Pink Floyd won their battle in London's High
Court
with EMI on Thursday over the record company selling single downloads
on the Internet from their concept albums. Judge Andrew
Morritt accepted the arguments by the band that EMI was bound by a
contract forbidding them to sell Pink Floyd's records other than as
complete albums without written consent. He said that the
purpose of a clause in the contract was to "preserve the artistic
integrity of the albums." Part of the judgment over the level
of royalties paid to the band by the label was held in secret,
according to the Press Association, so the outcome is
unclear. The judge also ordered EMI to pay the band's costs
in the case (over $91,000) and refused the company permission to appeal.
Lawyers for Phil Spector have asked the California Second District
Court of Appeal to reverse the jury verdict of second-degree murder and
order a new trial on grounds of judicial error and prosecutorial
misconduct.
Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell guitarist Tony Iommi talked with
the Birmingham Post recently about singer Ronnie James Dio.
"Ronnie is doing better, he's been responding well to
treatment. He's very positive and has been in the studio in
LA this past week doing a bit of singing. He has to fly to
Dallas (from his Los Angeles home) for chemotherapy every two weeks and
has injections daily in his stomach." Iommi also talked about
his upcoming autobiography, Iron Man, and said that hopefully it will
be out at the end of the year.
According to EW's Music Mix's interview with Adam "MCA" Yauch of the
Beastie Boys, he's feeling significantly better and getting his energy
back after his medical treatments. He expects fans are going
to have to wait a little longer for their new album, Hot Sauce
Committee Pt. 1, as they will see how his health is in September.
Squeeze will be honored with a special plaque in South East London
outside the Greenwhich Dance Hall where they made their first
performance. The band are the 4th to receive the PRS for
Music Heritage Award.
Stevie Wonder was in Paris on Mar. 6th to receive the Commander of the
Arts and Letters by the French Government. Wonder was named
for the honor 29 years ago but claimed that scheduling conflicts have
kept him from collecting the award until now.
Phil Collins has a few honors heading his way. He get
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next week and on June 17th
will be honored with the Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of
Fame gala in New York.
T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham's "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy
Heart)" from the movie Crazy Heart was named Best Original Song at the
82nd annual Academy Awards.
Sade's Soldier Of Love fell a spot to #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums
chart on sales of 79,000 copies. The Alice In Wonderland:
Almost Alice soundtrack debuted at #5 on sales of 58,000
copies. Johnny Cash's American VI: Ain't No Grave fell 18
places to #21. Peter Gabriel's Scratch My Back debuted at
#26. The Crazy Heart soundtrack dropped 5 spots to
#30. The Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel soundtrack
fell 9 places to #31.
Artists For Haiti's "We Are The World 25: For Haiti" fell 30 places to
#66 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Glee Cast's Glee: The Music: Season One Vol. 1 fell 2 places on the
U.K. Albums chart to #4. Journey's Greatest Hits climbed a
spot to #18. Sade's Soldier Of Love retained the #21
spot. Johnny Cash's American VI: Ain't No Grave fell 20
places to #29. The Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
soundtrack dropped 9 spots to #35. Fleetwood Mac's The Very
Best Of Fleetwood Mac fell 7 places to #38.
Glee Cast's "Don't Stop Believin'" fell 2 places to #20 on the U.K.
Singles chart. Helping Haiti's "Everybody Hurts" dropped 17
spots to #26. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" fell 4 places
to #27. Glee Cast's "Halo/Walking On Sunshine" dropped 10
spots to #35.
Icon Home Entertainment has announced the May 10th U.K. DVD and Blu-ray
release of the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. The film
follows Lennon through his teenage years and his introduction to music.
When In Rome have announced that they will be releasing a new song
exclusively through Facebook/Reverb Nation for download in May.
EMI America will release the new Blu-ray and DVD, Chickenfoot: Get Your
Buzz On 'Live', on Apr. 20th (and in the U.K. on Apr. 26th via Eagle
Rock Entertainment.)
