Morrissey has a new deal

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Less than a month after splitting with U.K.-based ie: music, Morrissey has signed with Irving Azoff for management, according to TrueToYou.net. Before that, the former Smiths frontman was represented by Merck Mercuriadis.

Morrissey is presently without a U.S. label. His already completed new album, "Years of Refusal," is due Feb. 2 internationally via Universal.

Coming a week before via BMG is a reissue of the artist's 1995 album "Southpaw Grammar," with the previously unreleased songs "Honey, You Know Where To Find Me," "Fantastic Bird" and "You Should Have Been Nice To Me" inserted into the original sequence.

In January, Morrissey will play four shows in New Zealand, followed by gigs in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia, with dates to be announced.

Meanwhile, the Smiths retrospective originally titled "Hang the DJ" and due Oct. 7 via Rhino has been renamed "The Sound of the Smiths" and is now arriving Nov. 11.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is back again in 09

John Benson, Cleveland

After spending the last year or so working with former Marilyn Manson/current Rob Zombie guitarist John 5, Lynyrd Skynyrd is close to finishing its next studio album.

"We've been doing quite a bit of writing with John 5," group member Rickey Medlocke tells Billboard.com. "While everybody thought, 'My god, you are going to write with this guy? How is that ever going to work?' But this guy came in and is really multitalented in all genres.

"I was surprised that this guy could sit down and play Glen Campbell and Roy Clark better than they do, and it blew my mind. And then he loves southern rock, the blues and country. It really blew us away."

Full story can be found here.

Courtesy of Billboard.com

20 Years Later, we celebrate Eazy-E and Ruthless Records

Eazy-E's Ruthless Records Celebrates 20 Years as an Indie Pioneer

Gail Mitchell

Let's hitch a ride on the music time machine back to the year 1987. Whitney Houston, Madonna and Michael Jackson rule the No. 1 hit parade on the pop charts, along with rockers U2, Bon Jovi and Bob Seger. In control on the R&B front are Jackson again, baby sister
Janet, Luther Vandross and Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam.

Still in its formative years, rap is mostly an East Coast happening. Eight years have elapsed since the Sugarhill Gang rhymed its way to commercial success in 1979 with "Rapper's Delight." And it's three years since Afrika Bambaataa and Soul Sonic Force landed on "Planet Rock."

Now rapper LL Cool J has nabbed his first No. 1 single—"I Need You"—just a year after Run-D.M.C. stepped up its legacy with top 10 singles "My Adidas" and "Walk This Way."

It's in this climate that co-founders Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and music industry veteran Jerry Heller decide to launch rap label Ruthless Records. Little did anyone know that the upstart indie would put West Coast and gangsta rap on the map, let alone house a stable of gold- and platinum-selling acts, among them pioneering rap group N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude)

Read the full story here.

Courtesy of Billboard.com

Kanye West and NIN smash the end of Lollapalooza

Katie Hasty, Chicago

Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails closed Lollapalooza 2008 in grand fashion Sunday (Aug. 3) in Chicago's Grant Park, with the former regaling his hometown crowd with hit after hit and the latter band offering a tour-de-force of intense industrial rock.

All three days of Lollapalooza sold out this year, a first in the event's four-year-history as a one-off event in Chicago.

Read the rest of the story here.

Courtesy of Billboard.com

Nas tips Lil Wayne off the top of the charts

Katie Hasty, N.Y.
One rapper replaces another atop The Billboard 200 this week, as Nas' untitled Def Jam album dethrones Lil Wayne's Cash Money/Universal set "Tha Carter III." Nas' album sold 187,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, becoming the rapper's fifth No. 1 here.

Nas' prior album, 2006's "Hip-Hop Is Dead," also debuted at No. 1 but sold 354,000 over Christmas week. Meanwhile, after three non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, "Tha Carter III" slips to No. 2 with a 15% sales decrease to 105,000.

The Decca soundtrack to "Mamma Mia!," the film adaptation of the hit theatrical musical based on ABBA's songbook, experiences an 89% sales boost after the movie hit theaters Friday (and earned the highest grossing weekend opening ever for a musical); it climbs 7-3 with 91,000. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Capitol) slips 2-4 with 90,000 (-20%), while the Jonas Brothers-led soundtrack to Disney's "Camp Rock" descends 3-5 with 78,000 (-12%).

