Ashley Parker Angel
Photo: Scott Gries/ Getty Images

Opening musical acts are like the redheaded stepchildren of the music scene: neglected, underappreciated and designated as second-class citizens by many concertgoers.

Many fans skip the supporting act and show up for concerts right before the headliner hits the stage. But in many cases, they're missing out on seeing the "next big thing" before it's selling out arenas. Or at the very least they're missing out on discovering a great band that they might really enjoy.

This summer, many opening acts are just as good — if not better — than the bands they're supporting. And don't forget about the slew of festivals, where even more up-and-comers play before the sun goes down. Here are some worthy supporting acts you might want to head out early for:

Who: The Pink Spiders
Supporting: Vans Warped Tour
Where you might have heard them: The band's "Little Razorblade" has been rocking the airwaves, and the video premiered on "TRL" in April.
Why you should show up early: Named one of the 100 Bands You Need to Know in 2006 by Alternative Press magazine, the Pink Spiders play garage pop-rock infused with deliriously catchy hooks bound to get your head bobbing and your foot tapping. Don't be deceived by their pink outfits and oversized sunglasses: These guys know how to rock.

Who: Ashley Parker Angel
Supporting: Ashlee Simpson
Where you might have heard him:
A regular on the reality-TV circuit, Angel got his big break when he was chosen as a member of O-Town for "Making the Band." After the group disbanded, Angel's struggle to launch a solo career was documented in the MTV series "There and Back."
Why you should show up early: Angel has undergone a musical and physical makeover since his stint as O-Town's resident heartthrob. Not only has he grown out his blond locks and started sporting a more laid-back rock style, but his solo songs feature an edgier sound that proves he's more than just a pretty face. Ashlee fans might dig the other Ashley's honest, attitude-laced pop.

Who: Augustana
Supporting: The Fray
Where you might have heard them: Augustana have earned a spot in the regular rotation at many radio stations nationwide with the emotional track "Boston," and they've already hit the road opening for the Counting Crows and Goo Goo Dolls.
Why you should show up early: Only in their early 20s, the members of Augustana seem to draw from a well of life experience equivalent to that of people twice their age. The band might be on the fast track already, having also secured an opening spot for Snow Patrol in September.

Who: X-Clan
Supporting: Jurassic 5
Where you might have heard them: In the early '90s, X-Clan made a significant mark on the rap scene as a conscious hip-hop act in the vein of Public Enemy or Brand Nubian.
Why you should show up early: After breaking up almost a decade ago, the group was recently reunited by Brother J, and a new album is scheduled to drop this fall. Like headliners Jurassic 5, X-Clan are a hip-hop group that rejects the gangsta-rap persona, shuns commercialization and blends a positive message with their beats.

Who: Frank Black
Supporting: Foo Fighters
Where you might have heard him: Frank Black is regarded as an indie-rock icon owing to his turn as frontman for the Pixies, who everyone from Kurt Cobain to Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard have cited as an influence.
Why you should show up early: Black's solo music is much more subtle and toned-down than the Pixies' gritty blasts. But his engaging, mellow tunes are more fitting for the Foo Fighters' current tour, during which they're playing stripped-down, acoustic sets.

Who: Rogue Wave
Supporting: Guster and Ray LaMontagne
Where you might have heard them: Like seemingly every other just-under-the-radar indie band, Rogue Wave had a tune, "Publish My Love," that made it into an episode of "The O.C." that aired this past season.
Why you should show up early: Signed to Sub Pop, the mecca of indie labels, the band blends sing-song vocals with layers of pop-rock. They've been drawing comparisons to everyone from My Bloody Valentine to Neil Young.

Who: Norma Jean
Supporting: Ozzfest
Where you might have heard them: The "Headbangers Ball" darlings have toured incessantly over the last few years, opening for Atreyu and As I Lay Dying, and their 2005 album, O God, the Aftermath, reached #62 on the Billboard albums chart last year.
Why you should show up early: They may be a Christian band, but Norma Jean's music isn't for the gentle-hearted. With their thrashing guitars and guttural vocals, the music demands a mosh pit and gets it. In addition to high energy, they're known to bring elaborate light shows and smoke machines to the stage.

• Ashley Parker Angel
• Augustana
• Pink Spiders
• Rogue Wave
• Frank Black

Diddy
Photo: Brad Barket/Getty Images

Diddy's planning to drop his next — and last — solo album September 19, he told MTV Europe, and to make it special, he's recruited a lot of help, including Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera, Brandy, Busta Rhymes, Nas and Will.I.Am. "I'm taking from what I've learned from dance music, electro-clash, techno, hip-hop, soul and pop, and kind of fusing it together," Diddy said. "It's like everything in hip-hop is so hardcore with guns and problems and beef, and nobody is being romantic — not in a corny way, but just giving all of yourself. It's still going to have that gangsta vibe to it, but it's a musical journey. It's going to feel good." Diddy said the first single will be a club track. "We are going to bring a lot of high fashion, a lot of energy, a lot of sex, a lot of drugs, spirituality, good times," he explained. "We're going to have something for the kids, but it's really an adult thing. It's definitely pornographic, orgasmic, gangsta, to the point where your soul feels good. It's like a spiritual revolution. It's like being sanctified." And if that sounds like an odd combo, Diddy sums it up as "Little Richard-style for the ladies." ...

A Miami judge dismissed an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by an unidentified woman against Scott Stapp and Kid Rock on Wednesday, saying the woman cannot sue if she remains anonymous, according to The Associated Press. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Gerald Hubbart told the lawyer for the woman who appears in the infamous, but as yet unreleased, sex video featuring the two rockers that she could refile the suit in 20 days if she's willing to use her real name. ...

On Thursday morning (April 20), Pixies frontman Frank Black and his wife welcomed their fourth child, a girl named Lucy Berlin Thompson. Little Lucy weighed in at a shade under 8 pounds, 10 ounces and is apparently destined for superstardom: "She's gorgeous," Black said in a statement. "She's got lips like Angelina Jolie." ... Rancid have been floating under the radar since the 2003 release of their sixth album, Indestructible. But this summer, fans of the Tim Armstrong-led punks have something to look forward to. Rancid will release a yet-untitled DVD, featuring 31 videos shot between 1993 and 2003, in July, according to the band's official site. They're also planning a tour to coincide with the DVD's release. ...

