Pulse Music

• Set for publication on November 1st is Elton John At 75 via Motorbooks. According to the announcement, "Journalist Gillian Gaar examines Elton John through the lens of 75 career accomplishments and life events. Key studio albums are featured, of course, as are a curated selection of his earworm singles."
• Also commemorated are key performances at L.A.'s Troubadour, and the historic Soviet Union, and Dodger Stadium concerts; collaborations with George Michael, Billy Joel, and Kate Bush; film and TV roles, including Tommy and The Muppet Show; his work with The Elton John AIDS Foundation; notable awards and honors, including knighthood; as well as his 50-plus-year collaboration with longtime co-writer Bernie Taupin. (Press release)
  
  
• Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters shed light on the pre-show directive he flashes to fans. Waters, who's in the midst of his "This Is Not A Warming" tour, posts the advisory every night, which reads, quote, "If you're one of those 'I love Pink Floyd, but I can't stand Roger's politics' people, you might do well to f*** off to the bar right now. Thank you, and please enjoy the show."
• Waters explained to CNN, "It's a really good way to start the show. Apart from anything else, it sets a few things straight. It also encourages a lot of the people who've come to the show because they have listened to everything I've written since, y'know, 1965 or wherever I started writing songs (laughs). . . So, they do know what my politics are and they do understand where my heart is and they understand, sort of, why I'm there. . . Maybe it also gives a message to people who don't want to be there, in which case, them f***ing off to the bar is probably not a bad idea." (Loudwire)
  
  
• Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen said he hasn't seen the next big thing to pop up in rock. During an interview with Listen Next!, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was asked who he feels Def Leppard can pass the baton to upon retiring. Collen admitted, "I don't know. I'm still waiting, actually. You hear a lot of stuff out there, but it's few and far between. There's a problem, I think, and I think it's the TikTok and YouTube crowd. When bands or artists would write before, it would be because they wanted to an artist and wanted to express themselves and write songs and share them and go, 'Wow. Check this out' -- as opposed to, 'Wow. Look at me. Please love me.'"
• He went on to say, "I don't wanna sound like an old dude, but that's what I noticed. And I'm still waiting for someone like Prince or (Led) Zeppelin or something that has a bit more something to it. There's very little stuff. . . When Nirvana came out, I was, like, 'Woah, this is amazing.' The Sex Pistols, amazing. But I'm just waiting, still waiting." (MetalWani)

MARSHMELLO X KHALID AND PANIC! AT THE DISCO AMONG VMA PERFORMERS: MTV announced the first wave of VMA performers on Friday (August 5th). Anitta, J Balvin, Marshmello x Khalid and Panic! At The Disco are the first round of global superstars set to perform at the 2022 "VMAs" LIVE from New Jersey's Prudential Center on Sunday, August 28th at 8PM ET/PT.

'PINK VENOM' DROPS NEXT FRIDAY: BLACKPINK has finally revealed the title and single for their next single. A new teaser shared to social media confirmed that their forthcoming track, "Pink Venom" will be released next Friday (August 19th ). "Pink Venom" will come as the lead single from BLACKPINK's forthcoming sophomore album, Born Pink.

The Seekers' singer Judith Durham, who fronted the Australian folk group, died on August 5th in Melbourne at the age of 79 lung disease bronchiectasis, according to Rolling Stone. Durham and the band will forever be remembered for their pair of U.S. Top 10 hits -- 1965's "I'll Never Find Another You" and the following year's Top Two theme song to the film from Georgy Girl.

The group, which was the first Australian combo to break in the wake of the "British Invasion," split in 1968 with Durham staying busy Down Under s as a solo artist. In 1995, the Seekers were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame in 1995 and in 2014 were honored as Officers of the Order of Australia.

The surviving members of the Seekers -- Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley, and Athol Guy -- said in a statement: "Our lives are changed forever losing our treasured lifelong friend and shining star. Her struggle was intense and heroic, never complaining of her destiny and fully accepting its conclusion."

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese tweeted: "A national treasure and an Australian icon, Judith Durham gave voice to a new strand of our identity and helped blaze a trail for a new generation of Aussie artists. Her kindness will be missed by many, the anthems she gave to our nation will never be forgotten."

Amazingly, 2022's long-awaited "Stadium Tour" has gone on without a hitch. The tour, featuring Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts resumes tonight (August 5th) with the first of two shows at Boston's legendary Fenway Park.

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott spoke candidly to Classic Rock about the massive trek and was asked how it's decided whether Leppard or Crue will close the show in various cities: "It's all negotiated by management. We gave them Los Angeles, their hometown, they gave us New York. Seattle is the hometown of Nikki (Sixx.) There are 36 stadiums. As long as we headline 18 each what does it f***ing matter? In the age of streaming (a band's popularity geographically) is not based on guesswork anymore, and if that information is available then why not use it?"

Elliott had nothing but raves for Poison frontman Brett Michaels, saying, "Bret Michaels is a brilliant ringleader, he's not out there to be Paul Rodgers, and his band are a real bunch of merry men. They haven't had a record out in decades, so they just play the hits, of which they have plenty, and the crowds love them."

He was equally excited about Joan Jett's nightly performances, saying, "Listen, Joan is a monster. Her set is an hour long and there isn't a song you've never heard before. She's got such a great band."

