Author: wamdines

Stalwart drummer Nick Mason doesn’t have many regrets about his time with Pink Floyd. But one has been brought to mind by a pending return to theaters for Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii.

The original movie included scenes where Pink Floyd was still at work on 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon. Yet a concert film about that career-making diamond-certified chart-topper didn’t follow. In fact, Pink Floyd wouldn’t release a live version of Dark Side of the Moon until 1995’s Pulse, long after Roger Waters departed.

“If one could play the whole thing back all over again, we probably should have taken longer, we should have spent more time playing Dark Side live and not worried about going back into the studio to make Wish You Were Here,” Mason tells Rolling Stone. “We actually spent quite a long time in the studio having not a great time when we could have just actually drawn things out a bit longer, done more live work and filmed it.”

READ MORE: Top 10 Pink Floyd ’80s Songs

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii had a unique premise, with the band performing alone in the excavated remains of a Roman amphitheater. Unfortunately, it wasn’t profitable – and that may have fed into Pink Floyd’s long-time reluctance to make another concert film.

“I think we didn’t realize what a good idea it was to film things,” Mason says. “Maybe it’s because the movie didn’t make any money for us, but it’s a great shame that we didn’t spend a bit longer and do the equivalent with Dark Side of the Moon.”

Watch Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’ at Pompeii

Why Selling Pink Floyd’s Catalog Was a Good Thing

Mason has since returned to Pompeii, performing a couple of years ago at the Grand Theater with his Pink Floyd offshoot band, Saucerful of Secrets. Last year included a 35-show tour highlighted by their stop at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

He doesn’t expect the same kind of robust schedule in 2025. “We actually don’t know what’s next,” Mason admits. “We probably did a bit too much last year. Everyone was exhausted. We’d certainly like to do some more things. It’s just a matter of finding the right things.”

The re-release of Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii is the first large-scale project since Sony bought their back catalog for some $400 million. The movie has been restored from the original 35mm prints, remastered in 4K, remixed by Steven Wilson and retitled Pink Floyd at Pompeii: MCMLXXII.

Mason is pleased with the deal so far. “I think I’m still feeling that the catalog sale was a good idea,” he says. “I think Sony will actually look after it better than we would. We’d spend too much time arguing.”

Pink Floyd Album Art: The Stories Behind 19 Trippy LP Covers

Typically created by designers associated with London-based Hipgnosis, the images work on a parallel track to frame the band’s impish humor, wild imagination, sharp commentary and flair for the absurd.

Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso

You Think You Know Pink Floyd?

More From Ultimate Classic Rock

Yes is recording their third album in less than five years, keyboardist Geoff Downes confirms. Before this recent creative outburst, they’d only released three studio projects since 2000.

“We’ve been working on an album for the past six months,” Downes tells Classic Rock. Bandmate “Steve [Howe] is at the helm and I think it will be out later in the year.”

It was initially unclear if Yes would return to the studio following 2014’s Heaven and Earth, the last Yes album released before the death of stalwart bassist Chris Squire in 2015. Then Howe produced two new LPs in quick succession, 2021’s The Quest and 2023’s Mirror in the Sky. Both were Top 30 U.K. hits.

READ MORE: Ranking Every Yes Song

Long-time drummer Alan White also died in 2022, but they’ve kept up a regular touring schedule with Squire’s hand-picked replacement bassist Billy Sherwood and veteran second drummer Jay Schellen. The new albums arrived amid sweeping anniversary reissues of 1971’s Fragile and 1994’s Talk. A similar package focusing on 1972’s Close to the Edge was issued earlier this month.

Listen to Asia’s ‘Only Time Will Tell’

Geoff Downes Responds to Criticism of New Asia Tour

In between, Downes has relaunched Asia, a band once fronted by the late John Wetton that also featured Howe on guitar. He and surviving drummer Carl Palmer have both apparently declined to take part, leaving Downes as the only remaining original member. The reworked lineup headlined U.S. dates last summer and returns to the road in April to play entire-album shows in the U.K.

“For me, the last thing I wanted was to put Asia music into a locker and say I’ll never do that again,” Downes argues, “and now we’ve got the opportunity to get back out there again and play those first three albums, which were so significant.”

He admits that some fans don’t support the new lineup, describing them as “a type of keyboard warrior who noisily disagrees.” But Downes says he’s pressing on: “Everybody’s got a voice, and some of the comments are quite amusing, but I’m long enough in the tooth to brush off that sort of thing and just keep moving. The haters won’t stop us from doing what we do.”

