Sound Check: Garbage
May 3, 2001 -- WHAT IS THAT GARBAGE?: Garbage has come up with a title for its third album: Beautfiul Garbage. The members have been long at work on the disc at drummer Butch Vig's studio in Madison, Wis., but they finished recording last month and have begun mixing the songs. The album is due this summer.
UNITER, NOT DIVIDER: With peculiar timing, Perry Farrell plans to release his first solo album — Song Yet to Be Sung — on June 19, just two months after a successful reunion performance of his influential band, Jane's Addiction, at the Coachella Music Festival. Farrell is still planning a summer tour with his old band, though the album draws more from his recent experiences as a DJ.
RHINO RAMONE: In tribute to the late Ramones frontman Joey Ramone, Rhino Records will reissue the first four albums of the punk pioneers on June 19. The label has remastered the albums — Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, and Road to Ruin — and will also add several rare tracks and alternates to each disc.
POST DIDDY MUSIC: King of Bad Boy Entertainment P. Diddy — formerly known as Puff Daddy — has been asked by producer Barry Amato to write the soundtrack to upcoming film The Last Crew, starring Mark Wahlberg. The film is the prequel to 1990's King of New York. Though his songs have been used in films before, notably "Come With Me" from 1998's Godzilla, this will be Combs' first attempt at a full-length soundtrack.
DE LA ROCHA FINDS ROOTS: Roots drummer ?uestlove had some intriguing words for MTV about the solo album from ex-Rage Against the Machine singer Zack de la Rocha: "It's dangerous. I don't want to over-hype it or under-hype it, but it's scary. Crazy-fast beats per minute, a theremin, crazy synthesizer energy, Moogs, a lot of drum-and-bass shit." The two worked on six songs together.
IN A BARREL: Phish heads may have been left high and dry when the band went on hiatus last fall — but with a good stereo system and a big field, the jam band devotees should be able to re-create the concert experience after the inactive band releases a series of albums, titled Live Phish. The band promises six of these albums from Elektra this summer — all will be complete, unedited shows.
POLITPUNK: Punk rock quartet Pennywise gets political on its new album, Land of the Free?, due June 19 on Epitaph Records. Singer Jim Lindberg says the lyrics on the album are inspired by the WTO protests, the presidential election, police brutality, and other hot-button topics.
EVIOLENCE: Veteran rockers Violent Femmes have released an MP3-only album, titled Something's Wrong, through EMusic.com. Among the 22 songs on the collection — available for 99 cents each, or $8.99 for the set — are covers of The Police's "Every Breath You Take," Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street," and Paul Anka's "My Way," as well as older outtakes, live songs, and B-sides.
POP ROCKS: Rock icon Iggy Pop will return this July with Beat 'Em Up, a 15-song collection from Virgin Records. Former Bodycount member Lloyd "Mooseman" Roberts played bass on the album, before he was killed this past winter in a drive-by shooting.
DIDO BRO: Rollo Armstrong, prolific producer and brother of hit singer Dido, will see his latest U.K. release arrive on U.S. shores July 10 through Nettwerk America. The disc is a concept album focusing on looking back at childhood.
COUNTING DOWN: Pop-rock outfit Counting Crows is expecting an early 2002 release for its as-yet untitled disc that will follow 1999's This Desert Life. The band has tapped profilic producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Rolling Stones, Dave Mathews Band, XTC) to oversee sessions on its fourth studio album. As it has done in the past, the band will record its music in a rented house installed with a studio during the duration.
For a comprehensive list of CDs due in the next few weeks, check Wall of Sound's Release Dates.