Joe Elliott remains amazed that bands with multi-decade histories are still able to move sizable numbers of new records and pack arenas and stadiums across the globe: "We were in the front end of a whole new way of doin' this and we're lucky that we've stayed together to be able to exploit that and enjoy it and all that kind of stuff. But even when we got together, we thought (we'd be around) maybe five or 10 years -- because that's all there was. There was an eight-year-old Led Zeppelin when we formed. The Beatles had only been split for seven, the Rolling Stones and the Who were essentially, maybe, 13, 14-years-old. So, there was no band that was around for 40 years. So, it's insane when you say it off the top of your head just like that."

'MY LIFE AS A ROLLING STONE' PREMIERES

Premiering on Epix this Sunday night (August 7th) is the four-part docuseries, My Life As A Rolling Stone. The specials, produced in conjunction with the band in celebration of its 60th anniversary, will feature an hour-long look each on Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, and the late-Charlie Watts. Neither former members Bill Wyman nor Mick Taylor will be given their own spotlight docs.

Among the band's friends, peers, and fans appearing in the series are: Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Dan Aykroyd, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, AC/DC's Brian Johnson, Bonnie Raitt, T-Bone Burnett, Joe Walsh, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, Tom Waits, Jon Bon Jovi, Tommy Hilfiger, Slash, legendary British singer PP Arnold, and Sheryl Crow.

The My Life As A Rolling Stone co-directors -- Oliver Murray and Clare Travenor -- are no strangers in covering rock's original bad boys with Murray directing the 2019 doc on co-founding bassist Bill Wyman, The Quiet One, and Travenor behind the camera for TV special based around Keith Richards' memoir, Life.

According to the official announcement:

My Life As A Rolling Stone tells the story of one of the world's greatest rock n' roll bands in a way that has never been done before -- by examining the band through the musical lens of each member, delving deep into their personalities, passions, and memories from the past 60 years.

Four hour-long films, each an intimate portrait of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts, show how these individual musical geniuses came together to make the music that has provided the soundtrack to the lives of millions.

The series features new interviews with the band members and a stellar cast of artists who've been inspired by the band. It also includes unseen footage and exclusive stories from Mick, Keith, and Ronnie, interwoven with new and archive interviews and performance.

The story of Charlie Watts, who sadly passed away in August 2021, will be told via tributes from his fellow band members, musical peers, and admirers, along with archive interviews of Charlie.

Although hardly a conventional showbiz manager in the early-1960's, Mick Jagger remembered how the legendary Andrew Loog Oldham was able to break new ground in the music scene and automatically set the Stones apart from every other pop group trying to make it in London: "Andrew had this real talent for making a splash and a fuss and centering attention on you, which would've taken us a lot longer, probably, if we hadn't had someone like Andrew. And he was younger than any of us. So he had a young and very, very, irreverent attitude."

Keith Richards told us that writing the songs nose-to-nose with Mick Jagger has always made a substantial difference in the quality of the material: "Those songs have always been there. They pass through our whole career. Certainly to me, and I think to Mick, too, that the closer we work the better it gets. And we'd gotten so used to, after Exile (On Main Street), of having to get used to writing songs 3,000 miles apart that we sorta figured that was the modus operandi from now on. But this one once again proved us wrong. We don't know everything, man!"

RESTORED 4K 'JUMPIN' JACK FLASH PROMOS

The Rolling Stones have just uploaded two versions of their classic 1968 promo films for "Jumpin' Jack Flash." The Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed clips have been faithfully restored in breathtaking 4K resolution.

The videos feature the standard "makeup" version of the clip using the original single's track, with the lesser-seen alternate take utilizing live instrumentation and vocal over the tune with completely different outfits and vibe from the band.

Selena Gomez is in final negotiations to work as a producer on a remake of the 1980s classic, Working Girl.

The original starred Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith, Joan Cusack, and Harrison Ford and followed the journey of a secretary who must take over her office while her boss recovers from a broken leg.

It looks like it may be released on Hulu, the same streaming service that offers Only Murders in the Building, a show that Gomez stars in and produces.

It's unclear if Gomez will also be starring in the film..

A remake of Working Girl would follow the trend of rebooting '80s and '90s classics, like the recently successful Top Gun: Maverick.

TL;DR:

• Selena Gomez is in final negotiations to work as a producer on a remake of the 1980s classic, Working Girl.
• The original starred Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith, Joan Cusack, and Harrison Ford.
• It looks like it may be released on Hulu.
• It's unclear if Gomez will also be starring in the film.

Sting has announced a pair of shows backed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he'll "perform his greatest hits reimagined for symphonies." The concerts, featuring the full scale symphonic arrangements, are set for will take place on January 9th and 10th, 2023 at 7:30 P.M. at Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall. Sting first revamped his solo and Police classics for his critically acclaimed 2010 "Symphonicity" tour.

Among the highlights to be featured on the night are such Police standards as "Roxanne," "Next To You," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Every Breath You Take" -- along with such solo favorites as "Englishman In New York," "Fragile," "Russians," "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You," "Fields Of Gold," and "Desert Rose."

We asked Sting if he's found that his harder-edged material is still able to rock out with an orchestra in concert: "Yeah, it does, it does. One of my things is that I didn't want the orchestra there just sitting behind me sawing whole notes behind a pop ballad. That is deadly boring to me -- and probably deadly boring to them and the audience. So I always wanted the orchestra to be a very important rhythmic element to the music, so the music would be challenging them rhythmically if not technically -- then certainly rhythmically. So all the arrangements have that in mind. I want the orchestra really to work very hard. And they enjoy that, of course they do."