Meet the New Boss: Rock’s Replacement Singers

Some bands soar to their greatest heights after an original frontman leaves. Others must deal with the past’s towering expectations.

Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso

Revisiting Yes’ First LP Without Chris Squire

More From Ultimate Classic Rock

The ’90s were not kind to Skid Row.

The New Jersey rockers started the decade on a high note with their blistering sophomore album, Slave to the Grind, which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 in 1991. But as grunge supplanted glam metal as the hard rock subgenre du jour, Skid Row took an extended hiatus to wait out the storm. When they reentered the studio in 1994 with Bob Rock (who replaced their previous producer, Michael Wagener) to begin work on Subhuman Race, the musical landscape looked vastly different than it had a few years earlier, and intraband relationships had started to fray.

This personnel shift, internal friction and industry-wide upheaval made a recipe for disaster. When Subhuman Race hit shelves on March 28, 1995, it was a shadow of its multiplatinum predecessors, stalling at No. 35 and failing to go gold. Sebastian Bach left the band on bad terms a year later, and the only thing he and his ex-bandmates have seemed to agree on in the intervening years is that the album sucks.

But what if they’re wrong?

READ MORE: The Heaviest Song by 11 Big Hair Metal Bands

Skid Row’s ‘Subhuman Race’ Is More Than Copycat Grunge

True, Subhuman Race sounds almost nothing like its predecessors. But Skid Row, despite getting lumped in with the hair metal zeitgeist, was never a one-trick pony. Slave to the Grind was a drastic departure from the pop-metal preening of their self-titled debut (which still rocks, mind you), likely inspired by their rubbing elbows with Guns N’ Roses and Metallica. Likewise, Subhuman Race sounds like the work of a band that booked Soundgarden and Pantera as tour openers. Bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarist Dave “The Snake” Sabo were versatile songwriters who stayed cognizant of current musical trends, and Subhuman Race is an inspired take on the ’90s alternative boom.

Even if grunge did have a cohesive sonic identity (which it didn’t), Skid Row doesn’t sound like a copycat grunge band. “My Enemy” opens the album with grinding, down-tuned riffs and a muscular groove-metal stomp. “Firesign” leavens its alt-rock lump with shimmering, psychedelic guitars. The breakneck “Bonehead” betrays Bolan’s punk rock affinities, and the speed-metal title track is a logical extension of “Slave to the Grind.” The band even gets mildly progressive with the stutter-step rhythms of “Face Against My Soul.”

Songs like “Eileen” and “Into Another” admittedly borrow the “loud-quiet-loud” dynamics that Nirvana also lifted from Pixies. Still, even Subhuman Race‘s more derivative tracks remain interesting because of their solid hooks and Bach’s devastating vocals. This is not the same megawatt screamer who hit piercing high notes on “I Remember You” or “Livin’ on a Chain Gang” with stunning clarity. Bach sounds gruffer here, alternating between rage and sorrow, from the raspy screams of “Beat Yourself Blind” to the forlorn crooning on “Breakin’ Down.” His virtuosic performances are tempered with weariness; at age 26, Bach seems resigned that his commercial heyday is already behind him.

Listen to Skid Row’s ‘Beat Yourself Blind’

If there’s one shortcoming to Subhuman Race, it’s Rock’s brittle, dated production. In contrast to Wagener’s punchy, dynamic production on Skid Row’s first two albums, the drums here sound like tin cans, the guitars are ultra-trebly and there’s a conspicuous lack of low end. It sounds simultaneously expensive and bad — a precursor to the hi-fi trash sound Rock would “perfect” on Metallica’s notoriously dreadful-sounding St. Anger.

Subpar production can’t hide the solid songwriting and superb performances on Subhuman Race, though. It’s easy to see why Skid Row has disavowed the album, considering its commercial failure and its hastening of the classic lineup’s demise. But despite the unsavory circumstances of its creation, it’s well worth — to paraphrase the title track — jumpin’ into the Subhuman Race.

“It’s no secret that onstage, I’m a different person,” James Hetfield said in a 2023 interview. “More shooting from the hip, more embracing the unknown up there. I wish I could do that better in regular life.”

That isn’t to say Hetfield and his Metallica bandmates are always perfect when performing. With decades of touring under their belts, there’s bound to be hiccups here and there.

