NEW YORK (AP) — David Bowie’s next album has a title you can say but you might find it hard to locate in an alphabetical list. The title is pronounced “Blackstar,” but officially the title is just a black star. The first single has the same name and it comes out today. It’s the same music that will be used in the opening credits for the new TV series, “The Last Panthers.” It’s currently airing in Europe and will air in the U.S. on Sundance TV in the spring. Bowie’s “Blackstar” album comes out January 8.
Archives for November 2015
Spotify Says Adele Will Not Allow It to Stream “25”
NEW YORK (AP) — What’s likely to be the biggest album of the year will not be on Spotify. The music streaming service says Adele’s “25” album will not be available for streaming when it comes out today. Spotify says they love and respect Adele and they hope she will let fans listen to “25” on Spotify alongside her other albums, “19” and “21.” An Adele representative declined comment. The “25” album is predicted to move at least a million units in its first week.
Vanessa Carlton Gets Trippy With “Liberman”
CHICAGO (AP) — Vanessa Carlton can trace the origin of her latest album, “Liberman”, to three years ago when she ate peyote with a friend in Mexico. Carlton says it was amazing but not crazy, and she had a shift in perspective after that. She wanted to make a meditative album that “slips into you like water.” Carlton says she hopes “Liberman” can be the kind of record that you can put on and slip into another world in “the muted cave of your headphones.”
Enya Might Do Live Shows
NEW YORK (AP) — Enya is toying with the idea of touring. Enya rarely performs in public, even though she enjoys it. She says she just never had the time, and she fell into a pattern of studio work. When she first started to get popular, her record label wanted her to tour but got scared when she talked about how expensive it would be, because she’d need choirs and maybe an orchestra. She went back to the studio instead. Enya says once she starts on new music, that’s her main focus. It takes her about three years to make an album. Her latest is “Dark Sky Island,” out tomorrow.
Grammy Hall of Fame Adds 26 Titles
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Works by acts as diverse as The Grateful Dead, Jimmy Buffett and Miles Davis have been added to the Grammy Music Hall of Fame. Twenty-six recordings that are of qualitative or historical significance have been added, including the Dead’s “American Beauty” album, Buffett’s song “Margaritaville” and Davis’ “Miles Smiles” album. Other works to be inducted include Bob Dylan’s “The Basement Tapes,” James Brown’s “Cold Sweat – Part 1,” ”I Love Rock and Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, “For The Love of Money” by The O’Jays, “She’s Not There” by The Zombies, and self-titled albums by Fleetwood Mac and by Randy Newman. With the new additions, the Recording Academy is preserving than 1,000 recordings in its hall of fame.
Carly Simon Reveals Who “Your’re So Vain” Is About
NEW YORK (AP) — After 44 years of being coy about who Carly Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” about, she’s just coming out and saying it: it’s Warren Beatty. Well, the second verse is. That’s the one that starts, “You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive.” Simon tells People magazine even though Beatty thinks the whole song is about him, the other two verses are about two other men. OK, who? Simon won’t say. She says she won’t reveal that unless she tells the two men that she wrote it with them in mind. Simon says she didn’t think she’d ever even reveal the song was about more than one person, and she can’t believe that people still care. Simon’s autobiography, “Boys in the Trees: A Memoir,” comes out Tuesday.
Roger Waters Takes Another Look at “The Wall”
LONDON (AP) — Roger Waters is revisiting “The Wall” to make it less about him and more about anyone affected by war. The DVD “Roger Waters The Wall” is part concert film and part road trip as Waters visits for the first time his grandfather’s grave in northern France and a memorial garden marker bearing his father’s name in southern Italy. Waters asked fans to send him their stories about loved ones who died in wartime. Waters says he knows there will be people who will want him just to shut up and play the music, but he wants to start a conversation about war and its effects. “Roger Waters The Wall” comes out December 1.
Sara Bareilles Reconnects with Her Roots
NEW YORK (AP) — With her fourth album, Sara Bareilles is finally introducing herself. Bareilles says she pulled from the oldest part of herself for the album, “What’s Inside: Songs From Waitress.” Bareilles calls it “the part that got suppressed as I was a young singer-songwriter in L.A. and just barely getting a foothold.” The album includes her versions of the songs that will be used in the Broadway production based on the film “Waitress.” Bareilles is a big fan of musical theater and can be a quirky musician, but she suppressed that to make a good first impression in her early days. She says, “Now, it’s like the gloves are off.”
Musicians Gather for Concert to Focus Attention to Race Relations
NEW YORK (AP) — Pharrell Williams says communities torn apart by race don’t need another song — they need action. Williams is one of the performers for the “Shining A Light” concert that will tape tomorrow in Los Angeles and be shown on A-and-E on Friday. Other performers include John Legend, Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Zac Brown Band, Eric Church, Miguel, Pink, Tom Morello, Aloe Blacc, Big Sean, Nick Jonas, Ed Sheeran and Sting. Legend says it’s not enough for them to come together and play songs, but to have important conversations as a nation about pain and mistrust.
Estefans, Streisand, Taylor Will Get Presidential Medal of Freedom
WASHINGTON (AP) — Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Barbra Streisand and James Taylor are among those who will receive the highest civilian honor in the U.S. The White House has announced they will be recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Conductor Itzhak Perlman, composer Stephen Sondheim and director Stephen Spielberg will also be given the honor. The ceremony will be November 24 at the White House.