Rock News: Music's high and low notes

STILL FAITHFULL TO MICK

Marianne Faithfull went to bat for old flame Mick Jagger's band, the Rolling Stones, in an interview with the New York Daily News.

"Why don't they just shut up and leave them alone," Faithfull said of critics who say the band is too old to rock. "It's jealousy."

Faithfull, in New York for three shows at Irving Plaza, engaged in a frank exchange with Jim Farber. The 54-year-old singer's new album, "Kissin' Time," features songs co-written with contemporary rockers Beck, Billy Corgan, Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn.

"They're all about the age of my son," Faithfull said. "I wanted to record with people he would find appealing."

Faithfull, who had a mid-1960's hit with "As Tears Go By," noted the difference between collaborations then and now.

"Then, every woman in my position had to go to bed with the musicians they worked with," she said. "If I made this record then, I would have slept with everybody on it."

CLINTON CROONS FOR HAWKINS

Former President Bill Clinton flew to Toronto last weekend to attend a party for rock pioneer Ronnie Hawkins, a fellow Arkansan who is gravely ill with pancreatic cancer. At the party, held at the Four Seasons hotel, Clinton sang Leon Russell's "A Song For You" to Hawkins with David Foster accompanying him on piano. Clinton also sang "My Way" along with Paul Anka, changing the lyric to "I did it Hillary's way."

SNOOP DOGG BARKS AGAIN

"Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Boss," Snoop Dogg's sixth studio album, is scheduled for a Nov. 26 release. The album features production from The Neptunes, Just Blaze, DJ Premier and Jelly Roll and FredWreck, as well as appearances from Jay-Z, Redman and Nate Dogg. On "From Tha Chuuch to Tha Palace," the Neptunes-produced lead single from the album, the rapper says he's "still got the gin and juice in hand."

He brings his typical gangster-meets-pimp-flavored heat throughout most of "Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Boss." On the gangster side, he blasts everyone from Xzibit to Kurupt to Death Row Records' notorious honcho on the blistering "Pimp't Slapped."

"Suge Knight's a bitch and that's on my life," he snarls over the funk-inspired beat by Josef Leimberg. Elsewhere, Snoop puts his pimp style on full display with "You Got What I Want," "Suited N Booted," "Boss Playa," "Wasn't Yo Fault" and the Just Blaze-produced "Lollipop."

TV PROPHET

Hot rocker Chuck Prophet makes his national television debut Tuesday Oct. 8 on "The Late Late Show" with Craig Kilborn. Accompanied by his band, Mission Express, Prophet will perform his new single, "I Bow Down and Pray to Every Woman I See," which already is generating significant airplay at Triple A radio. Since the release of his new disc, "No Other Love," Prophet has enjoyed his biggest success thus far as a recording artist, reaching the No. 3 slot at Triple A radio with his first single, "Summertime Thing," and touring with Lucinda Williams as special guest on her summer tour.

JOE JACKSON BAND REUNION

Joe Jackson said it would never happen, but the original Joe Jackson Band is re-uniting for a new album and tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its formation and the recording of "Look Sharp."

Jackson (piano, vocals), Graham Maby (bass), Gary Sanford (guitar) and Dave Houghton (drums) will record a whole album of new songs to be released next year. Jackson already has 12 completed songs for the new album and still is writing.

According to the singer/songwriter, the album will be "high-energy, fun, and in the spirit of the first couple of albums." The Joe Jackson Band formed in 1978 and played non-stop until its last gig on Dec. 15, 1980. Since then, Maby has worked on and off with Jackson but also with Natalie Merchant, They Might be Giants and many others. Sanford has toured and recorded with Joan Armatrading, Aztec Camera and Kirsty McColl, among others, while Houghton has been staying out of the spotlight, doing mostly local gigs in the south of England and teaching drums.

The band is rehearsing and doing some exclusive warm-up gigs in the United Kingdom this week and next, then recording there in October. The album release and full-world tour are projected for March/April 2003.