Author: Jere

Avid book reader. Lover of life, baseball & basketball, video games, science fiction, Godzilla, music & Dr. Pepper.

While it’s been nearly two decades since ’80s mainstay Huey Lewis & the News released an album’s worth of original material with 2001’s Plan B, Huey and the guys have proven that they still know how to craft catchy pop/rock numbers that stick with you long after the first listen. The band’s previous single Her Love Is Killin’ Me feels like it would be right at home on the seminal masterpiece that launched their careers – Sports.

Now right in time for the holiday season HLN have premiered the next single – While We’re Young over on their official YouTube channel. Featuring a seamless blend of guitars, horns and smooth harmonies if Her Love Is Killin’ Me plays like a long lost Sports outtake While We’re Young would have no problem fitting in on 1988’s vastly underrated Small World.

Weather is set for release on Valentine’s Day – February 14th, 2020.

Last night The Island featured the brand new music video for Richard Marx’s Another One Down the first single for his forthcoming untitled (at the time) studio album which was being advertised for a fall 2019 release. As the old saying goes – what a difference a day can make. The album title and release date have now been officially confirmed as well as the debut of another single launching on to the inter-web.

Richard Marx – Limitless

Today, Richard Marx announces his new album ‘Limitless,’ out February 7th 2020 on BMG. ‘Limitless’ is Richard’s first album of original songs in six years, as well as his first new release for BMG. Produced in part by Richard and featuring co-writes with Sara Bareilles, Richard’s son Lucas Marx and his wife Daisy Fuentes, ‘Limitless’ represents a new beginning for the celebrated singer-songwriter. While his last album ‘Beautiful Goodbye’ closed the book on one chapter of Richard’s life, ‘Limitless’ opens a new one. After falling back in love, remarrying and settling into a new home in LA, “I’ve never felt so intrinsically strong and optimistic about my future,” Richard says, and the bright, heartfelt pop of ‘Limitless’ reflects that feeling.

The announcement arrives as Richard’s latest single “Another One Down” spends its 6th week in the top 15 on the Adult Contemporary charts. Richard co-wrote “Another One Down” with his son Lucas, which he called a “joyful” experience.

Richard has also released a new song from ‘Limitless’ entitled “Let Go.” Co-written with Daisy Fuentes, and co-produced by Richard himself and Morgan Page (deadmau5), “Let Go” is a driving track about the freedom of new beginnings. “It reflects the way I feel about my life these days,” Richard says.

Richard – Let Go

“I wasn’t really sure what making a new album meant for an artist like me,” Richard says of the creative process behind ‘Limitless.’ “All I knew was that I still write songs all the time and I realized I had a collection of songs I really liked. In my past, my only criteria was to write and record songs that pleased me, and hopefully other people would like them, too. So I returned to that ideology and dismissed any concerns of stylistic consistency and the next thing I knew, I had recorded a diverse album I really liked.”

Shortly after signing with BMG earlier this year, the label celebrated the 30th anniversary of his breakout album ‘Repeat Offender’ by releasing ‘Repeat Offender Revisited,’ a compilation of brand new live and acoustic versions of songs from the original album, including his hit song “Right Here Waiting.” 

Richard Marx has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, won a GRAMMY, and remains the only male artist in history whose first seven singles reached the Top 5 on the Billboard charts. In addition to being a musician, Richard is a committed philanthropist. His charitable causes include the American Cancer Society, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities, and he supports Mercy For Animals, ASPCA, Humane Society and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Richard Marx will tour through the end of 2019 and into 2020 with intimate performances at theaters from coast to coast including stops in San Francisco, Milwaukee, Detroit and more. For the full set of current tour dates check the following link .

PRE-ORDER ‘LIMITLESS’

The iconic 80s/90s hit maker offered a first glimpse of new material, his first since 2014’s Beautiful Goodbye, earlier this summer. Another One Down incorporates several contemporary elements before launching into an absolutely massive chorus that fits right in with classics the likes of Endless Summer Nights, Right Here Waiting and Hold On To The Night.

In early spring of 2019 Richard Marx signed a global recordings and catalog deal with BMG. The new (currently untitled) studio album is slated for a fall release.

The music video for Another One Down was directed by Nick Spanos.

Richard Marx – Another One Down (Official Video)

One of the most versatile artists to make waves in the blues scene in the last decade Samantha Fish is celebrating the release of her sixth studio album, Kill Or Be Kind, in style by debuting the music video of the album’s title track.

“That was my mission on this album: To really set these songs up so that they have a life of their own,” says Samantha Fish about Kill or Be Kind, her sixth solo album and her debut on Rounder Records. “Strong messages from the heart – that’s what I really set out for.” Indeed, what comes across immediately on hearing the album is the extraordinary level of songcraft on its eleven tracks, the way these songs are so smartly put together to deliver a potent emotional impact.

Anyone who has ever heard Fish’s previous albums knows that she has earned a place in the top rank of contemporary blues guitarists and that her voice can wring the soul out of a ballad and belt out a rocker with roof-shaking force. And, rest reassured, those virtues are fully in evidence on Kill or Be Kind. But each of the songs on the album does far more than simply provide a setting for Fish’s pyrotechnics. They tell captivating stories, set up by verses that deftly set the scene, choruses that lift with real feeling, and hooks that later rise up in your thoughts, even when you’re not aware that you’re thinking of music at all. It’s the kind of songwriting that emerges when raw talent is leavened by experience and aspiration, and when a committed artist genuinely has something to say. Those qualities make Kill or Be Kind a genuine artistic breakthrough for Fish.

“I think I’ve grown as a performer and as a player,” she explains. “I’ve become more respectful of the melody. You can go up and down the fret board and up and down your vocal register, but that’s not going to be as powerful as conveying a simple melody that people can really connect to and sing themselves.” To help bring those elements to her music, Fish sought out high-quality songwriting collaborators – the likes of Jim McCormick (who has worked with Fish before and also written for Luke Bryan and Keith Urban); Kate Pearlman (who has worked with Kelly Clarkson); Patrick Sweeney; Parker Millsap; and Eric McFadden. The result is an album on which each song is distinct, but the complete work hangs together as a coherent, entirely satisfying statement. “When you get to this point in your life as an artist,” Fish says, “it’s good to work with others, because it makes you stretch. I think you hear a lot of that nuance on the record, songs that have a pop sensibility to them, hooks that really pull you in.

Kill Or Be Kind is now available in digital formats via iTunes and Amazon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvmUp_omlmg

Our thoughts are with Ric’s family, loved ones, friends and bandmates. This weekend has been absolutely devastating for the rock community with the loss of Eddie Money and now we unfortunately have to also grieve the loss of another of the 1980’s most pioneering artists. Rest In Peace Ric Ocasek, both myself and Tony like so many others spent literally hundreds of hours listening to The Cars incredible body of work. It didn’t take much to get caught up in a infectious hook from classics the likes of Just What I Needed, Drive, Magic, Moving In Stereo or Hello Again. Ric blended synths, new wave and in your face guitar riffs flawlessly and in the four decades since The Cars’ initial rise have continued to transcend generations.