weekly music news

[FH]

The Rush live CD/DVD "Rush in Rio" has been pushed from its original Sept. 23 release date to Oct. 21. As previously reported, the sets chronicle a Nov. 23, 2002, show at Rio's Maracana Stadium on the final night of Rush's Vapor Trails tour. The CD will be released by Anthem/Atlantic, while the DVD will be issued through Anthem/Coming Home/Zoe.

The "Rush in Rio" CD sports two bonus tracks recorded earlier in the tour: "Vital Signs," from 1981's "Moving Pictures," which has never appeared on a prior Rush live album; and "Between Sun & Moon," from 1993's "Counterparts," which made its concert debut on the trek.

DVD bonus features include a documentary by Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan, an animated clip for "By Tor & the Snow Dog," a recently discovered 1975 performance clip of "Anthem," two alternate angle clips of drummer Neil Peart's "O Baterista" solo number and multi-angle viewing options for "YYZ" and "La Villa Strangiato."

The DVD will be screened in Regal Theaters in more than 30 U.S. markets on Oct. 21. A full list of cities has yet to be announced.

Rush has been largely inactive since the end of the Vapor Trails tour, but regrouped in late July to play the massive Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto benefit concert.


-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

[FH]

While the original members of Duran Duran make progress on their first studio album since 1983's "Seven and the Ragged Tiger," Capitol has compiled the two-disc DVD video anthology "Greatest," due Nov. 4, Billboard.com has learned. The set features all the videos from the U.K. group's 13-year Capitol tenure, beginning with 1981's "Planet Earth" up through 1994's "Come Undone."

Beyond celebrated clips such as "Girls on Film," "Hungry Like the Snake," "Rio," "Wild Boys" and "The Reflex," "Greatest" is loaded with extras. A long, uncensored version with an alternate ending and a short, uncensored version of "Girls on Film" are included, as are four versions of "New Moon on Monday," a club version of "Planet Earth," a censored version of "Come Undone," interviews and a U.K. TV commercial for "The Wedding Album."

A DVD-ROM component features a 30-minute audio Q&A session with Nick Rhodes and Simon LeBon taped in 1999, plus a photo gallery with 80 career-spanning images and lyrics to each song featured on "Greatest." In June, Capitol released "The Singles Box 81-85," a 13-disc boxed set reproducing the group's original singles.

Duran Duran has a handful of dates on its schedule, including a previously announced Sept. 20 appearance alongside the Cure and Echo & the Bunnymen at KROQ's Inland Invasion concert. November dates in North America are expected, after which the group will open shows for Robbie Williams in Auckland (Dec. 6), Melbourne (Dec. 10) and Sydney (Dec. 13).

Here is the track list for "Greatest":

DVD 1:
"Planet Earth"
"Girls on Film" (long uncensored version)
"The Chauffeur"
"Hungry Like the Wolf"
"Save a Prayer"
"Rio"
"Is There Something I Should Know?"
"Union of the Snake"
"New Moon on Monday" (EP version)
"The Reflex"
"Wild Boys" (7" edit version)
"A View to a Kill"

DVD 2:
"Notorious"
"Skin Trade"
"I Don't Want Your Love"
"All She Wants Is"
"Serious"
"Burning the Ground"
"Ordinary World"
"Come Undone" (uncensored version)
"Electric Barbarella"


-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

[FH]

TOMMY LEE Recruits Top Musicians For Upcoming 'Drummers' Album - Sep. 8, 2003

SEVENDUST's Morgan Rose, FOO FIGHTERS mainman Dave Grohl, GODSMACK vocalist Sully Erna and JANE'S ADDICTION's Stephen Perkins have been approached by former MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee about contributing to a drummers album that Lee is putting together. The disc, currently in the planning stages, will feature a variety of multi-talented stick-bashers on various instruments, according to MTV.com.