A.F.I. will head out this spring with Dillinger Escape Plan and Nightmare of You. So far just a handful of dates have been firmed up: June 13 (Montreal), June 15 (Toronto), June 20 (Boston), June 22 (New York), June 24 (Philadelphia) and July 11 (Denver), with more to be announced in the coming weeks. A.F.I.'s forthcoming LP, Decemberunderground, is set for June 6. ... There's a new Coheed and Cambria video for the song "The Willing Well: IV - The Final Cut," but it's not something anyone will likely ever see. Frontman Claudio Sanchez and his girlfriend recently shot the super-low-budget clip, which depicts an unfaithful woman being tortured and murdered by her chainsaw-wielding boyfriend. "We did all the makeup ourselves with a bunch of clay and fake blood, and it looks really good," Sanchez said. "We had a great time doing it and we thought there was nothing wrong with it. Then we saw a movie that was kind of in the same vein and we were like, 'Man, this is kind of f---ed up.' " Although drummer Joshua Eppard said the video is his favorite the band has ever made, Coheed's label and management have advised the group not to release the video in any form. ...

Ex-Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5 has quit his new band Loser in order to spend more time on the road as Rob Zombie's guitar player. "I've been juggling two careers for over one year now," John 5 said in a statement. "I found it impossible to be in two places at once." As a result, Loser, whose debut album, Just Like Us, was slated for release June 6, was dropped by their label. ... The long-awaited return of crackly indie rockers Sparklehorse appears to be on the horizon. According to a post on their official Web site, the follow-up to 2001's It's a Wonderful Life is complete with a tentative release date of September. Though (as usual) the record was mostly recorded by brain trust Mark Linkous in his Static King studio, collaborations on the record include Danger Mouse (who also handled some mixing chores), the Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd, producer Dave Fridmann and ambient electronic artist Christian Fennesz, as well as frequent associates Scott Minor, John Hott and Sophie Michalitsianos. The still-untitled fourth album will also include an unreleased Wonderful Life track that features Tom Waits on piano. ...

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are hitting the road, and they're bringing some friends along for the ride. Pearl Jam and former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will join the band on select dates of the Highway Companions Tour, which kicks off June 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Petty & the Heartbreakers will also provide the opening music for the NBA Playoffs and Finals broadcasts on ABC Sports and the Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN. Classics "Runnin' Down a Dream," "I Won't Back Down," "Learning to Fly," "Makin' Some Noise" and "You Wreck Me" will be played over highlights and other coverage. Two new songs, "Saving Grace" and "Big Weekend," from Petty's upcoming summer release, Highway Companion, will also be used. ABC Sports coverage of the NBA playoffs begins Saturday at 3 p.m. ... After singing in her movie "Prey for Rock & Roll," Gina Gershon is putting out an album of her own, but don't expect her to be a rocker chick. "I'm doing weird music right now," she said. "It's kind of swampy country blues. It's totally different. It's weird; it's funky. But we'll see. You think it'll sound one way, and then it'll sound like something else." Gershon said she starts recording next month in Nashville and then she'll put a band together. ...

Scruffy Canadian rocker Sam Roberts has put the finishing touches on his second album. Due May 16, Chemical City was recorded at a church in Australia and is the follow-up to We Were Born in a Flame, which scored a Juno Award (Canada's Grammy equivalent). Roberts and his band will tour this spring in support of fellow Montrealers the Stills. ... Lifehouse, Everclear and Vanessa Carlton will perform at A Concert for Lili Claire, a benefit being held May 6 at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Events Center. All proceeds raised through ticket sales will be earmarked for the Lili Claire Foundation's Family Resource Center, for the creation of programs designed for individuals and families living with Williams syndrome, Down syndrome, autism and other neurogenetic disorders. Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza on the long-running sitcom "Seinfeld," will host the event.

04.19.06

Nick Lachey opens up about the dissolution of his marriage to Jessica Simpson in the next issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands Friday. There's no easy explanation for the breakup, he says, adding that he doesn't blame "Newlyweds," the interference of his father-in-law, Joe Simpson, or even Jessica's alleged infidelities. "We just didn't work," Lachey said. "I don't know if we would have worked if we'd been soybean farmers in Iowa. ... I don't know if there were other men. But if she did cheat, it was the result of something bigger, not the reason we didn't work." Lachey said that he and Jessica never discussed the cheating allegations (he chose to trust her), but sometimes he wishes he'd caught her in the act, just so he'd know for sure. "That would be clear-cut. End of story." Lachey revealed that he tried to convince Jessica to try marriage counseling when she asked for a divorce, "But she didn't want to go." Lachey also said that he's opted not to pursue spousal support, though he legally reserved that right in February. ...

Twenty of the more than 100 original ringtones that will be available as Pepsi Cool Tones on Motorola phones this summer will be written and produced by Mariah Carey. "I had a lot of fun with this project," Carey said. "It was a great creative outlet because musically I could do things here that I would never think to do for one of my albums." Carey will also star in a Pepsi ad directed by Paul Hunter, due to air in May, and will kick off her summer tour in July with a Pepsi Smash concert at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Speaking of Carey commercials, Mariah is also selling the Escada dress she wore in her Intel Centrino Duo commercial. The auction, to benefit VH1's Save the Music Foundation, runs through May 3 at VH1Auctions.com. And Carey fans who want to benefit themselves can enter to win a specially designed — it's got butterflies — Intel Centrino laptop autographed by Mariah at CentrinoContest.Intel.com. ...

Want LL Cool J's body? The rapper/actor wants to show you how to get one just like it, via a fitness book he's planning to co-write with his trainer, Dave Honig. They've just inked a deal (along with writer Jeff O'Connell) to create "LL Cool J's Platinum Body," which will describe an accessible fitness program with four levels of increasing intensity. Rodale plans to publish the book in January 2007. ... Paris Hilton has just signed a deal to develop and market sunglasses, in addition to her other accessories ventures of watches, handbags, small leather goods, cosmetics and fragrances. Hilton has also expanded her watch line to be distributed throughout Europe (excluding Russia) and is working on a third fragrance as well. ... Fresh off her opening slot on the Coldplay tour, Fiona Apple is hitting the road for a headlining trek of her own. Kicking off June 20 in Phoenix, the 34-date tour will run throughout the summer, wrapping up August 10 in Cleveland. Openers will include Damien Rice and David Garza. In addition to the tour, Apple will play two May shows, in Florida and South Carolina, plus a July 26 performance as part of New York's Central Park Summerstage concert series. ...

