Wrinkly pop rocks the charts

Roxy Music, The Spice Girls, Take That, The Who, The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin

A cursory glance at any entertainment feed will show you very quickly that the kids are not alright at shifting units these days. It is your mum or dad’s favourites that are rocking the world and making the money.

Take the last few days as an example. Nearly half a century after it’s inception, Beatlemania is still with us. The fab two and the wives of the other fabs (Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison) attend a special dedication ceremony in honour of John Lennon and George Harrison in the Love Theatre in Las Vegas on it’s year’s anniversary whilst hundreds of Paul McCartney fans lined the street outside a funky Hollywood record store on Tuesday to secure a seat for a free show there by the ex-Beatle.

Re-unions are in the air again: Roxy Music ia rumoured to be organising a comeback tour. And on the back of a hugely successful re-union tour by nineties boy band Take That, their female equivalent the Spice Girls are expecting to announce theirs this week. This is expected to net each Spice Girl at least $10m each.

In the age of the download it’s touring that makes the money. Last year’s biggest grossing tour? The Rolling Stones. Their nearest rival? U2.

For the first time since 1988, Bon Jovi topped The Billboard 200. ‘Lost Highway’ sold 288,000 in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the rock troupe’s biggest one-week sum since Nielsen began tracking sales data in 1991.

All this after a weekend where The Who, headlining their first Glastonbury, gave a masterclass in how to hold a vast, tired, wet crowd in the palm of the hand.

New releases this week:
Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
Beastie Boys – The Mix-Up
Kelly Clarkson – My December
Miley Cyrus / Hannah Montana – Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus
Bryan Ferry – Dylanescque
Grateful Dead – Three From The Vault
Nick Lowe – At My Age
Sinéad O’Connor – Theologoy
Pearl Jam – Live At The Gorge 05/06 (box set)
Paul Simon – The Essential Paul Simon

Anyone under 40?

I don’t think it’s only me that has noticed this trend. But, who would have believed it? In this industry that is repeatedly characterised as the youngest, hippest and difficult to predict – it is more and more the tried and tested, wrinkly dinosaurs, elder statesmen and women who are calling the shots, turning heads and making that sweet sound – the ringing of cash registers.

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Pharrell Williams, Kanye West & Lupe Fiasco supergroup “CRS” details

Pharrell Williams, Kanye West & Lupe Fiasco

Some time ago, Lupe Fiasco mentioned in interviews about a “secret project with another superstar rapper and producer”. With the release of Kanye West’s new “Can’t Tell Me Nothin” mixtape, the secret was revealed in the form of a group consisting of Pharell, Kanye, and Lupe called “CRS”.

Originally thought to be including Common, the threesome introduced their first track on West’s new Can’t Tell Me Nothing mixtape, titled “Us Placers”. More work from them is expected in the future.

While in Los Angeles for the 2007 BET awards, Lupe Fiasco opened up to SOHH about his upcoming album, as well as a possible collaborative album.

Lupe revealed that he is hard at work on his second album, which will follow his Grammy nominated debut Food & Liquor, and that he’s looking forward to touring in support of the project.

“Right now I’m working on my next album, called The Cool. It comes out [on] Halloween,” Lupe told SOHH. “I’m excited to get back on the road. We had a real good road experience the past year and a half. I can’t wait to get back out there.”

In addition to his own album, Lupe also confirmed that fans of “Us Placers,” a recent track included on Kanye West’s Can’t Tell Me Nothing mixtape, which features West and Pharrell Williams plus a Thom Yorke sample, may have more music from the trio to look forward to.”It’s a little project that me, Kanye, and Skateboard P sat down and was like, ‘Yo let’s do a group.’ “Us Placers”, was the first record we came out with. Now we sitting down deciding if we really going to go hard or not, but we working on some surprises.”

Whether or not the trio, who have been referred to in media reports as Child Rebel Soldier, will record a full album is still up in the air.

“It depends what it sounds like,” Lupe said. “We gotta make some more records. Everybody is mad busy, Kanye is doing his record, Pharrell’s in the studio, I’m working on my record, so we gonna wait til everything settles down some.”

Chat, news, views about Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams collectively or individually. Follow the link to have your say on CRS!

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