OUT TODAY! ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ 40th Anniversary Compilation, Including Brand New ‘2024 Ultimate Mix’

Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and Trevor Horn have announced details of the forthcoming Band Aid Compilation, brand new 2024 Ultimate Mix and accompanying video release, commemorating 40 years of Band Aid.

The latest incarnation of "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" premiered in the UK on November 25th, the 40th anniversary of the recording of the original song. Now, the song is available to stream on all digital platforms, as well as purchase digitally and physically on the Band Aid Compilation CD and 12” vinyl. Get yours at https://bandaid.lnk.to/BA40.

"Do They Know It’s Christmas?" was recorded on three separate occasions, over three separate generations, Band Aid (1984), Band Aid 20 (2004) and Band Aid 30 (2014). What began life as a humble Christmas pop song, went on to launch the greatest series of events in pop history. "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" ultimately corralled the political structures of its time to its own focused ends by assembling a roll call of talent that in effect describes the arc of British rock ‘n roll over these past 40 years. In celebration of this monumental “instrument of change”, producer Trevor Horn has taken these recordings and, through extraordinary music production techniques, blended all the voices of those separate generations into one seamless whole.

In achieving this extraordinary musical and production feat, Trevor has not just re-imagined ‘the song that changed that world’ but much more importantly has revivified its original emotional sense. To witness once again the great David Bowie introduce this rag-tag of spotty, pretty young pop stars as they ambled down a Notting Hill street or tumbled bleary out of cars that early Sunday morning in late October 1984. To hear the legendary Michael Buerk BBC News report that ignited the whole decades long struggle. To understand without being hectored or lectured or beaten over the head exactly what was being done, why it was being done and that something profound was about to begin.

Director Oliver Murray was enlisted to try and make visually tangible music that which was so powerful on audio. He has achieved the impossible by visualizing Horn’s painstaking superlative creation work on video. Murray came to prominence last year when he directed the emotional short film that accompanied The Beatles on their last No.1 single, and was tasked with repeating his magical skills on the ‘2024 Ultimate Mix’. The video will be unveiled on November 25th, with broadcast details to be announced in the coming days. 

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is not just the sum of British rock music it also accidentally became a bellwether of most of the British visual arts. Through the years the Band Aid sleeve has been issued with original artwork from Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, Damian Hirst and Mat Maitland.

Sir Peter Blake was initially asked to design a unique cover for the first Band Aid, creating another classic with a collage of standard Christmas card tropes set against the disgrace of a hungry child. This perfectly exemplified the central theme of the song itself - the cornucopia of our lucky wealthy world and the sharing of those spoils with family over a time of togetherness against an unnecessary awful world of utter nothing, fear and hunger. Sucking everyone into this maw of empathy, David Bailey the iconic photographer donated one of his classic photographs for Blake’s montage. 

Now at the age of 93, Blake was once again called to the Band Aid colors just one more time in celebration of this hugely historic song. And once again, using imagery from the past 40 years that sketches the Band Aid history he has given us something utterly beautiful, instantly classic and completely “on point”. The sleeve itself is drenched with visual compassion, understanding, tolerance and from this great gentle old giant of British art - Humanity.

Rufus Publications Releasing 'Edward Van Halen Second Edition' Photo Book

 

Rufus Publications is releasing Edward Van Halen The Second Edition by Ross Halfin, a 416-page revised and expanded celebration of rock's iconic guitar player, a man who changed the way rock music would be played forever. This extensive photo book features many classic and unseen shots chosen by Halfin from his personal archive together with an exclusive introduction from Van Halen’s friend and fellow player Tony Iommi. Respected journalist Mark Blake provides a career essay on Van Halen's hugely successful career. 

This original 364-page edition of the book has long since sold out and this new edition has been completed redesigned by Tom Jermann and now features 52 extra pages and many new images recently scanned for this edition. The book starts with the band's first trip to the UK and goes through to the Sammy Hagar era.

The book is available in two editions including a standard edition, beautifully printed and bound, with a laminated card sleeve. The book measures 240mm x 345mm and is printed on 170gsm art paper. The book retails for £89 plus worldwide delivery.

An ultra limited, oversized A3 Edition is also available, supplied in a beautiful clamshell case with a limited edition Ross Halfin photo print. Only 100 copies of this edition are available, signed by Ross Halfin and costing £400 plus worldwide delivery.

PRE-ORDER WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 27th, 3PM UK TIME

Ricky Warwick Rolls Out Christmas Song

 

Ricky Warwick has released his feel good rock’n’roll Christmas single, "All I Want For Christmas… Is Christmas!," which is out now via Earache Records and features Billy Duffy of The Cult on guitar and guest vocals from Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott.

 

The track is available to stream now and you can pre-order for download, which will be available on December 13th, at earache.com/rickywarwick.

 

The track is an ode to the blissful and innocent enjoyment of Christmas and the affirmation to just switch off and reset. The only agenda for "All I Want For Christmas… Is Christmas!" as the singer puts it, “is a good one.” Check out the video below.

