Pulse Music

The new officially sanctioned David Bowie documentary, Moonage Daydream, from director Brett Morgen, has been announced as an Official Selection at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 17th to 28th.

According to the official announcement:

Acclaimed filmmaker Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays In The Picture, Cobain: Montage Of Heck, Jane) has synthesized David Bowie's music and art into a sublime kaleidoscopic experiential cinematic odyssey that explores Bowie's creative, spiritual, and philosophical journey.

With never-before-seen footage, performances, and music, the film is guided exclusively by Bowie's narration. The motion picture features 48 musical tracks, mixed from their original stems. Bowie's long-time collaborator and friend Tony Visconti is the film's music producer.

BMG and its co-production partner Live Nation Productions, the executive producers and financiers of the film, have licensed U.S. distribution rights to Neon while Universal Entertainment International will handle the movie outside the US. North America cable and streaming rights have been licensed to HBO and HBO Max.

Only days before his death in 1980, John Lennon looked back fondly on his brief -- but powerful -- collaboration with David Bowie, which resulted in Bowie's first U.S. chart-topper: "Bowie was around and we were talkin' and that -- he'd say, 'Come down,' and I found myself doin' that. So, he's fiddlin' round, he writes 'em in the studio. Y'know, he goes in with about four words and a few guys and stars layin' down this stuff. And he has virtually nothing -- he's makin' it up in the studio. So, I just contributed whatever I contributed, y'know? Like, backwards piano and (sings) 'oooh,' and a couple of things -- repeat of 'Fame.' And then we needed a middle-eight, so we took some Stevie Wonder middle-eight and did it backwards (laughs), y'know -- we made a record out of it, right? So, he got his first Number One -- so I felt that was, like, a karmic thing, y'know, with me and Elton (John) I got my first Number One (with 'Whatever Gets You Through The Night') and I passed it on to Bowie and he got his first Number One -- and I like that track, y'know?"

Train has released their new single, "Running Back (Trying To Talk To You)" from their upcoming album, AM Gold.

The multi-Grammy Award-winning band also revealed the album's track list of 11 new songs. Jewel is featured on a track called "Turn The Radio Up" and Sofia Reyes sings on "Cleopatra."

The album, which will be their 11^th, will be released on May 20 with their tour to kick off June 8, in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

TL;DR:

• Train has released their new single, "Running Back (Trying To Talk To You)"
• The album, AM Gold will be released May 20.
• Jewel and Sofia Reyes are both featured on songs.

Blink-182's Travis Barker shared a series of photos of himself getting a tattoo in tribute to the late Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

The photos showed a tattoo of a hawk on his foot and in one of the photos, you can see that Kourtney Kardashian was there with him.

The two musicians had been friends since their early days in music. When Hawkins was playing in the Alanis Morissette band, he would come to clubs and watch Barker as he played in a punk rock band. Barker said he was always encouraging him.

Barker wrote on Instagram: "You'd come watch me play in dive bars and be like, 'Kid you're a star.'" And I thought you were crazy but you gave me so much hope and determination."

Hawkins died at his hotel in Bogotá, Colombia, on March 25 after complaining of chest pain. 10 different substances were found in his body.

TL;DR:

• Blink-182's Travis Barker shared a series of photos of himself getting a tattoo in tribute to the late Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
• He got a tattoo of a hawk on his foot.
• The two musicians had been friends since their early days in music.

Blondie guitarist Chris Stein announced he'll be sitting out Blondie's upcoming dates due to health issues. Blondie postponed last night's show (April 14th) at Huntington, New York's Paramount Theatre.

Stein, who co-wrote most of the band's classic hits and co-founded the band with ex-girlfriend Debbie Harry, posted on social media: "I'm sad and frustrated to report that I'm not going out with the next bunch of Blondie touring. I've been dealing with a dumbass condition called Arterial Fibrillation or AFib which is irregular heartbeats and combined with the meds I take for it I'm too fatigued to deal. I'm still all in with recording and other band projects and I should be out for discussions etc. later on. The band will be great and (the Sex Pistols') Glen Matlock will be joining them on bass. That's it, I'm fine, I'm around here and I love you all."

He went on to later add: "Yes, (murmur of the heart) this is indeed frustrating cause my brain is working great but my body's not up to the task of touring now. I'm fine though and I'll see you around regardless."

Blondie kicks off their UK tour on April 22nd at Glasgow, Scotland's SSE Hydro.

Britney Spears may be hosting a podcast soon. She pondered the idea on Instagram while talking about her newly announced pregnancy.

She's been very open about her thoughts and feelings online and fans respond to that. She said a podcast might be better than therapy. She wrote: "So I woke up this morning saying to myself ‘do i need to do a podcast during this pregnancy instead of therapy ???"

No mention of a start date, but usually if Britney says it, she does it.

TL;DR:

• Britney Spears may be hosting a podcast soon.
• She pondered the idea on Instagram while talking about her newly announced pregnancy.
• She said a podcast might be better than therapy.

Cardi B and Offset have finally revealed a photo and the name of their seven-month-old son. Cardi shared a photo of the baby in a swing with two diamond necklaces around his neck, along with the caption, "Wave Set Cephus."

The couple are currently on the cover of Essence with their two kids and Offset's three kids from previous relationships. In the cover story, the two opened up about their marriage, saying that when they first started dating, it wasn't smooth sailing.

Offset said, "I had a little luggage." Cardi replied, "And I had to unpack it." They also discussed their first year of marriage being tough, saying, "I feel like our first year, even though we were in love with each other, we had a lot of lust. We didn't really know each other like that, because he was doing four shows a week. I was doing four shows a week. We would see each other about three or four times a month."

