SOUND CHECK : POP.

Madonna and others/``Evita: The Complete Motion Picture Soundtrack''

The good news is Madonna is more than up to this material. She holds back on the big numbers, especially the show-stopping ``Don't Cry for Me Argentina'' and the newly added ``You Must Love Me,'' the first single from the soundtrack.

The bad news is that despite the updated score, ``Evita'' (Warner Bros.) reeks of 1978 and calls too much to mind from its creators' other '70s phenomenon, ``Jesus Christ, Superstar.'' You almost expect to hear choruses of ``Evita, can you help me? Can't you see I've changed?''

A big surprise is Antonio Banderas, who ably sings the role of the narrator, Che. Jonathan Pryce, who plays Evita's husband, Argentine President Juan Peron, also manages his songs quite well.

The orchestrations are lush and layered, the choruses robust. But whether this ``Evita'' evokes much more than a fond memory from the past remains to be seen. Three Stars

?13- Wes Bausmith

Vic Chesnutt/``About to Choke''

Lots of singer-songwriters will tell you their troubles. Plenty of latter-day pop poets flaunt their self-obsession - these days, it's almost expected. Vic Chesnutt, the wheelchair-bound Georgia raconteur whose wry songs were the subject of the ``Sweet Relief II'' tribute earlier this year, has the fine Southern grace to keep that whining out of the narratives.

This doesn't mean Chesnutt is warm and sunny. Quite the contrary: On his major-label debut, ``About to Choke'' (Capitol), he buries his wrath beneath the surface of songs such as ``Threads'' until his long-simmering inner torment becomes part of the story. He doesn't play for sympathy or blurt his heart out. Even on the gorgeously tense ``Ladle,'' when he describes with great bitterness the feeling of being left behind, his phrases have a proud restraint. Three Stars

?13- Tom Moon

Chemical Brothers/`Setting Sun''

The most exciting sound on modern-rock radio comes courtesy of the Manchester, England, duo known as the Chemical Brothers. ``Setting Sun'' (Astralwerks/Virgin) is available only as a single - the follow-up to the Bros.' 1995 debut album ``Exit Planet Dust'' is not due until January - but it's good enough to crow about right now.

The psychedelicized air-raid guitars and driving rhythmic attack match the current vogue in ``Revolver''-era Beatles (see Brit moptops Kula Shaker and Beck's ``Devil's Haircut'') with edgy, techno-sonics. It doesn't hurt that the singer on their relentlessly infectious assault is fellow Manc Noel Gallagher of Oasis, whose Lennonesque vocal adds melodic icing. Three Stars

?13- Dan DeLuca

Liza Minnelli/``Gently''

Though Liza Minnelli has shown that she's capable of expressing poignance and other quieter emotions in song, she's probably at her best and best known as a highly charged Broadway belter.

Here, Minnelli succeeds better than most might believe she would on a batch of standards and standards-like songs such as ``You Stepped Out of a Dream,'' ``Embraceable You,'' ``It Had to Be You,'' ``I Got Lost in His Arms,'' ``Never Let Me Go,'' ``In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning'' and ``Lost in You.''

Minnelli manages to sing softly and convincingly most of the time on ``Gently'' (Angel), although sometimes she's guilty of overemoting and a certain amount of tenseness where a more relaxed approach would be better. And singing at a lower volume, her voice takes on an attractive and expressive breathiness and huskiness. Three Stars

?13- Bob Protzman

urban

Shaquille O'Neal/``You Can't Stop the Reign''

The first two albums from hoops megastar and sometime-rapper Shaquille O'Neal sold well, but didn't score any musical baskets. ``You Can't Stop the Reign'' (Trauma/Interscope), the first release from Shaq's vanity label, tries to convince us the hoopster is as serious about rhymes as he is about b-ball.

The results aren't half bad. In fact, while Shaq's efforts have little in common with the more creative and harsher veterans of the genre, he's got a knack for what works and the smarts to hire the right people to carry it off.

While there are thankfully few vulgarities (this isn't gangsta-rap), the constant references to gettin' paid and fame get boring rather quickly. But the album grooves in the right places, and while Shaq may not be a rap champ, he proves here that he's at least a contender. Three Stars

?13- Elizabeth M. Cosin

country

Reba McEntire/``What If It's You''

``What If It's You'' (MCA) bears the sound of someone who's trying to play the pop-country game (read ``pop'' as an acronym for ``pumping out product'') with little regard for originality or enthusiasm.

Sure, there are a couple of nice examples of McEntire doing what made her so popular in the first place: the rejected woman bouncing back (``How Was I to Know'') and the sad ballad of unrequited love (the title track). But beyond those, it's mostly missteps. A woman's independence and resilience? ``Close to Crazy'' and ``Just Looking for Him'' each embody the polar opposite of that theme. And while other established artists might seek material with a more mature perspective as they age, McEntire includes a couple of tunes ideal for teen divas that ring hollow coming from a veteran like her. Two Stars

?13- Rob Hubbard

classical

Eliot Fisk/``Canciones Populares''

Eliot Fisk, a musical descendent of Andres Segovia, here records popular pieces Segovia arranged, many which had lain unseen until they were discovered this year.

These folk songs from many countries and music written by Franck, Debussy, Mussorgsky, Scriabin and others are seen by Fisk as Segovia's plea for peace and international understanding.

The five-minute transcription of ``The Old Castle'' from ``Pictures at an Exhibition'' is a stunning piece of tone painting. The moody, dark sounds suggest orchestral playing. Franck organ pieces and movements from a Haydn string quartet show the guitarist's sense of inquiry and ability to catch on the guitar the essence of pieces written for other instruments. Segovia's own studies are clear-eyed, virtuosic pieces that exalt Spanish rhythms and universal moods.

Also included in ``Canciones Populares'' (Musicmasters) are four works written for Segovia by Tansman, Milhaud, Roussel and Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Four Stars

?13- Daniel Webster

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Antonio Banderas surprises, and Madonna is more than up to the material on ``Evita.''

(2) Basketball star Shaquille O'Neal's third rap outing is ``You Can't Stop the Reign.''

(3) ``What If It's You'' is another pop-country exercise for Reba McEntire.