“Naked Tracks”, a series of play-along CD’s designed for aspiring guitarists is now available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Napster and other mp3 sites. In Vai’s own words, “this series of CD’s is designed for the jammers – those who crave playing their instruments along with a band, but don’t have the band to back them up.” The series consist of a mix of Vai’s songs without the lead guitar so guitar players or instrumentalists alike can play along with the track or make loops to jam to. Albums available as naked tracks include: Passion & Warfare, Sex and Religion, Fire Garden, Alive in the Ultra World and The Ultra Zone. For the most part, the tracks are presented in their original form with the lead guitar removed. In some cases, some solo sections have been looped to give an opportunity to stretch out. You can download the full albums as well as individual tracks (ex. Passion & Warfare’s tracks are $0.89 each or $7.99 for the full album at amazon.com).
“One way to play along with these tracks is to learn the original guitar parts that are on the album versions of the songs, but I would encourage you to take a more active role in using these tracks as a bed to lay your own creative interpretation over. There are really no rules. So sit back, flip on a naked track and dress it up with your own artistic musical apparel.”
For more information visit Steve Vai’s website here
Van Halen has announced new dates for all previously postponed shows on its 2008 North American tour. Seventeen concert dates on the Van Halen tour were rescheduled so that Eddie Van Halen, could continue medical tests to define a course for his treatment. 
As announced last November, Extreme is set to return in the spring of 2008 with their first album of all new material in 13 years. The band features original members Nuno Bettencourt, Gary Cherone, and Pat Badger, along with new drummer Kevin Figueiredo (Paul Geary, the band’s original drummer is now involved in the managerial side of the band). These are some of the highlights of Nuno’s latest update regarding the band:
On the 10th of December, EMI and Parlophone will be releasing a limited edition box set collection of all Radiohead’s albums from 1993 to 2003: “Pablo Honey”, “The Bends”, “OK Computer”, “Kid A”, “Amnesiac”, “Hail to the Thief”, plus the live album “I Might Be Wrong”. The box set can be ordered in the following formats: CD Box Set, Download Box Set and USB data stick. The CD box set will feature original artwork in exclusive digipack sleeves. The 4GB memory USB data stick (shaped in Radiohead’s iconic “bear” image and housed in a bespoke deluxe box) will include Radiohead’s entire back catalog at CD-quality WAV files and digital artwork. Also a digital bundle of all seven albums will be available on December 10, as DRM-free 320kbps mp3 files, containing digital artwork for each album.
The band