The couple revealed that they are now closer than ever. Cardi said, "We understand each other more now. To me, it's serious, locked in for life—partnership sh-t, best friend sh-t. Sometimes it's like, okay, he's my husband, but he's really my best friend. We pick each other up when we're down. I feel like nobody has my back like him—and he knows I got his back all the way, no matter what, and nothing could come in between that."

Set for release on June 10th is the deluxe box set Asia In Asia: Live At The Budokan, Tokyo, 1983. With co-founding bassist John Wetton splitting from the band just before hitting the road, drummer Carl Palmer enlisted his Emerson, Lake, & Palmer bandmate Greg Lake to step in and despite a short period for Lake to learn the songs, the Japanese gigs were hailed a great success.

The second of three shows at the Budokan arena on December 6th, 1983, would make history as first live broadcast between Japan and MTV, and featured are some of Asia's most enduring hits: "Heat Of The Moment," "Time Again," "Only Time Will Tell," "Sole Survivor, and "Wildest Dreams."

Carl Palmer recalled in the new set's announcement: "Greg Lake did a great job jumping into John's shoes. So many songs to sing, he did it so well."

Keyboardist Geoff Downes said the new live set proves Asia's incredible resilience: "It deserves its place in the Asia catalogue. It demonstrates the level of professionalism that we have always striven to bring to the Asia name."

The massive package includes a double-LP on color vinyl, two-CD's -- MTV satellite broadcast concert and previous night, remixed audio, unreleased tracks, Blu-ray video, The Road To Budokan documentary, a 40-page book with rare and unseen photos, memorabilia and extensive new liner notes.

Back in the early-'80s, founding bassist and primary songwriter John Wetton battled back against critics who deemed Asia a "corporate" band created only for commercial reasons: "If there was such a formula for a song, everybody would be writing hit songs, right? That's what's been leveled at us is that we write formula songs and that we'd been put together 'round the boardroom -- which is totally untrue. There's never been a band come together more organically than this one, really. We certainly weren't looking for, y'know, 'megastars' to put a band together and told it would sell records. It never works doing that."

It was 52 years ago Sunday (April 17th, 1970) that Paul McCartney released his first solo album apart from the Beatles. Although McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had all produced and released solo projects before, the McCartney album was the first solo mainstream record released in the aftermath of the group's breakup.

McCartney featured an assortment of tracks recorded at home and in the studio, featuring McCartney on all instruments, with the help of his wife Linda McCartney on harmonies. Several of the songs were Beatles-era rejects, such as "Junk," which was originally intended for the band's 1968 self-titled double set commonly known as the "White Album." Early versions of "Every Night," "Teddy Boy," and a snippet of "Maybe I'm Amazed" were also rehearsed by various members of the band during the next year's Let It Be sessions. The instrumental track "Hot As Sun," also performed during the January 1969 sessions, dated as far back as 1960.

Although Lennon had quietly quit the band the previous September, none of the Beatles said anything about the split publicly until McCartney issued a self-penned interview included in the press copies of album. McCartney recalled how the press release issued with the reviewers copies of McCartney broke the news of the Beatles' breakup and the end of his partnership with John Lennon: "It was actually months after we'd broken up and no one was saying anything. And I was putting out a crazy little release, press release with the McCartney album, 'cause someone had said to me, 'We need some press on this, you better do something.' And I didn't want to sit down and be interviewed; I didn't feel secure enough to do that. So I said, 'Well, we'll make up a question and answer thing.' So I said to, actually it was (Beatles aide) Peter Brown, I said to him, 'Write me out a questionnaire of what you think they'd ask me.' So I just filled it all in, like a questionnaire. And it all came out weird. The press got it; it looked like I was trying to do a real number. John then thought, y'know, 'A-ha, he's done the announcement of the Beatles' split.' But, I mean, I thought months after, someone had better do it."

McCartney recalled the sessions in 1999 during the production of his Wingspan project, saying that, "Some of the songs on McCartney I had tried with the Beatles and they hadn't worked out. The Beatles were breaking up and nobody had any patience. . . So I thought, 'Right, I'll do it on my own.'"

McCartney explained that over the years, the original McCartney album -- which was recorded partially at home -- has become known as rock's first "indie" album: "It has got a sort of 'indie' thing. Y'know, its now what would be called an 'indie' thing. To me, then, it was just for me, knockin' around experimentin' with some sounds and not worrying how it was gonna turn out. I think that was one of the secrets. With this stuff it was like, I wasn't really doing it with anything in mind; it was only when I had a bunch of the songs together and people started to say, 'Well, that's your new album, is it?' 'I said, Well, not. . . no. . .' 'Well, it sounds like it.' And I was persuaded."

McCartney, who still performs "Maybe I'm Amazed" live in concert, admits that the song is a definite emotional period piece for him: "'Maybe I'm Amazed' sums up the time for me. Y'know, Linda and I had just got together and that song was my amazement at getting with this great girl. It just worked. I didn't really stress out over it. I just made this song up and thought of lyrics, like, y'know, 'hung me on a line,' 'pull(ed) me out of time,' and things -- just little phrases that occurred to me about this relationship."

The cover, which featured a symbolic photo of a bowl of spilled cherries, included the iconic back cover photo of McCartney holding his infant daughter Mary tucked into his jacket. The photo, along with the inner gatefold cover spread, underscored what McCartney claimed at the time was his ultimate message: "Home, family, (and) love."

