September 13, 2002
Pearl Jam Single Hits The Net

"I Am Mine," the first single from Pearl Jam's upcoming album Riot Act, is being previewed online beginning today (Sept. 13) via AOL's First Listen (keyword: First Listen) program and Netscape Music. The track, which AOL has exclusively for three days, goes to U.S. radio outlets Wednesday for airplay consideration and will be released Oct. 8 as a commercial single. Riot Act arrives Nov. 12 via Epic.

The group has also confirmed the full track list for the set, which, at 15 tracks, ranks as Pearl Jam's longest album to date. A handful of the songs, such as opener "Can't Keep" and "Thumbing My Way," were premiered earlier this year by frontman Eddie Vedder during solo concerts in California. The folk-tinged "I Am Mine," which is musically reminiscent of such prior favorites as "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" and "Better Man," was debuted by the full band at last year's Bridge School Benefit concert.

The new set was produced by Pearl Jam with Adam Kasper and mixed by frequent collaborator Brendan O'Brien. The group is expected to return to the live stage with a few shows later this year, before launching a world tour in early 2003.

Here is the tracklist for Riot Act:

"Can't Keep"
"Save You"
"Love Boat Captain"
"Cropduster"
"Ghost"
"I Am Mine"
"Thumbing My Way"
"You Are"
"Get Right"
"Green Disease"
"helphelp"
"Bushleaguer"
"1/2 Full"
"Arc"
"All or None"

- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

September 11, 2002
Pearl Jam Reads The 'Riot Act'

Pearl Jam has settled on Riot Act as the title for its seventh Epic studio album, which, as previously reported, is due Nov. 12. The Eddie Vedder-penned first single "I Am Mine" goes to U.S. radio Wednesday (Sept. 18); a commercial single, backed with the non-album track "Down," is due Oct. 8.

Other confirmed album tracks include the mid-tempo numbers "Love Boat Captain" and "Bushleaguer," the latter of which "features some recitation," according to the band's official Web site. The new set was produced by the band with Adam Kasper and mixed by frequent collaborator Brendan O'Brien. Pearl Jam is expected to return to the live stage with a few shows later this year, before launching a world tour in early 2003.

In related news, Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard's side band Brad has begun lining up dates for its first tour in five years. The trek is set to begin Oct. 12 in San Francisco and is currently booked through Nov. 3 in Indianapolis. The group's third album, Welcome to Discovery Park, was released last month via Redline.

- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

September 10, 2002
Santana Wraps Up 'Shaman,' Readies Retrospective

Santana will release Shaman, the follow up to 1999's 11-million selling Supernatural, Oct. 22 through Arista. The disc features three songs penned by matchbox twenty frontman Rob Thomas voiced by three different singers, plus collaborations with Latin rock band Ozomatli and opera great Placido Domingo, according to the artist's official Web site. Vocalist Michelle Branch is featured on the first single "The Game of Love," which arrives Sept. 23 at U.S. radio outlets. She also appears in the video, shot last month in Chicago.

"There are many great artists, producers, and writers that have helped to create this masterpiece of joy," reads a post on the site. "A few songs like 'Adouma,' 'Foo Foo,' 'Victory Is Won,' and 'Aye Aye Aye,' have been played on the last few Santana tours. All of these songs feature members of the Santana Band." Ozomatli appears on a rock song titled "One of These Days," while Domingo adds his voice to "a very inspirational track" dubbed "Novus."

On the same day Shaman hits stores, fans will also be able to purchase The Essential Santana, a 33-track, two-CD retrospective chronicling the first 20 years of Carlos Santana's recorded output. Beginning with excerpts from his band's 1969 eponymous debut ("Soul Sacrifice," "Evil Ways") and wrapping with "The Healer" (a 1989 collaboration with late blues icon John Lee Hooker), The Essential Santana houses the bulk of the guitarist's top-40 singles.

Santana's 1970s smashes like "Black Magic Woman," "Everybody's Everything," and "Oye Como Va," rest alongside early '80s chart fare like "Winning" and "Hold On." Also featured are the guitarist's mid-1980s world music efforts like "Veracruz" and "Blues for Salvador."

Santana has begun lining up fall tour dates, beginning Sept. 29 in Las Vegas. Shows are set through Oct. 12 in Los Angeles.

