Pulse Music

Rina Sawayama's next project was inspired by Taylor Swift. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said that listening to Swift's Folklore album, is how she came to write about personal experiences through a poetic lens.

After her debut album was released in 2020, Sawayama found herself ridden with anxiety as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the record's promotion.

It was then that she heard the album and it helped her push through the creative rut. She laughed and said, "I remember when Taylor released Folklore, I was like, 'This bitch is writing about fake stories and she just wrote a whole album.' If she can do it, I need to do it."

She says her music will tell the story of her emotional growth over the last few years. And similar to Folklore, listeners will have to decode the stories featured within the album's lyrics for themselves

Sawayama's sophomore album, Hold the Girl, will be released September 2^nd.

TL;DR:

• Rina Sawayama's next project was inspired by Taylor Swift's Folklore album.
• She heard the album and it helped her push through a creative rut.
• Sawayama's sophomore album, Hold the Girl, will be released September 2^nd.

It was 49 years ago this week (beginning on June 2nd, 1973) that Paul McCartney & Wings topped the Billboard singles and album charts with their single "My Love" and their album Red Rose Speedway.

McCartney had formed Wings in 1971 with wife Linda, drummer Denny Seiwell, and guitarist Denny Laine, but the band did not immediately have the same kind of success McCartney had had on his own. Their debut album Wild Life and their first few singles had not climbed any higher than Number Ten on either the album or singles charts, as opposed to other McCartney solo work that had gone all the way to Number One, such as the McCartney album and the 1971 single "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey."

All that changed with Red Rose Speedway. By the time the initial sessions for the album began in March 1972, McCartney had added former Joe Cocker guitarist Henry McCullough to the band's line-up. The album included the hit "My Love," which stayed at Number One on the singles charts for four weeks, proving that McCartney's new band could be commercially successful. Red Rose Speedway also reached Number One on the album charts, staying there for three weeks.

"My Love" is without a doubt original Wings guitarist Henry McCullough's shining moment from his 19-month stint in the band. Shortly before his 2016 death, he admitted to us that the solo he played was nothing short of divine intervention -- taking McCartney completely by surprise: "He says, 'Well, what are ya goin' to play?' I said, 'I don't know.' And this is God's truth, I'm not tellin ya, a word of a lie here. I was in the studio with a 50-piece orchestra, I think it was, to put the solo on. The fired it up and pressed the (record) button and I played the solo from beginning to end. And Paul came out and said, 'Have you been rehearsin' that?' I said, 'I'll be honest with ya, I've never heard that melody or what was played -- I never heard any of it before! I said a prayer just before startin' it and set off and that's the way it turned out.'"

McCartney had originally planned Red Rose Speedway to be a double-album, but disappointing sales of Wild Life led his record company to insist on only one disc. The original two-disc set was to feature live material, contributions by the other Wings members, and some experimental tracks.

Denny Laine says that the group went into the sessions thinking they were recording a double-album: "That's why we recorded so much stuff. Maybe they weren't ready for it, didn't think it was gonna do so many. I don't know."

Renown Beatles author Bruce Spizer says that by judging from the material McCartney left off of Red Rose Speedway, he ultimately did himself a disservice by paring it down to a single record set: "The album sold extremely well because of 'My Love.' Y'know, 'My Love' is this humongous hit. (McCartney thought) 'EMI doesn't want a double album, so let me go ahead and give them the best of the ballads-type approach.' And I think that in doing so he may not have put together the strongest album considering his choices. Oddly enough, I think it would have worked better as a double album. I think this is a case where more would have actually been more (laughs), rather than more is less."

Beatlefan magazine correspondent Tom Frangione explained that Red Rose Speedway was the album that paved the way for McCartney and Wings' chart domination for the rest of the '70s: "One of his most important records probably is Red Rose Speedway. You've got a Number One single in there with 'My Love,' a real strong track line-up on side one. Some people would argue that side two was kind of trying to re-establish almost like the Abbey Road flavor with the little medley."

Paul McCartney admits he struggled to get Wings to become a viable force both in the charts and on the road: "It was a struggle trying to put it together after the Beatles. I mean, the Beatles career itself was a struggle, but then having reached those heights, to try and do it over and at the same time bring up a, a young family was quite an interesting human interest story."

Denny Seiwell, who was the first member of Wings outside of Paul and Linda, feels as though he and McCartney still share a deep musical bond. Despite Seiwell quitting the group on the eve of the Band On The Run sessions, he and McCartney remain close and talk frequently. Seiwell was asked about the chances of him recording with McCartney again after a nearly 50-year hiatus: "I'd do anything to make that happen. I told him anything you want. . . He's one of the most profound influences in my life that took the most profound effect on my life, both positive and negative. At a moment's notice, I would drop everything (to play with him.) Y'know, I think there's a need for Wings to come back." SOUNDCUE

McCartney had originally intended for legendary engineer-producer Glyn Johns to work on the record, and although several early tracks were recorded, Johns reportedly quit the album due to problems with McCartney, the band, and the quality of material brought into the sessions. Johns had previously worked with McCartney during the session for what eventually became the Beatles album Let It Be. Johns is best known for his work with such acts as the Who, the Kinks, the Small Faces, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, among others.

Red Rose Speedway knocked the Beatles compilation 1967-1970 out from the Number One spot, and was in turn bumped from Number One by George Harrison's Living In The Material World album. Harrison's "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" also replaced "My Love" at the top of the singles charts.

The back cover of Red Rose Speedway featured a message in Braille to McCartney's good friend Stevie Wonder, stating "We Love You Baby."

Red Rose Speedway was the first of five consecutive Number One albums by McCartney & Wings.

"My Love" was McCartney's fourth biggest solo single and has frequently cropped up in his live concert setlists, having been included numerous times over the years in the piano sets of his various tours.

FAST FOWARD

Paul McCartney's Red Rose Speedway was reissued in December 2018 as a limited deluxe box set edition. It features three discs of audio including the original album remastered at Abbey Road, no less than 35 bonus audio tracks, including a reconstruction of the originally conceived double album version of Red Rose Speedway, singles, B-sides, alternate mixes and previously unreleased tracks.

The 2DVD + Blu-ray portions of the deluxe are packed with rare and previously unseen footage, including the James Paul McCartney TV Special, interviews and music videos, as well as the never before seen film The Bruce McMouse Show -- fully restored and remixed in stereo and 5.1 surround sound.

The package includes a folio containing 14 replica hand drawn original character sketches by Paul and facsimile dialogue sheets for the film, a 128-page book containing many previously unpublished images by Linda McCartney, expanded album and single artwork from the archives and story behind the album -- including new interviews with Paul McCartney, and key album personnel -- and track-by-track information, written by Amanda Petrusich, five replica handwritten lyric sheets and photo print, a 64-page 'Wings In Morocco' photo book, all housed in a numbered outer slipcase.

