They have decades-old standards

Rod Stewart scored a big commercial comeback with two albums of standards. Michael McDonald did the same with his recent album of Motown classics.

Can another act reclaim chart glory with a similar approach aimed at another generation?

That’s the thought behind a reunion album now being made by Wilson Phillips. The trio of Carnie and Wendy Wilson (daughters of Beach Boy Brian) and Chynna Phillips (daughter of the Mamas and the Papas’ John and Michelle) is finishing an album of music the three grew up on -- hits from the 1970s golden age of California pop.

A decade after the group’s last record, “Pacific Coast Highway” applies Wilson Phillips’ sunny harmonies to songs originated by or associated with Jackson Browne (“Doctor My Eyes”), the Eagles (“Already Gone”), Neil Young (“Old Man”), Joni Mitchell (“California”), Fleetwood Mac (“Go Your Own Way”) and Linda Ronstadt (“You’re No Good”), among others.

The album, due May 24, also reaches back to the ‘60s for the Byrds’ folk-rock take on “Turn, Turn, Turn.” And there are familial nods to both the Beach Boys (“Dance, Dance, Dance,” as well as an intimate “In My Room” that features Brian himself on piano and vocals) and the Mamas and the Papas (“Monday, Monday”). The album is being produced by Peter Asher, who produced Ronstadt’s best-known recordings and other artists of that era.

The group had started work on an album of new material when Columbia Records executives proposed a record of remakes.

“The label was more into the ‘60s -- the Byrds and Jackie DeShannon,” says Carnie Wilson. “And we said, ‘Wait a minute. I was born in ’68. If we want to sing songs, we want to be familiar with them and love them ourselves.’ ”

Peter Fletcher, Columbia Records senior vice president of marketing, West Coast, is planning a strategy for this release similar to those used on the Stewart and McDonald albums.

“There will be a lot of TV appearances, very intensive and targeted TV advertising and an emphasis on licensing where we can do it,” he says. “Rod had a car ad, Michael had the MCI commercial. We’re looking for those opportunities so the music is in front of the public in many ways.”

Alan Light, editor of the new magazine Tracks, which in part targets an audience raised on that ‘70s music, says it might be trickier to pull off artistically than the previous standards albums.

“I think everyone is trying to figure out how to make this interpretive pop song approach work for them with slightly different spins,” says Light. “But when you’re talking about ‘70s California stuff, you’re talking about the defining confessional singer-songwriters, and the songs are so bound up in being performed by the person who wrote [them].”

Carnie Wilson is conscious of that and says the trio made a point to personalize the songs, while attempting to preserve their original spirit. And she says there’s already talk of a sequel, focusing on songs from the same era, but a different locale.

“I want to do a British one,” Wilson says. “Everyone else says, ‘No, let’s do New York next.’ ”

Le Tigre steps into major-label jungle

While a lot of veteran major-label artists are fleeing to the independent world, one notable figure is moving the other way.

After 15 years as a defiant force in the anti-majors movement, Kathleen Hanna has brought her band Le Tigre to a deal with Strummer Recordings, which is part of Universal Records. The label expects to release a new album from the band in September.

Hanna, who came to prominence with Bikini Kill, one of the essential acts in the mid-’90s riot grrrl world, says that right now, she and her two bandmates believe this is the best opportunity to further the band’s agenda.

“We all feel it’s a really conservative climate now in politics and not a lot of radical feminists are in the mainstream,” she says. “And it’s time to get our music out there. We think our art is important and want to reach beyond the people who already know about us.”

Le Tigre, which has put out two albums combining radical politics and electronic rock on the tiny Mr. Lady label, joins a Strummer roster that includes edgy progressives Mars Volta and neo-post-punkers the Rapture -- acts that also stand outside the current mainstream.

“We’re trying to be a halfway house between the great independent labels and the great artist-oriented major labels from the past, like Island and A&M; and Geffen,” says Strummer President Gary Gersh. “This provides the opportunity for bands who have the potential to be gigantic but are afraid of the system to be part of the system without being swallowed up by it.”

Hanna, though, admits to a little frustration in not being able to accomplish her goals in an indie setting.

“I wish the world was a different place,” she says. “I wish we didn’t live in a capitalist system. I wish there was health care for everyone. I wish there was a radical feminist label that was indie but had the money of the majors. But that doesn’t exist now, so we’re trying an experiment. Why not?”

Don’t be chicken: Ask her to speak

It’s still spring training, but Jessica Simpson is already in midseason form and well on track to exceed her 2003 total of notable quotes (wondering if Chicken of the Sea was, well, chicken and such). First she concluded the MTV Super Bowl halftime presentation -- about its “Choose or Lose” voter registration program -- by exhorting the crowd with, “Houston chooses to party!” And now, on a visit to the White House last week, she is said to have complimented Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton on the “nice job decorating” the presidential home.

But just like Chicken of the Sea, this is all starting to seem a little fishy. No one could say these things without knowing what they’re saying. Simpson, who also remembered answering “A, E, I, O, U!” when asked in grade school to name the continents, must be a lot smarter than she’s letting on. In fact, it’s an act of pure genius, and deserves recognition.

Accordingly, with Bono invited to speak at the University of Pennsylvania’s graduation ceremony, Pop Eye challenges other institutions of higher learning to recognize the intellect behind Simpson’s persona and ask her to deliver a commencement address.

Any takers? At the very least, it will boost attendance.