Saturday, October 15, 2022

Sights and Sounds: Neil Young, Queen, Bruce Springsteen

While I was on a hiking trip in Utah this week there was a number of major music news headlines. Here is a recap of some of the biggest announcements...Robert Kinsler


Neil Young's 'Harvest' to be reissued as a 50th anniversary edition on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022 via Reprise Records


Neil Young's best known album, 1972's Harvest, will be reissued in a 40th anniversary edition on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022 via Reprise Records.  Harvest was Young's third solo album and reached number 1 in many nations; the enduring album features the hit single "Heart of Gold" as well as classics including "Old Man," "The Needle and the Damage Done" and "Alabama." Among the artists who contributed to the proceedings on Harvest were Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, James Taylor and David Crosby

The 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Box sets will be released on vinyl and audio CD. The box sets include the original album released in February 1972, three outtakes from the Harvest sessions, two DVDs and a hard bound book tat includes 40 photographs (as well as liner notes by Joel Bernstein). 

Both the vinyl box set and the CD format will include Young's oft-bootlegged Feb. 23, 1971 BBC In Concert performance (a version of "Heart of Gold" from that show is out now, and the previously-unreleased two-hour documentary Harvest Time. Watch the video performance of "Heart of Gold" HERE.


Queen's 'The Miracle Collector's Edition' to be released on Nov. 18, 2022. Listen to the rediscovered gem "Face It Alone" featuring the late Freddie Mercury

On Nov. 18, 2022, Queen will release The Miracle Collector's Edition, revisiting the band's 13th studio album The Miracle (originally released in May 1989). 

In retrospect, the world is fortunate that the aptly-titled album was recorded. Indeed, after playing their biggest concert ever on Aug. 9, 1986, Queen took a hiatus from each other. The four members only reunited three years later to record The Miracle.

The recording of the album also played out around the same time as Mercury's positive HIV diagnosis being shared with the other band members (but not yet with the public).

The Miracle Collector's Edition will include a remastered LP version of the original album, along with a slew of bonus material including “original takes, demos and rough cuts, and six previously unreleased tracks – plus intimate fly-on-the-wall audio of the band at work in the studio.”

One of those previously unreleased tracks, “Face It Alone,” serves as a shining preview of the expanded title:

The track is the first new song featuring Mercury since 2014, when the band released Queen Forever, which included “Let Me in Your Heart Again,” “Love Kills” and “There Must Be More to Life Than This.”

A news release issued in connection with the forthcoming title provides more details about the enticing "Face It Alone":

Among its contents, the expanded set includes The Miracle Sessions: an hour-plus disc of further previously unreleased recordings, including six unpublished songs. Just as tantalising for fans, the audio includes the band’s candid spoken exchanges on the studio floor in London and Montreux, giving the most revealing window yet into the four members’ creative process and the joy, in-jokes and banter on their return to working together.

“Face It Alone” was originally recorded during the band’s historic 1988 sessions for that album, a prolific period which saw the band lay down around 30 tracks, many of which were never released, but remained among those that didn’t make the final album cut. It was rediscovered when the band’s production and archive team returned to those sessions to work on The Miracle box set reissue.

“We’d kind of forgotten about this track,” admits Roger Taylor, “but there it was, this little gem. It’s wonderful, a real discovery. It’s a very passionate piece.”

Adds Brian May:

“I’m happy that our team were able to find this track. After all these years, it’s great to hear all four of us … yes, Deacy is there too … working in the studio on a great song idea which never quite got completed … until now!”

Get more details on the upcoming release via Queen's official website.


Bruce Springsteen releases video for advance track 'Nightshift' from forthcoming album 'Only The Strong Survive' coming Nov. 11, 2022


Check out the latest official music video from Bruce Springsteen; the song "Nightshift" will be featured on his forthcoming album Only The Strong Survive due on Nov. 11, 2022.


Watch the video HERE.


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