In 1999, Neil Young inducted McCartney into the Hall of Fame as a solo artist. During his speech, Young took the time to explain what he appreciated about McCartney's first solo album: "I loved that record because it was so simple. And there was so much to see and to hear, it was just Paul. There was no adornment at all, there was no echo, there was nothing. There was no attempt made to compete with things he'd already done. And so out he stepped from the shadow of the Beatles."

Although no singles were released from the album, "Maybe I'm Amazed" was regarded as an instant classic, gaining massive AM and FM radio airplay. In 1977, a live version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" peaked at Number 10 on the charts. Until recently, the song has nearly always opened the piano set of McCartney's concerts.

During Wings' final tour in 1979 McCartney finally debuted two of the McCartney album's standout tracks in the band's set lists incorporating full band arrangements on "Every Night" and "Hot As Sun."

McCartney revisited the McCartney album during his 1991 taping of MTV's Unplugged, which featured a return to "Every Night" and the live debuts of "That Would Be Something" and "Singalong Junk."

It would be a full decade before McCartney would release a true follow-up to the McCartney album. 1980's synth-oriented McCartney II, which included the studio version of McCartney's Number One hit "Coming Up," and peaked at Number Three on the album charts.

Ringo Starr's former producer Mark Hudson says that if he had the chance to produce McCartney, he'd love to pick up exactly where the McCartney album left off: "I would love to get my hands on him, because I think I would like to do a nastier (sounding) record with him -- not louder. Like (sings) 'Walk like a woman!' -- 'Oo You,' and 'Maybe I'm Amazed.' There was a simplistic vibe to that."

HBO's Eastbound And Down viewers heard a snippet of a 1970 McCartney album deep classic during the series premiere episode -- with "Momma Miss America" being played during one of the show's scenes. The song got a second lease on life when it was featured in the 1996 Cameron Crowe film Jerry McGuire. Paul McCartney recalled recording the song at home in London's St. John's Wood: "It was great, it was a very free album for me to do, 'cause I would just get up and (yawn) 'Breakfast' and wander into the living room and do a track. So, it's got that feel on it. Y'know, there's a lot of stuff that you might have thought twice about -- but I didn't. Like instrumentals, like 'Momma Miss America' -- crazy little instrumentals. But, I sorta like 'em. And I hear 'em now, I think -- 'Did I do that? Oh, that was cheeky, that was nice.'"

McCartney sold two million copies upon its release and topped the album charts for three weeks, staying in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 charts for 13 weeks.

Sadly, 18 years to the date of the album's release (April 17th, 1998) -- and 22 years ago today -- Linda McCartney died after a long bout with cancer. She and Paul had been married 29 years.

In June 2011, McCartney released remastered and expanded editions of 1970's McCartney and 1980's McCartney II as part of his ongoing "Archive Collection."

It was 58 years ago Saturday (April 16th, 1964) that the Rolling Stones released their self-titled debut album. The collection, which was based around the Stones' stage act at the time, featured covers of Bobby Troup's "Route 66," Willie Dixon's "I Just Want To Make Love To You," Jimmy Reed's "Honest I Do," Bo Diddley's "Mona (I Need You Baby)," Chuck Berry's "Carol," and Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get A Witness," among others.

The album featured the first Stones-released Mick Jagger-Keith Richards original "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)," along with the group's co-write with Phil Spector -- "Little By Little" -- which like all of the Stones' early group collaborations was credited to the pseudonym Nanker Phelge.

Keith Richards was quoted talking about the album in Victor Bockris' Keith Richards: The Biography: "A first album can be incredible. All that energy . . . unbelievable! It's almost sad in a way, because you know it can only be a once-ever experience . . . I still listen to that album, the enthusiasm there is obvious I think . . . We had all these numbers we had been playing for ages and at that point they were just ready to be (gotten) down in the studio."

The striking cover shot of the band by David Bailey was groundbreaking at the time in that it didn't feature the group's name or the album title on the cover. The only identification was the iconic Decca label in the upper right-hand corner.

The Rolling Stones went on to top the UK album charts for 12 weeks. Its American counterpart -- with a slightly different track listing -- retitled England's Newest Hitmakers went on to peak at Number 11 in the States.

Keith Richards explained that becoming a pop -- or even a rock n' roll -- sensation was the furthest things from the Stones' minds: "No, we were R&B. Yeah, and to us, we were very anti-pop and anti-fame -- mainly because it was totally out of the question, I guess. But at the same time, the showbusiness aspect of it never appealed to us. We were sort of crusaders for the blues. If we can turn a few people on to, like, the stuff, like Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee (Hooker), Elmore James -- that was our mission in life for those first couple of years."

The Stones' late-drummer Charlie Watts admitted that upon joining the Stones in early-1963, becoming famous -- let alone being regarded as living legends -- truly seemed impossible: "No, no, every band I'd ever been in lasted a week. I mean, you only lasted as long as the guy in the club, or whatever, would book you for. So, if they didn't like you, y'know, it was two gigs and that was it. So I always thought it was gonna last a week."

After nearly-60 years in the public eye, we asked Mick Jagger what he recalls about his and the Stones' early fame: "You kind of always say that it was great to get the band going the very first time, because you start to be successful the first year or first couple of years and like, all your little teenage dreams (laughs) are sort of coming true. And so, you feel very young and you're very ambitious and you're starting to be successful and that feels very good. Like, getting your first job, isn't it, y'know?"

It was 14 years ago Sunday (April 17th, 2008) that the E Street Band's co-founding organist Danny Federici died at age 58 at New York City's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, following a three-year battle with melanoma. Federici, who was nicknamed "Phantom" due to a comical scuffle with the law during a 1970 riot at a Bruce Springsteen show, had been playing with Springsteen since 1969 -- longer than any other musician in the E Street Band at that point.

