Weekly Music News

[FH]

AC/DC To Finish New Album By The End Of The Year - Aug. 2, 2003

Australian hard rockers AC/DC plan to have a new album finished "by the end of the year," guitarist Angus Young told Billboard.com. "I'd love to get it done and so would [guitarist/brother] Malcolm [Young]. And then once we do that, the whole [touring] ballgame goes on again."

As previously reported, the upcoming set will be AC/DC's last for Elektra Records. Subsequent studio albums will be issued by Epic, which has recently reissued AC/DC's entire catalog.

AC/DC, who performed at the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto benefit concert this week, had planned to make a March show in New York its only live appearance of the year, but wound up opening a series of shows in Europe for THE ROLLING STONES. "We've been going at it for a while and you get intense at it, but sometimes you just have to come up for air too," Young said.

[FH]

DREAM THEATER To Begin Mixing In Mid-August - Aug. 1, 2003

DREAM THEATER are scheduled to begin mixing their new studio album in mid-August with producer Kevin Shirley (IRON MAIDEN, LED ZEPPELIN), according to a post on Shirley's web site. The follow-up to 2002's "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" is due at the end of the year through Elektra Records.

[FH]

Newspaper Report: Australian Singer Asked To Join QUEEN - Aug. 4, 2003

Australian singer John Farnham has reportedly been asked to join rock legends QUEEN.

The Daily Telegraph reported Farnham had been offered "the gig of a lifetime" — to follow in the footsteps of the late Freddie Mercury as QUEEN's lead singer.

Farnham "blew away" the band after recording a new version of its classic "We Will Rock You" with QUEEN guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor in Melbourne two weeks ago, the newspaper said.

The former LITTLE RIVER BAND frontman who's gone on to have a successful solo career recorded his vocals in May in Melbourne, and then sent the tapes to London, where May and Taylor added their parts.

In a posting on his web site, brianmaynews.com, May called Farnham's vocals "truly awesome...The marvels of a great singer!...It gets better the more you listen to it...It stars off very true to the original but gets to a new place...It sounds huge."

May estimates that he layered 15 guitar parts onto the song.

The song was recorded for release as an official 2003 Rugby World Cup theme.

"We have not heard the last of John Farnham and QUEEN," an industry source said, the paper reported.

Farnham's manager Glenn Wheatley had confirmed discussions between Farnham and May had taken place.

QUEEN's U.K.-based management team will be in Melbourne on Tuesday (Aug. 5) to discuss Farnham's commitment to the band beyond the "We Will Rock You" track, according to the paper.

QUEEN are preparing for the Australian opening of their musical, "We Will Rock You", on August 7 in Melbourne.

[FH]

KORN Reveal New Album Title, Record METALLICA Cover For Upcoming CD - Aug. 4, 2003

KORN have set "Take A Look In The Mirror" as the tentative title for their forthcoming CD, due in November through Immortal/Epic Records.

"We're just about done [recording the album]," bassist Fieldy revealed Sunday (Aug. 3) in an exclusive interview with Scoop of the Columbus, Ohio radio station The Blitz 99.7 FM. "We're actually gonna do something that we never did before. [Singer] Jonathan [Davis]'s got a studio on his [tour] bus, and we're gonna write, like, four more songs on his bus [while touring with Ozzfest 2003]. The record will be out in November, but we've got 10 songs done [so far] that are slamming. We self-produced it — no producer, so it's just raw KORN."

KORN will record "14 or 15 songs" for the follow-up to last year's "Untouchables", including a cover of METALLICA's "One", which the band premiered in May at "mtvICON: Metallica", MTV's performance tribute event to METALLICA. "We did at the 'Icon' [special]," said Fieldy. "Some kids have seen it, some haven't, but it just turned out so good, it's gotta go on the record."

Another song that will definitely appear on the upcoming CD is "Did My Time", a track which was used during a scene in the film "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle Of Life", but was not included on the motion picture soundtrack album.

When asked if "Did My Time" was indicative of the direction of the rest of the new material, Fieldy said, "I'd say [the other songs are even] heavier. That's just one song. It's banging — that's all I've gotta say."

[FH]

Iron Maiden's new album, due Sept. 9, is called Dance of Death, but heavy metal will apparently never die. That was the impression, at least, as 12,000 diehard fans celebrated their favourite band Saturday at the Bell Centre.

