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Steve Smith: Beach Boys working on new album
Aug 6, 2011 John Deacon Leave a comment
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BEACH BOYS NEW ALBUM
This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys. The group that grew up in Hawthorne will celebrate that golden anniversary by reuniting to record a new album, announced singer Mike Love, reports Billboard. He said that he and his cousin, Brian Wilson, have each written new songs and that both are taking this project, “very seriously.” He said that it appears that the album will be recorded this fall with a release date in early 2012.
The goal-oriented Love added that the group is already in the Guinness Book for World Records for the longest stretch between No. 1 songs, saying, “Between ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘Kokomo’ it was 22 years between No. 1 records. Can you imagine if we got a No. 1 record in 2012? Oh, that would be something.”
WILL THE WHO RETURN?
Roger Daltrey, singer for The Who, said group leader Pete Townshend is nearly “stone deaf” and suffers from severe tinnitus as the result of decades of incredibly loud volume at the group’s concerts. Because of this, he said the band the two of them formed in 1964 may have played its final concert.
Not so, says a rejuvenated Townshend on his blog, who reports that his condition has improved. The guitarist says that The Who is hitting the road next year and they’ll be performing full versions of his 1973 rock opera, “Quadrophenia.”
Daltrey is currently on a marathon U.S. tour that is seeing him and his band perform Townshend’s
1969 rock opera, “Tommy” in its entirety. Townshend said the reason he didn’t join Daltrey on this jaunt is because, “This is entirely Roger’s adventure, one that is bringing him great joy. I don’t belong on this ‘Tommy’ tour.” He ended his post with, “I wish him well, sincerely, and I look forward to playing with Roger again doing `Quadrophenia’ next year.”
CHUCK BERRY GETS STATUE
The city of University City, MO, outside St. Louis, unveiled an eight-foot statue of the 84-year-old “Father of Rock and Roll,” Chuck Berry, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The statue rests across the street from the Blueberry Hill club where Berry still performs monthly.
Berry attended the unveiling and recorded tributes from Little Richard, Elvis Costello, Merle Haggard, former Doobie Brother’s singer Michael McDonald, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and others were played. The statue depicts the composer of “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybelline,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Rock and Roll Music” and countless other early rock and roll classics in his `50s heyday.
“It’s glorious,” Berry said. “I do appreciate it to the highest.”
He told the assembled throng, “I’m not going to keep you out here for very long. I don’t know how to speak. I can sing a little bit. Thank you. I love you all.”
THAT’S ‘DR. IRON MAIDEN’ TO YOU
Bruce Dickinson, who’s been singing for venerable British metal band Iron Maiden since 1981, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music Degree from London’s Queen Mary University, reports New Musical Express. The 52-year-old Nottinghamshire, England-born Dickinson is a former student who earned a bachelor’s degree in history at the school in 1979.
The multitalented singer is also an author, film script writer, TV broadcaster, a champion fencer, a successful entrepreneur and commercial airline pilot who flies Iron Maiden around the world on their tours on their private Boeing 757 jet.
Since 1980, Iron Maiden has recorded three platinum and 12 gold albums in the U.K. Here, they have six platinum and three gold albums. If you’re in London this weekend, you can possibly catch one of the group’s two shows at London’s O2 Arena.
STEVIE WONDER SURPRISES!
In Toronto, mid-way through his set, Canadian actor-rapper Drake told the crowd, “I’m going to step off for a second. I’ll be back.” With that, roadies quickly set up the equipment of a totally different band. To thunderous applause, out came surprise guest Stevie Wonder, who sat behind his keyboard and had no trouble coaxing the crowd to sing out “da da da da,” before launching into “Sir Duke.”
Over the next half-hour, Wonder blew everybody away by playing his own mini-set that included “My Cherie Amour,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” “I Wish,” and “Superstition,” according to CNN.
The Motown legend provided considerable input on Drake’s upcoming album, “Take Care.” “He (Wonder) helped me out with a lot of the music, He just came and sat with me…told me where I could add a couple things to make it more sonically appealing. Not only that, but we actually are writing together, which is an incredible experience,” he said.
MORRISSEY’S FAST FOOD WAR
British crooner Morrissey, former singer for The Smiths, compared the recent massacre of 76 in Norway, most of them kids at a political youth camp, to the slaughter of livestock for use as food at fast food restaurants, reports the U.K.’s Daily Mail. The 52-year-old vegetarian said at a concert in Warsaw, Poland, “We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, though, that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried (blank) every day.
