Three Michael Jackson albums top 100,000 in sales

Three Michael Jackson albums sold about 100,000 copies apiece in the first days following his death Thursday, according to Billboard, which reports that those recordings will place high on its chart when final results are published Wednesday.

“Thriller,” “The Essential Michael Jackson” and “Number Ones” are each expected to top the six-figure mark and take the top three slots on the magazine’s Top Pop Catalog chart, which tracks ongoing sales of albums that are at least 18 months old. Such albums are not eligible to appear on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums ranking, but sales of Jackson’s albums figure to exceed the top-selling current release, the Black-Eyed Peas’ “The E.N.D.”

Billboard reports that Jackson’s music probably will account for six to nine titles in the Top 10 of the Pop Catalog chart. As of Tuesday afternoon, Amazon.com’s entire Top 10 bestselling music titles were Jackson releases.

— Randy Lewis

Just how heavily did radio turn to the music of Michael Jackson after the news of his death? In the three days before Jackson was pronounced dead Thursday at age 50 at UCLA Medical Center, the title song from his “Thriller” album had been played 22 times on U.S. radio, satellite and cable music channels; by Sunday night it had logged more than 3,000 spins, according to the Nielsen BDS radio airplay monitoring service. That's an increase of more than 13,000%.

Eight Jackson songs registered more than 2,000 plays each from Thursday through Sunday evening. An airplay report issued Monday by Nielsen BDS tracked 20 songs by Jackson, either solo or when he was a member of the Jackson 5. All 20 exceeded 1,300 plays apiece through Sunday.

The most popular: “Billie Jean,” which registered 3,916 spins, followed by “Thriller” (3,548), “Rock With You” (3,343), "Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (2,984) and “Beat It” (2,810), edging out “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” by just two spins.

A breakdown of airplay on Thursday showed, not surprisingly, that stations almost immediately deluged listeners with his music. The 20 most frequently played Jackson songs logged a combined 147 plays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., shortly before news of his death became widely known.

In the four hours from 3 to 7 p.m. after word spread, those same songs registered 3,664 plays across the country. That figure almost doubled during the 7 p.m. to midnight period Thursday, during which stations reported playing those same 20 songs 6,413 times.

— Randy Lewis

Elvis Costello will cover more than 300 miles in a day on June 22 to log same-day performances at Amoeba Music stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles around the release of his new album, “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.”

The British singer-songwriter plans to do a noon set in San Francisco and then head south for an 8 p.m. performance at the chain’s Hollywood store. Both are free, and the L.A. show will be streamed live on Amoeba's website. Both performances also will be posted on the website for later viewing.

He’ll be accompanied at the in-stores by singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, who sings harmony on several of the album’s songs. That will give Costello at least three settings for his music at Southland stops in the months ahead. He’s also scheduled to play July 10 with his longtime band the Impostors at the Agua Caliente Resort & Casino's new concert theater in Palm Springs, ahead of his Aug. 18 date at the Greek Theatre with his new band, the Sugarcanes, formed for the folk- and bluegrass-drenched material from his new T-Bone Burnett-produced album.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times

Depeche Mode’s  European tour got back on track Monday with the band’s performance in Leipzig, Germany, following lead singer Dave Gahan’s surgery last month to remove a malignant tumor from his bladder.

"I'm grateful to the fans for showing their support and thankful to my family, friends and all of the doctors who looked after me so well," Gahan, 47, said in a statement issued Tuesday.  “Being back onstage is an incredible feeling and I'm looking forward to each and every show."

This leg of the tour was interrupted May 12 when Gahan suffered a gastroenteritis attack, for which he was hospitalized. While there, tests revealed the tumor, which was successfully removed.

More than a dozen shows were postponed or canceled. After returning to duty in time for Monday’s show, the second of two that had been scheduled in Leipzig, the band picks up where it left off with an itinerary that takes it across much of Europe.

-- Randy Lewis 

Photo: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Will Miley-mania extend into 2009?

We’ll find out come June 13, when tickets go on sale for Miley Cyrus' 2009 North American tour, which opens Sept. 14 in Portland, Ore., reaches Southern California for stops Sept. 22 at Staples Center in L.A. and Sept. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

The tour encompasses 45 dates in 43 cities, concluding Dec. 2 in Miami, and will feature Metro Station as her opening act at all performances. Notably, it's being billed as a Miley Cyrus tour, without marquee billing for her Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana, as on her previous tour.

Her previous tour set off a ticket feeding frenzy among her teen and preteen fans, with scalpers asking thousands of dollars for the best seats at various stops.