It was 50 years ago tonight (June 2nd, 1972) that Dion & The Belmonts reunited at New York City's Madison Square Garden at an oldies show sponsored by local radio station WCBS-FM. Despite Dion DiMucci and the group briefly reuniting in 1967 for an ill-fated studio album, called Together Again, the Garden show was Dion's first gig with the group in 12 years. Dion played acoustic guitar throughout the night and the group was backed by Billy Vera & The Beaters, who went on to score a 1986 Number One hit with "At This Moment." A live album of the event was released the following year, titled Reunion: Live At Madison Square Garden.

Dion told us that it wasn't quite the reunion he expected: "Fred Milano and Carlo Mastrangelo showed up and they said that Angelo (D'Aleo) was sick. And Angelo says he wasn't asked to be there. We went through with the show, because the Belmonts, they weren't on the records, 'The Wanderer' and 'Ruby Baby,' they weren't on a lot of those songs. When all was said and done and I listened to the album, I said, 'Angelo's gotta be on there, I can't release this without his voice.' (So) I kind of overdubbed him."

Dion & The Belmonts have performed several times over the years at various Dion solo shows. The Belmonts continued to perform with Fred Milano, who won the rights to the name from the others after a legal battle. Milano died on January 1st, 2012.

In 2005, Dion's 1987 Radio City Music Hall concert was issued on CD as Dion And Friends Live In New York City. Performing alongside Dion and his band was Belmont Carlo Mastrangelo.

In 2016, Dion released New York Is My Home, featuring Paul Simon duetting with him on the title track.

Also out now is Dion's long lost 1965 collection, Kickin' Child, which was originally recorded for Columbia Records but left unreleased until now.

FAST FORWARD

Dion's latest album, Stomping Ground ,was released on November 5th, 2021. Pete Townshend supplied the liner notes for the set, which includes contributions from such legends as Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Mark Knopfler, Bon Scaggs, Billy F Gibbons, Rickie Lee Jones, Sonny Landreth, Joe Bonamassa, G.E. Smith, Keb' Mo', and many others.

Townshend wrote in the album's notes: "Dion, like a circling star that never fades, generates the energy and fire we need to pull ourselves up and start again. Dion is a star who knows well how to start again, how to keep shining. He looks at his watch every few years. Damn! Let's make a record. Take care. This one will blow those little white things in our ears right into your brain."

Lil Nas X called out the BET Awards after being snubbed with 0 nominations. Lil Nas X tweeted and deleted, "Thank you, BET Awards. An outstanding zero nominations again. Black excellence!"

Back in 2020, Lil Nas X secured a nomination from the BET Awards for Best New Artist and lost to Roddy Rich.

After one person asked Lil Nas X why he deserved to be recognized, he said, "What you put out? And don't use that gay sh*t as excuse. Don't nobody care no more." He added, "IDK maybe 3 of the biggest songs of last year and a critically acclaimed album. I feel like that should've helped me a bit."

BTS addressed the rise of Asian-targeted hate crimes in the United States from the White House on Tuesday (May 31st).

Members of the K-Pop group joined Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as AAPI Heritage Month ended and said, "This AAPI Heritage Month, we join the White House to stand with the AAHPI community and to celebrate. We were devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes including Asian American hate crimes, but to put a stop to this and support the cause, we'd like to take this opportunity to voice ourselves once again."

The concluded, "It's not wrong to be different, and equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences."

Charlie Puth told Bustle on Tuesday (May 31st) that he lost his virginity at the age of 21 while playing a small gig in Boston.

The "Light Switch" singer revealed that a girl came up to him and asked, "Can you sign my chest?"

He continued, "I was like, 'I feel like a rock star.' I never saw her again. She was lovely, but it makes me sad sometimes because I wish the older version of me was like, ‘Hey, you might want to just make this like a little more memorable.'"

Puth also shared that his first solo moment of intimacy was soundtracked by Maroon 5's 2002 hit "This Love". He added, "Now I'm good friends with Adam Levine. I told him and he was like, ‘That's really weird.'"

Halsey announced Tuesday (May 31) that "So Good" is finally coming out on June 9th, with a music video arriving the following day.

The singer tweeted, "I didn't expect so much conversation about this record," the "Without Me." All I know is that I wanted you guys to hear it and now you can. So Good, song on June 9th and video the next day."

Shortly before their announcement, Capitol Records showed their support for the artist, writing, "@Halsey, we love you and are here to support you." They added, "We are an artist first company that encourages open dialogue. We have nothing but a desire to help each one of our artists succeed, and hope that we can continue to have these critical conversations."

Last month, Halsey appeared on TikTok to announce that their label wouldn't release "So Good" until they found a way to go viral on the social media app.

The Rolling Stones are back on the road for their European "Stones 60" tour. The 14-stadium run kicks off tonight (June 1st) in Madrid, Spain and plays through July 31st in Stockholm, Sweden. The band will also perform open air shows in Germany, England, Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy.

The Stones' June 9th concert at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium marks not only their first stadium show in the Beatles' hometown -- but their first Liverpool gig in 51 years. The current shows mark the band's first European dates since the 2021 death of drummer Charlie Watts.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards shed light on how they decide it's time to ramp up for another string of dates: (Mick Jagger): "It sort of runs in a pretty good cycle." (Keith Richards): "I have to wait for a phone call from Mick, saying, 'I'm getting a but antsy (laughter) -- you wanna go, and should we. . ." (Jagger): "Don't forget, there is. . . You gotta be a bit hard-headed, there is a sort of supply and demand thing here. If no one called up and said, 'We think, y'know, you should go and tour. . .' There's good times and bad times to do tours. (Richards): "In a way, Mick and I get the same feeling just around the same time. It's then -- as Mick was just saying -- y'know, does all the rest of it fall into place, y'know, the business and the supply and demands and all of that. But, basically, we say, 'Well, we're ready -- if the demand's there, we'll supply.'"

Harry Styles' critically acclaimed new album Harry's House has topped charts around the world and accomplished an array of chart records.

The new album has debuted at No. 1 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 chart. "As It Was" returns to the No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fourth week and Harry debuted three additional songs in the Top 10: "Late Night Talking," "Music For A Sushi Restaurant," and "Matilda". Additionally, the full album is charting in the top 30.

Styles joins The Beatles, who achieved the feat for five weeks in 1964, as the only British acts ever with four concurrent Hot 100 Top 10's.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss kick off their 2022 tour dates tonight (June 1st) at Canandaigua, New York's CMAC. The duo is on the road in support of their second joint album, Raise The Roof. The set was released last November 19th and topped Billboard's Independent Albums chart, hit Number Three on the magazine's Top Country Albums list, and reached Number Seven on the Billboard 200.

