AC/DC gives the UK economy a boost -- or not

It's silly season again as the world economy self-destructs and the U.S. election barrels toward the finish line and journalists wonder if they should feel guilty for being secretly happy they have so much material to work with. Give The Guardian's Alexis Petridis credit, though, he came up with an original angle -- AC/DC album sales as a leading indicator of Great Britain's economic health. Except, as Petridis' research suggests, it seems the better Angus and company do, the worse the British economy does... and Black Ice just went number one in the UK despite the band's refusal to provide digital downloads. Criminey!

Ben Folds Five on MySpace

But the real highlight of my Friday was wandering by MySpace and finding high-def video of the entire Ben Folds Five reunion show -- orchestrated to kick off MySpace's new Front To Back series -- waiting for me there. A completely brilliant show done up just right by the producers with interview clips and excellent videography of the show. Bliss, I tell you, bliss.

Friday roundup: James Taylor, Led Zeppelin, Change My World, ISC

It's Friday and our item-bag overfloweth:

• On November 4 Atlantic and Rhino team up to release a limited- edition CD boxed set containing Japanese imports of all 10 of Led Zeppelin's albums in mini-LP replicas with artwork from the original U.K. LP sleeves. The Led Zeppelin Definitive Collection of Mini-LP Replicas boxed set will be available for a suggested price of $199.98. Listening party samplers available in Real and QuickTime formats...
  
  
• Original sensitive-guy singer-songwriter James Taylor offers a glimpse into the thought behind his recent Covers album and his work for the Obama campaign in this interview.
  
  
• Agape Children's Choir and Little Engine Productions have created an amazing nonpartisan music video aimed at mobilizing voters in this important election season.
  
  
• The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) has extended its deadline for submissions for the 2008 contest to December 1. A small sampling of this year's crop of judges for this annual competition includes: Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20); Chaka Khan; Tom Waits; KT Tunstall; Robert Smith (The Cure); Ricky Martin; Loretta Lynn; Neil Finn (Crowded House); Buckcherry; T-Pain; James Cotton; Jerry Lee Lewis; Craig Morgan; Ray Davies (The Kinks); and McCoy Tyner. For more information and to enter, visit the ISC site.
  

Pete Yorn: "American Blues, Vol. 1"

At this point I'm convinced it's not just me; this election season really is bleeding into the music world in a way we haven't seen in decades. You just can't get through the day anymore without finding a story about a Jon Bon Jovi ripping on McCain/Palin for using his song, or a James Taylor doing five benefit concerts for Obama/Biden (not to mention Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel) or, today, a new election-themed music video. This one's special, though. The artist is Pete Yorn, the song is his brand new "American Blues, Vol. 1," and the video found below is homemade, nonpartisan and quite moving in using familiar images to convey the simplest message -- VOTE. Please do.

Pete Yorn - American Blues Vol. 1

Mark Oliver Everett (The Eels) gets personal

Every once in awhile as I hopscotch across the interwebs a story will stop me dead in my tracks and hold me there until I finish the last word. Today the honor goes to Mark Oliver Everett, a.k.a. E, as in the mastermind behind alt-rock iconoclasts the Eels.

It's been widely known that Everett had a troubled childhood and lost his sister and mother to suicide and cancer in the late 90s, as he was working on albums like Novocaine For The Soul and Electro-Shock Blues. What I personally wasn't aware of is that Everett's father was a famous physicist who came up with the parallel worlds theory, which suggests that every decision made creates an alternate reality. Everett's relationship with this odd, brilliant and distant man, who died of a heart attack when Everett was 19, forms the backbone of his new biography Things the Grandchildren Should Know. He also sat for interviews for a Nova special on his father called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives (check PBS for local airtimes in your area). Finally, don't miss the fascinating article that triggered this post, over on (surprise, surprise) USA Today.

Long live the album (or, Third Eye still Blind)

There have been a few times over the eleven years I've been writing for the Vault when my thoughts have gone back to one of the more scathing reviews I've ever written. The target was Third Eye Blind, which is in itself pretty laughable -- I mean, who cares? But see, a decade ago, right around the time "Semi-Charmed Life" was getting play on FM radio, TEB frontman Stephan Jenkins recorded bumpers for ABC's old family-friendly TGIF segment. This was also right around the time my seven-, nine- and eleven-year-old kids were following Full House, with the end result that my eleven-year-old came home one day having purchased an album riddled with references to sex, drugs and suicide. As you may have guessed, I was not happy about this.

Now, I've considered a few times over the years whether I was a little hard on Jenkins and TEB. It probably wasn't their idea to record those bumpers. And while I remain very comfortable with the parenting decision my wife and I made, at least one TEB fan wrote in to tell me I was in fact exactly what I stated right up front in my review -- a prude. Fine. Given what passes for standards of public behavior today, I'll take that as a compliment.

