Annie Lennox gets by with help from 23 friends

Pop diva Annie Lennox announced recently that her fourth solo album, Songs of Mass Destruction, which drops October 2, will include one track featuring vocal contributions from 23 other female singers. Perhaps you've heard of some of them: Melissa Etheridge, Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Celine Dion, Stacy Ferguson, Faith Hill, Pink, Dido, Gladys Knight, kd lang, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Joss Stone and KT Tunstall.

It's Lilith Fair compressed into four minutes and without the messy sunscreen.

With 23 other stars, the song, a feminist anthem entitled, "Sing," could possibly be a truncated version of the title, "Sing, or Just Mouth the Words — No One's Gonna Know the Difference."

Although it remains to be heard whether any one artist gets a line or two of her own, the cause is definitely worthwhile. "Sing" will benefit Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a movement fighting for human rights, education and health care for those affected by and living with AIDS/HIV.

There's another album already called Songs of Mass Destruction — a 1993 release by a Swedish duo called Devoid. But with songs like "Drug Womb" and "Go to Hell" on the Devoid album, I doubt there will be much confusion as to which one is Annie's.

In a press release, the former member of the Eurythmics said, "I feel closer to my own cutting edge than before and my voice seems to be in its prime."

The press release goes on to say the album "showcases an artist who is unafraid of pushing boundaries and challenging herself."

Yeah, well, what else is new? When "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" came out in 1983, the other female artists that year — Bananarama and some girl from Detroit named Madonna — were dancing around in petticoats wearing doilies on their heads. And then, right there on my MTV, was a cross-dressing woman sporting a bright orange boi cut and a riding crop, standing in what I now know as the board room on The S&M Apprentice.

Twenty-five years later, Annie is still hot. And she's starting to look just a tad like a Separated at Birth with Jamie Lee Curtis, albeit the somber one with an earache.