Pink Floyd. Just the name brings such a joy to me heart. I’m not one of those fans that gushes over the early Pink Floyd works, but I still love the band for the albums that I own and the spectacle of their live shows.

Pink Floyd WYWH All Stars

Even David Gilmour still brings a smile to my face every time I hear his voice in his solo work. It’s soothing, trippy rock & roll that just makes you feel good. You don’t have to be a drug user to enjoy Pink Floyd as a lot of people assume. You just have to be a person that enjoys great music. Pink Floyd are simply legends in rock and Converse knows that.

In celebration of 100 years of the Converse All Stars, Converse has been releasing special edition “Chucks” in all sorts of different flavors. From The Who, The Doors, Ozzy Osbourne to Black Sabbath, Converse has been celebrating their legacy as well as giving tribute to some of the greatest bands in rock history. Their latest edition is the Pink Floyd line of All Stars, branded with designs of historic albums from the band. Read more

A short film about Bob Dylan’s “Beyond Here Lies Nothing” has been filmed by AFI and Sundance to be premiered on IFC tonight at 10:15 pm.

A short film for Bob Dylan’s “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” has been filmed by AFI and Sundance Film Festival award winning director Nash Edgerton, and can be seen exclusively on the IFC Channel and on IFC.com, beginning today, Tuesday, May 12 until Thursday, May 12.  The video will make its broadcast premiere at 10:15pm this evening on the IFC Channel.

Beyond Here Lies Nothing is the first single from the legendary recording artists latest album Together Through Life, which was released on April 28th on Columbia Records.

You can watch the short film at http://www.ifc.com/dylan or watch it tonight on IFC. You can purchase the album in several different forms to include vinyl at Amazon.com. Below is the official video for Beyond Here Lies Nothing.

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Paul Stanley says the new KISS album may be released as soon as September. This is actually one of those instances where I’m not going to talk trash and just deliver the news. Bravewords.com reports that Paul Stanley was recently interviewed by a Brazilian called O Dia online, where the KISS singer and guitarist said that the new album will come out in September.

“It’s amazing, it will be the following of Destroyer and Love Gun, a classic KISS album. It will be out in September.”

Or as google translates it:

How is the new album? (Leonardo Castro, Rio de Janeiro)

Paul Stanley: You are incredible, near ‘Love Gun’ (1977) and ‘Destroyer’ (76), sounds like the traditional melodies. Only has the band’s music. To leave in September.

I love Google translator because it’s never quite right. Still, it gives you the general idea.

Comparing it to those albums actually makes me more interested than I previously was.

Image: Newscom

Gene Simmons states that he does not have the patients to spend six months in the recording studio recording the new KISS album. The New album will be produced by Paul Stanley.

“The idea is to make the record quickly, like we did at the time of Destroyer, Rock And Roll Over and Love Gun. But we must be prepared, so we are now working on songs when we have time. Maybe in March we will go in a studio and recorded two or three songs. The idea is to work well, little by little, we can not spend too much time in the studio, it has to be fast.”

They recently reported that they would be recording in analog too. Perhaps the overall concept with recording analog and fast is to make the album sound as genuine as possible instead of over-produced and too polished. That’s respectable. If I wanted or had to have a new KISS album, I would prefer the original line-up…but who wouldn’t, right?

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Bravewords.com is reporting that KISS is recording their next album in analog, and get this…they’re writing the songs THEMSELVES! Isn’t that what rock musicians are supposed to do, write the songs themselves? If you don’t write the songs for yourself then how can you poor that emotion in to performing them? You’re just another pop-puppet if you don’t write your own songs, in my opinion. Sure you might have a song that someone else wrote for you or a cover tune on an album, but I just don’t see how ANY legitimate rock band can sing and play songs that someone else wrote for them. Paul Stanley told The New York Post this.

“It’s a KISS album in the most true and classic sense - we’re recording it in analog, not digital, and writing it ourselves.”

I don’t really think it’s going to matter what they record it with, it’s going to suck just as every post 1977 album does and even Love Gun wasn’t that great of an album. To me KISS is one of the prime examples of why people download singles. Most of their albums are almost all filler. You want a good KISS album then just got for the Double Platinum compilation and leave everything else to the fanboy collectors.

Image: Newscom.com

Well it looks as if even a tour with half of the original Led Zeppelin Members will no longer happen. Yesterday Britmusicscene.com reported that Jimmy Page’s manager, Peter Mensch said that all hope has been scrapped for any kind of Zeppelin based tour, with or without Robert Plant.

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As if I needed to tell anyone this, AC/DC is among the top album sales of 2008. With 1.92 million album sales in the United States via WalMart Exclusive sale, AC/DC ranks # 5 for the year according to Nielsen Soundscan. This does not include digital sales as the band has opted not to do this. I think if they offered an electronic download of the entire album and not individual tracks, it would still sell well. Regardless I don’t think the absence of digital downloads hurt the sales of Black Ice. Either way AC/DC fans would make their way to get the record from Wal Mart/ Sam’s Club.

World wide AC/DC Black Ice has sold well over 5 million copies of this album, an unheard of number for a rock band these days. I think their retirement fund is pretty much set.

Image Source: Used with permission from Sony/BMG

My Rock Dose Top 10 Rock Albums Of 2008 covers mainly established rock acts and not this new wave of modern rock as we know it. I’ll go through each none and tell you why I chose it. Take in to consideration that I only went through bands that I’ve heard this year and not every rock album that has come out. If you expect Nickelback or Hinder to be on this list then you came to the wrong place. So what does this list mean? Nothing really, it’s just MY favorite picks of 2008, so don’t cry if your favorite band didn’t make my cut. Instead give them a shout in the comment section.

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Todd Martens of the L.A. Times reported that even though the 2007 (50th Anniversary) Grammy’s opened with Alicia Keys performing Frank Senatra, it has been said that the Grammy’s were designed around hopes that the recently reunited Led Zeppelin (when they played a few weeks before, for the one off show) would open the historic show.

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Last week I reported that Australian film maker, Eddie Martin was planning and working on the possibilities of making a movie about the late AC/DC singer Bon Scott. Ben Scott, the 35 year old son of Bon wants to throw in his name as a candidate but has no training in acting.

Though Ben’s facial feature resemble Bon, he looks a bit heavier. Not saying that he still couldn’t play the legendary AC/DC front-man, I’m just saying. Ben even says that it’s a long shot that he would be cast for the role due to no acting experience or training.

“Realistically though Paul, I really understand that I have no training in acting so my chances are pretty slim. But hey, you gotta be in to win it…haha”.

You can check out a picture of Ben Scott and read more about this story at Undercover.com.au.

Image: Nescome.com (the above picture is Bon Scott and not Ben Scott)