Over eighty artists have been pulled together to feature on an expansive compilation album featuring covers of Bob Dylan songs.

‘Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honouring Amnesty International’ is a four disc set comprising covers of Bob Dylan songs from a far-reaching and varied selection of artists.  Seventy of the tracks featured appear exclusively on this release.

The track listing is as follows:

CD1
Raphael Saadiq ‘Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat’
Patti Smith ‘Drifter’s Escape’
Rise Against ‘Ballad of Hollis Brown’
Tom Morello The Nightwatchman ‘Blind Willie McTell’
Pete Townshend ‘Corrina, Corrina’
Bettye LaVette ‘Most of the Time’
Charlie Winston ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’
Diana Krall ‘Simple Twist of Fate’
Brett Dennen ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’
Mariachi El Bronx ‘Love Sick’
Ziggy Marley ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’
The Gaslight Anthem ‘Changing of the Guards’
Silversun Pickups ‘Not Dark Yet’
My Morning Jacket ‘You’re A Big Girl Now’
The Airborne Toxic Event ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’
Sting ‘Girl from the North Country’
Mark Knopfler ‘Restless Farewell’

CD2
Queens Of The Stone Age ‘Outlaw Blues’
Lenny Kravitz ‘Rainy Day Woman # 12 & 35’
Steve Earle & Lucia Micarelli ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ (Valley Below)
Blake Mills ‘Heart Of Mine’
Miley Cyrus ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go’
Billy Bragg ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’
Elvis Costello ‘License to Kill’
Angelique Kidjo ‘Lay, Lady, Lay’
Natasha Bedingfield ‘Ring Them Bells’
Jackson Browne ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’
Joan Baez ‘Seven Curses’ (Live)
The Belle Brigade ‘No Time To Think’
Sugarland ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You’ (Live)
Jack’s Mannequin ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’
Oren Lavie ‘4th Time Around’
Sussan Deyhim ‘All I Really Want To Do’
Adele ‘Make You Feel My Love’ (Recorded Live at WXPN)

CD3
K’NAAN ‘With God On Our Side’
Ximena Sariñana ‘I Want You’
Neil Finn with Pajama Club ‘She Belongs to Me’
Bryan Ferry ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’
Zee Avi ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’
Carly Simon ‘Just Like a Woman’
Flogging Molly ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’
Fistful Of Mercy ‘Buckets Of Rain’
Joe Perry ‘Man Of Peace’
Bad Religion ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’
My Chemical Romance ‘Desolation Row’ (Live)
RedOne featuring Nabil Khayat ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’
Paul Rodgers & Nils Lofgren ‘Abandoned Love’
Darren Criss featuring Chuck Criss and Freelance Whales ‘New Morning’
Cage the Elephant ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’
Band of Skulls ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’
Sinéad O’Connor ‘Property of Jesus’
Ed Roland and The Sweet Tea Project ‘Shelter From The Storm’
Ke$ha ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’
Kronos Quartet ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’

CD4
Maroon 5 ‘I Shall Be Released’
Carolina Chocolate Drops ‘Political World’
Seal & Jeff Beck ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
Taj Mahal ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream’
Dierks Bentley ‘Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)’ (Live)
Mick Hucknall ‘One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)’
Thea Gilmore ‘I’ll Remember You’
State Radio ‘John Brown’
Dave Matthews Band ‘All Along the Watchtower’ (Live)
Michael Franti ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’
We Are Augustines ‘Mama, You Been On My Mind’
Lucinda Williams ‘Tryin’ To Get To Heaven’
Kris Kristofferson ‘Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)’
Eric Burdon ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’
Evan Rachel Wood ‘I’d Have You Anytime’
Marianne Faithfull ‘Baby Let Me Follow You Down’ (Live)
Pete Seeger ‘Forever Young’
Bob Dylan ‘Chimes Of Freedom’

All proceeds from the sales of the compilation will be donated  Amnesty International.  It is released on January 30th 2012.

Paul Weller has announced the release of his new studio album.

‘Sonik Kicks’ – Weller’s eleventh studio album – will be released in the UK on March 26th. The release will feature guest appearances from ex-Oasis man Noel Gallagher and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon.

Ahead of the album’s release, The Modfather will play two dates at London’s Roundhouse on March 18th and 19th, where he will premier the new album in full.

‘Sonik Kicks’ official tracklisting:

‘Green’
‘The Attic’
‘Kling I Klang’
‘Sleep Of The Serene’
‘By The Waters’
‘That Dangerous Age’
‘Study In Blue’
‘Dragonfly’
‘When Your Garden’s Overgrown’
‘Around The Lake’
‘Twilight’
‘Drifters’
‘Paperchase’
‘Be Happy Children’

The new video for Florence + The Machine’s new single ‘No Light, No Light’ has come under fire for potentially racist views.

The video depicts a man in black body paint practising voodoo – presumed evil, while Florence – presumably the good in the piece – suffers at the hands of the voodoo doll.

Various websites are now claiming the piece to be racist. It is unlikely this was Florence Welch’s intention, or the intention of the clip’s Icelandic directors Arni & Kinski.

Fans are naturally jumping to Welch’s defence, some with the argument that many of her key influences are black, so therefore she could not be racist.

Real Gone would like to play devil’s advocate here: not being racist isn’t as simple as that. Eric Clapton idolises dozens of blues legends. He even takes Buddy Guy on tour with him regularly. And yet, at a concert on August 6th 1976, he spouted what could be one of the most racist rants ever, worthy of an extreme right-wing political party. He has never apologised.

Below is the new Florence + The Machine video. Racist, misjudged or just overtly pretentious? You decide.

German melodic rock band Jaded Heart have signed a new contract with Fastball Music for the release of their next album.

Although no other details are known at this time about the band’s eleventh studio album, it is expected to appear sometime in May 2012.

The band’s three previous outings, ‘Helluva Time’ (2005), ‘Sinister Mind’ (2007) and 2010’s ‘Perfect Insanity’ were issued by Frontiers Records – Europe’s premier melodic rock label. The band’s earliest work released by the now-defunct MTM Records label is now out of print.

Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore is to work with Vince Clarke on a new project, marking the first time the pair have worked together since 1981. The new project is entitled VCMG and will release a new EP in December and a full-length album at some point during 2012. At this time, no further details are known about the album

Both Clarke and Gore were essential members of the early Depeche Mode. Clarke left the band in 1981 to persue other projects: quickly teaming up with Alison Moyet in the fairly short-lived Yazoo and releasing a one-off single with The Assembly, before forming Erasure with Andy Bell, with whom he would score a string of hit singles and albums.

Martin Gore, meanwhile was promoted to cheif songwriter with Depeche Mode. Under his leadership, the band moved away from synth pop into other rock/pop genres and achieve huge success.

Listen to a cool cover of Yazoo’s ‘Don’t Go’ in the widget on this page.

Watch a couple of clips from Clarke and Gore’s past below.