Velvet Revolver's Scott Weiland and Duff McKagan will be taking a break from recording the band's second LP to act as guest judges on USA's "Nashville Star" Tuesday, according to the band's publicist. The episode will also feature a performance by Hank Williams Jr. ... (ONe), the forthcoming debut from former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro's new band, the Panic Channel, will be in stores September 12. "If there was a channel that showed nothing but hysteria and panic, it would be the highest-rated channel on TV," Navarro said. "We like to think of creating music as a way to channel the panic into something tangible." The group also features drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Chris Chaney, both former Jane's members. On May 16, the day the band will launch its first-ever tour in San Diego, a two-song digital-only release will be made available, including the tracks "Why Cry" and "Tea House of the Spirits." ... California metallers Bad Acid Trip have been added to the second stage for this summer's Ozzfest. The band, which has toured with System of a Down, released their debut, Lynch the Weirdo, on System frontman Serj Tankian's Serjical Strike label in 2004; the album was produced by System guitarist Daron Malakian. This year's Ozzfest begins June 29 in Auburn, Washington, and will run through August 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. System of a Down, Disturbed, and Hatebreed are among the bands lined up for the tour, which also includes Ozzy Osbourne for 10 dates. ...

Taking Back Sunday and Angels & Airwaves will hit the road together this summer on a North American tour. While details are sketchy, a spokesperson for TBS' label, Warner Bros., said the trek will kick off June 22 in Jackson, New Jersey, and that dance-minded rockers Head Automatica have been tapped to open. ... Seether will release a live acoustic album called One Cold Night on July 11. The collection, recorded at Philadelphia's Grape Street on February 22, will also include a DVD. Meanwhile, Seether just shot a video for "The Gift" in Oaxaca, Mexico, with director Meiert Avis. ... Alanis Morissette will reprise her role in the play "The Exonerated" for a week in London from May 23 to 28. Morissette first starred in the off-Broadway production in 2003 as Sunny Jacobs, a hippie who spent 16 years on death row after being framed for the murder of two policemen in the mid-1970s. ...

Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss will be among the first inductees in the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, according to the official Kiss Web site. The museum will honor artists or groups that were either born in Long Island, New York, or resided there for a significant portion of their career. Billy Joel, the Ramones, Neil Diamond, Louie Armstrong, Twisted Sister and Tony Bennett will also be honored by the fledgling hall. In related news, Kiss have teamed up with Gemini Cosmetics, Inc. to develop a line of his-and-her Kiss fragrances that will hit stores in September. "Like Kiss, these fragrances make no apologies for embodying an attitude that is unrepentedly sexy, aggressive and incredibly unique," Stanley said in a press release. Simmons explained that the fragrances, the latest in an ever-growing line of Kiss-related products that even includes coffins, "have the smell of success for us ... and for all the men and women who will wear it. These fragrances hit all the right notes and will top the charts in no time."

[This story was originally published at 1:05 pm E.T. on 04.19.2006]

• Diddy
• Mary J. Blige
• Pearl Jam
• Nas
• Frank Black

The Pixies in "loudQUIETloud: A Film About Pixies"
Photo: Stick Figure Productions

They were ugly, beautiful, and then ugly all over again. They were obscure, influential, and then once again obscure. They were the Pixies and — thanks to a new documentary premiering this week at the South by Southwest Film Festival — they're being immortalized as one of the great contradictions in modern music.

"The film is called 'loudQUIETloud,' and that's kind of what it was," director Steven Cantor recently said. "The Pixies had a reunion tour in 2004, and we followed them around the whole tour, and they are four very remarkable people. Very different people from each other, in wildly different phases of their lives. Onstage there was this incredible camaraderie and chemistry, and they sounded fantastic.

"And offstage," he added, grinning, "they don't really talk to each other that much."

If you're unfamiliar with the names Charles Thompson, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering ... well ... you're probably in the majority. The Pixies hardly broke any sales records during their original 1986-1993 run, their music videos were rarely seen by anyone but insomniacs, and you'd be hard-pressed to find "Monkey Gone to Heaven" available at your next karaoke party. Reminiscent of other ahead-of-their-time acts like the Velvet Underground or Big Star, however, the people who did buy their albums went out and started up their own bands, and proceeded to rip them off with the greatest of reverence.

"I'm a huge Pixies fan," Cantor insisted, listing himself among a group of creatively minded admirers ranging from Modest Mouse to Queens of the Stone Age. "I heard they were getting back together, and my [co-director Matthew Galkin] and I were on the phone trying to get tickets. We were on the phone and were like, 'Wait, we gotta make this movie.'

"We called their manager and he was like, 'Yeah, there were 17 other people who sent in their proposals,' " the director sighed.

If you remember a band named Nirvana who built upon the "loud chorus/quiet verse/loud chorus" aesthetic with minor hits like "Smells Like Teen Spirit," then you know the Pixies. If you remember the key moment at the end of "Fight Club" when Edward Norton says, "You've met me at a very strange time in my life" while watching all of society collapsing around him, then you know the Pixies and their song "Where Is My Mind?" Indeed, if you've ever a heard a soft intro give way to a thunderous chorus in the last two decades, you've been touched by that band you've never heard of.

"I don't think documentaries should necessarily have a visual style that you impose on a subject," Cantor said of the simple stare of his camera's lens. "You just think about what the subject is going to be, and then come up with a style and look that will suit that topic."

For this particular project, that subject was the bandmembers' none-too-subtle disdain for each other, manifesting itself in a collection of love/hate moments that bring a double-meaning to the film's title. After their differences tore them apart in the early '90s, their solo projects were constantly met with questions about whether they'd ever reunite. When they finally did, Cantor and Galkin were there to capture the ugliness, the beauty and the noise that made them as contradictory as ever.

"Onstage, there was like this electric chemistry and fans going crazy and telling them 'Kim Deal is God' and 'Charles, I wanna have your babies,' " he said, referring to some of the footage that fuels the film. "They're just these rock gods. And offstage, and behind the scenes, they're very regular people just living their lives, each with their own struggles."

"There was pretty crazy tension," he continued. "Kim was trying to stay sober through the whole tour; she had insisted that it be a dry tour. Dave the drummer's father died, and that kind of made him go off the rocks and start drinking ... so that created some tension."

"Charles, Frank Black, the lead singer, he was kinda into his girlfriend, soon-to-be wife, who's pregnant now with their second baby, and Joey was doing a documentary," Cantor shook his head. "Not really in sync offstage, but amazing together."

Some things never change, and other things — like the Pixies' music — are better off that way. "There's no new stuff," Cantor said of classics like "Here Comes Your Man" and "Gouge Away" performed in the film. "It's all old stuff. They don't have a new album or anything."

