The Week in Music: Another purple reign as Prince gets back in the groove
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Your support makes all the difference.Talk about suspense. Further to the news that Prince is soon releasing PLECTRUMELECTRUM, his first album with all-female rock trio 3RDEYEGIRL, a short teaser for their track "PRETZELBODYLOGIC" went up on YouTube this week. Warning: blink and you'll miss it. The album was written and recorded in Prince's Paisley Park recording studio in Minneapolis, London and New York. Meanwhile, at time of writing, we are still waiting to know exactly which "iconic venues in and around London" Prince will be playing on the Hit and Run Tour any time from Monday. Keep your diary clear…
Piano man's fans are on the right road
Elton John's 1973 landmark album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, has inspired legions of young singer-songwriters, from Tom Odell to R'n'B singer Miguel. The seminal album will be reissued on 24 March with a book filled with memorabilia, but it's worth buying the deluxe version for the CD of nine new covers by some of those artists inspired by Elton John. Ed Sheeran reworks "Candle in the Wind", Emeli Sandé takes on "All The Girls Love Alice" and John Grant tackles "Sweet Painted Lady" – all transforming the tracks in their own styles. And on Saturday 22 March only, the film of his concert The Million Dollar Piano – performed on the show's namesake, a piano weighing 3,200 pounds with its 68 LED video screens – will be shown at 200 cinemas around the UK.
Hot Tickets
Fresh from her No 1 with ARTPOP in November, Lady Gaga is bringing her tour to the UK in October. Tickets go on sale on 8 February, but as ever it's her devoted fans, the Littlemonsters.com members, who have first access from 6 February. The Cure, Suede, Ed Sheeran and Paolo Nutini are on the line-up for the 14th Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at the Royal Albert Hall. Expect new songs from Nutini whose album Caustic Love is out on 14 April. Tickets are on sale today.
Gig of the week
Every now and then an exciting artist who does something a bit different comes along. Such a newcomer is East India Youth, 22-year-old William Doyle, whose ambitious debut album, Total Strife Forever, incorporates an inventive mix of ambience, neo-classical soundscapes, techno and melodic electro-pop. He's on tour now, and plays London's the Lexington on Thursday.
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