Speed-metal power trio Motörhead tore through a visceral half-hour set to open the night. Then came anomaly Ronnie James Dio, whose melodramatic performance style and campy repertoire came across as decidedly dated. But though they often seemed bored during the songs, people cheered anyway, and sang the choruses of some of his bigger hits.

There was a marked difference, however, between that and the thunderous reception that greeted Iron Maiden.

The entire crowd jumped to its feet screaming the moment the lights dimmed. The familiar introduction to the band's 1982 classic The Number of the Beast came over the sound system, and the festivities were under way.

The number 666 flashed in blinding lights at the back of the stage. Singer Bruce Dickinson bounded out. His incredible energy would last the duration of the show. He sprinted about like a crazed leprechaun, lurching, arms waving and his powerful voice ringing loud and clear.

The crowd cheered deliriously, singing every lyric, arms pumping in perfect unison like a vast, rowdy army. The frenzy didn't relent for a whole half-hour.

Chants of "Mai-den! Mai-den!" broke out after the fourth song, Revelations. The band soaked it in for a few moments, then Dickinson spoke:

"On a fait un concert à Madison Square Garden," he said. "C'était un beau concert. Mais il y a les autres concerts - et il y a les VRAIS concerts."

The ensuing uproar lasted nearly five minutes, during which Dickinson sat in wonder, staring out at the audience.

"OK," he said, finally, "c'est nécessaire de jouer de la musique, oui?"

He introduced Wildest Dreams, off the coming album. It was the only new song of the night, and it was quickly obvious why. The crowd cheered when it was over, but people seemed at a loss without the familiarity of their lifelong metal anthems to guide them.

The energy dipped over the next few songs, particularly The Clansman, during which Dickinson prodded, "Allez! Allez!" as he tried to get people to sing along.

Just in time, it was Eddie to the rescue. The band's towering skeleton mascot emerged during The Clairvoyant, shuffling about as Dickinson sang.

Iron Maiden will reportedly cut down on its touring schedule after its coming Dance of Death tour - to be expected after 25 years of the hard-rock life. But as it often does at these shows, time stood still on Saturday night, and heavy metal was alive and well.

[FH]

A Perfect Circle squares away new act

by Linda Laban
Tuesday, August 5, 2003








A Perfect Circle at Berklee Performance Center, Boston, Sunday night.

``There's some new people, new songs and a new album,'' said Maynard James Keenan several numbers into A Perfect Circle's sold-out show at the Berklee Performance Center on Sunday night.

He went on to explain that this significant summer tour was a ``warm-up, to get to know one another.'' And those new songs.

The audience needed no warming up. Like his other band, angsty prog-metal outfit Tool, Keenan's soon-to-be two-album-old A Perfect Circle is also fiercely loved.

The new members needed little introduction, especially former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha. Bassist Paz Lechantin, who left to join Iha's former bandmate, Billy Corgan, in Zwan, is replaced by Jeordie White, better known as Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson's band. Drummer Josh Freese and former Tool guitar tech and Circle co-founder, guitarist Billy Howerdel, remain in place.

Half a dozen new songs from the upcoming ``Thirteenth Step,'' due Sept. 16 on Virgin Records, were carefully placed throughout the short hour-and-change set.

Though no huge departure, these songs displayed a keener sense of the band as more than a vanity project. Without losing any heavy metal force, they seemed more melodic, often with a baroque feel, and sometimes, almost quite pretty.

Warm-up it may have been, but this was a full dress rehearsal. The stage was gorgeously draped and dramatically lighted to add a gothic sensuality to the proceedings.

Each member was placed to form a circle, looking face on, with Keenan central at top, perched on a platform. Cast in wavering shadows, his strange writhing figure looked like a mythical William Blake character, wracked with intensity and melancholy.

Older songs, such as the darkly sensual ``The Hollow'' and a ruminative ``Magdalena,'' led to the lilting waltzlike new number, ``Weak and Powerless.'' Iha, with his usual quiet elegance, swapped rhythmic pummel and lead stings with Howerdel, as Keenan grandly sang each drama into a crisis.