Sting performs on Saturday (August 6th) in Vigo, Spain at Auditorio de Castrelos.

His next U.S. shows are set for August 27th and 28th in Chicago's Ravinia Festival.

Beloved E Street Band drummer, the "Mighty" Max Weinberg, will be inducted into the New Jersey Hall Of Fame. Weinberg, who's now 71, was born in Newark and raised in South Orange, New Jersey. The legendary drummer will be among the 2022 class that also includes former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski and comedian Chelsea Handler.

The Asbury Park Press reported "the induction ceremony will be virtual and broadcast in late October on My9NJ, NJ PBS, radio and social media platforms. The previous two induction ceremonies were virtual as well due to Covid."

The physical home of the New Jersey Hall Of Fame has been scheduled to move to the American Dream retail and amusement center at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford.

Max Weinberg recalled falling in love with the drums in 1956 when he saw D.J. Fontana behind the kit while Elvis Presley performed "Hound Dog" live on The Ed Sullivan Show. Back in 2017, Weinberg told the students of Asbury Park's Lakehouse Music Academy: "I heard that, and when I saw how it got everybody's attention, I knew that's what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to get everybody's attention. Drums and music in general was a way to get connected to the world. It opened the world for me. All the dreams I had as a kid of being connected and not being weird and having people enjoy what I do through music, they became true. You look back on it and it's almost hard to believe."

Max Weinberg, who was introduced to a whole new generation of fans as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien's Late Night and Tonight Show stints, told us that TV musicians were among his earliest inspirations: "Growing up in the late-'50s, early-'60s, watching TV, y'know, always at 9 o'clock there was a variety show and variety shows had fantastic orchestras. And it was fairly common to see great musicians on TV. Y'know, in those days, you'd see Buddy Rich on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show, he was almost a regular, and I always had an affection for big band swing."

It was 40 years ago Sunday -- August 7th, 1982 -- that Fleetwood Mac's Mirage hit Number One. The album, which was released on June 18th, 1982, was the group's first studio set of the decade and topped the album charts for five straight weeks.

Mirage, which was released in the wake of Stevie Nicks' 1981 solo breakthrough, Bella Donna, was pushed by constant airplay of its first two singles and videos -- Christine McVie's "Hold Me" and Nicks' "Gypsy." A third song from the set, McVie's opening track "Love In Store" stalled at Number 22.

In Britain, Lindsey Buckingham's neo-rockabilly track, "Oh Diane" was released as a single and scored the band its only Top 10 hit off the album there, when it peaked at Number Nine.

Back in 2016 an expanded version of Mirage, features the remastered original 1982 album, a second disc of 19 alternate versions and outtakes, along with a third disc featuring highlights from the band's brief U.S. tour in support of the album.

We caught up with Mick Fleetwood and asked him if he's actually gone through the entire deluxe reissue of Mirage: "Oh yeah, we've all heard it -- a while ago, to be quite blunt. So, we're very happy with the way Warners. . . they do a lot of leg work. Y'know, we don't actually have anywhere near -- sadly -- we don't have anywhere near the archive (the) Beatles, and (Rolling) Stones, and Eagles and. . . I'm always happy when we do find something with outtakes and stuff like that that have been kept, and also it's that time to do that. We've never really got into it. The Stones and the Beatles, they've been doing this for a long time."

Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck have been accused of stealing lyrics on their new album from an incarcerated man on their new album 18. According to Rolling Stone, the lyrics to their new song "Sad Motherf*ckin" Parade," were allegedly taken from the late Slim Wilson, a gambler, pimp, robber and murderer.

They are accused of stealing lyrics from a song called "Hobo Ben" by Wilson. While he was doing time in Missouri State Penitentiary for armed robbery in 1964, Wilson met folklorist Bruce Jackson, who featured the Wilson's work in his 1974 book about toasts titled Get Your A** in the Water and Swim Like Me and a 1976 album of the same name.

"Hobo Ben" includes lyrics like "Ladies of culture and beauty so refined, is there one among you that would grant me wine? / I'm raggedy I know, but I have no stink / and God bless the lady that'll buy me a drink" and "Heavy-hipted Hattie turned to Nadine with a laugh / and said, 'What that funky motherf*cker really need, child, is a bath.'"

Those lyrics appear verbatim in "Sad Motherf*ckin' Parade," but the song is credited solely to Depp and Beck, with no mention of Wilson, Jackson or Get Your A** in the Water and Swim Like Me.

Jackson told Rolling Stone, "The only two lines I could find in the whole piece that Depp and Beck contributed are 'Big time motherf*cker' and 'Bust it down to my level.' Everything else is from Slim's performance in my book. I've never encountered anything like this. I've been publishing stuff for 50 years, and this is the first time anybody has just ripped something off and put his own name on it."

Machine Gun Kelly stars alongside Kevin Bacon, in the upcoming thriller, One Way. People.com exclusively released the trailer on Thursday (8-4).

MGK plays a criminal who, after stealing from the biggest crime boss in town, boards a Greyhound bus full of equally shady passengers and calls on his estranged low-life father, played by Bacon, for help.

The 2-minute preview shows Kelly's character suffering from a gunshot wound. A series of action-packed scenes follow as father and son fight to stay alive.

One Way will be in select theaters, on digital and on demand beginning September 2.

