THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

You roared when Rogers and Clark (a.k.a. Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman) sang their hearts out in “Ishtar” (or maybe you didn’t). But you won’t find the Capitol Records sound track in stores yet (it was planned to coincide with the film’s May 15 release.

Capitol’s blaming cover problems, not the picture’s lackluster critical and box-office impact. Such as: Should the album be released with Hoffman and Beatty on the cover with the caption “Rogers and Clark--Greatest Hits Live”--or should Capitol simply duplicate the film’s poster design? That decision’s still pending.

And: “We’re waiting for the final tracks to be submitted,” said Maureen O’Connor, Capitol’s director of artist/media relations. “That will determine our campaign and the number of albums pressed.”

Songwriter Paul Williams, who wrote the majority of “purposely awful” songs for the movie said that all vocals for the movie were recorded and available months ago.

But Bert Fields, Hoffman and Beatty’s lawyer, told us the actors were unhappy with their movie renditions and decided to return to the recording studio two weeks ago to redo their vocals. To try to improve on their singing quality? Replied Fields: “I don’t think they can sing any better than they do in the film.”

Avid fans can console themselves knowing the star duos’ cover of the Diamond’s “Little Darlin’ ” will be available Monday as a single.