Not too long ago, Robert Plant shed light on what propels his collaboration with Alison Krauss: "The great thing is -- there's so much heart. That's the great thing. I feel so hearty. Y'know, that's really quite something with all the, kind of, life I've had and the adventures. Y'know, it isn't exactly what Alison's used to -- it's certainly not what I'm used to -- and (producer) T-Bone (Burnett) is, kind of, he's just like the magician moving it around. It's great, yeah."

With the incredible success of his 2007 Raising Sand collaboration with Krauss, Plant fully committed to his current organic and folk-based musical direction: "I hate to say it, but it felt young. It felt like I didn't know what was going to happen next, and it didn't really matter -- and that was the great thing. I know the songs that I like and the songs that I always attach myself to have been of a certain genre, if they're not self-penned. And I was in very good company with people who had a very familiar lean in the same direction."

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss tour dates (subject to change):

June 1 - Canandaigua, NY - CMAC
June 3 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center
June 4 - Forest Hills, NY - Forest Hills Stadium
June 6 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
June 7 - Chicago, IL - Jay Pritzker Pavilion
June 9 - Indianapolis, IN - TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
June 11 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 12 - Philadelphia, PA - TD Pavilion at The Mann
June 14 - Cary, NC - Koka Booth Amphitheatre
June 16 - Atlanta, GA - Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
June 17 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
June 24 - Pilton, England - Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm
June 26 - London, England - BST Hyde Park (with The Eagles)
June 29 - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
July 1 - Hamar, Norway - Tjuvholmen Arena
July 2 - Bergen, Norway - Bergenhus Fortress
July 5 - Rättvik, Sweden - Dalhalla
July 8 - Bruges, Belgium - Cactus Festival
July 10 - Baarn, Netherlands - Royal Park Live
July 13 - Montreux, Switzerland - Auditorium Stravinski
July 14 - Lucca, Italy - Lucca Summer Festival at Piazza Napoleone
July 16 - Stuttgart, Germany - JazzOpen Stuttgart 2022
July 18 - Sopot, Poland - Opera Lesna
July 20 - Berlin, Germany - Zitadelle
August 15 - San Diego, CA - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
August 17 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
August 18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre
August 20 - Stateline, NV - Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys
August 21 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley
August 23 - Napa, CA - Oxbow RiverStage
August 25 - Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater
August 27 - Troutdale, OR - Edgefield Amphitheater
August 28 - Redmond, WA - Marymoor Park
August 30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Sandy Amp
September 1 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
September 3 - Grand Prairie, TX - Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie
September 4 - Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheater

Happy Birthday to Rolling Stones and Faces guitarist Ron Wood who turns 75 today (June 1st)!!! Wood -- the youngest Stones -- will be onstage tonight when the band launches its "Stones Sixty" European tour in Madrid, Spain.

Earlier this year, drummer Kenney Jones revealed the upcoming Faces reunion album with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood was gaining steam. Jones spoke about the still-untitled set with Uncut and explained the new collection will feature both recently recorded material mixed with archival tracks.

Released last September was Mr. Luck - A Tribute To Jimmy Reed: Live At The Royal Albert Hall. The live album -- billed to the Ronnie Wood Band -- features Wood's longtime friend and the man he replaced in the Rolling Stones back in 1975 -- guitarist Mick Taylor.

The show was recorded back in 2013 at London's Royal Albert Hall and marks the second in a trilogy of live sets from Wood, following 2019's Mad Lad: A Live Tribute To Chuck Berry.

Back in April 2021, Ron Wood admitted that during the pandemic he battled back from another bout of cancer. The guitarist told Britain's The Sun: "I've had cancer two different ways now. I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had small-cell more recently that I fought in the last lockdown. I came through with the all-clear." Small-cell carcinoma is a fast-growing type of lung cancer commonly caused by smoking.

Out now on DVD and streaming services is Somebody Up There Likes Me, the career-spanning Ron Wood documentary. The film, directed by Mike Figgis, covers Wood's life and career from making his bones in the mod-based mid-'60s London combo the Birds, through the Jeff Beck Group, the Faces, the Rolling Stones, and beyond. Among the participants in the doc are Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, the late-Charlie Watts, and Rod Stewart.

In addition to his work with the Stones, Ron Wood co-wrote such Faces and Rod Stewart classics as "Stay With Me," "Miss Judy's Farm," "Ooh La La," "Gasoline Alley," and "Every Picture Tells A Story."

Although clean and sober for over a decade, Ron Wood spoke candidly on why he drank and did drugs, and ultimately what caused him to go get straight: "Y'know, I think a lot of it is to do -- the drink and drugs -- with the celebration thing. Like, if you've done something really well, you go, 'Yeah! Let's drink to that.' And that was just getting kind of out of hand. And I realized that I wasn't getting any happier if I drank. In fact, I was getting this person that I wasn't. I was getting very depressed and quite an angry person, and very snappy with people, and I don't like to think that that is me."

Keith Richards attributes much of the Stones' longevity over the years to Ron Wood, who joined in time for the band's 1975 tour dates: "Definitely without Ronnie Wood, we wouldn't have had the cohesion to stick together. But, y'know, it was. . . he came along at just the right time. And with a guy like that around, you gotta hang around, 'cause he so damn funny (laughs)."

Ron Wood -- who first recorded with the Stones 48 years ago -- is still considered the "new guy" in the band. He told us that he was actually born a Rolling Stone, and it simply took until '75 for him to actually become part of the group: "I was born with those songs in my mouth, anyway. Y'know, you can name any song of their. . . And I was with it, y'know, I didn't have to learn it. When I joined the band back in, '74, or whenever and I had to learn 160 songs, or something -- that was my initiation down in Woodstock -- I ended up teaching them to the band! I mean, I knew the songs. I'd never played them before, but I just knew them."

Ron Wood recalled the lead up to his debut as the Rolling Stones' third and final second guitarist: "Well, it was a fragile ship when I joined, y'know, because they'd been through many ups and downs, and there was kind of a grey cloud. Even though I knew the music, I'd never actually played the songs. So, at Montauk, Keith and I hardly slept and we kept going through the songs and, like he was hittin' me -- ‘Okay, ‘All Down The Line' -- here we go (sings riff, laughs)!' And all these songs going through my head and June the 1st in Baton Rouge in 1975, that was my opening gig. Yeah, that was really. . . I said, ‘Come on, throw it at me. Whatever you've got.'"