In Other MGK News… While on a tour stop in Nebraska, one of his buses was graffitied with a homophobic slur and pornographic images. MGK played a show in Omaha on Thursday (8-4) and TMZ reports that the bus was spray painted while parked on a curb downtown. A fan posted the images online and at last check, MGK had not commented on it publicly.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly stars alongside Kevin Bacon, in the upcoming thriller, One Way.
• Bacon's character is his father.
• In select theaters, on digital and on demand beginning September 2.

Yesterday it was rumored, today it's fact… Lady Gaga has accepted a lead role in the upcoming film, Joker: Folie a Deux. Although not announced, her character is believed to be the Joker's girlfriend. The sequel to the 2019 film, Joker, which starred Joaquin Phoenix will be a musical. Look for it to be released in October of 2024.

Megan Thee Stallion has signed on to co-host The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon for August 11. She'll even help deliver the monologue. The following week, Demi Lovato will co-host, August 16^th through the 18^th.

Miley Cyrus has become an avatar in Gucci Town on Roblox. Representing the brand in a new beauty campaign for the Flora fragrance, online visitors can join her for scavenger hunts and win rewards. Users can also discover the fragrance in the virtual Gucci store.

It was 42 years ago Sunday, August 7th, 1980, that John Lennon officially ended his five-year-retirement and headed back into the recording studio. In 1975, Lennon had put his career on hold to stay home and help raise his son Sean, and on the cusp of his 40th birthday, returned with Yoko Ono to record his comeback album, Double Fantasy, which would be his last before his murder on December 8th, 1980.

Following several days of pre-production with the musicians at the couple's Upper West Side apartment the Dakota, and at S.I.R. Studios, John and Yoko officially began recording Double Fantasy on August 7th 1980 at the Hit Factory on West 54th Street between Ninth and 10th Avenues.

During those sessions, they actually recorded enough material for two albums, one to be released in the autumn, and another called Milk And Honey -- which according to legend was to be released in the spring of 1981. To ensure their artistic freedom, the Lennon's decided to finance the album themselves and afterwards sign with the record company with the highest offer. They eventually signed with David Geffen's new label, the Warner Brothers-distributed Geffen Records, for millions less than the major labels were offering -- solely because his was the only label that didn't demand to hear the completed tapes first and Geffen reached out to Yoko personally.

In the summer and fall of 1980, John Lennon took part in an exhaustive interview with Playboy. Select excerpts were released three years later as part of the Unfinished Music: A Heart Play spoken word album. Lennon shed light on what led up to him walking away from industry and staying home to raise his son Sean: "The so-called pain of the artist was always paid for by the freedom of the artist. And the idea of being a rock n' roll musician suited my talent and mentality, and the freedom was great. But then I found that I wasn't free. I'd got boxed in -- it wasn't just because of a contract -- but the contract was the physical manifestation of being in prison -- and that I might as well have gone to a nine-to-five job as carry on the way I was carrying on. There's two ways to go; you either go -- what I term 'going to Vegas' and singin' your great hits -- if you're lucky, or going to hell. Y'know, dying."

Fred Seaman, John Lennon's personal assistant for the last year of his life, recalled that Lennon thought long and hard on the material which became his final set of songs: "The official recording started in August of 1980, but the idea started in the spring of 1980 when John and I were in Cold Spring Harbor. And then in June of 1980, when we were in Bermuda. That's when John really started recording the demos and Yoko was recording her own demos. And they were on the phone and he was telling her what he was recording and she was telling him what she was recording."

The 1980 Double Fantasy sessions marked Lennon's first away from his main base of operations in New York City -- midtown's Record Plant East. We asked producer Jack Douglas -- who first met and worked with the Lennon's at the Record Plant in 1971 -- why they chose to record the album at rival studio, the Hit Factory: "He couldn't go to Record Plant anymore because he had to go through a front door. You know that that record was a secret and no one was supposed to know. He didn't want to be photographed walking in and out of Record Plant, so he just asked me to pick any other studio that was at least in midtown, but he could get in."

Fred Seaman recalled above all else, the speed in which Lennon and the musicians laid down the Double Fantasy tracks during the summer of 1980: "Y'know, they started out with a bang. They recorded the basic tracks, I think, in two or three weeks. John wasn't somebody who wanted like 10 takes of a song. No, he wanted to record live, he wanted to get it down, and the musicians were all so brilliant -- they got it! And basically the first or second take, that was it! The basic stuff was recorded very quickly initially in August and it was good. It was great stuff."

Among the classic tracks Lennon recorded during the summer of 1980 were: "(Just Like) Starting Over," "Woman," "Watching The Wheels," "I'm Losing You," "Cleanup Time," "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)," "Nobody Told Me," "I'm Stepping Out," "(Living On) Borrowed Time," among others.

On February 24th, 1982, Double Fantasy went on to receive the 1981 Grammy Award for Album Of The Year. The ceremony marked six-year-old Sean Lennon's first public appearance, when he accompanied his mother to the podium to collect the award.

It was 56 years ago tday (August 5th, 1966), that the Beatles released their groundbreaking seventh album Revolver. What sets the album apart from its predecessors is that aside from a brief nine date UK tour the previous winter, and no new movie to be shot for 1966, the group had an unprecedented five months off to recharge their creative batteries, and for the first time the group was able to spend open-ended hours working on new sounds by experimenting with new instruments and state of the art technology. With a lighter schedule, the Beatles were able to take a full 11 weeks to record what has become one of rock's most important milestones.

The album's sessions, which also included a separate single, "Paperback Writer" and "Rain," were the first with newly promoted chief engineer Geoff Emerick working side-by-side with producer George Martin.