And then last night I read this piece, in which an older but apparently no wiser Stephan Jenkins wastes a substantial number of syllables ragging on the album as an art form and basically admitting he can't be bothered to put together ten decent songs at once, that three or so at a time is more his speed. Let me tell you two things: 1) The day albums cease to be a relevant art form will be the day I roll up the Daily Vault and take it off-line; and 2) The day I give a flying anything what Stephan Jenkins thinks will be... well, clearly, that just won't happen.

Digital downloading won't kill the album any more than the Kindle will kill books. These art forms have endured for good reasons. Trend-hopping stylistas like Jenkins always make the same mistake, assuming that smaller and faster and less substantial and less meaningful automatically equals better. Twitter is maybe the ultimate example of this simultaneously lazy and hyperactive cognitive A.D.D., which is why I'd guesstimate its half-life at about six months. If there's one thing this nation, this culture is crying out for right now, it's more substance, not less. Long live the album.

AC/DC hit Black Ice today

The media blitz is on as headbanger heroes AC/DC return eight years after their last studio album with Black Ice, and the Vault is joining the fun with a day-of-release review.

Out of the hordes of surrounding mainstream media coverage, I would also point you to this entertaining UK Telegraph review with Angus Young, particularly his explanation for the group's decision to sell their album only in hardcopy form via Wal-mart or acdc.com, no iTunes or downloads at all:

“We don’t make singles, we make albums. We work on getting the songs on our albums to work together... So that’s how we feel about our albums being a complete piece of work. And we won’t go on iTunes unless they offer the option to us to 'lock’ our album... In the US, though, we’re looking at iTunes being the biggest music retailer in the country. We looked at who was number two and found that it was Wal-Mart. So we decided to make this album exclusively available in Wal-Mart stores... I remember when we first started touring in the US back in the Seventies, we’d arrive in these towns, and I’m talking about all these places in between New York and Los Angeles, and we’d always go straight to the local record shop. These are the places where people hung out – you could talk music, pick up a few albums and all of that. Now you go back to these places and they’re all closed down. However, there is a Wal-Mart in all these towns, so we believed this to the best alternative to iTunes."

The record shop is dead; long live the record shop. Hope it's a great run, Angus.

Let's get serious: A Night For Vets

Every once in awhile we are reminded that in addition to entertaining us, music can be a powerful force for good in the world. Every once in a while we are similarly reminded that the "M" in MTV used to stand for music. These two trains of thought will come together a week from today as MTV teams up with CNN to present "A Night for Vets: An MTV Concert for the BRAVE."

I can't put it any better than Pollstar did: "The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have both been lightning rods for controversy over the past few years, but there's one thing we can all agree on: the sacrifices made by the brave men and women who've served there." The concert and associated broadcast content produced by CNN will highlight veterans' issues including mental health support and disability benefits, preventing homelessness, and properly compensating those who serve.

Live performers will include 50 Cent, Ludacris and Saving Abel, with taped performances from Kanye West, Kid Rock, Angels and Airwaves, Fall Out Boy, Juanes, Nelly and Taylor Swift, among others. News content will feature Anderson Cooper and CNN will air a separate special hosted by Cooper focusing on the many challenges faced by returning veterans.

Bon Jovi joins the chorus against McCain/Palin

Didn't we just run this story? In any case, Jon Bon Jovi is the latest big name to join the ranks of musical acts complaining that the McCain/Palin campaign is using one of their songs without their permission. Bon Jovi, who hosted a big-dollar fundraising dinner for the Obama/Biden campaign at his New Jersey home just last month, was distinctly unhappy to learn that his song "Who Says You Can't Go Home" has been used recently at rallies staged by Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. Bon Jovi joins Heart, Foo Fighters, Jackson Browne and a host of other acts who have objected to their music being used by a Republican ticket they don't support.

Tim McGraw did not approve this post

Whatever else you might have to say about Tim McGraw's brand of very mainstream, very commercial country music, the man has a huge following and also, it appears, considerable integrity. Not only did McGraw not approve of his label -- Curb Records -- issuing his third greatest hits CD overall and second in the last two years, he's speaking out against it. Best line of the article: "In the spirit of the election year, I would simply say to my fans 'I'm Tim McGraw and I don't approve their message.'"

AC/DC still says no to iTunes

The new AC/DC disc Black Ice -- out next week -- might be one of the year's most anticipated new releases, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to buy and download it online. The band, along with the Beatles one of the most notorious holdouts against the digital download age, is distributing Black Ice only in full CD form and only through Wal-Mart stores and its own Web site. Lead singer Brian Johnson can barely hold back his disdain for iTunes and digital music in general in today's interview with Reuters, saying iTunes is "going to kill music if they're not careful."

Wampus Multimedia takes on MySpace Music

Ripped from the virtual pages of Wampus Multimedia's very own blog (see also our musical blogroll in the column at right), here's a link to bales of interesting reading about the new MySpace Music and the many devilish details that lie within.

Not that I'm going to soapbox on that particular subject today; it's really just an excuse to remind you all that Wampus head honcho Mark Doyon has been one of the wisest voices in the wilderness commenting on music industry developments for some time now -- and as a singer-songwriter, independent label owner, publicist and music blogger all rolled into one, why wouldn't he be? He sees these issues from all angles, not just one particular self-interested one. Plus, he wrote "Cuckold Of Titan," so that entitles him to your eternal attention regardless.