No encore was given, but none was needed. The final song, ``Judith,'' from the debut, ``Mer de Noms,'' formed a pinnacle of artful, deliberate bludgeon and almost grudging beauty.

[FH]

Queensr˙che rocks hometown crowd

By GENE STOUT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER POP MUSIC CRITIC

When the stars line up, the final night of a tour can be a real celebration.


MUSIC REVIEW
QUEENSR{Yuml}CHE, DREAM THEATER AND FATES WARNING

WHAT: Rock concert

WHEN: Saturday night at the Paramount Theatre


That was the case with the high-powered Queensr˙che-Dream Theater matchup Saturday at the Paramount Theatre.

Seattle progressive-metal heroes Queensr˙che and like-minded New York band Dream Theater, on tour since late June, enjoyed each other's company so much that their tandem encore turned into a musical love-a-thon. It concluded with a nice surprise from the classic-rock era.

"We've been on tour for six weeks," Queensr˙che singer Geoff Tate told the cheering hometown crowd. "But it was all worth it to get back here."

The nearly four-hour concert, which began with an opening set by metal band Fates Warning, was almost like a co-headlining bill for Queensr˙che and Dream Theater, whose respective singers are known for their soaring, operatic vocals. Though Queensr˙che played longer, the two bands shared video screens, lighting effects and stage platforms.

The tour began a month before the July release of Queensr˙che's new album, "Tribe," which was inspired in part by Tate's soul-searching, cross-country motorcycle trip. Some of the songs, which grew out of his journals, deal with the challenges facing post-9/11 America. The album is also significant in that guitarist and co-founder Chris DeGarmo, who left the group in 1998, joined the band in the recording studio.

But DeGarmo did not perform with the band Saturday. Mike Stone filled that spot, last occupied by Kelly Gray. Rounding out the band were Tate (now sporting a shaved head), guitarist Michael Wilton, bassist-singer Eddie Jackson and drummer-percussionist Scott Rockenfield.

The 22-year-old band -- one of Seattle's most successful rock groups -- kicked off with "Open," the first song on "Tribe," before reaching into the past for explosive, crowd-pleasing "NM 156" from the band's 1984 album "The Warning" and "Screaming in Digital" from the 1986 album "Rage for Order."

The set jumped around from there, touching on the high and low points of the band's career. The powerful "I Am I" and "Damaged," from the "Promised Land" CD, preceded the title song from the best-selling album "Empire." Tate, in various guises, was the star of accompanying videos.

"Jet City Woman" and the group's signature ballad, "Silent Lucidity," anchored the middle of the set. Crowd favorites "Revolution Calling" and "Eyes of a Stranger" were among the final songs in the main set. The group wrapped up its short first encore with the forgettable "Best I Can" from "Empire."

Dream Theater, which had thrilled the crowd with its virtuosic playing during an 80-minute set that featured songs such as "The Great Debate," "Another Day" and "Pull Me Under," was greeted with a roar when it joined Queensr˙che for the final, four-song encore.

"Comfortably Numb" kicked off the set, but the real treat was a wild, jam-oriented version of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Despite solid contributions from all 10 musicians on stage, Dream Theater -- which is known for its classic-rock covers -- clearly had the advantage.

[FH]

Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic says he has "quit" the music industry. The news comes in a letter to fans on the official Web site of Eyes Adrift, Novoselic's most recent musical project. The artist cites frustrations over distribution of the band's 2002 self-titled spinART debut, unevenly attended club gigs that put operations in the red and an increasing desire to pursue a political career.

"As far as the music industry goes, I quit. I can't deal," Novoselic writes. "I can't read the magazines, listen to the radio or watch music television without feeling like I've just come in from outer space. I just don't get it and I probably never did. My lot in life is that every band I've ever been in just falls apart. That hurts but I've got a thick hide from years of conditioning."

Novoselic says that he hasn't quit music, just the business. "I can't complain about the business side of Nirvana. I'm not crying a river by any means," he confesses, adding that he wants to play more with Eyes Adrift guitarist Curt Kirkwood (formerly of the Meat Puppets) and ex-Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh. Despite the fact that his bandmates live in different cities, Novoselic says, "they're too good for me not to plug in my bass thus plugging into the cosmo-stream of transcendental rocking good times that those two charge me with."

