LOS ANGELES — Geffen Records is suing Hole singer Courtney

Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson for breach of contract, claiming Hole

can't walk away from the label until they've delivered more albums.

The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday (Jan. 19),

contends Hole signed a contract in 1992 that obligates them to record five more albums for Geffen, according to various news reports, including articles by the Associated Press and Reuters. The complaint also seeks an injunction barring Hole from signing with another company.

Doll Head Inc., Love and Erlandson's production company, is seeking to nullify the contract, claiming California labor law limits personal-services contracts to seven years, the suit reportedly states. Geffen contends recording contracts are not personal-services agreements and that the deal was extended by a 1997 amendment.

Lawyer Donald Engel, who has defended Olivia Newton-John and Teena Marie in similar cases and has testified on changes to the statute, said Geffen's claim that recording services are not personal services is "nonsense." "There's no question in my mind that the statute covers [recording contracts]," Engel said. "At the end of seven years, [labels] cannot make the performer perform and, in my opinion, they won't be able to enjoin the performer from going to another company."

Engel said the label may be able to collect damages, however.

A Geffen Records spokesperson had no comment.

Love threatened last month, on the syndicated Howard Stern radio program, to leave Geffen and release the band's next album on the Internet.

Neither Hole lawyer Seth Lichtenstein nor Love's business partner, Janet Billig, returned calls by press time.

Since the famous Newton-John case in the early 1980s, record contracts are now written in terms of delivery requirements instead of years, according to lawyer Gregory Victoroff, co-author of "The Musician's Business and Legal Guide."

"If Hole's recording contract requires them to deliver seven albums, they will make the argument that it is impossible to deliver seven albums in less than seven years," Victoroff said. "So ... [they'll say] the contract neccesarily would extend over seven years and should be nullified."

Geffen also reportedly claims in the suit that Love and Erlandson are obligated under an inducement letter, which they each signed, to be responsible directly to Geffen if Doll Head failed to deliver.

Victoroff said the inducement letter is part of every personal-services contract between an artist's corporation, such as Doll Head, and a studio or record company. He said the document is "like a personal guarantee to render their services."

Victoroff said Hole likely has less leverage with Geffen than a band such as Nirvana did in the early '90s. That group, led by her late husband, Kurt Cobain, sold millions more records during their heyday than Hole sold with their two Geffen releases.

"If Hole were Nirvana, they would simply say to Geffen, 'We want to renegotiate,' " Victoroff said. "And because Nirvana was so popular, the record label would renegotiate with them, within limits. ... The only way [Hole] can make more money is to go out and get another deal, but they're bound to Geffen, so now they've got to find ... some way to get out."

Shortly before the fall release of his latest album, Midnite Vultures, Beck settled a suit in which Geffen, with Bong Load Records, sued him for breach of contract.

Geffen has issued the most recent two Hole albums, Live Through This in 1994 and Celebrity Skin in 1998. Hole's 1991 debut, Pretty on the Inside, and the six-song EP, Ask for It, (1995) appeared via the independent Caroline Records.

Hole, who have a previously unreleased song, "Be a Man" (RealAudio excerpt), on the soundtrack to the film "Any Given Sunday," auditioned bassists last month to replace Melissa Auf Der Maur, who left in October and is now the Smashing Pumpkins' touring bassist. No replacement has been announced.