“We are a live band. You’re gonna see some fricking horrendous mistakes, and it’s going to be unique,” Hetfield continued. “Because there’s nothing really humble about being up in front of 80,000 people, throwing shapes, people singing your lyrics, it’s fricking…it’s an experience that I can’t explain.”

Using data from setlist.fm, we’ve compiled a list of the most and least-played song live from every one of Metallica’s studio albums. There are, of course, some songs the band has never played live, though that could change as Metallica continues their touring career. But so far, here’s how the numbers stack up…

Album: Kill ‘Em All (1983)
Most-played: “Seek & Destroy”
Least-played: “Metal Militia”

Metallica first started playing “Seek & Destroy” in July of 1982, a whole year before it appeared on their debut album, Kill ‘Em All. It basically hasn’t left their set lists since, racking up 1,610 performances over the course of approximately 40 years and multiple tours. Actually, all of the songs from this album have been played live at one point or another — even the least-played among them, “Metal Militia,” has close to 100 plays to its name.

Album: Ride the Lightning (1984)
Most-played: “Creeping Death”
Least-played: “Escape”

Ride the Lightning is another album that has enjoyed the benefits of having every song played live. “Creeping Death” takes the No. 1 slot with 1,637 plays — it’s another staple of Metallica’s live sets. “Musically it was one of those songs that came quickly, and then became its own thing just as quickly,” Lars Ulrich said to Metal Hammer in 2022. Meanwhile, “Escape” has been played exactly once at the Orion Music and More Festival in 2012 where the band played Ride the Lightning from start to finish.

Album: Master of Puppets (1986)
Most-played: “Master of Puppets”
Least-played: “Mastertarium”

The title track to 1986’s Master of Puppets is not only the most-played song from the album, but in all of Metallica’s live career. “Master of Puppets is my favorite album, because we culminated as a band on Master of Puppets. Really!” Kirk Hammett told Revolver in 2017. “Everyone was kind of settled into their roles; everyone was playing well. We knew what we were striving for, we knew what we could do, we knew each other’s playing well, we knew our strengths.” At the bottom end is “Mastertarium” with a total of 29 plays, most of which took place in 2000.

Album: …And Justice for All (1988)
Most-played: “One”
Least-played: “To Live Is to Die”

Props to Metallica for once again playing every song live from …And Justice for All. At the lower end of the spectrum is a track from side four, “To Live Is to Die,” which was played one time at the Fillmore in San Fransisco in 2011. Speaking of that number, the song “One” is the most-played from the album with 1,599 plays. Two of those performances happened at the Grammys, in 1989 and 2014.

Album: Metallica (1991)
Most-played: “Enter Sandman”
Least-played: Tie Between “The Struggle Within” and “Don’t Tread on Me”

Out of all of Metallica’s albums, their 1991 self-titled release is the one that, collectively, is their most-played live. At the top of the list is “Enter Sandman,” the album’s lead-off track and the first song the band wrote for it. “It was about two or three o’clock in the morning. I had just been listening to Louder Than Love, the Soundgarden album,” Hammett recalled in 2017. “I heard that album, I was inspired; I picked up my guitar and out came that riff.” On the lower end is a tie between “The Struggle Within” and “Don’t Tread on Me,” both of which have been played 20 times.

Album: Load (1996)
Most-played: “King Nothing”
Least-played: “Mama Said”

The following four songs from Load have never been played live: “The House Jack Built,” “Cure,” “Thorn Within” and “Ronnie.” With exactly one performance to its name, “Mama Said” is the next least-played — that happened in London in November 1996, the same city and month where Metallica shot a music video for it. “King Nothing,” on the other hand, has racked up a respectable 380 performances starting in 1996, the year Load was released, and stretching up to 2024.

Album: Reload (1997)
Most-played: “Fuel”
Least-played: “Fixxxer”

A year after Load came its younger sibling, 1997’s Reload, notable for its collaboration with Marianne Faithfull on a song called “The Memory Remains.” “Fuel” has become the album’s most-played track with 557 performances, a song that also has the distinction of being Grammy-nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. (It ultimately lost to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page‘s “Most High.”)

Album: Garage Inc. (1998)
Most-played: “Last Caress” by Misfits
Least-played: “Tuesday’s Gone” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

In 1998, Metallica switched gears so to speak and released an album of covers titled Garage Inc. Of the 11 songs recorded for it, only six of them have been played live. Of those, Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Tuesday’s Gone” is the least-played at five performances. (It should be noted that Metallica got Gary Rossington himself to play on the studio version of the cover.) At the top of the list is Misfits’ “Last Caress” with 830 performances.

