Music News & Notes

New KISS Album Almost Done, Most Likely Exclusive to Wal-Mart

Paul Stanley sent a note over to kissonline.com talking about the new KISS album.

"We're about four days from finishing the new KISS album. Eleven tracks, and it IS everything I've told you. It IS classic. It IS all written within the band. And IT ROCKS BIG TIME! Tommy and Eric both handle lead vocals. The songs, sound and playing will knock your socks off. You will all be as proud and excited as we all are. Oh...and WAIT till you see the cover!"
We ARE just getting started!

The album is, from all indications, going to be another Wal-Mart exclusive. The first clue is a little information that Gene Simmons let drop accidentally (or, knowing Gene, accidentally on-purpose) during an in-studio meet-up with none other than Denise Richards during a guest stint she did on Sirius/XM Radio. In the clip, Gene can be seen talking about how he is going to visit with the CEO of Wal-Mart and they will be dedicating an entire section of their store to the band.

The other clue is that Simmons and Stanley made an appearance at the Wal-Mart shareholder's meeting on June 5.

No release date has been set for the album.



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Monkee Ill Again

The Monkees' Peter Tork has confirmed on Twitter that he has had a re-occurance of the head and neck cancer that was originally found in March. He is currently undergoing radition treatment while still out playing shows.

He wrote on his Facebook page:

...weds I was greeted by the good doctor (may his tribe increase), with the stunning news that 10 weeks after my surgery, the cancer is back. I was so taken aback by the news that I wasn't able to ask much. dr did say that the chance is about 80% that they will "get ahead" of the growth, and be able to control and shrink it...didn't feel a thing during radiation...i thank you for your attention and concern.

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Play The Real Thing Kids

So, what do real guitarists think of Guitar Hero and Rock Band? Jimmy Page and Jack White talked about it during a press conference promoting their movie It Might Get Loud.

White said, "It's depressing to have a label come and tell you that is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music."

Page added that he didn't think much could really be learned from the games.

"You think of the drum part that John Bonahm did on Led Zeppelin's first track on the first album, Good Times Bad Times. How many drummers in the world can play that part, let alone on Christmas morning?"

Amen, Mr. Page.

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Antony And The Johnsons To Release "Aeon"/"Crazy In Love" Single

Antony and the Johnsons will release the "Aeon"/"Crazy in Love" double A-side single in the US on August 4th on CD and 7" through Secretly Canadian and on August 3rd in Europe and UK on 7" through Rough Trade. The band appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman for the song's television debut. Antony and the Johnsons' earnest and impassioned cover of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love," a long time live favorite, is being released officially for the first time.

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Jackson's Jewels

Michael Jackson will wear costumes embossed with over 300,000 Swarovski crystals at his comeback gigs in London.

The crystalised elements on the singer's stage outfits will feature 53 different shapes, 40 different sizes and 27 different colours. How Freaking cute, grab man.

Jackson's dance collaborator Kenny Ortega said the partnership had “inspired our fashion and scenic elements to a new state of the art”.

The announcement comes as Jackson prepares to release extra production seats for the gigs at London's O2 Arena, which get under way on July 13.

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R.I.P Jeff Winfield (Left Banke)

Jeff Winfield, the original guitarist for the Left Banke, passed away back on June 11from pneumonia. He played on the group's first album and, later, with the group Birth of Spring who recorded for Mercury.


Walk Away Renee by Dawn Eden

The first hint of industry recognition came from Harry Lookofsky himself. "Mike's father used to come in late at night, on and off," says Cameron, "to check up on the boys and see what they were doing." The boys were doing a lot besides playing, I'll tell you that much! Mike went down one night and introduced 'Walk Away Renee' to us. Steve hated the song, of course. Tom and I thought it had possibilities. We played it and had Steve sing lead on it, and it started coming out pretty good. Mike's father heard it and said, 'Let's try to record it.' And bingo.

The song was inspired by Renee Fladen, a platinum blonde vision. Cameron: "Renee was Mike Brown's big love, and Tommy liked her a lot too. Tall, blonde, and quiet. Mike was like a little kid around her. He'd bring her up to the studio to hear his latest songs, and then we'd all come out and sing. She'd just sit there and listen and smile a lot."

Finn: "Most of the kids were half-runaways in those days. A bunch of teenagers got an apartment together- a crash pad- in Tin Pan Alley, around the Broadway area. Renee lived there part- time when she didn't live with her mother."

"I brought her over to the studio. For a kid of 16, or 17, she was free, liberal, open- minded, sexy- everything. She was just very different for that time, so she bowled Mike over."

Brown: "I met her through the newly formed Left Banke. They would run around, so to speak, because they knew a lot of people. I was hanging around with the group, and it was just in one of those chance encounters that I met her."

Discussing Renee, Brown refers to her in free-spirited terms like those used by Finn: "What people forget is that the main thing that was happening with everybody I was hanging around with- was a new era. That didn't last very long. The reich was supposed to go for a thousand years, and this couldn't last 10. But whether you fell in love or anything else, everybody just sort of floated around."

Brown says that he wrote "Walk Away Renee" one month after he met Renee, in the winter of '65. He then wrote what became the Left Banke's second hit, "Pretty Ballerina" and "She May Call You Up Tonight" (on the Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina LP), both about the very same young woman.

Renee never went out with Brown, dated Finn briefly, and later went out with the group's original drummer, Warren David. "After that," says Finn, "using 60's lingo, she 'split the scene' because of all the different guys liking her. She felt very uncomfortable."

Brown describes his unrequited feelings for Renee: "I was just sort of mythologically in love, if you know what I mean," he says, "without having evidence in fact or in deed." As Brown says this he laughs softly. His laugh sounds like that of one who would rather laugh than cry.

"But I was as close as anybody could be to the real thing," he adds. "As a matter of fact, like in the Twilight Zone or something, if you cross over, you lose what you have. It's only because you're away from it that you can appreciate the beauty of it. Once you've become immersed in it, you can't see the sunlight coming through the window, because you're no longer doing that. You're in that light."