This time, tour promoter AEG Live is using a paperless ticket delivery system, where ticket buyers will be admitted to the shows by showing a government issued photo ID and the credit card used to buy their tickets. It’s similar to a system AC/DC used successfully to reduce scalping on its last tour.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo credit: AP
 

Exene Cervenka, the high priestess of the Southern California punk and alternative music scene for three decades, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the singer for X and the Knitters revealed in a statement issued today.

Cervenka said she underwent tests “after some months of not feeling 100% healthy” and was told she had the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

“Although this is obviously unfortunate news,” Cervenka’s statement said, “I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990’s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.”

“While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall,” she said.

Famed producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, reports The Times' Harriet Ryan on L.A. Now. 

Spector was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the death of Clarkson.

Reporting from the courthouse, Ryan writes:

Before the sentencing, the victim’s mother, Donna Clarkson, told the judge she was heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

“All our plans together are destroyed. Now I can only visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Spector’s attorney said the defense sympathized with the family “with its loss.” But attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly.

“The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,”  the lawyer said.

The 69-year-old music producer, his normally pale face even more wan after a month and a half in jail, stared impassively at the judge as he spoke.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Radio airplay for Michael Jackson: Off the chart

Just how heavily did radio turn to the music of Michael Jackson after the news of his death? In the three days before Jackson was pronounced dead Thursday at age 50 at UCLA Medical Center, the title song from his “Thriller” album had been played 22 times on U.S. radio, satellite and cable music channels; by Sunday night it had logged more than 3,000 spins, according to the Nielsen BDS radio airplay monitoring service. That's an increase of more than 13,000%.

Eight Jackson songs registered more than 2,000 plays each from Thursday through Sunday evening. An airplay report issued Monday by Nielsen BDS tracked 20 songs by Jackson, either solo or when he was a member of the Jackson 5. All 20 exceeded 1,300 plays apiece through Sunday.

The most popular: “Billie Jean,” which registered 3,916 spins, followed by “Thriller” (3,548), “Rock With You” (3,343), "Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (2,984) and “Beat It” (2,810), edging out “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” by just two spins.

A breakdown of airplay on Thursday showed, not surprisingly, that stations almost immediately deluged listeners with his music. The 20 most frequently played Jackson songs logged a combined 147 plays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., shortly before news of his death became widely known.

In the four hours from 3 to 7 p.m. after word spread, those same songs registered 3,664 plays across the country. That figure almost doubled during the 7 p.m. to midnight period Thursday, during which stations reported playing those same 20 songs 6,413 times.

— Randy Lewis

Elvis Costello will cover more than 300 miles in a day on June 22 to log same-day performances at Amoeba Music stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles around the release of his new album, “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.”

The British singer-songwriter plans to do a noon set in San Francisco and then head south for an 8 p.m. performance at the chain’s Hollywood store. Both are free, and the L.A. show will be streamed live on Amoeba's website. Both performances also will be posted on the website for later viewing.

He’ll be accompanied at the in-stores by singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, who sings harmony on several of the album’s songs. That will give Costello at least three settings for his music at Southland stops in the months ahead. He’s also scheduled to play July 10 with his longtime band the Impostors at the Agua Caliente Resort & Casino's new concert theater in Palm Springs, ahead of his Aug. 18 date at the Greek Theatre with his new band, the Sugarcanes, formed for the folk- and bluegrass-drenched material from his new T-Bone Burnett-produced album.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times

Depeche Mode’s  European tour got back on track Monday with the band’s performance in Leipzig, Germany, following lead singer Dave Gahan’s surgery last month to remove a malignant tumor from his bladder.

"I'm grateful to the fans for showing their support and thankful to my family, friends and all of the doctors who looked after me so well," Gahan, 47, said in a statement issued Tuesday.  “Being back onstage is an incredible feeling and I'm looking forward to each and every show."

This leg of the tour was interrupted May 12 when Gahan suffered a gastroenteritis attack, for which he was hospitalized. While there, tests revealed the tumor, which was successfully removed.

More than a dozen shows were postponed or canceled. After returning to duty in time for Monday’s show, the second of two that had been scheduled in Leipzig, the band picks up where it left off with an itinerary that takes it across much of Europe.

-- Randy Lewis 

Photo: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Will Miley-mania extend into 2009?

We’ll find out come June 13, when tickets go on sale for Miley Cyrus' 2009 North American tour, which opens Sept. 14 in Portland, Ore., reaches Southern California for stops Sept. 22 at Staples Center in L.A. and Sept. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

The tour encompasses 45 dates in 43 cities, concluding Dec. 2 in Miami, and will feature Metro Station as her opening act at all performances. Notably, it's being billed as a Miley Cyrus tour, without marquee billing for her Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana, as on her previous tour.