Though it slips 5-6 on the chart, Kid Rock's "Rock N Roll Jesus" (Atlantic) continues to resurge with the help of the Hot AC/Adult Top 40 single "All Summer Long," selling 73,000 with a 20% sales increase.

John Mellencamp's Hear Music debut "Life Death Love and Freedom" bows at No. 7 with 56,000, his fourth top 10 album. It's his 19th charting record overall, stretching back to the Aug. 18, 1979, debut of "John Cougar."

David Banner debuts right behind at No. 8 with his third straight top 10 studio album, "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (SRC/Universal), shifting 52,000. His previous set, 2005's "Certified," peaked at No. 6.

"Beautiful Eyes," a new Wal-mart exclusive EP/DVD from country star Taylor Swift, begins with 45,000 at No. 9. Meanwhile, her Big Machine self-titled debut climbs 14-12 with 35,000 (+20%) in its 59th week on the chart. Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad" (SRP/Def Jam) rounds out the top tier, slipping 8-10 with 41,000 (-12%).

O.A.R.'s "All Sides" (Atlantic) earns the group its biggest charting and sales week ever, debuting at No. 13 with 33,000. Country veteran Randy Travis also snares his highest charting album ever on The Billboard 200 as "Around the Bend" (Warner Bros.) debuts at No. 14 with 31,000.

Other debuts this week include Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's soundtrack to new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) at No. 20 with 25,000 and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's live EP "Magic Tour Highlights" (Columbia) at No. 48 with 12,000.

At 7.48 million units, sales this week are up 2.1% from last week's sum and down 7.85% from the same week last year.


Courtesy of Billboard.com

Miley Cyrus Q&A (fully clothed and talking sense)

(Except on our blog lol!!!)


Cortney Harding

Let's get it out of the way. That Vanity Fair photo shoot? For a teen idol that's suddenly been turned into glossy rag mag fodder, Miley Cyrus is remarkably sanguine when asked about the bare-shoulder, bedsheet-entwined photo.

"I was embarrassed," she says in her rapid, self-assured clip, "but also it's like, every career thing that I do can't be perfect, and sometimes my decisions are wrong. I think that just makes me even more relatable. I don't think people will look at me any differently because they're like, 'You know what, I'm going to do stupid stuff too, and I'm going to make mistakes, and that's fine.' It still hurts when I think about it—but you know what, it doesn't mean that you can't move on."

So with that in mind, we'll move on. Cyrus certainly has—she's got a new record, "Breakout," out July 22 and is currently filming a "Hannah Montana" movie in Tennessee, followed quickly by a return to the Disney studios to shoot another season of the show that made her a household name. After the season wraps, she'll hit the road for another tour, hoping to mimic, if not best, the remarkable success of her last tour outing.

The hardworking professional spills the beans about her new album, new movie, TV show and the importance of being a good role model.


How is the new album different from your previous efforts?

It's grown-up. I wrote all the songs except two. My last one, "Meet Miley Cyrus," was more just meeting me, finding out who I am, and here it's more getting in depth of what's been going on in my life in the past year.

Not many people are aware that you're a songwriter. Can you talk a little bit about your process?

Songwriting is what I really want to do with my life forever. No matter how long what I'm doing here lasts, I want to be a songwriter for the rest of my life. I love it and it's my escape. I just hope this record showcases that—more than anything—I'm a writer.

I wrote my first song when I was probably 7—it was called "Pink." That shows what kind of song it was about—it's about the color pink. But you know what, darn it, I wrote it and I've been writing since I was my little sister's age.

At this point, though, when I'm writing I like to not listen to music at all because I don't want to ever be like, "Oh, this is cool," and start to sound like anyone else. I try to just kind of focus on my music and just continue to write, just kind of block everything out. I don't watch TV at night; I actually try to make sure my mind is focused.

Full interview can be found here at Billboard.com

BB King is back at it again! New Album!

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
B.B. King returns to his blues roots with the help of producer T Bone Burnett on "One Kind Favor," due Aug. 26 via Geffen. The legendary artist is backed on the effort by pianist Dr. John, drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Nathan East.

