Following the lead of Oasis, Australian grunge boys Silverchair have released a multi-CD box-set of material, just two albums into their career. Although the five-CD set is not available in the U.S., Australian and Canadian fans can marvel at the limited-edition treats on Freak Box, which contains all four of the singles from their 1997 Freak Show album, an interactive CD-ROM, live tracks and an interview disc ... Folk songstress Joni Mitchell's upcoming album is tentatively titled Taming the Tiger and is currently scheduled for a May release ... Joan Osborne, Sarah McLachlan

and Dave Matthews are among the artists who will appear on a syndicated radio program highlighting goth writer Anne Rice's latest effort, "Violin: A Ghost Story." The special, which began airing on Monday, will air in various areas through Feb. 22 ...

Spearhead leader Michael Franti has recorded the score for the original HBO film "Always Outnumbered." The movie, which stars Laurence Fishbourne, is based on a novel by Walter ("Gone Fishin' ") Mosley begins airing on March 21. Along with scoring the film, based on Mosley's "Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned" novel, Franti has a cameo as a musician. The film also features Natalie Cole, Laurie Metcalf, Bill Nunn and Cicely Tyson ... Look for a sequel to last year's Gary Numan tribute, Random, entitled Random 2, on March 10. The sequel to the "Cars" singer tribute features tracks from Robert Armani,

DJ Hell, Greenhaus, Mike Dearborn, Dave Angel, Steve Stoll and Alex Hazzard ...

A tribute to German electronic pioneers Can entitled CFS (Can Forgery Series) is scheduled for release on the Dust Brother's Nickel Bag Records in midsummer. Tracks from Beck, the Geraldine Fibbers, the defunct L.A. pop band That Dog, Komeda, Congo Norvell and the Radar Bros.

are scheduled for inclusion ... Reggae super producers Sly and Robbie will release Friends on March 24. The album from the renowned producers (Peter Tosh, Mick Jagger) features the track "Night Nurse," with vocals by former Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall, as well as a cover of Lionel Richie's "Penny Lover." The pair also offer up their spin on the "Theme From Mission Impossible" and the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" ...

On Friday, Bruce Springsteen jumped onstage for a half-dozen encores with Steve Earle during a show at Sea Bright, N.J.'s Tradewinds nightclub. In addition to Earle's "Guitar Town," "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" and "Johnny Come Lately," the band kicked out Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby," as well as the Rolling Stones' "Sweet Virginia" and "Dead Flowers" ... If you thought it was odd to see Bob Dylan receiving the Kennedy Center Medal of Honor last year, picture this: On Sunday night, former Creedence Clearwater Revival leader John Fogerty played for President Bill Clinton at the annual Festival at

Ford's (Theater) gala event. Among those reported to be rocking to

Fogerty's white-hot and scathing "Fortunate Son" was Senate

Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who told the Washington

Post that it was a particularly favorite song of his ...

On Wednesday, G. Love is scheduled to film the video for "I-76" off

his Yeah, It's That Easy album during halftime at a hometown

Philadelphia 76ers game. "I-76" in part pays tribute to such 76er greats

as Moses Malone and Julius "Dr. J" Erving ... Next month,

the curators of bad taste at Rhino Records will release a new collection of

exceptionably horrid tracks called '70s Party Killers. Among the

cuts programmed to drive you to the brink are Bo Donaldson and the

Heywoods' "Billy Don't Be A Hero" and "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper

Lace ... Mack 10 will unleash his latest long-player, The Recipe, on his own Hoo Bangin label this May, with pals Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes and Ol' Dirty Bastard lending a helping rap ... -- ATN staff report [Tues., Feb. 10, 1998, 9 a.m. PST]

Hole's still-untitled new album is now scheduled to arrive in stores on May 19. A source at Geffen, Hole's label, said on Friday that the group is currently in a New York studio working through the final stages of recording the album, its first since 1994's breakthrough Live Through This ... New York's Poemfone will celebrate National Poetry Month in April by daily posting new poems by a number of rock artists. The dial-a-poem line -- (212) 631-4234 -- will be updated daily with new, thought-expanding works from such favorite contributors as Soul Coughing's M. Doughty and Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo ...

The name of Buffalo Daughter's sophomore release is New Rock. The 14-track album, due at the end of March on Grand Royal, features the rock 'n' keyboards tracks "Rhythm and Basement," "What's the Trouble With My Silver Turkey," "Sock, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll," "Airport Rock" and "Jellyfish

Blues" ...

Beck, who recently completed a remix of "Sexy Boy" for French electronic artists Air, is in negotiations to remix a track off Bjork's most recent album, Homogenic. The techno-folk poster boy is also still working on a long-rumored remix EP. Beck entered his home studio this week to record three new songs for the EP, which is slated to also feature B-sides and all-star remixes and could come out this summer, according to a Geffen Records representative. Although a final track listing has not yet been completed, among the remixes completed for the EP are an Aphex Twin mix of "Devil's Haircut," two Dust Brothers remixes of "Where It's At," an U.N.K.L.E. mix of "Where It's At" and the B-sides "Zero Hundred Thousand" and "Lemonade." Beck is also expected to take part in an all-star tribute to country legend Johnny Cash, who has been ill recently, at Feb. 25's Grammy awards show ...

Blues rocker Ben Harper will release a limited-edition EP on March 10 that will be bundled-in with copies of his 1997 album, The Will To Live. The EP will feature the new single "Mama's Trippin'," as well as five previously unreleased live tracks: "Faded," "Forever," "The Will to Live," "I Shall Not Walk Alone" and a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" ... -- ATN staff report [Mon., Feb. 9, 1998, 9 p.m. PST]