Her previous tour set off a ticket feeding frenzy among her teen and preteen fans, with scalpers asking thousands of dollars for the best seats at various stops.

This time, tour promoter AEG Live is using a paperless ticket delivery system, where ticket buyers will be admitted to the shows by showing a government issued photo ID and the credit card used to buy their tickets. It’s similar to a system AC/DC used successfully to reduce scalping on its last tour.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo credit: AP
 

Exene Cervenka, the high priestess of the Southern California punk and alternative music scene for three decades, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the singer for X and the Knitters revealed in a statement issued today.

Cervenka said she underwent tests “after some months of not feeling 100% healthy” and was told she had the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

“Although this is obviously unfortunate news,” Cervenka’s statement said, “I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990’s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.”

“While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall,” she said.

Famed producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, reports The Times' Harriet Ryan on L.A. Now. 

Spector was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the death of Clarkson.

Reporting from the courthouse, Ryan writes:

Before the sentencing, the victim’s mother, Donna Clarkson, told the judge she was heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

“All our plans together are destroyed. Now I can only visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Spector’s attorney said the defense sympathized with the family “with its loss.” But attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly.

“The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,”  the lawyer said.

The 69-year-old music producer, his normally pale face even more wan after a month and a half in jail, stared impassively at the judge as he spoke.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Elvis Costello to play Amoeba's S.F. and L.A. stores same day -- June 22

Elvis Costello will cover more than 300 miles in a day on June 22 to log same-day performances at Amoeba Music stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles around the release of his new album, “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.”

The British singer-songwriter plans to do a noon set in San Francisco and then head south for an 8 p.m. performance at the chain’s Hollywood store. Both are free, and the L.A. show will be streamed live on Amoeba's website. Both performances also will be posted on the website for later viewing.

He’ll be accompanied at the in-stores by singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, who sings harmony on several of the album’s songs. That will give Costello at least three settings for his music at Southland stops in the months ahead. He’s also scheduled to play July 10 with his longtime band the Impostors at the Agua Caliente Resort & Casino's new concert theater in Palm Springs, ahead of his Aug. 18 date at the Greek Theatre with his new band, the Sugarcanes, formed for the folk- and bluegrass-drenched material from his new T-Bone Burnett-produced album.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times

Depeche Mode’s  European tour got back on track Monday with the band’s performance in Leipzig, Germany, following lead singer Dave Gahan’s surgery last month to remove a malignant tumor from his bladder.

"I'm grateful to the fans for showing their support and thankful to my family, friends and all of the doctors who looked after me so well," Gahan, 47, said in a statement issued Tuesday.  “Being back onstage is an incredible feeling and I'm looking forward to each and every show."

This leg of the tour was interrupted May 12 when Gahan suffered a gastroenteritis attack, for which he was hospitalized. While there, tests revealed the tumor, which was successfully removed.

More than a dozen shows were postponed or canceled. After returning to duty in time for Monday’s show, the second of two that had been scheduled in Leipzig, the band picks up where it left off with an itinerary that takes it across much of Europe.

-- Randy Lewis 

Photo: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Will Miley-mania extend into 2009?

We’ll find out come June 13, when tickets go on sale for Miley Cyrus' 2009 North American tour, which opens Sept. 14 in Portland, Ore., reaches Southern California for stops Sept. 22 at Staples Center in L.A. and Sept. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

The tour encompasses 45 dates in 43 cities, concluding Dec. 2 in Miami, and will feature Metro Station as her opening act at all performances. Notably, it's being billed as a Miley Cyrus tour, without marquee billing for her Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana, as on her previous tour.

Her previous tour set off a ticket feeding frenzy among her teen and preteen fans, with scalpers asking thousands of dollars for the best seats at various stops.

This time, tour promoter AEG Live is using a paperless ticket delivery system, where ticket buyers will be admitted to the shows by showing a government issued photo ID and the credit card used to buy their tickets. It’s similar to a system AC/DC used successfully to reduce scalping on its last tour.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo credit: AP
 

Exene Cervenka, the high priestess of the Southern California punk and alternative music scene for three decades, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the singer for X and the Knitters revealed in a statement issued today.

Cervenka said she underwent tests “after some months of not feeling 100% healthy” and was told she had the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

“Although this is obviously unfortunate news,” Cervenka’s statement said, “I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990’s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.”

“While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall,” she said.

Famed producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, reports The Times' Harriet Ryan on L.A. Now. 

Spector was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the death of Clarkson.

