MOVING RIGHT ALONG: Has ELO’s Jeff Lynne...

MOVING RIGHT ALONG: Has ELO’s Jeff Lynne become a hot producer or what? He’s already worked with Paul McCartney and Dave Edmunds, he’s been cutting tracks with Tom Petty and now he’s doing a song with Randy Newman for Newman’s (as usual) long-awaited next album. Could this Lynne studio assist be a belated pay-back for Newman’s wry ELO homage, “The Story of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band,” where Newman crooned: “I love their ‘Mr. Blue Skies,’ almost my favorite is ‘Turn to Stone,’ And how ‘bout ‘Telephone Line,’ I love that ELO. . . .” Meanwhile, the new Talking Heads album, due out March 15, is called “Naked.” It features a host of new tunes, including “Blind,” “Mr. Jones,” “Totally Nude” and (a song we hope is dedicated to this year’s wacky primary season) “Democratic Circus”. . . . Is pop music’s answer to Oscar Wilde, the Smiths’ vocalist Morrissey, really pursuing his solo career? You bet. His first solo album, due out March 22, is a hands-down winner of our Title of the Week. Called “Viva Hate,” it features such quotable tunes as “Suedehead” (the first single), “I Know Very Well How I Got My Name” and “Hairdresser on Fire”. . . . And don’t count on a Rolling Stones reunion any time soon. Keith Richards was quoted recently as saying “Mick’s solo album died, his tour is off and now he comes back to me and says, ‘Let’s do something.’ Well, he can wait. I’ve got my own solo album to work on.”