Paul McCartney will appear on Ringo Starr's next album, Y Not.

McCartney has played bass and added vocals to two tracks - Peace Dream and Walk With You. The latter was written by Starr and Van Dyke Parks.

"Paul was doing the Grammys, so he came over to the house and was playing bass on Peace Dream," Starr revealed. "I played him this other track and Paul said, 'Give me the headphones. Give me a pair of cans'. And he went to the mic and he just invented that part where he follows on my vocal. That was all Paul McCartney, and there could be nothing better. He makes it bigger and he makes it fuller. It makes the song like a conversation between us, and that was Paul's idea to do his part one beat behind me. That's why he's a gen-i-us and an incredible bass player."

"I was the least involved in the production of the Beatles' records. And then [the same] with my solo records," added Starr. "Then suddenly it's another point in your life, and you say, 'I'm going to do this now'. So I'll be producing everything I make from now on. That's the good news. It's a confidence thing, I suppose. And Y Not is really another way of me saying, 'Yes I Can.'"

Joss Stone, Joe Walsh and Ben Harper are also set to appear on the record when it's released on January 12, 2010.

Source MOJO

Former "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Susan Boyle made a record-breaking debut on Sunday's new U.K. chart with her debut album "I Dreamed a Dream" (Syco Music/Sony Music Entertainment).

It sold 410,000 units to become Britain's fastest-selling album of
2009 and recorded the biggest first-week sales of any album in U.K.
chart history, according to Official Charts Company data.

The Scottish singer also scored a top ten single with the album's first release, her cover of the Jagger/Richards song "Wild Horses," which opened at No. 9. Comedian Peter Kay and his All Star Band's "Official Children In Need Medley" (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment), which raises funds for the BBC charity of that name, leapt 18-1 on the singles survey.

48-year-old Boyle has the only new title in the top ten of the album
chart, with the former No. 1 "JLS" (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment) steady at No. 2, Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)" Interscope/Universal) up 5-3, Queen's "Absolute Greatest" (Parlophone/EMI) down 3-4 and last week's No. 1, "Echo" by Boyle's Syco Music labelmate Leona Lewis, down to No. 5. Rihanna's fourth album "Rated R" (Def Jam/Universal) started at No. 16, as the single "Russian Roulette" debuted at No. 6.

Kay's single, which rose to the top in its first full week on release,
is a medley of songs by the Jacksons, Fleetwood Mac, Pussycat Dolls, Chumbawumba, Take That, the Beatles and Elbow. It features the voices of numerous favorite animated children's TV characters of the last 50 years, voiced by their original actors, including "Thomas The Tank Engine" narrator Ringo Starr.

Syco's charity cover of Michael Jackson "You Are Not Alone" by the X Factor Finalists fell 1-2, with Jason Derulo's "Whatcha Say" (Warner Bros.) holding at No. 3. Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" (Interscope/Universal) climbed 8-5 and she had another new entry at No. 30 with "Telephone." Mariah Carey's cover of Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is" (Def Jam/Universal) opened at No. 19.

Robbie Williams is in a second week at Billboard's European Albums summit with "Reality Killed The Video Star" (Virgin/EMI), while Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling," in its 21st chart week, again tops European Hot 100 Singles.

Source Billboard

Fancy getting your hands on a very limited edition 7" copy of Pearl Jam's single The Fixer absolutely gratis? Well, your chance is now (well, actually, soon...) or possibly never.

Ten clear orange 7" vinyl copies of The Fixer have been given to independent record stores across the UK, with clues (or actually a picture of the different stores) as to where the records can be found being posted on Pearl Jam's Twitter throughout the next two weeks.

This slightly alternate 'treasure hunt' starts next Monday (November 30), so the first person in to ask for the vinyl in participating stores will receive the very special grooves.

But, if you're not keen on queuing outside shops, a further five announcements will be made through the same channel next week, so make sure you've got your running shoes on.

Two images, of London's Rough Trade East, and Sister Ray have already been posted.

The Fixer was the first single from Pearl Jam's latest album Backspacer. Only ten copies of the clear orange vinyl exist in the UK.

Keep checking Q's Twitter for live updates on the whereabouts of these unique records. We might even have some early clues...

Pearl Jam's new single Just Breathe/Got Some is out on Monday.

Source Qthemusic

Members of successful rock bands having side projects or solo careers is nothing new, and it's become even more common as technology has made it easier to record and distribute music. But one conundrum remains: Which ideas go where? And how do you prevent the projects from cannibalizing each other both creatively and commercially?

If anyone knows that situation, it's Chester Bennington, the singer-songwriter of two successful rock outfits: Linkin Park (who plan to have a new LP out next year) and his Dead By Sunrise, which released its long-percolating debut LP earlier this month.

At the Ulalume Music Festival last weekend, Bennington explained how he can tell what goes where. "I can kind of tell like which songs are a little too grungy, a little too punk-driven [for Linkin Park]."

