooter" and Deep Purple's "Highway Star," Hagar hints the band isn't adverse to loosening up its set list in the future to include material from the members' star-studded resumes.

"At some point, I think it will be the next album project and tour when we have more songs under our belt, we'll deconstruct Chickenfoot," Hagar says. "So it'll be a little bit of Joe, a little bit of Sammy, a little bit of Van Halen and maybe a little bit of the Chilis. That'll be a wonderful thing down the road when we're in an arena and doing 'An evening with,' but right now we really want to play all of the new songs. And right now we're paying almost two hours, so it's crazy. It's awesome."

Johansson to release duets album

Hollywood star Scarlet Johansson is continuing her foray into the music world by releasing a second album - which was recorded two years before her 2008 musical debut.

Last year the Lost in Translation actress released an album of Tom Waits covers, Anywhere I Lay My Head.

Her latest offering - a collection of duets with singer/songwriter Pete Yorn entitled Break Up - was actually recorded in 2006, but has taken three years to be released.

USA Today reports that the album was inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's 1960s recordings with Brigitte Bardot and will hit shops this September.

Green Day lashes out at Wal-Mart

NEW YORK - Green Day has the most popular CD in the United States, but it's not for sale there at Wal-Mart.

The band says the giant superstore chain refused to stock its latest CD, "21st Century Breakdown," because Wal-Mart wanted the album edited for language and content, and they refused.

"Wal-Mart's become the biggest retail outlet in the country, but they won't carry our record because they wanted us to censor it," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said in a recent interview. (A spokesperson for Wal-Mart Canada said the CD is being sold in this country.)

While Wal-Mart sells CDs from acts known for raunchy content, including Eminem's latest, they offer customers the "clean" version of those CDs, which are edited for content that may be objectionable. But in Armstrong's view, "There's nothing dirty about our record."

"They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there," he said. "We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something."

"21st Century Breakdown" contains curses and some references considered adult.

Wal-Mart said that it's the company's long-standing policy not to stock any CD with a parental advisory sticker.

"As with all music, it is up to the artist or label to decide if they want to market different variations of an album to sell, including a version that would remove a PA rating," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said. "The label and artist in this case have decided not to do so, so we unfortunately can not offer the CD."

But bassist Mike Dirnt said: "As the biggest record store in the America, they should probably have an obligation to sell people the correct art."

Not being sold at Wal-Mart didn't stop the band - which kicks off a U.S. tour summer tour in Seattle on July 3 - from landing at the top of the album charts this week. "21st Century Breakdown" sold about 215,000 copies since it's debut on Friday.

The album is the followup to their multiplatinum, Grammy-winning CD "American Idiot," and like that album, deals with weighty topics. While "American Idiot" spoke to the frustration over the presidency of George W. Bush and the Iraq War, this CD speaks to the loss of innocence and confusion in today's society.

While Armstrong, Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool are still top-sellers without Wal-Mart, Armstrong said the store's policy is disappointing, considering it has become the dominant seller of CDs with the decline of traditional music stores.

"If you think about bands that are struggling or smaller than Green Day ... to think that to get your record out in places like that, but they won't carry it because of the content and you have to censor yourself," he said. "I mean, what does that say to a young kid who's trying to speak his mind making a record for the first time? It's like a game that you have to play. You have to refuse to play it."

Don Henley readies new best-of collection

Don Henley is releasing a new best-of collection that spans his entire solo career, including recordings originally released on the Asylum, Geffen and Warner Brothers record labels, according to a press release.

"The Very Best of Don Henley," which will be offered in CD and deluxe CD/DVD versions, includes songs culled from solo albums as well as his cover of Leonard Cohen's classic "Everybody Knows," which originally appeared on his first solo collection, 1995's "Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits."

The deluxe CD/DVD version features six music videos as well as four bonus audio recordings from soundtrack releases. Videos including "The Boys of Summer" and "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" are complemented by audio recordings from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" ("Love Rules"), "The Color Of Money" ("Who Owns This Place?"), "Leap of Faith" ("Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat"), and "Michael" (Through Your Hands").

Scheduled to hit stores June 16, the collection also includes the first Henley song to land on the Country music charts, "For My Wedding."

Radiohead, R.E.M. Hit the Studio to Work On New Albums

A pair of the biggest bands in rock, Radiohead and R.E.M., hit the studio recently to begin work on their next albums. While both groups are in the beginning stages of writing and recording, they offered up some early details in a series of interviews.

Radiohead have reconvened with longtime producer Nigel Godrich to start work on the follow-up of 2007’s In Rainbows. “It was very noisy and chaotic and really fun,” bassist Colin Greenwood told BBC’s 6 Music of the band’s recording session. “It’s at the stage where we’ve got the big Lego box out and we’ve tipped it out on the floor and we’re just looking at all the bits and thinking ‘What’s next?’ I’m very impressed and grateful for Nigel our producer and his ability to make it all sound vaguely plausible.”

Greenwood had some more vague details for NME.com, adding, “It’s really cool and everything is sounding great. It’s early days and it is a bit like having a scrapbook at the moment because everything is up in the air, but it’s good to be back in the studio.” Considering the recent report that the band was encouraged by their management to “split up” during the tumultuous recording of In Rainbows, we’re glad to hear that things thus far are going smoothly. While the band provided no specifics, one of the tracks that may get the studio treatment is “Super Collider,” which Radiohead premiered during concerts on their In Rainbows tour.