After South by Southwest in Austin, the film is aiming for a major release that might help polish up the legacy of a band that history has largely forgotten. The music in "loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies" is anything but steady; the love of their loyal fans, however, remains loud-loud-loud.

Visit Movies on MTV.com for more from Hollywood, including news, interviews, trailers and more.

• "LoudQUIETloud: A Film About Pixies" Photos

• The Pixies
• Frank Black

The Pixies (file)
Photo: Chapman Baehler

After the San Diego Street Scene on Saturday, the Newport Folk Festival next weekend and a European tour in August, the Pixies will call an end to their triumphant reunion — and that could be a good thing for fans.

"We gotta do something else if we're going to go out there and continue to make money," singer/guitarist Frank Black explained recently. "I mean, we could keep doing it the way we're doing it, but it might ... at some point, we'll be overstaying our welcome, so to speak, as the reunited band. We have to either stop being reunited and go back to our lives or do something vital and relevant."

That something could very well be the first Pixies studio album in 14 years. Fans have speculated about the possibility of another album since the band first reunited last spring, but the Pixies have avoided the subject in interviews and seemingly with each other (see "New Pixies LP Unlikely, But Another New Track's On The Way").

But, "as the high-paying gigs get fewer and fewer, yes, we're getting closer," joked Black, who was known as Black Francis during the Pixies' initial tenure. "We haven't thought about it too much. I'm sure we'd make a fine record, we just haven't done it yet."

The recording sessions would not come immediately, however, as bassist Kim Deal is making another reunion album of sorts, with the Breeders, and Black is hoping to tour behind his just-released solo album, Honeycomb (see "Frank Black Covers Elvis, Duets With Ex-Wife On Dylanesque Album").

Black is also putting the finishing touches on another solo album he recorded in October, tentatively titled The Sicilian.

"I guess there's a Mario Puzo ['The Godfather'] book called 'The Sicilian,' so I don't know, I can't decide if I should continue to call it that," Black said.

The Pixies singer wrote some of the songs with Reid Paley, who co-authored the Honeycomb tune "Another Velvet Nightmare," although Black said the follow-up is quite different.

"I did a song that's musically based on some famous classical music," Black said. "So that has a sophisticated, kind of Leonard Cohen vibe. I don't know. The record hasn't officially been declared finished. We're just not in a rush."

As for this summer's Pixies tour, the band has added some different tunes to its set, including "Stormy Weather," but otherwise, not much has changed.

"It sort of feels like the same summer," Black said. "I have to keep reminding myself it's a different summer."

For an in-depth interview with Black, check out the feature "The Pixies: Living Large."

• The Pixies
• Frank Black

<i>Jermaine Dupri Presents ... Young Fly and Flashy, Vol. 1</i>
Photo: Virgin Records

Having blessed the careers of artists like Usher and Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri has shifted his focus toward a group of Southern up-n-comers with the compilation Jermaine Dupri Presents ... Young, Fly & Flashy Vol. 1.

Artists on Dupri's So So Def imprint — which was added to the Virgin Records family earlier this year — like Young Capone, T. Waters and Kid Slim get some room to shine alongside Southern hip-hop vets J-Kwon, Stat Quo, Pastor Troy and Bun B. Dupri highlights his own artistic talent on the collection as well, as his "Gotta Getcha," which he co-wrote with Missy Elliott, is the lead single.

Also hitting stores this week is the self-titled debut from Atlanta band of brothers B5, a group nurtured and heavily backed by another artist/producer with his own label: P. Diddy.

Out Tuesday, July 19:

• B5 - B5 (Bad Boy/ Atlantic)
  Buy Now: B5 (Bad Boy/ Atlantic)
  
• Frank Black - Honeycomb (Back Porch/ EMI)
  Buy Now: Honeycomb (Back Porch/ EMI)
  Read: "Frank Black Covers Elvis, Duets With Ex-Wife On Dylanesque Album"
• Fieldwork - Simulated Progress (Pi)
• Ilona Knopfler - Live the Life (Mack Avenue)
• Marjorie Fair - Self Help Serenade (Capitol)
  Buy Now: Self Help Serenade (Capitol)
  
• Mediæval Baebes - Mirabilis (Nettwerk)
• The Muggs - The Muggs (Times Beach)
• Obituary - Frozen in Time (Roadrunner)
  Buy Now: Frozen in Time (Roadrunner)
  
• Bucky Pizzarelli and Frank Vignola - Moonglow (Hyena)
• Bobby Purify - Better to Have It (Proper American)
• Carly Simon - Moonlight Serenade (Columbia)
• Kenny & Amanda Smith Band - Always Never Enough (Rebel)
• Soilent Green - Confrontation (Relapse)
• Superlow - Going Out Heavy (Barebonz Entertainment)
• Thousand Foot Krutch -- The Art of Breaking (Tooth & Nail)
• Tiger! Tiger! - Collisions (Chicken Ranch)
• Erik Truffaz - Saloua (Blue Note)
• Uncle Earl - She Waits for Night (Rounder)
• Waltham - Waltham (Rykodisc)
  Buy Now: Waltham (Rykodisc)
  
• Various artists - Always: A Millennium Tribute to Bon Jovi (Versailles)
• Various artists - Jermaine Dupri Presents: Young, Fly & Flashy Vol. 1 (Virgin)
  Buy Now: Jermaine Dupri Presents: Young, Fly & Flashy Vol. 1 (Virgin)
  
• Various artists - Now That's What I Call Music! 19 (Capitol)
• Various artists - NYC Subway - Songs From the Underground (Headset Productions)
• Various artists - "Maestro" soundtrack (Sanctuary)
• Various artists -- "The Dukes of Hazzard" soundtrack (Columbia)
• DVD: Green Day - "The History of Green Day" (Locomotive)
• DVD: Ludacris - "The Red Light District" (Def Jam)
• DVD: Metallica - "The History of Metallica" (Locomotive)

July 26:

• Babyface - Grown & Sexy (Arista)
  Buy Now: Grown & Sexy (Arista)
  
• Jason Mraz - Mr. A-Z (Atlantic)
  Buy Now: Mr. A-Z (Atlantic)
  Read: "Jason Mraz Turns His Tongue-Tripping Surname Into An Asset For Next LP"

August 2:

• Faith Hill - Fireflies (Warner Bros.)
  Buy Now: Fireflies (Warner Bros.)
  