Here are Santana's tour dates:

Sept. 29: Las Vegas (MGM Grand)
Sept. 29: Las Vegas (Rain in the Desert)
Oct. 1: Albuquerque, N.M. (Journal Pavilion)
Oct. 2: Phoenix (Cricket Pavilion)
Oct. 4: Concord, Calif. (Chronicle Pavilion)
Oct. 5: Mountain View, Calif. (Shoreline Amphitheatre)
Oct. 8-9: Santa Barbara, Calif. (Santa Barbara Bowl)
Oct. 11: Chula Vista, Calif. (Coors Amphitheatre)
Oct. 12: Los Angeles (Hollywood Bowl)

- John D. Luerssen, N.Y.

September 10, 2002
Copeland, Astbury Join Doors For Long Haul

Police drummer Stewart Copeland and Cult vocalist Ian Astbury (singing the late Jim Morrison's parts) weren't just temporary additions to the Doors' lineup for last weekend's show in Fontana, CA. As Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek tells Billboard.com, "Stewart is drumming from here on out. Ian is singing from here on out. We're not doing a TV show. We're playing live music. This is the new Doors lineup for the 21st century."

As previously reported, Copeland is filling in for drummer John Densmore, who is battling the hearing disorder tinitus but may participate in sessions for the Doors' first new studio album in more than 30 years. "We will go into the recording studio in the year 2003," Manzarek says. "We're going into composition [of new material] next week."

A North American/European tour is also in the works for next year, and while Manzarek says it is too early to predict how extensive the jaunt may be, he promises it "will definitely not be 60 cities." The Doors have one more show on their schedule for now: a Sept. 29 concert at Molson Park in Barrie, Ontario, just outside of Toronto.

Three days earlier, Manzarek will join pianist George Winston for a duet concert in New York in support of Winston's upcoming Doors covers album, Night Divides the Day. Both artists will be playing separate pianos simultaneously. "Then he'll do one solo piece and I'll do one solo piece within the context of the concert," Manzarek says. "What he's going to play is his choice. What I'm going to play is not a Doors song!"

- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

September 10, 2002
Box Set, Best Of Celebrate 20 Years Of Iron Maiden

Veteran U.K. heavy metal act Iron Maiden will survey its 20-year history with a six-disc box set of live material and a single-disc best-of set, each due Nov. 5 via Columbia (and a day earlier internationally). Both the Eddie's Archive box -- which will be available in a limited edition silver casket-shaped case -- and the Edward the Great collections are named for Eddie, the band's mascot.

Eddie's Archive boasts two double-disc sets ranging from the band's earliest performances through to 1998. Titled BBC Archives, the first two discs were recorded between 1979 and 1988 for the British Broadcasting Corporation's "Friday Rock Show." The set features a 1979 studio session with original lead singer Paul Di'Anno, as well as Reading Festival appearances in 1980 and 1982, and a 1998 performance at the Monsters of Rock Donington (England) festival.

Beast Over Hammersmith, the second pair of discs, is a complete show from Iron Maiden's 1982 Beast on the Road tour recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon. For the Eddie's Attic release, the recording has been mixed by bassist Steve Harris and the band's longtime sound engineer Doug Hall. The booklet is a recreation of the official program from the tour, which lists all of the dates and includes notes written by the band at that time.

"These recordings encompass the early days with Paul Di'Anno through to [current singer] Bruce Dickinson's arrival," Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said in a statement. "I think they capture the essence of what the band was and still is all about: pure, raw energy, great musicianship and an in-your-face attitude."

The third pair of discs, dubbed The Best of the B'Sides, is a collection of all of the studio recordings and some of the live cuts that have appeared as B-sides of the band's singles releases through the years. Among the list are covers of songs by some of Maiden's favorite bands, including Jethro Tull's "Cross-Eyed Mary," the Who's "My Generation," and UFO's "Doctor Doctor."

The limited-edition casket packaging is embossed with a picture of Eddie, and will also include a crystal Eddie Head shot glass and an individually numbered family tree scroll on parchment by Pete Frame. All of the double-CDs boast 24-page color booklets, with the first two featuring previously unseen photos of the band's various personnel.

Simultaneously released with the box set, Edward the Great features 16 tracks from across the band's career. The single-disc collection includes such well-known songs as "Run to the Hills," "Wasted Years," "The Wicker Man," and a live version of "Fear of the Dark" recorded at the Rock In Rio festival.

Earlier this year Iron Maiden played a few shows at London's Brixton Academy to benefit former drummer Clive Burr, who is suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). The band plans to reconvene in the near future to begin the process of writing material for a new studio album due sometime next year.