JACKIE DESHANNON RECORDS CD
One of the most successful singer-songwriters of the rock and roll era, Jackie DeShannon, has rerecorded a batch of her biggest hits for a new CD, “When You Walk In The Room,” that comes out next month, on Sept. 27, according to her website. Among the hits she either wrote or co-wrote include “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” and “Bette Davis Eyes,” plus Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono’s “Needles and Pins” and Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” as well as the title song that she wrote in 1963. The new album will be available on Amazon.
LAST LENNON AUTOGRAPH SOLD
A John Lennon autograph signed on the final night of his life, Dec. 8, 1980, at a radio station in New York City, was bought by a memorabilia company, Tracks LTD, for $40,000, according to all Access Music. Lennon signed a poster from his just-released “Double Fantasy” album for an RKO Radio Network engineer who recorded what turned out to be his last interview. He was fatally shot hours later.
CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH’S 40th
The triple album record of George Harrison’s “Concert For Bangladesh,” featuring Beatles Harrison and Ringo Starr, and then-recluses Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton as well as Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar and Badfinger, is now available as a download on iTunes. The proceeds continue to benefit The George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
CONCERT VIOLENCE
Four concert audience members were shot after a “Unity in the Park” festival headlined by George Clinton and his band, Parliament-Funkadelic at Luke Easter Park in Cleveland, according to the Plain Dealer. The shooter escaped.
Meanwhile, six people attending a Tim McGraw concert in Mansfield, MA, were arrested after a fight left a 19-year-old man with severe head injuries. It is alleged that the fight began over a woman. Excessive alcohol use is also suspected, according to NECN.com.
MEAT LOAF DOWN BUT NOT OUT
The Pittsburgh heat and humidity got to Meat Loaf as he was performing at Station Square, along the Monongahela River downtown. The full-voiced belter passed out onstage, according to that city’s Post-Gazette. He just finished singing one of his hits, “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” when he collapsed. He was down for approximately 10 minutes and many concert-goers suspected the big man had suffered a heart attack. However, the singer told the crowd that he’d suffered an asthma attack and he ended up finishing the show.
Then, after a concert in New Jersey, the singer collapsed again, this time backstage. He requested oxygen and after about 10 minutes, he said he was fine.
The 63-year-old Mr. Loaf told Billboard about his musical plans, including his Christmas album set for 2012 release that features guests Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks.
JOURNEY’S PERRY RESURFACES
Steve Perry, 62, who had been off the scene to the point of being called a recluse since retiring for good as singer for Journey in 1996 (he left Journey and the music biz for seven years from 1987-94), is making a guest appearance on an album, “Follow the Freedom,” by Cassidy, that will be released this fall, Perry sings on the title track and help mix the CD. In 2009, he came out of retirement to provide backup vocals on a song by Street Sweeper Social Club. His last solo CD was “For the Love of Strange Medicine” in 1994.
AMBASSADOR SHERYL CROW
Sheryl Crow has been named an official ambassador of Country Cares for St. Jude Kids, a non-profit organization of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, according to the hospital. Country Cares was formed in 1089 by Randy Owen, leader of the country group, Alabama.
NEW RELEASES
Among the new CDs out includes “What Matters Most – Barbra Streisand Sings The Lyrics of Alan And Marilyn Bergman”; “Essential Early Recordings,” an import by James Brown; “Performance,” an import by Renaissance English folk-rockers, Fairport Convention; “Gift from Tom T. Hall,” an import from the 75-year-old storytelling country singer; “Dirty Jeans Mudslide Hymns,” from John Hiatt; “Official Bootleg 3: Live in Kawasaki, Japan 2010″ from Uriah Heep; a 5-CD set, “Bootleg Box 1″ from former Yes keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman; and “Breathe Out, Breathe In,” the sixth studio album since 1965 (and the first since 2004) by singer Colin Blunstone, organist Rod Argent and their band, The Zombies.
Also, look for the new DVD, “Emerson Lake Palmer – 40th Anniversary Reunion Concert” that was recorded last summer at the first High Voltage Festival in London.
U2 FINALLY DONE
After 110 stadium shows that played to more than seven million fans, Irish rockers U2′s 360 Degree Tour has, at last, ended. The quartet that formed in Dublin in 1976 played its last show of the mammoth tour in Moncton, Canada.
The tour began June 30, 2009.
BILLBOARD’S BEST VIDS
Billboard asked its readers to pick the greatest videos from each of the three decades. Here is the Top three from each decade. The 1980s: “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, “Like a Prayer” by Madonna and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper.
The 1990s: “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears, “Scream” by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, and “Vogue” by Madonna. The 2000s: “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga, “Toxic” by Britney Spears and “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by Panic! At the Disco.