"We're gonna do something, but I don't know exactly when it's gonna be because Tommy is writing a lot of stuff and we [SEVENDUST] just finished our [new] record," Rose said. "His idea is to get a lot of drummers together and there's a pile of us that can sing and play guitar. He's the torch holder for drummers, so this will be something really cool. I'm flattered as hell to be a part of it."

[FH]

Simon And Garfunkel Unveil Reunion Plans




As expected, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel today (Sept. 9) unveiled plans for their first major concert tour since 1983, due to kick off Oct. 18 at the Palace of Auburn Hills outside Detroit. The trek, dubbed Old Friends, will run through mid-December and will visit around 30 markets. Tickets for some shows will go on sale Monday (Sept. 15).

Shows will find the legendary folk/rock duo performing both acoustically and with a full backing band, which will include drummer Jim Keltner and guitarist Mark Stewart, who played on Simon's 2000 Warner Bros. album "You're the One."

"We'd like to stay as true to the spirit of the Simon & Garfunkel period and our work in the '60s and early '70s as we can," Simon said. "If not note-for-note, then certainly we don't intend to reimagine that work. We're going to try to capture it as it was and not alter it."

Although the bulk of the set lists will be drawn from "the body of the five albums we produced," according to Simon, a handful of songs from the artists' respective solo careers will be featured. Simon said he had always imagined his 1977 hit "Slip Slidin' Away" as a Simon & Garfunkel song, while Garfunkel has frequently included Simon's "American Tune" in his solo performances.

The pair embarked on a short tour in 1994, but remained apart for the rest of the decade amid reports that relations between the two artists were strained. But after being presented earlier this year with a lifetime achievement award at the Grammys -- which they opened with a rendition of "The Sounds of Silence" -- the seeds were planted for a full-scale reunion.

"It's family, the two of us," Garfunkel said. "There has been a deep, buried affection for the last decade or so, and it was the Grammys that forced it out of burial."

Simon added, "It was time to just say forgive and forget and move on. Since we seem to be doing this once every 10 or 12 years, I think this is probably the last time that we're going to do this. The performance and the experience is freighted with the potential for something extraordinary to occur. I hope that will happen."

Garfunkel said the possibility of the duo returning to the recording studio was something he'd thought about "a little bit, but that's down the line." In conjunction with the tour, Columbia will on Oct. 14 release the double-disc set "The Essential Simon & Garfunkel," featuring 32 career-spanning tracks.

Today's announcement was made at New York's legendary club the Bottom Line and found Simon & Garfunkel performing acoustic versions of "Old Friends," "Homeward Bound" and "The Boxer."

Here are the cities for the Old Friends tour:

Auburn Hills, Mich.
Cleveland
Columbus, Ohio
Chicago
St. Paul, Minn.
Denver
Seattle
Portland, Ore.
San Jose, Calif.
Oakland, Calif.
Las Vegas
Phoenix
St. Louis
Sacramento, Calif.
Anaheim, Calif.
San Diego
Los Angeles
Atlantic City, N.J.
Hartford, Conn.
Toronto
New York
Philadelphia
East Rutherford, N.J.
Boston
Washington, D.C.
Atlanta
Tampa, Fla.
Miami


-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

[FH]

New Hampshire Woman Sues TED NUGENT For Child Support - Sep. 10, 2003

A New Hampshire woman says Ted Nugent fathered her 8-year-old son and she's suing the 1970s rock star for child support and legal custody, according to the Associated Press.

Karen Gutowski, 42, of Dover, has filed petitions in Strafford County Superior Court against Theodore Nugent of Concord, Mich., according to court documents.

Her lawyer, Jeffrey Runge, said Nugent acknowledges the child is his and has paid minimal support since the boy was born in 1995 but whom he has not met.

Nugent has two children with his wife, Shemane Nugent. Runge said Nugent was served with court documents informing him of the suit Sept. 5 when the guitarist played at the Meadowbrook Amphitheater in Gilford with ZZ TOP.

According to a biography on TedNugent.com, he has been named father of the year at his child's school. [img]images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Runge said Gutowski had a brief relationship with Nugent. He said Nugent pays Gutowski monthly child support that is far less than Nugent can afford.

