Quick Takes: ABBA, Robert Plant, Queen, Dion, Billy Preston

Out today (November 5th) is ABBA's Voyager — the group's first studio set in four decades. The album's lead single, “Just A Notion,” is a revamped take on the previously bootlegged track, which was originally recorded in September 1978 during the sessions for 1979's Voulez-Vous. Although there have been new instruments added to the track, the vocals date from the original sessions. Abba has just released a teaser for their digital concert residency — ABBA Voyage — which will run in London from May to December 2022.
- Benny Andersson admits that nearly 40 years after calling it quits, he's still amazed at the hold ABBA has over its international fan-base: “I think the major thing is that if you're a band and you have a record out and it becomes a hit and you have a next one — and you do that for nine consecutive years and you have one-or-two major hits around the world — it's pretty unavoidable to stir up some dust, isn't it? I think that's one of the reasons — and why it is I don't know. I don't know why. (Laughs) But I'm very grateful that this is the case, y'know?”
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have dropped the third new track from their upcoming Raise The Roof collection set for November 19th. The song, “It Don’t Bother Me,” is a cover tune by legendary folk artist Bert Jansch, with Robert Plant saying in a statement, “I’ve been a big follower of Bert Jansch’s work since I was a teenager, and of that whole Irish, Scottish, English folk style that has a different lilt and different lyrical perspective. I was very keen to bring some of that into the picture.”
- Plant has always taken pride that regardless of the era and its influences, he always meant whatever it was he was singing: “I just get into songs and live ‘em out. And I think that’s true. All I do is get into great songs.”
Queen drummer Roger Taylor revealed to Goldmine that the group is still on the fence about a new album with frontman Adam Lambert: “Well, we talked about it, But I don't know. We haven't reached any massive agreement yet. We did a song with Adam (Lambert) in Nashville, actually. We never quite finished it. We didn't feel it was quite right. Maybe one day.”
- With Queen and Lambert's shows clearly thrilling fans — and even the most hard-nosed critics — we asked Roger Taylor if he saw the pairing blossoming into a studio act: “I would hope it would, actually. I think it would be a very interesting experiment, y'know, just to go in and see what came out. I don’t know if it would be an album, or anything. I think it’s too good a marriage to just let it go at touring.”
Out today (November 5th) is Dion's latest album, Stomping Ground. Pete Townshend supplied the liner notes for the set, which includes contributions from such legends as Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Mark Knopfler, Bon Scaggs, Billy F Gibbons, Rickie Lee Jones, Sonny Landreth, Joe Bonamassa, G.E. Smith, Keb' Mo', and many others.
Townshend wrote in the album's notes: “Dion, like a circling star that never fades, generates the energy and fire we need to pull ourselves up and start again. Dion is a star who knows well how to start again, how to keep shining. He looks at his watch every few years. Damn! Let’s make a record. Take care. This one will blow those little white things in our ears right into your brain.”
- Dion, whose last name is DiMucci, told us that after laying down the tracks for the album, he almost set upon “casting” each track: “I thought, 'Y'know what? I'd love to hear Bruce Springsteen on this. I'd love to hear Van Morrison on this. I'd love to hear Eric Clapton on the song. . .' Stuff like that. I just had, almost like a gift, as I'm riding down the street in my truck and I have the CD playing of the 14 songs that I recorded, I'm just blown' my mind. I'm thinkin', 'Y'know, I'm gonna ask Peter Frampton to play on this one — or Jeff Beck.'”
A new documentary on recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Billy Preston is now in pre-production. The film, which is spearheaded by White Horse Pictures and Homegrown Pictures, features Paris Barclay, the multi-Emmy-winning director, producer, and writer (In Treatment, Glee, Sons Of Anarchy) who will direct. Cheo Hodari Coker (Creed II, Luke Cage, Ray Donovan) is writing the film alongside Barclay. Preston died in 2006 and will always be remembered for his work with the Beatles and Rolling Stones, along with his solo hits “Will It Go 'Round In Circles?,” “Outta Space” and for co-writing the Joe Cocker standard “You Are So Beautiful” with Beach Boys co-founder Dennis Wilson. (Deadline)
- George Harrison discussed the importance of Billy Preston joining the Beatles' 1969 Let It Be sessions: “I put a message out to find if Billy was in town and told him to come in to Saville Row, which he did. Straight away it just became a hundred percent improvement in the vibe in the room. And everybody was happier also to have somebody playing in the band.”