As for R.E.M., guitarist Peter Buck spoke to Pitchfork about the early stages of recording their follow-up to last year’s Accelerate. Buck and bassist Mike Mills recently entered a Portland, Oregon studio to record skeletal tracks that they written wrote touring behind their recent album in the hopes of making some music that would “excite Michael [Stipe] about getting inspired.” Unlike the stripped-down Accelerate, Buck says, “This record, I want it to be broader; I think Michael [Stipe] is into that. So there are some really pretty acoustic things, some really total noisy rock, and some kind of poppy stuff. It runs the gamut.” While Jackknife Lee will likely serve as producer again, Tucker Martine, who produced the Decemberists’ Hazards of Love helped Buck and Mills lay down the demos.

New CD Releases, May 19th: Eminem, Tori Amos, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, Kenny Chesney, Iron & Wine and more

Eminem "Relapse"

It's finally time to get real--as in the "Real Slim Shady." The controversial multi-platinum rap star returns to the game with the release of his long-awaited fifth studio album, which follows 2004's quadruple-platinum "Encore.”

"Relapse" is the first of two albums that Eminem expects to deliver in 2009. He announced back in March that he plans to issue a follow-up, dubbed "Relapse 2," by year's end.

In other Marshall Mathers matters, the rapper has been tapped to perform at the 18th annual MTV Movie Awards, which will air live May 31 at 9 p.m. ET.

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Tori Amos "Abnormally Attracted to Sin" (Universal Republic)

The acclaimed singer/songwriter/pianist is back with a follow-up to 2007's "American Doll Posse." "Abnormally Attracted to Sin," Amos' 10th studio album, marks her debut on the Universal Republic label.

The album's first two singles are the tunes "Welcome to England" and "Fire to Your Plain," videos of which are streaming at the Amos' website. "Abnormally Attracted to Sin" will be available in both standard and deluxe versions. The latter will include a digital booklet, one bonus track and a DVD of corresponding episodic films for each track, which "bring to life the narrative arc of the album," according to a press release.

Amos will support "Abnormally Attracted to Sin" with a US theater trek this summer. The "Sinful Attraction" tour kicks off July 10 in Seattle and will continue through mid-August.

* * *
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood "Live from Madison Square Garden" (Reprise)

The two legendary rockers--who in 1969 combined forces in the super-group Blind Faith--reunited early last year for a three-night stand in New York City. This two-CD set is a document of that sold-out run.

"Live from Madison Square Garden," which is also being released on DVD, features such classic-rock staples as "Forever Man," "After Midnight," "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "Can't Find My Way Home."

Clapton and Winwood have also announced plans to tour together. The trek gets underway June 10 in East Rutherford, NJ, and runs through the end of the month.

* * *
Kenny Chesney "Greatest Hits II" (RCA)

The cowboy crooner is set to deliver his second best-of compilation. "Greatest Hits II" includes such big singles as "Living in Fast Forward," "Beer in Mexico," "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" and "Never Wanted Nothing More." It also features one new song, "Out Last Night," which was released as a single in March.

Fans can hear many of these "Greatest Hits" performed live if they turn out to see Chesney's "Sun City Carnival" tour. The trek is currently underway and is scheduled to run through late summer.

* * *
Iron & Wine "Around the Well" (Sub Pop)

Indie-rock singer/songwriter Iron & Wine, the stage name of Sam Beam, will please his faithful following by releasing a double-disc set of rarities and B-sides. His touring plans this summer include headlining the inaugural No Depression Festival on July 11 in Washington.

* * *
More new releases:
The Beach Boys, "Summer Love Songs" (Capitol)
Carbon Leaf, "Nothing Rhymes with Woman" (Vanguard)
Dane Cook, "ISolated Incident" (Comedy Central)
Richard Elliot, "Rock Steady" (Artistry)
Mat Kearney, "City of Black & White" (Sony)
Steve Martin, "The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo" (Rounder)
Method Man, "Blackout 2" (Def Jam)
O.S.I., "Blood" (Inside Out)
The Oak Ridge Boys, "The Boys are Back" (Spring Hill)
Lionel Richie, "Just Go" (Island)
Kate Voegele, "A Fine Mess" (Interscope)
Zee Avi, "Zee Avi" (Brushfire)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Terminator Salvation" (Warner Bros.)
"True Blood" (Elektra)

New CD Releases, May 12th: Green Day, Steve Earle, The Church, Crystal Method, Better Than Ezra, and more!!

Green Day "21st Century Breakdown" (Reprise)

The multi-platinum pop/punk act finally returns with a follow-up to its Grammy-winning 2004 effort, "American Idiot." Green Day's eighth studio effort, which has been in the works since 2006, will hit stores on Friday (5/15).

Like "American Idiot," "21st Century Breakdown" is a concept record, this time detailing the adventures of a young couple maneuvering through the first decade of the new millennium. The trio--singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool--is clearly hoping that the similarities between the two albums don't end there.

It will be quite a challenge, however, for the new album to live up to the success of "American Idiot," a work that, among other things, spawned five hit singles. So far, so good; the new record's first single, "Know Your Enemy," is already a Top 10 hit.

Green Day will support "21st Century Breakdown" during a North American tour that kicks off July 4 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The two-month run will touch down in 37 cities from coast to coast through the Aug. 25 tour finale in Los Angeles.