Foo Fighters the latest to cease-and-desist the McCain campaign

One of the most overused aphorisms of our political culture is the old George Santayana quote "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Still, someone might want to whisper it in the McCain campaign's collective ear, since it has yet again been smacked down by an artist whose music it tried to co-opt. First it was John Mellencamp, then Heart and ABBA and Jackson Browne and now this time around, the offended party is the Foo Fighters and the song is "My Hero." I believe the phrase you folks on the campaign trail are puzzling over is "intellectual property rights" -- or was it "finding some gimmick to manufacture an artifical connection with all those young voters who don't believe a word coming out of our mouths"?

October's Daily Vault Retrospective: Kansas

This month our Daily Vault retrospective spotlights one of the most underappreciated bands of their era, the boys from Topeka, the group called Kansas. Known mostly for late '70s AOR staples like the driving "Carry On Wayward Son" and the haunting #1 hit "Dust In The Wind," Kansas was (and is) much more than those two famous songs. They were in fact the first homegrown American prog band, as their first three albums attest. And while, like many of their musical peers, they tasted commercial schlock-dom in the early '80s, they recovered nicely later in the decade and continue touring and making new new music to this day. Read more about it here and here.

We're voting Depeche Mode in '09

Those '80s synth pop icons Depeche Mode are back for more as the group just announced a world tour to begin next May 10 in Israel. Actually, they're calling it their "Tour Of The Universe 2009," with many more gigs across the globe promised following the opening salvo of European dates in May and June. Unconfirmed reports of Gahan, Gore, Fletcher & associates playing Alpha Centauri do appear to be premature, though...

Lucinda Williams gets happy

Newsflash: alt-country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, long known for the intensity of her bittersweet ruminations on missed connections and failed relationships, is happy. At least so claims the New York Daily News in this recap of Williams' forthcoming album Little Honey (out Oct. 14), full of celebrations of her new relationship with co-producer Tom Overby. A happy Lucinda Williams. What's next, AC/DC singing lullabies?

Friday roundup: Pretenders, Kid Rock, Kingston Trio

Plenty of tidbits to consider this Friday...

• We're not quite sure how an article ostensibly about the new country-flavored album from The Pretenders came to be titled "Chrissie Hynde has never heard of Sarah Palin," but this piece from MSNBC is still worth checking out.
  
  
• Word from the New York Times is Kid Rock has finally joined the 21st century and made his music available online via Rhapsody (lucky them). Now if AC/DC would just end their holdout...
  
  
• Nick Reynolds, a founding member of folk-rock pioneers The Kingston Trio, has died. The group's focus on guitars and harmonies inspired Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and the Beatles, among others. R.I.P.
  

Judas Priest: Halford interview

Reunited road warriors / metal demi-gods Judas Priest continue to tour behind their June double-album Nostradamus, but frontman Rob Halford managed to take time out to do this in-depth interview with Pollstar. Interesting to hear the king screamer himself make some spot-on observations about the state of the industry and the wonder that 35 years or so later, Judas Priest can still fill amphitheatres around the globe with headbanging teenagers.

Something Phish-y going on

It seems the boys from Phish -- the most celebrated jam-band in the land since Jerry Garcia passed on -- are ready to saddle up again. Four years after the group announced they were done with a series of farewell concerts, they have announced three dates for next March in Hampton, Virginia, with the promise of more to come.

Led Zeppelin reunion - not

Remember those "wouldn't it be great if" rumors we dutifully reported last week after The Sun claimed Robert Plant had agreed to do a Led Zeppelin reunion tour? Yeah, well, in the immortal words of Emily Litella, "Never mind."

Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs streams on NPR

As of midnight last night, NPR Music is exclusively streaming the new and much-anticipated Bob Dylan collection Tell Tale Signs, one week ahead of the album’s release on October 7. The entire two-2-CD, 27-song set is available to hear on-demand at NPR Music for the week leading up to its official release.

Tell Tale Signs is the 8th installment in Dylan’s “Bootleg Series,” and features previously unreleased recordings, live performances and alternate versions of songs recorded during sessions for some of his most acclaimed albums, Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind among them. Also included on the album are Dylan’s recordings for the soundtracks of the films Lucky You, Gods & Generals and North Country, and “32-20 Blues,” his first ever release of a Robert Johnson song.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band tagged for Superbowl XLIII

For true football fans, the Superbowl halftime show means turning the channel or making a beer run. Sports fans don't care about the overblown glitz and phony enthusiasm of these contrived, plastic spectacles. Can anyone forget the heinous debacle of a Superbowl half-time show that put Britney Spears on the same stage as Aerosmith? Or the ludicrous antics of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake? The history of the half-time entertainment for what is historically the most-watched annual TV event in the world is a pathetic legacy of bad choices. With the exception of Tom Petty a few years back, they rarely hit a home run (or score a touchdown if you will). Even some of the decent acts are routinely subjected to the shabby accoutrements of bad choreography and and cheesy pandering by the on-air personalities.

