Tue 03.09.10
Roger Daltrey says that he's hoping that the Who perform some of the greatest albums in their entirety the next time they hit the road. Daltrey, who's currently on tour opening for Eric Clapton, told accessatlanta.com, "I'd like us to carry on as we are. The last album (Endless Wire) was really good. I'd like us to be playing more of our back catalog than we do at the moment. For instance, I would like us to be doing Quadrophenia. I'd like us to be doing Tommy, as well as the show as we've got now, and maybe do a Live At Leeds show as well. It's another different side of the Who that hasn't been there for a long time. But the main thing is to be out there, be in front of people."
Daltrey says that despite the fact that the Who desperately want to devote a portion to their concerts to rarely performed material, there simply isn't enough room in the context of the band's typical arena shows: "There's only tiny bits of it you can change every night and us trying to place a lot of the newer songs, obviously a lot of the older ones have to drop out. So, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. We do our best, and hopefully we will find other formulas to present the other music that people want to hear in different situations in the future."

Tue 03.09.10
The Steve Miller Band has announced its full spring and summer itinerary, kicking it's 23-date tour off on May 21st in Henderson, Nevada and winding things down on August 8th in West Allis, Wisconsin. Fans are in for a treat when Peter Frampton teams up with Miller for a special, double bill on July 30th in Alpharetta, Georgia and July 31st in Orange Beach, Alabama. There is no offical word as of yet of an Arizona gig.
Miller says that there's no great science as to why his music still receives so much radio airplay and crowd reaction in concert. Although Miller is considered a world-class blues guitarist, he says that it all come down to the songs: "I think the reason my songs are still around is that they're simple on the first blush, they seem to be fairly simple tunes. There's a lot of harmony, a lot of harmony singing parts, and then when you go through the layers of the lyrics, they have meaning to people. And I think the main thing is that they're positive lyrics (laughs) and people like to sing."

Tue 03.09.10
Peter Frampton and Yes have announced a series of joint dates kicking off on June 16th in Uncasville, Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun and wrapping up over three weeks later on July 9th at L.A.'s Greek Theatre.
Frampton remains humble about his success and is still just as invigorated about playing out as when he was a kid: "Y'know, I'm 59 but there's still an 18-year-old try... clamoring to get out all the time, y'know? So I still get chill-bumps, my heart starts palpitating when I get excited about music. It was a passion I realized I had when I was about eight-years-old. Thank God it's never left me. I'm so lucky to be able to have a life that all I do is my passion everyday."
Yes is now comprised of Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, and keyboardist Oliver Wakeman -- the son of the band's legendary keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Fronting the band is temporary lead vocalist Benoit David who's still filling in for Jon Anderson, who's been suffering from respiratory failure due to chronic asthma. Squire defends the band against die-hard fans who feels the band performing with any other vocalist besides Anderson is sacrilege: "I mean, let's face it -- the guy has devoted his time to the love of Yes music, that's the reason why he had this band Close To The Edge in Montreal, or that area, anyway. And obviously that was a passion for him so in a way I have to respect the fact that he's been out there flying our flag for us."

Mon 03.08.10
Rest easy everybody -- Keith Richards is not on the wagon. Richards talked to Rolling Stone and when pressed about the recent rumor that he'd gone on the wagon in support of the now-dry Ron Wood, Richards said: "Listen, the rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated. And we'll leave it at that."
He hinted that the Rolling Stones could be gearing up for a new album before year's end, explaining, "There's no definite plans, but I can't see any of them stopping. I wouldn't be surprised if we did some recording later this year . . . I don't know how the rest of them feel about roadwork at the moment. Maybe we'll search for a different way for the Stones to go back on the road. Maybe not the football stadiums anymore. Maybe something different. You can't go around there in lemon-yellow tights forever."
* Although if he had his druthers, the Stones would be performing nightly in sweaty clubs all around the globe, Richards admits that technology has made even stadiums a worth type of venue: "It's kind of interesting because it does sort of make it . . . You can play a football field or a baseball diamond, you know, or a stadium. It's always how do you change the shape of it? How do you, you know, make people feel part of it? So you're always playing with space and air and time. It seems to work. It seems all right."
SIDE NOTES
* Coming on May 18th is the deluxe reissue of the Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile On Main Street. The package will feature a deluxe CD edition with the 10 bonus tracks. The super deluxe package includes a vinyl version of the reissue with a 30-minute documentary DVD and a 50-page collector's book with photos from the Exile era.
* The film will also incorporate footage from 1974's concert film Ladies And Gentlemen. . . The Rolling Stones -- which features the Stones live in concert in 1972, along with portions of the band's still-unreleased C***sucker's Blues tour documentary from that same year.
* The reissue will feature four previously unheard of Stones tracks: "Plundered My Soul," "Dancing In The Light," "Following The River," and "Pass The Wine." The collection will also feature alternate versions of both "Soul Survivor" and "Loving Cup."
* Mick Jagger recently wrote and sang new lyrics for "Following The River." Longtime Stones producer Don Was supervised the entire project with Jagger and Richards.