• Michael Penn - Mr. Hollywood, Jr. 1947 (spinART)
  Read: "Free At Last, Michael Penn Attempts A Comeback With Mr. Hollywood Jr."

August 9:

• Hootie & the Blowfish - Looking for Lucky (Vanguard)
  Buy Now: Looking for Lucky (Vanguard)
  
• Staind - Chapter V (Elektra)
  Buy Now: Chapter V (Elektra)
  Read: "Staind Guitarist Has That Old Familiar Feeling About Chapter V"

• Jermaine Dupri
• B5
• Frank Black

Frank Black (file)
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Charles Thompson was barely 1 year old when Bob Dylan released 1966's classic, genre-blending Blonde on Blonde, yet the double album eventually had a profound effect on the man who later founded the Pixies (under the name Black Francis).

"It just stuck with me, and for years," said the singer, now known as Frank Black. "I always wanted to do my own sort of version, Black on Blonde."

More than a decade ago, Black mentioned this idea to producer Jon Tiven, whose diverse credits include Robert Plant and B.B. King, and the two decided to make it happen as soon as it fit into their schedules. Ten years later, Black was finally ready.

"The Catholics had just come off an exhausting tour — actually several of them — and seemed to be pretty much done," Black said of his post-Pixies band. "There was nothing going on with Pixies, and I'd just gotten divorced and moved to this new city [Portland, Oregon], so it finally seemed the time to do this thing."

As fate would have it, though, Black learned hours later that plans for a Pixies reunion were in the works. Both projects started coming together, and by the time they were in place, Black had only four days to record with Tiven. Fortunately, the session players the producer lined up work fast.

"It actually made it cool," Black said. "It was like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna knock out a record in Nashville for a few days before I head out on my world tour.' It was very Dylan."

To play on the album, Tiven put together a who's who of veteran session musicians that included Steve Cropper, Spooner Oldham, Buddy Miller and David Hood, who among them had recorded with some of the biggest artists in country, R&B and rock, from Otis Redding to Elvis Presley.

"I don't think they really knew my stuff, but it didn't really matter," Black said. "I would show them the basics, and they would catch on so quickly it was literally one or two takes for every track."

While those musicians were unlikely collaborators for Black, the singer topped them with the special guest he brought in to duet on "Strange Goodbye": his ex-wife, Jean.

"I suppose it's just kind of my joke on the album," Black said. "Everybody else, all of our friends, were always so uncomfortable about it, so I thought I would throw this at them."

Along with recording several of Black's compositions, some of which he wrote years ago, the band also logged a few covers, including "Song of the Shrimp," which Elvis performed in the movie "Girls! Girls! Girls!," and "Dark End of the Street," made famous by Percy Sledge.

None of the tracks sound anything like Black's previous work. It's more like a mixtape for a peaceful hike, heavy with alt-country and Van Morrison-like light rock. An updated Blonde on Blonde is about accurate.

In the end, however, Black chose not to call it Black on Blonde because "it was a little too campy." Instead, he borrowed the title of the one of the tracks, "Honeycomb." "It was just a cool word that sounded singer/songwritery, but not too wimpy," he said.

Black is currently trying to line up the same musicians for a tour to promote the album, due July 19. "I'm not sure how much demand there is, though," he said. "[It's] certainly not like the Pixies."

Black is hitting the road with that band, too, for about a month beginning May 26 in Portland. Although he's the one who originally broke up the band years ago, he thoroughly enjoyed the comeback tour, one of the most successful treks of last year.

"I forgot how good it feels to be with these guys, not just onstage, but offstage," he said. "We have the same sort of sense of humor and all that. And we're being rewarded financially for something we did 20 years ago, and I'm not embarrassed by that. Isn't that what art is about? Being recognized?"

When asked if the Pixies plan to record new material, Black promptly answered, "We're a reunion band. People want to hear the old stuff."

Later, however, he said, "We'll record eventually. It's just easy not to do when promoters are calling every day with crazy money trying to book shows."

• Frank Black
• The Pixies

Hilary Duff (file)
Photo: Hollywood Records

Hilary Duff will perform at President Bush's inauguration ceremony on January 20, according to a spokesperson for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. JoJo is also on the bill. ...

On Friday, Jay-Z walked through the doors of his 40/40 club in New York like it was any other night with his friend Just Blaze when the beatmaker was greeted with a roar of "Surprise!" When invites to the "Star Wars"-themed birthday party went out early last week, guests were told to wear all black and that they were going to be given Darth Vader masks to put on at the club. ... An online petition has been created to get shoemaking giant Adidas to manufacture the "Zissou" sneaker worn by Bill Murray and crew in Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou." The kicks were custom-made just for the flick and, according to an Adidas spokesperson, there are no plans to manufacture the yellow-and-blue shoes at all. Another site, though, shows how you can make your own "Zissou" sneaker, based on the rare 1960 Adidas "ROM" shoe, from reissued "ROM Classics." ...

Pixies frontman Frank Black has become a father for the first time. On January 7, Black welcomed 7-pound, 9-ounce Jack Errol Thompson into the world. For a man who has switched his own name from Black Francis to Frank Black and was born with the handle Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, Black's choice of a name for little Jack was kind of a letdown. Perhaps "Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson V" seemed a bit too haughty. And "Black Jack Errol Thompson" does kind of sound like a pirate name. ... A former girlfriend of Kiss' Gene Simmons has sued the long-tongued rocker for slander, claiming he made her appear to be a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac" in a VH1 rockumentary, "When Kiss Ruled the World." According to The Associated Press, Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, says that her picture appeared 11 times during the 2004 special in which Simmons claimed that he bedded more than 4,600 women. Walsh dated Simmons for three years pre-Kiss, when he was a college student and sixth-grade teacher, and she claims the show portrayed her as "wild" and "unchaste," with the implication that she was "a prostitute and/or solicited prostitutes." ...

Carmen Electra will host Spike TV's AutoRox, the first-ever nationally televised auto awards show. Kid Rock will perform at the 90-minute ceremony, which will be taped January 22 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, and broadcast January 25 at 9 p.m. ET. ... Like his wife, Gwen Stefani, who made a brief appearance in "The Aviator," Gavin Rossdale is making his film debut. The singer plays a character named Balthazar in the upcoming Keanu Reeves film "Constantine." ...