Reporting from the courthouse, Ryan writes:

Before the sentencing, the victim’s mother, Donna Clarkson, told the judge she was heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

“All our plans together are destroyed. Now I can only visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Spector’s attorney said the defense sympathized with the family “with its loss.” But attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly.

“The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,”  the lawyer said.

The 69-year-old music producer, his normally pale face even more wan after a month and a half in jail, stared impassively at the judge as he spoke.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Depeche Mode back on tour after Dave Gahan's surgery

Depeche Mode’s  European tour got back on track Monday with the band’s performance in Leipzig, Germany, following lead singer Dave Gahan’s surgery last month to remove a malignant tumor from his bladder.

"I'm grateful to the fans for showing their support and thankful to my family, friends and all of the doctors who looked after me so well," Gahan, 47, said in a statement issued Tuesday.  “Being back onstage is an incredible feeling and I'm looking forward to each and every show."

This leg of the tour was interrupted May 12 when Gahan suffered a gastroenteritis attack, for which he was hospitalized. While there, tests revealed the tumor, which was successfully removed.

More than a dozen shows were postponed or canceled. After returning to duty in time for Monday’s show, the second of two that had been scheduled in Leipzig, the band picks up where it left off with an itinerary that takes it across much of Europe.

-- Randy Lewis 

Photo: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Will Miley-mania extend into 2009?

We’ll find out come June 13, when tickets go on sale for Miley Cyrus' 2009 North American tour, which opens Sept. 14 in Portland, Ore., reaches Southern California for stops Sept. 22 at Staples Center in L.A. and Sept. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

The tour encompasses 45 dates in 43 cities, concluding Dec. 2 in Miami, and will feature Metro Station as her opening act at all performances. Notably, it's being billed as a Miley Cyrus tour, without marquee billing for her Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana, as on her previous tour.

Her previous tour set off a ticket feeding frenzy among her teen and preteen fans, with scalpers asking thousands of dollars for the best seats at various stops.

This time, tour promoter AEG Live is using a paperless ticket delivery system, where ticket buyers will be admitted to the shows by showing a government issued photo ID and the credit card used to buy their tickets. It’s similar to a system AC/DC used successfully to reduce scalping on its last tour.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo credit: AP
 

Exene Cervenka, the high priestess of the Southern California punk and alternative music scene for three decades, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the singer for X and the Knitters revealed in a statement issued today.

Cervenka said she underwent tests “after some months of not feeling 100% healthy” and was told she had the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

“Although this is obviously unfortunate news,” Cervenka’s statement said, “I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990’s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.”

“While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall,” she said.

Famed producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, reports The Times' Harriet Ryan on L.A. Now. 

Spector was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the death of Clarkson.

Reporting from the courthouse, Ryan writes:

Before the sentencing, the victim’s mother, Donna Clarkson, told the judge she was heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

“All our plans together are destroyed. Now I can only visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Spector’s attorney said the defense sympathized with the family “with its loss.” But attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly.

“The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,”  the lawyer said.

The 69-year-old music producer, his normally pale face even more wan after a month and a half in jail, stared impassively at the judge as he spoke.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Miley Cyrus -- back on tour

Will Miley-mania extend into 2009?

We’ll find out come June 13, when tickets go on sale for Miley Cyrus' 2009 North American tour, which opens Sept. 14 in Portland, Ore., reaches Southern California for stops Sept. 22 at Staples Center in L.A. and Sept. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

The tour encompasses 45 dates in 43 cities, concluding Dec. 2 in Miami, and will feature Metro Station as her opening act at all performances. Notably, it's being billed as a Miley Cyrus tour, without marquee billing for her Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana, as on her previous tour.

Her previous tour set off a ticket feeding frenzy among her teen and preteen fans, with scalpers asking thousands of dollars for the best seats at various stops.

This time, tour promoter AEG Live is using a paperless ticket delivery system, where ticket buyers will be admitted to the shows by showing a government issued photo ID and the credit card used to buy their tickets. It’s similar to a system AC/DC used successfully to reduce scalping on its last tour.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo credit: AP
 

Exene Cervenka, the high priestess of the Southern California punk and alternative music scene for three decades, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the singer for X and the Knitters revealed in a statement issued today.

Cervenka said she underwent tests “after some months of not feeling 100% healthy” and was told she had the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

“Although this is obviously unfortunate news,” Cervenka’s statement said, “I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990’s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.”

“While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall,” she said.

Famed producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, reports The Times' Harriet Ryan on L.A. Now. 

Spector was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the death of Clarkson.

