September 14, 2002
The Rolling Stones At 40: Still Special For Mick & Keith

By Melinda Newman

It's a little hard to imagine, but Keith Richards says he fears that playing live with his Rolling Stones bandmates may one day feel like just another day at the office. He pauses, slides into a hard guffaw, and adds, "Not that I know what a day at the office feels like."

No, but the Rolling Stones gross more than most corporations when it comes to their night jobs. In the 1990s, the band took in a staggering $750 million from three tours. With a nearly sold-out concert outing newly under way and a greatest-hits package that for the first time spans its entire career, the top touring act of all time is poised to reach a new plateau.

The hits package, Forty Licks, is a joint venture among Virgin Records, Universal Music International (UMI), and ABKCO Records that will be distributed worldwide by Virgin parent EMI Recorded Music. The first half of the two-disc set contains the ABKCO-controlled material, starting with the group's first U.S. chart single, 1964's cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away." The second half features the post-ABKCO material. The project is due Sept. 23 in Japan, Oct. 1 in North America, and Sept. 30 in all other markets.

Forty Licks features four new songs, which Richards, Jagger, Watts, guitarist Ron Wood, and bassist Darryl Jones recorded in Paris in May. "The last tour ended in 1999, and I thought, 'I probably won't get a phone call for about 18 months,'" Richards says via phone from Toronto, where the band was rehearsing for the tour. "And, sure enough, slightly after [18 months had passed], Mick calls up and goes, 'Do you think we should do something next year?' I just wait for people to get antsy at home."

At the Paris sessions, the band turned out to be amazingly prolific, cutting 28 tracks in four weeks. There was never any doubt, Richards says, whether some of the new material would be included on Forty Licks,"because [of] this Beatles and Stones sort of thing. The main difference between the Stones and the Beatles, I guess, is that the Stones are still going. So we decided it would be important to have this sort of hint of 'to be continued,' rather than it all just being totally out of the can. At the same time, I wanted [new material], because the boys haven't played together for almost three years."

In addition to the driving first single "Don't Stop," the new tracks on Forty Licks are "Keys to Your Heart," which Jagger describes as "a soul tune with a sort of Curtis Mayfield [vibe]"; "Stealing My Heart," which the singer says is "more of a 'battle of the bands' thing, with a hook"; and "Losing My Touch," which features Richards on lead vocals. "It's about a guy on the run who's gotta say goodbye," Richards explains, "and he's doesn't really know how to say it."

Forty Licks marks the first time the Rolling Stones' ABKCO-owned masters (which encompass the band's 1963-1970 London/Decca recordings) and post-ABKCO recordings have co-existed on the same project. ABKCO head Allen Klein previously rejected any offers to blend the two.

"I thought it was a good time to get all these different business groups and bang their heads together and see if they could click this thing out," Jagger says, jokingly adding that he got the parties to agree to the project "by playing on their mutual sense of greed."

Klein says money was not his only impetus for doing the deal. Rather, it was Jagger's appeal and Klein's own sentimentality. "I mean, if this was going to possibly be their last tour and given the amount of time that had gone by ... I would do it for them and not for anyone else." He adds that ABKCO and the Stones actually hammered out a deal in 1989 that allowed for the eventual joint release of an album.

Simply because all parties have finally worked together, Jagger says it does not mean that fans should expect a more comprehensive Stones boxed set: "It sounds like too much hard work. Besides, there's a reason why some of this stuff doesn't come out. Don't hold your breath on that one."

The Stones prefaced the year-long Licks tour by rehearsing for six weeks in Toronto prior to opening Sept. 3 at Boston's FleetCenter. It's not that the band needed to practice "Brown Sugar" or "Jumpin' Jack Flash." "We don't rehearse those," Richards says. "But what we do is rehearse a hundred old songs. Since we're playing [different-size venues], we decided we really needed a lot more ammunition in the locker, so to speak, in order to be able to make the shows appreciably different." He adds that he was especially happy with the way some oldies, like "Heart of Stone," were resurrecting themselves. "I don't think we've played that song in I can't remember when ... slightly before B.C."

To keep things lively, the band will play a theater, arena, and stadium in its biggest markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston. The bulk of the rest of the first leg's 40 dates are arena shows. Openers include No Doubt, the Pretenders, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, and Jonny Lang.

The band has been considering all manner of surprises for the concerts. "With the smaller shows, we've been thinking that we need some kind of theme -- you know, like this is Exile on Main St. night and sort of lean heavily into that album," Richards explains. "Another idea is, 'Let's have a soul night or a blues night.'"

Jagger says, "The whole idea is that you enjoy them all so that you don't get bored doing one thing. I mean, it's a show for the audience, but you've also got to enjoy yourself." Richards chimes in: "Football stadiums -- as big and beautiful and spectacular and wonderful as they are -- I tell you, after about a hundred of 'em, you get bored."

