According to Reuters, British label
Independiente and
the U.S. arm of Domino Recording Company, who both own the licensing
rights to the songs of German electronic artist Ulrich Schnauss, filed
a $1 million lawsuit on Friday against Guns N' Roses and Universal's
Interscope-Geffen A&M label over Axl Rose's alleged copyright
infringement of the Schnauss songs "Wherever You Are" and "A Strangely
Isolated Place" on the track "Riad N' The Bedouins" from Chinese
Democracy. The band's manager Irving Azoff released a
statement saying the band "vigorously contests these claims and intends
to respond accordingly."
Former Alice In Chains bassist Mike Starr was recently selected as a
cast member for the 3rd season of VH1 reality series Celebrity Rehab
With Dr. Drew. Good thing as he was recently arrested in Los
Angeles on a drug charge. His bail is set at $100,000 and is
scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 14th in Pasadena Superior Court.
Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys has updated fans to his cancer battle
and says, "I'm feeling healthy, strong and hopeful that I've beaten
this thing, but of course time will tell." Yauch has been
taking Tibetan medicine and following a vegan/organic diet.
The 2009 ARIA Award nominees have been announced and AC/DC are up for 4
awards including Highest Selling Australian Album, Best Rock Album,
Best Group and Album of the Year. Also nominated is Jimmy
Barnes' Live At The Enmore for Best Music DVD.
Toto will be inducted into the Musicians' Hall Of Fame in Nashville on
Oct. 12th. They will also see Falling In Between Live
released on Blu-ray via Eagle Rock Entertainment's Eagle Vision on Oct.
20th. The disc was released on standard DVD in April 2008.
Barbra Streisand's Love Is The Answer debuted at #1 on the Billboard
200 albums chart becoming her 9th and her 4th decade with a #1 album on
sales of 180,000 copies. Alice In Chains' Black Gives Way To
Blue debuted at #5 on sales of 126,000 copies. Madonna's
Celebration debuted at #7 on sales of 72,000 copies. Pearl
Jam's Backspacer fell 9 places to #10 on sales of 58,000
copies. Whitney Houston's I Look To You dropped 9 spots to
#13. Harry Connick, Jr.'s Your Songs fell 6 places to
#14. Lynyrd Skynyrd's God & Guns debuted at
#18. Foreigner's Can't Slow Down debuted at #29.
Michael Franti & Spearhead featuring Cherine Anderson's "Say
Hey (I Love You)" climbed 4 places to #18 on the Billboard Hot 100
singles chart.
Madonna's Celebration dropped a spot to #2 on the U.K. Singles
chart. Barbra Streisand's Love Is The Answer debuted at
#4. Cliff Richard & The Shadows' Reunited fell a
place to #7. Ian Brown's My Way debuted at #8. Vera
Lynn's We'll Meet Again: The Very Best Of Vera Lynn dropped 3 spots to
#10. Madness' Total Madness fell 4 places to #15.
Alice In Chains' Black Gives Way To Blue debuted at #19.
Michael Bolton's The Ultimate debuted at #20. The Nolans' I'm
In The Mood Again debuted at #22. Pearl Jam's Backspacer
dropped 18 spots to #27. Michael Jackson's The Essential fell
6 places to #29. Tommy Steele's The Very Best Of Tommy Steele
dropped 10 spots to #32. Lynyrd Skynyrd's God & Guns
debuted at #36.
Madonna's "Celebration" fell 6 places to #14 on the U.K. Singles
chart. Her Celebration album also tops the Billboard
pan-European album sales chart for the second week.
Bad Lieutenant's debut album, Never Cry Another Tear, (which was
released last week) is among Amazon.com's top 5 digital downloads.
Jarvis Cocker releases his double A-side limited-edition 7-inch single
"Further Complications" / "Girls Like It Too" on Nov. 9th in the U.K.
via Rough Trade. Meanwhile, Universal Music will reissue
Pulp's 1994 album, His 'n' Hers, 1995's Different Class and 1998's This
Is Hardcore on Nov. 17th in double-CD sets that will include B-sides,
demos and previously-unreleased session tracks.