* * *
Steve Earle "Townes" (New West)

On his latest offering, the country rocker tips his hat to the late, great songwriting legend Townes Van Zandt. The set features Earle covering 15 "Townes" originals, and includes guest appearances by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Earle's wife, Allison Moorer.

Earle's previous studio effort, "Washington Square Serenade," surfaced in 2007. That album, produced by John King of the Dust Brothers (Beck, Beastie Boys), was Earle's first full-length release since relocating to New York from Nashville, where he had based his career since 1975.

Earle will support "Townes" during a late-spring headlining tour that carries over into summer. The outing begins May 28 in Portsmouth, NH, and is currently scheduled to run through mid-June.

* * *
The Church "Untitled #23" (Second Motion)

The rock band from Down Under remains on the rise as it drops yet another new product. "Untitled #23" comes during what has already been an unusually busy year for the band.

The Church has already dropped two other major releases in 2009: "Shriek: Excerpts from the Soundtrack," a collaboration with American science-fiction author Jeff VanderMeer, and "The Coffee Hounds EP," featuring several versions of the original track "The Coffee Song," as well as a cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love."

The group will take to the highway in support of the new album during a 19-city North American trek that starts June 10 in Solana Beach, CA, and wraps July 9 show in Ridgefield, CT.

* * *
The Crystal Method "Divided by Night" (Ingrooves)

The electronic-music duo, consisting of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland, jumps back into the fray with the release of its fourth record. The Los Angeles act's forthcoming set follows 2004's "Legion of Boom."

"Divided by Night" features a bevy of high-profile guest stars, including Metric vocalist Emily Haines, She Wants Revenge singer Justin Warfield and New Order bassist Peter Hook. The album's first single, "Drown in the Now," features vocal work by Matisyahu.

* * *
Better Than Ezra "Paper Empire" (Red Distribution)

The alt-rock band returns with a follow-up to 2005's "Before the Robots," an album that produced the hit single "Juicy." Better Than Ezra--still best known for the early '90s radio hits "Good," "In the Blood" and "Rosealia"--will support "Paper Empire" on the road. The tour kicks off with a two-night stand May 29-30 in the group's hometown of New Orleans.

* * *
More new releases:
Big Business, "Mind the Drift" (Redeye)
Book of Love, "Book of Love" (Noble)
Cam'Ron, "Crime Pays" (Asylum)
Jeremy Enigk, "OK Bear" (Redeye)
Bill Evans, "Turn Out the Stars: Final Village Vanguard Recordings" (Nonesuch)
Paul Gilbert, "United States" (R.E.D.)
George Jones, "Walk Through This World With Me: The Complete Musicor Recordings, 1965-1971 (Part 1)" (Bear)
David Siebels, "Dave Siebels with Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band" (PBGL)
Utada, "This is the One" (Mercury)
Kate Voegele, "A Fine Mess" (Interscope)
Paul Wall, "Fast Life" (Asylum)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Angels & Demons" (Sony)
"Lost: Season 4" (Varese)
"Next to Normal" (Sh-K-Boom)

Out of tune: global music sales tumble

Global music sales have plunged more than eight per cent in 2008 compared to the year before, according to a record industry organization.

The IFPI, which represents most of the world's music labels including giants such as Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and EMI, says the drop is partly due to the lower price of downloads over the internet.

Sales of CDs and vinyl were hit hard, dropping by 15 per cent.

Meanwhile sales of digital formats like MP3s and ringtones grew by 24 per cent worldwide. However, people who download tend to take single songs rather than entire albums.

And record companies got a massive boost in monies from music used on radio, TV and being played in public.

Asia provided a small bright spot with sales up slightly by one per cent.

The IFPI says any boost they got was not enough to make up for the loss in overall music sales.

New Releases, April 21: Depeche Mode, Jane's Addiction, Pet Shop Boys, Ron White, Black Label Society, more

Depeche Mode "Sounds of the Universe" (Mute)

The legendary British modern-rock troupe is set to unveil its 12th studio album. The 13-track set was produced by Ben Hiller, who also helmed the band's 2005 release, "Playing the Angel."

The first single from "Sounds of the Universe" is the track "Wrong," which was released to radio early last month.

These new-wave pioneers will support the album with a worldwide trek dubbed "Tour of the Universe." The North American portion of the journey is set to begin July 24 in Toronto and will include a stop at Chicago's mammoth Lollapalooza festival, which runs Aug. 7-9.

* * *
Jane's Addiction "Cabinet of Curiosities" (Rhino)

The newly reunited alt-rock icons are ready to treat its fans to a "Cabinet of Curiosities." This box-set includes three CDs and a DVD, bundled together in a case that--quite appropriately--resembles a wooden cabinet.

The first CD features unreleased demos recorded from 1986-87. The second disc also includes demos, as well as previously unreleased live tracks and covers of songs originally recorded by the Grateful Dead, The Stooges and Led Zeppelin, among others. Also featured on the second disc is a live mash-up of sorts called "Bobhouse," that features the lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" over the music from Bauhaus' "Burning From the Inside." The third CD in the set features a live show recorded in December of 1990.

Having kick-started its reunion at the invite-only Playboy Party held during last month's South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, Jane's Addiction is now set to spend May and June on the road. The tour, a co-headlining jaunt with Nine Inch Nails, will begin May 8 in West Palm Beach, FL. The band will also perform in August at Lollapalooza, the event that was originally founded by Jane's Addiction vocalist, Perry Farrell.