Here is the full Eddie's Archive box set track list:

BBC Archives disc one:
(1979 - "Friday Rock Show" session)
"Iron Maiden"
"Running Free"
"Transylvania"
"Sanctuary"

(1982 - Reading Festival)
"Wrathchild"
"Run to the Hills"
"Children of the Damned"
"The Number of the Beast"
"22 Acacia Avenue"
"Transylvania"
"The Prisoner"
"Hallowed Be Thy Name"
"Phantom of the Opera"
"Iron Maiden"

BBC Archives disc two:
(1980 - Reading Festival)
"Prowler"
"Remember Tomorrow"
"Killers"
"Running Free"
"Transylvania"
"Iron Maiden"

(1988 - Monsters of Rock Festival Donington)
"Moonchild"
"Wrathchild"
"Infinite Dreams"
"The Trooper"
"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"
"The Number of the Beast"
"Hallowed Be Thy Name"
"Iron Maiden"

Beast Over Hammersmith disc one:
"Murders in the Rue Morgue"
"Wrathchild"
"Run to the Hills"
"Children of the Damned"
"The Number of the Beast"
"Another Life"
"Killers"
"22 Acacia Avenue"
"Total Eclipse"

Beast Over Hammersmith disc two:
"Transylvania"
"The Prisoner"
"Hallowed Be Thy Name"
"Phantom of the Opera"
"Iron Maiden"
"Sanctuary"
"Drifter"
"Running Free"
"Prowler"

Best of the B'Sides disc one:
"Burning Ambition"
"Drifter" (live)
"Invasion"
"Remember Tomorrow" (live)
"I've Got the Fire"
"Cross-Eyed Mary"
"Rainbow's Gold"
"King of Twilight"
"Reach Out"
"That Girl"
"Juanita"
"The Sheriff of Huddersfield"
"Black Bart Blues"
"Prowler '88"
"Charlotte the Harlot '88"

Best of the B'Sides disc two:
"All in Your Mind"
"Kill Me Ce Soir"
"I'm a Mover"
"Communication Breakdown"
"Nodding Donkey Blues"
"Space Station No. 5"
"I Can't See My Feelings"
"Roll Over Vic Vella"
"Justice of the Peace"
"Judgment Day"
"My Generation"
"Doctor Doctor"
"Blood on the Worlds Hands" (live)
"The Aftermath" (live)
"Futureal" (live)
"Wasted Years '99" (live)

Here is the Edward the Great single disc best of track list:

"Run to the Hills"
"The Number of the Beast"
"Flight of Icarus"
"The Trooper"
"2 Minutes to Midnight"
"Wasted Years"
"Can I Play With Madness"
"The Evil That Men Do"
"The Clairvoyant"
"Infinite Dreams"
"Holy Smoke"
"Bring Your Daughter... To the Slaughter"
"Man on the Edge"
"Futureal"
"The Wicker Man"
"Fear of the Dark" (live)

- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.

September 9, 2002
Staind's 'Unplugged' DVD Due In November

After more than a year's delay, melancholy rock trio Staind will release its first DVD, a record of the group's appearance on MTV's Unplugged, Nov. 12 on Elektra. The DVD will feature the Unplugged performance, taped July 16, 2001, along with two additional songs ("Suffer," "Pressure") that didn't air on the original broadcast.

In addition to the 11-song, 72-minute Unplugged show, the DVD will also include the video clips for "Mudshovel," "Outside," "Epiphany," and "Fade," as well as behind-the-scenes footage.

The DVD captures Staind in the midst of its commercial breakthrough, a month after the release of its third album, Break the Cycle (Elektra), which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200. Buoyed by the singles "Outside" and "It's Been Awhile" (the latter of which spent 16 weeks atop Billboard's Modern Rock chart), the album has sold 4.8 million copies in the U.S. to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Elektra says the group is currently working on its fourth album, with a spring 2003 release in its sights.

Here is the track list for the Unplugged portion of the DVD:

"Home"
"Me"
"Pressure"
"Excess Baggage"
"Suffer"
"Waste"
"Epiphany"
"It's Been Awhile"
"Can't Believe"
"Fade"
"Outside"

- Troy Carpenter, N.Y.

September 9, 2002
Bon Jovi CD To Feature Ticket Access

In an effort to drive sales of Bon Jovi's new album Bounce -- due Oct. 8 from Island Def Jam (IDJ) -- the label is offering early access to tickets to the band's upcoming world tour to consumers who buy the CD, Billboard Bulletin reports. Each copy of the album will come with a serialized code in the packaging. Consumers need to register the code at Bonjovi.com to access pre-sale ticket offers. Tickets to the tour go on sale to the general public later in the month.