Federici backed Springsteen in such pre-fame bands as Child, Steel Mill, the Bruce Springsteen Band, and Dr. Zoom & The Sonic Boom. Federici's organ, accordion, and glockenspiel work were hallmarks of Springsteen's sound, evoking the heart and soul of the New Jersey shore and the characters from the central Jersey scene whom Springsteen chronicled in his early works. In 1999, Springsteen saluted Federici during his acceptance speech to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying, "Danny Federici, the most instinctive and natural musician I ever met and the only member of the band who can reduce me to a shouting mess. I love you Danny. Your organ and accordion playing brought the boardwalks of Central and South Jersey alive in my music. Thank you."

Springsteen had announced on November 21st, 2007 that Federici would be sitting out the then-upcoming leg of his European dates to take time off to receive cancer treatment. Federici's last full E Street Band concert took place in Boston on November 19th, on the last night of the first leg of their tour. Word of Federici's long-rumored fragile health spread quickly after the show, at which Federici was unusually spotlighted numerous times during the concert and the curtain calls.

Federici made a surprise appearance with the band less than a month before his death during Springsteen's March 20th, 2008 concert in Indianapolis, where he joined the band for selected numbers in the show, including "The Promised Land," "Spirit In The Night," and "Fourth Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," which featured Federici on his first instrument, the accordion. Federici also appeared for the encores, including "Backstreets," "Kitty's Back," "Born To Run," "Dancing In The Dark," and "American Land," which featured he and E Street pianist Roy Bittan on dual accordions. Charlie Giordano of Springsteen's side project the Seeger Sessions Band, was named as Federici's permanent replacement.

In 2018, Springsteen selected the final show to feature Federici as one of his monthly vault releases -- Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - TD Banknorth Garden - Boston 11/19/07. Federici's March 20th, 2008 rendition of "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," was included on the 2008 EP, Magic Tour Highlights.

Shortly before his death in 2008, E Street Band co-founder and organist Danny Federici -- who had played with "The Boss" the longest -- explained that Springsteen was nothing if not his own man: "Bruce is Bruce. He does what he wants, when he wants it, and he changes his mind all the time."

Steve Van Zandt explained that Federici was literally there long before the E Street big bang: "Danny is one of the original guys from our local. . . we had a little scene where we all ended up hanging out in Asbury Park, called the Upstage Club, and y'know, Danny goes back all the way there with me, and Bruce, and Garry Tallent, also."

Fellow E Street Band co-founder and keyboardist David Sancious admitted to us that Federici's death hit him hard: "When Danny passed away I was on tour in Italy and I couldn't attend the funeral and I was able to send a message and condolences to his wife. It's tough, y'know, it arrests your attention. You realize -- if you didn't realize it already -- when your friends start to pass away, it arrests your attention to that sense of mortality."

Clarence Clemons, who stood in front of Federici night after night after night, explained shortly before his own 2011 death, how tied together his and Federici's lives were: "Danny was like my son. Danny did everything first, including dying. The first time I had any kind of drug. . . relationship was with Danny, and the first time I did anything that's crazy, I did it with Danny. We had a little thing going that we used to do in between songs. I miss him so much. But, man, when Danny was there it was. . . it was something different, y'know? It was something different."

During the E Street Band's 2014 Rock Hall induction, Bruce Springsteen spoke candidly about the ties that bound him and his bandmates: "It was a band. We struggled together and sometimes we struggled with one another. We bathed in the glory and often the heartbreaking confusion of our rewards together. We enjoyed health and we've suffered illness, and aging, and death together. We took care of one another when trouble knocked, and we hurt one another in big and small ways. But in the end, we kept faith with each other. And one thing is for certain. I told a story with the E Street Band that was -- and is -- bigger than I ever could've told on my own."

In February 2000, as part of his ongoing live archive series, Bruce Springsteen released the E Street Band's first show following Danny Federici's death and funeral. The set, titled St. Pete Times Forum - Tampa, FL - April 22nd, 2008, opens with the audio of the celebratory film chronicling "Phantom's" life with Springsteen, before a heart-wrenching rendition of "Backstreets," along with the tour premiere of "Growin' Up," a one-off performance of the gospel standard, "I'll Fly Away," and a take of Federici's signature tune with the band, "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," featuring Roy Bittan filling in for his fallen E Street partner.

It was 50 years ago this week (April 15th through April 22nd, 1972) that Roberta Flack scored her first Number One hit with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." The song was nearly three-years-old when director Clint Eastwood tapped it for inclusion in his movie Play Misty For Me, about a disc jockey, set against the backdrop of the Monterey Jazz Festival. It was the song's inclusion in the movie, which led to an edited version of the song going on to top the charts for six weeks.

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was written by songwriter Ewan MacCall about future wife Peggy Seeger -- who was the sister of folk singer Pete Seeger. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" replaced America's "A Horse With No Name" at the Number One spot on April 15th, 1972, and went on to snag the 1973 Grammy Awards for both Record and Song Of The Year.

Flack says that she's still awed by the beauty of the song, and considers herself lucky to have been able to have recorded it: "It's great to have this kind of career and to be blessed to have people love your music. And the song itself is such a great song. And I'm so blessed to have been able to hear that song as the beauty that it is and to just it sing through me."

She says that she's always taken pride in the fact that her music has been inspiring romance for decades: "So many of my songs are associated with loving moments for people. I had a woman walk up to me one day and say after a show, 'Miss Flack, I love you and I love 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.' When I heard that song I was in college and I looked across the cafeteria and saw my husband, I married him and we had two beautiful children.'"

