Really Randoms: Marilyn Manson, DMX, Oasis, Alanis Morrissette

Anyone who's seen one of Marilyn Manson's live shows knows what an amazing thing they are to behold - full of lights, noise and rock star posturing. So while it would be hard for any album to convey the bombastic nature of one of the androgynous rocker's stage performances, Manson's going to give it his best shot with his first non-studio recording, The Last Tour on Earth. He announced the plans for the live album last week during a chat on his official website, www.marilynmanson.net, but no additional details beyond its expected pre-holidays release date have yet been disclosed. Along with the album, Manson will also release a home video called God Is in the TV, which will include footage from several tours, all of his music videos and even a look at some of the commotion backstage. Meanwhile, a source close to the band says they have already written much of the material for their next studio effort...

With his recent Woodstock performance undoubtedly having won him a slew of new disciples, and a spate of Family Values tour dates ahead of him, rapper DMX is getting ready to record his third album, due out on December 21 on Def Jam. "Give me a month in the studio and I got another album," said the rapper. "I write without restriction. I write because I love it, you know."

The high watermark set by 1996's gold-selling Trainspotting soundtrack just might be surpassed by the soundtrack to Scottish author Irvine Welsh's latest film, The Acid House. The album, to be released next Tuesday by Capitol Records, will include previously unheard songs by Oasis, Beth Orton, Primal Scream and Belle & Sebastian, as well as tracks by the Verve, the Chemical Brothers, the Pastels and a duet between Nick Cave and former Bad Seeds bandmate Barry Adamson. The film, meanwhile, is an adaptation of Welsh's 1994 short story collection of the same name, and will debut in New York and Los Angeles on Friday...

We reported earlier that Alanis Morissette is playing God in the upcoming film Dogma. Well, now the film's soundtrack will feature a song from God. Morissette recorded "Still" at London's legendary Abbey Road studios...

Twenty-year-old rapper Eve, who guested on the Roots' No. 1 single "You Got Me," is releasing her debut album. Eve, the First Lady of Ruff Ryders was produced by Swizz Beatz, PK and Shek, who've previously teamed up with Busta Rhymes, Jay Z and DMX, and hits stores Sept. 14...

Barry White, whose music has gained renewed popularity since serving as romantic counsel for Ally McBeal's Peter McNichol, has cancelled the first seven dates of his U.S. tour. The soul singer is suffering from exhaustion. White plans to continue the tour, with Earth, Wind & Fire, on Sept. 10 in Boston...

One-man band The The (a.k.a Matt Johnson) has signed to Trent Reznor's Nothing Records. "Matt Johnson's music was one of the main reasons I began working on Nine Inch Nails," Reznor said in a statement. The The's Nothing debut NakedSelf, produced by Johnson and Bruce Lampcov, is due out in January, and it will be preceded by an EP this fall...

The Chess family -- who brought the world blues legends like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Etta James, via their Chicago label Chess Records -- have opened up a new label. CZYZ Records, named for the original Chess family name (it was changed to Chess upon their arrival in the U.S.), will be run by cousins Marshall and Kevin Chess and distributed by ADA. The first release, Murali Coryell's 2120 -- a blues album, naturally -- is expected Sept. 21...

Outlaw country legend Billy Joe Shaver has cancelled several dates on the tour promoting his new album, Electric Shaver, due to the death of his wife Brenda on Friday. Brenda, who was the mother of Shaver's son (and guitarist) Eddy and the subject/muse of many of Shaver's songs, had been battling cancer. The funeral was Monday in Waco, Texas. Shaver cancelled two dates last week when Brenda's condition worsened and so far has canceled four performances this week, including one in Nashville. A spokesperson for Shaver said he should be back on the road soon though, possibly by the end of the week...

The Alaskan-born Jewel is no stranger to winter wonderlands, so it was only a matter of time before she recorded a Christmas album. The album will be produced by Arif Mardin for release on Atlantic Records November 9. Featured tracks include "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "Silent Night," "Joy to the World," and, naturally, "Winter Wonderland." There's no word yet whether the album will contain any angelic originals, but Jewel is sculpting a Christmas version of her hit "Hands."...

Ricky Martin certainly is living the crazy life, as his self-titled debut album - on the strength of the runaway smash "Livin' La Vida Loca" - has now sold five million copies, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. That's the all-time highest total number of records sold by a Latin artist. Dare we say "en fuego"?...

PBS's Sessions at West 54th has announced most of its third season's lineup. Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, Marianne Faithfull, Macy Gray, Latin Playboys, Kelly Willis, Ruben Blades, Kim Richey and Rolling Stone's "Hot Country Artist" Mandy Barnett are among the musical guests who will join new host, singer/songwriter John Hiatt. The show is produced by WNET/Channel 13 in New York's Sony Music Studios and the new episodes will begin airing in October...

Former Psychedelic Furs frontman and Love Spit Love maestro Richard Butler will go it alone for "After All," a new song slated to appear on the soundtrack to the film Gossip, due in theaters next January or February. Also set to appear on the soundtrack are Poe's cover of the Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed," God Lives Underwater's "From Your Mouth" (which originally appeared on 1998's Life in the So-Called Space Age), two selections from Tin Star, and one each from former Black Grape member Danny Saber, Head Noise, Psykosonik and Transistor...

Feeder, the British trio who rose to semi-stardom with the Can't Hardly Wait soundtrack hit "High," will return this October with the thirteen-track Yesterday Went Too Soon, their follow-up to 1997's Polythene. The first single, "Insomnia," will go to radio Sept. 13, five weeks before the album hits shelves.

BILL CRANDALL, JENNY ELISCU, BLAIR R. FISCHER, RICHARD SKANSE
(August 3, 1999)