* * *
Pet Shop Boys "Yes" (Astralwerks)

The electronic/dance/pop band, which has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, is back in action with its 10th studio disc. "Yes" is the Pet Shop Boy's first offering since 2006's "Fundamental," although the group did release one remix effort, 2007's "Disco 4," during that break.

The new album was produced by Brian Higgins' crack team, Xenomania, which also co-wrote three tracks on the set. Guitar great Johnny Marr (The Smiths, Modest Mouse) guests on "Yes." The first single is the track "Love etc."

* * *
Ron White "Behavioral Problems" (Capitol)

The mega-popular funnyman, who has made millions laugh with his appearances on Comedy Central, returns with a new live disc that features 27 comedic bits. This CD follows several other successful endeavors for White, who also can put New York Times Best Seller List author and Gold-certified recording artist on his resume.

* * *
Black Label Society "Skullage" (Eagle)

While awaiting a proper studio follow-up to 2006's "Shot to Hell," Black Label's society of fans can pass the time by listening to this new compilation disc. Fans can also hear many of these tracks, no doubt, during Black Label Society's current North American tour.

* * *
More new releases:
Beegie Adair, "Moments to Remember" (Green Hill)
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, "How Big Can You Get?--The Music of Cab Calloway" (Vanguard)
Camera Obscura, "My Maudlin Career" (4ad)
Chester French, "Love the Future" (Interscope)
Empire of the Sun, "Walking on a Dream" (Astralwerks)
Dan Fogelberg, "Live in Colorado 1977" (Store for Music)
Great White, "Rising" (Shrapnel)
Jars Of Clay, "The Long Fall Back to Earth" (Provident)
Booker T. Jones, "Potato Hole" (Anti)
Lacuna Coil, "Shallow Life" (Century Media)
Manchester Orchestra, "Mean Everything to Nothing" (Sony)
Mormon Tabernacle Choir, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (Mormon Tabernacle)
Rick Ross, "Deeper Than Rap" (Def Jam)
Tinted Windows, "Tinted Windows" (S-Curve)
Allen Toussaint, "The Bright Mississippi" (Nonesuch)

Record Store Day celebrates indie retailers

PORTLAND, Maine – Despite the success of online retailers, explosion of Internet downloads and high-profile closings of Virgin Megastores and Tower Records stores, bricks-and-mortar record stores aren't all spinning toward oblivion.

Although hundreds of independent music retailers have gone out of business in recent years, about 2,000 are still around, and many are thriving.

The survivors will celebrate Saturday, as acts such as Erykah Badu and Franz Ferdinand gather to pay homage to the hometown record store.

Record Store Day was the idea of Chris Brown, a long-haired, goateed music guru from Bull Moose, a chain of 10 record stores in Maine and New Hampshire.
"I wanted to have a fun kind of party event at Bull Moose where we could thank our customers and just have a fun time," he said. "I realized that it would be a much better party if we got the other stores involved, just make it a national thing."

Now in its second year, Record Store Day is being celebrated at more than 1,000 independent record stores in the U.S. and in 17 countries.

Artists like Disturbed and Ani DiFranco — both appearing at Bull Moose — are paying tribute with in-store appearances. Others like Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Modest Mouse and the Decemberists are offering special-edition vinyl releases.

For retailers, it's very different from the days when kids rushed to the store to thumb through the 45-rpm records. These days, more compact discs are sold despite a resurgence in vinyl. Record stores also have branched out into video games, movies and other merchandise.

Some like the Waterloo in Austin, Texas, Twist and Shout in Denver, and Amoeba in San Francisco are cultural hubs in their communities.

"Music is clearly the centerpiece. It's at the emotional heart of these businesses, but economically they've diversified," said Jim Donio, president of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, which is sponsoring Record Store Day.

It hasn't been an easy road for the mom-and-pop stores.

About 1,000 indie music retailers have gone out of business since 2003, said Joel Oberstein, president of Almighty Institute of Music Retail, a market research firm based in Studio City, Calif.

But 2,000 independent record stores have survived, and the store closings have leveled off over the past year, Oberstein said.

Indies cling to a small market share. All told, there are 10,000 online retailers, mass merchandisers, national chains and other retailers, in addition to the hometown record stores. Donio estimated that independent stores account for less than 10 percent of overall music sales in the U.S.

Looking to thank customers and promote local stores, Brown tossed out his idea for Record Store Day in 2007 at a conference of indie music retailers in Baltimore.

A year later, heavy-metal band Metallica officially kicked off the first Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco.

Brown is vice president of Bull Moose, a seemingly incongruous corporate title that is nevertheless typical of indie stores that have adapted to marketplace changes. In fact, Bull Moose is coming off a record year and strong first quarter despite the recession, he said.

Its stores feature a variety of compact discs from jazz to metal to rap to world music, but also DVDs and Blu-ray discs, video games and video game systems, vinyl albums, T-shirts, baseball caps and more. There are also used DVDs, CDs and vinyl.

Julian Butler of Standish, who was shopping this week at Bull Moose's Portland store, said he used to download his music and movies — illegally and free of charge — before getting a cease-and-desist letter from his Internet service provider.

These days, he said he prefers the sound of compact discs to the compressed MP3 files, and he likes the social interaction he gets in the store.

"Mostly the sound quality is a lot better on CD and you're supporting the actual makers of the music," Butler said of his decision to give up illegal downloads. "Plus you get to come here and meet some people instead of sitting in front of your computer."