The album featured touches of ragtime on Paul McCartney's "Good Day Sunshine"; Indian ragas on George Harrison's "Love You To"; hard rock on Harrison's "Taxman"; a children's song sung by Ringo Starr on "Yellow Submarine"; and John Lennon's proto-psychedelic anthems such as "She Said She Said," "And Your Bird Can Sing," and "Tomorrow Never Knows," which broke new ground with dramatic use of backwards music and tape looped sound effects.

It was on this album that the group, still working as a four-piece ensemble, was able to break sonic boundaries, such as the use of the Emerick-invented automatic double tracking. McCartney's bass was sometimes recorded through a megaphone, or plugged directly into the recording console, bypassing the amplifier completely. Harrison worked out a backwards guitar part, which was then played forward for Lennon's "I'm Only Sleeping."

On Revolver, McCartney developed most as an artist, with his classics "Eleanor Rigby," "Here, There And Everywhere," the Tamla-Motown influenced "Got To Get You Into My Life," and "For No One."

In 1980, John Lennon told Playboy that he was always a fan of McCartney's work on Revolver, saying that, "'Eleanor Rigby' was Paul's baby, and I helped with the education of the child. . . 'Here, There And Everywhere' was Paul's song completely. . . and one of my favorite songs of the Beatles."

"Got To Get You Into My Life" was a surprise Top 10 hit for the Beatles in the summer of 1976, when it was reissued as a single to promote the group's Rock 'N' Roll Music compilation.

Paul McCartney says that after all these years, he's quite comfortable looking back and discussing the Beatles' career: "Y'know, I'm very proud of everything that we did with the Beatles. In truth looking back, I kinda can't believe it. Y'know, we were just working, each day year-in, year-out making records. Now that it's over, the Beatles is a body of work now, so I can look back on it, kind of dispassionately and judge it for what it is."

Revolver marked the beginning of the Beatles' work with engineer Geoff Emerick behind the boards with George Martin, replacing the band's longtime engineer Norman Smith, who was promoted to becoming Pink Floyd's producer. Emerick immediately began reshaping the Beatles studio sound and remained the way they were recorded at Abbey Road -- especially Ringo Starr's drums: "Norman would mic it, I don't know, about a foot away, and I was mic-ing it about three inches away towards the end. And Norman's overhead mic was, what, four, five foot up and I came in close with that. Most of those original -- on Revolver we started, I mean it was just one overhead, snare mic, and hi-hat and bass drum. And then I started experimenting with mic-ing the toms, y'know, closely."

John Lennon was quick to give to give credit to George Martin and his tireless effort to help realize and expand their musical visions: "We did a lot of learning together. He had a very great musical knowledge and background, so he could translate for us and suggest a lot of things; which he did. And he'd come up with amazing technical things, like slowing down the piano, playing it slow and putting it on. . . . and things like that. Where who'd be saying: ‘Well can we, we wanna go ‘ooh' and ‘eee-eee' and he'd say (imitates Martin), ‘Look chaps, I thought of this this afternoon. Last evening I was talking to . . . .' - whoever he was talking to - ‘. . . and I came up with this.' Y'know, and we'd say, ‘Oh, great!' But he'd also come up with things like, ‘Well, have you heard an oboe?' -- ‘'Oh, which one's that?' -- ‘It's this one.'"

Revolver marked the one and only time that George Harrison received three songwriting credits on a single Beatles album, contributing such classics as "Taxman," "Love You To," and "I Want To Tell You." We asked his then-wife Pattie Boyd if she saw a change in Harrison as he became more self-aware as a songwriter: "This is exactly what George does. I didn't take note because this was part of his personality. This is what he does, y'know, always plays guitar."

Boyd, says that his infatuation with Hinduism, spiritual topics, and Indian music was his attempt to seek out the "bigger picture": "He had a bit of difficulty understanding why he -- this little boy from Liverpool -- had been selected to be so famous. And he didn't understand the fame and he thought that maybe Eastern philosophy could give him some sort of idea or clue as to why he had been chosen."

Beatles author Bruce Spizer says that Revolver has historically been shortchanged: "When you talk about the greatest Beatle albums, everyone of course has to mention Sgt. Pepper. I don't think Sgt. Pepper's the best Beatles album, I think it's the most important, because it revolutionized the way that people thought about albums. But Revolver was a real breakthrough. And that was the album where the Beatles truly learned how to use the studio instrument itself (with) all the unique sounds they were getting. And as great as an album that Revolver is, think about how much better it would have been had it included 'Paperback Writer' and 'Rain.'"

Robert Rodriguez's recent groundbreaking book, Revolver - How The Beatles Reimagined Rock 'N' Roll, touches upon the fact that the seeds of the "Fab Four's" split happened well before Yoko Ono's arrival. Rodriguez sheds light on the fact that Paul McCartney walked out on the band during their June 21st, 1966 recording session at Abbey Road Studios, which produced the John Lennon classic, "She Said, She Said" -- presumably leaving George Harrison to supply the bass work for the track.

Rodriguez told us that in recent years, who exactly the bassist is on "She Said, She Said" -- and more importantly why Paul McCartney isn't the bassist -- has been one of the biggest unanswered questions in all of "Beatledom:" "It's been this question mark hanging out there. In (McCartney's musical memoir) Many Years From Now, he tosses that out there as an aside -- 'Yeah, I didn't play bass on that. . . I don't know what happened. . . We had a barney and I said 'F - you' and stormed off and they said, 'We'll do it without you. . .' and it's like, what?! (Beatles author Mark) Lewisohn does his book -- and he's got more coming -- and you sort of expect the insider's secret research perspective, but nobody touched it. It doesn't even get mentioned in (The) Beatles Recording Sessions."

