Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz and trip-hop wizard Tricky will make guest appearances on Live's fifth album, due September 18th. The album's title has been changed from "Ecstatic Fanatic" to the more appropriate V.

Tricky's raps on "Simple Creed" return the favor after Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk provided guest vocals on "Evolution Revolution," from Tricky's latest album, Blowback. Counting Crows and Live had hooked up last year for a joint tour, and since then Duritz added vocals to "Flow," a song he co-wrote with Kowalczyk earlier this year.

The fourteen-track album is the band's follow-up to 1999's The Distance to Here and was recorded in Los Angeles during breaks on the band's lengthy Distance tour. The band has already wrapped the video for "Simple Creed," working on the clip in June with director Mark Webb (Green Day ). They also filmed a video for "Forever May Not Be Long Enough," the band's collaboration with Glen Ballard, which appeared on the The Mummy Returns soundtrack; the song will also appear on V.

Though the band has yet to set up an official tour, they will be showcasing some new material at a few summer festivals, including the Rolling Rock Town Fair in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on August 4th and the Lunatic Fringe Fest in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 3rd.

The track listing for V:

Intro
Simple Creed
Deep Enough
Like a Soldier
People Like You
Transmit Your Love
Forever May Not Be Enough
Call Me a Fool
Flow
The Ride
Nobody Knows
OK
Overcome
Hero of Love

ANDREW DANSBY
(July 13, 2001)