Beatles catalog to be digitally remastered

LONDON – The entire catalog of music by The Beatles is being digitally remastered for release in September.

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music say they will release the new discs Sept. 9 on the same day as the release of a video game, "The Beatles: Rock Band."

Each of the dozen new CDs will include the original U.K. album art and expanded liner notes.

Apple and EMI will also release "The Beatles in Mono" with the original monaural versions of 10 albums plus some other bits in mono.

Apple and EMI made no mention in their announcement Tuesday about plans for digital distribution.

New CD Releases, April 7th: Rascal Flatts, Neil Young, James Taylor, Jason Aldean, The Grateful Dead, The Tragically Hip and more

Rascal Flatts "Unstoppable" (Lyric Street)

The multi-platinum country trio returns with "Unstoppable," the group's first batch of new tunes since 2007's "Still Feels Good." It also follows last year's best-of package, "Greatest Hits Volume 1."

The first single from "Unstoppable" is the track "Here Comes Goodbye," which was co-written by "American Idol" Season 6 finalist Chris Sligh. The song turned out to be a sizable radio hit, spending several weeks in the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

Rascal Flatts, which won for Favorite Group at the 2009 People's Choice Awards, will support "Unstoppable" with a summer tour of amphitheaters and pavilions throughout the US. The trek will begin June 5 in the St. Louis area and is currently slated for an Oct. 18 wrap-up in Kelseyville, CA.

* * *
Neil Young "Fork in the Road" (Reprise)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is set to sing the praises of eco-friendly transportation on his latest release. The themes on "Fork in the Road" are drawn from the musician's dedication to build a commercially viable electric power system for automobiles, according to a Billboard report.

Whether one agrees with Young's views on transportation issues or not, most will be happy to learn that the singer/songwriter is doing more than just talking the talk--he's riding the ride as well. He's retooled his 1959 Lincoln Continental as part of the Lincvolt Project, a joint effort with biodiesel pioneer Johnathan Goodwin. The project and Young's prototype Lincvolt vehicle are reflected in such "Fork in the Road" songs such as "Fuel Line," "Johnny Magic," "Off the Road" and "Get Behind the Wheel."

Young will spend this month supporting the new album, mainly in Canada; the sole US date in April is on the 27th in Denver, CO. He will, however, make time for an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on May 3.

* * *
James Taylor "Other Covers" (Hear Music)

The acclaimed vocalist is set to release a sequel to his popular "Covers" album, which was released last September and debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 album chart.

That previous outing found Taylor trying out songs originally made famous by such artists as Buddy Holly, the Temptations, George Jones and Leonard Cohen. On "Other Covers," Taylor handles the likes of Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood," Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" and "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," from the "Oklahoma!" songbook.

Taylor will support both "Covers" releases with tour dates scheduled for this month and next. Of note, he'll perform April 25 at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

* * *
Jason Aldean "Wide Open" (Broken Bow)

The country star, who has sold more than 2 million copies of his first two albums, gets back in the saddle with his third release. "Wide Open" follows 2007's "Relentless," a work that produced the Top 10 country hits "Johnny Cash" and "Laughed Until We Cried."

The lead-off single from "Wide Open" is the cut "She's Country," which was released to radio in November and quickly rose to become Aldean's latest Top 10 smash.

* * *
Grateful Dead "To Terrapin: May 28, 1977 Hartford, CT" (Rhino)

Recorded just prior to the release of one of the Grateful Dead's more-popular studio offerings, 1977's "Terrapin Station," this three-disc live set finds Jerry Garcia and company performing such fan favorites as "Sugaree," "Candyman" and "Jack Straw." Tapers have long cherished recordings from this night, and now everyone else can enjoy the party as well.

* * *
More new releases:
Bat for Lashes, "Two Suns" (Astralwerks)
Doves, "Kingdom of Rust" (Astralwerks)
Erasure, "Total Pop! Deluxe Box" (Rhino)
The Hold Steady, "A Positive Rage" (Vagrant)
Jadakiss, "The Last Kiss" (Ruff Ryders)
Lady Sovereign, "Jigsaw" (Midget)
Libera, "Eternal: The Best of Libera" (EMI)
Jesse McCartney, "Departure: Recharged" (Hollywood)
Moby Grape, "The Place and the Time" (Sundazed)
Bob Mould, "Life and Times" (Anti)
Oceano, "Depths" (Earache)
Vienna Teng, "Inland Territory" (Zoe)
Tower of Power, "Great American Soulbook" (TOP)
The Tragically Hip, "We Are the Same" (Zoe)

Spring CD preview

April showers bring May flowers — but they also bring a flood of new spring albums. There are dozens of major releases due in the next few months. Here’s our quick guide to the toppermost of the poppermost. Mark your calendars — but do it in pencil; everything here is subject to change.

April 7

The Hold Steady | A Positive Rage

The world’s greatest bar band serve up their first live CD/DVD. Drinking game: Take a swig every time Craig Finn mentions a location in Minneapolis.

Neil Young | Fork in the Road

Shakey’s latest cut-on-the-fly concept album was inspired by his hybrid LincVolt car. No, seriously. For this he delayed the Archives box yet again.

April 21

Booker T | Potato Hole

The MGs organist and legendary soul man releases his first album in more than a decade — with The Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young as his band.

Depeche Mode | Sounds of the Universe

As is the way nowadays, the British synth-pop trio’s dozenth disc comes in various editions, from a bare-bones CD to a deluxe box set with bonus cuts, demos and a DVD.