Mon 03.08.10
Ray Davies is compiling a new Kinks album which may feature the first new music from the band in 16 years. Davies, who is currently on tour in support of his latest album, The Kinks Choral Collection, said that he's been pouring through the band's outtakes and has recorded new music with the band's drummer Mick Avory. Davies is hopeful to get his younger brother and lead guitarist Dave Davies -- who is on the mend after a 2004 stroke -- involved in the project.
We asked Davies what we can expect from a new Kinks collection: "There's lots of outtakes in the archives (with) the whole band on, for some reasons I hadn't put vocals down, or the album was finished and we didn't use them. And we found some really good stuff in the archive, and I actually went in the studio with Mick and a couple of the guys without Dave just to see what it was like in the studio together, and we're going to look at this possibility later this year. I'd only put it together if it was a good album and it warranted a release. But we found some great material already recorded. It spans late '70s through to the early '90s -- as well as the newer songs that we're sort of thinking of recording."
* Mick Avory shed some light on the project and hinted that more group work needs to be done before it's suitable for release, telling Spinner.com, "We are certainly doing another album. We've got old tracks, which need to be baked. You have to go through this process to transfer them to digital, it's a bit of a process and you only get one shot at it. . . We've certainly got eight tracks we could use there, so we're going to have to do some more to make the numbers up for an album."
* There's been no title or release date set for the upcoming Kinks project.

Mon 03.08.10
Ozzy Osbourne and his wife/manager Sharon Osbourne will head to Liverpool, England to mark the 70th birthday of John Lennon, according to the Liverpool Echo. The Osbournes were invited by Liverpool Lord Mayor Mike Storey to commemorate the late Beatle's birthday, which falls on October 9th. Ozzy is a huge Beatles fan and has even named "The Long And Winding Road" as the song he'd use as the theme for his life. An Echo columnist wrote, "I imagine (Ozzy) will want to see all the sights and maybe stay in the John Lennon suite at the Hard Days Night Hotel."
* Ozzy reportedly recorded an album of Beatles-influenced pop songs in the mid-Nineties that was never released.
* The Prince of Darkness is wrapping up his latest solo effort at the moment, and plans to release it this summer in conjunction with the return of Ozzfest.
* Ozzy's original band, Black Sabbath, recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of its debut album.

Fri 03.05.10
David Bowie has turned Peter Gabriel down flat and will not appear on the followup companion piece to his new album. Out now is Gabriel's latest collection, the covers project Scratch My Back. The album features Gabriel's takes on songs by Bowie, Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Radiohead and others. The followup album is now in production for the artists Gabriel covered to record renditions of songs from his catalogue. Gabriel, who covered Bowie's 1977 classic "Heroes," had hoped that the "Thin White Duke" would be more than happy to reciprocate and cover a Gabriel tune -- but the semi-retired Bowie declined.
Gabriel spoke about the situation to The Associated Press, explaining, "Sadly, David Bowie is the only artist that said he clearly didn't want to play with the song swap. I don't think he's doing much music at the moment. But (producer) Brian Eno was a co-writer on the song so it gets around that problem and he's going to do a version of this song, 'Don't Break This Rhythm.' But 'Heroes' is one of those classic songs . . . it's one of my favorite Bowie songs and I was a Bowie fan right from the beginning."