Among the many artists who have covered the song are Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Mel Torme, Isaac Hayes, Gordon Lightfoot and Celine Dion, among others.

Roberta Flack recently released her latest album, Let It Be Roberta - Roberta Flack Sings The Beatles.

Paparazzi came to the rescue after Ben Affleck ran over a sign in the Starbucks drive-thru on Wednesday (April 13th).

The Tender Bar actor was accompanied by his fiance Jennifer Lopez when he got the chalkboard stuck in his back rim while making a tricky turn into the coffee chain's drive through.

Video shared by TMZ shows one photographer pulling the sign out of the wheel while another guides him as he completes his turn.

Gavin DeGraw has released a very personal new single called "Face The River." The video is filled with photos of his mom and dad. The song is the title track from his next album, due to be released on May 20.

In a press release he stated, "This album is dedicated to my parents, they were my heroes. It was their love story, their sacrifices, and their guidance that shaped this music."

DeGraw will kick off his Full Circle tour this Saturday (4-16) at The Venetian in Las Vegas. He'll play over 20 dates of intimate shows, in small clubs where he started his career.

TL;DR:

• Gavin DeGraw has released a very personal new single called "Face The River."
• The video is filled with photos of his mom and dad.
• Title track from his next album, out on May 20.

Coming on June 10th is the latest Rolling Stones vault release, Licked Live In NYC. The new collection will be available as a DVD/two-CD, SD Blu-ray/two-CD, as well as a standalone two-CD and triple-LP.

Originally released in 2003 as an HBO special and as part of the Four Flicks package, the band's January 18th, 2003 Madison Square Garden concert has been fully restored and remastered with four previously unreleased songs: "Start Me Up," "Tumbling Dice," "Gimme Shelter," and "Sympathy For The Devil." Special guest Sheryl Crow is featured on "Honky Tonk Women."

According to the packages press release:

The addition of three bonus performances from Amsterdam and rehearsal footage gives an insider's view of the Rolling Stones gearing up for this tour. The SD Blu-ray package includes the additional 51-minute documentary Tip Of The Tongue, which captures the conception and preparation of the "Live Licks" tour's innovative three show / three venue approach.

Inspired to switch up venues on a nightly basis between arenas, ballrooms, or theaters, and setlists along with it, the band are captured preparing for this tour from the recording studio in Paris to the rehearsals in Toronto.

The Rolling Stones' 2002 /2003 "Licks" tour was unique in the fact that in many cities the band played more than one type of venue -- from the sprawling 80,000 local enormo-domes to club dates the very next night. When announcing the shows, Mick Jagger was eager for the band to break out of any type of rut once on the road: "We're gonna do a stadium show, we're gonna do an arena show, and we're gonna do a theatre or a club show. It's also a bit of a challenge to do these three kinds of shows -- to jump from one to the other. You kinda get used to playing a big place and then. . . I think it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a challenge."

The tracklisting to The Rolling Stones' 'Licked Live In NYC' is:

"Street Fighting Man"
"Start Me Up"
"If You Can't Rock Me"
"Don't Stop"
"Monkey Man"
"Angie"
"Let It Bleed"
"Midnight Rambler"
"Tumbling Dice"
"Thru And Thru"
"Happy"
"Gimme Shelter"
"You Got Me Rocking"
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
"Honky Tonk Women" (with Sheryl Crow)
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
"It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)"
"When The Whip Comes Down"
"Brown Sugar"
"Sympathy For The Devil"
"Jumpin' Jack Flash"

Live In Amsterdam

"Star Star"
"I Just Want To Make Love To You"
"Street Fighting Man"

Rehearsals
"Well Well"
"Extreme Western Grip"

Journey's 1981 hit "Don't Stop Believin'" and Queen's 1975 signature track "Bohemian Rhapsody" are among the recordings now part of the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The Registry is the library's move to help save America's aural history by archiving recordings that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."

The recordings join a list of 25 new inductees, which also includes the Four Tops' 1966 masterpiece, "Reach Out (I'll Be There)," Linda Ronstadt's groundbreaking 1987 album Canciones de Mi Padre, and Bonnie Raitt's 1989 Grammy Award-winning album Nick Of Time. Also selected were recordings by Alicia Keys, Nat King Cole, A Tribe Called Quest, the Shirelles, and Duke Ellington, among others.

Former Journey frontman Steve Perry spoke about the success of "Don't Stop Believin'" in a statement: "(It's) one of those 'only in America' kind of things. . . That song, over the years, has become something that has a life of its own. It's about the people who've embraced it and found the lyrics to be something they can relate to and hold onto and sing."

We recently caught up with Steve Perry and asked him if he ever thought that four decades after the fact, "Don't Stop Believin'" would go on to become one off the most-played tracks across the globe: "Honest to God -- no (laughs). It's been embraced by a whole new generation, and a whole new generation -- now another generation. I just feel so fortunate that that's happened. Every song we ever wrote got the same attention, the same reachings emotionally for what it could be -- performance and lyric-wise. So, this was just another one, 'Don't Stop Believin',' was. And it's the people who embraced -- in soul -- so to speak, something into what it's become."

Back in 1977 Freddie Mercury shed light on how and why Queen decided to break new ground and go against the grain by issuing "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a single: "What we, I think, try and do is, with each album, try and work out where our music is at at the current, given time, and try and showcase it in, say, one single. With A Night At The Opera, we just felt that 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was the song that would say what we're doing at the given time. So we, sort of chose that. Obviously we came across certain barriers, like, it being six minutes long -- or whatever."

