A new 18-disc box set featuring high-quality colored-vinyl versions of Queen’s 15 studio albums will be released on September 25.

Queen: The Studio Collection contains remastered editions of each of the band’s albums, including three records — 1974’s Queen II, 1991’s Innuendo and 1994’s Made in Heaven — that have their tracks spread over two LPs.

The albums have been mastered by renowned engineer Bob Ludwig using the original source tapes.

Each 180-gram vinyl disc boasts a different color that corresponds to the cover art featured on that album.

The Studio Collection also comes packaged with a 108-page hardback book featuring archival material contributed by Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, as well as by fans.

The book offers introductions to each album, quotes from band members, rare photos, handwritten lyrics, various pieces of memorabilia and more.

As for the albums that appear in the set as double discs, Queen II features its tracks split between a black-colored LP and a white-colored LP in honor of the fact that the original record boasted a “Side White” and a “Side Black” rather than a “Side A” and “Side B”; while Innuendo and Made in Heaven, having been issued during the heyday of the CD, featured a run time that wouldn’t allow for their songs to fit on a single disc.

All of the remastered albums also will be available for purchase separately on black vinyl.  You can check an unboxing video of the compilation at Queen’s official YouTube channel.

Visit StudioCollection.QueenOnline.comfor more details about the box set.

Meanwhile, in conjunction with the release of The Studio Collection, a specially designed Queen-branded turntable has been created by the Rega audio-equipment company.

The deck is emblazoned by classic Queen logos on its base and dustcover lid.

Here is the full list of albums featured in the Queen: The Studio Collection:

Queen (1973)
Queen II (1974)
Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
A Night at the Opera (1975)
A Day at the Races (1976)
News of the World (1977)
Jazz (1978)
The Game (1980)
Flash Gordon soundtrack (1980)
Hot Space (1982)
The Works (1984)
A Kind of Magic (1986)
The Miracle (1989)
Innuendo (1991)
Made in Heaven (1994)

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Images courtesy Hollywood Records

Rock Band 4 is expanding its track list.  Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic” andThe Outfield’s “Your Love” are among the newly announced second wave of songs to be featured in the forthcoming video game.

Other tunes added the Rock Band 4 track list include songs by Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Live and The Cure.  You can watch a new trailer for Rock Band 4 now on YouTube.

The new track list additions join the first batch of revealed Rock Band 4 songs, which included The Who’s “The Seeker” and Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Loving Fun.”

Rock Band 4 will be released on PS4 and Xbox One on October 6.  Meanwhile, Guitar Hero Live, the other new video game that features plastic instruments, will be released on October 20.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Tom Petty regrets having featured the Confederate flag on a past tour, calling it “downright stupid.”

Petty shared his thoughts on the subject with Rolling Stone after the Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina statehouse last week.

He recalled, “In 1985, I released an album called Southern Accents.  It began as a concept record about the South, but the concept part slipped away probably 70 percent or so into the album.”

“I just let it go, but the Confederate flag became part of the marketing for the tour. I wish I had given it more thought. It was a downright stupid thing to do.”

Petty said he used the flag on stage while performing the Southern Accents track “Rebels” as a way to illustrate the song’s theme — a character who “still blames the North for the discomfort of his life,” in the rocker’s words.

“When we toured two years later, I noticed people in the audience wearing Confederate flag bandanas and things like that,” he continued.

“One night, someone threw one onstage. I stopped everything and gave a speech about it. I said, ‘Look, this was to illustrate a character. This is not who we are. Having gone through this, I would prefer it if no one would ever bring a Confederate flag to our shows again because this isn’t who we are.'”

Petty said the comment was met with mixed reaction, but noted that he never saw a flag brought to one of his concerts again.

“Fortunately, that went away, but it left me feeling stupid,” Petty said. “That’s the word I can use. I felt stupid. If I had just been a little more observant about things going on around me, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Petty calls the removal of the flag from the South Carolina statehouse the “right decision,” declaring, “That flag shouldn’t have any part in our government. It shouldn’t represent us in any way. The war is over.”

He added, “That Southern pride gets transferred from generation to generation. I’m sure that a lot of people that applaud it don’t mean it in a racial way. But again, I have to give them, as I do myself, a ‘stupid’ mark.”

Petty concludes in part by stating, “The way we’re losing black men and citizens in general is horrific. What’s going on in society is unforgivable. As a country, we should be more concerned with why the police are getting away with targeting black men and killing them for no reason. That’s a bigger issue than the flag.”

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Cover image By musicisentropy

Rock fans now can get a look inside the upcoming Super Deluxe reissue of Led Zeppelin’s 1979 album, In Through the Out Door, by checking out new “unboxing” video that’s been posted on the band’s official website andYouTube channel.

The clip shows the unveiling of the box set’s two CDs, two LPs, 80-page book, limited-edition print and high-def digital download card.

The video also features snippets of a few songs from the album, including “In the Evening” and “All My Love.”

The upcoming Super Deluxe Edition ofIn Through the Out Door includes a bonus CD and LP of companion audio tracks featuring rough mixes of each of the original album’s seven songs.

It also boasts packaging replicating the original release, including the brown paper sleeve in which that the record was housed.

The In Through the Out Door reissues will be released on July 31 as part of the final installment Led Zeppelin’s reissue campaign.

