Rock News: Music's high and low notes

KING SOLOMON ON STONES TOUR

Gospel Soul King Solomon Burke will be invoking the spirit for the Rolling Stones when the band plays Los Angeles Nov. 4 and Las Vegas Nov. 29. Burke, long celebrated by the Stones in the live performances of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and "Cry To Me," is in peak form with a breakthrough album, a new video on tap with the Blind Boys of Alabama and a European tour in the offing.

Burke is pumped for the Stones slot. "For the first time in my career, we're playing with The Rolling Stones," said the Rock 'n' Roll Hall-of-Famer. "The Rolling Stones. It's an absolute honor."

Burke is just off the set from the video shoot for "None Of Us Are Free," from his critically acclaimed album "Don't Give Up On Me" on Fat Possum records. The video, directed by Bas Vink, also will feature the Blind Boys of Alabama on backing vocals.

Burke then heads overseas for a tour of Europe, where "Don't Give Up On Me" is charting in the Top 25 in Sweden, Norway and Holland.

"I am so excited about going to Norway for the first time and getting back to Sweden, Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and England," he said. "Some of the shows are already sold out."

Back in the United States, Burke opens for the Stones "by special invitation" at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles and The Joint in Las Vegas.

"Please don't give up on me," Burked concluded. "Come on out to the shows and see the other side of the coin. With new songs and old, the show is a healer, not just a feeler. Everybody needs somebody to love."

PUBLIC ENEMY GOES IT ALONE

Pioneer rapper Chuck D. would rather hit the lecture circuit than play ball with the current leaders of the rap industry, the Public Enemy front man told Newsday.

"The mainstream has accepted its brand of what hip-hop is and what it isn't," Chuck D. told Glenn Gamboa. "We go against that particular grain."

"Revolverlution," the newest Public Enemy disc, doesn't have a playa in sight, but rather some sobering observations from the rapier wit of Chuck D. on tracks like "Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need" and "Son of a Bush."

"When Public Enemy releases a record," Chuck D. said, "it's a platform to make a statement, to speak with some clarity, even though there's confusion and chaos at times. Each release is a passport to the world. We've been to 53 countries, and we'll go around the world as many times as we can. I've always said we're the first hip-hop act to go around the world and enjoy it. Each time there's a chance to be a revisionist and a chance for revolution. That's the beauty of it."

NINETIES ROCKERS FORM AUDIOSLAVE

Top rockers from the 1990s have banded together to form Audioslave, with a debut album scheduled for Nov. 19 on Epic records. The album features former lead singer/guitarist of Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, and Rage Against The Machine's Tim Commerford on bass, Tom Morello on guitar and Brad Wilk on drums. The project was recorded in Los Angeles at Oceanway Studios with producer Rick Rubin. The first single will be "Cochise," with a video directed by Mark Romanek.

"Cochise was the last great American Indian chief to die free and absolutely unconquered," Morello said. "When several members of his family were captured, tortured and hung by the U.S. Cavalry, Cochise declared war on the entire Southwest and went on an unholy rampage, a warpath to end all warpaths. He and his warriors drove out thousands of settlers. Cochise the Avenger, fearless and resolute, attacked everything in his path with an unbridled fury. This song kinda sounds like that."

MORE LES

Les Claypool will be in three places at once this Tuesday when three albums he played on by three different groups are released simultaneously. "Purple Onion," the first studio album of the virtuoso bass player and songwriter's solo career, comes out that day. Also due out Tuesday are "Bonaroo," the CD companion to this summer's epic three-day multi-artist concert, and Gov't Mule's "The Deep End - Vol. 2" featuring Claypool on the track "Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy." The Les Claypool Frog Brigade hits the road for a national headlining tour in October and November.

COL. BRUCE HAMPTON CRACKS CODE

"The Codetalkers with Col. Bruce Hampton," the latest project from the southeast's legendary rock surrealist Bruce Hampton, is scheduled for an Oct. 22 release on Harmonized Records. The album includes fan favorites such as "Beggin," "Grandma," "I'm So Glad" and "UFO." Pre-sales for the album are available through thecodetalkers.com. Hampton, one of the most influential figures in southern rock and the jam-band scene, has been involved with a series of groundbreaking musical institutions dating back to the Hampton Grease Band and including the Late Bronze Age, Aquarium Rescue Unit and Fiji Mariners. Two classic Late Bronze Age albums that have been long out of print, "Outside Looking Out" and "Isles Of Langerhan," also have just been reissued with bonus tracks. Hampton fans will find one of "Isles," bonus tracks, "A Sensitive Pond and the Sailor," a revelation. Available at terminusrecords.com.