The 2022 additions to the National Recording Registry are:

"Harlem Strut" - James P. Johnson (1921)
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Complete Presidential Speeches (1933-1945)
"Walking The Floor Over You" - Ernest Tubb (1941) (single)
"On A Note Of Triumph" (May 8, 1945)
"Jesus Gave Me Water" - The Soul Stirrers (1950) (single)
Ellington At Newport - Duke Ellington (1956) (album)
We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite - Max Roach (1960) (album)
"The Christmas Song" - Nat King Cole (1961) (single)
Tonight's The Night - The Shirelles (1961) (album)
"Moon River" - Andy Williams (1962) (single)
In C - Terry Riley (1968) (album)
"It's A Small World" - The Disneyland Boys Choir (1964) (single)
"Reach Out (I'll Be There)" - The Four Tops (1966) (single)
Hank Aaron's 715th Career Home Run (April 8, 1974)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen (1975) (single)
"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey (1981) (single)
Canciones de Mi Padre - Linda Ronstadt (1987) (album)
Nick Of Time - Bonnie Raitt (1989) (album)
The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest (1991) (album)
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu-Tang Clan (1993) (album)
Buena Vista Social Club (1997) (album)
"Livin' La Vida Loca" - Ricky Martin (1999) (single)
Songs In A Minor - Alicia Keys (2001) (album)
WNYC broadcasts for the day of 9/11 (Sept. 11, 2001)
"WTF with Marc Maron" (Guest: Robin Williams) (April 26, 2010)

Post Malone is getting closer to a release date for his next album. His co-manager, Dre London announced that it will drop sometime next month.

About the new songs, Malone said, "they speak more to how I'm feeling at the moment: the ups and downs and the disarray and the bipolar aspect of being an artist in the mainstream."

The studio album, Twelve Caret Toothache is already finished and will contain 45 minutes of new music, his shortest album to date.

Earlier this year, Post Malone and The Weeknd's collaboration of "One Right Now" hit #1 on Billboard's Rhythmic Chart and became a top 10 hit on the Pop Airplay chart.

TL;DR:

• Post Malone's co-manager, Dre London announced that the new album will drop sometime next month.
• Malone says the songs are about the ups and downs and the disarray and the bipolar aspect of being an artist in the mainstream.

During her recent cover story for Vogue, Rihanna opened up about her relationship with A$AP Rocky, saying that her mom liked him right away. She explained, "My mother has a really good read on people. She observes first and then she'll move slowly. I guess I'm like that too. There are some guys that I've dated that she won't even look at to this day. But she was charmed by him from the jump."

RiRi also revealed that she'd love to raise her child in Barbados, saying, "Rocky asked me recently if I had a dream place, where would it be? I told him home, Barbados. I always imagined it being that way. But realistically it probably won't be."

RIHANNA REVEALS PREGNANCY CRAVINGS, SPEAKS ON ABSTAINING FROM MARIJUANA

Meanwhile, during the interview, Rihanna revealed her pregnancy cravings, saying, "I usually hate desserts, but all of a sudden you come close to me with a chocolate-​covered donut and you've got my heart forever."

Another craving is tangerines with salt. RiRi explained, "It has to be with salt and only with salt, because in Barbados we take our fruits to the ocean and soak them. Trust me, it really is a thing."

She also spoke on dealing with her hormonal mood swings without marijuana. She said, "I was bracing myself for something insane because I knew I wouldn't have my usual coping mechanism: I can't just go and smoke a joint right now." She added, "I was pleasantly surprised that I've been able to manage."

Rihanna is in her third-trimester. This is the first child for her and Rocky.

Although Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson are enjoying separate creative paths these days -- singer Ann is eager for the band to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year with a new album. Ann will release her latest solo set, Fierce Bliss, on April 29th and has a string of dates with her backing band Amazing Dawgs set for the spring and summer. Sister and guitarist Nancy is prepping to hit the road later this year with her own lineup of Heart featuring her hand-picked backing band. So far, Nancy and the band have nearly a dozen Canadian dates on the books this fall in support of Styx.

Ann Wilson spoke to Rock Cellar and explained what she hopes to achieve with Nancy for the 50th anniversary set: "When Heart makes another record it will be all new original songs that I've written, hopefully that's she's written. Next year is our 50th anniversary. I'm having an event, I'm going to invite everyone who's ever been in the band and that will be recorded. And then we'll see what happens beyond that. I can't say for sure when but it's my mission to get that going."

She went on to admit, "At this point in my life and career, I measure success by how good I feel about what I'm doing. And the people that I'm working with, the joy of doing this. I've had times when I was much younger where I measured it by having a hit record, by feeling glamorous and glorious, by chart positions. But right now it's really not about that for me. It hasn't been for some time, probably since the 1980's. It's been more about getting back to the creative experience. Why did I even start to do this, and work so hard to make it happen? It's all about the music. It's all about having a voice. Having something to say and saying it."

For Ann Wilson going through the motions with Heart simply isn't an option: "Y'know, Heart was started back in the '70s in an atmosphere of super high ideals, and about it being real and about it being, y'know, authentic. So, I really don't want to see it get to a point of being numb or automatic, or just a cash cow, y'know? That's just immoral to me."

Machine Gun Kelly is already making a list of groomsmen he wants in his upcoming wedding ceremony to Megan Fox and one of them is Pete Davidson.

Kelly and the Saturday Night Live star are longtime friends. In fact Kelly calls their friendship a "bromance." In an interview with Howard Stern, he joked that during the wedding, they should give Davidson a microphone for commentary.

A wedding date has not been announced, but since Machine Gunn Kelly is on tour through October, speculation is that it will be sometime after that.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly says Pete Davidson will be a groomsmen in his wedding.
• Calls their friendship a bromance.
• He joked that they should give Davidson a microphone for commentary.