Hope arrives by way of New Jersey. Your friends at the DV (me and Jason at least) will be glued to the set this year after the announcement that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band will play this year's half-time show from Tampa. If anyone can save this annual display of bad taste and poor judgement by the network execs, its The Boss. Kudos to the network idiots for getting this one right.

"Fan-funded" recording: The next wave?

We've had the file sharing wars, the Radiohead experiment, and just lately the Mudvayne twist, where buying an album gets you the full fan-club-exclusives package as well. Another growing trend in the ever-evolving music industry business model is so-called "fan-funded" recording -- projects whose recording budget is funded not by a label, but by donations from a group's fans.

The model has proven viable enough that there are actually several Web sites devoted to it now -- think Sellaband and SliceThePie and ArtistShare and CASH Music -- but equally as intriguing are acts who choose to go directly to their fans. The Brian Travis Band of LA is $5,500 into a $7,000 fundraising effort to finish off the mastering and duplication of their latest record. And D.C.-based rock band Shane Hines and the Trance have raised $30,000 of a projected $40,000 recording budget for their new album via their TeamTrance site, including raising $13,000 in the first week of their fundraising drive.

Drummer/author Jake Slichter of Semisonic famously characterized the band as "rock and roll sharecroppers," making music as debt-burdened indentured servants to their label. In the future will we call them rock and roll panhandlers? Or is the better comparison to the PBS "viewer supported" model? Finally, is this progress, or just another odd twist along the road to a destination that isn't yet in sight?

Led Zeppelin tour rumors resurface

The Rumor That Would Not Die has resurfaced, again, with an unidentified source, again, claiming a Led Zeppelin reunion tour is definitively on. And while the fact that the media outlet of record in this case is notorious sensationalist rag The Sun -- think British National Enquirer -- suggests it may be just more wishful-thinking fiction, the story itself is a page-turner. Were guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones and second-gen drummer Jason Bonham really auditioning replacement singers -- and was that really what convinced Robert Plant to end his holdout and say yes? Whether or not any of this ultimately holds any water, it does make for a fairly gripping storyline...

The "news" about Clay Aiken

We're shocked, we tell you, shocked at the news about Clay Aiken. At least, that is, shocked that anyone calling themselves a fan of the American Idol winner would express the slightest bit of surprise at this not-terribly-revealing revelation. Sorry, but if this guy didn't set your gay-dar to pinging like a fire alarm, you really need to get that thing checked.

P.S. Good for you, Clay.

Yes, we do have a communication problem

As strange as it was to see the news that Yes is going to tour this fall with a fill-in for ailing lead singer and co-founder Jon Anderson -- sidelined for the next few months by a severe asthma episode that required hospitalization -- the fallout has been perhaps even stranger. It seems neither co-founder and bassist Chris Squire nor longtime members Steve Howe (guitar) and Alan White (drums) bothered to tell Anderson about their decision to go ahead and tour this winter without him, leaving him feeling "disappointed, and very disrespected." Well, yeah...

Golden Smog's Marc Perlman: the Daily Vault interview

One of the pleasures of the music reviewer's gig is the opportunity to talk with the many smart, interesting, funny folks in the business, and Golden Smog (and Jayhawks) bassist Marc Perlman qualifies on all counts. For an insider's peek at the latest from the Americana supergroup, version #17 of how the Smog was formed, hints of a Jayhawks reunion and more, check out our interview of the loquacious Mr. Perlman here. (And while you're at it, don't miss our day-of-release review of the new Golden Smog collection from Rhino here.)

Plane crash rattles the rock world -- and beyond

Every music fan within reach of a computer in the last 72 hours no doubt has heard about the horrific plane crash that seriously injured Travis Barker (Blink-182, +44) and Adam Goldstein (DJAM). What feels like it's been missing from too much of the coverage, though, is the reality that four other people -- none of them famous, all of them with families and friends and loved ones of their own -- were killed in the same crash. One of them, it turns out, was from my neck of the woods. And so, while sending best wishes to Barker and Goldstein for a speedy recovery, let's also make sure to honor the memory of pilots Sarah Lemmon, 31, and James Bland, 52, as well as bodyguard Charles Still, 25 and Roseville, California native and personal assistant Chris Baker, 29. Losing first Richard Wright and then Norman Whitfield and now these good folks has made for a very rough week in the music world.

R.I.P. Norman Whitfield

"I Heard It Through The Grapevine"... "Papa Was A Rolling Stone"... "Just My Imagination"... "War"... and, yes, "Car Wash" -- they all came from the pen of the same man, one of the key architects of the Motown sound, Norman Whitfield, who died yesterday at 67. Whitfield, both within and outside of his longtime songwriting partnership with Barrett Strong, produced some of the most memorable and meaningful hits of the 60s and 70s, blending a superb ear for melody with a commitment to make music that mattered. Yes, you could sing along to all those hits, but the songs had a depth and soulfulness to them that made them much more than pop music. In his prime he worked with artists from James Brown to Gladys Knight & the Pips and was the producer and a featured songwriter on many of The Temptations' most successful albums. Norman Whitfield was a giant in his field and will be sorely missed.