Fri 03.05.10
Bob Geldof is fighting back against a BBC report which states that money raised from the 1985 Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia was used to buy arms. Geldof told The Times Of London it would be "a f***ng tragedy" if people stopped giving to charity because of a report claiming that the money fell into the wrong hands.
According to the report, which is based on interviews given by two former senior commanders from the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, "an estimated 95 percent of the money intended to feed the starving was diverted to buy arms for rebels trying to topple the Ethiopian government."
* Pollstar.com posted that the claims have raised concern due to one of the rebel leaders being none other than Meles Zenawi, who is now prime minister of Ethiopia, which is still a beneficiary of Western aid.
* Geldof defends the cause for famine relief, stating that he believes the money got to the starving Ethiopians: "The story and the figures just don't add up. If that percentage of money had been diverted, far more than a million people would have died. . . It's possible that in one of the worst, longest-running conflicts on the continent some money was mislaid. But to suggest it was on this scale is just bollocks."

FAST FACTS
* Band Aid's 1984 Christmas single "Do They Know It's Christmas" -- which Geldof co-wrote, and the 1985's Live Aid concerts raised over $250 million for famine victims in Ethiopia and four of its neighboring African countries.

Thu 03.04.10
In support of Record Store Day on April 17th, Capitol/EMI will reissue three classic John Lennon singles to be sold exclusively by participating independent music retailers across the U.S. The John Lennon limited edition individually numbered "Singles Bag" comes packaged in a "Kraftpak envelope with button & string closure; with custom plastic adaptor hub with a 24-inch-by-36-inch poster and three Lennon postcards."
Record Store Day is being sponsored by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers.
The 45 RPM vinyl singles come with replicated original artwork:
* John Lennon's "Mother" backed with Yoko Ono's "Why" -- 1970.
* John Lennon's "Imagine" backed with "It's So Hard" -- 1971.
* John Lennon "Watching The Wheels" backed with Yoko Ono's "Yes, I'm Your Angel" -- 1981.
Beatlefan magazine's executive editor Al Sussman recalls that although "Watching The Wheels" wasn't pulled as a single from Double Fantasy until March 1981, it will always be a reminder of Lennon's senseless murder on December 8th, 1980: "It's so tied to that night and that week. 'Watching The Wheels' for some reason that was the song that for some reason, even though the album had only been out for two weeks, that was the song that radio kept going back to that night and playing over and over. . . and the next day and the days afterward. And so every time I hear that song now, I think of that."

FAST FACTS
* "Mother" was released on December 28th, 1970 and peaked at Number 43 on The Billboard Hot 100.
* "Imagine" was released on October 11th, 1971 and topped out at Number Three.
* "Watching The Wheels" was released on March 13th, 1981 and peaked at Number 10.

Thu 03.04.10
On the eve of their Rock Hall induction later this month, Tony Banks feels that realistically speaking -- for all intents and purposes -- Genesis is done.
Following their sold-out 2007 world tour and several years of a prolonged hiatus, we asked Banks if by compiling the recent boxed set collections of their studio and live catalogues, it signaled a closing of the shop: "I sort of think it is in some ways, isn't it? But that would never stop you from doing it again if something comes up. And I think the box sets, to me, were the things I really enjoyed doing because. . . for the chance to go over the old material and make it sound, y'know, as good as we possibly could, I felt. As far as everything else, the playing is something that could always be done at any time. I can't see us ever doing any writing together again. But in terms of doing it again -- it's always a possibility. We're all getting on a bit now. I'm 60 in a few weeks time. I know Mick Jagger's out there -- but even so."

SIDE NOTES
* Genesis will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15th at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Among the other performing inductees are ABBA, the Hollies, the Stooges, and reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff.
* Representing Genesis will be Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Steve Hackett.
* Although co-founders Peter Gabriel and Anthony Phillips will not be attending, the band's longtime supplemental musicians Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer will be on hand at the ceremony as guests of the band.