New season brings a bumper crop of CDs

Summer's almost over. You've spent your hard-earned money on concert tickets and just maybe a vacation. Now it's time to get back to work and start buying new CDs - or so the music industry hopes.

Among the acts with new CDs in the next two months: David Bowie, Sting, Rage Against the Machine, Paula Cole, Paul McCartney, Fiona Apple, Bush, Mariah Carey, LL Cool J, Method Man, Indigo Girls, Creed, Counting Crows, Li'l Kim, Tony Bennett, and Run-D.M.C. (with Aerosmith guesting).

The brisk pace, leading to the crescendo of the holidays, starts Tuesday with the two-CD set "Woodstock '99" (no word on whether the banshee wails of the late-night fire-starters will be included). The same day has the release of Nanci Griffith's "The Dust Bowl Symphony," Iggy Pop's "Avenue B" (reportedly an introspective work by his punk standards), Steven Van Zandt's "Born Again Savage," Wilson Pickett's "It's Harder Now" (the first for the so-called Wicked Pickett in many years), and Bruce Cockburn's "Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu."

The pace picks up Sept. 21 with Tori Amos's "To Venus and Back," Chris Cornell's "Euphoria Morning" (the first solo disc for the former Soundgarden singer), Indigo Girls' "Come On Now Social" (with guests Sheryl Crow, Joan Osborne, and Me'shell Ndegeocello), Our Lady Peace's "Happiness Is Not a Fish You Can Catch," Ben Harper's "Burn to Shine," Pete Townshend's "Pete Townshend Live," Randy Travis's "A Man Ain't Made of Stone," Reba McEntire's "The Secret of Giving," and Luciano Pavarotti's "Pavarotti and Friends: For the Children of Guatemala and Kosovo." His friends include Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, B.B. King, Ricky Martin, and Joe Cocker.

The week of Sept. 28 is led by Garth Brooks's "In the Life of Chris Gaines." Boston's Grammy-winning Paula Cole has "Amen," which she produced herself and to which she added guest Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins from TLC. Sting issues "Brand New Day" (with guests James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Branford Marsalis, and Algerian singer Cheb Mami).

Also on Sept. 28: Rappers Method Man and Redman team up for "Black Out!," Tony Bennett has "Tony Bennett Sings Ellington/Hot and Cool," Creed has "Human Clay," Yes comes back into view with "The Ladder" (the last album produced by Bruce Fairbairn, now deceased), Meredith Brooks delivers "Deconstruction" (with Queen Latifah guesting), and Motown releases four CDs filled with previously unreleased songs from the vaults by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and the Four Tops (notably a jazz album they made in the '60s that was never released at the time).

Onward and upward: Oct. 5 marks the release of Bowie's "hours," Etheridge's "Breakdown" (with Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jaffee guesting), Live's "The Distance to Here," B.B. King's "Let the Good Times Roll: The Music of Louis Jordan"; and McCartney's "Run Devil Run," featuring oldies-rock favorites with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on guitar.

The pace slows a bit Oct. 12 - the biggest records are Run-D.M.C.'s "Crown Royal" and 311's "Soundsystem" - but heats up again Oct. 19 with Li'l Kim's "Notorious K.I.M.," Eurythmics' "Peace" (the group's first release in a decade), Bryan Ferry's "As Time Goes By" (an album of '30s standards), and Joe Jackson's "Symphony No. 1," which continues his classical obsession.

On Nov. 2 comes the fall's most anticipated release, by rap-metal powerhouse Rage Against the Machine (the disc is as yet untitled). Also in November, though release dates are subject to change: Mariah Carey, Fiona Apple, Primus, Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters, LL Cool J, and Counting Crows.

Boxed sets will start hitting the shelves, another sign the holidays are around the corner. And some boxes are rather ambitious and lavishly priced. Sony has a 26-CD set of catalog highlights, "Sony Music 100 Years: Soundtrack for a Century." It's out Oct. 12 and will retail for $329. But that's cheaper than the just-released 30-CD "Elvis Presley Collection," which collects his albums for $424. Another box of note is the six-CD Fleetwood Mac set "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions from 1967-69," due Oct. 19.

Also, Christmas albums will start trickling out soon. Amy Grant, 98 Degrees, Jewel, George Strait, and Take 6 are among the acts releasing those.