Front 242 will release their second official live DVD, Moments In
Budapest, via Alfa Matrix on Apr. 30th. The PAL format DVD
documents their Dec. 6, 2008 performance in Hungary.
The first Lostboy! AKA single will be "Shadowlands" scheduled for
release in May followed by the May 16th release of the debut album by
Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr.
A new musical, Unchain My Heart, celebrating Ray Charles will head to
Broadway starting Nov. 7th (with preview performances beginning Oct.
8th.)
Bauhaus/Love and Rockets guitarist Daniel Ash has released his new solo
EP, It's A Burn Out, via iTunes.
Tommy James published his autobiography, Me, The Mob, and The Music,
last month and it seems that things are moving ahead on the film
version of the book. James told BlogTalkRadio.com this week
that Val Kilmer is one of the actors being looked at portraying James
for the film due out in 2011/2012.
Extreme will release their new double-CD and DVD, Take Us Alive, via
Frontiers Records on May 4th. The set documents the Boston
hometown final date of their tour behind, Saudades de Rock, their first
new album after a 13-year hiatus.
John Lydon recently told Billboard.com that Public Image
Ltd.'s first North American tour in 17 years will raise money
for a new recording project. "We've got no backing -- no
record company, no sponsors, nothing like that." He went on
to say, "It's sort of like the old days of PiL, when the Pistols went
kaput; I had to scrimp and scrape out of my own pocket. Not
much has changed."
Kiss' Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have finalized a production and
development deal for a new half-hour children's comedy TV series with
Canadian studio E1 Entertainment.
Sergio Mendes will release his new studio album, Bom Tempo, on May 4th
via Concord Records. They are also calling on fans, friends
and artists to produce and direct a video set to the music of "Emorio"
from the album with a chance to win a $500 Amazon.com gift package and
other gifts to runner-ups.
Black Francis of the Pixies releases his new solo album, NonStopErotik,
via Cooking Vinyl on Mar. 30th.
Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton has a new Italian language
rock-meets-orchestra hybrid project, Mondo Cane, surfacing on May 4th
via Ipecac Recordings. Meanwhile, Faith No More have
confirmed a few reunion shows including one in July in Brooklyn, New
York.
Love Is Strange, a new live double-CD recorded during Jackson Browne
and David Lindley's 2006 tour of Spain, heads to stores in
May. They also plan to head off on a new U.S. tour in July
after European dates.
Escape Music have announced the release of the new Mass studio album,
Sea Of Black, due out in Europe on Apr. 23rd.
Meat Loaf's new 13-track studio album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear, will be
released via Roadrunner Records/Loud & Proud on May 11th.
Bad Religion has announced that they plan to record a live album, 30
Years Live, during their upcoming spring 2010 House of Blues tour and
offer it as a free "thank you" to loyal fans for a limited time only on
May 18th. To get the free download, you'll need to sign up at
www.badreligion.com to reserve your download.
Warrant are currently in the recording studio working with former Lynch
Mob vocalist Robert Mason on their new CD.
Biz Markie and Devo appeared on the Mar. 11th episode of Yo Gabba
Gabba! Essentially, a character encourages the gang to play
superheroes and Devo performed "Watch Us Work It." Fans may
have to wait for it to re-air.
Ultravox plan to release Live At The Roundhouse in a standard CD and
special double-CD+DVD edition on Apr. 5th in the U.K. The set
features their performance at London's Roundhouse in April of 2009
during their reunion shows. The second leg of that tour,
Return To Eden part 2, begins soon. Meanwhile, the 2010
Facebook campaign to get Ultravox's #3 U.K. hit, "Vienna," to #1 is in
full swing with fans urged to purchase the single from any legal
U.K.-based source (Amazon.co.uk, iTunes, Play, HMV, etc.) between Mar.
29th and Apr. 4th.
