POP / Sleeve Notes: Elvis's shopping

Conspiracy theorists will want to perform a thorough investigation of the forthcoming book Elvis Meets the Beatles: The Untold Story of Their Entangled Lives. The authors, Chris Hutchins and Peter Thompson, in an imaginative coup which ties the loose ends of a number of other recent sagas relating separately to the Beatles and Presley, conclude that it was Elvis who conspired with the FBI to remove John Lennon from America. Hutchins is a former NME journalist who travelled with the Beatles and, as he points out in his introduction, was instrumental in bringing together the King of rock `n' roll and the Fab Four in the Imperial Suite of the Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas in August 1965. Hutchins went on to work as a press agent for Gilbert O'Sullivan and maintained his silence for years but now, apparently, feels the story can be told. The book also reports that Frank Sinatra personally intervened in an attempt to save Elvis from drugs and refers to an attempted seduction of Ringo Starr by Little Richard. Almost too good to be true.

- Published by Smith Gryphon on 8 December

It's not ``country and western'': it's ``New American Music''. MCA records this week launched a ``New American Music'' tour for Europe - featured artists: Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood and Marty Stuart - and called it ``the biggest drive ever to re-launch country music'' over here. Stuart Watson, MCA's senior vice-president says the change of label is about ``repositioning the genre''. The term ``country'' is now officially considered old hat.

- The `New American Music Tour' is at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 15 April and at the Royal Albert Hall, London on 16 April