Jane's Addiction | A Cabinet of Curiosities

Timed to coincide with Perry Farrell and co.’s new cash-in ... sorry, reunion tour, this box set has three CDs of demos, outtakes and live cuts from the L.A. rockers’ early years, plus a DVD.

April 28

Bob Dylan | Together Through Life

Zimmy’s umpteenth studio album reportedly mixes raucous, hard-driving Chicago blues with plenty of, um, accordion. Because, you know, his vocals aren’t wheezy enough already.

May 5

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band | Outer South

The good news: Barely nine months after his superbly rootsy eponymous album, Oberst is back with another disc. The bad news: He lets his bandmates write and sing some songs.

Cracker | Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey

X’s John Doe, Counting Crow’s Adam Durvitz and Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood drop in on the 10th studio set from David Lowery and his long-serving alt-rockers.

New York Dolls | ’Cause I Sez So

David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain reteamed with their original producer Todd Rundgren for their second reunion album — which also features a new version of Trash. Pick it up.

Peaches | I Feel Cream

Electroclash sleaze-mistress Merrill Nisker follows up her 2006 CD Impeach My Bush with more songs whose lyrics we won’t be able to quote in a newspaper.

May 12

Steve Earle | Townes

The hardcore troubadour’s latest studio disc is a tribute album to the late great Townes Van Zandt, his friend, mentor — and the man who gave Earle’s son Justin his middle name.

Green Day | 21st Century Breakdown

Only an American Idiot would try to fix what isn’t broke — so the Bay Area pop-punks are sticking with the ambitious concept-album program for their eighth studio album.

May 19

Eminem | Relapse

He’s baaaaack! And supposedly, Slim Shady’s first album in five long years is just one of two discs he’ll release next year. Guess he’s been cleanin’ out his closet.

June 2

Eels | Hombre Lobo

Yes, that title translates to Wolfman. But for idiosyncratic indie-rocker Mark Everett — the sole permanent member of Eels — that’s barely a blip on the weirdness radar.

Elvis Costello | Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Apparently, Mr. Krall’s newest CD is heavy on the acoustic vibe of King of America. Not our favourite version of Elvis, but since he never lets us down, we’ll take it.

Iggy Pop | Preliminaires

The world’s forgotten boy and eternal Stooge makes a jazz album inspired by Michel Houellebecq’s controversial novel The Possibility of an Island. Which begs the question: Wha?

Rancid | Let the Dominoes Fall

We’re not sure why it took these California punks six years to follow up Indestructible. But based on all their previous albums, we fully expect this to be well worth the wait.

Neil Young | Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1 | 1963-1972

Yeah, right. At this point, we suspect even Neil doesn’t believe this is ever coming out. Besides, he’ll probably put it off to write a box set about composting.

June 9

Sonic Youth | The Eternal

The New York noise-rock gods return to the indie ranks with their first album for Matador Records. From the snippets floating around the Intertubes, sounds like they haven’t changed a bit.

June 23

Dinosaur Jr. | Farm

Here’s another album from the reunited alt-rock trio of J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph. In a couple of more years, their comeback will have outlasted the original band.

Wilco | TBA

Leslie Feist supposedly guests on Jeff Tweedy and his Chicago experimental roots outfit’s still-untitled seventh studio album — which features the tune Wilco: The Song.

50 Cent | Before I Self-Destruct

Or as we prefer to call it: Before People Realize I Have Run Out of Ideas and Stop Buying My Lousy Albums.

Metallica and RUN-D.M.C. inducted into Hall of Fame

CLEVELAND - Metallica shoved the mosh pit into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Heavy metal's heaviest hitters, whose menacing, monstrous sound has banged heads around the globe for decades, were inducted into rock's shrine on Saturday night, capping a star-studded ceremony that felt much more like a concert than an awards show.

For the first time, the no-holds-barred show, back in Cleveland following a 12-year holdover in New York's Waldorf-Astoria ballroom, was open to the public.

And nearly 5,000 fans partied in the balconies inside renovated Public Auditorium as 1,200 VIPs dined below at tables costing as much US$50,000 each.

Many of the came to pay homage to Metallica, which earned top billing in an eclectic 2009 class that included rap pioneers Run-DMC, virtuoso guitarist Jeff Beck, soul singer Bobby Womack and rhythm and blues vocal group Little Anthony and the Imperials.

Metallica's members have survived some of the dark themes - death, destruction and desolation - that threads through its music, and their induction was a chance to celebrate their legacy as perhaps the hardest band to ever walk the earth. The event also served as a reunion as bassist Jason Newsted, who left the group in 2001, joined his former bandmates on stage for searing versions of "Master of Puppets" and "Enter Sandman."

"Whatever the intangibles elements are that make a band the best, Metallica has them," said Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, who delivered a heartfelt speech in presenting the band. He recalled being on tour and hearing Metallica on the radio for the first time.

"My mind was blown. It wasn't punk rock. It wasn't heavy metal. It just stood by itself," he said. "I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was a mighty thing."

In accepting their awards, Metallica's members were joined by Ray Burton, the father of original bassist Cliff Burton, who died tragically in 1986 when the band's tour bus skidded off an icy road in Sweden.

"Dream big and dare to fail, because this is living proof that it is possible to make a dream come true," said frontman-guitarist James Hetfield, who then rattled off a long list of hard-rocking bands he feels deserve induction.

"Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Rush, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Iron Maiden, Motorhead. We'd like to invite them through the door," said Hetfield, who concluded his remarks by wrapping Ulrich in a bear hug.

The evening ended with a jam for the ages as Metallica, Beck, Jimmy Page, Aerosmith's Joe Tyler and Flea brought the house down with a performance of the Yardbirds' "Train Kept A Rollin."

A guitar virtuoso, Beck, who was previously inducted in 1992 with the Yardbirds, was put in for his solo work. Although best known for his rock accomplishments, Beck's career has wandered a fretboard of genres ranging from blues to jazz to electronica.

"Jeff's style is totally unorthodox to the way anyone was taught," said Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, who presented his longtime friend. "He keeps getting better and better and better."

Beck, wearing all white, was joined on stage by Page, a fellow guitar god, who played bass during a searing rendition of Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song."

With two turntables and a microphone, Run-DMC broke down the barriers between rock and rap. With sparse, stripped-down lyrics above pounding beats, the trio of Joseph "DJ Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell changed rap in the 1980s by taking the realities of the streets to the suburbs.

"They broke away from the pack by being the pack," said rapper Eminem, looking like the band's lost member by sporting the group's trademark black fedora and black leather jacket. "They were the baddest of the bad and the coolest of the cool. Run-DMC changed my life."

"There's three of them and if you grew up with hip hop like I did, they were the Beatles."

Their remake and collaboration with Aerosmith on the rock band's "Walk This Way" changed modern music.

"We were young guys with a new music that people thought was a fad, but we knew the culture was a way of life and we just lived it," McDaniels said. "The music that we made then didn't just impact friends, it impacted a generation. So I guess that's what rock and roll does."

Any chance of a Run reunion ended with Mizell's death in 2002, when he was shot to death outside his studio. His murder remains unsolved.

Mizell's mother, Connie, accepted the award on his behalf.

"My baby is still doing it for me," she said.

Simmons cited "so many smart people and so much help" several times during his speech. He also thanked Mrs. Mizell, who allowed the group to set up their equipment in her Hollis, Queens, living room.

"She never told us to turn the music down once," Simmons said, turning to his late friend's mom. "I'd like to thank you for that."

Cleveland's Womack, the son of a steelworker, is best known for his soulful voice, but he had far greater musical range as a talented songwriter and guitarist.

He also branched into gospel, returning to the roots that got him his start with a family group, the Valentinos. He later played guitar for Sam Cooke.

Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones introduced Womack as "the voice that has always killed me. He brings me to tears." Wood then recalled a night in New York when he and Womack hid as some Hells Angels gang members were roughing up Wilson Pickett.

Little Anthony and the Imperials, who began their career singing on street corners in Brooklyn, N.Y., opened the program with a gorgeous medley of hits "Tears on My Pillow," "Hurt So Bad," and "I'm Alright." Many in the crowd mouthed the familiar tracks as lead singer Anthony "Little Anthony" Gourdine's falsetto filled the room.

Longtime friend Smokey Robinson presented the doo-wop group, calling their induction "long overdue."

Gourdine thanked his music teacher, "wherever you are" during his induction speech.

"We've been in this now for 50 years, and when we were kids we never imagined in our wildest dreams we'd ever be here," he said. "Now that it's here, the one thing we can look at and say is nobody can ever take this away from us."

Dubbed the "Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice," the 71-year-old Jackson got her start as a country singer. She was a flamboyant dresser, and her choice of skirts and high heels rankled some hard-core fans. It was Elvis Presley, whom she toured with the 1950s, who persuaded her to sing rock songs.

"She could really rock and still kept her femininity intact," said presenter Roseanne Cash. "She's the prototype for so many of us."

Drummer DJ Fontana and the late bassist Bill Black - both of Elvis Presley's backup band - and keyboardist Spooner Oldham made it in the sidemen category.

Legacy of 80s music cloven by new film, musical

NEW YORK – Whitesnake. Cinderella. Flock of Seagulls. These did little to help the legacy of 1980s rock music.

Did The Replacements, Husker Du and Crowded House do enough to save it?

Two new works, the Broadway musical "Rock of Ages" and the new Greg Mottola film "Adventureland," present opposite soundtracks for the Reagan era: While the stage production revels in hair-band kitsch, the more indie-minded "Adventureland" is nostalgic for the sounds of `80s underground.

Together, the two works beg the question: How should `80s music be remembered? As a period of schlock and excess? As a culmination of rock 'n' roll fun? Or were the `80s perhaps more multidimensional than our collective memory generally considers it?

"Adventureland," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Mottola, who helmed last year's hit coming-of-age comedy "Superbad." This time, Mottola (who also wrote the script) portrays the awkwardness of his post-college 20s, pulling from his experience working at a Long Island amusement park for a summer.

And to him, the `80s weren't just Warrant and Wham!

"I wore T-shirts and jeans most days in the 1980s," Mottola, 44, said. "I wasn't saying, `What did Emilio Estevez wear in "St. Elmo's Fire?" I'd like to dress like that.'"

The film is stuffed to the tilt with tunes, boasting a pulsating soundtrack of The Replacements, Lou Reed, Big Star, The Cure, Husker Du, the New York Dolls and others (the acclaimed indie band Yo La Tengo, formed in 1984 and still active, fills in the score.)

For Mottola, nothing is as much a criterion to the past as music.