After injuries side-lined Aerosmith's summer tour, a few dates have
already surfaced for upcoming performances. They are
scheduled to perform a private show for Oracle next week, make up the
performance they missed two years ago in Hawaii with two shows later
this month and will headline the final night of a music festival in Abu
Dhabi (promoting the first-ever Formula One race to be held in the
city) on Nov. 1st.
The Levellers have announced that they will release a 10-track live
album, Live At The Royal Albert Hall, on Nov. 9th in the U.K. via all
major download stores. A 13-track CD version will be
available by joining their On The Fiddle fan Club at
www.Levellers.co.uk.
Dio's 2005 live album, Evil or Divine: Live In New York City, will be
reissued in a limited edition remastered version by Metal Mind
Productions on Nov. 2nd.
Vocalist Clark Datchler has rejoined his former Johnny Hates Jazz
bandmates Mike Nocito and Calvin Hayes to record new material and tour
next year. Fan site JohnnyHatesJazz.com has now become their
official site for news and information.
Brian Wilson has been given the green light to complete the unfinished
songs of George Gershwin by the Gershwin estate. The music
will be released on an upcoming album of Gershwin covers.
The rock documentary, Anvil: The Story Of Anvil, was released on DVD
this week. Since the debut of the film last year at the
Sundance film festival, the band hired a manager, booking agent and
recently opened for AC/DC. They head out on tour in November
to promote their new album, This Is Thirteen.
Michael Jackson's previously-unreleased song, "This Is It," will be
released as a single at midnight EST on Oct. 12th. The song
plays during the closing sequence of the forthcoming film of the same
name and appears on the double-CD companion soundtrack.
Ray Davies' collaboration with the 65-member Crouch End Festival Chorus
at the 2007 BBC Electric Proms in London as The Kinks Choral Collection
will be released on CD on Nov. 10th via Decca.
The delay to the release of Kraftwerk's boxed set, The Catalogue, comes
with some good news. According to a recent interview with
Billboard.com, co-founder Ralf Hutter has said that the band has
returned to Kling Klang multi-media facility in Dusseldorf.
"There's still time to go but in the winter it's pretty gray here, so
it's a good situation to go into the studio." The new album
would be their first since 2003's Tour De France Soundtracks.
David Gilmour and Dr Alex Paterson of The Orb are collaborating on a
new studio album that is in its early stages. A release isn't
expected any time soon.
Sheena Easton's 1980 debut album, Take My Time, will be reissued on
Oct. 19th in the U.K. and will include 4 bonus tracks.
MVD Visual has announced the release of the new DVD Tatsumaki: Voivod
In Japan 2008 on Nov. 17th.
Howard Jones' new single, "Soon You'll Go," from his upcoming album,
Ordinary Heroes, will surface on Oct. 26th. The album will be
released on Nov. 9th. The video for the track can be seen at
www.muzu.tv/howardjones.
Melissa Etheridge will release her new single, "Fearless Love," in
January. The song is the title track to her new studio album
due out in March.
You've heard a lot about the deluxe version of Chickenfoot's
self-titled debut album being released in the U.K. Well, it
seems that a North American release is planned for Nov. 1st exclusively
through Best Buy. The version includes a bonus track called
"Bitten By The Wolf" and a DVD of backstage and live footage.
Amored Saint have announced plans to enter Tranzformer Studios in
Burbank, California, to record their next album due out in the spring.
U.K. writer Chris Campion has released his new book, Walking On The
Moon: The Untold Story Of The Police And The Rise Of New Wave Rock.
Overkill will see limited edition digitally remastered versions of
their 2003 album, Killbox 13, 2005's ReliXIV and 2002 live album,
Wrecking Everything, on Nov. 2nd.
Fatboy Slim and David Byrne have been putting the finishing touches on
their Here Lies Love concept album which follows former Philippines
first lady Imelda Marcos. The project is 4 years in the works
and features a different vocalist on each track including Cyndi Lauper,
Tori Amos and Martha Wainwright.