Out now is Under Their Thumb -- How A Nice Boy From Brooklyn Got Mixed Up With The Rolling Stones And Lived To Tell About It, by rock writer Bill German. German, who's best known in music circles as being the editor of the legendary Stones fanzine Beggars Banquet, recalls his first impressions of Ron Wood as a member of the Stones: "At first I had no idea, like, why is this guy coming over from the Faces? It was like, where's Mick Taylor going (laughs), y'know? I remember -- I think I read it in (Rolling Stone's) Random Notes first, like in 1974 -- the end of '74: 'Mick Taylor Is Leaving The Stones.' But I kept an open mind, y'know? And the first thing I heard was that he played on the back of a truck on Fifth Avenue. And it was just one song, but it sounded good -- I guess I was caught up in the excitement of another Stones tour. Y'know, I read that it was working out, so I was more than happy to welcome this guy once I started to get to know who he was."

On September 5th, 2015 the surviving Faces -- Wood, Rod Stewart, and Kenney Jones -- reunited at Surrey, England's Hurtwood Park Polo Club benefited Prostate Cancer UK. The performance marked the first time in 22 years that Rod has taken to the stage to publicly front the Faces. Sadly, keyboardist Ian McLagan died in 2014 with bassist Ronnie Lane passing in 1997 at age 51 after suffering from multiple sclerosis for over two decades.

The Faces' seven song set marked the first time all three members had played live together since their 1993 appearance at England's Brit Awards. In recent years, the Faces have played a string of shows featuring Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall on lead vocals.

Recently released is You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (1970-1975), the Faces' latest box set, which features newly remastered versions of all four of the band's studio albums, plus a bonus disc of rarities.

The collection includes The First Step (1970), Long Player (1971), A Nod Is As Good As A Wink. . . To A Blind Horse (1971), and Ooh La La (1973). All the discs feature unreleased bonus tracks recorded in conjunction with each set.

Kenney Jones told us that the Faces' sound came about due to Ron Wood reinventing himself as a musician: "When we first got together, Ronnie was learning how to play lead guitar. He was -- and still is -- a fantastic bass player. So, for him to convert from bass, it was a bit tricky, so we were with him every inch of the way when he did it. So, we were kind of learning his style along with him. So that really was a benefit to all of us -- especially me."

Over the past dozen or so years, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood have teamed up in the studio for a supposed joint album, which at one point was said to be tentatively titled, You Strum - I'll Sing. A while back we asked Rod if there's any chance we'll see him and Ron Wood teaming up for new sessions: "There may be, there may be. Y'know, it all depends on Ronnie. . . Ronnie's got another group that he's in, y'see (laughs). He wants to know what they're going to do before -- y'know, I can't put my career on hold waiting for Ronnie, who's waiting on them. So that's the way it goes on and on. Y'know, maybe one day when they pack it in, we'll have a bit more time together."

Wood's close friend, former Stones bass player, Bill Wyman remains one of Wood's biggest fans -- both on and off the stage: "Woody? He's mad (laughs). He's a clown, he's great. Good guitar player -- learns very quickly, picks up things very easily. He's a great in-between person, he gets people together and he makes you laugh, and got a lot of humor, and lots of mates. He's a good-time boy, and he's great for the band."

2015 saw the publication of Ronnie Wood: How Can It Be? A Rock & Roll Diary. Featuring a cast of characters that went on to figure heavily into his life and career -- including Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Marianne Faithfull, and many more -- the story of Wood's adventures as the 17-year-old guitarist for the Birds was handwritten in his 1965 diary, which includes newly created illustrations for the book.

It was 55 years ago today (June 1st, 1967), that the Beatles released the legendary Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album in the U.K. The album, which was released a day later in the U.S., was one of the most groundbreaking and influential records in history. There had been an unprecedented eight-month gap with no new Beatles music since the group's previous album, 1966's Revolver, with the exception of the double A-sided single "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever," which was recorded during the Sgt Pepper sessions. The album was highly anticipated, and was an immediate critical and commercial success.

In June 2017, the Beatles released the six-disc 50th anniversary deluxe edition of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album was re-released in both single and double-disc versions, as well as a two-record set. The motherload was the super deluxe six-CD set that featured a brand new stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell created from the original master tapes, with two discs including 100 minutes of never-before heard outtakes, along with new mixes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane."

Also included are both DVD and Blu-ray versions of the 1992 documentary, The Making Of Sgt. Pepper, along with 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereo mixes, a 114-page booklet, two posters and a replica "cut-out" insert from the original album release. The remixed and remastered Sgt. Pepper album debuted at Number Three on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Sgt. Pepper was the first Beatles album to be recorded after the group had stopped touring. As a result, the band could now take all the time they wanted with producer George Martin, rather than try to squeeze sessions in between tours, films, and other activities. The recording sessions stretched over a five-month period, spanning from November 24th, 1966 to April 21st, 1967, at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

The album was notable for its advance in the Beatles' songwriting, its unusual arrangements and orchestration, and its groundbreaking production techniques. It also represented a musical and visual step into psychedelia and the counterculture by the world's most popular band, and its release coincided with the famous 1967 "Summer of Love." It was hailed as a masterpiece by musicians and critics in all fields, and helped show the world that pop music could be taken more seriously as art.

Many other aspects of the album raised the bar for pop music albums, from the way the songs ran into each other, to sonic jokes embedded in the tracks, to the elaborate cover photo and packaging. The album's influence on pop culture has been immense.

Because of the group's success, they were allowed unlimited studio time and creative carte blanche to rehearse, arrange, record, and overdub while in the studio. Instead of coming to the studio with finished and fully arranged tracks as they did in the past, many of their songs were brought to life on the studio floor, including "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite," and "A Day In The Life."

THE SONGS

SIDE ONE:

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - The album opener, which led many people to initially believe that the album was recorded in front of a live audience, features a searing lead guitar part from Paul McCartney. Since 1989, the song has been a concert staple for McCartney.

"With A Little Help From My Friends" - One of the last songs recorded for the project, it features Ringo Starr on lead vocals, with McCartney on piano and also playing one of his most distinctive and melodic bass parts. The song was originally called "Bad-Finger Boogie."

Since returning to the road in 1989, Starr has included "With A Little Help From My Friends" in his concert setlists, usually as the show closer

On April 4th, 2009 McCartney and Starr performed the song for the first time together in public at New York City's Radio City Music Hall during the "Change Begins Within" benefit concert.

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"- This song caused more controversy than the other tracks. The initials of the song's title were rumored to stand for the hallucinogenic drug LSD, and caused the song to be banned from British airwaves. John Lennon, who wrote the majority of the lyrics, always insisted that the song was written after his then three-year-old son Julian came home from school with a crayon drawing of a schoolmate. When Lennon asked him what the picture was of, Julian answered, "Lucy in the sky with diamonds."

This was the only song from the album that Lennon ever performed live, when he sang it with Elton John on Thanksgiving night, 1974, at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"Getting Better" - The most straight-forward pop track on the album, and stylistically closest to the band's signature lineup of two guitars, bass and drums, is representative of how Lennon and McCartney were collaborating at the time. McCartney wrote the main body of the song, with Lennon supplying the "bridge" or "middle eight," of "I used to be cruel to my woman . . ."

