Read and Listen

Attention, Wal-Mart Shoppers
You and only you will be able to purchase a copy of the new AC/DC album, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The as-yet-untitled album, due out this fall, is the band's first since 2000. This is the latest on the list of albums that are Wal-Mart exclusives. I can see it now. The "Headbangers Special" will be on the aisle next to the fishing rods. By the way, Wal-Mart says its current exclusive, Journey's Revelation, sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week.

Coop De Jour
There aren't many artists about whom you can say that they are about to release their 25th studio album. Alice Cooper can claim that distinction with the upcoming Along Came A Spider, described as "a concept album with a sinister streak" in the announcement of its July 29 release. Who else but the venerable Coop could get away with a love story about a serial killer?

A Heart Backed Book
The first "authorized" (read: approved by the people about whom it is written) biography of rock sister act Heart is being released at about the same time that Ann and Nancy Wilson and company are touring with Journey, just prior to an expected new Heart album in 2009. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, it's their turn to be installed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The printed portion of the big push is titled Heart: In The Studio.