Reporting from the courthouse, Ryan writes:

Before the sentencing, the victim’s mother, Donna Clarkson, told the judge she was heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

“All our plans together are destroyed. Now I can only visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Spector’s attorney said the defense sympathized with the family “with its loss.” But attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly.

“The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,”  the lawyer said.

The 69-year-old music producer, his normally pale face even more wan after a month and a half in jail, stared impassively at the judge as he spoke.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Exene Cervenka reveals MS diagnosis

Exene Cervenka, the high priestess of the Southern California punk and alternative music scene for three decades, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the singer for X and the Knitters revealed in a statement issued today.

Cervenka said she underwent tests “after some months of not feeling 100% healthy” and was told she had the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

“Although this is obviously unfortunate news,” Cervenka’s statement said, “I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990’s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.”

“While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall,” she said.

Famed producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, reports The Times' Harriet Ryan on L.A. Now. 

Spector was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the death of Clarkson.

Reporting from the courthouse, Ryan writes:

Before the sentencing, the victim’s mother, Donna Clarkson, told the judge she was heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

“All our plans together are destroyed. Now I can only visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Spector’s attorney said the defense sympathized with the family “with its loss.” But attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly.

“The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,”  the lawyer said.

The 69-year-old music producer, his normally pale face even more wan after a month and a half in jail, stared impassively at the judge as he spoke.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Phil Spector sentenced to 19 years to life

Famed producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, reports The Times' Harriet Ryan on L.A. Now. 

Spector was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the death of Clarkson.

Reporting from the courthouse, Ryan writes:

Before the sentencing, the victim’s mother, Donna Clarkson, told the judge she was heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

“All our plans together are destroyed. Now I can only visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Spector’s attorney said the defense sympathized with the family “with its loss.” But attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly.

“The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,”  the lawyer said.

The 69-year-old music producer, his normally pale face even more wan after a month and a half in jail, stared impassively at the judge as he spoke.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Paul McCartney, Tom Hanks, Eric Idle, Tom Petty salute George Harrison

Paul McCartney topped the star-studded turnout Tuesday in Hollywood for the unveiling of a Walk of Fame star for his former Fab Four band mate George Harrison at a ceremony that also drew such celebrity friends and admirers as Tom Hanks, Tom Petty, Eric Idle, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, T-Bone Burnett and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and their son, Dhani.

“Hare Krishna” was all Dhani Harrison had to say after alternately touching and humorous tributes from his mother, Idle and Hanks as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“I asked myself, ‘What would George think about a star on Hollywood Boulevard?' ” his close friend and Monty Python alum Idle said. “I thought I heard his voice, and it said, ‘It’s a bunch of old bollocks.’ ”

McCartney wasn’t among the scheduled speakers, and when he hopped up to the microphone after taking part in a round of photo snaps with the assembled guests in front of the freshly minted star, it had been shut off. He simply shouted, “Thank you!” to the hundreds of fans who spilled out into Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records Tower, where Harrison’s star now sits near those of the Beatles and John Lennon.

Hanks, prefacing his remarks with the explanation that “I’m representing the Americans,” told the crowd that Harrison’s first guitar had cost the equivalent of 75 cents. “But he desired to make it sing, and to make that guitar weep.”

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Fan spends $20,000 to hang out with Josh Freese and friends

True to his word, alt-rock drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese is honoring the outlandish marketing campaign he cooked up to promote his new album “Since 1972.” One 19-year-old fan from Florida decided that rather than investing $20,000 in a car, he’d prefer hanging out for a week and playing miniature golf with the onetime member of Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals and A Perfect Circle and his rock star pals.

Thomas Mrzyglocki snagged one of the pricier premium packages that Freese whimsically, but seriously, offered over his website for those who buy his second solo album. The cheapest, at $7, covers a download of the album’s 11 songs. The physical CD comes out April 14.

At the top end, for $75,000, Freese says he’ll join the buyer’s band (if he or she has one) for a month and go on tour, join them on a limo ride to Tijuana, take them on a flying trapeze lesson followed by homemade pasta cooked up by NIN guitarist Robin Finck and his wife. He’ll also write and record a five-song EP about the buyer’s life and let them take home one of his drum kits.

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.

Remastered Beatles catalog coming in September

The Beatles' entire catalog of studio recordings will be reissued in September, fully remastered after years of clamoring from fans for upgraded versions of the group's recorded legacy, the Fab Four's label announced today.

The new versions will be issued on CD, but the announcement said plans for digital distribution were still going on. The Beatles catalog is considered the most significant body of music still not available for downloading. The release date is Sept. 9, which coincides with the arrival of the recently announced "The Beatles: Rock Band" edition of the popular video game.