McCartney has said that Lennon's answering vocal of "Couldn't get much worse" to his "It's getting better all the time" perfectly summed up the sweet and sour elements of their musical partnership.

McCartney cribbed the title from a pet phrase of substitute drummer Jimmy Nicol, who filled in for Ringo during the Beatles' Australian tour in 1964.

The song got its concert premiere during McCartney's 2002-2003 world tour.

"Fixing A Hole" - There is some uncertainty as to the exact instrumental lineup on this song. According to session tapes, McCartney is featured on the harpsichord, with the bass part being recorded simultaneously on the same track. Seeing as how McCartney couldn't be in two places at once, it's a safe bet George Harrison was on bass guitar. Harrison also provides the distinctive "spiraling" guitar solo in his only true six-string spotlight of the album.

"Fixing A Hole" got its live premiere in 1992 when McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater. On his 2005 tour, he performed the song alone, unaccompanied on the piano.

"She's Leaving Home" - A classic Lennon and McCartney collaboration about the burgeoning 1960's generation gap. The verses of the song were written by McCartney, with Lennon supplying the song's bridge of "We gave her most of our lives . . ." No Beatles play instruments on this track.

McCartney and George Martin got into a slight tiff over this song when McCartney enlisted the help of producer Mike Leander to score the string part for the song, rather than waiting for Martin to finish his session work with Cilla Black.

McCartney premiered the song live during his 2002-2003 world tour.

"Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" - Lennon composed the song after purchasing an 1800's circus poster which literally describes the story of the song. The song's characteristic pump organ circus sound came from Lennon playing an actual organ, combined with tape loops of an organ played by George Martin spliced, thrown into the air, and reassembled. McCartney supplies the acoustic guitar solo that sounds like a Greek stringed instrument.

An early version of the song can be found on The Beatles Anthology 3, with McCartney coaching Lennon on how to deliver the song's lead vocal.

McCartney is currently performing a note-perfect rendition of the song on his current dates.

SIDE TWO:

"Within You, Without You" - George Harrison's sole songwriting contribution to the album, this features a mini-Indian orchestra arranged by producer George Martin. It was Harrison's idea to add the laughter at the end of the track, to dispense with the overly serious mood and subject of the song.

The song, which is the longest on the album, reflects Harrison's deepening spiritual quest through Hindu teachings.

Shortly before his death in 1980, Lennon praised this song as one of Harrison's best, and said it was a personal favorite of his.

"When I'm Sixty-Four" - One of McCartney's earliest songs, which he began around 1958 but took another eight years to finish. The song has a speeded-up lead vocal with a wordless backing vocal by McCartney, Harrison and Lennon, who although admittedly not a fan of the song, supplied the names of the subject's mythical grandchildren, "Vera, Chuck, and Dave," along with other lyrics. This song, "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "Penny Lane" were the only tracks on the album to have been recorded in 1966.

"When I'm Sixty-Four" and is the only McCartney tracks on the album that he has never performed live.

In 2002 Julian Lennon recorded a version of the song for an Allstate TV commercial.

"Lovely Rita" - McCartney's ode to a mythical British meter maid. The song features soaring backing vocals by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, as well as a piano solo by George Martin, and comb and paper effects by Lennon and Harrison. McCartney currently performs the song, playing a 12-string acoustic guitar.

"Good Morning, Good Morning" - Lennon was inspired by a Kellogg's Cornflake commercial for this slightly psychedelic look at suburbia. The song features the horn section of the Brian Epstein-managed group Sounds Incorporated -- who opened for the Beatles on their 1965 U.S. tour. George Harrison doesn't appear on the track, which features McCartney supplying a virtuosic raga-like lead guitar solo. In 1980 Lennon dismissed the song as "garbage."

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Reprise"- This short reprise matches its opening guitar note perfectly with the rooster crow that ends the previous track. McCartney occasionally closes his shows with the "Pepper" reprise played in medley with "The End" from 1969's Abbey Road.

"A Day In The Life" - Lennon, McCartney and George Martin's tour de force combined a stark and plaintive ballad by Lennon with a brisk shuffle by McCartney. At Lennon and McCartney's urging, George Martin arranged an orchestra to go from the lowest note of their instruments to the highest in order to create the cacophony of sound that links the sections. The song also used the orchestra part to end the song, before the final droning piano chord, which had all four Beatles hitting the chord with both hands on different keyboards.

On June 1st, 2008, in the Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, England, McCartney paid a poignant tribute to both the 41st anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper and his former partner John Lennon, by performing for the first time ever their crowning production moment "A Day In The Life." Shortly after, the song was regularly featured in McCartney's setlists in medley with Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance."

The Beatles produced a promotional video for the song, filmed primarily at the orchestral session, but it was not released at the time. Studio guests seen in the footage include Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithful, Donovan and the Monkees' Mike Nesmith.

At the end of "A Day In The Life," the band added two sonic "jokes" -- first, a high-pitched "dog whistle" noise many people could not hear, but which was audible to small children and dogs, and then a two-second loop of laughing gibberish in the vinyl record's run-out groove, that would continue playing indefinitely on many phonographs.

AUDIO CLIPS

In 1995's Beatles Anthology, George Harrison credited Paul McCartney with coming up with the concept of the Beatles taking on an alter-ego for Sgt. Pepper: "Well really, it was Paul who had been on a plane journey with (Beatles road manager) Mal Evans and come up with this idea of Sgt. Pepper. And he was just kind of. . . To me, we were just kind of in the studio to make the next record, and he was going on about this idea of some fictitious band."

Paul McCartney recalled that the types of names that various West Coast groups were using inspired the concept of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: "At the time there were lots of those sort of bands that y'know, 'Laughing Joe and his Medicine Band Thank You Wham Bam Ma'am', kind of group names. 'Colonel Tucker's Medicinal Brew & Compound.' So I just thought, if there was a band, what would be a mad name for it?"

John Lennon claimed that despite Sgt. Pepper being called rock's first concept album, he never considered it to be one: "It's called the first concept album. It doesn't go anywhere. '(Being For The Benefit Of) Mr. Kite,' all of my contributions have absolutely nothing to do with this idea of Sgt. Pepper and his band. But it works because we said it worked, and that's how it appeared."

Paul McCartney recalled how the recording sessions for Sgt. Pepper differed from all that had come before: "'Let's pretend we're not the Beatles' -- that's a pretty big dare right there, y'know, and it changed everything. What was great about it, it was liberating, because you could go in and work on a track and whereas before someone would sort of say, 'Okay, y'know, it's 'Eleanor Rigby' -- now Paul sings the lead.' Now it could be 'Crazy Moon-dog' is going to do the vocal.'"