Runge did not say how much Nugent pays.

The case is scheduled for a temporary hearing Sept. 29 but Nugent has until Oct. 7 to file a written response, according to court documents.

[FH]

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS: New Song Clip Available For Download - Sep. 10, 2003

A 40-second clip of a new STONE TEMPLE PILOTS track, titled "All In The Suit That You Wear", has been posted online in MP3 format at www.stonetemplepilots.com. "All In The Suit That You Wear" comes off the group's forthcoming "greatest hits" album, "Thank You", due on November 4 through Atlantic Records. The album will feature 14 of the bands hit songs, plus an acoustic version of "Plush" and the aforementioned new cut. The greatest hits set will draw from STP's five albums: "Core" (1992), "Purple" (1994), "Tiny Music - Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop" (1996), "No. 4" (1999) and "Shangri-La De Da" (2001). In addition, the group will issue a DVD containing all of the band's music videos and about an hour of other live performances and photos, as well as some "home" footage the band has shot over the years. The CD will be available separately or as a CD/DVD package, according to the band's web site.

In other news, an Atlantic Records spokesperson has responded to the recent Hits Daily Double report suggesting that the members of STONE TEMPLE PILOTS had fulfilled their contractual obligations to the label with the release of the upcoming "best of" CD. According to the spokesperson, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS still owe Atlantic Records "three to four albums" and the label is "not counting the greatest hits package or the bandmembers' side projects or solo albums."

[FH]

A new eight-disc Black Sabbath box set, Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970-1978), will feature remastered versions of the band's albums with Ozzy Osbourne behind the mike, as well as a live DVD with previously unseen footage.
Due November 4th and retailing for $99.98, the set features the classic albums Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die!. After 1978's Die, Osbourne left for a solo career, and his bandmates -- guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terry "Geezer" Butler and drummer Bill Ward -- continued as Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. The original Sabbath lineup supervised the box set, along with executive producer Sharon Osbourne.

The box will include the band's only non-LP studio recording, "Evil Woman," from 1970. The bonus DVD will feature classic performances of such Sabbath songs as "Iron Man" and "Paranoid," a live cover of Carl Perkins' "Blues Suede Shoes," and a rare promotional clip for the song "Black Sabbath."

Sabbath disciples Rob Zombie, James Hetfield, Vince Neil, Krist Novoselic, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Dave Navarro, Billie Joe Armstrong, Slash, Beck, David Lee Roth and Henry Rollins all provided original interviews for the liner notes.

"We didn't have a crystal ball that said they're going to look on us as an influence," Osbourne told Rolling Stone. "We just enjoyed what we were doing. We influenced generation after generation, and that's kind of an eye-opener for me because I didn't think anything we did was spectacular. We were in our early twenties and we were having a lot of fun with it. I remember we thought, 'Let's just write some scary music.'"

The eighty-page booklet also features a group timeline, photos, reprints of all the album lyrics and two new historical essays by writers Chris Welch ("1970-1972: Lords of This World") and Brian Ives ("1973-1978: A Hard Road").

GIL KAUFMAN
(September 11, 2003)

[FH]

Kelly Osbourne has signed a multi-album recording contract with Sanctuary Records Group. The label will on Sept. 30 re-release her 2002 Epic debut "Shut Up" under the name "Changes," featuring a duet with her father, Ozzy, on the title track. The re-packaged album will also contain four bonus live cuts.

The title track is a reworking of the Black Sabbath song of the same name, which appeared on the group's 1972 album, "Black Sabbath, Vol. 4" (Warner Bros.). "Changes" will be released as single, and will contain new lyrics written by Ozzy and Kelly, according to Sanctuary.

As previously reported, Kelly split from Sony shortly after the release of "Shut Up," which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and has sold 155,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Earlier this year, manager/family matriarch Sharon said Ozzy was in talks to leave Epic as well. A representative for the Osbournes had no comment on Ozzy's label status.


-- Todd Martens, L.A.




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