JN Entertainment a softer number more in the style of the smash hit "The Freshmen" than the other rock-oriented singles from the album. Many radio programmers and folks at the group's label, RCA, thought the song would push the Verve Pipe to even further heights, perhaps even taking the already mil- lion-selling Villains album to multi- ple-platinum territory. "A lot of people are saying that," drummer Donny Brown says, "but I don't know that we want to leave ra- dio programmers and MTV with the position of two ballads. We'd like to be known as a rock 'n' roll band, which we are. We need to get off the road and be thinking about the next album now." Brown says the group already has a batch of new songs, including a few — such as "Charlie in the Box" and "-In Between" — that it's performing during its shows. The Verve Pipe wraps up its domestic tour in late September, then heads to Australia in October before hunkering down to work on Villains' follow-up in No- vember, with a release planned for spring of 1998. "I believe we'll be a little bit more poppy than Villains," Brown says. "I think we'll continue to rock, but we'll also bring the harmonies and every- thing we had on 'Pop Smear' (Vil- lains' independently released predecessor). We'll probably do more harmonies ... and the keyboards and some of the things you didn't hear as much on (Villains). It's still all being worked on right now." band Sweet 75, say he and Nirvana drummer (now Foo Fighters front- man Dave Grohl) have started con- templating material for a boxed set, which will include alternate takes, B-sides, more live material and oth- er nuggets from the vaults. `There's some stuff you won't find on bootlegs or anywhere that's re- ally hidden away, just songs we've kept under wraps," Novoselic says. "There's stuff that you probably heard on bootleg, but you're going to get it in 10 times better audio qual- ity. , Novoselic says it may be two or three years before the set comes out, but the wait will allow he and Grohl to take full advantage of the latest technologies, perhaps even using DVDs to present discs that have sound, video and interactive compo- nents. Some doings in the world of movie music ... Former Columbia Records honcho Walter Yenikoff has launched ReelSounds, a label that will deal exclusively with soundtrack albums. Its first release is The Ice Storm, from a film starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver and Joan Allen, which will feature a new song by David Bowie, "I Can't Read," as well as songs by Traffic, Frank Zap- pa, Free, Jim Croce and others. Also on tap is The Myth of Fin- gerprints, an instrumental album which will feature selections by Bing Crosby, Rufus Wainwright and the Australian acoustic group My Friend the Chocolate Cake ... The soundtrack to Casablanca will be released for the first time ever on There are lots of boxed sets Oct. 14. The album will feature Max planned for the fall, including pack- Steiner's score, dialogue from ages on Simon & Garfunkel, Boz Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Scaggs and the long-anticipated col- Bergman, and the songs "As Time lection of session tapes from the Goes By," "Knock on Wood" and Beach Boys' legendary Pet Sounds "Dats What Noah Done," a song which was axed from the film. Ted album. A Nirvana boxed set is in the off- Turner is a partner in the venture, ing, too, but don't look for that one but there should still be some black quite as quickly. Bassist Krist and white elements left on the pack- Novoselic, now working with his new age. ❑ Recent Releases On CD exception of "Fade In-Out," the album's best tracks, they're curiously lacking in dynamics, each dissolving into rambling layers of guitar noise. Gallagher's melodies remain potent, but the songs lose their zest at a certain point, a prob- lem Oasis avoided to this point. The Power Station Living in Fear Guardian ® c) 1/2 This ad hoc supergroup convenes 12 years after its last outing, hoping that some still like it hot. Of course, principals Robert Palmer and ex-Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor's careers have cooled considerably since the mid-'80s, but as a group — with drummer Tony Thompson— they still gen- erate some heat. Funk-tinged rock is still the order of the day, though songs such as "Scared" and "Life Forces" show welcome restraint and nuance. Unfortunately, the album blands out toward the end with a succession of harder rockers, though the trio's rendition of the Beatles' "Faralian" is distinctive. Living in Fear also marks one of the last projects by the late Chic partner Bernard Edwards and is, not surprisingly, dedicated to him. Oasis Be Here Now Epic Noel Gallagher remains one of the — if not the best pop songwriters to emerge dur- ing the mid-'90s, but on Oasis' third album he lets his ambitions get the best of him. The 11 songs (and one reprise) on "Be Here Now" weigh in at an average of around six min- utes, quite a change from the tight, snappy constructions of "Wonderwall," "Superson- ic" and Oasis' other radio hits. And with the — Bagel Barometer ® Coo O Oasis is expected to schedule some dates, but no details are set yet. No Bagels Outstanding Very Good Good Fair Awful Genesis Calling All Stations Atlantic (). And then there were two ... When Phil Collins announced he was leaving Gen- esis last year, it was deja vu for guitarist Mike Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks, who'd previously weathered the departures of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. They probably figured this re- placing members thing was old hat. Sadly, that's not the case this time. New singer Ray Wilson is a solid technician but has little of Collins' personality; on "If That's What You Need," for instance, Connors hits all the notes but misses the palpable ache of lost love that Collins nails so well. "One Man's Fool" and the aggressive epic "Alien After- noon" offer hints of hope for something bet- ter in the future, but "Calling All Stations" sounds more like a Genesis tribute band — or Mike & the Mechanics — than the real item. Exodus might have been a better choice. Fleetwood Mac The Dance Reprise The Rumours lineup gets back together for a full-scale multimedia event — MTV spe- cial, album, home video, reunion tour. The good news is it's not bad. The quintet is still in fine form, from its rock-solid rhythm sec- tion to Stevie Nicks' sultry (if huskier) vo- cals and Lindsey Buckingham's facile guitar work. The Dance is loaded with the expect- ed hits, but the four new songs fit nicely, meaning we might not cringe the inevitable album of all-new material.