LOTS OF MUSIC NEWS....
2025 is turning out to be the year that brings back legendary lineups. Just a week after learning that the original Alice Cooper lineup had reunited, comes word that the remaining Faces, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones, are working on new music. Jones says a new album from the band, their first since 1973's "Ooh La La," could be released next year. The band has been talking about potential new music for almost five years, but in a new interview with "The Telegraph," Jones reveals that the trio have recorded "about 11 tracks," with Jools Holland guesting on one song."Not all of them are going to be right [for the album]," Jones says. "But most of them are good." Scheduling has been a problem, but, Jones says, "I can’t see it coming out this year," the drummer admitted, adding "but I can see it coming out next year."
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It's rare in a career as long as that of the Rolling Stones, that a band does something new...but that's exactly what the Stones have up their sleeve. The band's next new song will be...zydeco? For those unfamiliar, zydeco is the music of New Orleans, and one of it's greatest musicians is Clifton Chenier. A new tribute album to the Louisiana legend, "A Tribute to the King of Zydeco," is coming out this summer, and the Stones have long had an appreciation for Chenier. Mick Jagger said of the musician, "We first listened to him around 1965 when we went to the States and picked up his records on the Arhoolie label...We first met up with the band in Los Angeles, I think, and I love the way he just grabs a blues number and adapts it to his style." The band has agreed to cut a cover of Chenier's "Zydeco Sont Pas Sale," which will be the Stones' first new music since the release of "Hackney Diamonds" in 2023. "A Tribute to the King of Zydeco" comes out June 27.
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Founding KISS drummer Peter Criss will release a new album in the fall.
In a short video posted on his website he says, "I had an absolute blast doing it and everyone was so great and so fun to work with -- [among them] John 5, Billy Sheehan, and Paul Shaffer."
KISS historian Julian Gill, who hosts the KISSFAQ podcast and visited Criss this week at his New Jersey home, says, “This is a hard rock kick-ass album, co-produced by Barry Pointer who's worked with Ozzy, Marilyn Manson, Steve Stevens and many others.
"[The album is] vibrant and powerful. I think KISS fans are gonna love it. Peter's drum sound is absolutely massive and his vocals are powerful..."
This will be Peter's sixth album and his first since 2007's One for All.
Peter will be in New York City this Friday night at The Cutting Room where he will be honored with the Legacy Award from Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen's Raven Drum Foundation. Peter will also perform along with Allen.
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Kirk Hammett says he'd definitely be interested in having Metallica play at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
Hammett tells the Hollywood Reporter, "That’s a great example of how venues are changing. That’s using modern technology to the fullest, to really up the levels of production and entertainment, connected to AI and making it a crazy experience."
Since the Sphere opened in September 2023, it's hosted residencies by U2, Dead & Company, Eagles and Phish, with country star Kenny Chesney and pop group Backstreet Boys set to do residencies this spring and summer.
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The Grateful Dead are releasing another best-of, this one in conjunction with their 60th anniversary.
Greatest Hits, set for release on June 16th, contains nine songs – “Casey Jones,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Box of Rain,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Truckin’,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Fire on the Mountain,” “Estimated Prophet” and “Touch of Grey.”
This album will be preceded by a 60-CD live collection, Enjoying the Ride, on May 30th. And ahead of that massive collection comes the release of “Althea” from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut on March 14th, 1981.
You can find the video below.