Tuesday Rock Roundup

Led Zeppelin is back in stores today with another career-spanning retrospective, Mothership. The two-disc set contains 24 songs presented in chronological order. Guitarist Jimmy Page tells us they weren't happy with their last two collections, Early Days and Latter Days. He says, "When you compared it to any of the other Led Zeppelin product it just really didn't have that stamp of authority about it." Next Tuesday Zeppelin will re-release their 1976 concert film and soundtrack, The Song Remains the Same.

You'd think that after releasing their first album of all-new material in 28 years -- Long Road Out of Eden -- that the Eagles would want to play the songs live. But Don Henley says, "We all just want to go home for the holidays and see if our kids recognize us -- try to get to know them again." But fans shouldn't give up hope -- he adds that they'll reconvene next year to talk about it.

Roger Waters tells London's Daily Mail that he's still working on a stage version of Pink Floyd's 1979 album The Wall. He says, "It's got to be solid, so it takes time. We'll have a few jokes and a bit of humor. It's not just a case of transplanting the album onto the stage. It's a new piece -- a new show, not a catalog musical." Waters is also working on a new song for the theatrical version, which he hopes will premiere in late 2009.

Former Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh and his band wrapped up their fall tour Saturday night at the Nokia Theater in New York. And according to the New York Post, the audiences was smoking so much pot during Lesh's run of nine shows that the smoke seeped through the wall into the Minskoff Theater next door, where The Lion King is staged. A spokesman for the Nokia says he's received numerous complaints.

The 20th-anniversary reissue of U-2's The Joshua Tree, which hits stores on November 20th, will contain several unreleased demos from those sessions. Bono recently added new vocals to one of them, "Wave of Sorrow." He says the song "was trying to describe experiences that myself and [my wife] Ali had when we were working in Ethiopia during the famine." The album will be available in four different versions -- a re-mastered C-D, a double-disc set, a double vinyl set, and a two-C-D and D-V-D box set featuring a 1987 concert in Paris.

Jack Black as Paul McCartney? It happens in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story the upcoming music biopic spoof from 40-Year-Old Virgin creator Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan. In one scene, "Dewey Cox," played by John C. Reilly, visits The Beatles in India while they're meditating with the Maharishi and hi-jinx ensues. Ringo is played by Jason Schwartzman -- a real life drummer, while Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, Anchorman) portrays John, and Justin Long (Live Free or Die Hard, Herbie: Fully Loaded) is George.

Genesis will release Live Over Europe on November 20th. They recorded the C-D on their reunion tour this summer.

Eric Clapton's D-V-D release of his second Crossroads Guitar Festival will come in special editions as select retailers try to get a leg up on their competition. Different "exclusive editions" will be available at Best Buy and Target. The Best Buy version will contain two extra songs -- "Things Get Better" and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad." No word on what the Target version will have.

John Mellencamp invited presidential candidate John Edwards on stage during his acoustic performance of "SmallTown" Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa. Edwards said, "The good news is I've been in your small towns. I've been raised in a small town. I've been all over your state in small towns. And you didn't come to listen to me. So I'm not singing." Mellencamp is in Rockford, Illinois tomorrow night.

Today is the 39th anniversary of the American release of the animated Beatles movie Yellow Submarine. Last week, their film Help! was finally released on DVD.

NEW RELEASES TODAY:

Duran Duran - Red Carpet Massacre
Queensryche - Take Cover
James Taylor - One Man Band [CD + DVD]
and of course Led Zeppelin - Mothership [2 CDs + DVD]
Ocean's Thirteen DVD and the Ocean's Trilogy set
Shrek the Third DVD
The Addams Family - The Complete Series DVD
Bon Jovi - Lost Highway - The Concert DVD
The McCartney Years DVD - The three-disc set from Rhino contains videos to 42 songs -- from 1970's "Maybe I'm Amazed" to 2005's "Fine Line." There is also live footage, including Rockshow, which was filmed on Wings' 1976 tour; edits of his appearance on M-T-V's Unplugged in 1991; as well as footage from his appearance at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival. Bonus material includes "Let It Be" from Live Aid, interviews, alternate versions of videos, and the full-length 2005 documentary Creating Chaos at Abbey Road.
Northern Exposure - The Complete Series DVD
The last season of Gilmore Girls, and a complete series set of the show
A really corny Kung Fu movie called Battle Warrior. Available in just a few stores, but you can order it online at Amazon dot com. I have an uncredited voiceover role in it, providing the english voice of a Japanese Guy wearing sunglasses who has a pretty cool fight scene. This is a Kung Fu flick with Zombies in it, done very low budget...which explains why I'm part of it because as I've proven here I'll work fairly cheap. Just about every English voice in it is a friend of mine.