Warwick adds, “Christmas always seemed magical to me when I was young. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a lot of family. I always hoped, in vain, that it would snow on Christmas Eve, the only day of the year when my parents could get me to go to bed early so Christmas Day would arrive faster!

 

“My old man would put Perry Como’s Christmas album on which I pretended to hate but secretly liked as it made everything seem right. We weren’t a particularly religious family, but my two sisters and I would religiously watch Christmas Top Of The Pops. I was mesmerized by the Glam Rock brilliance of Slade and Roy Wood’s Wizzard. Those festive feelings never diminished as I grew older and I tried to pass them down to my own kids.

 

“Christmas just seemed to be simpler back in the day… Pretty much like most things… We sadly seem to be so out of touch with ourselves and each other now. When the world has become so skeptical, isn’t it okay for the heart to be naïve? I’m not yearning for nostalgia, I’m always hopeful for tomorrow, and I’m hoping this tune can put a smile on people’s faces at this time of year!”

 

Christmas for me is a time when the world stops for a day and we can all get off to see the festive lights, take a breath and reset ourselves before getting back on the ride again.”

 

The track comes hot on the heels of the announcement of Ricky Warwick’s new solo album Blood Ties, which will be out on March 14th via Earache Records. You can pre-order the album here.

 

To get a taste of what’s to come from his forthcoming album, Warwick has released the single "Don’t Leave Me In The Dark," which sees guitarist and famed solo artist Lita Ford joining on vocal duties. Check out the video below.

About the single, Warwick comments, “This was the first song written for the album and details the intricacies of love and the battles we fight to stay in it. When you put everything into a relationship and the significant other doesn’t reciprocate, there’s always a huge mental toll, a price to pay on commitment.”

Warwick dug deep for Blood Ties and by doing so has made this one of his most personal records yet. Big cathartic guitar sounds and life-affirming, often joyous assessments of where he is in life right now have made it a standout body of work in a career that has spanned over four decades at the coalface of rock’n’roll.

 

As a solo artist and an esteemed singer/songwriter in his own right, Ricky Warwick has also collaborated with some of the finest musicians on the planet and, with Blood Ties, has enlisted some notable guests including the aforementioned Lita Ford, Billy Duffy (The Cult) and Charlie Starr (Blackberry Smoke).

 “If people can connect with this album, musically, lyrically, its artwork, or better still all three, then that is all I can really ask and hope for. If it means as much to someone else as it does to me then I feel my work is done. For me, it’s all about what other people think!! What’s the point in creating art if you don’t share and care!”

 

Blood Ties is out on March 14, 2025 via Earache Records and is available for pre-order.

 

Ricky Warwick and The Fighting Hearts will be performing in March 2025 at the following dates. Tickets are available here.

 

March 2025

Saturday 8th – BLACKPOOL, Waterloo Bar

Sunday 9th – MILTON KEYNES, The Craufurd Arms

Tuesday 11th – BRIGHTON, Concorde 2*

Wednesday 12th – NOTTINGHAM, Rock City*

Friday 14th – MANCHESTER, Academy*

Saturday 15th – NEWCASTLE, O2 City Hall*

Monday 17th – GLASGOW, Barrowland Ballroom*

Tuesday 18th – YORK, Barbican*

Thursday 20th – BIRMINGHAM, O2 Academy*

Friday 21st – BRISTOL, O2 Academy*

Saturday 22nd – LONDON, Roundhouse*

Monday 24th – CARDIFF, Clwb Ifor Bach

Tuesday 25th – LINCOLN, The Drill

 

*Special Guest to Stiff Little Fingers

Genesis Announce 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Details

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this week, Genesis’ progressive rock opus, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, will be reissued in expanded five LP/Blu-Ray Audio, four-CD/Blu-Ray Audio, and Digital (including Dolby ATMOS) formats. The 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, with input from all of the band members involved in the record – Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford – will be released on March 25, 2025. 

Pre-order The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition

Highlights of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition include:

- Original album mix, remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell from the 1974 analog tapes.

- Blu-ray audio disc includes the remastered 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audio and Dolby ATMOS mixes of the studio album done by Bob Mackenzie at Real World Studios under the supervision of Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks.

- The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Live At The Shrine Auditorium from January 24, 1975. It is remastered and includes two encore tracks, “Watcher of the Skies” and “The Musical Box.” This is the first time the full live show, including the encore tracks, has been released in its entirety.

- Three never-before-released demos from the legendary Headley Grange Session included as part of a digital download card with the full audio from the set.

- 60-page coffee table style book with Alexis Petridis liner notes, who interviewed all five band members to tell the story of The Lamb… – from the writing sessions to live performances – which is believed to be the only time this has happened since its original release. The book also features images from Armando Gallo, Richard Haines and other noted photographers. 