Mudvayne tries a new game

In the continuing quest to figure out how bands can make a living in an economic model where music is free, metal quartet Mudvayne has offered a clever new approach. Fans who pre-order the band's new album The New Game through Best Buy get a one-year membership to the group's fan club, an exclusive free track for download and access to presale concert tickets at a one album equals one ticket ratio. The name of the program? The Album Is The Ticket, of course.

This new strategy -- buying an album equals buying into an entire fan experience including insider fan club content and presale ticket access -- feels like it has the potential to be a breakthrough for those mid-level artists who don't sell out arenas but do have an established fan base. Another day, another twist on the ever-evolving post-file sharing music industry business model...

Pandora under pressure

Many of us on the DV writing staff have used and enjoyed Pandora -- a pioneer in what is just lately being described by the technological congniscenti (and pretentious feature writers everywhere) as "music discovery" services. Pandora was in fact the functional precursor to Apple's new "Genius" system, which I'm already having fun with at home. That said, the latest news on the Pandora front is not good. It seems the music industry is continuing to lurch from extreme to extreme trying to uncover a formula that encourages the dissemination of new music without forfeiting all economic benefits of the artists' end product. Not there yet, folks. Not there yet.

Pink Floyd co-founder Richard Wright dies

Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright died today after a short battle with cancer, according to the BBC News. Wright was a founding member of the seminal progressive rock group and his work was featured on classic albums including Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall, as well as latter-day albums such as A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell. Wright participated along with David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Nick Mason in the 2005 Pink Floyd reunion gig at the Live 8 concert in London. He was 65. R.I.P. Richard.

Fall music preview: AC/DC, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Taylor Swift, Jessica Simpson, T-Pain, Keane

This morning USA Today offers a fall music preview that's both informative and amusing. The informative part begins with items on Metallica, Taylor Swift, Ne-Yo, Jessica Simpson, Ciara, David Cook, T-Pain, Keane and T.I, and is highlighted by another fairly glowing preview of the new AC/DC disc Black Ice, including a fun little video snippet from the making of the "Rock'N'Roll Train" video. Yes, the boys are getting on in years, but they can still snarl with the best of 'em...

The amusing part would be this item on the list of forthcoming albums: "Guns N' Roses / Chinese Democracy (Nov. 25, tentatively)." Anybody want to put money on that release date? Didn't think so.

Yes we have no Yes tour (except maybe sorta...)

That heavy sigh heard across the land in early June -- mistaken by many for a sigh of resignation from Hillary Clinton supporters -- in fact came from crestfallen prog-rock fans learning that Yes had canceled their planned summer tour. Perfectly understandable, what with lead singer Jon Anderson having had a major asthma episode that put him in the hospital for days and resulted in strict doctor's orders for the 63-year-old to dial it back a notch for the rest of the year.

Given the history of this band -- whose family tree has more branches than your average giant Sequoia -- it perhaps shouldn't come as a complete surprise to learn that the remaining core trio of Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass/vocals) and Alan White (drums) have decided to tour this fall as Yes despite the absence of both lead voice Anderson and off-and-on keyboardist Rick Wakeman, whose son Oliver had earlier been tapped for the summer tour when Pops opted out.

Howe, Squire and White, who had by most accounts grown restless with the band's inactivity in recent years, will now launch the appropriately named "In The Present" tour with the younger Wakeman behind the keyboard stacks and Benoit David out front. Benoit who, you ask? Well, it seems the boys paid attention to the strategy employed by classic rock trend-setters from Judas Priest to Journey and plucked David from Canadian Yes tribute band Close To The Edge after watching him sing on YouTube.

Neither David nor Oliver Wakeman has been asked to commit to the band beyond the planned fall tour, leaving the door wide open for the future return of Anderson and/or Wakeman the elder. Meanwhile, it's get your Yes music where you can...

Metallica's Death Magentic: reviews galore

Metallica's first album of new studio material since 2003's controversial St. Anger was released today, and the virtual halls of the Daily Vault were buzzing with anticipation all week. As result, we've got not one or even two, but three day-of-release reviews of the newest from the godfathers of thrash. Prepare to be bludgeoned!

Grateful Dead's Egypt box set now available for pre-order

Good things come to those who wait! Thirty years after the Grateful Dead's near-legendary expedition into Egypt to play in the shadow of the pyramids, and weeks after the release was announced, Dead.net is finally ready to accept pre-orders for this ultra-cool CD/DVD set from the Dead’s legendary September 1978 run at the Sound & Light Theater outside Cairo.

Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 includes two exceptional music CDs plus a DVD with over 95 minutes of concert footage from the Egypt shows, plus an impressionistic “Vacation Tapes” mini-documentary that shows the band and Dead family at play. What’s more, all preorders placed through dead.net by the official release date, September 30, will receive an exclusive bonus CD of still more great material from the Egypt gigs. Rocking the Cradle will be available everywhere on September 30, but the bonus disc will be exclusively available with preorders. Place your order here.