U.K. metal act Raven have announced a North American tour in support of
their new album, Walk Through Fire, due out Mar. 30th via Metal Blade
Records.
The Foo Fighters have started writing material for their next album and
have enlisted producer Butch Vig (who worked on Nirvana's Nevermind)
for the project.
Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips recently told Billboard.com that he's
starting work on a follow-up film to 2008's Christmas On Mars.
Marc Almond will see his 1999 solo album, Open All Night, reissued in
an expanded double-CD version on Apr. 19th in the U.K.
Australia's Cold Chisel recently entered the studio to work on their
first new album since 1998's The Last Wave Of Summer.
Looking for a good reason to pick up Gorillaz's new studio album,
Plastic Beach, next week other than guest vocals by Bobby Womack, De La
Soul, Lou Reed and Mark E. Smith? We can give you
one: the title track which has former Clash members Mick
Jones and Paul Simonon on it.
The Goo Goo Dolls have announced that Something For The Rest Of Us will
be the title of their 9th studio album when released by Warner Bros.
Records later this year.
Jimmy Somerville's recent album of covers, Suddenly Last Summer, will
now be released to stores in a limited edition CD/DVD package in April
in the U.K.
Susan Cowsill of The Cowsills and Dwight Twilley Band will release her
new solo album, Lighthouse, via Threadhead Records on May
18th. Cowsill will be joining the Dwight Twilley Band for
their upcoming performance at the SXSW festival.
U.K. rock act FM will release their new studio album, Metropolis, on
Mar. 29th which can be pre-ordered at their www.FMofficial.com Web site.
Engelbert Humperdinck is on his way back to the recording studio to
work on his next album but appeared with Slash and Dave Stewart on the
Canadian TV show The Hour. The 3 appeared as a new
'supergroup', Faster Disaster. Meanwhile, Stewart is working
with Stevie Nicks on her next album.
Mondo Birthmark, a new collection of 15 vintage pre-major label studio
recordings by The Tubes, is available for pre-order via Amazon and at
the band's MySpace page.
Hazell Dean's 1984 album, Heart First, will be re-issued in the U.K. in
an expanded edition on Mar. 15th.
Psychedelic-punk rocker Roky Erickson will release his new studio
album, True Love Cast Out All Evil via Anti- Records on Apr. 20th.
Former Dancing Hoods/Sparklehorse vocalist/guitarist Mark Linkous, 47,
committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart outside a friend's
house in Knoxville, Tennessee on Mar. 6th. According to a
police department spokesperson, he had been staying with two friends
and had been drinking heavily and had gotten upset after a sending a
series of text messages. Friends said that he went upstairs
for a little while before returning to say he was going for a
walk. Linkous was declared dead at the scene.
During the 1980s with The Dancing Hoods, he released an EP and two
albums before moving to the band to Los Angeles where they'd break up
shortly afterward. Sparklehorse released 2 EPs and 4 albums
from 1995 on with their delayed, Dark Night Of The Soul, collaboration
with Danger Mouse due out shortly.
Guitarist vocalist Micky Jones, 63, of Welsh progressive rock act Man
(who had been fighting a brain tumor) died in his home in
Swansea. The band released 14 albums from 1969 to 1976 when
they disbanded. They reunited in 1983 and recorded an album
in Germany that after a falling out with the producer, never was
released but they'd release Friday 13th, a live album recorded in 1983
(on June of that date), the following year. More albums would
follow in the 1990s but Jones left the band in 2002 after being
diagnosed with a brain tumor. He returned in 2004 until
another brain tumor surfaced and announced his retirement from
touring. He would remain in residential care for the next 5
years until his passing.
Ron Banks, 58, the lead singer for The Dramatics died in his home in
northwest Detroit on Mar. 4th of a reported heart attack. The
group released 5 studio albums (1 live one) during the 1980s and scored
a top 10 R&B hit in 1980 with "Welcome Back Home."
Bandmate William "Wee Gee" Howard died of a heart attack in 2000.