Calling Eyes Adrift an "artistic success," Novoselic concedes that the "commercial side is anything but successful." Speculating if the CD has even sold 20,000 units, he jokes, "A flop? No way!!! At this rate we'll go gold in about a hundred years. Too long you say, but isn't music eternal? I'm in no rush." The set has sold 9,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The project was conceived simply as a means for Novoselic, Kirkwood and Gaugh to make music together and "tour forever," Novoselic told Billboard.com last fall. "We're just going to go out there and work it because basically that's the only option available for us. We're not making a video. There's no radio single because we're not plugged into that whole system. But there are opportunities for us to just play for people."

A spinART spokesperson had no comment on Novoselic's post.

As for the 38-year old Novoselic's future, all signs point to a run for political office. "I'm relatively young and I want to follow my compulsions," he writes. "I have big plans for 2004. Next year will be a pivotal year politically for every one of us in the U.S.A. and for myself, even more so. I've come off of nine years of political success and see some real opportunities to make change. You'll all hear about my plans soon enough. If you've been following my politics, you know that I will continue to work for inclusion, fairness and freedom."


-- John D. Luerssen and Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

[ericgtr]

[ QUOTE ]
FH said:
AC/DC To Finish New Album By The End Of The Year - Aug. 2, 2003

Australian hard rockers AC/DC plan to have a new album finished "by the end of the year," guitarist Angus Young told Billboard.com. "I'd love to get it done and so would [guitarist/brother] Malcolm [Young]. And then once we do that, the whole [touring] ballgame goes on again."

As previously reported, the upcoming set will be AC/DC's last for Elektra Records. Subsequent studio albums will be issued by Epic, which has recently reissued AC/DC's entire catalog.

AC/DC, who performed at the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto benefit concert this week, had planned to make a March show in New York its only live appearance of the year, but wound up opening a series of shows in Europe for THE ROLLING STONES. "We've been going at it for a while and you get intense at it, but sometimes you just have to come up for air too," Young said.


[/ QUOTE ]

I am looking forward to this, any idea if Mutt Lange will be behind it?

[FH]

NEWS - U2 Making Ideas Come To Life On New Album
08/05/2003



(8/5/03, 12 p.m. ET) -- U2 is currently working on the follow-up album to 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind. In July, Bono told Ireland's Sunday Independent newspaper that the band is closer than they've ever been to getting the sound they want.

"We are getting closer to making the music we have always wanted to make," Bono said. "There is a difference between the music that you hear in your head and what you put on a CD. Your grasp is sometimes further than your reach, and right now this band is on fire and about to do its best work."

Reports say the new album will showcase the Edge's guitar work. Bono told the New York Times, "The songs are very direct. They're big songs, big melodies and really, some full-on guitar playing by a very frustrated man. [The Edge] is so gifted. If this is a great record, and I really think it will be, it will have a lot to do with him."


The album is being produced by Chris Thomas, best known for his work with the Sex Pistols, INXS, the Beatles, Roxy Music and Pink Floyd.


Several months ago rumors were circulating that the title of the new album was Solar, but those rumors are untrue.


U2 expects to release their new album in 2004. They'll follow up the release with a world tour.

[FH]

[ QUOTE ]
ericgtr said:
[ QUOTE ]
FH said:
AC/DC To Finish New Album By The End Of The Year - Aug. 2, 2003

Australian hard rockers AC/DC plan to have a new album finished "by the end of the year," guitarist Angus Young told Billboard.com. "I'd love to get it done and so would [guitarist/brother] Malcolm [Young]. And then once we do that, the whole [touring] ballgame goes on again."

As previously reported, the upcoming set will be AC/DC's last for Elektra Records. Subsequent studio albums will be issued by Epic, which has recently reissued AC/DC's entire catalog.

AC/DC, who performed at the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto benefit concert this week, had planned to make a March show in New York its only live appearance of the year, but wound up opening a series of shows in Europe for THE ROLLING STONES. "We've been going at it for a while and you get intense at it, but sometimes you just have to come up for air too," Young said.


[/ QUOTE ]

I am looking forward to this, any idea if Mutt Lange will be behind it?

[/ QUOTE ]I doubt it-I haven't really heard anything about his involvement. That'd be a real shot in the arm for them.

[ericgtr]

It really would, the man is a fucking machine with a relentless ear for perfection.

