Everything new is old again as Black Sabbath's Past Lives, a double live album of '70s material, hits shelves Tuesday (August 20). The LP features such classics as "Sweet Leaf," "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" in addition to the haunting "Symptom of the Universe" and the 10-minute "Megalomania."

Rocker girls Sleater-Kinney release One Beat, the follow-up to 2000's All Hands on the Bad One, while the Murderdolls, a side project of guitarists Joey Jordison of Slipknot and Tripp Eisen of Static X, exhume their raucously macabre Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls.

The Black Crowes also offer up a live double album, appropriately entitled Live. Finally, comedian Andy Dick and his band the Bitches of the Century are sure to win over fans with endearing tunes such as "Love Ninja (The Stalker Song)," "C--k & B---s," and "I'll F--- Anything That Moves." No way, Andy! You?

Out Tuesday, August 20:

• Ah Nee Mah - Grand Circle (New Pacifica)
• Amber - Naked (Tommy Boy)
• Anchor & Breakdance Vietnam - Anchor Vs. Breakdance Vietnam (EP, Triple Crown)
• Ape Breaks - Volume 1 (Ubiquity)
• Ape Breaks - Volume 2 (Ubiquity)
• Armik Lost in Paradise (Paras Group/ Bolero)
• Eric Bachmann - Short Careers: Music from Ball of Wax (Merge)
• Bad Boy Joe - Ultimate House Mega Mix (What If Prod.)
• Berlin - Voyeur (iMusic)
• Biffy Clyro - Blackened Sky (Beggars Banquet)
• Big Tray Dee - General's List (Empire Musicwerks)
• Frank Black - Black Letter Days (SpinART)
• Frank Black - Devil's Workshop (SpinART)
• The Black Crowes - Live (2 CDs, V2)
• Black Sabbath - Past Lives (2 CDs, Sanctuary)
    Read:
   
  
• Blindside - Silence (Elektra)
• Bowling for Soup - Drunk Enough to Dance (Silvertone)
• Calhouns - Made in the Dirdy South (Empire Musicwerks)
• Kirstin Candy - Another Sweet Mess (Liquid 8)
• Capital D With the Molemen - Writer's Block (All Natural)
• Seana Carmody - Struts and Shocks (Kimchee)
• Cash Money Millionaires - "Undisputed" soundtrack (Cash Money)
    Read: "Lil' Wayne, Big Tymers, Bubba Sparxxx On 'Undisputed' Disc"
• Neko Case - Blacklisted (Bloodshot)
• Cephalic Carnage - Lucid Interval (Relapse)
• Clipse - Lord Willin'' (Arista)
    Read:
• Wolf Colonel - Something/Everything! (K)
• Julee Cruise - The Art of Being a Girl (Water)
• Dark Tranquility - Damage Done (Century Media)
• Diamond Rio - Completely (Arista)
• Andy Dick & the Bitches of the Century - Andy Dick & the Bitches of the Century (Milan)
    Read:
• Dissection - The Somberlain (Century Media)
• DJ Acucrack - Dope King (Underground Inc.)
• Drive By Truckers - Alabama Ass Whuppin' (Terminus)
• Dubtribe Sound System - Chilifunk Recordings (Shadow)
• Explorers Club - Raising the Mammoth (Magna Carta)
• Dino Felipe - Xanaconversex (Schematic)
• Future Bible Heroes - Eternal Youth (Instinct)
• Gordon Gano - Hitting the Ground (Instinct)
    Read:
• Great Lakes - The Distance Between (Orange Twin)
• Hellecasters - Essential Listening Vol. 1 (Hightone)
• Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (Matador)
• Mike Johnson - What Would You Do (Up)
• Katatonia - Dance of December Souls (Century Media)
• Kidz Bop - Kidz Bop 2 (Razor & Tie)
• King Britt - Philadelphia Experiment Remixed (Ropeadope)
• Lady May - May Day (Arista)
   Read: "Lady May: Savage Hip-Hop Straight From the Suburbs"
• L.A. Guns - Waking the Dead (Spitfire)
• Lava Baby - Big Muff (Liquid 8)
• Lovers - Starlit Sunken Ship (Orange Twin)
• Maná - Revolución de Amor (Warner Bros. International)
• Manishevitz - Private Lines (EP, Jaguwar)
• Denison Marrs - Then is the New Now (Word)
• Angie Martinez - Animal House (Elektra)
• Mecca Normal - The Family Swan (Kill Rock Stars)
• The Mekons - Oooh! (Out of our Heads) (Quarterstick)
• Motion Man/ Kut Masta Kurt - Clearing the Field (Threshold)
• Mudhoney - Since We've Become Translucent (Sub Pop)
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• Murderdolls - Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls (Roadrunner)
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• Nile - In Their Darkened Shrines (Relapse)
• Nocturne - Paradise Wasted (Underground Inc.)
• Non - Children of the Black Sun (Mute)
• John Oates - Phunk Shui (Beyond)
• Orbital - Work 89-02 (FFRR/ WSM)
• June Panic - Baby's Breadth (Secretly Canadian)
• Paralysed Age - Into the Ice (Dancing Ferret)
• Penance - Proving Ground (Martyr)
• Phantomsmasher - Phantomsmasher (Ipecac)
• Grant Lee Phillips - Ladies' Love Oracle (Zoe)
• Plain White T's - Stop (Fearless)
• Pluxus - European Onion (Rocket Girl)
• Pulp - We Love Life (Sanctuary/ RoughTrade)
• Radian - Rec.Extern (Touch & Go)
• Rivulets - Thank You Reykjavik (EP, BlueSanct)
• Thom Rotella - A Day in the Life (V2)
• Schneider TM - Zoomer (Mute)
• Seether - Disclaimer (Wind-up)
• Sera - Sera (Liquid 8)
• Sidonie - Let It Flow (Rainbow Quartz)
• Skhool Yard - New Way of Thinking (Threshold)
• Sleater-Kinney - One Beat (Kill Rock Stars)
   