Not long before his 2021 death, the Monkees' Mike Nesmith recalled the group traveling to London in early-1967 -- with Nesmith and his first wife Phyllis staying with John and Cynthia Lennon at their Weybridge estate during the recording of Sgt. Pepper: "It was just a small bedroom, one of many that he had. I remember a lot about the poster for '(Being For The Benefit For) Mr. Kite' being in John's little music room and us sitting there painting that piano -- he had the paintbrushes and everything. Sitting side-by-side playing the piano with him, and when he would play 'Mr. Kite' for me. 'Showed me how it went and sharing the music space with him, that was really nice. It was good. He was, y'know, gifted."

McCartney recalls writing "A Day In The Life" with Lennon: "For instance, 'A Day In The Life," John and I sat down and he had the opening verse. I think he had the opening idea, or we then took the idea from like The Daily Mirror or something. The Black-burn Lanc-ashire, the holes, Albert Hall all got mixed, a little poetic jumble that sounded nice. It was obviously a gorgeous song when he brought it. And I say, I was a big fan of John's, you gotta remember that. It wouldn't be, 'Yes professional person, we'll write this.' It would be, 'Can't wait to get my hands on this!'"

George Martin recalled scoring the orchestra that linked Lennon and McCartney's sections together: "They told me they wanted an orchestral climax to fill these empty bars. A giant orgasm of sound rising from nothing at all to the most incredible noise."

George Harrison explained that the Beatles' drug use -- mainly pot and LSD -- greatly influenced the music they were making in the mid-'60s: "It mightn't have affected creativity for other people -- I know it did for us, and it did for me. I mean, the first thing for people who smoke marijuana and were into music, is that somehow, it focuses your attention better on the music, and so, you can hear it clearer. You can see things, or y'know, you could see things much different. I mean, LSD was something else, it wasn't just. . . marijuana was just like having a couple of beers, really (compared to acid). But LSD was more like going to the moon."

Ringo Starr recalls that although the "Fab Four" were known to party during their sessions during their "psychedelic" period, they always needed to keep it in check for the sake of the recording: "We actually learned that years ago in the Beatles. Because we weren't saints and we would work late some nights and we'd make these (laughs) records -- it was like 'Oh wow! yeah, yeah, give me a cassette, let's take that home!' And every time we'd come in the next day to EMI (Studios) (and say), 'Well we'd better re-do that.' Because the next morning it was never so thrilling."

McCartney felt vindicated after the album's release, in view of the press' constant speculation that the Beatles were breaking up: "I was very pleased 'cause the newspapers, the musical papers, had been saying recently -- a month or two before -- 'What are the Beatles up to? Drying up, I suppose.' And it was nice making an album like Pepper thinking, 'Drying up? Yeah, I suppose that's right, yeah.' So it was lovely to have that on them, you know?"

The group's recording engineer Geoff Emerick says that while the group worked out the songs' arrangements, he was happy to have the extra time to experiment on the group's sound: "They never realized what we were doing. As you know most of the tracks were constructed down in that studio. And while they were doing that it gave me the time, the luxury of time to, to be able to think up ideas of how to record different instruments in a different way and get different sounds. But they were never really aware of what we were doing, I don't think"

Paul McCartney recalled some of the snags that the Beatles faced with their label EMI while creating the mosaic of people surrounding them on the Sgt. Pepper cover: "There was a bit of dispute about this cover, y'know, everyone -- 'Oh, you can't do t hat!' Y'know? 'Cause that's the thing if you're being free, it's obviously a lot of people saying, "Naughty! Watch it.' He was great (EMI Chairman) Sir Joe (Lockwood), actually. He was very good during that time. 'Cause, I think it must've come as shock to him, all this stuff. Anyway, he came around to my house and said, 'I'm afraid old chap, we can't have Gandhi (laughs).' (I said) 'Whaddya mean, can't? He's alright! Y'know, what's wrong with him?' 'Well,' he said, 'Might offend the Indians.'"

Beatlefan magazine's executive editor Al Sussman explains that the wait for new Beatles music seemed almost intolerable: "The week that Sgt. Pepper came out was absolutely amazing, because we had been by that point it had been 10 months since the last Beatles album . . . I mean that's an eternity in those days!"

Sussman went on to say that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album was the first major example that the youth of the world were all in tune with each other: "In those days, records came out on Friday. So that weekend, everybody was listening to this album. The same thing happened when 'The White Album' came out (the year after). And you knew, that everybody, everybody, who were at all hip to what was musically relevant was listening to this. Oh yeah."

Sussman recalls that at the time most fans were noticing that their heroes might be smoking something stronger that just cigarettes: "The fold-out of Sgt. Pepper. You'd fold the picture over and look in their eyes, and you can tell. There was definitely a glint, a certain glint to their eyes, that we hadn't really seen before."

Al Sussman says that one of the album's greatest achievements is that it showed the world that rock n' roll was not just disposable kids music: "Sgt. Pepper was the first album the non-rock n' roll world looked upon as being. . . this is a significant record. Y'know, this isn't 'yeah, yeah, yeah' anymore. These guys are doing music that really says something."

After the Beatles' 1970 breakup, John Lennon re-evaluated everything he ever did with the band: "It wasn't that spectacular when you look back on it. I mean, like anything, it was great then, but people just have this dream about Pepper. And it was good for then, y'know?"

THE ALBUM COVER

The Beatles designed the album cover concept with then-husband-and-wife team Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, explaining that they wanted to appear with a crowd behind them of "people they liked." Blake created the scene of the group wearing psychedelic marching band outfits, being flanked by their audience, using mainly cardboard blown-up photographs of famous people. The final shot, which was photographed by the late Michael Cooper, has gone on to be one of the most recognizable and imitated album covers in rock history.

Among the famous figures that the group's record company EMI flat out rejected for the cover were John Lennon's suggestions of Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and Adolph Hitler -- although a Hitler cardboard cutout was prepared.

The label made the Beatles write to each of the people appearing on the cover and ask them for permission. Prior to granting approval, Mae West responded by asking, "What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?" Only Bowery Boy star Leo Gorcey declined, after requesting $400. His face was painted over.

Among the many 72 faces featured in the cover are Lenny Bruce, W.C. Fields, Edgar Allan Poe, psychoanalyst Carl Jung, Dion, Fred Astaire, Bob Dylan, Aldous Huxley, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Karl Marx, original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein, Marlene Dietrich, and Shirley Temple.

Also featured on the cover were figures on loan from Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, of former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston and the Beatles themselves with their earlier "mop-top" look.

A wax figure rumored to be the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson has cropped up on several photos from the session.

A doll featured in the corner of the cover wore a sweater declaring "Welcome The Rolling Stones," as a nod to the group's good friends and friendly rivals.