Rodriguez goes on to raise the issue that despite the historical accolades, the "Fab Four's" true musical masterpiece and greatest studio innovation was Revolver -- not the beloved "Summer of Love" soundtrack, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: "Y'know, among the hardcores, or maybe the more savvy music critic people out there, y'know, you know what's what, You know that this is a landmark, brilliant advance in the history of rock and the Beatles' career. And yet, it was just like under this cloud upon release. Y'know, it did go to Number One and all, and stuff, but it didn't get the world attention the way Pepper did. Y'know, Pepper was the one that everything was in place for, everyone was waiting for, all the anticipation. Revolver couldn't get a break -- and Pepper got every break."

Today, Paul McCartney feels that one of the major components of the Beatles striking a chord across the globe was their dedication to creativity and -- above all else -- honesty: "If we hadn't have done it -- somebody else would've. Um, we were like spokesmen for our generation; we were not the only people that thought like that -- but we were the most public, and we had this fame -- early fame, as young guys, so people would come with television cameras (and) say: ‘What do you think? . . . What do you think?' And, things like, we'd go to America and they said, the first thing they said (was) ‘Don't mention Vietnam.' Well, we did, ‘cause we were honest guys, and they said, ‘Well, what do you think about Vietnam?' We said we think it's a bad war.' And I think all of this changed people's attitudes, y'know?"

Four days after releasing Revolver, the group launched their final U.S. tour. Except for their recent chart topper "Paperback Writer," they ignored all of their new and complex material, preferring instead to play older songs such as "She's A Woman," "I Wanna Be Your Man," and "I Feel Fine."

Paul McCartney began performing songs from the Revolver sessions in 1979 during his final tour with Wings, when the band opened with "Got To Get You Into My Life." He re-recorded "Good Day Sunshine," "For No One," and "Here, There, And Everywhere" for the soundtrack to his 1984 movie Give My Regards To Broad Street. Over the past two decades McCartney has performed every one of his songs from Revolver in concert, along with "Paperback Writer," which was recorded during the sessions.

McCartney has also been known to break into impromptu renditions of "Yellow Submarine," which he and John Lennon wrote, during the acoustic portions of his shows over the past decade. The song remains a staple of Ringo Starr's All Starr Band concerts.

In 1991 during his second and final solo tour, George Harrison, while out on the road in Japan with Eric Clapton and his band, performed "Taxman" and opened his shows with the Revolver standout "I Want To Tell You."

Revolver became the Beatles' ninth American Number One album, hitting the top spot on September 10th, 1966 and staying at Number One for six weeks. It was replaced at Number One by the Supremes' one-and-only original chart-topping album, Supremes A'-Go-Go.

FAST FORWARD

Beatlefan magazine has heard from two sources that "a multi-disc Revolver box set is planned for this October 26th or October 28th." Producer Giles Martin revealed last year that a Revolver set was in the works -- but no official announcement has been made.

While chatting with Variety last October, Martin was asked if the "Fab Four's" pre-1967 catalogue will get the detailed and specialized treatment that the later works have -- specifically, 1966's Revolver: "I think we have to do it, and I've said this before. . . If you take something like 'Taxman' from Revolver (a track often cited for its bizarre stereo separation), 'Taxman' is guitar, bass and drums on one track, and vocals and a sort of shaking and guitar solo (on the right). And it sounds good; they're amazing recordings, and amazing mixes. Y'know, we have to look into what technology we can do to make things de-mixed and all this kind of stuff, which I'm looking into."

He added, "I'm looking for the technology to do it with, to do something really innovative with Rubber Soul and Revolver, as opposed to just a remastering job, because it's been remastered already. So I think we will. I think we also will look at outtakes as well."

It was 46 years ago tonight (August 5th, 1976) that the Beach Boys' NBC prime time special The Beach Boys: It's O.K. premiered. The show, which was produced by Saturday Night Live's executive producer Lorne Michaels, was based around the group's 15th anniversary, their new 15 Big Ones album, and the full time return of Brian Wilson to the group, kicking off the legendary "Brian's Back" publicity campaign.

The special included live performances filmed on July 3rd, 1976 at California's Anaheim Stadium in front of 55,000 fans, featuring the group's classic lineup, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Al Jardine, with the long reclusive Brian behind the keyboards, playing only his second full concert in over six years.

The show's sketch in which Saturday Night Live's John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd pose as California Highway Patrolmen and force an overweight Brian out of bed to go surfing after issuing him a citation for failing to surf, has gone on to be one of rock n' roll's greatest comedic moments. Later that year, photographer Annie Leibovitz used a photo of the bathrobed Brian holding a surfboard for an iconic cover of Rolling Stone.

