SOUND CHECK : POP.

Stone Temple Pilots/``Tiny Music ... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop''

Don't let the novelty title or the dime-store CD cover fool you. Stone Temple Pilots' third album (Atlantic) is a serious, troubling work.

That it's here at all is a surprise. Whether battling a publicized drug addiction or fighting with his band mates, singer Scott Weiland should be in no shape to record. Those looking for clues into his troubled past - and cloudy future - need look no further than the lyrics he flings out on these scabrous rockers.

Perhaps most disturbing is how he appears to equate himself with the late Kurt Cobain on ``Pop's Love Suicide'' (``Can you figure out what I want, pull the trigger with a pop gun/Mindless fools that aggravate it pick at you in desperation''), or the frightening ``Sell more records if I'm dead,'' line from ``Adhesive.''

Once dismissed as Pearl Jam clones, STP comes into its own here. ``Tiny Music'' isn't an easy listen; the CD lacks the hooks of its predecessors, but it's an important work. Three Stars

SOURCE: - Howard Cohen  Lush/``Lovelife''

This record might come as a surprise to longtime Lush fans, but, one hopes, it will end up being a pleasant one. Gone on ``Lovelife'' (4AD/Reprise) are the shimmering guitars and ethereal vocals that marked the group's earlier recordings. Lush's last album, 1994's critically acclaimed ``Split,'' stripped some of the ambient distortion and was, perhaps, the perfect blend of the ethereal and pop rock. Now, nearly completely devoid of any gratuitous studio effects, Lush has stepped out onto the precarious ledge of ``unplugged'' and lo-fi power-pop. With the instruments and souls bared for all to see, it's a fun, naked and courageous record. After a few listens, you'll find yourself charmed by the fact that Lush isn't so lush anymore. Three Stars

SOURCE: - Steve Nichols JAZZ Cassandra Wilson/``New Moon Daughter''

Singer Cassandra Wilson certainly is intriguing, if not yet particularly exciting or moving. And whether she's an outstanding or mediocre jazz singer - or a jazz singer at all - remains open to debate.

Though Wilson began her recording career with an album of standards (``Blue Skies'' on JMT), she has since become quite eclectic in her song choices. In that, she is similar to (but less self-consciously hip than) the fast-rising Canadian vocalist Holly Cole. Both use minimal instrumental backing (mostly stringed instruments and percussion) and attempt to add a jazz sensibility to an amalgam of folk, rock, blues and pop tunes, tossing in a jazz number here and there.

At this, Wilson succeeds more often than she fails (U2's ``Love Is Blindness,'' Son House's ``Death Letters,'' Neil Young's ``Harvest Moon''). But she is most impressive on - and helps her new album (Blue Note) - with several of her own songs, probably because she is more natural and comfortable performing them. Two Stars

SOURCE: - Bob Protzman Herbie Hancock/``The New Standard''

Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock has built a career on brilliant playing, curious ears and courageous, unexpected moves. ``The New Standard'' (Verve) sounds like a dare gone wrong.

Sure, 40 years ago jazz musicians turned Hollywood and Broadway junk - perhaps no more interesting melodically than Peter Gabriel's ``Mercy Street,'' no richer harmonically than Kurt Cobain's ``All Apologies'' - into jewels.

Blame it on hopeless material or creative fatigue, Hancock here sounds merely banal. After ``New York Minute'' - his solo here is a blend of logic and elegant urgency - the program is merely lounge music with aspirations.

Hancock's failures were once provocative. His versions of songs such as Babyface's ``When Can I See You'' is dross only smooth-jazz radio programmers can love. They are welcome to it. Now give us Hancock back. Two Stars.

SOURCE: - Howard Cohen COUNTRY Lari White/``Don't Fence Me In''

Lari White obviously intends to make a personal statement with the title track of her third album, ``Don't Fence Me In'' (RCA). It's bookended by the Cole Porter tune. Unfortunately, she spends too much of the album staying within the confines of the safe and predictable.

That's dismaying, because on her debut disc, ``Lead Me Not,'' the onetime Rodney Crowell protege showed that she could consistently break from the herd as a singer and writer. ``Don't Fence Me In'' certainly has such moments.

There's the rocking abandon of ``Wild at Heart'' and the Tammy Wynette-like tear-jerker ``Something Blue,'' and her boogie-driven version of ``Don't Fence Me In'' displays a musical adventurousness akin to Shelby Lynne's.

Those highlights are overshadowed, however, by numbers such as ``Ghost of a Chance,'' ``The Test,'' ``Do It Again'' and ``Woman of the World,'' the kind of hackneyed, radio-ready fodder that sank her second album, ``Wishes.''

Even when she strays from Nashville convention, White hedges her bets: One of the album's best tracks is ``Soul Searchin' Blues,'' but White includes only a tantalizing snippet of this pungent acoustic blues on the album proper. The full version is buried as an unlisted bonus track. Two Stars

SOURCE: - Nick Cristiano

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) On ``Lovelife,'' the evolving Lush isn't quit e so lush, yet charming just the same.

(2) Cassandra Wilson continues her eclectic song choices on ``New Moon Daughter.''

(3) Herbie Hancock gives current tunes a jazz treatment on ``The New Standard.''