Album: St. Anger (2003)
Most-played: “Frantic”
Least-played: “Sweet Amber”

Metallica worked with producer Bob Rock for over a decade, but 2003’s St. Anger saw them working with him for the last time. On this album, Rock himself played bass as Jason Newsted had left the band in 2001. Not counting the four songs from this album Metallica has never played live — “Invisible Kid,” “My World,” “Shoot Me Again” and “Purify” — “Sweet Amber” shakes out as the least-played with just one singular performance in 2004. Meanwhile, “Frantic” got played an awful lot in the years 2003 and 2004, and then disappeared from set lists for a little over 10 years before finally reappearing in 2019 on their WorldWired Tour.

Album: Death Magnetic (2008)
Most-played: “The Day That Never Comes”
Least-played: “Suicide & Redemption”

In 2008, a new producer for Metallica entered the picture in the form of Rick Rubin. All 10 tracks from Death Magnetic have been played live, even the instrumental “Suicide & Redemption,” which appeared on a 2009 set list in Denmark and again at the Fillmore in San Fransisco in 2011. It is the album’s nearly eight-minute lead single, “The Day That Never Comes,” that holds the title of most-played. “It’s a story about human beings who don’t know each other, in a particularly tense situation,” Ulrich once explained to MTV. “It’s really about forgiveness and redemption and understanding what goes on in people’s minds.”

Album: Hardwired…to Self-Destruct (2016)
Most-played: “Moth Into Flame”
Least-played: “Man UNkind”

“ManUNkind,” the least-played track from Hardwired… to Self‐Destruct has only been performed twice, which isn’t much, but it’s still more than the zero performances “Am I Savage?” and “Murder One” have gotten. “Moth Into Flame” has collected a little over 200 plays, one of the most notable being at the 2017 Grammys with Lady Gaga, which you can watch below. “The song was somewhat inspired by the Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy,” Hetfield explained to Guitar World (via ultimate-guitar.com) in 2016. “When I watched it, it really made me sad that a talented person like that fell for the fame part of it. But, to some degree, I see that mentality reflected in everyday life — people obsessively taking selfies and sending them to friends for validation.”

Album: 72 Seasons (2023)
Most-played: “Lux Æterna”
Least-played: “Sleepwalk My Life Away”

In fairness, 72 Seasons has only been in the world for roughly two years, so its forgivable that not every single song from it has been played live yet. Still, it’s been getting good representation in the band’s recent set lists. The least-played is “Sleepwalk My Life Away” (five performances), while the most played is “Lux Æterna” (36). “Every note we play is a statement that appears on this record,” Trujillo said in an interview not long before 72 Seasons was released. “It’s coming from the heart and soul of who we are as individuals and where we were in this whole process, the growth of these songs, and everything. To me, every note that’s played is important on this record, and I believe people are going to feel that.”

Bachman-Turner Overdrive has released a song titled “60 Years Ago,” the first new music from the band since 1984’s BTO album. The track is billed as a tribute to Winnipeg, the Canadian city where the group started in 1973.

BTO leader Randy Bachman was also a member of the Guess Who, which started in Winnipeg in the ’60s. “60 Years Ago” features original band singer Fred Turner with guitarist Tal Bachman and drummer KoKo Bachman. The song also includes a guitar solo by fellow Canadian Neil Young.

“As a thank-you to Winnipeg, the city that shaped us, I wrote a song called ’60 Years Ago,'” Bachman noted in a press release announcing the track. “This song is our tribute to Winnipeg, the place where we grew up as teenagers in the ’60s, a time when the city’s music scene was exploding. It was the Liverpool of North America, a melting pot of incredible talents.

You can hear the song below.

“Everyone I’ve talked to who spent time in Winnipeg and witnessed that musical explosion is excited to hear this song, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it,” Bachman said.

READ MORE: Top 50 Hard Rock Songs of the ’70s

Bachman revived Bachman-Turner Overdrive last year with a tour, promising new music and the first BTO album of new material in more than four decades. “We’re working on new BTO stuff, and it’s got to sound like 1976 and 1977,” Bachman told UCR’s Matt Wardlaw in 2024.

“It’s really easy – I saved all of my gear from the ’70s. I built a new home studio, and all of my ’70s rack mount gear [with] all of my Neve and Trident modules and everything, they’re here. I’ve got the guitars and the amps. … It’s amazing. I’m having fun. It’s great.”