Remastered and expanded versions of the band’s 1976 album, Presence, and its 1982 rarities collection, Coda, also will hit stores that day.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Images courtesy Atlantic/Swan Song

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been sentenced in New Zealand to eight months of home detention after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to threatening to kill a man, as well as to drug charges.

Rudd, 61, was sentenced Thursday in Tauranga District Court, according to the New Zealand Herald.

He’d been facing a maximum seven-year prison sentence for the threatening to kill charge.

Rudd pleaded guilty in April to threatening to kill, as well as to possession of marijuana and methamphetamine.

He was arrested in November of last year, and initially also was charged with being involved in a murder-for-hire plot, although that charge was quickly dropped.

Rudd’s fate with AC/DC remains unclear. Chris Slade, who previously was a member of the band from 1989 to 1994, is currently serving as drummer on AC/DC’s Rock or Bust tour.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Lambert and Stamp, the recent documentary about The Who’s early managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and as a high-def digital download on August 18.

The movie tells the story of how Lambert and Stamp, a pair of aspiring filmmakers, helped mentor and guide The Who from popular London club band to international superstardom after they chose the group to be the focus of a planned movie about England’s flourishing music scene.

Both the Blu-ray and DVD versions of Lambert and Stamp will offer bonus features, including commentary by director James D. Cooper and an interview with Cooper conducted byHenry Rollins.

The Lambert and Stamp Blu-ray also will feature exclusive previously unseen archival footage of The Who, including clips of the band in Finland, a 1967 promotional film, and a segment of the group performing on the 1960s U.S. musical variety program Where the Action Is.

Among the many highlights of Lambert and Stamp are rare early performance and behind-the-scenes footage of The Who, and new interviews with surviving band mates Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Journey drummer Deen Castronovo is facing several new and very serious charges apparently in connection with his June 14 arrest after he allegedly injured a woman during a domestic dispute.

Oregon’s Statesman Journal reports that the 50-year-old musician was arrested again via grand jury indictment Monday on charges that include first-degree rape, second-degree sexual abuse and unlawful use of a weapon.

A public-information officer for the Salem, Oregon, Police Department tells ABC Radio that Castronovo’s arrest on Monday came after he violated a court order directing him to have no contact with the woman he allegedly assaulted.

According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the full list of charges he’s facing also includes four counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault, two counts of menacing, one count of coercion, one count of second-degree criminal mischief and three counts of contempt of court.

The Salem public-information officer reveals that many of the new charges came about following further police investigation into the June 14 incident. Castronovo currently is being held without bond and is due back in court today, June 30, at 3 p.m. PT.

The drummer was first arrested June 14 by Salem, Oregon, police and charged the following day with fourth-degree assault and menacing.  Castronovo subsequently was released after he posted a $20,000 bond.  At the time of his release, Deen was directed by a judge to have no contact with the woman he allegedly assaulted.  The new arrest came after Castronovo violated that order.

Following the June 14 incident, Journey announced that it would be using a fill-in drummer, Omar Hakim, on its forthcoming North American summer tour “due to Deen Castronovo’s pending issues.”

Castronovo also was arrested in January 2012 following an alleged assault on a woman.  After an alleged violent argument with an ex-girlfriend in Oregon, he was arrested on a number of charges, including coercion, fourth-degree assault, second-degree criminal mischief, harassment and interfering with making a police report.

TheStatesman Journal reported that Castronovo eventually agreed to a plea deal that called for him to attend anger-management classes and do 80 hours of community service.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

The Rolling Stones are gathering no moss on the road.

The self-proclaimed Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World leads Billboard‘s Hot Tours list having raked in $52 million in box office ticket sales on their Zip Code tour in just six dates this month.

Since 2012, The Stones have grossed $320 million on the road, Billboard reports.

The Stones’ earnings in those six dates top the tour earnings this spring and early summer of Bette Midler, U2 and Rush, respectively.

Midler is in the number two position with $17.7 million over 18 shows, U2 holds in third place with $10.3 million over six shows and Rush comes in ninth with $1.7 million over two shows in May and June.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Queen is about to rock the beverage industry with the announcement of a new line of beer.

The band will launch Queen Bohemian Lager, a new brew timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the release of the group’s arena classic, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Billboard reports.

Described as a “golden hoppy” beer, the bottles will be adorned with an image from the band’s famed 1975 album, A Night at the Opera.

The beer has three “GMO Free” ingredients, including Czech Soft water, Moravian Barley Malt, and Saaz Hops, according the website RNRDrinks.com.

Queen Bohemian Lager will first debut in Europe this summer before being marketed to the rest of the world. A twelve-pack will cost you a little over $31, with a full case running about $57.

Queen previously released a vodka brand, Killer Queen, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of that song, and the wine Queen Millionaire Waltz.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

NEW YORK (AP) – Jerry Garcia’s thoughts on his childhood, drugs, songwriting and politics will be made available this fall.

The book “Jerry on Jerry” by Dennis McNally will feature previously unreleased interviews with Garcia to mark the 20th anniversary of his death and the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.

His daughter, Trixie, says the book captures the “fun-loving weirdness and creepy corners” of her father’s mind.

The book will be out in November.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.