The Charlatans U.K. are hard at work on their eighth album, which is being tentatively scheduled for a spring release. According to the band's official Web site, the final track listing for the as-yet-untitled record will be selected from a pool of 19 tracks.

"The band has never had so many songs available ahead of the start of the album," read a post on the site. "With 'Try Again Today,' 'Blue for You' and 'Feel the Pressure' already recorded, we expect to have eight songs finished by Christmas, with the balance to be completed in January. Working titles for the next five songs are 'Dead Love,' 'Apples and Oranges,' 'Up at the Lake,' 'Loving You Is Easy' and 'High Up Your Tree'."

The set will be the follow-up to 2001's "Wonderland" (MCA). Lead vocalist Tim Burgess released a solo album, "I Believe," in September in the U.K. and Europe via PIAS records.

-- Troy Carpenter, N.Y.

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Brides Of Destruction -- a hard rock act featuring Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx and L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns -- will release its debut album in the spring through Sanctuary. Due March 9, the nine-track "Here Come the Brides" is to be the first of a three-album deal the band has with Sanctuary through Sixx's 12-11 Productions.

What Sixx calls a "band of underdogs," Brides Of Destruction is rounded out by session drummer Scot Coogan and singer London Legrand. Half of the album, which was produced by Steve Bruno and mixed by Steve Thompson (Metallica, Korn), features Adema drummer Kris Kohls.

Further information can be found at the band's official Web site.

-- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.

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James Carter, who was recorded singing "Po Lazarus" in 1959 by music archivist Alan Lomax, died Nov. 26 from complications related to a recent stroke. A funeral will be held Thursday (Dec. 4) at the Living Word Christian Center in Forest Park, Ill.

Lomax's recording of Carter leading his fellow Mississippi State Penitentiary inmates in the song opens the soundtrack to "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and earned the singer thousands of dollars in royalties. The 2001 soundtrack won the album of the year Grammy award and has sold 6.5 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Carter is survived by his wife, Rosie, daughters Elizabeth Scott, Hattie Tucker and Cora Macklin and nine grandchildren. Condolences can be sent to the family via Elizabeth Scott at 1140 Superior St., Oak Park, IL 60302.

-- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.