Rock News: Music's high and low notes

REGGAE STARS WITH UB40

Reggae stars Freddie McGregor, The Mighty Diamonds, Gregory Isaacs, Max Romeo, John Holt, Toots Hibbert, Ken Boothe, Brent Dowe, Honey Boy, Alton Ellis, Jackie Robinson, Bob Andy, Winston Groovy and Leroy Sibbles are all collaborating with neo-reggae band UB40 on that band's newest album.

UB40 is set to release "The Fathers of Reggae" Nov. 19 on Virgin Records. "The Fathers of Reggae" features 16 reggae luminaries working their way through personal band favorites.

"Singers like John Holt, Ken Boothe, Toots and Gregory Isaacs ... they're our Gods ... more than heroes," said Robin Campbell. "They could have just said 'no' and it wouldn't have surprised me in the slightest. But practically everybody jumped at the idea. What was really nice was, after we'd talked to a few people, we started getting phone calls from other singers asking 'Why aren't I going to be on that album?' It was incredible."

Once the project was agreed to, the album gained its own momentum. The band began by drawing up a long list of UB40 songs they wanted covered, all of them songs the band felt could be approached from a different angle. When the list of artists started to firm up, it became easier to decide what songs suited particular styles.

"When I gave Freddie McGregor 'You're Always Pulling Me Down,' he loved it and just said 'That's my tune ... that's my tune'," Robin explained. "We were on tour when Ali spoke to John Holt and told him we wanted him to do 'The Pillow.' Straight away, he started singing it on the phone!"

DISCO BISCUITS ANTIWAR BASH

The Disco Biscuits have become anti-war activists. The popular electronic dance band will play an anti-war concert Oct. 24 in Washington D.C. They're calling it "The Primary Colors for Peace Concert." Although the band members have traditionally kept their political beliefs to themselves, they all agree on, and are in support of, peaceful resolutions to the current world crisis. Each member of The Disco Biscuits will be dressed in one of four colors -- red, blue, yellow, or green -- to signify their support for peace and their position against the prospect of a war with Iraq. Fans attending the concert are encouraged to choose a primary color for peace, and dress entirely in that color.

CD PRICE FIXING SETTLEMENT AT $143 Million

The record industry may owe you money for compact discs you purchased. Attorneys general in 41 states and three U.S. commonwealths yesterday announced a $143 million settlement of price-fixing charges against the five major U.S. distributors and retailers Trans World Entertainment, Tower Records and Musicland Stores.

In an antitrust lawsuit filed in August 2000 in federal court, the states charged the companies from 1995-2000 had conspired to inflate the price of CDs, costing consumers millions of dollars. The suit claimed they illegally used minimum advertised pricing policies to raise CD prices. Universal Music and Video Distribution, BMG Distribution, WEA, and EMI Distribution issued statements saying they believe the policies were legal but protracted litigation would be prohibitively expensive.

Tower and Trans World also contend their innocence but say they too wished to avoid costly litigation. Sony Music Distribution and Musicland had no comment. The settling states will receive $67.38 million in cash to compensate consumers and pay settlement administration costs and attorneys' fees. In addition, 5.5 million CDs, valued at $75.7 million, will be distributed to public entities and nonprofit organizations in each state to benefit consumers and promote music programs.

LOVE SETTLES WITH UNIVERSAL

The final agreement between the estate of Kurt Cobain, represented by his wife Courtney Love, and Universal records, the world's largest music company, was hammered out Monday, as Love had been predicting in recent interviews. Love, lead singer with the band Hole, is no longer contractually bound to release her music on Universal. In return she will allow the company to issue unreleased Nirvana material from her husband's archives and compilation albums of Nirvana songs.

DAVE GROHL ON NIRVANA

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl talks about his current band and Nirvana in the November issue of Spin magazine.

"I guess, in a way, our band (the Foo Fighters) actually represents something, which I really didn't consider until a few years ago. I didn't think we meant much to anybody," Grohl told Spin. "From my point of view, I was in this band that people considered so important (Nirvana), and people thought it really made a difference, and it touched so many people's lives and changed the direction of popular culture.

"Now, that's not necessarily how I look at it, but a lot of people think about it that way. And it doesn't make sense to imagine that happening twice in your life. The Beatles were ... great but Wings didn't change the world. I can't believe I just made that comparison. That's so ... pretentious," he said.

Grohl has been reluctant to talk about Nirvana, but he admitted in the interview he thinks about the experience every day.

"People think of Nirvana as this sad, brooding experience. But I don't. I have a lot of great memories. And at the same time, I've forgotten so much, just because it was so insane. I mean, I joined the band in September of 1990, and by April of '94, it was done. Try to remember everything that happened to you during college. You can't."

Grohl also noted the public feud with Courtney Love, the wife of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, is pretty much over. "As much as Courtney and I dislike each other, the few times that we've bumped into each other in person, we've kinda laughed at how ridiculous it all is (the persistent litigation). The last time we saw each other was at the Reading Festival a couple years ago, from the side of the stage. We glared at each other. And I just laughed. I thought, 'This is so stupid.'"