(Bachman has also recently talked about a reunion tour with the Guess Who slated for 2026 and including singer Burton Cummings.)

“60 Years Ago” marks the first music under the band’s name since 1996’s Trial by Fire Greatest & Latest, new versions of some of BTO’s most popular songs recorded without Bachman. The new track doubles as a charity song, with proceeds benefiting the Bridge to Nowhere Charity Ride, a nonprofit cycling club with a mission to “help end chronic homelessness in Winnipeg,” according to its website.

Where Are Bachman-Turner Overdrive Playing in 2025

“60 Years Ago” arrives just days before Bachman-Turner Overdrive launches a 2025 tour in Canada on April 1.

The band will play U.S. shows in July, with the Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship sharing many dates. BTO’s current tour dates will keep them on the road through most of the summer, concluding on Aug. 23 in Albuquerque.

You can see the list of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s 2025 concerts below.

Back in Overdrive 2025 Canada Tour Dates With April Wine and Headpins
April 1 – Victoria, BC – Save On Foods Memorial Centre
April 3 – Abbotsford, BC – Abbotsford Centre
April 4 – Penticton, BC – South Okanagan Event Centre
April 6 – Cranbrook, BC – Western Financial Place
April 8 – Prince George, BC – CN Centre
April 9 – Grand Prairie, AB – Bonnetts Energy Centre
April 11 – Calgary, AB – Event Centre at Grey Eagle Casino
April 12 – Calgary, AB – Event Centre at Grey Eagle Casino
April 13 – Lethbridge, AB – VisitLethbridge.com Arena
April 15 – Regina, SK – Brandt Centre
April 17 – Brandon, MB – Westoba Place at Keystone Centre
April 19 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
April 24 – Kitchener, ON – The Aud (Kitchener Memorial Auditorium)
April 26 – Toronto, ON – Great Canadian Resort Toronto
April 28 – St. Catharines, ON – Meridian Centre
April 29 – Peterborough, ON – Peterborough Memorial Centre
May 1 – London, ON – Canada Life Place
May 2 – Ottawa, ON – The Arena at TD Place
May 4 – Sudbury, ON – Sudbury Arena
May 5 – Laval, QC – Place Bell
May 7 – Saint John, NB – TD Station
May 8 – Halifax, NS – Scotiabank Centre

Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship Roll On Down the Highway 2025 Tour
July 18 – Council Bluffs, IA – Harrah’s Stir Cove
July 19 – Welch, MN – Treasure Island Casino
July 20 – Fargo, ND – Scheels Arena
July 22 – Interlochen, MI – Kresge Auditorium
July 24 – Appleton, WI – Neuroscience Group Field
July 25 – Terre Haute, IN – The Mill Terre Haute
July 26 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center
August 1 – El Reno, OK – Lucky Star Casino
August 3 – Amarillo, TX – Amarillo Civic Center Complex #
# Outlaws are replacing Jefferson Starship as special guest

US Tour Dates – BTO only
July 28 – Bloomington, IL – Bloomington Center For The Performing Art
July 29 – Elk Grove Village, IL – The Village Green at the Charles Zettek Municipal Complex
July 31 – Jefferson City, MO – MU Health Care Capital Region Amphitheater
August 15 – Wendover, NV – Peppermill Casino
August 16 – Beaver Creek, CO – Vilar PAC
August 18 – Boise, ID – Western Idaho Fair
August 21 – Pala, CA – Pala Casino
August 22 – Ft. McDowell, AZ – We-Ko-Pa Casino
August 23 – Albuquerque, NM – Legends Theater at Route 66 Casino

Motley Crue has gone out of its way plenty of times to create a spectacle. On October 7, 2024, they demonstrated that yet again, arriving for their performance at the Troubadour in a garbage truck.

The energy was running high with Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and John 5 even before the first night of their “Hollywood Takeover,” where the band played rare club shows at three different venues. “Everybody was excited,” John recently told the UCR Podcast. “I remember Tommy going, ‘Dude, we should all get out of a garbage truck, for one of these club shows.'” It was an idea that the drummer and his bandmates had been discussing for a while and the Troubadour seemed like a good chance to bring the idea to life.

But as 5 shares now, there were some things about the experience that were perhaps a bit unexpected. “It was so cool, but it’s crazy, because it’s pitch black in there,” he explains. “You can’t see your hand in front of your face. You see little cracks and stuff, but it was pitch black in there. [But’ the thing opened up, we jumped out and got right on stage. Then, for the [subsequent] Whisky [concert], we got out of the Dr. Feelgood ambulance. It’s just an incredible experience being in that band. It’s the best.”