A 2007 Amy Winehouse concert performance will soon be released on vinyl. Live at Glastonbury, from Pyramid Stage will be out on June 3rd.

The double-live album set is a recording of her second Glastonbury appearance and includes irreverent soundbites and songs like "Tears Dry On Their Own," "Rehab," and "You Know I'm No Good," as well as early soul classics like "Monkey Man."

Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in 2011, she was 27.

TL;DR:

• A 2007 Amy Winehouse concert, Live at Glastonbury, will be out on June 3rd.
• A double-live album that includes songs like "Tears Dry On Their Own," "Rehab," and "You Know I'm No Good," as well as early soul classics like "Monkey Man."

It was 48 years ago today (April 14th, 1974), that the Who's Pete Townshend played his first ever solo concert in London at The Roundhouse. The concert, which took place on Easter Sunday, was scheduled during a break from Townshend's recording sessions for the Tommy - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. He had originally envisioned a mellow low-key gig to benefit the Camden Square Community Playhouse Theatre, but heavy publicity from the British rock trades made the show the high-profile show of the spring.

Townshend spent about a week rehearsing the show and creating tape loops and rhythm tracks to provide backing for his acoustic and electric set, in which he also played the clavinet -- an electric keyboard. Tapes of the show that have been making rounds with collectors reveal a particularly rowdy crowd -- with Townshend handling himself pretty well against at least one drunken heckler.

Among the Who classics performed were "The Seeker" -- which opened the show, "Happy Jack," "Substitute," "See Me, Feel Me," "Tattoo," "Let's See Action," "Pinball Wizard," as well as covers including Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter," Traffic's "No Face, No Name, No Number," Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man," "Amoureuse" by Veronique Sanson -- later the wife of Stephen Stills, and the Bob Dylan-related standards "Girl From North Country," and "Corina, Corina."

The show marked Townshend's live debut his 1966 tune called "Join My Gang" which he had written for the British pop singer Oscar -- better known as Paul Nicholas.

During the show, he took the time to play his original demos of "My Generation" over the venue's P.A. system. He later encored with the song, in a medley with the Who's "Magic Bus."

Performing solo wasn't a decision that Townshend took lightly. That said, he always felt that his work was one of a singular artist who adapted his material to fit the Who's structure: "Well, obviously, every writer, every individual that creates has to draw on their own experiences and when I set out to write songs -- I shoot from the hip. I don't actually write for any particular voice."

The Roundhouse concert -- which is legendary among die-hard Who fans -- has gone down as a curious footnote in Townshend's performing career. It would be over five years before he would step onstage solo again.

It was 59 years ago today (April 14th, 1963) that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones first met. The Beatles, who were new on the scene in London, had heard about the group through word of mouth, and were in the audience at the Stones' show in Richmond at the Crawdaddy Club at the Station Hotel. Shortly thereafter, George Harrison personally recommended that Decca Records -- the same label that had passed on the Beatles -- sign a deal with the still-unknown Stones.

In 1988 when Mick Jagger inducted the Beatles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he recalled first laying eyes on the group while on stage, remembering that, "We were playing a little club in Richmond and I saw right in front of me, there they were -- THE FAB FOUR. The four-headed monster. They never went anywhere alone. And they had on the most beautiful long, black leather trench coats." Jagger joked that, "I thought to myself, 'If I have to learn to write songs to get one of those, I will.'"

The two bands, which were pegged as being rivals in the rock press, were actually very close. John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the Stones' second single, "I Wanna Be Your Man" -- which the Stones chose as their secind number on December 8th, 2012 at the kick-off of their 50 & Counting shows in Brooklyn, New York. The concert also fell on the 32nd anniversary of John Lennon's murder. Throughout the '60s, McCartney and Jagger coordinated their record release schedules and staggered their releases, so that they wouldn't have overlapping hits, which would force fans to pick one band over the other.

Keith Richards was an immediate fan and friend of The Beatles. He admits that following manager Andrew Loog Oldham's brief that the Stones become the opposite of the lovable "Mop Tops" was ingenious and important in separating the Stones from all the other British beat groups that followed in the Beatles wake: "There was no competition between the bands, per se, y'know -- but in the greater world, the Beatles were the "Fab Four," y'know? As I say, that's wearing the ‘white hat.' So the only other (laughs) place to go is to wear the ‘black hat' (laughs), y'know? And at the same time, we were pretty natural, and I think all we really did was, we didn't ‘showbiz' ourselves up."

Mick Jagger admitted that the Beatles' opened all the doors for the Stones by recreating the music business in the early-'60s: "They were both rivals and they were also, I mean, they were also showing the way, 'cause they were the first at this kind of. . . They were kind of trailblazers in a lot of ways, and they went to the United States first, y'know, they showed the way, they were big international stars -- because in England, most people have never really been stars outside of England. You had your little patch and that was it. And the Beatles kind of showed you could be big internationally."

The Stones' late-drummer Charlie Watts remembered that as big as the Rolling Stones got, they never penetrated the global psyche the way that the Beatles did: "The Beatles, the phenomena of them was something else. But I don't think, I don't think you could put the same sort of madness that they had going (on the Rolling Stones). I think there was at concerts where you'd turn up and play, but I mean generally where you had every joke on television was a Beatle joke, or something -- or The Brady Bunch would say 'I'm going to a (Beatle concert).' Y'know, on that level."

In 2005 when the Stones performed as the Super Bowl's halftime act the year after McCartney, he echoed Lennon's 1970 statement that the Stones did everything the Beatles did a year later: "It's not bitchy, but if you look at the career of the Beatles and the Stones, they always do stuff a year after we do. So we do Sgt. Pepper and about a year later they do Satanic Majesties, they do their psychedelic album. The Beatles come to America, about a year later the Stones do. So I like it. They're holding true to form."

