Neil Young Goes Into Studio With Pearl Jam : Pop music: Series of collaborations lead to recording sessions. The project is cited as the reason Young won’t be in Lollapalooza ’95.

Neil Young and Pearl Jam--rock’s most celebrated cross-generational appreciation society--are recording an album together in Seattle.

The plan is apparently to release the collection this summer, hopefully in time for a possible Young/Pearl Jam tour. Young has decided against headlining this summer’s edition of Lollapalooza to concentrate on the collaboration.

Elliot Roberts, Young’s manager, said that the sessions began shortly after the acts performed together in January at both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner in New York (where Young was inducted) and a Voters for Choice benefit in Washington, D.C. The collaboration was originally just meant for fun, but it quickly expanded into a “real” project.

“They flew to Seattle and three days later they already had five songs,” Roberts said.

The musicians planned to keep the project secret until its completion, but Roberts confirmed it in response to mounting rumors in the music industry that Young had pulled out of Lollapalooza, demanding more money.

“That’s absolutely not true,” Roberts said of the reports. “(The Lollapalooza organizers) offered us more money than you could shake a stick at, and we tentatively agreed. But Neil feels this record’s more important right now.”

Almost as surprising as the teaming is the fact that Pearl Jam would return so quickly with a new album. The group’s “Vitalogy” was only released last December. Normally, major bands these days wait two to three years between albums.

Even “Vitalogy” was something of a surprise--coming just a year after the group’s “Vs.” collection. But the rapid return didn’t run into sales resistance. “Vitalogy” sold nearly 900,000 its first week in the stores and has now passed the 3 million mark. In recent years, Young’s albums have generally sold in the 500,000 to 1 million range.

Among the new songs recorded so far in Seattle is Young’s “Act of Love,” which he and the band performed together at both January events. At this point, it’s uncertain whether the album will be released by Warner Bros. Records, Young’s label, or Epic Records, Pearl Jam’s.

Producer Brendan O’Brien, who worked on Pearl Jam’s last two albums, is overseeing the sessions, which are expected to resume in April after Pearl Jam finishes a tour of Asia and Australia that begins in two weeks.

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The project continues a growing relationship between Young and the band. Pearl Jam opened several shows on a Young tour in 1993, and they jammed together on that year’s “MTV Video Music Awards” telecast from the Universal Amphitheatre.

Because Pearl Jam has refused to sell tickets through Ticketmaster, representatives of the two acts are reportedly exploring alternative sites for shows. Ticketmaster, which the Seattle band has accused of maintaining a monopoly over pop concert ticket distribution in the United States, has exclusive contracts with most of the nation’s major concert venues and promoters.

Young’s withdrawal from Lollapalooza leaves the annual alternative-rock caravan in a state of uncertainty. Without a confirmed headliner, organizers have been unable to get other acts to commit to the trek, which is scheduled to begin in early June.

Stone Temple Pilots and Nine Inch Nails have been mentioned as possible replacements, but both are believed unlikely to accept the offer. Meanwhile, Courtney Love’s band, Hole, and rap trio Cypress Hill have been approached to perform.