READ MORE: Motley Crue Launch ‘Dr. Feelgood’ Tour With Club Show

As fans know, the guitarist was a fellow fan long before he joined the Motley ranks and he has a lot of appreciation for the legacy established by the Crue. “It’s so hard to explain, but Nikki and the guys, [they have] something you just can’t teach. It’s something you can’t learn,” he says. “[They’re] churning out songs that people can really relate to. ‘Home Sweet Home,’ it’s about being on the road and wanting to go home. But anybody can relate to that. You don’t have to be in a touring band. You could be at work or you just want to get home. Everybody can relate to that. I can’t write a lyric. I don’t know what I’d write about, like, boobs and guitars, that’s all I’ve got. But it’s fun to write lyrics that can connect to millions of people. It’s such an art.”

John 5’s Kiss Museum Opens in May

Kiss fans will have a chance to get a look at John’s collection of more than 2,500 items that he’s amassed over the years including the last known pair of boots owned by Gene Simmons from the Destroyer era as well as his first tour outfit from ’74. Tours of his museum will be conducted personally by 5, who is looking forward to the experience. “it’s taken an absolute lifetime to do this. It really has. I started collecting when I was a kid, but when I decided to do a museum, it’s taken a couple of years, just putting it together,” he shares.

“You have to document everything. You have to really get into detail and talk about everything and have everything correct [with] the right years and the right months,” he continues. “I’ve got all of these tickets, passes, buttons from all over the world. Records and magazines from all over the world. Promoter shirts, jackets and towels, it’s just endless. So it’s a lot of work and it’s been overwhelming, but I’m really happy.”

Gram Parsons’ greatest contribution to the world wasn’t “A Song For You.” It wasn’t even “Return of the Grievous Angel.” It was Emmylou Harris, an artist whose gift for interpretation and pearly vocals have been blessing the charts, the radio, and our playlists for the best part of six decades. Since bursting onto the scene as Parsons’ protege in the early ’70s, she’s released dozens of albums and been nominated for an astounding forty-six Grammys. She earned a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and inspired armies of would-be singer-songwriters to pick up a guitar and start strumming. But no matter how many artists claim her as an influence, there’s only one Emmylou. Here, we doff our hats to her enduring legacy as we look back at the 10 best Emmylou Harris songs of all time.

#10 – Evangeline

Robbie Roberston knew how to write a good tune. He also knew how to write one fast. The night before The Band’s Last Waltz concert, he wrote “Evangeline.” It may have been a rush job, but you’d never guess it from the quality. The next day, Harris and Rick Danko performed it together to the backing of the Band. Martin Scorsese was on hand to immortalize it on tape. It’s a stunning effort… although not quite so sensational as the version Harris would record a couple of years later alongside Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.

Read More: Top 10 Linda Ronstadt Songs

# 9 – Born To Run

“Born To Run” doesn’t find Harris doing her best impression of the Boss, but it does find her in a rockier mood than usual. A head-nodding, foot-tapping declaration of intent, it’s bold and assertive enough to make even Bruce Springsteen seem a little wimpish. And no, this is not a cover of the classic Bruce tune.  “Nobody is going to make me do things their way,” she insists defiantly. “By the time you figure it out, it’s yesterday.” As the song progresses, so does her impatience, culminating in the declaration, “But I don’t need it when I’m old and gray / Yeah, I want it today.” Written by her future husband, Paul Kennerly, it soared to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart on its release in 1981.

# 8 – To Daddy

She might be a fine, fine writer herself, but just like her frequent collaborator, Linda Ronstadt, Harris is at her best when she’s applying her own twist to the lyrics of others. “To Daddy” was written by Dolly Parton, but by the time Parton eventually got round to recording it herself in the 1990s, we’d already lost our hearts to the incredibly sensitive rendition on Harris’ 1977 album, Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town. After giving Harris a No.3 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country chart, it remained a set staple for years.

# 7 – Together Again

Harris’ knack for interpretation is out in force on “Together Again.” A decade after country artist Buck Owens took the song to the top of the country charts, Harris did the same. Her version is a little less smokey than Buck’s, but her wispy vocals add just the right amount of vulnerability to this tale of a longed-for reunion with a loved one. The song became her first No. 1 country single; four years later, she teamed up with Owens to record “Play Together Again, Again” in celebration of its success.

