I was just saying the other day that 2011 was a good year for new releases from classic rock artists. But here ware just a few weeks into 2012 and it's beginning to look like last year has met its match!
1. Bruce Springsteen - 'Wrecking Ball'
Columbia
Wrecking Ball will be Bruce Springsteen's 17th studio album. Scheduled for release 3/7/12, it is described by Springsteen's manager says, "Bruce has dug down as deep as he can to come up with this vision of modern life. The lyrics tell a story you can't hear anywhere else and the music is his most innovative of recent years." Of course, you could probably apply that to most any Springsteen album. The first single from the new album, "We Take Care Of Our Own" (purchase/download) was released this week (1/19/12.)
2. Paul McCartney - 'Kisses on the Bottom'
Hear Music
With his next solo album (due 2/7/12) Paul McCartney goes all Rod Stewart and covers pop standards from the mid-20th century. And you can stop snickering at the title. It's from one of the songs on the album, "I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" in which, at the bottom of said letter, there are "a lot of kisses." This will be Macca's 15th solo studio release, and his first since 2007.
3. Bonnie Raitt - 'Slipstream'
Redwing Records
Bonnie Raitt's first new studio album since 2005 is due out in April. The blues rocker has had some serious real-life blues during her break from recording. In the past seven years, she has lost her parents, brother, and a close friend. Slipstream will be the 16th album she's recorded since her first one in 1971.
4. Meat Loaf - 'Hell in a Hand Basket'
Sony Legacy
If this sound's familiar, it's because Meat Loaf's Hell in a Hand Basket was released overseas back in October. It gets its North American debut in March 2012. In the release announcement, Meat says this album is "the most personal record I've ever made. It's about how I feel the world's gone to hell in a handbasket. It's really the first record that I've ever put out about how I feel about life and how I feel about what's going on at the moment." He has struggled with vocal problems in recent years. This will be his 12th studio album since his recording career began in 1971.
5. Steve Perry
It may not come in 2012, but Steve Perry (ex-Journey) tells Billboard magazine that he is working on a new solo album, his first new music in 14 years, at his own pace. "I don’t want it to have pressure, because I’ll worry about it sucking, and then what am I gonna do? I’ve got all this pressure… that I just don’t want on me, so I’ve allowed myself the ability to sketch and write as I go, and I’ll do it at my own pace." More specifically, he tells Classic Rock magazine, "I can definitely smell a solo projecty on the horizon. I will be recording some music."6. Jeff Scott Soto - 'Damage Control'
One of Steve Perry's variuous replacements as Journey's lead singer, Jeff Scott Soto will release Damage Control in March. This will be Soto's 12th solo album, and the fourth since his brief (2006-07) tour of duty with Journey.7. Thin Lizzy
Courtesy Rhino Media
Not long before he died, Thin Lizzy lead singer Phil Lynott turned over boxes full of tapes (150 in all) so that nothing would happen to them. Well, nothing did. That was 1986 and just recently those tapes have surfaced, and sometime in 2012, a new box set will feature the previously unreleased songs, outtakes and alternate versions of songs that were released from 1971 to 1981.
