Eric Clapton will release his first solo album in five years on 27 September in the UK, and the following day in North America. Simply titled Clapton, the album features guest contributions from Steve Winwood, Wynton Marsalis, Sheryl Crow, Allen Toussaint, Derek Trucks and others. It is co-produced by the guitar legend's long-standing collaborator Doyle Bramhall II.

"It's actually better than it was meant to be because, in a way, I just let it happen," Clapton said. "It's an eclectic collection of songs that weren't really on the map - and I like it so much because if it's a surprise to the fans, that's only because it's a surprise to me, as well."

The 14-track album is a mix of originals and covers. Of the latter, many are standards, including Johnny Mercer's Autumn Leaves, Irving Berlin's How Deep Is The Ocean and Hoagy Carmichael's Rocking Chair.

Clapton tracklisting

1. Travelin' Alone
2. Rocking Chair
3. River Runs Deep
4. Judgement Day
5. How Deep Is The Ocean
6. My Very Good Friend The Milkman
7. Can't Hold Out Much Longer
8. That's No Way To Get Along
9. Everything Will Be Alright
10. Diamonds Made from Rain
11. When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful
12. Hard Times Blues
13. Run Back To Your Side
14. Autumn Leaves

Source musicradar

Guns N' Roses are not cancelling their forthcoming dates, a spokesperson for the Reading And Leeds Festivals has told Uncut's sister-site NME.

The dates, including the headlining slots at next week's (August 27-29) event, were thrown into doubt by a message from Axl Rose's Twitter account, which claimed all future shows were cancelled.

However, the spokesperson for the festivals explained that they had it confirmed from the band that Rose's account had been hacked and that next week's slots at the Reading And Leeds Festivals are set to go ahead as planned.

"Festival Republic are informed by GN’R management that Guns N’ Roses have not cancelled their performances at Reading and Leeds," the event's promoters explained in a statement. "Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked into and all claims of dates being cancelled are unfounded."

Source UNCUT

Blondie have revealed that they will release a new album in 2011.

Initially due out just in Australia this November, 'Panic Of Girls', the follow-up to 2003's 'The Curse Of Blondie', will be released in the UK and the US next year.

"We tried to make the recording process as organic as possible," drummer Clem Burke told Billboard.com. "[We] tried to stay away from programming as much as we could, because ['The Curse Of Blondie'] had a lot of programming on it. So, in the spirit of Woodstock, we kept going in the studio and playing."

The group have been previewing a few songs live recently, including 'What I Heard', 'The End' and 'Mother', with Burke admitting that the audience have been reacting well to the new tracks in their set.

"We've been getting a great reception with the new material," he explained. "We're doing about five or six of them in the show, which is kind of difficult for people, hearing new material for the first time at a show. But we've been doing really well with it."

Source UNCUT

In 1971 former Beatle John Lennon wrote a letter of advice to aspiring folk artist Steve Tilston, and now, according to the Daily Telegraph, the contents of the note have been revealed for the first time.

Lennon's letter to Tilston was in response to an interview he read in the now-defunct ZigZag magazine in which the then-21-year-old Tilston said he was worried that money and fame could impact his ability to compose quality material.

"Being rich doesn't change your experiences in the way you think," Lennon wrote. "The only difference, basically, is that you don't have to worry about money - food - roof etc. But all other experiences - emotions - relationships - are the same as anybodies.

"I know, I have been rich and poor and so has Yoko, (rich - poor - rich). So, whadya think of that. Love John and Yoko."

Lennon sent the letter to the office of ZigZag, but it never reached Tilston until five years ago, when a collector seeking to verify its authenticity contacted him.

Tilston, now 60, who went on to record more than 20 albums during his career but never attained the level of fame that so concerned him at the time, said of Lennon's note, "I feel it was a rather brotherly letter really. Not antagonistic, just offering words of advice. If I had received it all those years ago my young self would definitely have rung him. I felt rather angry to start with to think that someone had just sold the letter rather than passing it on to me but you have to let these things go."