Raphael Saadiq has announced plans to compile the best unused tracks from his recording sessions as a producer into an album for release this summer. Some of the artists he hopes to include on the compilation are TLC, Mos Def, Angie Stone, Ginuwine, Erykah Badu and Kelis. ... The title of the Geto Boys reunion album, due out January 25, has been changed from War & Peace to The Foundation. ... A Tribe Called Quest frontman Q-Tip has signed with Universal/ Motown. He is currently in the studio working on his new solo album. ...

In sad news for record-store clerks the world over, this weekend brought news of not one, but two indie-rock breakups. Management for Montreal's bizarro-pop trio the Unicorns confirmed that the group has called it quits after almost two years of constant touring in support of its album, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? And Andy Falkous, frontman for ragged Welsh rockers Mclusky, has confirmed rumors that his band has split. In a statement, Falkous writes, "The three-piece rock band known as Mclusky have disbanded. The reason for this parting is private, though probably not as entertaining as you'd imagine." The band's final album, The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire, was released last year. ...

The first batch of dates on Papa Roach's February headlining tour has been announced. P-Roach have proclaimed that the goal of this trip is to play "smaller venues," hence the first date, February 17 at Seattle's Showbox Theatre. The other confirmed dates are February 21 in Portland, Oregon; February 22 in Eugene, Oregon; February 24 in Bakersfield, California; February 25 in San Luis Obispo, California; and February 26 in Reno, Nevada. The F-ups and Skindred will open the shows. ... The Music will kick off a monthlong club tour February 17 in New York, wrapping up March 17 in Dallas. The U.K. foursome are touring on the strength of their second album, Welcome to the North, released in mid-October. ...

01.07.2005

After seven years together, including four and a half years of marriage, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are separating. "For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media," Pitt and Aniston said in a joint statement published on People magazine's Web site Friday (January 7). "This decision is a result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another. We ask in advance for your kindness and sensitivity in the coming months." ... Smells like twin spirit — Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are launching two fragrances, Coast to Coast NY (which will have a citrus scent) and Coast to Coast LA (which will have a more floral, tropical scent). The perfumes will be sold in mass-market drug chains, department stores and Wal-Mart starting in March. ...

Nelly recently donated $50,000 to the Martin Luther King Memorial Project Foundation. According to The St. Louis American, the donation will help build a memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C., in honor of Dr. King. "I think anytime you can be in conjunction with a great man such as Dr. King, it's only right," Nelly told the paper. The memorial will cost almost $100 million to build and maintain, and organizers say they have already raised $65 million. The foundation has until 2006 to collect the additional money. ...

On March 5, Usher will stage a 90-minute live show filmed in HDTV called "One Night One Star Usher Live" from San Juan's Coliseo de Puerto Rico. The concert will air on Showtime, smack in the middle of the channel's free-preview weekend, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. ... This year's Grammy nominees will not only find themselves sweating it out together at the actual ceremony, but they'll also be grouped on a CD compilation. The 21-track Grammy Nominees 2005, due in stores February 1, includes songs by Usher, U2, Alicia Keys, Beastie Boys, Prince, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West and Evanescence, and will benefit music-related charities such as the recording academy's MusiCares Foundation and the Grammy Foundation. ...

Cuban Link's upcoming Chain Reaction, due March 8, will feature appearances from Jadakiss, the Game and Peedi Crakk. Mya sings on the former Terror Squad rapper's first single, "Sugardaddy." ... Dirtbag Clothing has announced it will move forward with plans to launch Dimebag Hardware, the clothing line inspired by the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. The Dimebag Hardware line will consist of T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, shorts and work shirts with "a metal edge," according to a statement released Friday by the company. The line will debut at the NAMM music convention in Anaheim, California, on January 20, and will be available online at dimebaghardware.com and dirtbagclothing.com, as well as at guitar shops and boutiques across the U.S. and Europe. ...

Norah Jones will headline the Air J Jazz and Blues Festival, scheduled for January 27-29 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Other artists on the bill include Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack and Jimmy Cliff. ... Danny Sugerman, former manager of the Doors and co-author of "No One Here Gets Out Alive," the definitive bio of the Jim Morrison-led band, died in Los Angeles on Thursday from lung cancer. Sugarman, 50, started as an assistant to the band when he was 14 and went on to become their manager following Morrison's 1971 death. He also acted as a consultant on Oliver Stone's 1991 movie "The Doors." ...

Five months after "Peace Train" singer Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) was detained and deported by U.S. authorities, who said he was on a no-fly list, the singer is still barred from entering the country. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said Thursday that the singer remains on the list because "the reasons we rejected him several months ago still exist in my mind." Peace activist Islam was barred from the U.S. at the time because of what the government said were his alleged ties to terrorist organizations, a claim the singer has denied. ... Paul McCartney, Sting and the surviving members of Queen are among the artists collaborating on 46664: 1 Year On, an EP to raise money for Nelson Mandela's 46664 organization, which combats the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa (46664 was Mandela's prisoner number when he was incarcerated on South Africa's Robben Island). The EP, which is available for download from the iTunes music store, features collaborations from McCartney and Eurythmics' David A. Stewart, Sting and Jimmy Cliff, and Queen and Mandela himself. ...

Swedish psychedelic garage rockers The Soundtrack of Our Lives will follow up their 2002 album, Behind the Music, with Origin Vol. 1, due March 15. The group will kick off a brief club tour January 15 in Boston that ends January 26 in Los Angeles, and will appear at Austin, Texas' South by Southwest Music Conference in March. ... The Slamdance Film Festival, the annual, unofficial fest that coincides with the Sundance Film Festival, will feature performances from former Soul Coughing singer Mike Doughty, producer/rapper Prince Paul and Parliament/ Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell. Also playing at the fest in Park City, Utah — taking place January 21-28 — will be Apex Theory, guitarist Elliott Sharp and Spearhead frontman Michael Franti, whose documentary about his search for humanity in war zones in Iraq and Israel, "I Know I Am Not Alone," will close the event. ...

Thomas Slattery digs iTunes, he just doesn't like the fact that the only device the site works with is Apple's own iPod. So he sued the company in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, on Monday, alleging that the company broke antitrust laws by shutting out its competitors. An Apple spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment. ...

• Hilary Duff
• Jay-Z
• Frank Black
• Kid Rock
• Raphael Saadiq

Sum 41 (file)
Photo: Christopher Wahl

This week Sum 41 attempt to immortalize a man who saved their lives. The pop-punk foursome's new album, Chuck, is named for U.N. peacekeeper Chuck Pelletier, who escorted the band out of danger in the Congo.

