Tuesday Rock Roundup

Drummer Stewart Copeland is not happy with the way the second Police show went last Wednesday in Vancouver, Canada. On his blog, he writes that things got off to a rough start when he missed the cue on the opening song, "Message in a Bottle," and it all went downhill from there. He says at the end of "Synchronicity" Sting did a "big leap for the cut-off hit, but he gets the footwork just a little bit wrong and doesn't quite achieve lift-off. The mighty Sting momentarily looks like a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock... It usually takes about four or five shows in a tour before you get to the disaster gig. But we're The Police so we are a little ahead of schedule... Funny thing is, we are enjoying ourselves anyway. Screw it, it's only music. What are you gonna do?"

U-2 is in Africa working on songs with producers Daniel Lanois [pr: lan-WAH] and Brian Eno [pr: EE-no]. The band has set up a studio in Morocco's medieval city of Fez, where the guys have been writing and recording from morning till night for the past couple of weeks. No word on what the songs will be used for, but according to their website, Bono, The Edge and company are "on a roll and the ideas are coming fast." U-2 is a little familiar with Morocco, having filmed the video for "Mysterious Ways" there in 1991. U-2's last album was 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Genesis will start their Turn It on Again reunion tour a week from tonight in Helsinki, Finland, and they're hoping to make it a complete concert experience for their European fans. Following the lead of The Who, the Allman Brothers and other bands, Genesis will make each show on the European tour available on C-D, recorded right off the soundboard. You can either purchase each two-disc set individually or as a complete 23-show box set. No word yet if they'll do the same when the tour reaches North America on September 7th in Toronto.

Queen has topped yet another poll. Rolling Stone has named the greatest tracks on the worst albums, and Queen's collaboration with David Bowie on "Under Pressure" from their Hot Space album was number-one. "This Is England" from The Clash's Cut the Crap album was second, followed by The Who's "Eminence Front" from It's Hard. Other classic rock acts to make the list include Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young and Elton John.

The List:
1)"Under Pressure" Queen - Hot Space
2) "This Is England" The Clash -Cut The Crap
3) "Eminence Front" The Who -It's Hard
4) "Brownsville Girl" - Bob Dylan - Knocked Out Loaded
5) "Hallo Spaceboy" - David Bowie - Outside
6) "Kill Your Sons" - Lou Reed - Sally Can't Dance
7) "2000 Light Years from Home" - Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request
8) "Goin' Home" - Neil Young - Are You Passionate
9) "Song for Guy" - Elton John - A Single Man
10) "Don't Look Back" -- Boston- Don't Look Back

Former Styx singer and keyboard player Dennis De Young has a new album. 100 Years From Now will first be released June 19th in Canada, where Styx had some of their earliest success.

New In Stores Tuesday:

Creepy ghost movie The Messengers DVD
Eddie Murphy's unnecessary Norbit DVD
Rescue Me - The Complete Third Season DVD

And a ton of albums:

Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full (which I reviewed last week here)
Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me
Chris Cornell (former Soundgarden/Audioslave) - Carry On
Bruce Springsteen - Live In Dublin
Poison - Poison'd
Tesla - Real To Reel

(the last two are cover albums of each band's favorite songs from the old days)