SMALL FACES

Composer Michael Kamen has recruited Annie Lennox, Bryan Ferry, Rufus Wainwright, Keb’ Mo’, Des’ree and Ladysmith Black Mambazo to perform songs he wrote using Shakespeare’s sonnets as lyrics. Those tracks will be featured alongside actors reading other Shakespeare sonnets on a CD, due in the fall, with proceeds benefiting England’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Kamen is also writing and recording score music for “Band of Brothers,” the HBO’s World War II series produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks....

With its song “All Star” still ubiquitous after two years, Smash Mouth has returned to the studio with producer Eric Valentine to record its third album, which is due in the summer....

XTC, which just released “Homegrown,” a collection of demos from its recent work, is gearing up for a series of albums collecting more than 90 demos of previously unreleased material, including music that member Andy Partridge wrote for the film “James & the Giant Peach” (it wasn’t used in the movie). The series, with release dates not set, will be called “Fuzzy Warbles”--a term used to describe pop music in “A Clockwork Orange.” The group is also working on a new album due next year.