  
• Anthony Smith - If That Ain't Country (Mercury Nashville)
• Rose Smith - Dawnraiding (Paras Group)
• Sonia Dada - Barefoot Soul (Calliope)
• Souljahz - Fault Is History (Squint)
• Spoon - Kill the Moonlight (Merge)
• The Standard - August (Touch & Go)
• Andy Stochansky - Five Star Motel (Private Music)
• Sugar Shack - Spinning Wheels (Estrus)
• Sunscreem - Ten Mile Bank (Radikal)
• Tegan & Sara - If It Was You (Vapor/ Sanctuary)
• Satoshi Tomiie - Nu Breed (Global Underground)
• The Turbo A.C.'s Damnation - Overdrive (Blackout!)
• Various artists - Alert Vol. 1 (Sony)
• Various artists - Dexter's Laboratory: Home Boy Genius (Rhino)
• Various artists ? "Fear Dot Com" soundtrack (Varèse Sarabande)
• Various artists - Barrio Latino 3 (2 CDs, George V)
• Various artists - Hed Kandi: Base Bar 2002 (Hed Kandi)
• Various artists - La Maison de l'Elephant (Milan)
• Various artists - Mad Mike Presents: Mototrax Vol. 1 (Sanctuary)
• Various artists - Mastercuts Bar Social: Discotheque (Studio K7)
• Various artists - Plea for Peace Vol. 2: Take Action (Sub City)
• Various artists - "Possession" soundtrack (RCA Victor)
• Various artists - Put Your Hands Up! The Tribute Concert to Chuck Brown (Raw Venture)
• Various artists - TV Land Presents: Favorite Theme Songs (Rhino)
• Various artists - Urban Renewal Program (Chocolate Industries)
• Various artists - We Love New York (RCA Victor)
• Victory at Sea - The Good Night (Kimchee)
• Wauvenfold - 3Fold (Tiger Style)
• Kelly Willis - Easy (Rykodisc)
• Lee Ann Womack - Something Worth Leaving Behind (MCA Nashville)
• Yonder Mountain String Band - Mountain Tracks Volume 2 (Frog Pad)

• Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash - Distance Between (Ultimatum)
• BBMak - Into Your Head (Hollywood)
   
  
• Beenie Man - Tropical Storm (Virgin)
• Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (Nettwerk/ Capitol)
   
  
• The Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony Is a Dead Scene (EP, Epitaph)
• Dixie Chicks - Home (Open Wide/ Monument/ Columbia)
• Eve - Eve-olution (Ruff Ryders/ Interscope)
   Read: "Eve, Alicia Keys Team Up For Some 'Gangsta Love'"
   Buy Now: Eve-olution (Ruff Ryders/ Interscope)
  
• Gus Gus - Attention (Moonshine)
• Aimee Mann - Lost in Space (Superego)
   
• Ms. Jade - Girl Interrupted (Beat Club/ Interscope)
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• Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
   Read: "Queens Of The Stone Age Flex Their Star Power"
   Buy Now: Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
  
• Silverchair - Diorama (Atlantic)
   Read: "Silverchair Craft U.S. Diorama, Plan New York Dates"
• Stone Sour - Stone Sour (Roadrunner)
   Read: "Corey Taylor Insists His Other Band Is No Slipknot Jr."
   
  

• Trina - Diamond Princess (Slip-N-Slide/ Atlantic)
   Read: "Diamond Princess Trina Recruits Tweet For 'No Panties' Single"
• Viva Death - Viva Death (Vagrant)

• Cassius - Au Rêve (Astralwerks)
• Ladytron - Light & Magic (Emperor Norton)
• Nine Days - So Happily Unsatisfied (Epic)
• OK Go - OK Go (Capitol)
• Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance (Century Media)
   Read: "You Hear It First: Shadows Fall"

• Black Sabbath
• Murderdolls
• Andy Dick
• Clipse
• Sleater-Kinney

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