CD purchasers registering with the site also will receive other bonuses including downloads of unreleased tracks and contests. IDJ executives say the idea behind the initiative is to reward fans who purchase the album, the theory being that the added value benefits will motivate consumers to buy it instead of download it. To that end, new albums by Eminem, the Dave Matthews Band, and Queens Of The Stone Age have in recent weeks been bundled with free DVDs.

The IDJ program is the first widespread serialization initiative featuring a major act. Company executives said that with CD recognition technology largely unable to distinguish between legitimate product and burned discs, serialized codes became a more attractive option to ensure only album purchasers could access the bonus material.

No dates have yet been unveiled for the Bon Jovi tour, but, as previously reported, the group will play its first U.K. club gig in more than a decade Sept. 18 at London's Shepherds Bush Empire.

- Brian Garrity, N.Y.

September 6, 2002
Guitarist Coxon Exiting Blur?

Blur manager Chris Morrison confirmed today (Sept. 6) that the Britpop act is in talks with Graham Coxon on the next phase of the band, fueling speculation that the guitarist is to exit the quartet. "Blur and Graham are currently contemplating and deciding among themselves what the future arrangements will be," Morrison said in a statement. He adds that the band is currently in the studio -- minus Coxon -- preparing material for a new Virgin album.

Fatboy Slim, who has produced some of the sessions, told the Irish Evening Session newspaper that "Graham has left" Blur and that he did not participate in the songwriting for the project. According to Blur's official Web site, the band traveled to Marrakesh last week "to finish the album" without Coxon's assistance.

Coxon was apparently unaware of the trip, telling the U.K.'s NME, "I'm not particularly involved in what's happening with the Blur record now because they're doing a lot of other things and I'm just doing my own record really." That set, titled "The Kiss of Morning," while be the guitarist's third solo album for his Transcopic label.

The new Blur set will be the follow-up to 1999's "13," which debuted at No. 80 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 136,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

A Virgin spokesperson had no comment on the matter.

- Lars Brandle, London; Jonathan Cohen, N.Y

September 6, 2002
Aerosmith May Sing The Blues On Next Album

The Aerosmith touring machine, which rolls into Camden, N.J., tomorrow (Sept. 7) with Run-D.M.C. and Kid Rock, is once again flying high in support of the recently released Columbia greatest hits package O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits. While happy to be back on the road, the band is already looking forward to its next studio project. Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton tells Billboard.com it will be a back-to-basics affair that will challenge its members and, they hope, inspire longtime fans.

"We're going to delve back into our musical roots and try recording some blues songs and maybe some blues-based rock riffs," says Hamilton. "So, everybody is turning back inward toward their individual instruments with that in mind. It's funny because I've been doing it on my own but now when we get on stage together, I see everybody else doing it."

A bluesy rock album would return Aerosmith's focus to the exact inspiration that brought it together in the first place. In fact, for this high-powered quintet, such an adventure will be like traveling back in time, including recording the album to tape ("I'm sure we'll wind up using a combination of tape and hard disk," says Hamilton) as well as utilizing another antiquated studio technique.

"We want to really try to get everybody in a room at the same time," Hamilton says. "It's funny because it triggers all of the competition and uncomfortableness that we've always had going into the studio, and it's going to mean everybody is going to have to be open, vulnerable, and brave, and go in there and do that process like we used to do it."

As Hamilton told Billboard.com this spring, "the band definitely is interested in getting into projects that are not the once-every-two-years, blockbuster, career making or breaking album-type mode that we've been in." As such, this upcoming album could be viewed as a rejuvenation of Aerosmith's spirit. "We're probably going to take a bunch of blues songs, cover them, learn to play them together, and see about using stuff like that," he says. "But I think in that process, it's going to generate new ideas. We've been calling it a blues album but really it's just going to be an Aerosmith rock album and maybe a lot of blues."

Aerosmith's current tour, originally scheduled to end in November, is going to be extended through the end of December, which means the band hopes to start recording by the first of the year. "The way we want to do it, it will probably be out in the spring," says Hamilton. "But no promises."

- John Benson, Cleveland

September 5, 2002
Metallica's Hammett, Green Day's Armstrong Wipe Out

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett was injured last week when he was stabbed by his surfboard while being tossed by a wave, according to a special report from the artist on the band's official Web site. The surfboard injury resulted in six stitches under Hammett's armpit, with the gouging rendering him unable to play guitar for "a week or two."

In the interim, Hammett is offering his vocal, percussion, tamborine, and piano talents to the recording of Metallica's upcoming Elektra album, which is currently in progress in the band's Bay Area studio with producer Bob Rock.