The late-Eddie Van Halen is the latest rock legend to have their death examined by the Reelz network. Blabbermouth reported Autopsy: The Last Hours Of Eddie Van Halen will premiere on Sunday, June 5th at 8 p.m. ET. Van Halen died on October 6th, 2020 at age 65 after years of battling throat cancer.

According to the show's official description, "He was a workaholic often pushing his body to the limits in order to perform while secretly battling illness. . . But if caught early Eddie's disease had reasonable survival rates so what exactly happened? Now renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Hunter will analyze every detail of his life in order to piece together what else may have been going on in his body, ultimately leading to his untimely death."

Slash -- a close friend and longtime fan -- believes that although Eddie Van Halen has been lauded for his groundbreaking physicality -- a lot of the guitarists that followed in his wake, failed to pick up on the subtleties that made him so unique: "I don't think anybody's had as much an influence. Every kid on the block was learning Van Halen licks. In between all the technical prowess that Eddie had, there was a killer blues thing. Everybody that emulated it, nobody ever got that part. They had the hammer-ons, they had the tremelo bar stuff, and all that kind of crap -- but they never got the most important was all the really tasty stuff that was in-between. And just, like, the melodic stuff where all the soul was coming from."

Jonas Brothers are teaming with Scriber, a subscription-based texting and digital fan club service.

Billboard reports that the band will offer their fans exclusive content, including behind-the-scenes videos, early ticket access, and other updates through the brand-new platform.

Additionally, more than half the band's proceeds will go to a charitable organization selected by the group.

Nicki Minaj has been named MaximBET's first Global Ambassador. According to Rap-Up, MaximBET is a privately held, licensed sports betting and iGaming platform. In the role, Nicki will work on merchandise, parties, partnerships, fan experiences, and branding, all designed to bring together entertainment, sports, celebrity, and betting. The rapper is also the new Creative Director of Maxim magazine, special advisor to the MaximBET Board of Directors, and will be actively involved in the company's iGaming plans.

Nicki said in a statement, "I don't think I've ever been prouder of a collaboration. Merging business savvy power moves with my natural, creative, sexy, fun, and fashion-forward expression is just so spot-on as it relates to this partnership."

Her statement continued, "I'm ready to fully step into my potential as a young, influential Queen, and owner and open doors for others to dream big. Get ready for the sexy parties and remember: scared money don't make NO MONEY!!!! HA!!! Place your bets!!!! Let's GO!!!"

Yes co-founder Jon Anderson has just rolled out a 13-city 50th anniversary tour saluting the band's watershed 1972 album, Close To The Edge. Anderson will once again be backed by youngsters from the Paul Green Rock Academy -- an extension of the Paul Green School of Rock Music, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.

Jon Anderson, who'll be performing songs from across his catalogue in the shows, said in the tour's announcement:

There are so many wonderful moments in my musical life, and being onstage with these young teenagers performing Classic Yes songs makes me so happy and proud.

It's a marvel and a tremendous pleasure for me. They are a joy to be with and so much fun! I am grateful, thankful and feel very blessed to be able to sing along with them.

Jon Anderson told us that whether on his own or within the confines of Yes, over the decades, he's always jumped at the chance to further his creative explorations: "Yeah, y'know, in some ways, you reinvent yourself every day -- or every minute, some people say. But I know that over my career, I was always willing to Vangelis, or Kitaro, or Bob Fripp. Y'know, when Bob Fripp asked me to sing a song on the second (King) Crimson album, I said, 'Yes! Please!' And I think that's what life is all about. You have to be adventurous. So, I don't feel any weight at all having to prove anything ever. I've never actually wanted to have to prove anything. I'm still busy trying to create the better music."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Jon Anderson tour dates (subject to change):

July 7 - Plymouth, NH - The Flying Monkey Performing Arts Center
July 8 - Beverly, MA - The Cabot
July 13 - Huntingdon, NY - The Paramount
July 14 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theater
July 16 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Playhouse
July 17 - Sugar Loaf, NY - Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center
July 20 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre
July 22 - Kent, OH - The Kent Stage
July 23 - Des Plaines, IL - Des Plaines Theatre
July 27 - Greensburg, PA - The Palace Theatre
July 30 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
August 3 - State College, PA - The State Theatre
August 6 - Albany, NY - The Egg

It was 37 years ago today (June 1st, 1985) that Sting released his first solo album apart from the Police. Although the collection was originally conceived as just one of the three separate solo projects he, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland embarked on following the global success of the band's Grammy Award-Winning 1983 Synchronicity album and its subsequent world tour, which stretched into 1984; barring one reunion track the following year for their greatest hits compilation, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles marked the end of the Police and the official start of Sting's solo career.

The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, which topped out at Number Two on the Billboard 200, has remained one of the decade's most important and durable albums, spawning four Top 20 hits: "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" (#3), "Fortress Around Your Heart" (#8), "Love Is The Seventh Wave" (#17), and "Russians" (#16).

Sting enlisted the era's top young jazz musicians for the sessions, introducing a whole new audience to such heavyweights as saxophonist Branford Marsalis, keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, drummer Omar Hakim, and future Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, who was then best known for his work with Miles Davis. The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, which was co-produced by Sting and Pete Smith, went on to snag Grammy nominations for Album Of The Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, and Best Engineered Recording.

At the time of the album's release, Sting was far from pitching it as his first album following the split of the Police, telling Spin magazine: "The Police and my solitary projects are logically very separate. We haven't broken up, but we've become separated by our own plans for ourselves for the time being. It's nothing more than that. . . We're all extremely busy. Stewart is immersed in a successful musical life that includes a solo album this summer. Andy's working on a solo record starting next month. We're pleasantly preoccupied, which is a good sign, rather than a bad one."

Then-Musician magazine editor Vic Garbarini played a pivotal role in the sound of Blue Turtles, telling Spin: "Sting knew I was in close touch with this network of players. I said to him, 'But you don't want the older jazzmen who grew up playing bebop. What you want are the young ones who were raised on jazz, fusion and funk and are closet rock fans. In other words, a more assimilated crew but still with a contemporary edge. I suggested he sign up Branford sight unseen, because I knew Branford and his sax has got that Wayne Shorter/(John) Coltrane sensibility but also his own very contemporary funk-influenced sound. Sting agreed. Overnight, I put together workshop-type auditions with the full spectrum, from the avant-garde end of James Blood Ulmer sidemen to the neo-classical guys. By the second day, we had most of the group."

Sting told us that leaving the Police had nothing to do with ego and everything about pushing his own musical boundaries: "I think it was really about freedom. The freedom to follow my muse, to follow my curiosity about music. And a band is a very restrictive, reactionary, conservative thing -- any band -- 'Oh, we gotta be the band! We have to have our little image! And we must never change, it's what we do.' My nature is much more of a gadfly (laughs), y'know? I'm intrigued by a lot of things. I'm also intrigued by music as a universal mystery -- not just one bit of it."

