The long-rumored New Edition reunion album is...

The long-rumored New Edition reunion album is un der way, with Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant and the Bell Biv DeVoe trio all expected to participate. They’ve done some preliminary recording and are set to go into the studio with Gerald Levert producing some of the album. . . . Scratch the Whitney Houston greatest-hits album off the Christmas shopping list. With work reportedly stalled on the two or three new songs planned to be included, the release has been pushed back to after the holiday season. . . .

Mary J. Blige’s first album in two years is coming in early November, with the singer having co-written seven of the tracks. . . . Despite concerns that Vanessa Williams’ long run on Broadway in “Kiss of the Spider Woman” might cause her next album to be pushed back, it’s set for a Nov. 22 release. . . .

“Unplugged” . . . “Unledded” . . . “Un pigged “? The voice of Kermit the Frog has been joined by those of Don Henley, Jimmy Buffett, Vince Gill, Linda Ronstadt, George Benson and, yes, Ozzy Osbourne for “Kermit Unpigged,” an album in stores this week. Kermit duets with Henley on “Bein’ Green,” Ronstadt on “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” Gill on “Daydream” and with his own Miss Piggy on Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy.” The real kicker: Osbourne and Miss Piggy on “Born to Be Wild.” . . .

David Bowie, although still without a U.S. record deal, is planning a new album for next year, with talk about some collaborations with Brian Eno, including a CD-ROM project. Bowie has also been pursuing his passion for art, interviewing the 86-year-old artist Balthus for the cover story of the current issue of the English journal Modern Painter. . . .

Some would consider a Bee Gees comeback a miracle, so it’s appropriate that the Brothers Gibb have recorded “Miracles Happen,” the lead song for the soundtrack of John Hughes’ remake of “Miracle on 34th Street.” Also doing songs for the film are Aretha Franklin, Wynonna Judd and Crash Test Dummies. . . .

With the U.N. cultural ban on South Africa lifted after the end of apartheid, Hugh Masekela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo will be appearing during the Miss World telecast from Sun City on Nov. 19. . . .

A pregnant Charlotte Caffey will sit out the upcoming Go-Go’s reunion shows (including a possible Wiltern Theatre date in December), with former Bangles guitarist Vicki Peterson filling in. Peterson has been commuting between L.A. and New Orleans, where she plays with the Continental Drifters, which also features L.A. refugees Peter Holsapple, Susan Cowsill (of the Cowsills), Mark Walton (ex-Dream Syndicate) and Carlo Nuncio. The band has just released its debut album on the small Monkey Hill label. . . .

Another former Dream Syndicate figure, Steve Wynn, is working on the second album with Gutterball, his collaboration with House of Freaks.*