A merging of the pop sounds of their debut and the harder tones of 2002's Does This Look Infected?, Chuck shows some maturation with the track "We're All to Blame," which was inspired by the band's experience in the Congo.

Mos Def has been making politically and socially charged tracks for years, but it's been five years since he released his last album, Black on Both Sides. New Danger is the rapper's third studio album since he released his debut in 1998.

Duran Duran's last release, 2000's Pop Trash, was hailed by some critics as just that, so four years later, the group hired super-producer Dallas Austin, who said he helped the band get back their beloved '80s sound for Astronaut.

No Doubt are all about giving fans what they want — and some of the stuff they didn't even know they wanted, like B-sides, rarities and remixes. That's what they'll find on Everything in Time, previously only available as part of the band's out-of-print box set, Boom Box.

Also out this week are albums by "Band on the Run" winners Flickerstick (Tarantula); Camper Van Beethoven, who release their first album of original material since 1998; Montreal's the Dears (No Cities Left); L.A. dance-rockers Moving Units (Dangerous Dreams); San Diego quirk-pop experimentalists Pinback (Summer in Abbadon); and indie-pop/ bossa nova outfit A.M. Sixty (Big as the Sky).

Sliding down the record store chimneys as well is the first wave of Christmas albums. Artists who are getting into the holiday spirit early include Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (Everything You Want for Christmas), Chris Isaak (Chris Isaak Christmas) and LeAnn Rimes (What a Wonderful World).

Out Tuesday, October 12:

• A.M. Sixty - Big as the Sky (V2)
• American Music Club - Love Songs for Patriots (Merge)
• Joseph Arthur - Our Shadows Will Remain (Vector)
• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Everything You Want for Christmas (Vanguard)
• Frank Black - Frank Black Francis (spinART)
  Read: "New Pixies LP Unlikely, But Another New Track's On The Way"
• Blood Brothers - Crimes (V2)
• Richard Buckner - Dents and Shells (Merge)
• Busted - Busted (Universal)
• Camper Van Beethoven - New Roman Times (Vanguard)
• Barbara Cue - Rhythm Oil (Sanctuary)
• Dears - No Cities Left (spinART)
• Denver Harbor - Scenic (Universal)
• Celine Dion - Miracle (Epic)
• Duran Duran - Astronaut (Epic)
• Entrance - Wandering Stranger (Fat Possum)
• Flickerstick - Tarantula (Idol)
• From Satellite - When All Is Said and Done (Universal)
• Gold Chains and Sue Cie - When the World Was Our Friend (Kill Rock Stars)
• Holly Golightly - Slowly But Surely (Damaged Goods)
• Amy Grant - Greatest Hits 1986-2004 (A&M Records)
• Hidden Cameras - Mississauga, Goddam (Sanctuary/Rough Trade)
• Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra - Thought Trains (Sons of Sound)
• The Ike Reilly Assassination - Sparkle in the Finish (Rock Ridge)
• Chris Isaak - Chris Isaak Christmas (Reprise)
• Jimmy D. Lane with Double Trouble - It's Time (APO)
• Adam Marsland - You Don't Know Me (Karma Frog)
• Mos Def - The New Danger (Geffen)
• The Mothers Anger - Mothers Anger (Dionysus)
• Moving Units - Dangerous Dreams (RX/Palm)
• Ali Shaheed Muhammad - Shaheedullah and Stereotypes (Penalty/Ryko)
• No Doubt - Everything in Time (Interscope)
  Buy Now: Everything in Time (Interscope)
• Pain of Salvation - Be (Inside Out U.S.)
• Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer (Relapse)
• Pinback - Summer in Abbadon (Touch and Go)
• Point of Grace - I Choose You (Touch and Go)
• Recover - This May Be the Year I Disappear (Universal)
• LeAnn Rimes - What a Wonderful World (Curb)
• Joe Sample - Soul Shadows (Verve)
• Dr. Lonnie Smith - Too Damn Hot (Palmetto)
• Jim Snidero - Close Up (Milestone)
• Straylight Run - Straylight Run (Victory)
• Sum 41 - Chuck (Island)
  Read: "Sum 41 Name Album After The Man Who Saved Their Lives"
  Buy Now: Chuck (Island)
• The Sun - Did Your Mother Tell You (Warner Bros.)
• Chris Thile - Deceiver (Sugar Hill)
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra - The Lost Christmas Eve (Lava)
• Vanessa Williams - Silver & Gold (Lava/Atlantic)
• Trent Willmon - Trent Willmon (Columbia)
• George Winston - Montana: A Love Story (Windham Hill/RCA Victor)
• Wrangler Brutes - Zulu (Kill Rock Stars)
• Yohimbe Brothers - The Tao of Yo (Thirsty Ear)
• Various artists - Disney's Karaoke Series: Mary Poppins (Walt Disney)
• Various artists - Disney's Read-Along: Mary Poppins (Walt Disney)
• Various artists - Pure Techno 2 (Water Music)
• Various artists - Rugrats Holiday Classics! (BMG/SMG)
• Various artists - "Shall We Dance?" soundtrack (Casablanca)
• DVD: Phish - "It" (WEA Corp.)
• DVD: Various artists - "Apollo at 70: A Hot Night in Harlem" (Rhino)

October 19:

• Michael Jackson - The Ultimate Collection (Sony)
  Read: "Michael Jackson's Ultimate Box Set Has Demos, Hits, Live DVD"
• Jimmy Eat World - Futures (Interscope)
  Read: "Jimmy Eat World Say If You Don't Like Futures Right Away, Don't Bother"
• Le Tigre - This Island (Universal)
• Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill (Anti)
  Read: "Elliott Smith's Final Album Due In October"

October 26:

• Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues/ Lyre of Orpheus (Anti)
• Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather (Sony)
• Donnas - Gold Medal (Atlantic)
  Read: "The Donnas Take Charge With Gold Medal"
• Simple Plan - Still Not Getting Any (Lava)
  Read: "Simple Plan Less Simple On Second Album"

November 2:

• AFI - AFI (Nitro)
• A Perfect Circle - Emotive (Virgin)
• Duran Duran - The Singles 1986-1995 (Capitol)
• Various Artists - Now That's What I Call Music! 17 (Capitol)

November 9:

• Britney Spears - Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (Jive)
  Read: "Britney Covers Bobby Brown's 'My Prerogative' For Forthcoming LP"
• Ruben Studdard - I Need an Angel (J Records)
  Read: "Ruben Studdard Decides Christmas Just Isn't Spiritual Enough"
• Vanessa Carlton - Harmonium (A&M Records)
• Shania Twain - Greatest Hits (Mercury Nashville

• Sum 41
• Mos Def
• No Doubt
• Pinback
• Frank Black

Gordon Gano
Photo: Jill Epstein

With so many visitors it's sometimes hard to know who's the star and who's the guest, hip-hop has perfected the art of the cameo.