- 1975 tour program reproduction, replica ticket and poster

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition is a true celebration of a remarkable album that embraces the groundbreaking music, giving the whole band’s insight alongside evocative imagery and unseen photos. Ultimately, it celebrates the huge magnitude of what this record is, which Alexis Petridis sums up perfectly in the opening paragraph of the liner notes… 

“Perhaps it makes sense that an album as complex as The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway has an equally complex history. The saga of its making is a strange and lengthy one, involving rat-infested country houses, uncanny presentiments of the future—or at least the future of rock music—Hollywood directors, personality clashes and inflatable penises. It’s also occasionally controversial: Talking to the former members of Genesis about The Lamb…nearly half a century on, it’s hard not to be struck by the fact that they seldom agree about it. Some members of the band have said they think it’s the best album of their career. Others think of it as a brave but flawed experiment. Some people view it as the absolute apotheosis of early-’70s progressive rock: a double concept album filled with dense, intricate, ever-shifting music, featuring a plot so knotty and strange even some members of the band didn’t understand it (“Ask Peter—I’m just the drummer,” shrugged Phil Collins when a journalist quizzed him about it shortly after release) and subject to one of the most famously theatrical live presentations in rock history. Some people think it presages the arrival of punk rock. In fact, there’s every chance that The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is all those things—flawed experiment, career highlight, prog masterpiece, weirdly prescient precursor of punk—at once, which might account for its longevity.”

Al Green Releases His Take On The R.E.M. Hit 'Everybody Hurts'

 

Eleven-time Grammy Award-winning soul icon and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Al Green has released a soulful interpretation of R.E.M.’s 1992 hit “Everybody Hurts” via Fat Possum Records. Adding a new layer of depth and vulnerability while tapping into his Gospel roots to give the track an uplifting warmth of hope, he official Lyric video for “Everybody Hurts” can be seen below. 

“While we were in the studio recording ‘Everybody Hurts,’” says Al Green, ”I could really feel the heaviness of the song and I wanted to inject a little touch of hope and light into it. There’s always a presence of light that can break through those times of darkness.” 

 “Speaking on behalf of the entire band—we could not be more honored, more flattered, more humbled” comments Michael Stipe. “This is an epic moment for us.”  

Al Green entered into the studio in Memphis, TN earlier this year, reuniting with members of the classic Hi Rhythm Section featuring Reverend Charles Hodges [organ], Leroy Hodges [bass], and Archie “Hubbie” Turner [piano], as well as Will Sexton [guitar], and Steve Potts - from Booker T & The MG's with the strings section arranged once again by Stax legend Lester Snell.  The track was produced by Clay Jones & Fat Possum.

 “Everybody Hurts” follows Green’s 2023 critically acclaimed cover of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” which New York Times described as “a sumptuous reimagining of Lou Reed’s 1972 classic” proving once again Al Green’s ability to take a well-established sentimental ballad and make it his own.

Brit Floyd & Alan Parsons Book West Coast Dates In Summer 2025

 

Brit Floyd and Alan Parsons will play a handful of shows next summer 2025. Presented by Palladium Entertainment, the limited engagement run spans across California and Nevada, kicking off July 11 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles with stops in San Diego, CA, Reno, NV and Murphys, CA. 

The shows will highlight the best of Pink Floyd, along with the hits of the Alan Parsons Project, while the intricate light show and impeccable sound quality will captivate concertgoers.

Check out the dates below:

July 11 - Greek Theatre - Los Angeles, CA

July 12 - Cal State Credit Union Amphitheatre - San Diego, CA

July 15 - Grand Sierra Resort - Reno, NV

July 18 - Ironstone Amphitheater - Murphys, CA

For more information, visit the websites of Brit Floyd and Alan Parsons.

Iron Maiden's 'Powerslave' 40th Anniversary Zoetrope Vinyl Limited Edition Released

 

In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Iron Maiden’s album Powerslave, BMG haa released a limited-edition vinyl pressing to mark the occasion. As the band’s first-ever zoetrope picture disc, featuring unique zoetrope artwork and the 2015 remastered audio of the album, this is a true collector’s item. The original sleeve has been expanded and contains new artwork and Powerslave at 40’ liner notes from band founder and bassist Steve Harris.In addition, there is a Walmart Exclusive version that includes a Lenticular 3D Album Art sized print.

Order Powerslave 

Originally released in September 1984, Iron Maiden’s fifth studio album Powerslave was another massive success for the band, charting all around the world including: U.K. #2, Switzerland #3, Norway #4, Germany #5, Sweden #5, New Zealand #11, Austria #15 Canada #21, US #21 and Australia #26, achieving multiple Gold and Platinum discs. It features the iconic singles “2 Minutes To Midnight” and “Aces High” alongside fan favorites “Powerslave” and the epic “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

Powerslave is beloved by fans and showcases the rapidly evolving ambition, sound and songwriting might of Maiden that's played a big part in helping the band become one of the most successful in metal and beyond.