Those so inclined might also want to check out online listening parties for the album, available in three formats: QT, Real, or WMA. Stream on!

Wednesday roundup: no Pink Floyd reunion, The Who honors, Oasis gets bashed

A fresh batch of tasty items coming at you this a.m.:

• No, no, a hundred times no -- there will be no Pink Floyd reunion, says David Gilmour, who would clearly much rather talk about his flourishing solo career.
  
  
• The Kennedy Center Honors will include some big names from the music world this year: Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who, George Jones, and Barbra Streisand.
  
  
• I'm not sure which makes a better teaser for this ironic Oasis item: "hooligan is as hooligan does" or "bashing the basher." You decide.
  

Manic Monday: Tom Petty, Keith Moon, U2

Items galore this Monday a.m.:

• First of all, just wanted to make sure everyone reading this is tracking on the Daily Vault's September retrospective featuring Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. There are some big TP fans around these parts, so the forecast is for heavy coverage all month long...
  
  
• On the 30th anniversary of Keith Moon's death, the Arizona Republic kindly offered a summary of "13 Essential Keith Moon Moments" from the life and career of The Who's explosive drummer. Essential reading indeed...
  
  
• You won't hear the rest of that rumored (and partially leaked) new U2 album until 2009, reports the LA Times -- at least, if Bono can remember to keep the stereo turned down.
  

MySpace reunites Ben Folds Five (up next: reversing climate change)

Those of you cutting edge musical Webophiles who've long since dismissed MySpace as so five minutes ago might want to pay attention to their latest gimmick. MySpace earlier today announced the launch of a new music program called Front to Back, with the mission of "celebrating iconic albums that have helped shape the MySpace Generation." (Yeah whatever.)

Ah, but once you get past the marketing propaganda-speak, look what wonders await: "MySpace kicks off this program by reuniting beloved alt-pop band Ben Folds Five with an exclusive one-time live performance of their final studio album together, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, in its entirety." GAAAHHH! "The concert will be the band's first performance together in nearly ten years and will take place in the band’s former hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina on September 18, 2008 at the UNC Memorial Hall." Double GAAAHHH!! "The show will be rebroadcast on the Front to Back official MySpace profile in October http://myspace.com/fronttoback."

Can I get an amen? (And a ticket to Chapel Hill?)

Stevie Wonder awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress

Quoting from the news release:

"The Gershwin Prize was created to honor an artist whose creative output transcends distinctions between musical styles and idioms, bringing diverse listeners together, and fostering mutual understanding and appreciation," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "Stevie Wonder's music epitomizes this ideal."

The prize commemorates George and Ira Gershwin, the legendary American songwriting team whose extensive manuscript collections reside in the Library of Congress. The prize is given annually to a musician whose lifetime contribution in the field of popular song exemplifies the standard of excellence associated with the Gershwins.

The first Gershwin Prize was awarded in May 2007 to Paul Simon."

Now that's some "Higher Ground"... and well deserved. Congrats, Stevie.

Music blogger arrested, charged with leaking songs from unreleased Guns N' Roses album

In a case likely to send shivers down the spines of music bloggers everywhere, blogger Kevin Cogill of antiquiet.com was arrested by FBI agents yesterday and charged in court with streaming songs from the infamously still-hasn't-been-released Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. The charges accused Cogill of posting streams of nine tracks from the album, whose ten-year gestation period and repeated missed release dates have bestowed it with an almost mythic status.

What this means for the ongoing debate over creator's rights, the RIAA's heavy handed enforcement tactics, and/or the continually evolving music industry business model will no doubt be the subject of continuing speculation.

Of more immediate concern to GNR fans -- who, amazingly enough, still exist -- is the loss of access to the only new music the band has produced in the past 15 years. As one fan pointed out ruefully online, "For all we know, that could be the closest we ever get to an actual release."

Tuesday item-fest: Little Feat and friends, Obama-Springsteen, Radiohead live

Items galore this Tuesday:

• Little Feat's new album features a slew of guest stars taking over the frontman slot once held by Lowell George and reinterpreting classics from the band's rich catalogue. Any album with Vince Gill -- who tackles the immortal "Dixie Chicken" -- Dave Matthews, Bob Seger, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, Jimmy Buffett and Emmylou Harris all singing on it has got to be worth a listen...
  
  
• Speaking of presidential candidates' relations with the music world, the Rocky Mountain News reports that Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver will be bracketed by performances from Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen. Now that's some Jersey love right there...
  
  
• There have been hundreds of reviews of Radiohead concerts published in the past decade. We've even published one or two ourselves. This one from the LA Times was good enough to make me -- who doesn't even like the band -- curious about seeing them live. Nice job.
  

Oh Madonna...

...will you ever tire of being an attention whore?

I mean, first you call your latest album Hard Candy, then you call the accompanying tour "Sticky & Sweet"... And you just turned 50? A extremely fit 50, and after all it is the new 40 and everything, but really... you have kids. They have friends. And you're still prancing around like a pole dancer and making shock-value-only videos?