But with the exception of Santana's multi-platinum Supernatural and recent CDs from Stevie Nicks and Sheryl Crow, most rock artists have been less willing to share their albums with a raft of guest vocalists and players.

A pair of upcoming albums from two punk/new wave legends, though, takes the idea of star-studded collabos and twists them around in two unexpected ways.

The solo debut from Violent Femmes lead singer Gordon Gano, Hitting the Ground (August 27), is so star-studded that the nasally voiced singer could only squeeze his vocals onto three of the 11 tracks.

Of course, it helps when your songs are sung by the likes of two different members of the Velvet Underground (Lou Reed and John Cale), PJ Harvey frontwoman Polly Jean Harvey, former Pixies singer Frank Black, They Might Be Giants, and ex-4 Non Blondes singer and Pink/Christina Aguilera producer Linda Perry.

On the flip side, John Doe, singer for Los Angeles punk legends X and leader of the John Doe Thing, simply called some of his friends in to help out on his upcoming fourth full-length solo album, Dim Stars, Bright Sky (August 20). His friends just happen to be folks like Jakob Dylan, Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield and Go-Go's member Jane Wiedlin, whose contributions are decidedly more subtle than Gano's collaborations.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to sing with them ... people who I respect as people and artists?' " Doe said of his first acoustic album, which he tagged as "folk soul." "I have a difficult time separating the two, because if I don't like the person I usually don't like what they sing about."

Gano came by his high rollin' cameos through a back door. His first solo effort after 20 years fronting the Femmes was conceived as the soundtrack to a film by David Moore ("Polish Spaghetti"). The indie filmmaker tapped Gano for the project after seeing a performance of the "Blister in the Sun" singer's musical, "Carmen: The First Two Chapters" at New York's avant-garde Knitting Factory club.

"It started because I thought that, for a movie, it seemed silly if the same voice is singing in the background all the time," Gano said. While, like Doe, Gano nabbed some friends to voice his songs, he'd never met some of the guests, such as Perry.

"I was vaguely familiar with her, but there were probably only five or 10 seconds of the 4 Non Blondes record that had something that I liked vocally," he said candidly. The two bonded on the phone, though, over their mutual love of smoky jazz singer Nina Simone, and Perry turned in a nuanced, sensual vocal that surprised both her and Gano.

In another surprise, Polly Jean Harvey's take on the title track features her amazing, quavering imitation of Gano's signature vocal style over a driving folk punk track, which he took as a high compliment.

Though Gano wrote all of the songs and recorded rough demos for his colleagues (and in some cases finished songs awaiting their vocals) to work off of, only punk godfather Lou Reed got a co-songwriting credit.

"I told him about the project and he said if he had time and was inspired that he would try to do something," Gano said of his musical hero. "Well, at the point where I thought it wasn't going to happen, he called and said he was done, but that he'd changed some of the lyrics." As it turned out, in addition to rewriting more than half of the lyrics to the playful sung/spoken "Catch 'Em in the Act," Reed also completely rearranged the song's phrasing in a way that Gano said he could have never imagined.

Being the old-school punk that he is, Doe had always eyed all-star albums with a healthy dose of skepticism. But, after years of being asked why he hadn't recorded an all-acoustic album, Doe finally decided that the songs he'd been writing seemed to call for a more mellow setting, so he swallowed his punk rock pride and unplugged.

Bringing along his friends for the ride suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea, either.

"The same part of me that resisted doing an acoustic album resists being pigeonholed and worries about getting old, or soft," Doe said. "It's difficult to maintain that intensity after you've relied on electric guitars and fast tempos. Making rock music is very seductive and you always wonder, 'I've been at 10, am I getting to 10 this way?' "

While he traded bashing drums, electric guitars and loud vocals for pedal steel, mandolin, acoustic guitars and piano, Doe found a different kind of intensity. Paired with female singers who complement his voice in a more seductively poppy way than the edgier vocals of his longtime partner in X, Exene Cervenka, Doe's voice takes on a mellower, wounded tone on the album. Songs like "Closet of Dreams," "Still You" and "Backroom" are a series of elliptical poems about lives hanging in the balance and fuzzy portraits of characters barely keeping hold of the ones they love, and in some cases, themselves.

With a solo career that has frequently drawn more accolades than record sales, Doe said he thought the novelty of an acoustic album, paired with the guests, couldn't hurt his prospects.

"I'd be a liar if I said I did it strictly because of the art," he said. "Eighty percent of the people that say 'I love John Doe' have no idea what I sound like. But I also realize that it's cool and people like those things in an age where there's so many things going on at once and every small advantage my help you make another record."

Similarly, Gano said he wasn't concerned that his voice doesn't appear all over his solo debut, because his guests wont' likely hurt sales, either. "It was just very natural in how it developed," he said. "Maybe it's like my version of a hip-hop solo record!"

• Gordon Gano
• John Doe
• Lou Reed
• John Cale
• PJ Harvey

Frank Black
Photo: AMG

It was not a Good Friday for Frank Black and the Catholics.

The former Pixies frontman and his band woke up April 13 at a hotel in Lester, Pennsylvania, to find their trailer and approximately $70,000 worth of gear stolen.

Black (whose alias changed from Black Francis) and the Catholics had just played the fourth show of a 35-city national tour and were forced to cancel gigs in Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh over the weekend, according to a statement from What Are Records?, their label.

The band has purchased new equipment and will resume the outing Monday (April 16) for the first of three sold-out shows at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.

Although the 17 guitars, amplifiers, drums and other equipment were insured, some of the vintage instruments are irreplaceable, Black told the Associated Press. They include four 1960s Fender Telecaster guitars and a 1972 Fender Precision bass.

The white custom-made trailer — stolen from the EconoLodge parking lot at about 3 a.m. — also held several Vox AC 30 amps, two pedal steel guitars and a Gibson Les Paul guitar. The band has asked that anyone who has information about the stolen gear contact the Philadelphia Police Department or What Are Records? at 1-888-281-1289.

Frank Black and the Catholics are touring in support of Dog in the Sand, their third album and Black's sixth quasi-solo release since the Pixies dissolved in 1993.

• Frank Black