Over the decades, The Beatles and The Stones have enjoyed both a personal, and at times professional, relationship:

The Beatles' inner-circle on the mid-'60s "Swingin' London" club scene included Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and the Animals' Eric Burdon.

George Harrison was at Keith Richards' house just prior to Jagger and Richards' infamous 1967 drug bust.

Jagger and Richards attended several Beatles recording sessions, including the legendary orchestral overdub of the group's "A Day In The Life" track.

In 1967, the Stones' late co-founder Brian Jones played saxophone on the Beatles' "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number), which was eventually released in 1970 as the B-side to "Let It Be."

Lennon and McCartney contributed backing vocals to the Stones' 1967 single "We Love You," and Jagger returned the favor by attending the "All You Need Is Love" global satellite broadcast.

That summer, Jagger and his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull traveled with the Beatles to Bangor, Wales for a weekend lecture with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was there that the Beatles learned of the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. Around that time, the Beatles and the Stones tossed around the idea of starting their own joint record label.

John Lennon made his first-ever solo appearance at the Stones' December 1968 taping of their Rock And Roll Circus, performing "Yer Blues" with the makeshift band called the Plastic Mac, which included Keith Richards on bass, Eric Clapton on lead guitar, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Mitch Mitchell on drums. For a brief time in 1969, the two bands shared a manager, the American-born accountant Allen Klein.

In July 1969, Paul and Linda McCartney, who was once romantically linked to Jagger, attended the Stones' comeback gig at London's Hyde Park. It was at that show that the Stones premiered their new single "Honky Tonk Women," which was rumored to be inspired in part by Linda, who according to legend was "the divorcee in New York City."

In 1971, both McCartney and Ringo Starr -- who were not on speaking terms -- attended Mick and Bianca Jagger's wedding in St. Tropez.

During the summer of 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono visted the Stones in France during the recording of Exile On Main St.

Lennon and Jagger collaborated several times in the studio. In 1973 Jagger added guitar to Yoko's Approximately Infinite Universe album, and in 1974 Lennon produced a version of Jagger singing "Too Many Cooks," which has only recently been released.

In 1979 Ringo Starr and former Stones bassist Bill Wyman performed together on Jerry Lewis' Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.

In 1981, Stones guitarist Ron Wood co-wrote produced several tracks for Starr's Stop And Smell The Roses album. Keith Richards also took part in the sessions.

In 1986 McCartney performed onstage with Jagger and David Bowie, playing acoustic guitar during the Prince's Trust Concert, when the pair performed their hit remake of "Dancing In The Street." Jagger, who was unhappy with his performance, wouldn't let his and Bowie's portion air in America.

Julian Lennon performed with Keith Richards in 1986 during the filming of Chuck Berry's 60th birthday concert film, Hail! Hail! Rock N' Roll. He later recorded a cover of the Stones 1967 hit, "Ruby Tuesday. His brother Sean Lennon was briefly romantically linked to Mick Jagger's daughter, Elizabeth Jagger.

In Keith Richards' 2010 autobiography, he revealed that he and McCartney had actually struck up a close friendship starting earlier in the decade.

In 2012 Paul McCartney -- along with Rod Stewart -- served as Ron Wood's best man at his wedding to Sally Humphreys.

On March 27th, 2013 Wood and McCartney joined McCartney's son James McCartney onstage during his performance at London's Ambassador Club.

Most recently, on February 15th, 2015, Keith Richards introduced Paul McCartney's performance of "Maybe I'm Amazed" on NBC's Saturday Night Live - 40th Anniversary Special.

Last October 14th, while performing in L.A., Mick Jagger took a swipe at Paul McCartney during the Stones' concert at SoFi Stadium. Jagger was commenting on the former-Beatle's recent take on the Stones to The New Yorker, when he offered up, "I'm not sure I should say it, but they're a blues cover band, that's sort of what the Stones are. . . I think (the Beatles') net was cast a bit wider than theirs."

While chatting with the crowd at the Stones gig -- Jagger couldn't help but poke "Macca" when he said, "There's so many celebrities here tonight, of course, y'know? Naturally. Megan Fox is here, she's lovely. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lady Gaga. Kirk Douglas -- aah, misread that one. Uh, Paul McCartney is here; he's going to help us — he's going to join us in a blues cover later."

56 years ago today (April 14th, 1966) the Beatles recorded their 12th U.S. chart topper, "Paperback Writer." The song, which was recorded during the group's Revolver sessions, was the first to prominently feature Paul McCartney's Rickenbacker bass guitar as a lead instrument.

The Beatles' legendary engineer, the late-Geoff Emerick told us that he thought that by mic'ing McCartney's bass with a loudspeaker he could break new ground with how a bass sounded on the radio: "So my theory was that if a loudspeaker could push a bass out then a loudspeaker can take it back in. And use that loudspeaker as a moving core microphone, and that's exactly what I did. And it did have a certain roundness and a fullness to it."

"Paperback Writer" was not included on Revolver, but released as the group's spring single. It went on to top the charts for two weeks in the spring and early summer of 1966. It was the only song from their current set of sessions to be included on the 1966 tour, which proved to be their last.

McCartney resurrected the song in 1993 and played it on his New World Tour. It was eventually included on that year's Paul Is Live album. "Paperback Writer" -- now featuring McCartney on lead guitar and including an extended coda -- is now in his current concert rotation and featured on the 2009 Good Evening New York City live album.