Bruce Springsteen 'Wrecking Ball' U.S. Tour Dates Announced
billboard.com
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will launch the first U.S. leg of the 2012 "Wrecking Ball" World Tour on March 18 in Atlanta, the singer announced today. Springsteen's 17th studio album, "Wrecking Ball," will be released on Columbia Records on March 6.
"We Take Care Of Our Own," the album's first single, can be streamed at the singer's official website; the album is also available for pre-order.
The official press release lists the E Street Band's members as follows, notably excluding a horn player. Longtime saxophonist Clarence Clemons passed away last year. Roy Bittan (piano, synthesizer; Nils Lofgren (guitar, vocals; Patti Scialfa (guitar, vocals; Garry Tallent (bass guitar; Stevie Van Zandt (guitar, vocals; and Max Weinberg (drums; with Soozie Tyrell (violin, guitar, vocals and Charlie Giordano ( keyboards.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2012 Tour Dates:
U.S. Tour Dates
March 18: Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)
March 19: Greensboro, N.C. (Greensboro Coliseum)
March 23: Tampa, Fla. (Tampa Bay Times Forum)
March 26: Boston, Mass. (TD Garden)
March 28: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wells Fargo Center)
March 29: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wells Fargo Center)
April 1: Washington, D.C. (Verizon Center)
April 3: East Rutherford, N.J. (Izod Center)
April 4: East Rutherford, N.J. (Izod Center)
April 6: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)
April 9: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)
April 12: Detroit, Mich. (The Palace of Auburn Hills)
April 13: Buffalo, N.Y. (First Niagara Center)
April 16: Albany, N.Y. (Times Union Center)
April 17: Cleveland, Ohio (Quicken Loans Arena)
April 24: San Jose, Calif. (HP Pavilion)
April 26: Los Angeles, Calif. (Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena)
April 29: New Orleans, L.A. (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival)
May 2: Newark, N.J. (Prudential Center)
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Rushing Into The New Year
realrocknews.com
The year 2012 will bring Rush fans something they haven't seen in about five years: A brand-new studio album. This one's been in the oven for a while having been started back in 2009, but it looks like it's almost done since the group is reportedly done with recording and was planning to begin mixing early in the new year.
Two songs from the new album, Clockwork Angels were released previously, giving fans a sneak peek at their latest material, and according to a recent entry by drummer and lyricist Neil Peart on his personal website, the three Canadian boys aren't dialing things back any. In fact, Peart says that, "So . . . thus have I arrived at my sixtieth year, more-or-less gracefully and gratefully, feeling healthy and strong, and feeling that I am putting words together and hitting things with sticks better than ever."
If the reports that say Rush may start touring this spring hold any water, fans might not have to wait too long before the new album is released. No official announcement has been made regarding a tour, but it does make sense considering the forthcoming new album. Although there's no reason to doubt that the group will embark on a tour soon, I wonder how anxious they are to actually get out there and do it.
As he has in past writings, Peart reveals in his most recent posting that there is a downside to going on tour and with a young daughter at home, it may be something that's weighing on his mind more than usual these days. "It's like when people ask me before I go away if I am excited about going on tour, and I can only look at them in wonderment. Should I be excited about leaving my wife, my baby daughter, my friends, my dog, my house, my toys, my desk, my kitchen, my grocery stores, and all that?," he writes.
It surely isn't my intent to throw cold water on the expectation that Rush has a lot of life left in it and that fans can expect the group to continue making new music and touring in the years to come. As a fan myself, I don't feel like I'm anywhere near the point where I'm ready to say that I've heard enough music from Rush, but at the same time, it is enlightening to gain a little insight into what the people up there on that stage might be feeling.
It's always been pretty clear that Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are more-or-less the front men both on and off stage while Peart has always been more reclusive, a trait that has likely been misunderstood by some fans through the years, but I believe he has more than made up for any perceived snobbery by sharing his thoughts, feelings and certain details of his personal life through his website. I feel that I know more about his personal life than I do about those of his band mates, even though Lee and Lifeson are the two that we most often see and hear during interviews and other public events.
It's clear that Peart is a man that's far more comfortable behind a keyboard or with pen in hand than he is on a talk show set or in a radio station studio. The tendency for the public to think of celebrities as something other than human is well demonstrated, and I for one am glad we have this medium called the internet that allows our favorite rock stars or actors the opportunity to reach out directly and remind us all that they are just as human as the rest of us.
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Van Halen Preps For 2012 Tour with New Album Release Looming
realrocknews.com
Van Halen is kicking back into high gear starting next month with the start of their 2012 tour on February 18th and the release of their new album on February 7th. The group announced plans for their upcoming tour during a special performance at New York's Cafe What last week. The album, entitled A Different Kind of Truth will be the first one featuring David Lee Roth since the multi-platinum 1984 which was released during January of that year.
After Roth's departure from the group in 1985, Van Halen worked their way through through replacement frontmen including Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone. They even engineered a fleeting reunion with Roth during 1996 which ultimately resulted in a further souring of relations between Roth and Eddie Van Halen.