# 6 – Pancho and Lefty

Bettering Townes Van Zandt’s original version of “Pancho and Lefty” is almost impossible, but Harris comes closer than nearly any other artist has. Recorded in 1977 for the album Luxury Liner, she delivers the Texas Troubadours parable of two wayward outlaws with her signature combination of empathy and precision. An undulating guitar and melancholy pedal steel provide the perfect foil to her pure vocals. A few years later, she’d revisit Van Zandt on a pitch-perfect duet with Don Williams on the 1981 classic, “If I Needed You.”

Read More: Top 10 Don Williams Songs

# 5 – Boulder to Birmingham

Harris found her voice early, but it took her a while to find her muse. Most of her formative recordings consist of covers, but if you scratch enough, you can still find a few original compositions here and there. “Boulder to Birmingham” from the 1975 album Pieces of the Sky is one of them. A compelling and heartbreakingly mournful tribute to her late, great mentor Gram Parsons, it’s nothing short of gorgeous, with Harris’ plaintiff vocals weaving angelically around the lush strings and melancholy piano. Over forty years later, it’s still one of her most stunning creations.

Read More: Top 10 Gram Parsons Songs

# 4 – Two More Bottles of Wine

Written by the superbly talented Delbert McClinton, “Two More Bottles of Wine” finds Harris “16,000 miles from the people I know” but feeling “all right because it’s midnight / And I got two more bottles of wine.” There’s heartbreak, there’s whisky, and there’s Emmylou, whose jaunty delivery and carefree attitude took this punchy piece of honky-tonk strutting and stomping to No.1.

# 3 – Wayfaring Stranger

Harris has never stuck to the rule book, but her decision to delve into gospel with the 19th-century spiritual “Wayfaring Stranger” was one of the biggest left-turns of her career. The biggest surprise is just how well it works. Her haunting vocals dip and weave through the lyrics, taking us on a journey just as melancholy as the poor soul at the story’s center. Culled from the glorious 1980 album Roses In The Snow, this unlikely hit broke the Top Ten in the US and bag Harris a No. 1 in Canada.

# 2 – Sweet Dreams

Donald Gibson wrote “Sweet Dreams,” Patsy Cline popularised it, and Harris scored a No. 1 chart hit with it. Other artists have attempted to repeat her success in the years since, but none have managed it. Only Emmylou, it seems, can sing this ode to failed relationships in the way it was intended, and only Emmylou can turn the misery of heartbreak into such a sweet pleasure that it makes you forget your own.

Read More: Top 10 Patsy Cline Songs

#1 – Beneath Still Waters

George Jones is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest country singers ever, but even his biggest fans probably weren’t aware of “Beneath Still Waters” until Harris unearthed it from his 1968 album My Country, polished it off, infused it with an air of resigned sadness, and sent it soaring to the top of the country charts. Her vocal performance is staggering, but her gift for interpretation is truly remarkable.

In March 1980, Emmylou Harris reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart with her heartfelt rendition of “Beneath Still Waters,” marking her fourth number one country hit. The song was released as the second single from her critically acclaimed 1979 album Blue Kentucky Girl, which showcased her deep appreciation for traditional country music. Written by Dallas Frazier, “Beneath Still Waters” had been previously recorded by George Jones in 1967 and later by Diana Trask in 1970, whose version also charted modestly.

Read More: Top 10 George Jones Songs

Top 10 Emmylou Harris songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2025

Psychedelic metal band The Yagas – fronted by Academy Award-nominated actor Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring, Hawkeye, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters) – have announced their debut album Midnight Minuet.

The five-piece will put the record out on April 25 and precede the release with a show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on April 5. They’ve also shared new single Life Of A Widow, which you can hear below.

Farmiga says of her band’s new song: “Life Of A Widow is a song of searing lament. It’s a song of embodying that ol’ prodigious saying, ‘Why has thou forsaken me?’

“The song is aching to feel the presence of a deceased loved one. It’s a soul’s journey of yearning, pleading to crack the unbearable silence of solitude, that Vantablack void, just to hear your love’s voice once again, to feel your love’s touch again.

“The protagonist in our song wanders through her misery, she navigates through mad midnight moments of throbbing despair. She begs to feel less alone. She demands to feel the presence of her lost love. And she won’t stop wailing until he’s there.

“It’s about taking those sudden, violent jabs of red-hot grief, feeling pummelled and clobbered by desperation and crying out to the dearly departed for help and reconnection.”