I mean, it's almost as cringe-worthy as a bunch of sixty-somethings prancing around under a giant lips-and-tongue-logo...

Oh, wait.

Never mind.

"The Day That Never Comes" just arrived for Metallica

Metallica fans all around the world finally got a taste of the band's latest studio album Death Magnetic with the release of the single "The Day That Never Comes." While the group had debuted another new song entitled "Cyanide" at Ozzfest, this is the first official release of material from their upcoming LP.

The song is a complete reversal of the sound Metallica was reaching for on the much maligned St. Anger, channeling their classic period with a hint of the 90s era. Don't be surprised if the opening few minutes of the song remind you of "Fade To Black," or "The Unforgiven," because the vibe is very much similar to those stellar tracks. The dueling guitar harmonies are back, as are the mind numbingly fast solos, delivered by one Kirk Hammett. Sure the lyrics are a bit cheesy in areas, but Metallica really never delivered incredibly profound wordplay.

Friday Roundup: TV is the new radio, Fleetwood Mac attack, Bono's boo-boo

• This morning's USA Today profiles the new generation of mellow, sunny singer-songwriters (Colbie Caillat, Marie Digby, Meiko, Brett Dennen, Sara Bareilles, Yael Naim, Greg Laswell), but what struck me about the article is how many of these folks experienced a very much 21st-century phenomenon: TV is the new radio. Never mind pitching to radio station music directors; it's the music producers for One Tree Hill and Grey's Anatomy you want to get your stuff to when you're shooting for the big career bump.

• Don't invite Lindsey Buckingham and Sheryl Crow to the same beach party anytime soon. From the sound of the Fleetwood Mac guitarist's latest comments, he's still pretty cheesed off at Crow's previous and apparently quite premature announcement that she was going to be joining the Mac for a new album and tour.
  
  
• Surely by now you've heard the one about Bono accidentally leaking tracks from the new U2 album by cranking his stereo a bit too loud. The new media paradigm -- all access, all the time -- is pretty unforgiving...

LeRoi Moore of Dave Matthews Band dead at 46

Word came last night that one of the great pure players of the last quarter century of popular music died, and far too young. LeRoi Moore, founding saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band, died yesterday at just 46 years old. As the message on the band’s site states, Moore passed away from “sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.”

Moore was one of the finest horn players of his generation. I had the privilege of seeing him play with the DMB twice, and he was exceptional on both occasions, at ease and in the flow whether stringing together sweet phrases on his alto sax or honking out rhythmic accents on his bari. His swinging lines anchored DMB classics like “Ants Marching” and his flute work on tracks like “Say Goodbye” was nothing short of transcendent. His versatility and deeply soulful playing helped define the DMB’s unique sound, and while they may find someone else to play his parts, he can never truly be replaced. Moore was no less essential to the DMB than Keith Moon was to The Who, and will be missed equally.

Heartfelt condolences to his family and bandmates on this tremendous loss.

Metallica's James Hetfield: "Enter Fenceman"?

It seems Metallica frontman James Hetfield is a big believer in the old axiom "Good fences make good neighbors. " After buying a 500-acre piece of property in San Rafael, just north of San Francisco, the singer let it sit for nine years. Until recently, that is, when workers erected a metal and barbed-wire fence, cutting off a fire trail that locals say has been "used for at least a half-century to access treasured hiking trails along scenic ridgelines." Apparently Hetfield's even better-known neighbor has been able to work out a public access arrangement for hikers to traverse his property, so maybe Hetfield will follow the example set by George Lucas...

New AC/DC album Black Ice drops October 20

The rumors are true... the release date is confirmed... and they're baaa-aaack. Columbia Records announced today the October 20th release of hard rock heroes AC/DC's Black Ice, the band's first studio album in eight years.

The new album features 15 new tracks from brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, Brian Johnson, Cliff Williams, and Phil Rudd, the very same lineup that made 1980's immortal Back In Black. The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Train) at the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, BC.

"Rock 'N' Roll Train," the album's first single, will debut on August 28th, with a video to premiere in September. Maybe the best news of all for fans -- the band is set to kick off its first world tour since 2001 in late October. Break out the cannons and get ready to head-bang!

What do Jackson Browne, ABBA and John Mellencamp have in common?

Answer: they have all asked Republican presidential candidate John McCain to stop using their songs in his campaign events and advertising. Browne yesterday went even further, suing the McCain campaign and both the Ohio and national Republican Party over a pro-McCain ad that used Browne's "Running On Empty." Regardless of which side of the political fence you're on, there is definitely something amusing about watching McCain struggle to generate some sort of youth appeal by latching onto popular music, only to get slapped down repeatedly by the artists he picks. Just ask Garry Trudeau...

The album is dead; long live the album

Interesting trend popping up in the news this week: artists doing their damnedest to make sure the album survives as an art form.

