Short Takes - Robert Wyatt, Lynne Randall, Billy Joe Shaver

Robert Wyatt's (Soft Machine) next album will be called Comicopera and is scheduled for release by Domino on October 8.

Guesting on the album are Paul Weller, Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music). Wyatt's aim was to make the musicians a cohesive group.

"Music isn't just an abstract pleasure, it is a company, when you play a record. Why I like Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus, the Big Bands -is because every character in the band is identifiable as that person - there's this group of humans in a room."

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Australian singer Lynne Randall who became a teen star with 1967's Ciao Baby, has died at the age of 57 from an apparent suicide. Randall had an addiction problem that started as far back as the 60's when she was opening for Jimi Hendrix and the Monkees. In the 80's, she became famous on the Hollywood party circuit as the "Crazy Lady from Australia."

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Country singer/songwriter Billy Joe Shaver will be releasing a spiritual album called Everybody's Brother on August 7 via Compadre Records. Guests on the album include John Anderson, Kris Kristofferson, Tanya Tucker, Randy Scruggs and Marty Stuart. Also included on the LP will be a 1979 duet with Johnny Cash on You Just Can't Beat Jesus Christ.

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A $256,000 grant has been given to the fund to build the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center by the Mississippi Delta Regional Authority. The Indianola facility is planned as a 15,000 square foot building on the site of an old cotton gin.

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Over at eBay auctions, the top selling vinyl for the week was I Have a Girl by the Magnetics on Ra-Sal Records, which went for $5,550.00. Second was a rare red copy of U2's Unforgettable Fire from Sweden which sold for $5,231.00.