Of The Yagas’ impending album, keyboardist Renn Hawkey comments: “Producing Midnight Minuet was very cathartic for me. I felt the need to prove to myself that I could make great music outside of [Hawkey’s other band] Deadsy, which, for the past 25 years, had been my only writing/recording partnership. This was a very different creative experience for me.

“I often felt in Deadsy like I was playing in someone else’s playground – I knew the rules, I mastered the slide and the monkey bars, but I felt like a visitor. Midnight Minuet just felt different. The Yagas built a new playground together, made up of our respective life experiences with equal ownership. We are the sum of our parts. When this kind of synergy exists, you grab it, nurture it, and give it a life.”

Midnight Minuet was mixed by Grammy nominee Brian Virtue (Deftones, 30 Seconds to Mars) and mastered by Grammy winner Emily Lazar (Beck, Coldplay). Other singles The Crying Room (The Yagas’ debut song) and She’s Walking Down are currently streaming.

See the album’s artwork and tracklisting below.

The Yagas – Midnight Minuet

01. The Crying Room
02. I Am
03. Life Of A Widow
04. Anhedonia
05. Pendulum
06. Charade
07. Bridle
08. Pullover
09. She’s Walking Down
10. Midnight Minuet

The Amazon Spring Deal Days event is on right now and will run through March 31. I caught some awesome Lego Star Wars deals earlier in the week, and today I saw a bunch of Marshall products on sale in both the UK and US, including the Marshall Major IV headphones for less than half price. Amazon UK have cut the price from £129.99 to just £62 – a huge 52% saving on the all black model.

But the Marshall deals don’t end there, with Amazon UK also cutting the cost of the Minor III True Wireless Bluetooth in-ears, ripping 49% off the RRP, taking them down from £119.99 to just £61.19.

And if you’re after a new Bluetooth speaker, then Spring Deal Days has you covered too, with the portable Marshall Emberton II Bluetooth speaker down from £149 to £91.03 in its black colour variation.

Or maybe the Marshall Willen II is more your thing. You can pick up this ultra portable powerhouse with 17 hours of playback for £86.11 – 21% down from the RRP of £109.

If you’re after something a little bigger and more powerful, then you can pick up the Marshall Acton III Bluetooth speaker for £215.10 – that’s 17% down from its regular price of £259.99.

If you’re based in the US, Amazon also have shaved dollars off a range of Marshall goods, such as the Black & Brass Emberton II for $126.30 – that’s 26% down from the $169.99 list price.

You can also get the Marshall Major V on-ear headphones with a 25% discount – they’re down from $149.99 to $112. We loved these headphones, with our reviewer saying: “They slam like bodies in a circle pit, have engaging musicality and boast a battery life few rivals can match.”

Read the full Marshall Major V review.

Read more

• Best Marshall headphones: Top picks from across the range
• Best Marshall speakers: Speakers from the guitar-amp giant

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Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He’s previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott’s favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.

Evanescence have released a new song as part of the soundtrack for Netflix’s Devil May Cry series.

Amy Lee’s gothic metal favourites unveiled Afterlife today (March 27), ahead of the show’s premiere on April 3. Listen below.

The band say that the track – co-written by vocalist Lee alongside Alex Seaver, and co-produced by Seaver and Nick Raskulinecz – will appear multiple times throughout the series, which is based on the popular action-adventure videogame series by Capcom.

Promotional materials say of the show: “In this animated adaptation of the popular Capcom game and from the vision of Adi Shankar, sinister forces are at play to open the portal between the human and demon realms. In the middle of it all is Dante, an orphaned demon-hunter-for-hire, unaware that the fate of both worlds hangs around his neck.”

The band claim that they are “primarily focussed on creating new music this year”. Lee elaborated during a recent interview with Audacy Music, calling Afterlife “the first of many” new songs.

“We are working on a lot of songs right now for the new album, but this came up through Netflix, and we were just really excited to have an excuse to get in there right away,” she said (via Blabbermouth).

When asked if Evanescence have a new album coming, she answered, “I don’t have a date for you. We are just working. We got off the road in November or something, and we’ve been just creative.”

Despite their focus on recording their next album, Evanescence will play a handful of concerts this year. They’re supporting Halsey at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 14, then playing as the special guests of My Chemical Romance at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on September 13.

After that, the band will play Louder Than Life festival in Kentucky on September 21 and support Metallica in Australia and New Zealand in November. See all dates and details via their website.