By Nick Neofitidis
Even in this mega-deluxe-edition era, the new reissue of Pearl Jam's 1991 debut album, Ten, is nothing short of awesome. With classic tracks like "Alive", "Jeremy" and "Black" defining much of alternative rock in the early '90s, to me, the album stands the test of time and certifies Pearl Jam as one of the best bands of the era.
Ten will be reissued in four editions on Tuesday (March 24), with extras ranging from a re-mastering and remix of the entire album, six bonus tracks ("Brother," "Just a Girl," "Breath and a Scream," "State of Love and Trust," "2,000 Mile Blues" and "Evil Little Goat"), re-designed packaging, a DVD of the band's 1992 appearance on MTV's "Unplugged," an album of its September 20, 1992, concert in Seattle, a replica of the original demo cassette, and a replica of Vedder's composition notebook. Phew! Now that's a deluxe edition!
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Big Boi had himself a rather grande Thursday at South By Southwest. Early in the day, he patrolled the streets of Austin, handing out daps to rather puzzled indie kids, joking with his posse, and taking drags off a Black & Mild cigar.
Later that night, he positively owned the stage at the Austin Music Hall, booming his way through a hit-filled set and previewing material from his much-anticipated (and much-delayed) solo album, Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty, which he promised would be in stores this year, so long as the folks at Jive Records play ball (note to Jive: please play ball).
But in-between the street and the stage, Boi did perhaps the most amazing thing of all. During a visit to the "Rock Band" Lounge, he decided to channel his inner Dave Grohl, jumping on stage and tackling the drums on Nirvana's "In Bloom."
How'd he do? Keep reading to find out Read more...
Earlier today, news broke that Harmonix and MTV Games will release "The Beatles: Rock Band" on September 9, and as the reigning rock editor here at MTV News, I was understandably excited by the possibilities this announcement unleashes.
Not the possibilities of actually playing Beatles tunes on "Rock Band," mind you, because I am terrible at the game (as the old joke goes, those who cannot play music write about it). No, I'm talking about stuff like the limited-edition Beatles instruments MTV Games is promising. Of course, the press release fails to mention what those instruments will be, but I tingle at the thought of sitting down behind a Ringo Starr drum kit pre-programmed to play the drum solo from "The End" or plucking away at a George Harrison "Norwegian Wood"-edition sitar. This is the stuff dreams are made of.
And then, of course, there’s the matter of the songs themselves. MTV Games doesn't mention a single tune in the release (or on the game's snazzy, look-inside-Abbey Road Studios Web site), but needless to say, there's plenty to choose from. It's a fairly daunting task. If you asked 100 Beatles fans to submit their dream playlists, you'd probably get 100 different responses. And when you factor in the cost associated with actually licensing the songs, well, let's just say this is going to be a very expensive, very debated decision. I don't envy whoever is in charge of making that call. Read more...
By Todd Brown
When your fans wait eight years for an album, the release certainly calls for an event, or maybe even a celebration — better yet, how about an entire store devoted to the record?
Well, that is exactly the kind of love AC/DC's new album, "Black Ice," is getting. MTV, "Rock Band," Wal-Mart and the band itself teamed up to open two stores — one in Los Angeles and one in New York City — devoted solely to the "Rock Band" and AC/DC experience. AC/DC and "Rock Band" fans alike can come down, buy a deluxe version of the new album, play the yet-to-be-released AC/DC live Track Pack on "Rock Band 2," and buy anything and everything related to "Rock Band," AC/DC or MTV. Read more...
Today Harmonix and MTV Games announced in a joint press release that "Shackler's Revenge," a track from the perennially delayed, more-than-a-decade-in-the-making Guns N' Roses LP Chinese Democracy, would be making its worldwide debut on the forthcoming game "Rock Band 2," the release date for which is still up in the air. Could this be some kind of an omen that an official release date for the album is imminent?
We're not about to hold our breath. After all, we've seen signs before, and all they've gotten us was disappointed. We've been duped before into thinking the record would be coming out soon — by frontman Axl Rose himself, no less. In late December of 2006, after several unmastered tracks from the opus leaked, Rose, in an open letter posted on GunsNRoses.com, promised that the album would be released on March 6, 2007. That day came and went with no CD, and we all learned a valuable lesson: Never trust a rocker with cornrows.
But there have been other signs: a number of false alarms and marketing ploys, all of them suggesting the record might finally be nearing commercial release.
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