Lennon's letter, which is estimated to be worth around £7,000, is currently in the possession of an American collector.

Source musicradar

After a summer full of acclaimed festival appearances including last weekend's V Festival, Faithless have announced a nine date arena tour starting at Bournemouth International Centre on Tuesday 30th November ending at London's The O2 Arena on Saturday 11th December.

With the full force of a band as hungry as when they set out fifteen years ago (before they'd racked up 10 million record sales), Faithless released new album The Dance earlier this year on their own label Nate's Tunes. The Dance sees Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo reach the bar that their back-cat sets so high, and Maxi reckons its 'chock-a-block with dance tunes which we hope will be the soundtrack to many Saturday nights for a while to come.'

Their new single Feeling Good (released 26th September) which premiered on channel 4 last weekend features Faithless family member Dido. Also getting in the vocal booth for tracks on the album The Dance are Dougy Mandagi (The Temper Trap), Itch (The King Blues) and classical singer Mia Maestro.

Their influence from being at the top of the pile for a decade and a half is easy to spot these days: think Calvin Harris' recent number 1 or the countless tracks with a house groove, riff and rapper, Faithless' signature sound adopted by many, bettered by none.

And with a new record, comes a new chance to see a band who have inspired awe in even the most jaded gigger.

The full Faithless live experience will be exploding on stages around the UK throughout this winter:

Tuesday 30 November Bournemouth BIC 0844 576 3000
Wednesday 01 December Cardiff CIA 029 2022 4488
Friday 03 December Nottingham Trent FM Arena 08444 124 624
Saturday 04 December Manchester MEN Arena 0844 847 8000
Monday 06 December Newcastle Metro Radio Arena 0844 493 6666
Tuesday 07 December Glasgow SECC 0844 499 9990
Wednesday 08 December Sheffield Motorpoint Arena 0114 256 5656
Friday 10 December Birmingham NIA 0844 338 8000
Saturday 11 December London The O2 Arena 0844 856 0202

Tickets on sale 9.30AM Friday 27th August
Buy online @ gigsandtours.com | 24hr cc hotline 0844 811 0051

Faithless will be joined by special guest Example on all dates.

Source music-news

Rolling Stones fans around the world will get ultimate satisfaction for one night as this legendary multi-platinum band takes fans back to the summer tour that skyrocketed their careers with Ladies & Gentlemen. The Rolling Stones. This historic big screen event features classic Stones performances from the 1972 tour and a special, cinema only interview with Mick Jagger recently filmed at The Dorchester Hotel in London.

Jagger and Stones greats Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts take fans inside life on the road during that magical summer when they rocked millions of fans in sold-out venues around the world. For the first time in over 30 years, legendary concert footage from the tour will be unveiled by the band for their fans in select movie theatres across the globe.

Presented by Eagle Rock Entertainment and Omniverse Vision, this one-night-only event features the Stones in a career-defining concert, testing the very limits of their own musical power. The footage was captured at four shows in Fort Worth and Houston, Texas on their 1972 North American tour promoting the "Exile on Main Street" album. The music played on that spectacular tour included what would later be known as some of the band's greatest all-time hits such as "Brown Sugar," "You Can't Always Get What You Want", "Tumbling Dice" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash".

"It's a full on performance and energy levels are really high...everyone's very together and on" - Mick Jagger

"I knew that 'Tumbling Dice' was a killer live" - Keith Richards

Ladies & Gentlemen. The Rolling Stones was originally filmed in 16mm by Bob Freeze and Steve Gebhardt of John Lennon's Butterfly Films and has been re-mastered and restored for this exclusive cinema event giving fans a one-time opportunity to flashback and be next to the stage during these historic1972 concerts.

"Exile on Main Street is an extraordinary record and the tour was very special for those fans who were lucky enough to catch one of the shows," said John Gaydon, Chairman of Omniverse Vision. "We are thrilled to be working with Eagle Rock and our distributors to bring Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones to cinemas around the world allowing fans a unique opportunity to witness a moment in musical history" he added.

For listings and ticket information visit http://www.cinerock.net

Source music-news