Although history has since revealed that the 1976 "Brian Is Back" publicity campaign was hardly as organic and well intentioned as it seemed at the time, Mike Love told us he still has a soft spot for that year's Top 10 "comeback" album 15 Big Ones: "Well, ‘It's O.K.,' and ‘Rock And Roll Music' are both (laughs) on that one. Yeah, I really thought 'It's O.K.' was underrated. It's a really cool song. It's an early-summer kind of song. And ‘Rock And Roll Music' went to Number Five and we do that in our show for sure." SOUNDCDUE

Beach Boys author, historian and documentary producer Jon Stebbins, who wrote the definitive biographies on Dennis Wilson -- The Real Beach Boy -- and David Marks -- The Lost Beach Boy, explains that Mike Love's importance to the band's live shows should never be underestimated: "Mike's confidence standing onstage as a frontman is one of the really crucial things that he brought to the table, that without him, they woulda been screwed, man! They just did not have a personality in the band that could do what he did. And he did it well right from the start, and he got better and better and better at it. Until the point where then it became uncool to be that way. And it's sort of like he couldn't turn it off. Y'know, he was what he was."

Peter Ames Carlin, the author Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption Of The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, says that no mater how far Brian tried to distance himself from the group, he always ended up returning: "Brian allowed himself to get dragged back into the Beach Boys, time after time, after time. If he didn't want do it, he wouldn't have done it, really. It's not necessarily the healthy decision, but I think it was the one that worked for him."

Carlin went on to say, that when Wilson rejoined the Beach Boys as a touring member and producer, it was an uneasy reunion at best: "They never wanted him back in the band, and they understood his importance as a commercial attraction. And if he was going to be there, having him kind of shunted off to the side, just sitting there like a trained bear was pretty much what they could handle. When there were times that he began to kind of assert himself again, y'know, there was no way they were going to accept that."

Highlights in the special include Dennis Wilson acting as one of the judges of the Miss California beauty pageant, Dennis singing his signature "You Are So Beautiful" encore at the Anaheim show, and all three Wilson brothers harmonizing around the piano singing group chestnuts such as "I'm Bugged At My Old Man" and "Surfer Girl."

It's O.K. also featured footage shot at Brian Wilson's 34th birthday party (June 20th, 1976) held at brother Carl's Malibu home, with Paul and Linda McCartney and their kids all helping to present Wilson with his birthday cake.

The title of the show was chosen to tie-in with the band's then-current single, "It's O.K." It was the follow up to their recent Top Five hit, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music," which earned the group their first Top Ten hit in nearly a decade.

The footage from the It's O.K. special has gone on to be featured in nearly every Beach Boys documentary since its network premiere.

The special was recently re-released on DVD by Eagle Rock as The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations Tour.

Gregg Allman's son, Devon Allman has announced the sixth annual Allman Family Revival, which celebrates the life and music of his late father. Rolling Stone reported the 18-city tour kicks off on November 26th in Macon, Georgia at Macon City Auditorium and runs through December 17th at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

The tour will feature sets by the Devon Allman Project, Duane Betts, Donovan Frankenreiter, Maggie Rose, G. Love, and others at various dates. For full info, log on to: https://www.allmanfamilyrevival.com/

Devon Allman said in a statement announcing the tour:

We are in the sixth year of saluting my Dad's music and life for the Allman Family Revival, but it's reaching beyond that initial sentiment. It's galvanizing relationships within our generation of musicians.

It's continuing a tradition of feel based music and it's an honor to put these shows on. Because at the end of the day I feel it's way more about perpetuating this art form than it is about leaving our mark. Our true mark is simply the continuance, making sure we inspire the next in line to take the stage.

We caught up with Duane Betts during the last string of Allman Betts Band dates and he explained how it was only natural for him and Devon Allman to join forces musically: "I mean, we're family, y'know? Devon and I have never lived in the same city. This is by far, the most time we've spent together, the last two years. But, it's like, when you do see people that are in your family, you may not see 'em that often -- but it's family, y'know? And we knew that we had a lot of respect for each other, and we would have a lot of fun together, but we, kind of, took it one step at a time as far as putting too much on the table. Y'know, we just wanted to go out and have some good shows, have a good time playing music."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Allman Family Revival tour dates (subject to change):

November 26 - Macon, GA - Macon City Auditorium
November 27 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall
November 28 - Sarasota, FL - Van Wezel Peforming Arts Hall
November 29 - Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheater
November 30 - Jacksonville, FL - Florida Theater
December 2 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
December 3 - Boston, MA - Shubert Theatre
December 4 - Torrington, CT - The Warner
December 6 - Charlotte, NC - Ovens Auditorium
December 7 - Durham, NC - DPAC
December 8 - Montgomery, AL - Montgomery PAC
December 9 - Nashville, TN - The Ryman Auditorium
December 10 - St. Louis, MO - The Factory
December 12 - Denver, CO - The Paramount
December 14 - Phoenix, AZ - Celebrity Theater
December 15 - Las Vegas, NV - Westgate Resort and Casino
December 16 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
December 17 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore

BTS may still be allowed to perform while carrying out their mandatory military service in South Korea. This week, the Defense Minister said that a number of options for alternative military service are being explored for the group. He stated, "I believe there will be a way for us to give them the opportunity to practice as well as allow them to leave the country and perform anytime if they have overseas concerts scheduled."

As a result of South Korea's decades-long war with North Korea, all able-bodied men must serve for a minimum of 18 months before their 28th birthday.

In 2020, exceptions were made for BTS members to delay their service until they were 30. If that stands, 29-year-old Jin will be expected to enlist later this year.

In May, the Tourism Minister called for BTS to be exempt from South Korea's mandatory military service.

The two-time Grammy-nominated band is by far Korea's biggest music act.

TL;DR:

• BTS may still be allowed to perform while carrying out their mandatory military service in South Korea.
• They could possibly be allowed to practice as well as allow them to leave the country for overseas concerts.

