The word is that the long-awaited Dr....

The word is that the long-awaited Dr. Dre/Snoop Doggy Dogg tour will finally hit the road in early June--with conflicting reports about whether Hammer will be part of it. . . . Motown is reportedly putting together a tribute album to Marvin Gaye, featuring versions of his songs by other artists. . . .

Anita Baker has an album and, possibly, a tour in the fall. . . . An album from Teddy Riley’s new group BLACKstreet is due in late June and it reportedly features a “progressive” version of Riley’s new jack swing. . . .

Erasure’s first full album in three years, “I Say, I Say, I Say,” is due May 17. A video has been shot for the first single, “Always,” featuring singer Andy Bell as a fantasy Kabuki figure protecting a young girl from a puppet monster. . . .

Besides the normal package, the new Boingo album will also be released May 17 in a limited-edition, deluxe package that includes a 50-page book featuring photos of Danny Elfman’s art collection. The album will include a version of “I Am the Walrus.” . . .

Attorney Lee Blackman of Santa Monica, who is now representing the Harry Nilsson estate, says that record companies are interested in the album that the singer-songwriter was working on at the time of his death on Jan. 15, but the earliest release date would be in the fall--to avoid clashing with an RCA box set due this summer. . . .

A&M; Records will release an as yet untitled Joe Cocker three-CD box set in the late summer that will cover the singer’s entire career. It includes the version of “With a Little Help From my Friends” that Cocker sang at Woodstock. . . .

Also coming in May is “Dulcinea,” a new album by Toad the Wet Sprocket. The band will play a benefit for the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center on May 28 in a field adjacent to UC Santa Barbara. . . . The second major-label album by Helmet, with Page Hamilton, is due out June 21. It’s titled “Betty.” . . .

Sinead O’Connor is doing a lot of guest spots these days: She’s on several tracks of world beat star Manu Dibango’s album--due in late June--including a version of Peter Gabriel’s “Biko” that features Gabriel and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. She’s also singing on a cut on the new album by the Marxmen, an interracial Irish rap quartet, that’s out May 17.*