Quick Takes: Queen, The Doobie Brothers, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren & David Bowie

QUEEN

• Queen is planning a September release for a previously unissued track featuring the late-Freddie Mercury. Brian May revealed to BBC Radio 2 that the song came from the sessions for 1989's The Miracle: “It was kind of hiding in plain sight. We looked at it many times and thought, 'Oh no, we can’t really rescue that.' But in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, 'OK, we can do this and this.' It’s like kind of stitching bits together. But it’s beautiful, it’s touching.” (Rolling Stone)

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS

• The Doobie Brothers have been forced to reschedule five shows after members of their touring party contracted Covid. The band issued a statement saying, “We want to apologize to our fans. Several members of the Doobies touring party came down with Covid and we had no choice but to reschedule the below dates. We look forward to seeing you all very soon.” (American Songwriter)
• The already rescheduled dates are: Alpharetta, Georgia — July 17th; Jacksonville, Florida — July 18th; Tampa, Florida — July 20th; West Palm Beach, Florida — July 21th; and Charlotte, North Carolina — July 25th.

LOU REED

• A pair of new archival releases from Lou Reed will be released on August 26th. In celebration of what would've been the songwriter's 80th birthday, the collection, Words & Music, May 1965, will be the first set issued as part of the “Lou Reed Archive Series.” On Thursday (June 9th) a new exhibit chronicling Reed's life and career opens at The New York Public Library, titled Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars.
• The new set will be available in a variety of formats, including LP, cassette, 8-track, digital, and CD. The editions include a deluxe 45-RPM double LP version limited to 7,500 copies worldwide and includes a bonus 7-inch released of 1958 demos made by Reed while in high school. (Variety)

The deluxe tracklisting to Words & Music, May 1965 is:

“I’m Waiting For The Man” (May 1965 Demo)
“Men Of Good Fortune” (May 1965 Demo)
“Heroin” (May 1965 Demo)
“Too Late” (May 1965 Demo)
“Buttercup Song” (May 1965 Demo)
“Walk Alone” (May 1965 Demo)
“Buzz Buzz Buzz” (May 1965 Demo)
“Pale Blue Eyes” (May 1965 Demo)
“Stockpile” (May 1965 Demo)
“Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams” (May 1965 Demo)
“I'm Waiting For The Man” (May 1965 Alternate Version)

7-inch
“Gee Whiz” (1958 Rehearsal)
“Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” (1963/64 Home Recording)
“Michael, Row The Boat Ashore” (1963/64 Home Recording)
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (Partial) (1963/64 Home Recording)
“W & X, Y, Z Blues” (1963/64 Home Recording)
“Lou’s 12-Bar Instrumental” (1963/64 Home Recording)

DAVID BOWIE

• Todd Rundgren and guitarist Adrian Belew will lead this fall's Celebrating David Bowie tour. NME reported the pair will be joined by “Spacehog‘s Royston Langdon, Fishbone's Angelo Moore and Jeffrey Gaines on the 15-date tour to pay tribute to the late, influential British musician.”
• Also on board are bassist Angeline Saris, drummer Michael Urbano, saxophonist Ron Dziubla, and guitarist Angelo “Scrote” Bundini, who put together the first Celebrating David Bowie tour back in 2017. Bundini is producing the tour alongside former Police manager, Miles Copeland.” (NME)

JUST ANNOUNCED: “Celebrating David Bowie” tour dates (subject to change):

October 6 – San Diego, CA – Balboa Theatre
October 7 – Beverly Hills, CA – Saban Theatre
October 8 – San Jose, CA – San Jose Civic
October 9 – Anaheim, CA – City National Grove
October 13 – Prior Lake, MN – Mystic Lake Showroom
October 17 – Quebec City, QC – Le Capitole
October 18 – Montreal, QC – Olympia
October 31 – Annapolis, MD – Rams Head On Stage
November 3 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
November 5 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
November 7 – Nashville, TN – Schermerhorn Symphony Center
November 10 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
November 11 – Albuquerque, NM – Kiva Auditorium
November 12 – Tucson, AZ – TCC Music Hall
November 13 – Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theatre