After three months of a sold-out European arena tour, Alicia Keys is now in the U.S. North Carolina got the first performance in America of The Alicia + Keys World Tour with a sold-out show in Charlotte.

Following the concert, Keys said, "My spirit has been calling me to bring us all closer together. Tonight is exactly what touring should feel like after we've all been disconnected for so long. I'm deeply thankful to Charlotte for a magical night."

The tour features all-new custom designed staging, lighting, and costuming.

The 15-time Grammy Award winner will play 29 concerts in the states and will perform multiple nights in some cities.

Coming on October 28th is the "Super Deluxe" version of Bryan Adams' new album, the critically acclaimed So Happy It Hurts. The new double-disc features 12 re-recorded classic hits paired with the recent studio set. The Classic disc of hits will also be available as a double-vinyl release.

The newly-recorded favorites on Classic are: "Summer of '69," "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," "Run To You," "Heaven," "Can't Stop This Thing We Started," "Cuts Like A Knife," "Please Forgive Me," "Straight From The Heart," "When You're Gone (featuring Melanie C)," "Here I Am," "Back To You," and "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman."

One of the highlights of every Bryan Adams show is his first U.S. Top 10 hit, 1983's "Straight From The Heart" -- a tune he had written half-a-decade before its release on the Cuts Like A Knife album: "I think about a song like 'Straight From The Heart," which I wrote in 1978 and didn't record it on my own until Cuts Like A Knife in 1983. In that five years of gestation, it was recorded by a few different artists -- Bonnie Tyler and all kinds of people recorded it. And then I took it to the studio; I'd rehearsed it, I'd played it, and I took all that stuff that I'd heard other people had done with it and thought 'Nah, that's not workin'' -- so, I was able to (laughs) learn from those recordings of what I didn't wanna do to make the record that I did wanna do."

Bryan Adams kicks off an extended Canadian run on August 31st in Summerside, Prince Edward Island at Credit Union Place.

There's a first time for everything -- and on Tuesday (August 2nd) Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil made his debut at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.

Blabbermouth reported Neil, who currently calls Nashville home, took the stage and tackled the Crue's 1985 ballad "Home Sweet Home" with the hallowed venue's house band. He was also joined on vocals by singer-songwriter Cherish Lee -- the daughter of country legend Johnny Lee and Dallas actress Charlene Tilton.

Prior to performing the Crue classic, Vince Neil told the audience: "I moved to Tennessee seven years ago, and I live in Franklin out by Leiper's Fork, and I see some friends and family out here, and I want to thank you guys for coming out. This is really a chilling thing -- place to be standing up here, y'know?"

Motley Crue will next perform as part of the "Stadium" tour on August 5th and 6th at Boston's Fenway Park.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters kick off their summer tour tonight (August 4th) in Grand Rapids, Michigan at Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater. Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets join the tour on Saturday night (August 6th) in Huber Heights, Ohio at Rose Music Center at The Heights and play through the end of the run on September 4th at Saratoga, California's The Mountain Winery.

Backing Costello once again is the Imposters, featuring Steve Nieve on keyboards, Pete Thomas on drums, and bass and vocalist Davey Faragher -- along with former longtime Bob Dylan guitarist Charlie Sexton and singers Kitten Kuroi and Briana Lee.

Elvis Costello told us that over the decades some of his classic tunes have become vastly improved in their live configurations: "You find the essential core instruments that make the performance work in concert. This I discovered early on. The first five records that I recorded -- five or six really -- could all be performed and it would sound very close to the recording because that's who was playing on the record. The overdubs were minimal. The only missing aspect on the early Attractions records were the vocal harmonies that I did. Now with the Imposters, even just adding one voice singing the harmonic interval in the songs that were recorded originally by the Attractions makes them much brighter. The choruses speak in certain songs much better than they ever did before."

We asked Nick Lowe -- a man often regarded as a "songwriter's songwriter" -- if when he's stumbled upon a melody, it stays with him until it can be crafted into a song: "That is pretty much how it is, yes. Occasionally I'll regret not having a little Dictaphone, or something I could've hummed something into -- because it will not come back, and I know that something's been good. But in general, if you get a germ of an idea, it will come back."

Harry Styles has reached a billion views on YouTube with the song that introduced his solo career. "Sign Of The Times" is from his self-titled album that reached #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart 5 years ago. Just last week, he set the Spotify record for being the fastest solo artist to reach a billion streams.

Lady Gaga seems to be considering her next movie role in Joker 2, but details on her character are still under wraps According to Billboard, the sequel is likely to star Joaquin Phoenix again as the DX villain, and is expected to be out in October of 2024.The first Joker, released in 2019 grossed around $1 billion at the box office.

Rina Sawayama has released a new song and video for "Hold The Girl." She says it was the first song she wrote for the album. She commented, "I had gone to therapy and had a revelation, so I decided to write this song… that was the start of it. I was crying before going into the studio to write about it." Her new album by the same title will be released next month.

Machine Gun Kelly just released his 3^rd video in the Vevo Live Performance Series.

"Fake Love Don't Last" shows him clad in a shredded red and white striped sweater. His surroundings have similarities of the other two videos… chain curtains and bathed in a pink glow.

He's joined by Iann Dior sauntering down a red carpet, waling over shards of broken glass on his way to the stage.

Just last week, the series kicked off with two Machine Gun Kelly clips… "More Than Life" and Twin Flame."

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly just released his 3^rd video in the Vevo Live Performance Series.
• "Fake Love Don't Last" features Iann Dior.