ALAN JACKSON TO THE RESCUE
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville kicked off its $75 million, 200,000-square-foot expansion campaign with a concert featuring Ricky Skaggs, fiddler Buddy Spicher and headlined by Alan Jackson, according to the Associated Press. The plan calls for the museum to more than double its current size and will include an 800-seat theatre.
CHEAP TRICK UPDATE
Cheap Trick cancelled an outdoor concert appearance at the Pacific National Exhibition at the PNE Amphitheatre in Vancouver, Canada, because the stage was put together by the same company, Groupe Berger/Mega-Stage, who built the stage in Ontario, Canada, that collapsed in a rainstorm July 17 during the band’s performance, according to the Montreal Gazette. That accident resulted in the injury of several people, and loss of equipment, including guitarist Rick Nielson’s trademark black and white checkered guitar with five necks.
BELLAMY BROTHERS BENEFIT
Country music’s Bellamy Brothers, who hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 40 Pop chart in 1976 with “Let Your Love Flow” (ironically, it only got to No. 21 on the Country chart), dedicated its concert in Lyngdal, Norway, to that nation’s 76 mass murder victims. David and Howard Bellamy have been touring there since 1976 and “have cultivated many friendships” there. David Bellamy told Great American Country, “We’d like them to know that our thoughts and prayers go out to each and every person in their great country … and we hope the healing process can soon begin for everyone. God bless Norway, and peace and love from the Bellamy Brothers.”
RON WOOD, TV HOST
Following his great success as a radio show host in England, now sober Rolling Stones and Faces guitarist Ron Wood has gotten his own TV show on the Sky Arts channel. Woody and his guests, most being recording artists, will debate issues related to the music industry. Specially recorded live performance will also be included.
GENE McDANIELS DIES
Pop and soul singer Gene McDaniels, who recorded 10 Top 10 hits in the early `60′s hits, died at 76 at home in Kittery Park, ME, after a brief illness. From 1961-62, McDaniels teamed with producer Snugg Garrett to record his biggest hits, “A Hundred Pounds of Clay” and “Tower of Strength.”
As a songwriter, he wrote Roberta Flack’s 1974 No. 1 hit, “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” That song reached the top of the pop, soul and easy listening charts. Jazz singer-musician Les McCann and jazz tenor sax player Eddie Harris had a major hit with McDaniels’ “Compared to What” in 1969.
CELEB-OWNED RESTAURANTS
The food and restaurant-related webpage, The Daily Meal, posted its list of the 25 best celebrity-owned restaurants. Justin Timberlake’s Southern Hospitality in New York City came in at No. 23. At No. 22 was Toby Keith’s Oklahoma City establishment, I Love This Bar Grill. Soul legend Gladys Knight’s place, Gladys and Ron’s Chicken and Waffles in Atlanta was voted No. 16. And No. 1? The Market Restaurant and Bar in Del Mar owned by skateboard king Tony Hawk
TOP 10 BOOKS ON AMAZON
1. “Does the Noise In My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir” by Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler
2. “Just Kids” by Patti Smith
3. “Life” by Keith Richards
4. “Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970″ by David Browne
5. “Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock” by Sammy Hagar, former Montrose and Van Halen and current Chickenfoot and Wabos singer
6. “Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank” by Barbara Sinatra
7. “Motley Crue: The Dirt – Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band” by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
8. “The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star” by Motely Crue bassist Nikki Sixx
9. “This is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photgraphy and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx” by Sixx
10. “Scar Tissue” by Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedes Larry Sloman.
SHANIA AND BUBLE
Fellow Canadians Shania Twain and young retro crooner Michael Buble have recorded a duet of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” The song will appear on Buble’s upcoming holiday album due out later this year, according to The Boot.
BONNIE POINTER’S NEW CD
Bonnie Pointer, she of the famous `70s and `80s hit-making clan, The Pointer Sisters, released her first album in 27 years. “Like a Picasso,” features 14 songs and is her first solo album since “If the Price is Right” came out in 1984.
Bonnie left the Pointer Sisters in 1977. Last summer, she and her sisters Ruth and Anita performed together for the first time in 15 years at a show at the Greek Theatre.
CHRIS CHRISTIE VS. THE BOSS
A recent poll by Public Policy polling showed that, in a hypothetical political race in New Jersey, if Bruce Springsteen ran for governor against current Republican Governor Chris Christie, each would receive 42 percent of the vote.
RICH QUEEN
The three surviving members of Queen, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon, and the estate of the late singer Freddie Mercury, will each receive $16 million for the release of the remastered versions of the group’s second five albums. Each is being released as a 2-CD with rare songs, re-mixes and live cuts. It’s reported that the band made a profit of more than $70 million this year from album sales and downloads.