"As I was writing the film, I almost saw the film as my idea of a good pop love song," he said. "The music is the most exciting thing in the movie to me on some level."

Music is woven into "Adventureland," with some 40 songs in total. Characters relate to each other through a taste for similar bands. Mix tapes are exchanged. Ryan Reynolds' character, for example, is not to be trusted because of his boastful lie that he once jammed with Reed.

Mottola recalls discovering the less commercial music of the `80s: "It was only later when I got older and met some cooler kids that they told me, `You know, there is thing called the Velvet Underground. You might want to check it out.'"

"Adventureland" is a reminder that `80s culture wasn't just one note.

"This sounds dorky, but The Replacements are a band that I think saved my life at certain points, when I was really depressed and lonely," said Mottola.

The film isn't dominated by outlandish styles from the period. One character in the film, though, typifies `80s kitsch: Lisa P (Margarita Levieva). With a look straight out of an early Madonna video, she's a roller-skating sexpot as vacant at the music she dances to — like Falco's then-ubiquitous hit "Rock Me Amadeus."

"I needed to have, like, a couple of those huge hits that you couldn't escape," said Mottola. "The song has a special power to get under your skin like a flesh-eating virus."

As much as "Adventureland" is an intimate story filled with personal music, "Rock of Ages," which stars former "American Idol" contestant Constantine Maroulis, is for the crowd. The musical, which officially opens April 7 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, is a raucous celebration of `80s hair bands.

Ushers hand out fake lighters to hold up during power ballads, while waitresses ask patrons "Are you ready to rock?" before show time.

With an on-stage house band, "Rock of Ages" stitches together numbers of arena bombast from groups like Journey, Poison, Whitesnake, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Quiet Riot and Bon Jovi. It's being promoted as a musical that will do for `80s rock what "Mamma Mia!" did for ABBA.

"This whole era gets pushed to the side as incidental and trite and silly," said Chris D'Arienzo, who wrote the musical's book. "It's only not respected by the critics."

D'Arienzo, who will turn 37 this month, feels both nostalgia for the music of "Rock of Ages" and laughs at it, too. Growing up in rural Michigan, he remembers first seeing the cover of Poison's "Look What the Cat Dragged In."

"I honestly thought, `These are the most beautiful women I've ever seen' — and then realized they were all dudes on the cover," laughed D'Arienzo.

Without a trace of seriousness, "Rock of Ages" exults the trashiness of the period's bleached blonde hair, wine coolers, gratuitous sax solos, leather pants, jean jackets and fog machines.

The theatricality of `80s cheesiness seems oddly befitting to Broadway. For the most part, rock star extravagance became passe once Kurt Cobain's Nirvana and early `90s alternative rock ushered in a new, rawer sensibility.

D'Arienzo (who plays in his own band, Saint America) is also at work on a film adaptation of "Rock of Ages" for New Line Cinema, which he'll both write and direct.

Ultimately, what "Rock of Ages" and "Adventureland" have in common is their interest in peering into the past through the prism of music — be it via Guns N' Roses or Husker Du.

"The touchstones of that time are all defined by this music," said D'Arienzo. "It was the stuff that I was playing when I had my first kiss."

Reznor unleashes April Fool's joke

Trent Reznor has nailed April Fool's Day.

The Nine Inch Nails frontman -- who has released his last couple of albums online with virtually no notice -- pranked his fans Wednesday when he sent out a Twitter message announcing "Brand new FULL LENGTH NIN record available now."

The gag didn't end there: Anyone going to Reznor's website was treated to a hilarious page detailing the fictional disc Strobe Light, complete with a cover shot of Reznor in Kanye-style horizontal-blind sunglasses and a cheeseball synth-drum soundtrack.

"To download NIN's new full-length album Strobe Light, PRODUCED BY TIMBALAND, enter a valid email address in the fields below," the page reads. "A download link will be sent to you immediately. Your credit card will be charged $18.98 plus a $10 digital delivery convenience fee. Your files will arrive as windows media files playable on quite a few players with your name embedded all over them just in case you lose them. You will also receive an exclusive photo and a free email account with our partner Google's Gmail service.

"Your email will be kept confidential and will not be used for spam, unless we can make some money selling it."

He probably could -- but not as much as he could make if he actually put out an album like this.

Check out the supposed track list:

1. Intro Skit
2. Everybody's Doing It (feat. Chris Martin, Jay-Z AND Bono)
3. Black T-Shirt
4. P-----grinder (feat. Sheryl Crow)
5. Coffin on the Dancefloor
6. This Rhythm is Infected
7. Slide to the Dark Side
8. Even Closer (feat. Justin Timberlake and Maynard James Keenan)
9. On the List (She's Not)
10. Clap Trap Crack Slap
11. L--d, Paid and Played (feat. Fergie of Black Eyed Peas and Al Jourgensen)
12. Feel Like Being Dead Again
13. Still Hurts (feat. Alicia Keys)
14. Outro Skit

New CD Releases, March 31st: Keith Urban, Diana Krall, Leonard Cohen, Chris Botti, Queensryche and more

Keith Urban "Defying Gravity" (Capitol)

Mr. Urban cowboy is set to ride once again with the release of his first studio offering since 2006's chart-topping "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing." The country crooner was last heard on 2007's best-of collection, "Keith Urban Greatest Hits: 18 Kids."

The first single from "Defying Gravity" is the tune "Sweet Thing," which has already risen on the charts to become the singer's 18th Top 5 hit.