But, after all these years, Richards reveals, "there's still always that element of uncertainty when you step onstage. It's like gambler's fever, you know? It's letting the tigers out of the cage. And then, after a show, you really feel like you've done something, even though sometimes you can hardly walk."

Additional reporting by Margo Whitmire in Los Angeles.

September 9, 2002
Life Is Looking 'Up' For Peter Gabriel

By Larry Flick

Peter Gabriel laughs heartily when he ponders the intensely dark tone of Up, his first studio effort in a decade, due Sept. 24 via Geffen.

"I'm just a happy-go-lucky fellow, aren't I?" he says, smiling. "Seriously, this wasn't intended to be such a heavy piece of work. It just turned out that way. At the same time, I wouldn't portray these songs as morose or depressing."

That's debatable, given the themes of loss and loneliness that run through the ironically titled Up. Perhaps most dominant, though, is the recurring exploration of death in songs like "I Grieve" and "Don't Leave."

"Now, here's an interesting point to consider," Gabriel offers. "Death is instantly perceived as a depressive subject. But it doesn't have to be. Take, for example, if you live in a dominant youth culture that pretends death doesn't exist, you end up going directly toward it. But if you face it head-on and accept death as a part of the life cycle -- which so many other cultures do -- then you live life more fully."

Gabriel supports his theory by dressing a song like "I Grieve" in the world beat-spiced rhythms that have become his signature. In such a vibrant instrumental environment, he honors the passage of life while also celebrating what he describes as the everlasting soul in a mantra-like refrain, "They say that life carries on."

"As you get older, you have to put physical life and its eventual end into perspective," he says. "Fearing death doesn't enhance life; it feeds into feelings of dread."

All of this noted, Up is not consumed with one or two topics. The set's first single, "The Barry Williams Show," offers an acerbic take on the current spate of reality TV programs and their eroding effect on humanity. Gabriel says, "It's remarkable to witness what people will do for a slice of fame."

He admits, though, that he does occasionally tune in to reality TV. "It's like eating a ton of junk food," he says. "You feel good while you're consuming it. But afterward, you feel like crap -- and you vow to never go back again."

"The Barry Williams Show" is accompanied by a sharp, often darkly amusing videoclip directed by actor Sean Penn, and features a cameo by actor Barry Williams, who portrayed Greg on "The Brady Bunch."

This week, Gabriel will appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" to perform "I Grieve" in tribute to those lost following last year's attack on the U.S. Also planned are appearances on "Charlie Rose" (Sept. 25), "Today," "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (Sept. 27), and "Last Call With Carson Daly" (Sept. 30).

Gabriel is preparing for an extensive world tour in the fall. Though dates are still to be locked in, the artist is formulating two decidedly different shows for the trek. One will be an elaborate, theatrical piece, while the other will follow a more traditional concert format.

"It's a wonderful way of exploring two different methods of performance," Gabriel says, "both of which I thoroughly enjoy."

June 28 , 2002
A Final Conversation With The Who's John Entwistle

By Wes Orshoski

Just six days before his death, legendary Who bassist John Entwistle said he was feeling like "an 18-year-old in a 57-year-old body." The artist was found dead yesterday (June 27) in Las Vegas of an apparent heart attack, a day before the Who was to begin an extensive North American tour. On June 21, during what would be one of his final interviews, Entwistle gave Billboard numerous reasons why he had been feeling youthful, chief among them the natural highs generated by the iconic British rock act's recent reunion.

Since Entwistle -- who also released several albums leading the bands Ox and the John Entwistle Band -- guitarist/vocalist Pete Townshend, and vocalist Roger Daltrey reteamed in 2000 for the latest in a string of reunion tours, the Who surprised many by remaining together and subsequently playing a number of benefit shows.

But the reunion also brought Entwistle a surprise or two as well. In the interview, he spoke of surprising even himself with his playing. He said that one of the brightest highlights of being together again with his bandmates was "getting to the solo part in [the Who classic] '5:15' and being able to play a solo that even I didn't know how I played. One of those nights will keep you satisfied for a week, but there were a few of those nights per week."

Professionally, he said the best night of the past two years occurred last fall, when the Who delivered what many deem the highlight of the Concert for New York. After the band's four-song set brought down the house, Entwistle hurried from Madison Square Garden across town to B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill in Manhattan's Times Square to play another benefit concert, one he personally began organizing for the families of the victims of Sept. 11 just one day after the terrorist attacks.

"The audience was fightin' mad. They were sad, but they were fightin' mad and we played some war songs; we just happened to choose the right ones," Entwistle said of the band's performance at the Concert for New York, where the group ferociously delivered "Behind Blue Eyes," "Who Are You," "Baba O'Riley," and "Won't Get Fooled Again."

"You can be sad only just so much and then you start gettin' angry, so we appealed to that," he added.

Going into the Concert for New York, Entwistle said he and his bandmates were determined to deliver the set of their lives. They had been disappointed with their performance at Live Aid, the 1985 concert for famine relief in Africa (also the last time the band had played before a national TV audience) and they were determined to erase the memory of that set.

