Music Reviews

Singing Sister Act Sought to Record Album for Pope’s U.K. Visit Calling all nuns: Universal Music Group seeks singing sister act for the 21st century to record an album ahead of Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.K. in September.

Dubai’s Debt Blues Drowned Out by Chopin in Abu Dhabi (Update2) Pianist Yundi Li and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis are names not often associated with Abu Dhabi, home to more than 7 percent of the world’s oil supply.

Hamlet in Raincoat, Bloody Ophelia, Where’s Denmark? Review To flee or not to flee? That was the question when the Metropolitan Opera staged Ambroise Thomas’s “Hamlet” Tuesday night after dropping the piece for more than a century.

Wyclef Jean, Lang Lang Join Forces in Concert for Haitian Kids After a massive earthquake rocked Haiti in January, concert pianist Lang Lang sent a text message to Wyclef Jean asking if the singer’s friends and relatives in the Caribbean country were safe.

Patti Smith Misbehaves, Queen Loses Head: Great London Weekend Watch the blindfolded Queen of England get ready for execution as the first stop on your London weekend.

Grateful Dead Fans Glimpse Trippy Archive of Cool Stuff, Trivia Turn left at the giant bust of Abraham Lincoln -- the first dead head you’ll encounter at the New-York Historical Society -- and slip into the small exhibition area where relics of the Grateful Dead are worshipfully displayed.

Johnny Cash’s Raw Songs Beat Sade’s Silky Return: Mark Beech Johnny Cash’s rasp cracks and groans like a wooden galleon about to wreck on the rocks. Sade sings in a smooth voice as slinky as a cocktail dress. Corinne Bailey Rae’s crooning melts like fine chocolate.

Pink Floyd Wins Contract Suit Against EMI in London (Update1) EMI Group Ltd. should only sell the music of Pink Floyd, the band that recorded the best-selling album “The Dark Side of the Moon,” in full album format and can’t sell single songs online, a London judge ruled today.