Just days prior to Hammett's injury, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sustained a minor head injury while surfing at Newport Beach, CA. According to the GreendayUK.com fan site, Armstrong suffered a cut but was not seriously hurt.

In other Metallica news, the band has donated a previously unreleased version of its early favorite "Hit the Lights" to the forthcoming nine-CD box set Metal Blade Records 20th Anniversary, due Oct. 22. The 140 track retrospective also boasts unreleased material from heavy hitters such as Gwar, Fate's Warning, Armored Saint, and King's X.

- John D. Luerssen, N.Y.

September 5, 2002
Gilmour Video Brings Solo Shows Home

A video document of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's three-night solo stand at London's Royal Festival Hall in January will be released Nov. 5 on DVD/VHS via Capitol. David Gilmour in Concert features guest appearances by Floyd's Rick Wright, former Soft Machine drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt, and ex-Boomtown Rats leader Bob Geldof, who was also the star of the film version of Pink Floyd's rock opera "The Wall."

The VHS version is a 16-track collection, while the DVD edition boasts a number of extras, including three additional tracks: the Elvis Presley standard "Don't," Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You," and Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18." Also featured is footage of Gilmour rehearsing in his home studio, lyrics, a featurette detailing the artist's guitar work, and a rendition of Pink Floyd's "High Hopes" with a full gospel choir.

Additionally, both the DVD and VHS will contain footage from a June 2001 performance as part of London's Meltdown festival, an event curated by Wyatt and the inspiration for Gilmour's January concerts. The intimate performances saw Gilmour backed primarily by pianist/composer Michael Kamen, guitarist Neill MacColl (Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith), bassist Chucho Merchan (Pete Townshend, Wyatt), cellist Caroline Dale (Sinead O'Connor, Page & Plant), jazz drummer Nic France, and Pink Floyd's saxophonist Dick Parry. Vocalist/keyboardist Sam Brown, who has toured with Pink Floyd, led the choir.

Here is the track listing for David Gilmour in Concert:

"Shine on You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-5"
"Terrapin"
"Fat Old Sun"
"Coming Back to Life"
"High Hopes"
"Je Crois Entendre Encore"
"Smile"
"Wish You Were Here"
"Comfortably Numb"
"Dimming of the Day"
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9"
"A Great Day for Freedom"
"Hushabye Mountain"
"Dominoes"
"Breakthrough"
"Comfortably Numb (Reprise)"

- Todd Martens, L.A.

September 4, 2002
Nugent Offers 'N Sync's Bass Hunting Lessons

With Lance Bass' space flight plans seemingly scuttled, always-outrageous rocker Ted Nugent has come up with an alternate adventure for the 'N Sync member: bow hunting in Michigan. While the price tag on a trip on a Russian rocket is $20 million, Nugent said in a statement that his offer will set the singer back "only $1 million."

The fee would cover the Motor City Madman's lessons in bow hunting basics and a week-long hunt where Bass would "be taught a greater appreciation for nature and gravity as he hunts, kills, cleans and cooks for himself," Nugent said. "Bass needs to quit worrying about going into outer space and embrace and celebrate life by learning how to kill his own food. A slab of flesh on the back of a deer is the finest source of protein on the planet."

An avid and outspoken hunter, Nugent is also offering to sweeten the deal by "throwing in a few guitar lessons."

On Sept. 3, Russian Space Agency officials reportedly terminated Bass' space flight training because "his sponsors didn't fulfill the conditions of the contract and we never received the money." Bass has been training since July in Russia and at a NASA facility in Houston for the trip, which was to be the basis of a documentary television series.

A representative for Bass had no comment on Nugent's offer, but noted that the performer is still in training, and fully expects that he will be aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket for the Oct. 28 mission to the International Space Station.

Meanwhile, Nugent is on tour in advance of Craveman, his first studio album in seven years, due Sept. 24 via Spitfire Records. He recently co-authored with his wife Shemane the wild game cookbook Kill It & Grill It (Regenery), and boasts he will kill 100 deer this year, most of which will be donated to homeless shelters via the Ted Nugent Hunters for the Hungry program.

Here are Ted Nugent's upcoming tour dates:

Sep 5: Jacksonville, Fla. (Florida Theatre)
Sep 6: Sarasota, Fla. (Robarts Arena)
Sep 7: Pompano Beach, Fla. (Pompano Beach Amphitheatre)
Sep 8: Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (House of Blues)
Sep 22: Lubbock, Texas (South Plains Fair)

- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y