"I saw B.B. at the Central Forest Ballroom in Dallas in '65 or something like that," Burnett tells Billboard. "I remembered exactly how that felt and how that sounded, so I wanted to go back and sort of re-create that very live sound. We all cut it just sitting around in a circle. I tried to be very true to who [King] was when I first heard him and that energy -- in other words, not try to update him in any way."

The track list includes such blues chestnuts as Big Bill Broonzy's "Backwater Blues," Lonnie Johnson's "Tomorrow Night," Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" and T-Bone Walker's "I Get So Weary."

King, 82, is on tour in North America through Thanksgiving. On Sept. 13, he will be on hand for the opening of B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in his hometown of Indianola, Miss.

Also in September, King will begin hosting a weekly blues radio show with XM Satellite Radio.

Here is the track list for "One Kind Favor":

"See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (Lemon Jefferson)
"I Get So Weary" (T-Bone Walker)
"Get These Blues Off Me" (Lee Vida Walker)
"How Many More Years" (Chester Burnett)
"Waiting For Your Call" (Oscar Lollie)
"My Love Is Down" (Lonnie Johnson)
"The World Is Gone Wrong" (Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon)
"Blues Before Sunrise" (John Lee Hooker)
"Midnight Blues" (John Willie "Shifty" Henry)
"Backwater Blues" (Big Bill Broonzy)
"Sitting On Top Of The World" (Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon)
"Tomorrow Night" (Lonnie Johnson)

Courtesy of Billboard.com

Coldplay is set to kick on the Summer Tour

July 15, 2008 , 10:45 AM ET

Brian Cohen, L.A.

Coldplay opened its North American tour last night (July 14) at the Forum in Los Angeles, treating the sold-out crowd to a career-spanning, 20-song set list. The 90-minute show, complete with floating video globes, confetti and flashing laser beams, went heavy on new material in various different incarnations on multiple stages throughout the venue, including a two-song jaunt up in the top most colonnade of arena seats.

"I can tell it's gonna be a good one," singer Chris Martin told the audience while catching his breath after "Violet Hill" -- the first single from the band's new, chart-topping, "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends."

Content to let layers of pre-recorded backing tracks fill out most of the new songs, Martin was free to spend much of the evening hopping, skipping and jumping around the stage like an over-caffeinated gymnast, while his bandmates -- guitarist Johnny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion -- tucked into their instruments behind him with satisfactory aplomb.

Barring a few to-be-expected missteps along the way, (missed instrumental cues in "Death and All His Friends," botched parts in "Speed of Sound") the show moved like clockwork, as teams of stagehands hustled to move pianos and makeshift drum kits back and forth onstage between songs.

Clever enough to try and keep the audience from getting too bored at any given time, the group successfully interjected a variety of audio and visual amusements throughout the evening. Peppering new material with at least two songs from each of its previous three albums, Coldplay offered older hits like "Clocks" and "In My Place" early in the set.

Eight songs in, the group decamped to a smaller platform that extended outward from the right side of the main stage into the crowd for "Chinese Sleep Chant" and "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face", both of which featured a leaner guitar-and-bass arrangement, as well as sampled 808 electronic drums.

Back on the main stage, the group wisely ditched the orchestral backing tracks, albeit temporarily, for stripped-down versions of "Trouble" and "Speed of Sound," the latter of which sounded refreshingly under-rehearsed.

Later, the group was led by security onto the floor and up the stairs of the venue to a third platform all the way up in the highest group of the Forum's seats, where, huddled together like sardines, it performed acoustic versions of "Yellow" and "Death Will Never Conquer," which featured Champion on lead vocals.

Los Angeles in certainly no stranger to big-budget, high-production-value extravaganzas, and as Martin befittingly joked, "Where better than to kick off the paid professional entertainment portion of our tour!" Coldplay returns to the Forum again tonight.

Here is Coldplay's set list:

"Life in Technicolor"
"Violet Hill"
"Clocks"
"In My Place"
"Viva La Vida"
"42"
"Yes"
"The Scientist"
"Chinese Sleep Chant"
"God Put a Smile Upon Your Face"
"Square One"
"Speed of Sound"
"Trouble"
"Lost!"
"Strawberry Swing"
"Yellow"
"Death Will Never Conquer"
"Fix You"
"Lovers In Japan"
"Death and All His Friends" / "The Escapist"

Courtesy of Billboard.com