In addition to the on-again-off-again relationship problems between Roth and Eddie Van Halen, the group also experienced a falling out with long-time bassist Michael Anthony who was officially fired from the band during 2006 and was replaced by Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang. The departure of Anthony may have been the result of his friendship with Sammy Hagar who reportedly refused to join Van Halen for a 2004 tour unless Anthony was included. The reason for the plans to exclude Anthony were not clear, but he was permitted to re-join the group after Hagar's ultimatum. After that, Anthony's role as part of Van Halen was gradually diminished until he was let go.
After sporadic rumors of a reunion with Roth came and went for a number of years the announcement was finally made during 2007 that Roth would indeed reunite with Van Halen for a tour which kicked off in Charlotte, NC on September 27th, 2007. Although the tour was plagued by numerous cancellations and the rumors that were spawned as a result, the tour was ultimately considered a success for the group, reportedly bringing in almost $93 Million which marked the most profitable tour in the group's history.
Today Van Halen released the first single from the new album. "Tattoo," is the kind of hard-rocking guitar-driven track we'd expect to hear from Van Halen with soaring vocal harmonies and David Lee Roth's trademark theatrics dominating the accompanying music video.
I strongly suspect that the upcoming tour will not include the cancellations and drama that disrupted the 2007-2008 tour since tour organizers and the band members themselves are probably being extra vigilant and making sure that each and every member is physically able to meet the demands of the tour, which spans about three months and includes shows in 40-plus cities.
Although there are likely still fans who will not consider the current incarnation of Van Halen representative of a genuine reunion without Michael Anthony, the group is clearly intent on reviving brand Van Halen and fortifying their position as one of the most successful rock acts in history.
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CD Review: Aqualung 40th Anniversary Special Edition
realrocknews.com
What good is a reissue anyway? In many cases, not much. One often gets the sense that reissues are just another way to milk a bit more cash from some classic music. Such is not the case with Jethro Tull's Aqualung 40th Anniversary Special Edition and Collector's Edition. This one is not one of your typical "remastered" releases, this one has been remixed and that's what makes this release a very worthy addition to any Tull fan's collection.
Fortunately for Jethro Tull fans, the fact that the original 1971 release of Aqualung was a bit flat, OK quite flat, sonically speaking, did not go unnoticed by Ian Anderson. The quirky frontman, it turns out, was disappointed with the final mix after spending many frustrating hours working with equipment that just wasn't able to deliver the sound he had wanted. Although the material is brilliant and was executed superbly four decades ago, the sound quality of the album was always a disappointment, and left fans like myself wondering why they could not have done better. Now we know.
Although the quality of this new release is limited by the quality of those original master recordings that were used to remix this album, I can say without hesitation that the result was well worth every hour invested in it by Ian Anderson and Steve Wilson, the audio wiz behind this release. As revealed in the accompanying booklet, Wilson made use of the latest technology to bring out the best of the original recordings and tweak them just enough to finally make these classic tracks come alive.
Sitting here with both the original release and the new release queued up, comparing the two might best be summed up by saying that the original recording sounds as if someone has draped heavy blankets over my speakers while the new release brings the lows, the mids and the highs that were sorely lacking in the original release to life. For me personally, the lack of a good solid "bottom" (the low-end frequencies produced by instruments such as the bass, tom toms and kick drum) was always the most prominent deficiency on the original release.
I'm happy to report that the disappointments with the quality of the original release have been remedied by this new release. Although it might not be in the same league as something like Heart's Dreamboat Annie which was recorded just four or so years after Aqualung, Steve Wilson deserves a massive amount of credit for milking an album's worth of dramatically improved sound from those 40-year-old master tapes. Finally, one can crank Aqualung up to 11 and enjoy the full knock-you-down sonic experience that we've been missing for the past 40 years!
For those who may be struggling with the difference between a "remaster" and "remix," perhaps Ian Anderson explains it best: "For those of you easily confused about such things, a 'remix' is not the same as a 're-master.' Remixing involves going back to the original studio multi-track masters and balancing and perfecting the sound on all the individual instrumental and vocal tracks and creating from them a new stereo or 5.1 surround master."
The Special Edition which includes two CDs and a 30-page booklet with photos, history of the group, details on the evolution of Aqualung tracks and a few words from Steve Wilson on the technical details of the remix process.
The limited collector's edition includes a 180g heavyweight LP, 2 CDs, DVD, and Blu-Ray disc including various unreleased materials, a new stereo mix, the original Quad mix, and 5.1 DTS and Dolby Digital Surround. Also included is a 12x12 48-page hardback book featuring liner notes and an interview with Ian, Q&A with engineer John Burns, Don Lawson, memoirs from band members, rare photos, lyrics and more.
After hearing the vastly improved audio quality of this new release, I suggest that serious Jethro Tull fans, run, not walk, to the store and grab a copy of this new release.
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