He told us that despite his fans criticizing him at the time for switching musical gears -- he didn't "go jazz" -- as many Police fans accused him of doing: "It wasn't really a direction. It might've looked like a direction because of the casting of the band was very much from the world of jazz; but we weren't playing jazz. Anything but. That direction was driven by songs. Very disparate song genres. As different as 'Moon Over Bourbon Street,' which is a kind of Kurt Weil sort of (laughs) strange theater song, to "Fortress Around Your Heart," uh, "If You Love Someone Set Them Free" -- it was just a very, very disparate collection of songs. No, there was no, like, 'direction.' There was no, like, 'This is what we're doing' -- other than me exploring my freedom."

Although Sting's initial break from the Police was only supposed to be temporary -- yet open ended, solo super-stardom kept him from rejoining his bandmates for nearly a quarter century. Andy Summers told us he's got no issues with the fact that Sting essentially left the Police behind following the release of Blue Turtles: "I think he made, y'know, what was the right decision for him. Y'know, I don't point any fingers at him for doing that. Y'know, we'd had phenomenal success. . . Y'know, he wanted to do his own thing and, and he actually proved it, because he has become a very successful male solo singer. Now, a lot of guys who leave big bands, that's not true, or they don't make it, and then they have to do the reunion thing, y'know?"

Sting kicks off his latest "My Songs" Las Vegas residency on June 3rd at Caesars Palace.

Alina Mawlka is speaking out about the rumors that she split up Liam Payne and his ex-fiancée Maya Henry.

A spokesperson for the 24-year-old model told E! News Sunday (May 29th), "Aliana is very taken back by the accusations that have been made regarding a relationship with Liam while he was still engaged or involved with his ex-fiancée." They continued, "Under no circumstances would Aliana have involved herself in a public relationship as such if there was any truth to the comments that have been made."

Last week, Henry fueled the speculation that Payne was unfaithful when she commented on a photo of him and Mawlka with, "I love all of the fans so much but please stop sending me these pictures of my fiancé wrapped around another woman. This is not me and it's hard enough knowing this has happened without seeing it. Enough now."

The Rolling Stones have been digging deep in tour rehearsals ahead of opening night tomorrow (June 1st) in Madrid, Spain. The band's European run will play 14 dates across 10 countries.

According to the unofficial RocksOff.org message board, the Stones have been running through tunes from across their entire 60-year-career -- including such notable songs as "Out Of Time," "Sad Sad Sad," "Fool To Cry," the only recently-released Goats Head Soup outtake "Criss Cross," Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone," "Monkey Man," "Neighbours," "Little T & A," "She's So Cold," "Sweet Virginia," "Hot Stuff," and "Mothers Little Helper," among others.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards talked about compiling the Stones' live set: "(Mick Jagger): "We always like to do songs that we've. . . Obviously we do a lot of songs that we do know, and it's nice to find ones that we've never done before. So, we're always looking for those." (Keith Richards): "'Doin' Your Thing,' you remember that one?" (Jagger): "I do actually, but I'm not going to sing it now, though."

During an interview with Dazed, A$AP Rocky revealed that he'd like to raise "open-minded children with Rihanna. He said, "I hope to raise open-minded children. Not people who discriminate, And I'm not trying to describe a saint, but realistically, I just want a cool child with cool parents."

He continued, "Things like diversity and versatility are important, and they'll be embedded in the household."

Rocky and Rihanna welcomed their first child, a baby boy on May 13th.

Camila Cabello opened the Union of European Football associations' 2022 Champions League Final Saturday (May 28th), but was not happy with the fans' reaction to her performance.

According to Page Six, the singer took to Twitter after she left the field to chastise Liverpool and Real Madrid supporters for drowning out the sound of her nearly six-minute opener.

She wrote, "Playing back our performance and I can't believe people were winging their teams anthem so loud during our performance. Like my team and I worked tirelessly for so long to bring the right vibes and give a good show." In a follow up post she added, "Very rude but whatever. IM GLAD U GUYS LOVED IT."

Both tweets have since been deleted.

Set for release on July 1st is Elvis Costello's reunion set with pre-fame bandmate, Allan Mayes, titled, The Resurrection Of Rust. Back in the early-'70s the pair was part of a fledgling pub rock ensemble named Rusty that split before ever earning the big bucks or heading into the studio. The two old friends have now teamed up to produce what Costello calls, "The record we would have cut when we were 18, if anyone had let us."

Costello -- who was still then known as D.P. MacManus -- explained in the album's announcement, "The EP contains new renditions of songs from our 1972 club repertoire; our duets on two Nick Lowe tunes from 1972; 'Surrender To The Rhythm' and 'Don't Lose Your Grip On Love' -- and closes with an arrangement incorporating Neil Young's 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' and 'Dance, Dance, Dance,' which marks my recording debut on the electric violin."

Elvis Costello shed light on his decades as a hard working musician, songwriter, singer, and bandleader: "I don't really have a choice, but I know people who really feel that way about music and don't have the opportunities that I have. So, some of it is luck, some of it is what you've been given -- and some of it just is work. That is the part of it that people miss that there is just a lot of work. The playing the show is joyfully or maniacally or whatever frame of mind you're in. . . There's a lot of miles and there's a lot of thinking. I have to tell people, 'When it looks like I'm just sitting still, I'm pondering sometimes. 'Cause that's what I do. I live on my wits."

Jack Antonoff is engaged.

According to People, the 38-year-old Bleachers musician is set to tie the knot with 27-year-old Maid star, Margaret Qualley.

The actress was recently spotted wearing a diamond ring at the Cannes Film Festival last Wednesday (May 25th), where her latest film, Stars at Noon, held it's premiere.

The outlet reports that the couple has been dating since last summer and went public with their romance earlier this year at the AFI Awards Luncheon in March.

Machine Gun Kelly says that Pete Davidson showed up at his birthday party back in April, with Batman. The big surprised happened when Davidson asked if he could bring a plus-one and then invited Robert Pattinson.

Kelly said, "I was like, ‘You brought Batman?' Everyone kept coming up and was like, ‘Dude, is Batman at your birthday party?'"

In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Kelly explained that one Easter, when Davidson showed up at his house with beer, he took him to Sandra Bullock's house, where they ran into Jennifer Aniston and other major stars.

The two have become good friends and Davidson is in Machine Gun Kelly's movie, Good Mourning.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly says that Pete Davidson showed up at his birthday party back in April, with Batman.
• Kelly said, "I was like, ‘You brought Batman?' Everyone kept coming up and was like, ‘Dude, is Batman at your birthday party?'"
• Davidson is in Machine Gun Kelly's movie, Good Mourning.