Their self-described half-decade "recording strike" now officially over, XTC are hot on the publicity path for their new box set (Nov. 17) and upcoming orch-pop record, Apple Venus, Vol.1 (late January '99), both to be released on new Stateside label TVT. Singer/guitarist/songwriter Andy Partridge and singer/bassist/songwriter Colin Moulding nipped in to the Rolling Stone offices this morning (Nov. 9) for a tea and tour of the latter offering, an ear-grabbing all-new long player that features a forty-piece orchestra, sweeping Sgt. Pepper-ish pop and a period song or two for good measure. According to a very upbeat Partridge, "we'll give that R.E.M. mellow." The "noisy" Apple Venus: Part 2 will follow next summer . . .

You'd think Roger Daltrey would be too preoccupied rehearsing his lines for his upcoming performance as Scrooge for A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden, but that hasn't kept him from getting all riled up over a proposed Robert De Niro-produced film about departed Who drummer Keith Moon. According to the Daily Express, Daltrey is refusing the filmmakers the rights to the Who's music because he's concerned De Niro's flick -- based on Peter Butler's Moon the Loon biopic -- will only show the dark side of Moon. Better, no doubt, to save the Who tunes for the Moon film Daltrey himself is reportedly discussing with Warner Bros. No comment was forthcoming from either camp at press time, but we'll keep you posted . . .

And who's next? According to the Billboard Bulletin, Daltrey foil Pete Townshend is dusting off material from Lifehouse, an abandoned Who concept album from the early Seventies, for use in the BBC's "Millennium Project" programming. In addition, Townshend will play his first solo U.K. gig in twelve years tonight at London's Shepherds Bush Empire . . .

To clarify, the smash-hit video game Gran Turismo is not named after the Cardigans' new album, nor their single "My Favourite Game," nor vice versa. But judging from the Playstation driving simulation game's complementary CD soundtrack, The Sounds of Gran Turismo on The Right Stuff record label, it's just as hip as the Scandinavian popsters. On November 17, the album, featuring Supergrass, Placebo, Ash, the Dandy Warhols, Blur, David Bowie and Garbage, will hit actual streets near you . . .

Leave it to the French to make our day. Agence France-Press News Service has revealed that Celine Dion may be staging her last performance on December 31, 1999 in Montreal. Dion's fifty-five-year-old husband and manager, Rene Angeli, told the Radio-Canada television channel that throughout Dion's dazzling rise to fame the couple has wanted "to live a more normal life." And now they've decided to do something about it. "After December 31, 1999, there are no plans. Two years later, there could be a movie, but certainly no plans for an album [or] to do more performance." Is this a perfect set up for a comeback tour -- and should we expect, like Ozzy Osbourne before her, a "Retirement Sucks Tour" in 2002?

And finally, in the KICK YOURSELF FOR MISSING IT category, here's one for the books. One of the biggest rock groups of the Seventies (Aerosmith) joined arguably one of the best (Cheap Trick) on stage Nov. 6 at Minneapolis' First Avenue for a barreling-off-the-tracks version of "Train Kept A-Rolling." Surrender, indeed . . .

The Rolling Stone Network Staff
(November 9, 1998)