As the Associated Press notes on MSNBC.com, the list of artists taking a moment to perform classic albums live in their entireity has ballooned from an oddity into a full-blown trend. In recent months we have seen: Lou Reed playing Berlin on its 35th anniversary, Public Enemy performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Sebadoh playing Bubble and Scrape, Mission of Burma performing Vs., Liz Phair recreating Exile In Guyville (which she will do again later this month), and -- well, okay, THIS isn't exactly news -- Roger Waters playing the entire Pink Floyd classic Dark Side of the Moon as his second set at Coachella. Not to mention similar recent performances of whole albums by artists as diverse as Jay-Z, Lucinda Williams, Sonic Youth, Wilco, Slint, Iron Maiden and GZA.

In the era of the download, where individual tracks and custom playlists have gained prominence in the marketplace, it's great to see that the artist's vision of a substantial set of interconnected songs can still have a place at the table. Rock on, album-makers...

Soul legend Isaac Hayes dies

Soul legend Isaac Hayes died yesterday at his home in Memphis, he was 65. Hayes had been struggling with health issues following a stroke in 2006.

Hayes got his start as a house songwriter and musician at Stax records in the 60s, eventually emerging as a successful solo artist with his breakout album Hot Buttered Soul. Hayes was a pivotal creative force in the genesis of 70's soul music, influencing artists to this day. He received numerous gold and platinum awards, and headlined the legendary Wattstax concert in 1973.

He also acted, and for several years provided the voice of Chef on the animated series South Park. Throughout his career he garnered dozens of Grammy's and other accolades, including an Oscar in 1972 for best original song and induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

CNN: Isaac Hayes obituary

Mixtape Mondays

Today the Vault launches a new occasional feature: Mixtape Mondays. Before iPods, before playlists, back in the days when dinosaurs (and Isaac Hayes) roamed the land, there was a thing called the mixtape, wherein the author would put together a sequence of songs intended to convey a specific mood or idea. We've resurrected the concept and Assistant Editor Melanie Love is first out of the gate with a summery mixtape themed on "Ocean Waves" and featuring tracks from artists including Weezer, Styx, the Shins, the Unicorns, Death Cab For Cutie, Pixies and Band Of Horses. Grab a cool drink and a towel and enjoy...

Tom Petty raises the roof in St. Louie

Just had to share a link to this great review of last night's Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers gig in St. Louis. It sounds like this writer -- part of the younger segment of Petty's audience -- got baptized with some genuine rock and roll.

Trent Reznor and HBO in talks for possible Year Zero maxi-series

The man America counts on to turn nihilistic anger into high art -- Trent Reznor, natch -- may be on the cusp of his biggest multimedia triumph yet. The LA Times reports that Reznor is in talks with HBO about transforming the backstory behind his band Nine Inch Nails' 2007 album Year Zero and the video game of the same name into a two-year maxi-series for broadcast on the cable network. Year Zero chronicles a dystopian future vision in which holy wars rage worldwide as the environment collapses around us. Just the sort of thing to put a skip in your step... but, potentially powerful dramatic raw material.

The Police wrap reunion tour with live webcast

There's a nice piece on tonight's Madison Square Garden finale of the Police reunion tour on USA Today this morning. Among other things, it promos the live webcast of three songs from the encore set on bestbuy.com at 10:45 pm ET. Best Buy will subsequently release The Police: Certifiable, a DVD/CD set featuring the Buenos Aires concert, on Oct. 7. Best comment from the band goes to guitarist Andy Summers, 65: "Thank God people still love hair bands."

Americana Music Conference and Festival

Americana fans are in for a treat (again) this September...

Slated for Wednesday, September 17 through Saturday, September 20, the 9th Annual Americana Festival and Conference will offer daily seminars, panels and networking opportunities at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Each evening brings more than 80 Americana showcases to key venues throughout the city. Approximately 2,000 industry executives, artists and fans are expected this year.

This year's list of showcase artists is amazing. How about: Joan Baez, John Hiatt, Jim Lauderdale, Tift Merritt, Levon Helm, Steve Earle, James McMurtry, Gary Louris and Mark Olson (from the Jayhawks), Kathy Mattea, Reckless Kelly and on and on.

Also, on September 18 the 7th Annual Americana Music Association’s Honors and Awards Show will recognize John Hiatt with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting and Jason and the Scorchers with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Performance. The two-hour event will be broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio, and rebroadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio and BBC2 Radio.

Tickets are available through www.americanamusic.org, where you can also find more details about award nominees, showcases, prize packs, etc.

Retrospective: Women Of Country

Fans of any of the following artists may want to tune in to the Daily Vault this month as we focus our monthly retrospective sights on the Women Of Country: Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, Martina McBride, Kathy Mattea, Rosanne Cash, Deana Carter, Carrie Underwood, Tammy Wynette, Trisha Yearwood, Shelby Lynne, Linda Ronstadt, Matraca Berg, Katy Moffatt, Shania Twain, Loretta Lynn, Lucinda Williams, Suzy Bogguss, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Neko Case, Alison Krauss, Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, K.D. Lang, Garrison Starr, Carlene Carter and Reba McEntire. That's a lot of musical territory to cover, so don't be late...