"We knew that the last time we played to that many people we messed up and we were determined to come over with everything we got -- and we gave it everything we got. And it worked," he said. "We had a really good soundcheck. We had our own monitor board onstage. I think we were the only band with a monitor board onstage and we insisted on it, so that nothing would get changed. So we knew that we were going to go onstage with exactly the same sound that we had at soundcheck and it sounded good."

That performance seemed to ignite new interest in the band and fuel anticipation for the summer tour. "I think that won over even more fans," he said. "People realized, 'Wow, this band sounds pretty good; I wonder what their old stuff's like.'" Entwistle took the stage at B.B. King's that night at 11:30 p.m. and played until 1:15 a.m. "I arranged to do that [show] on the 12th of September," he said. "I think we got in touch with B.B. King's on the 13th and it was all arranged on the 14th, three days after it all happened."

Known as "the Ox," the Chiswick, England-born bassist said he was pleased that the band had returned to a five-piece after touring with a large backing band in the late '80s. "I feel much more comfortable now that we haven't got eight other people backing us," he admitted. "Now we're working under our own steam. We sound more like the Who again. And I'm very happy about that."

"It gives me a chance to show people where my playing's at, and Pete where his playing's at," he added. "We don't particularly need that many people to produce the sound we're getting. Like Pete said over the last few months, we put out such a noise with a giant thick harmonic content that it was like in a few instances, you can actually hear the brass, although they're not there. You can actually sort of hear it coming out in the harmonics."

However, he did note that the band was planning to tour with keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick and "Pete's brother [Simon] playing sort of the rhythms in some of the songs and harmonies and stuff. As a six piece, we actually impress people more than when we were a 14-piece."

Entwistle was also enjoying the success of the band's first hit album in 20 years, the new The Ultimate Collection (MCA/UTV), which bowed two weeks ago at No. 31 on The Billboard 200. The double-disc retrospective -- sold for $24.98 and shrink-wrapped with a bonus disc of four rarities -- was designed to be the definitive starting point for new Who fans. And that was a good thing, Entwistle said, because it seemed like more and more young people were discovering the band in the wake of the group's appearance at the Concert for New York.

He was pleased with the work done on the band's behalf by Universal Music Enterprises (UME), which set up affordable licensing pacts with the primetime CBS program C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation (which is using the song "Who Are You" in its promos and intro) and Nissan (which featured "Bargain" in an often-run spot). He was also quite happy that UME had created its own direct-response commercial for The Ultimate Collection: "I got fed up with seeing other people's albums being advertised on TV, and I'm glad ours are now."

"It's a shame there weren't a few more of my songs on it," said Entwistle, who wrote a handful of the Who's popular songs, including "Boris the Spider," "My Wife," and "Trick of the Light." "But, basically, it's a good package for the people who are just discovering us. I'm glad that there's a bunch of stuff made for people who are just now discovering us. There's a lot of 12-, 14-, 15-, 16-year olds that are just finding out who we are."

Entwistle said he was meeting a lot of these folks first-hand, as he was touring with his own band in between Who tours. "I actually do meet and greets, so I'd actually meet a lot of people sort of first-hand," he said. "I also get a lot of letters from young kids that are just discovering me, saying, "Ya know, my brother used to play all your records and I hated you. But now I've seen you live [and] you're great.'"

The Who was casually working on songs for its first studio album since 1982's It's Hard. "We haven't actually gone down and recorded anything yet," he revealed. "We've recorded live versions [not in front of an audience] of a couple of things. But, the real writing hasn't even started yet." The band, he said, was still undecided about whether it would preview those songs this summer. "Quite honestly, if we tried to play them live, I don't know if any of us could remember them."

Though one would imagine that the band would feel the pressure of the enormous scrutiny a new Who studio album would most certainly garner, Entwistle felt otherwise. "It won't come out unless we like it, unlike the last two records. So, basically, if we feel it works great. If not we'll make a Beatle-type Let It Be film about what went wrong with the sessions," he said with a laugh.

Born John Alec Entwistle on Oct. 9, 1944, the bassist was a teenager when he was asked by Daltrey to join his band, the Detours. Soon afterward, schoolmate Townshend was added to the lineup. The West London band eventually changed its name to the High Numbers and rounded out its lineup with drummer Keith Moon.

The act signed a production deal with independent producer Shel Talmy in 1964 and the following year released its debut, My Generation (the long awaited true-stereo reissue of which is slated for Aug. 27). The album spawned the classic title track as well as the single "I Can't Explain."

Through the '60s and '70s, the Who established itself as one of the most popular, powerful, and influential bands of all time. Inspiring heavy metal and punk, the act's shows often found Townshend destroying his guitar and Moon (who died of an overdose in 1978) laying waste to his drum kit.

Entwistle's legacy is that he seemingly held everything together, moving very little as he played his large basses without a pick, all the while watching Townshend and Moon's antics and Daltrey's mic twirling from stage left. He was the anchor in what is considered by many to be the best live band of all time.