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Aston “Family Man” Barrett, the longtime bassist with Bob Marley & the Wailers, received the green light from London’s High Court to mount a claim over the band’s royalties, potentially worth millions of pounds.Barrett is suing Universal-Island Records Ltd and Island Def Jam Music Group, claiming that both he and the estate of his late brother, drummer Carlton Barrett, have not been paid years’ worth of royalties due to them under two recording agreements made in the 1970s. In the ongoing claim, Barrett says he and his brother, together with other members of the Wailers at various times, entered into partnerships with Marley on the basis that profits would be shared equally between Marley, on the one hand, and the remaining partners on the other.Therefore, he claims that Marley entered into recording agreements in 1974 and 1975 as their agent and they were party to those agreements, but Island and its parent Universal Music Group have failed to account to them for any share of the royalties they are due on the albums made under those agreements: “Natty Dread,” “Live!,” “Rastaman Vibration,” “Exodus,” “Kaya,” “Babylon by Bus,” “Survival,” “Uprising,” and “Confrontation.”
Source Billboard.com.

R.E.M. will launch a 26-date North American Tour, it

Always turning new albums out at a steady pace, and just a year since the release of “Are You Passionate,” Neil Young has finished a new studio album with help from Crazy Horse members: bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina. Frank (Pancho) Sampedro was reported to not be involved, which does not make this a full scale Crazy Horse record. The album is due out later this year. Neil Young has begun confirming dates for a summer North American tour backed by Crazy Horse. A spokesperson says the trek is still being booked, but so far, three dates are set: June 8 in West Palm Beach, Fla., June 9 in Tampa, Fla., and June 23 in Toronto. Young and Crazy Horse will also appear at the second annual Bonnaroo festival, to be held June 13-15 in Manchester, Tenn. Young begins a 20-date solo acoustic tour of Europe April 22 in Stockholm.
Source Billboard.com.

Another item of interest for Beatles fans. The London home where Beatle John Lennon lived from the ages of 5 to 23, and where many of his most beloved songs were born, is being opened to the public. Last year, Yoko Ono purchased the semi-detached home and has donated it to the National Trust. It has been restored to how it looked when Lennon had lived there in the 50

Sonic heavyweights colide. In addition to a previously announced Wilco/Sonic Youth show at New York City

The Dead have announced the first leg of their summer tour as part of “Summer Getaway 2003.” Joan Osborne will be adding vocals and filling in the spot where Susan Tedeschi sang during last November

After assaulting us with his new electric adventure called Zwan, Billy Corgan has gone acoustic. Recording in the vain of the Beatles “Let It Be,” Corgan

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Widespread Panic

Radiohead’s sixth Capitol studio album will be titled “Hail to the Thief.” The 14-track set, one of the most anticipated albums of the year, will arrive June 10 in North America and a day earlier in Europe. It will be preceded by the commercial single “There There,” which will be released May 26.
Produced by the band with longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich, the new album features a handful of songs that have already been unveiled to the public in some form. Frontman Thom Yorke played “There There” and “Sail to the Moon” during his solo performances at last October’s Bridge School Benefit outside San Francisco, while “A Punch-Up at a Wedding” was performed live by the full band last year and during an Internet Webcast in December. For a full list of tracks on the new release, visit Billboard.com