Billboard Bits: Ric Ocasek, Orgy, Iron Maiden

Former Cars leader Ric Ocasek will release his first solo album in eight years this fall. Due Sept. 27 on his own Inverse label via Sanctuary, “Nexterday” will include such tracks as “I’m Thinking,” “In a Little Bit” and “Don’t Lose Me.”

Ocasek’s last solo effort, 1997’s “Troublizing,” was co-produced by Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and featured contributions from Melissa Auf Der Maur and Bad Religion’s Brian Baker.

Late last year, the artist linked with Sanctuary after previously serving as a senior VP of A&R at Elektra.

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

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Modern rock act Orgy offers a behind-the-scenes look at its career on the DVD “Trans Global Spectacle,” due Aug. 23 via D1Music/DLC Records. The project features videos for “Stitches,” “Fiction (Dreams in Digital),” “Vague” and “Blue Monday,” plus live performances of the latter cut, “Gender” and “Dissention.”

Directed by Orgy drummer Bobby Hewitt, “Trans Global Spectacle” also includes four audio remixes of the group’s upcoming single, “Pure.” A new album is also in the works.

“This DVD was put together for the fans — the people who’ve stayed with us and supported us from the beginning and are still coming out to our shows after eight years,” Hewitt says. “We felt we owed it to them; it’s our way of saying thank you.”

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

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Songs spanning 25 years have been culled for “The Essential Iron Maiden,” a two-disc collection due July 12 via Sanctuary Records. All of the veteran heavy metal band’s studio and live albums, from 1980’s “Iron Maiden” through to 2003’s “Dance of Death,” will be represented, as will its many lineup incarnations.

The first disc leans on the more recent, opening with “Paschendale” from “Dance of Death” and continuing with “Rainmaker,” “The Wicker Man,” “Brave New World,” “Futureal,” “The Clansman,” “Sign of the Cross,” “Man on the Edge,” “Be Quick or Be Dead,” “Fear of the Dark” (live), “Holy Smoke,” “Bring Your Daughter…To the Slaughter” and “The Clairvoyant.”

The second disc reaches back further, starting with “The Evil That Men Do” from 1988’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” and racking up such band classics as “Wasted Years,” “Heaven Can Wait,” “2 Minutes To Midnight,” “Aces High,” “Flight Of Icarus,” “The Trooper,” “The Number of the Beast,” “Run to the Hills,” “Wrathchild,” “Killers,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Running Free” (live) and “Iron Maiden” (live).

As previously reported, Iron Maiden is co-headlining this summer’s 10th anniversary Ozzfest tour with Black Sabbath.

— Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.