People
LOS ANGELES — Elton John is opening up his vault and releasing an expansive collection of rarely heard and unreleased tracks.
John said the eight-CD collection, “Elton: Jewel Box,” will be released on Nov. 13. The collection includes “Sing Me No Sad Songs,” an unreleased studio demo from 1969.
The “Jewel Box” collection includes 148 songs, 60 of them unreleased, that span recordings from 1965 to 2019 and his early collaborations with songwriter Bernie Taupin.
Two of the CDs include songs specially chosen by John, along with narration about them by the six-time Grammy winner.
“Hearing these long lost tracks again, I find it hard to comprehend just how prolific Bernie and I were during the early days. The songs just poured out of us, and the bands were just unbelievable in the studio,” John said in a statement.
No price for the collection was announced.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This year was poised to be a busy one for Keith Urban, with a full year of touring as well as a Las Vegas residency. He wasn't sure when he'd have time to finish his next album “Speed of Now Part 1” when the coronavirus pandemic halted live performances in March.“It ended up being the time I needed, not the way in which I wished I'd gotten the time,” said the globe-trotting country star, who is nominated for three CMA Awards in November, including entertainer of the year.But the downtime forced him back into the studio, where he connected with a kindred spirit in singer-songwriter Breland, whose urban-rural fusion “My Truck” was blowing up online. The pair co-wrote two songs for Urban's album, which came out Friday, including “Out the Cage” featuring Breland's vocals and Nile Rodgers' rhythmic guitar.“Breland was a man after my own heart musically and I was just dying to get in the studio with him to see what happened,” Urban said.Urban talked to The Associated Press recently from Australia, where he was staying with his kids and wife-actor Nicole Kidman.
LONDON — The U.K. production of “The Batman” is starting up again after being shut down earlier this month when an individual tested positive for COVID-19.Warner Bros. said filming had resumed after a hiatus for quarantine precautions. The studio has not identified the person who had the virus.Robert Pattinson stars in the film from director Matt Reeves which had been on hiatus for almost six months because of the coronavirus pandemic. The positive case came just three days after “The Batman” had initially resumed shooting.“The Batman” was originally supposed to hit theaters in June 2021 but was pushed back to October 2021 because of the delays.