[FH]

Counting Crows guitarist Dan Vickrey tells Billboard.com the group is planning a greatest-hits release to coincide with the decade that has passed since Crows' breakout track "Mr. Jones." Drawn from the band's 1993 Geffen disc "August and Everything After," the song reached No. 2 on Billboard's Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks airplay charts.

"[We'd like to] put a period on those 10 years and move on to the next," says Vickrey. Aside from singles, the as-yet-untitled compilation will include new studio material. "We have a couple of songs that we are rehearsing at soundcheck," he says. "I'm sure we'll record them."

The Crows are in the midst of a co-headlining tour with John Mayer, which stops tonight (Aug. 5) at Columbus, Ohio's Germain Amphitheater. Once the trek ends in early September, the Crows plan to enter the studio to record the new material and may even head back on the road later this year in Australia and Europe, as well as visit a few choice Stateside venues to support the greatest hits album.

Also in the works is a DVD recorded over three January shows in Amsterdam. Vickrey says there is no timetable for its release but it's definitely planned for sometime in the near future. There is also talk about eventually releasing the band's 1998 acoustic/electric concert disc "Across a Wire: Live in New York" in DVD form.

"I actually brought that up," says Vickrey. "I would love to do that because I think those are two great things. They are fully recorded in great audio and [video], so that is something we are looking into as well."

In addition, there is plenty of extra footage that could make its way onto the DVD release. "Oh yeah, definitely," says Vickrey. "I think for the acoustic 'VH1 Storytellers' thing, there was maybe one or two extra songs, but [MTV's 'Live From the] 10 Spot' was a whole concert we filmed. So, I know there is a lot more."

Vickrey speculates the band will take half of 2004 off before regrouping to work on the follow-up to 2002's "Hard Candy" album, which debuted at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 660,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.


-- John Benson, Cleveland

[FH]

Rhino is prepping a set of career-spanning highlights of the Grateful Dead's three decades. Due Sept. 16, "The Very Best of the Grateful Dead" will feature songs the band recorded for Warner Bros., Arista and its own Grateful Dead Records.

"This CD is only a distillation of a journey spanning more than 30 years, one that continues to this day," Rhino's James Austin says in a statement. Austin compiled the music and penned the liner notes for the 17-track collection.

In 2001, Rhino released "The Golden Road (1965-1973)," a much more comprehensive collection of Grateful Dead recordings. That 12-disc set includes all nine albums the band released through Warner Bros. along with seven hours of previously unreleased material.

In other news, the 28th volume of the band's "Dick's Picks" archive concert series is now available. The four-disc Grateful Dead Records collection compiles two 1973 shows -- Feb. 26 in Lincoln, Neb., and Feb. 28 in Salt Lake City -- in their near entirety. Across the two concerts and 39 songs on the set, only two repeat: a cover of Johnny Cash's "Big River" and the band's own "Jack Straw."

The surviving original members of the band, once known as the Other Ones and recently rechristened as the Dead, are in the midst of a summer tour that plays Noblesville, Ind., tonight (Aug. 5). Fans attending shows Saturday and Sunday in Wantagh, N.Y., will be treated to three sets by the band (one acoustic), instead of the usual two.

Here is "The Very Best of the Grateful Dead" track list (the original label for each track is listed in parentheses):

"Truckin'" (Warner Bros.)
"Touch of Grey" (Arista)
"Sugar Magnolia" (Warner Bros.)
"Casey Jones" (Warner Bros.)
"Uncle John's Band" (Warner Bros.)
"Friend of the Devil" (Warner Bros.)
"Franklin's Tower" (Grateful Dead/United Artists)
"Estimated Prophet" (Arista)
"Eyes of the World" (Grateful Dead)
"Box of Rain" (Warner Bros.)
"U.S. Blues" (Grateful Dead)
"The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" (Warner Bros.)
"One More Saturday Night" (Live, 1972) (Warner Bros.)
"Fire on the Mountain" (Arista)
"The Music Never Stopped" (Grateful Dead/United Artists)
"Hell in a Bucket" (Arista)
"Ripple" (Warner Bros.)


-- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.

[wip5150]

Man, the Dead is just one group/phenomenon I'll just never, ever understand.

If someone would like to explain it to me, I'm all ears.