Pearl Jam recorded an 18-song set last week for the Austin City Limits
PBS concert series. The episode is expected to air on Nov.
21st.
Jimmy Martin & New Deal's 1982 album, You Get What You P(l)ay
For!, has been digitally remastered and released by Bob Media (at
www.bobmedia.com.)
Ice-T has recorded vocals and appears in the video for "Corporate
Takeover," the first single and title-track of The FunkyJahPunkys
upcoming album. The rapper/actor plans to release new
material with his band Body Count at the end of the year.
The recent reissue of expanded double-CD versions of 5 of The Thompson
Twins albums (1981's A Product Of..., 1982's Set, 1983's Quick Step
& Side Kick, 1984's Into The Gap and 1985's Here's To Future
Days) has yielded a box set entitled Box due out in the U.K. on Oct.
26th.
Eagle Rock Entertainment will release More Than This: The Story Of Roxy
Music on DVD on Oct. 20th. Fully endorsed and authorized by
the band members, it includes interviews with the band and many of
their contemporaries.
16 previously-unreleased songs will be among the 74 tracks on the
4-disc box set, Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music Of Daryl
Hall And John Oates due out next week via Legacy/RCA.
A classic rock compilation, OCC Rocks, for the TLC series Orange County
Choppers will be released on Oct. 27th and include songs by Eddie
Money, Blue Oyster Cult, Toto, Ted Nugent, Kansas, The Outlaws, Molly
Hatchet and Judas Priest.
The Northern Light Orchestra will release their new album, The Spirit
Of Christmas, on Oct. 20th. Among those contributing on the
album are Doug Aldrich, Bruce Kulick and Dizzy Reed.
And One will release their concert DVD and album (both titled Live) on
Oct. 30th via Out Of Line Music. The double-DVD edition
contains 55 live songs that were recorded from 2004 to 2008, all their
music videos and a concert filmed in 1989. The double-CD
edition contains 38 songs. Each can be purchased at
http://www.outofline.de.
Former Deep Purple/Whitesnake keyboardist Jon Lord has teamed up with
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic to record a new album of classical
music. This will be their 4th collaborative effort.
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry will see their 1985 debut album, Talk About The
Weather, reissued by Cherry Red in an expanded version with 11 bonus
tracks in the U.K. on Oct. 5th. (A 19-track version of the
album was released via Anagram Gothic in 2005.)
A new Motley Crue 'best of' is on the way on Nov. 17th which will
include a new mix of "The Animal In Me."
The charity single for Climate Justice, "Beds Are Burning - Tck Tck
Tck," which features members of Duran Duran and the Scorpions, Youssou
N'Dour and many others is now available as a free download at
www.timeforclimatejustice.org.
Public Enemy are asking fans to purchase $25 shares in their next album
in exchange for a share in any of the profit made from it.
They hope to raise $250,000 to start recording.
Rick Springfield has begun his 4-episode stint on
Californication making a guest appearance as a "drug-addled version of
himself."
Def Jam will release a 60-track 5-disc set, 25th Anniversary
Collection, on Oct. 6th. CD #1 covers 1984 to 1989 and
includes recordings by LL Cool J, The Hollis Crew, Beastie Boys, Oran
"Juice" Jones, The Junkyard Band, T. LaRock and Jazzy Jay, Slick Rick,
3rd Bass and Public Enemy.
EMI released a 57-track 3-CD collection entitled The New Romantics on
Sept. 28th. The collection includes songs by Ultravox, OMD,
Duran Duran, Human League, Japan, Spandau Ballet, Visage, Talk Talk,
Simple Minds, Soft Cell, ABC, Yazoo, Modern English, China Crisis and
many more.
Asia featuring John Payne will release their new 5-track Military Man
EP in the U.S. via Voiceprint Records on Oct. 27th.
Argentine folk vocalist Mercedes Sosa, 74, lost her battle with heart,
kidney and liver illness. Known as 'The Voice of Latin
America" during her career, she released 40 albums (12 during the
1980s) and her latest album, Cantora 1, is nominated for 3 awards at
the 2009 Latin Grammy Awards.