Bennington also said that the collaborative process with Linkin Park helps make the decision as well. "On a song like 'Let Down,' which I felt really strongly about, I really wanted that song not to change. I didn't want to go in and change the words, I didn't want to change any of the vibe, and I knew that would happen a lot taking it to Linkin Park. So it was pretty easy to figure that out."

However, he admitted that the decision is often not quite so simple.

"As time went on it got easier," he said. "I hear a song like 'Condemned' in my head and I know that's probably not going to end up on a Linkin Park record. But now it's getting really difficult, because Linkin Park is going in so many directions it's kind of hard to figure out which songs are which."

Source MTV

There’s another new supergroup of sorts on the horizon: two members of Fall Out Boy are using their time away from the band to provide riffs and beats for a new heavy metal side project called the Damned Things. FOB guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley have teamed with Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano, Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley and bassist David Karon in the new band, which Ian describes to Rock Sound as “Kyuss meeting Thin Lizzy.”

Check out supergroups from Cream to Them Crooked Vultures.

According to Rock Sound, the Damned Things have already written and demoed 15 songs with the hope of entering the studio in December. “It’s super fun and it’s something that we do totally take seriously because we love the music we’ve created,” Ian said, describing new song “A Great Reckoning” as worthy of “any Thin Lizzy record.” The band’s roots can be traced back to at least October 2008, when the Damned Things’ MySpace page was created. Judging by the comments on that page, a Damned Things song was initially posted there but has since been deleted.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, after years of constantly recording and touring, Fall Out Boy are going on a hiatus — even though Wentz told RS it was more like an indefinite vacation — but Trohman and Hurley won’t be catching up on R&R during the break, instead taking the opportunity to step out of Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz’s shadows. “People think of Fall Out Boy and they think of Pete Wentz and Patrick,” Ian told Rock Sound, “These two guys, man, they’re fucking hardcore dudes. Joe writes some amazing riffs.”

Source RollingStone

WITH LAST MONTH'S Mott The Hoople dates and a looming UK tour with Bad Company, guitarist Mick Ralphs must feel like his life is flashing before his eyes.

Yet he looked hale enough at this afternoon's showcase gig at the West End's enduringly naff Hard Rock Café venue, as the three surviving members of the original Bad Company line-up played acoustic versions of some of their finest songs.

As they ripped gleefully into Feel Like Makin' Love, Shooting Star, Seagull and Do Right By Your Woman, Rodgers flexed every fibre of the gritty soulfolkrock instrument on which his reputation is made. The anthemic weight of these numbers had my companion exclaiming: "Bon Jovi are their fault!"

Between 1974 and 1977, Bad Co were the fourth-biggest British rock band in the world, back when such distinctions meant something. Compiled after the break-up of Free and Mott threw Rodgers and Ralphs together, along with Free drummer Simon Kirke and ex-King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell, the group's uncomplicated heavy blues attack was an instant phenomenon, with Can't Get Enough a Stateside Number 1 and their self-titled debut album, released on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label, one of the decade's biggest sellers.

The tour kicks off at the Birmingham LG Arena on April 1 with the final show on April 11 at Wembley Arena - the first Wembley Arena concert appearance in the history of the band. Support comes from the Joe Perry Project.

The gigs follows a one-off show last August at the Seminole Hard Rock & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, which Rodgers admitted had been partly booked to reassert the group's rights over their name. Too long a hiatus between bouts of touring can make even big-name acts vulnerable to any old bunch of parvenus wishing to gig under, say, the Bad Company moniker.

"By doing this one-night stand with Bad Company, we will be cementing our right to the trademark 'Bad Company' for touring," Rodgers told Billboard last year, "and anyone who attempts to challenge us and tour misusing our trademark and mislead the fans will be liable to legal action."

Rodgers says their reasons for reconvening on British soil were rather more touchy-feely: "It's in response to feedback from the UK, saying, What about us?" Rhythm guitar duties will be handled by Heart's Howard Lees while Lynn Sorensen from Rodgers' solo band fills the late Burrell's shoes on bass. A member of today's audience, putting a question in the Q&A section of the event, volunteered his own services: "I work for the NHS," he revealed, "so I'm dirt cheap."

The offer was politely declined.

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Full dates are as follows...

Thursday April 1 / Birmingham LG Arena
Friday April 2 / Manchester Evening News Arena
Sunday April 4 / Sheffield City Hall
Monday April 5 / Cardiff CIA
Wednesday April 7 / Newcastle Metro Arena
Thursday April 8 / Glasgow Clyde
Saturday April 10 / Brighton Centre
Sunday April 11 / Wembley Arena

Tickets go on sale at 10am Friday 20th November priced £38.50 London / £34.50 Regional (subject to booking fee) and are available from www.livenation.co.uk. Additionally, a new Bad Company live CD/DVD set is set for release prior to the tour on 9th February 2010 (Image/Universal Music Group).

Source MOJO