Albums We’re Expecting in 2019
It's early yet, but 2019 is already shaping up to be an intriguing year for rock fans.
Bruce Springsteen, Sammy Hagar, Motley Crue, Robbie Robertson and Ozzy Osbourne have discussed the prospect of new albums. Joe Jackson, Heart, Bryan Adams, Whitesnake and Altitudes & Attitude – a new band featuring Dave Ellefson and Frank Bello – have already confirmed release dates.
In fact, Springsteen apparently already has a new studio effort in the can. "For lack of a better word, it's a singer-songwriter album — more of a solo record," he said in December. The untitled project would be his first since 2014's High Hopes. Springsteen earlier said he was working on music "influenced by Southern California pop music of the ‘70s. Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach – those kinds of records," though it's unclear if those songs made the new album.
Hagar is preparing to unveil a new project with the Circle, which also features his former Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham and Vic Johnson. Hagar has admitted to very high hopes for Space Between, saying he'd like the album to earn a Grammy. "That's my bucket list: to have one more credible musical experience in my life," he said in September. "I think I did it, and I hope it's as good as I think it is." Space Between could arrive as early as January.
Motley Crue's soundtrack to the film adaptation of The Dirt, which will premiere on Neftflix in March 2019, will contain four new songs. In October, Nikki Sixx gave the world an update on the sessions. “Fuck can I just say it?” he tweeted. “I’m listening to the roughs of the new Motley Crue and it feels real and raw. Everybody is playing like mad and the songs crush. Bob Rock brought the sounds. Plus we have a surprise that will confirm that we’re outta our minds. You can trust us these are ball-busters. Everybody can relax. We’re soon gonna smack you upside the head with some killer new tracks. Bob Rock is producing. It’s our movie. We know what we’re doing.”
Joe Jackson's 20th studio effort, Fool, is due on Jan. 18. "The road to this album is littered with the wrecks of songs and half-songs that didn’t make the grade. There are eight survivors, which I think is enough," Jackson said in October. "I never have an overall theme in mind when I start trying to write songs for an album, but sometimes one will develop. In this case it's comedy and tragedy, and the way they're intertwined in all our lives." Next year also marks the 40th anniversary of his debut album, Look Sharp.
Listen to Altitudes + Attitude Perform 'Out Here'
Altitudes & Attitude, the group featuring Megadeth's Ellefson and Anthrax's Bello, will also release Get It Out on Jan. 18. Four years in the making, the EP was described as “a kind of rock ’n’ roll primal-scream therapy” in a news release. Guests include Ace Frehley, Gus G. of Osbourne's band and Nita Strauss from Alice Cooper's group, among others. Heart has also confirmed a Jan. 25 release date for a new concert film titled Live in Atlantic City.
Osbourne isn't that far along. Still, a happy reunion with guitarist Zakk Wylde for "No More Tours 2" got the singer excited about the prospect of a return to the studio. "This band is really good," Osbourne said in October. "I'd like to do another album with Zakk if I could." Osbourne added that he's got a number of song ideas already, including on titled "Mr. Armageddon."
Bryan Adams' Shine a Light and Queensryche's The Verdict are both due in March. Tool was also apparently nearing completion on a new studio project.
Whitesnake have confirmed the title but not the exact release date for their 13th studio album. Flesh & Blood is set to arrive sometime in May; there will also be an advance single titled "Shut Up & Kiss Me." David Coverdale described this as the "best Whitesnake album" in a November interview, adding "I know that's cliched stuff, but I know what I'm talking about. I should after almost 50 years."
Watch Heart Perform 'Lost Angel'
The Band's Robbie Robertson is at work on his first solo album since 2011's How to Become Clairvoyant. "I'm not finished yet so it's a little hard to describe, but it is one of the most violent and sexy records that I've ever been part of,” he said last August. "I've really done something this time, and I'm very excited about that." Robertson is also hoping to continue the Band's reissue series; their 1968 debut Music From Big Pink arrived in an expanded format earlier this year.
Other confirmed new projects headed our way in 2019: John Garcia's And the Band of Gold; former Genesis co-founder Anthony Phillips' 3CD/1DVD box set Seventh Heaven with Andrew Skeet; Bob Mould's Sunshine Rock, Robin Trower's 10-disc Studio Albums 1973-1983 set; the Long Ryders' Psychedelic Country Soul; Claypool Lennon Delirium's South of Reality, Ian Hunter's four-disc set From the Knees of My Heart: The Albums 1979-1981; and Weezer's Black Album, among others.
At the same time, there are number of previously mentioned albums that fans continue to wait on. Who knows? Maybe next year we will see that untitled solo album from late Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, an expected reunion of former Motley Crue bandmates Mick Mars and John Corabi, Wolfgang Van Halen's long-rumored solo project, and / or the expanded reissue of Tom Petty's Wildflowers.